Little Freddie King Sings The Blues

A couple of weekends ago, while I was visiting my friend in Houston, I met a fellow native of New Orleans. We started right off talking about what parts of the city we had lived in and comparing notes on schools attended. She was not my contemporary, being a decade or so younger than I am, and we did not land in the same neighborhoods at the same time. Still, we had much to talk about.

Her father had moved to New Orleans to play music. Not because he had a job playing music, but because he wanted to be on the music scene in New Orleans. He had a day job which supported his family, but he played the music he loved on the side. How many folks moved to New Orleans to play the music?

Little Freddie King was another non-native musician, who headed into New Orleans from McComb, Mississippi at the age of 14. Here's King's story from the Times-Picayune by Chris Bynum:

Stress, says Little Freddie King, is what beckons his fingers to the guitar strings and unleashes the best of the blues.

The 66-year-old bluesman, among the last of the gritty country blues originals, has known stress in many forms: rocky relationships with women, overdue bills "or when your car is broke and you need to get somewhere, and you can't. Or a family member don't treat you right," said King....

Hurricane Katrina is his most recent muse, flooding his home and forcing him to live in another state.

The storm brought King loss and gain, that ebb and flow of life that adds a deeper raspiness to the throats of those who sing from personal experience.

On the Wednesday after the storm, as water flowed into the Central Business District, he and Alabama Slim (fellow bluesman Milton Frazier) left the Hotel Monteleone and headed to Texas.

....

"The blues has been stronger since Katrina," said King, whose soulful songs ironically express much gratitude. "Most of it is about homesickness. Before Katrina, my biggest blues was about the different women I had."

...

King hopes to bless some hearts with his gift of music. In August, he will move back to New Orleans, into a rental house designated for master musicians in residence at the Musicians Village in the Upper 9th Ward. The rental units, sponsored by New Orleans Habitat for Humanity and Shell, are provided for musicians to work in the planned Ellis Marsalis Center for Music.

The Musicians Village of rental property reserved for New Orleans musicians is an absolute genius of a concept. Affordable rental property is becoming more and more of a problem, harder to find, and this project will enable a number of musicians to remain in or return to the city.

Handing down blues to a younger generation can be difficult, King said. The title of his latest CD for Fat Possum Records, "You Don't Know What I Know," pretty much says why. But King is patient when it comes to his music. Blues, he reveals in his own life, is all about waiting.

Along with many other musicians, King could not make a living playing music.

King worked long hours for 37 years rebuilding carburetors and electrical equipment, and stayed with the wife who inspired the song "Mean Little Woman" until she died in a nursing home several years ago.

What a way to go down to posterity - as the "Mean Little Woman".

But life goes on for a bluesman. Today there's a new girlfriend, and she, too, has inspired a song: "My Little Baby-Face Baby" is about love's frustrations when two people try to share a life.

"She's my little baby-face baby, and every time I ask her to do something right, she turn around and do something wrong," he spoke the lyrics, the consonants rolling seamlessly from one to the next. King has no teeth to bite spaces between the words, so the easy momentum in his voice flows like uninterrupted thoughts.

I encourage you to read the whole beautifully written article. Bynum's piece gives a true feel for the kind of folks who were not native-born New Orleanians, but who were drawn to the city by the magic of the music, the food, the laissez-faire ambiance, and the soul of the city.

Before Katrina, New Orleans had many problems, the worst of which was a public school system which was close to totally dysfunctional, that no one seemed to be able to provide the will or the wisdom or the money to fix. And then there was the seemingly intractable problem of violent crime. I won't believe that the two problems are not connected one to the other. New Orleans was in decline before Katrina. I'm not blind to that. Nevertheless, I'm still in love with what's left of the city I grew up in, the city of the blues.

Yes, I know what it means to miss New Orleans.

The Surge In Iraq

The number of Americans killed in Iraq has surged past 3400, standing, as of now, at 3401, according to Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, with the number of wounded surging to 26,188.

The military forces serving in Iraq have done what we asked them to do. It's time to bring them home. It's way past time.

Our Lady Of The Driveway - Part 2

Thanks to Athenae at First Draft for the photo and the title. She took this picture when she was in New Orleans at the end of March, when a group of us led by FD bloggers, Athenae and Scout Prime, gathered to gut a house, view the destruction, and squeeze in a little fun.

The statue of the Virgin Mary stood in a driveway. The head was broken off, but someone had put it back in place. The photo and the title struck me with such force when I first saw it that I have never forgotten it. The image of the statue of Mary in the driveway - "Mary, full of grace" as Athenae calls her - was the symbol of my destroyed and broken home town, my abandoned city, my beloved New Orleans - always full of grace to me.

Our Lady Of The Driveway

O Mary of the Driveway,
Broken like your city,
Your head lies on the ground.
A sorry sight, a sign,
A sign of devastation
Wrought by wind and water,
Angry blow and raging flow.

A passer-by, one of tender heart,
Sees and stops and mourns your head
Lying there apart,
And gently, gently takes it
And replaces it.
There. Our Lady's whole again.
Or so it seems. Or is it so?

June Butler - 5-13-07

As hurricane season rapidly approaches, the levees in New Orleans are not properly fixed; the newly installed pumps are inadequate and many don't work. I know that New Orleans is not safer than before Katrina and the levee failures. I'm not an engineer, and I could be wrong, but, from what I've read of what's been done and what's been left undone in the 19 months since the disaster, the city could possibly be less safe than before Katrina.

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

For Mothers

A Cradle Song

THE angels are stooping
Above your bed;
They weary of trooping
With the whimpering dead.

God's laughing in Heaven
To see you so good;
The Sailing Seven
Are gay with his mood.

I sigh that kiss you,
For I must own
That I shall miss you
When you have grown.

William Butler Yeats

From The Poets' Corner.

A Blessed and Happy Mother's Day!

Jane Austen And Irony

Chawton Cottage



Reader alert! This post is totally self-indulgent of my great admiration for a certain lady's writing. Those of you not interested in Jane Austen can move along before reading further.

In the event that you may have wondered, I am not the person pictured on my sidebar. That is an engraving taken from the only known portrait of Jane Austen made during her lifetime, done by her sister Cassandra. You can see the portrait here. I wanted to put the picture at the top of the post, but I would have to purchase rights from the National Portrait Gallery in London. I sent them an email just to test how it's done, and here is the initial automated response to my email:

Over the next few weeks, we are implementing some changes to our systems in the Picture Library, aimed at improving the services we offer. During the interim period, there may be some delays, and it will be more important than usual for you to contact us well in advance of your deadlines. As usual, we will do our best to help, but offer our apologies, in advance, for any delays, and hope you will bear with us.

The very next day, I received a personal reply:

Thank you for your enquiry below.

If you wish to licence NPG 3630 from the Picture Library, for use on your blog, for a licence period of up to three years, we would charge a licence fee of £18.00 Pounds Sterling. If you proceed in licensing NPG 3630 from us at this cost, we would allow you to use the larger thumbnail of NPG 3630 that appears on the Gallery's own website at....

As you see, the staff member was quite courteous and sent a prompt reply, but, much as I love Jane Austen, I'm not paying the equivalent of $36.00 for the use of the picture. Yes, I'm cheap. Certain museums, such as the Vatican Museum through their Christus Rex site and the Metropolitan Museum in New York, allow free use of illustrations of their holdings.

The quotation beneath the picture on my sidebar is from my favorite of her novels, Pride and Prejudice, words spoken by my favorite character in the novel, Elizabeth Bennett. I consider the words as my philosophy of the proper use of irony.

When I was 16 years old, I read a chapter from Pride and Prejudice that was included in my English literature textbook. It was the chapter in which Darcy first proposes to Elizabeth in a haughty and insolent manner, and she, of course, refuses. The characters and the glimpse of the story captivated me, therefore, as soon as I could, I went to find a copy of the book to read the whole thing.

I adored it. She writes beautifully. Her gift for writing dialogue is unsurpassed. Make no mistake about it; I am passionate about her writing.

I rather quickly went through the other five completed novels, and I loved every one of them. P&P will always be my favorite, but the others move up and down in my list of which is my second favorite. Through the years, I have read all of her books over and over, and I never tire of them.

For a good many years I trekked to New Orleans to attend the meetings of the Jane Austen Society there, but after Katrina, new leadership took over the group, and the events were not to my taste.

One year I traveled to the national convention of the Jane Austen Society of North America held in Santa Fe, of all places. A surprising number of the folks who attended seemed to eat, sleep, live, and breathe Jane Austen. I'm a devotee, but she's not my whole life. Some wore eighteenth and nineteenth century dress to the dinners.

Sometimes I wonder if my tending toward irony is genetic, since my father was a master of irony, but he sometimes used it cruelly toward his wife and children. I hope I don't put it to cruel use. Tell me if I do. Or was it learned at his knee? Or was it learned by reading Austen's books over and over?

Several years ago, I attended a study program on Jane Austen at Oxford University. We stayed in student rooms during the summer break. It was awesome - at least to me - to stay in those hallowed halls, which I had read about and seen in movies and on TV. We took day trips to Steventon, the church where Jane's father served as vicar. We saw the house in Winchester, where she died at the young age of 41, and the cottage in Chawton on the grounds owned by her brother, Edward Knight, where she lived until she moved to Winchester to die. She is buried in Winchester Cathedral.

During one program lecture, as we were discussing irony in Austen's writing, a woman asked the lecturer to explain irony. She said that she had never been able to "get" irony. As I remember, our lecturer was a bit stunned, but, of course, he tried not to show it. He was surprised, I believe, because he must have been wondering why she had crossed the ocean for a program on Jane Austen without having any concept of irony. I can't imagine what one would make of reading Jane Austen without an understanding of irony.

I give you the first words from Pride And Prejudice:

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

Reading the words literally, with no understanding of irony, what does one take away? I talked to the woman afterwards, and she declared that she truly loved Jane Austen's writing. I didn't have the nerve to follow up and question her about what attracts her to Jane Austen's works. I suppose that it's like reading Trollope; one can read simply for the story.

Over the next couple of days, I will have only intermittent access to a computer, so posting will be light or not at all.

Have a lovely weekend, my pretties.

Another Day In Court

Today my son and his wife are officially divorced. As I see it, this is simply a legal affirmation of a state that has existed since last fall. I am sorry to see a family break up, but it has been broken for seven-plus months. For that long, the two have not been husband and wife.

This divorce has hardly been amicable, as those of you who have read my blog for a while already know. You have heard me call it the divorce from hell. Much bitterness, and ill-feeling, and ill-doing has passed between my son and his ex-wife. My prayer is that now the two can move on, away from the anger and bitterness and focus on their two precious children, a girl 11 and a boy 6, and love them well and act in their best interests.

Prayer For the Care of Children

Almighty God, heavenly Father, you have blessed us with the joy and care of children: Give us calm strength and patient wisdom as we bring them up, that we may teach them to love whatever is just and true and good, following the example of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Book of Common Prayer, p. 829

Inner Censor

I write my blog picturing my rector standing over my shoulder reading what I write. I have told him that I have a blog, but he did not ask for the name or the web address. I don't know if he reads it or not, but I rather doubt that he does. I don't believe that I change what I write because of that, because my own inner censor works pretty well. But that picture in my mind is an aid to discretion, to not revealing too much in a public forum about other people with whom I associate.

My rector is a fine man, quite pastoral and compassionate, especially to the sick, the elderly, (including me) and the otherwise needy in our community. We are blessed to have him with us.

Having said all that, on occasion, my inner censor conflicts with my inner rebel and loses the battle, sometimes to good effect, other times with unfortunate results. I'd like to think that I manage to get it right most of the time, but I am an imperfect human being, and I do make mistakes. When I make mistakes, I hope that I learn from them.

Speaking with all the humility that I can muster, my goal in my writing is to glorify God. If it does not, then I pray that God will direct me to using my time in another manner that will better serve to bring honor to him.

I have no illusions about having great influence even among the small group of folks who come here to visit, and I write as much for myself as for others. However, if no one read my blog and no one commented, I would probably stop blogging and keep a diary. I very much like the exchanges with the people who take the trouble to respond to my posts. I like posting comments on the blogs of others, too, and I did that for years before starting my own blog.

I may run out of words one day or burn out; I've seen that happen with bloggers that I admired quite a lot. Thus far, for me, it's been enjoyable. I think that when blogging stops being fun, I will stop blogging.

How's that for an "all about me" post?

The Episcopal Café

Jim Naughton and the group at The Episcopal Café have put together a fine web site. It includes news, art, meditations, and other information on the Episcopal Church and religion in general.

Last night, I was finally able to register to comment. I was already in the system, but I had lost the information that I needed to sign in. Nicholas Knisely at the technical end was quite helpful to me in resolving the problem.

You might want to pay them a visit.

The Feast Day Of Gregory Of Nazianzus

Today is the feast day of St. Gregory of Nazianzus.

There is a traditional list of eight great Doctors (Teachers, Theologians) of the ancient Church. It lists four Western (Latin) Doctors -- Ambrose of Milan, Augustine of Hippo, Jerome of Strido, and Gregory the Great (Pope Gregory I) -- and four Eastern (Greek) Doctors -- Athanasius of Alexandria, John Chrysostom of Antioch and Constantinople, Basil the Great, and Gregory of Nazianzus (also called Gregory Nazianzen). Incidentally, this list is constantly referred to, but I have no idea when or where or by whom it was drawn up.

Gregory of Nazianzus, his friend Basil the Great, and Basil's brother Gregory of Nyssa, are jointly known as the Cappadocian Fathers (Cappadocia is a region in what is now Central Turkey).

Gregory lived in a turbulent time. In 312, Constantine, having won a battle that made him Emperor of the West, issued a decree that made it no longer a crime to be a Christian. In 325 he summoned a council of Bishops at Nicea, across the straits from Byzantium (Constantinople, Istanbul), to settle the dispute between those (led by Athanasius) who taught that the Logos (the "Word" of John 1:1, who "was made flesh and dwelt among us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth) was completely God, in the same sense in which the Father is God, and those (led by Arius) who taught that the Logos is a being created by God the Father. The bishops assembled at Nicea declared that the view of Athanasius was that which they had received from their predecessors as the true Faith handed down from the Apostles.

However, the Arians did not accept this decision peacefully, and the controversy continued for many more years.

In 379, after the death of the Arian Emperor Valens, Gregory was asked to go to Constantinople to preach there. For thirty years, the city had been controlled by Arians or pagans, and the orthodox did not even have a church there. Gregory went. He converted his own house there into a church and held services in it. There he preached the Five Theological Orations for which he is best known, a series of five sermons on the Trinity and in defense of the deity of Christ. People flocked to hear him preach, and the city was largely won over to the Athanasian (Trinitarian, catholic, orthodox) position by his powers of persuasion. The following year, he was consecrated bishop of Constantinople. He presided at the Council of Constantinple in 381, which confirmed the Athanasian position of the earlier Council of Nicea in 325. Having accomplished what he believed to be his mission at Constantinople, and heartily sick of ecclesiastical politics, Gregory resigned and retired to his home town of Nazianzus, where he died in 389.

James Kiefer at The Lectionary

Padre Mickey, our blogging expert on the saints of the early centuries of Christianity, has an excellent post on St. Gregory at Padre Mickey's Dance Party.

I seems that the good Padre can be serious at certain times. Who knew? I thought he was always joking around and playing his bass guitar.

NOTE: Half the pleasure of putting up a post on the saints of the day is learning about their lives. The other half is finding lovely paintings and icons to put at the top of the post.

Feast Day of Julian of Norwich

Julian is one of my favorites among the saints. The constant thread that runs through all of her writing is the limitless love of God for all his creatures, without exception, without qualification, the love that is given freely and can never be earned.


Very little is known about the person who wrote these meditations and reflections, not even that author's name. According to the opening lines of the manuscripts that are available, she was a woman living in England during the fourteenth century. On May 13, 1373, when she was thirty and a half years old, she reported seeing sixteen showings, or mystical visions. Quite soon after this event the young woman recorded the content of these revelations in a text entitled "The Book Of Showings". Some fifteen to twenty years later, she produced an extended version of the same sixteen revelations. At some point in her life she became an anchoress, and entered a cell attached to the Church of St. Julian at Norwich, in East Anglia. She took the name of the patron saint of her anchorhold according to the custom of the anchorites and and anchoresses. It is not known whether she embraced the anchorite life-style before or after she wrote the later edition of the "Book of Showings", but the civil records of Norwich indicate that the Lady Julian remained in the anchorhold at Norwich until her death sometime between 1416 and 1419 A.D.

From the Foreword by Patricia M. Vinje

....

While we are in possession of over fifty manuscripts of her contemporary, Walter Hilton, we have at the most five for Julian. It would seem that her work was not well circulated in her day or in ours. Why is this? I would venture two guesses: First because she is a woman; and secondly, because she is creation-centered. While Hilton's claim to fame was the tired image of climbing the spiritual ladder, Julian ignores such bouquets to established powers for a way of living that is non-competitive, non-compulsive, that is curved and compassionate to all creatures....

From the Foreword by Matthew Fox


From Julian's "Showings":

God said:

"This I am-
the capability and goodness
of the Fatherhood.
This I am-
the wisdom of the Motherhood.
This I am-
the light and the grace
that is all love.
This I am-
the Trinity.
This I am-
the Unity.
I am the sovereign goodness
of all things.
I am what makes you love.
I am what makes you long and desire.
This I am-
the endless fulfilling of all desires."


The quotes above and the version of Julian's words have all been taken from Brenden Doyle's Meditations with Julian of Norwich.

PRAYER
Lord God, who in your compassion granted to the Lady Julian many revelations of your nurturing and sustaining love: Move our hearts, like hers, to seek you above all things, for in giving us yourself you give us all; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

As usual, Saint Pat, at No Claim To Sainthood, was ahead of me with lovely post of her own in honor of Julian.