Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
WESTERN BUREAU:
A QUARTET of writers from the Akashic Books imprint took the final day of the fifth Calabash International Literary Festival from late afternoon into evening into night.
The four, Daniel Chavarria, Miles Marshall-Lewis, Krist Novoselic and Lauren Saunders, read against the moving background of the sea twinkling under the afternoon sun
They were introduced by Johnny Temple of Akashic Books, which was described by the organisers of Calabash as "a Brooklyn indie press". And before introducing the authors, Temple dubbed Calabash as "the best literary festival in the world".
Chavarria introduced himself as "an Uruguayan citizen and a Cuban novelist", preceding his reading from The Eye of Cybele with a tale of how he won a prize for the novel Adios Muchachos which involved lots of whiskey and losing a pistol-shooting contest.
"I do not know what can be the perverse pleasure of hearing someone destroy your language," Chavarria said. "I can talk (in English), but to read is a serious act."
AMOROUS ATTEMPTS ON SOCRATES
With wind tugging at his long white hair and at one point blowing off his white 'buckers' cap Chavarria read about amorous attempts on Socrates by a nervous, stammering lover, who, in making the case for the relationship, says "I am sure no-one could help me improve myself like you".
Socrates, on the other hand, questions whether it would be a fair transaction, as the person is so physically beautiful that to be aligned with Socrates would be a case of exchanging "gold for bronze".
Miles Marshall Lewis read from his "half-memoirs, half-essays" Scars of the Soul Are Why Kids Wear Bandages When They Don't Have Bruises, a documentation of pivotal times in hip-hop music. It was a first-hand account, as "I was watching hip-hop grow outside my window like a weed, like a flower". He read extensively from the chapter 'Go Make of All Disciples', the central focus of which was "the signing of a hip-hop declaration of peace at the United Nations. It was the week of Malcolm X's birthday, in May. It was in Hip Hop Appreciation Week, which Malcolm X started seven years ago."
Lewis' narrative was very detailed, from describing the room where the conference was held to the names of the people who gathered for it, including Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash. KRS 1 started the ball rolling with "the house is out of order" and stating the objectives of 'The Temple of Hip Hop', starting with "to identify this culture, where it came from".
The 29 principles proposed at the conference were narrowed down to 18 by 2003, Kool DJ Herc being identified as 'Our Father'. Doug E. Fresh and Curtis Blow were among those who 'stepped up to the document' to sign and among the definitions was that of the rap fan, along with the caution to "be careful when teaching rap fans; keep it simple".
MUSIC AND POLITICS
Krist Novoselic read from Of Grunge and Government: Let's Fix This Broken Democracy. It was a tale of how the former bass player for rock band Nirvana became a political activist and had equal measures of music and politics. He described how in January 1992 their second album, Nevermind, hit number one on the charts, with the single Smells Like Teen Spirit speaking to "a culture mired in boredom in the middle of luxury".
But it was also a time of turmoil overseas, as "in 1991 the first war with Iraq broke out. I was so disgusted with the whole affair. Watching the public cheer it on like a football game confirmed my status as an outsider."
In 1992, there was the biggest youth vote turnout in the US elections but also the year when "the whole world came knocking" at Nirvana's door.
"I was used to stepping out in the world, but now the world wanted to come in," Novoselic said. The lights came up on Novoselic as he saw the sun off, speaking about the Westminster model and the dangers of the first past the post system. He ended with a letter he wrote to the editor encouraging voters in British Columbia to choose a particular voting system on May 17 and they did.
SUICIDE
The last writer from Akashic and the final reader of Calabash '05 was Lauren Saunders. "We are going to get into some love, murder, obsession here," she said chirpily, reading from the beginning of With or Without You. It started with a person swimming, fully clothed, thinking of the deeds she had done turning over into a 'dead man's float' and reflecting "I had never felt so alive, too alive for a murderer. But I was no
ordinary murderer and you were no ordinary victim".
The police come upon her and say it is a no-swimming zone. "Can't you see I am trying to kill myself?" she says. "I was never good at suicide," she reflects.
She introduces herself as "a celebrity murderer or a murderer soon to be a celebrity" and goes up on the boat, but has a very hard time convincing the police to arrest her.
Saunders skipped to a next section of With or Without You to end the reading, a bit before 7:00 p.m.
