khellonmars

[khellonmars]

Playing Hard

A few years back, I was working at a literary foundation where the poet Simone White was teaching an evening poetry workshop. It was called Reading Hard, and the premise of it was that over the course of the 8 weeks, participants would try to read the entire catalog of a writer of their choice. The “hard” wasn’t just the difficulty of the task, but the intensity of it. Like loving hard. Putting the full brunt of one’s intention into the act.

Not really participating in the workshop, but catching glimmers from my desk, I decided I would play along, literally. I would try to learn to play every composition by Thelonious Monk. At the time, I thought Monk had only 55 compositions (in reality, it’s around 70). That is somehow doable, right?

Besides his manageable number of compositions, I thought Monk was a good subject of intense study because I wasn’t in love with him. In college, a professor had told us to pick research topics that we kind of hated. I never fully understood her, but came to believe it had something to do with the way you look at something you deeply love: you don’t see it. Like with rose-colored glasses, or no glasses at all.

I was also in an on-again-off-again relationship with Robin D.G. Kelly’s biography of him, and I wanted to finish the giant book like some people want to catch a giant fish. I thought: I will learn all his songs as I learn about his life.

Monk’s most famous song is “’Round Midnight.” Though the way most musicians play it, so romantically, moodily, literally like a midnight ballad of seduction, it sounds nothing like a Monk tune. Monk tunes are more angular. Like the hats he wore. Like the flatted fifths he was known for, and the flat fingers my piano teacher told me I shouldn’t imitate.

His songs generally aren’t ponderous or melancholy, the way “’Round Midnight” has become. A lot of the times, they seem like texts, meant to be interpreted, projected on to, especially when you hear him play solo, no accompaniment, so simple, it could be each song’s first draft.

I found that some of his songs are perfectly composed; I can play them as transcribed in my little Thelonious Monk fakebook, and they sound like the record (e.g., “Monk’s Mood”). I found that many songs weren’t so songlike–that the colloquial term “tune” might better describe them (like “Little Rootie Tootie”). I nearly hurt my brain trying to play the counterpoint of “Friday the 13th.” I learned “Brilliant Corners” by ear. I still don’t know the bridge to “Monk’s Mood” despite having read this great document in which he says “THE INSIDE OF THE TUNE (THE BRIDGE) IS THE PART THAT MAKES THE OUTSIDE SOUND GOOD.” I already knew “Blue Monk” and “Ruby My Dear” from when I was in high school. I could never get the feel, the inside part of “Crepuscule with Nellie.” And I am in love, madly in love with his only waltz, “Ugly Beauty,” which I heard for the first time in August of 2010, Gretchen Parlato singing, with lyrics, retitled as “Still We Dream.”

You and I I think we know the reason why So far it’s been quite charming … Round and round The carousel is winding down And still we dream of love 

I was in love, or on the brink of what I thought was love, with a maybe-ing, sometime-ing guy. So I listened to this song. And after listening to Gretchen, I listened to Carmen McRae sing it. And after that, I went back to my fakebook, all the way to the end, and I taught myself this little ditty, sometimes playing it out of time, as I’d heard Gretchen first sing it, and then in 3, like the waltz it is, all the while holding on to the melancholy something inside, the something I sometimes feel in Monk, sometimes don’t, the melancholy thread that is always there, I think, if you know how to play it.

Below, a vintage clip of me playing “Ugly Beauty” in a very fancy friend’s house with totally different hair!

[khellonmars]

“At the risk of overliteralizing, one of the West’s foundational creatives, Leonardo da Vinci, held down at least a dozen occupations, from cartographer to engineer to painter to architect. But today, we ridicule Tom Hanks for composing short stories, Steve Martin for trying his hand at a novella, James Franco for making a run at poetry. Why do we rain down suspicion on those who seem ruled by competing creative impulses? In this moment when our pieties about identity are unraveling to admit more nuance, what’s wrong with letting people do two things at once?” — Does Having a Day Job Mean Making Better Art? in NYT Mag

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/03/22/t-magazine/art/artist-day-job.html

[khellonmars]

@LucyLiu  Quality studio time @ManaContemp lucyliu.net

[khellonmars]

Elektra Abundance, on her way to jooks some folks, on FX’s Pose.

[khellonmars]

Puerto del Sol Black Voices Series

I have 3 prose delights up on Puerto del Sol's Black Voices series: "Stephanie Mills," (about interracial dating!) "Crush," (about not dating at all!) and "Visitation," (if you went to an HBCU, you already know) plus a mini-interview. Checker out!

[khellonmars]

I'm in the new Tanya Morgan video, y'all. #ilovemyrandomness #andyours @almightytm #YGWY$4 #Repost @dondub (@get_repost) ・・・ 👨🏽💋👵🏾 ・・・ Dirty Stayout video drops today @ 2PM on @okayplayer // Directed by @duncecap_

[khellonmars]

me, captured by @laurachasman 😀

[khellonmars]

Sharing my story and supporting all things black sisterhood at SpelmanWomenToWatch.com 👩🏾‍💻👩🏾‍🏭👨🏾‍🚒👩🏾‍🎨👩🏾‍⚖️ #spelmanblackgirlbrilliance @spelman_college @spelmanlane @ny_naasc

[khellonmars]

When you go to a fancy book party & Jenifer Lewis is the emcee with her own live accompaniment #Amistad30

[khellonmars]

IMPACT Arts & Culture Conference: Talk & Writing Workshop, York, PA

On Saturday, June 25 in York, PA, I'll be part of Big Idea Saturday, a day-long symposium of the IMPACT Arts & Culture Conference. I'll be talking about how writing and the arts can positively influence your life, and I'll also be leading an all-ages workshop. This event is organized by Abigail Kageni, the 14-year-old founder of Tiered Innovations Initiative, a youth program that nurtures teens towards global citizenry through creative arts.

If you or someone you love is in the York area, please register and attend this fabulous day of free events! Register for the workshop here.

Writing, Comics & You Saturday, June 25 3-5 pm Martin Library - Family Place 159 East Market Street 17401

[khellonmars]

Catapult Workshop Reading Series, hosted by Leigh Stein

I'll be sharing work from my book-in-progress as part of Catapult's workshop reading series, alongside writers Saxon Baird, Jason Choi, Shaunacy Ferro and Alisson Wood, headlined and emceed by awesome teacher, writer & BinderCon co-founder Leigh Stein!

WOOT.

Catapult Workshop Reading Series Thursday, July 14, 7 pm Sid's Gold Request Room New York, NY 10001 FREE. RSVP on the 'book.

[khellonmars]

Guys I'm on a STYLE BLOG, @passerbuys.official. Finally, I get to do that thing where I say "Link in bio!"—to pics of me STYLING, sharing my favorite tunes, books, and beauty tips 😊💁🏾💄💋🕶

[khellonmars]

Letters to a Young Poet

"If there is anything morbid in your processes, just remember that sickness is the means by which an organism frees itself of foreign matter; so one must just help it to be sick, to have its whole sickness and break out of it, for that is its progress." Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet, Letter 8.

[khellonmars]

“Expect Nothing” by Alice Walker, born today in 1944.

[khellonmars]

Y’all come through, it’s so cute

Join Well-Read Black Girl’s debut reading featuring an extraordinary list of poets, fiction writers, and essayists. We’re celebrating Black History Month and the brilliant narratives of Black women. RSVP on Facebook

Featuring:

Ashley Ford

Jenna Wortham

Morgan Parker

Camille Rankine

Nicole Sealey

Bsrat Mezghebe

Nicole Dennis-Benn

Kyla Marshell

Thursday, Feb. 25th 7:00pm - 8:30pm

Housing Works Bookstore 126 Crosby St New York, NY  10012

[khellonmars]

Check me out in the February issue of O!

Hey! I have a piece in the February issue of O, the Oprah Magazine (get it now! It won't be on stands in February!). I wrote about my harrowing experience with mental illness as a teenager, and how certain symptoms, like delusion, magical thinking, and hallucination are ones we all experience in some perfectly healthy way, shape, or form. Pick up a copy! This issue is the first in a 3-part series on mental illness and treatment. Many great resources. And here is my snarky interview. Yay.

[khellonmars]

"I could really use a break from social media" says Writer Kyla Marshell on social media. Anyhey, this is from O Magazine—I have a piece in the February issue on mental illness. I wrote about the psychotic break I experienced as a teenager, and how certain symptoms of psychotic illness such as delusion, magical thinking, and hallucination are ones we all experience in some perfectly healthy way, shape, or form. We all live on a spectrum of illness -> wellness, and our brains are wired in many different ways, which is totally okay, awesome, and livable. This issue is the first in a 3-part series on mental illness. Pick up a copy—there's a lot of great information and resources on treatment, including medication, and how to find a therapist. No matter the severity of your condition, everyone is better off taking care of their minds. 💜💛💜