Search Results for “The Cove”

Search results: "The Cove" Page 1 of 72

The Cove by Ron Rash

On April 18, 2012

A hearty thanks to Sarah Ryburn Mealer, Creative Writing teacher at Jackson Academy for the following guest blog.

I have been a fan of Ron Rash since reading his novel One Foot in Eden, and if there was any reserve in my adoration of his writing, the novel Serena banished it entirely. Although this blog is mostly about his newest novel, The Cove, I must in all good conscience say to you that if you haven’t read One Foot in Eden and Serena please run, don’t walk, to Lemuria right now for all three! Let me explain my sense of urgency and conviction.

Ron Rash is undoubtedly one of the best writers of literary fiction writing and publishing today. I know, I know– you read and/or hear this constantly. It seems that every debut novelist these days almost gratuitously earns the moniker “the most astonishing/vibrant/important new voice in fiction today,” and every published author’s next work is evidence of “a master at the height of his powers.” The phrases may be hackneyed, but in the case of Ron Rash, they are both fit and truthful.

Rash writes in a voice that is astonishing and vibrant, and because he is a master and one of the best contemporary talents in Southern fiction, we need to read his work! One of the things I respect most about his writing is the sheer consistency of its quality. The Cove establishes, as if it needed proving in my mind, that Rash is an author with a gift for more than great story-telling. His narrative style is lyric and poetic, hardly surprising since Rash has published several volumes of poetry in addition to his novels. He is also a teacher of writing, and this experience shows in his attention to detail, his careful crafting of character and situation. More even than this, in his use of setting.

In each of his novels, Rash paints a rich and living portrait of his beloved Appalachia. In The Cove, as in One Foot in Eden and Serena, the landscape is more than setting and takes on the dimension of character in its own right, giving to the novel both rooting in time and place and somehow an other-worldly atmosphere. The Cove is a haunting, almost mythical place, and Rash’s characters have been molded by their own and others’ beliefs about its other-worldliness.

Laurel and Hank Shelton are brother and sister, bound by ties of blood and a shared identity as outsiders. They have grown up in the Cove and on the outskirts of a small Appalachian community steeped in tradition and superstition. As the novel opens, Hank is recently returned from the trenches of World War I. He is now a veteran soldier, wounded in the line of duty, and as such has lost the shroud of suspicion and fear that encircles both the Cove and those who live in it. Hank’s acceptance by the community and his impending marriage introduce a wholly new dimension of loneliness to Laurel’s existence. The appearance of a stranger, himself an outsider and shrouded in mystery, opens for Laurel the possibility of understanding, love, and happiness– experiences she has too rarely encountered in the Cove or what little she has seen of the world beyond it.

Rash’s picture of this insular community, its ignorance and fearfulness, resonates deeply with our world today in the sense that great literature always does transcend time and place. The Cove probes the causes that lead one man to despise another. Laurel’s “birth stain” destines her for isolation and the contempt of her community, but Rash moves quickly beyond surface issues. His tale reveals an intimate portrait of human loneliness and the great, heart-breaking tragedy that arises from those moments when we are unable to accept understanding and compassion for ourselves or to offer it to those around us. These are timely themes for a digital world that moves with lightening speed from one meaningless twitter-bite to the next, often at the cost of real human connection.

Add to the poignancy of his themes the abject beauty of his language. As in his use of setting, Rash’s narrative voice seems richly evocative of time and place. Laurel’s speech runs with lyric grace through the shadows and spots of sunlight in the Cove like the music of the stranger’s flute. It sings with the musical cadence of the Blue Ridge, with turns of phrase like “before full dark” and “kindly of you”– phrases like those a dear friend (another unabashed lover of all things Ron Rash) hears still spoken through childhood memories of her grandparents’ speech “away home” in Tennessee.

Stunning– this is the best word I can imagine to describe these novels. Ron Rash is absolutely one of my favorite authors, so I invite you to experience the magic of his artistry. Read The Cove– read One Foot in Eden and Serena– and we’ll wait together, impatiently, for his next work of art!

Join us on Wednesday, April 18th for a signing and reading with Ron Rash at 5:00 and 5:30.

the art of the cover

By Former Lemurians

On February 12, 2011

In Newsworthy, Staff Blog

i quite often judge books by their covers. regularly this results in me reading a damn fine book. it is difficult for me to resist a book that has an amazing cover, even if i know nothing about the book or the author.

penguin has two series which feature new cover art that i am all but drooling over. the series i’m most in awe of is what penguin is calling the ink series.

“For seventy-five years, Penguin has united the best in literature with the best in graphic design, creating some of the world’s most recognizable books. To help celebrate our anniversary, we’ve chosen six of our favorite books and are presenting them with new covers specially designed by some of the world’s best artists working in the world of tattoos and illustration. These striking new covers, perfectly reflecting the timeless stories within, document Penguin’s efforts to bring new readers to great books.” –penguin

the other new series they have is apart of their penguin classics deluxe editions.

enjoy the eye candy.

by Zita

William Dunlap’s new book rediscovers savvy, ingenious art of Mississippi’s Pappy Kitchens

By Guest Author

On October 16, 2019

In Art/Photography, Southern Culture

By J. Richard Gruber. Special to the Clarion-Ledger Sunday print edition (September 22)

O.W. “Pappy” Kitchens was a distinctive Mississippi character. He was a building contractor and house mover, as well as an accomplished storyteller, who, after he sold his business and retired, discovered that he was an artist.

“I began to draw and sketch and found my experience in drafting was a big help in this adventure.” He was, he explained, a specific type of artist. “I am a folk artist. I paint about folks, what folks see and what folks do.”

In 1970, at the age of 69, Kitchens began to paint and draw, inspired by what he saw in the art studio of his son-in-law, in Boone, North Carolina. That son-in-law was William Dunlap, then a professor of art at Appalachian State University (and now one of Mississippi’s most recognized national artists).

The rapid evolution of Kitchens’ art, driven by his life experiences, his storytelling skills, his religious beliefs, and his inspired visions—all channeled through the crystal ball he consulted—brought him regional and national recognition in the 1970s.

The art and life of Kitchens (1901-1986) is the subject of Bill Dunlap’s handsome, and thought-provoking, new book, Pappy Kitchens and the Saga of Red Eye The Rooster. Kitchens staged his ambitious project in a methodical fashion, as Dunlap notes in his Preface. “This fable consists of sixty panels, each one measuring fifteen inches square, composed of mixed materials on paper and executed in three groups of twenty from 1973 to 1977.” All sixty panels are featured in the book as individual full page, full color illustrations.

The story follows the life of this mythical bird “from foundling to funeral,” as Dunlap describes, tracing the arc of his allegorical adventures and his confrontations “with antagonists of all sorts, including his recurring nemesis, Colonel Harlan Sanders. Red Eye encounters violence, avarice, lust, greed, and, most of all, the seven deadly sins, dispatching them in heroic fashion until he finally succumbs to his own fatal flaw.”

In addition to Dunlap’s lively text, the book includes an excellent essay by noted curator and folk art scholar, Jane Livingston. Livingston included the “Saga of Red Eye” in the 1977 Corcoran Biennial Exhibition in Washington, DC, the first time folk art was included in this prestigious show. By 1977, the “Saga of Red Eye” had been “discovered” by the national art world.

More than forty years later, Livingston offers this observation. “Though it has taken nearly half a century for this book to enter the unpredictable trajectory of American cultural history, it comes at a moment when its authenticity and subtly intense truth-telling are especially welcome.” And she adds that “Pappy Kitchen’s work, once seen, is difficult to forget … in contemplating other artists … who were Pappy Kitchens’s chronological peers, his images resonate for me in a way that few of them achieve.”

This, alone, should give you enough reason to buy this book. Yet, there is another, equally intriguing side to this artist’s story. It relates to his self-awareness, and to current issues in the field of folk art (also known as “outsider,” “self-taught,” “naïve,” “vernacular” and more recently, “outlier” art). These issues question the proximity of self-taught art to contemporary art, increasingly arguing for its parity with more “elite” art forms.

Kitchens was a savvy character. He grew a beard and started calling himself Pappy. He read and studied art history. He referred to specific artists in his art and writings. This historical awareness is seen in his text (he hand wrote, then typed texts), “Preface—American Folk Art “ (included in the book), where he notes that the “first exhibition devoted to American folk art was held at the Whitney Studio Club, organized and sponsored by one Gertrude Whitney, in New York City in 1924.”

Today, a “folk artist” with this level of self-awareness might well be called “woke.” To underscore this self-awareness, he continued. “I sketch, draw, paint, talk, and write what I see, hear, read, feel, taste, and smell from a concept originating and composed from expierance [sic], my crystal ball, photographs, news medias [sic], archives and history, the Holy Bible, and a general knowledge of nature.”

It is time for Pappy Kitchens, and Red Eye, to be “discovered” yet again. He may have been a man ahead of his times.

J. Richard Gruber, Director Emeritus of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, is active as an independent art historian, curator and writer.

Ace Atkins’ latest Quinn Colson novel, ‘The Shameless,’ uncovers mystery decades old

By Guest Author

On July 23, 2019

In Mystery, Southern Fiction

By J.C. Patterson. Special to the Clarion-Ledger Sunday print edition (July 14)

It’s hard to believe that Ace Atkins’ acclaimed Ranger series has logged book number nine with The Shameless. Summer has officially arrived for a trip to north Mississippi and the heroics of Quinn Colson and his sometime accomplice Lillie Virgil. It’s like watching a John Ford movie with a twist of Faulkner.
Atkins’ fictional Tibbehah County, Mississippi is a magnet for greed, corruption, racism, and dirty deals radiating from the coast to the capitol to the North Mississippi hills.

Retired Army Ranger and reluctant sheriff Quinn Colson is up to his neck in drug and human trafficking, stolen goods and prostitution, run by a criminal Syndicate on the Gulf Coast. At the forefront is truck stop madam Fannie Hathcock, a notorious redhead with very little scruples. Politically speaking, Senator Jimmy Vardaman has his eyes on the governor’s mansion. The Syndicate has Vardaman and his creepy Watchmen bodyguards in their pocket. If Vardaman wins the governor’s race, the Syndicate will rule the state. Add in self-righteous county supervisor Old Man Skinner and his attempt to resurrect a sixty foot cross and you have a typical day in Tibbehah County.

Two young women have recently come to town looking for answers to a twenty year old mystery. In 1997, missing teen Brandon Taylor was found in the Big Woods after a long and arduous search. His death by shotgun was ruled a suicide, but Tashi Coleman and her friend Jessica think otherwise. Summoned to Mississippi by Brandon’s family, the New York duo run a podcast called Thin Air. Throughout the novel, Tashi conducts interviews with local townfolk defaming those involved and implicating those who may not have been, including Sheriff Quinn.

Tashi and Jessica uncover past history on Quinn that has only been hinted in previous novels; his rebellious youth and arrests that former sheriff and Quinn’s uncle Hamp swept under the carpet. Could these discoveries keep Quinn from getting re-elected?

On the Colson family front, Quinn’s sister Caddie is seeing a rich Jackson socialite who’s contributing to her ministry, The River. But are his intentions less than honorable? Quinn’s best friend Boom, seriously injured in last year’s The Sinners, has fallen back on the bottle while trying to heal. And now it’s uncovered that Quinn’s new wife Maggie has ties to the possibly murdered Brandon from twenty years back.

A daring jailhouse break-in silences a prisoner who has ties to the Syndicate. U.S. Marshall Lillie Virgil returns to her old stomping grounds to help Quinn track down the killers. And not a moment too soon. There’s a contract out on Quinn. Vardaman and the Syndicate want the true grit sheriff out of the picture for good.
Atkins takes the reader from political speeches at the Neshoba County Fair to seedy Memphis bars and even a hearty breakfast at The Fillin’ Station in the tiny town of Jericho. The Shameless is rife with corrupt politicians, God-fearing sinners, pole dancers, Native American hitmen, Elvis-lovin’ mamas, snoopy podcasters and a twenty year old mystery that just won’t die.

The last thirty pages of The Shameless will leave you breathless when Quinn answers a call from hell. Not since his service in Afghanistan has The Ranger been up against such bloody odds. Pull out your political fans and buckle up. It’s a fight to the finish between good and Old South evil. The longest of the Quinn Colson series, The Shameless is 446 pages of raunchy redneck misbehavin’. And one of Ace Atkins’ best works by far.

JC Patterson is the author of the “Big Easy Dreamin’” series.

Discovery brings Twain back to life in kid’s bedtime story

By Former Lemurians

On October 24, 2017

In Classics, Oz: Children's Books

By Clara Martin

What do cooking grease, ornery dragons, and Mark Twain have to do with each other? As it turns out, quite a lot.

At the Bancroft Library in Berkeley, California, in a search for recipes relating to a Mark Twain cookbook in the Twain Archives, the word “oleomargarine” pulled up 16 pages of handwritten notes. But the notes weren’t about cooking. These 16 pages comprised a bedtime story, a fairy tale that Twain told his daughters, Clara and Susy Clemens, while in Paris in 1879.

The story ended abruptly with Prince Oleomargarine being kidnapped and taken to a cave guarded by dragons. The Mark Twain House sold the rights to Doubleday, an imprint under Penguin Random House. But with the author long gone and only 16 pages of notes to work with, the story needed some guidance.
Lucky for us readers, Philip and Erin Stead, the team behind the Caldecott Winning picture book A Sick Day for Amos McGee, took the reins in The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine.

prince oleomargarine

But how do you work with a dead man who was writing before the 20th century? By turning him into a character, of course.

In the story (and in real life), Philip goes out to a cabin on Beaver Island to write this story and converse with the ghost of Twain, who interjects in the first half of the story quite frequently. The banter goes on back and forth, with Philip Stead asking Twain “what happens next,” and when Twain’s own story doesn’t fit with Stead’s vision, he goes ahead, sometimes with Twain’s permission and sometimes without.

What ensues is a hilarious feat of storytelling that hearkens back to the oral tradition. As you read, you will feel the need to read this to someone else, to share the story. After all, aren’t the best stories meant to be shared?

So while the Steads make some changes, they stick to the theme that runs through all of their books–the importance of kindness.

The hero of the story, Johnny, is a young African-American boy whose grandfather is a “bad man.” His only friend in the world is a chicken named “Pestilence and Famine.”

He sells his chicken to an “old, blind woman, thin enough to cast no shadow.” This beggar woman gives Johnny a handful of pale blue seeds in exchange for the chicken. She promises him that if he plants the seeds under very specific conditions, then a flower will bloom. If Johnny eats the flower, he will never feel emptiness again. He plants the seeds, and one flower blooms. Johnny eats the seed, ravenous with hunger, but he does not feel fulfilled. He is about to give up when he hears a voice: that of a talking skunk named Susy. As it turns out, the magic flower allows Johnny to talk to and understand animals.

Johnny’s life with the animals is filled with peace. As the old beggar woman promised him, he does not feel emptiness because of his friends. But when they come across a notice proclaiming that Prince Oleomargarine has gone missing, Johnny and the animals go forward to help.

As it turns out, the King is very, very short. So, all of his subjects must stoop before him (or they will be enemies of the state). He claims that giants have taken his only son and heir to the throne. Johnny and the animals follow the trail and end up at the entrance to a cave, guarded by Two Ornery Dragons. AS the narrator says: “An important thing to know about dragons is this: They are always arguing with one another. No two dragons can agree on anything.”

And, as this is where Twain left Philip Stead to pick up the storytelling mantle, this where I will leave you to discover the rest of the tale.

Erin and Philip Stead

While reading The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine, I felt as though I was reading a long-lost classic children’s story. Which, in a way, I was. Thanks to the magic and artistry of the Steads, the gem of the original story is not lost. With Erin’s ethereal illustrations that are suited for a fairy tale of this magnitude, she brings Phil’s words, Twain’s eccentricity, Johnny’s pure heart, and the importance of kindness to life.

To borrow from Twain, I think the moral of the story can be summed up as such: “There are more chickens than a man can know in this world, but an unprovoked kindness is the rarest of birds.”

Philip Stead will appear at Lemuria on Monday, October 30, to promote The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine. He will sign books at 5:00, and he will read from the book beginning at 5:30.

‘The Great Gatsby’ dust cover has created its own story

By Lisa

On June 20, 2017

In Classics, Fiction, First Editions

In celebration of the release of John Grisham’s Camino Island, whose plot revolves around stolen F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscripts, Lisa has been tracing Fitzgerald’s career through his novels. You can read her examinations of This Side of Paradise here and The Beautiful and Damned here.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. New York, NY: Scribner’s, First Edition, April 10, 1925.

The cover art for The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Scribner) is one of the most enduring covers in book publishing history. It also said to be the most expensive piece of paper in book collecting.

Before the publication of The Great Gatsby in 1925, Scribner’s had published two novels by Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise (1920) and The Beautiful and Damned (1922). Both of the dust jackets for these novels displayed rather straight-forward scenes from the novels, a man and a woman in courtship. Color is downplayed with the use of three muted shades of orange, gray, and black.

The art of the Gatsby jacket by Cuban artist Francis Cugat is remarkable for its symbolic nature, its use of color, and its fine details. Two feminine eyes float over a nocturnal Coney Island carnival scene. Two nudes are subtly reclining in the irises. A brush of glare, or perhaps a tear, in the midnight blue sky as well as the explosive light emanating from the carnival scene below suggest tragedy.

While Fitzgerald was in the middle of writing The Great Gatsby in the summer of 1924, he was shown a draft of the jacket. His reaction is famously documented in a letter to Maxwell Perkins: “For Christ’s sake, don’t give anyone that dust jacket you’re saving for me. I’ve written it into the book.”This influence of a dust jacket on the writing of a book is one of the only recorded instances. Cugat never produced another dust jacket, but his art is still beautifully reproduced on the paperback copies that many high school students purchase for required school reading.

The Great Gatsby as a first edition (18,000 copies in the first printing) is not one of the rarest books, but the survival of the dust jacket is key. The jacket, made too tall for the book, easily chipped, which only encouraged the owner to toss the jacket into the waste bin before long. The dust jacket of The Great Gatsby is one of the most outstanding examples of increased value in a first edition. Without the jacket, a first edition may sell for under $10,000. With the jacket, the price can be upwards of $100,000.

Author Discovery: Katherine Rundell (Middle-Grade)

By Former Lemurians

On December 1, 2014

In Newsworthy

As one grows older, reading for hours on end is a luxury. More often than not, a book is read in bits and pieces. So it was delightful to discover the books of Katherine Rundell, who writes with such vivid lyricism that I finished both of her books, uninterrupted, in one Sunday afternoon.

Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms (Simon and Schuster, 2014)

This book is perfect to read, in fact, when it might be thundering outside. Wilhelmina Silver (or Will for short) loves running wild on the African savanna where her father is the foreman of Two Tree Hill farm. Rundell’s prose dances like the lilting speech of the savanna: “It was like the world was carved out of expectant silence. Will sniffed and tucked her legs under her chin. Her knees smelled the same as the air, of woodsmoke and earth. Had anyone ever been as happy as her?” When Will’s father dies of malaria, she is left an orphan and is sent away to boarding school in cold, urban London. Boarding school in England, she discovers, is not a place that welcomes racing, singing and cartwheeling, but is a gray contrast to her sunny Africa. Young readers will recognize Will’s journey to stay true to herself as the world around her changes. The magic of the African savanna comes from Rundell’s own childhood growing up in Zimbabwe, where she lived until she was 14.

Jacket (1)

Rooftoppers (Simon and Schuster, 2013)

Rundell’s first novel begins with the lines, “The morning of its first birthday, a baby was found floating in a cello case in the middle of the English Channel.” In Rooftoppers, Rundell flexes her storytelling muscles: “Think of night-time with a speaking voice. Or think how moonlight might talk, or think of ink, if ink had vocal chords. Give those things a narrow aristocratic face with hooked eyebrows, and long arms and legs, and that is what the baby saw as she was lifted out of her cello case and up into safety. His name was Charles Maxim, and he determined, as he held her in his large hands — at arm’s length, as he would a leaky flowerpot — that he would keep her.” Charles names the baby Sophie, and what follows is Sophie’s adventure to find her mother, whom she believes is still alive. As she races over the rooftops of Paris, young readers will be swept up in the magic of the story.

Jacket (4)

Written by Clara

Let’s Talk Jackson: Rediscovering Home

By Former Lemurians

On July 5, 2014

In Gift Books, Newsworthy, Southern Culture

“Girls, What would y’all think about publishing a book about Jackson?” John Evans asked one morning, and I was thrilled. The capitol of the great state of Mississippi is my hometown. I am a 5th generation Jacksonian, and I am invested in this community personally and economically: I work in a bookstore that has roots 39 years deep.

I made a list of all my favorite places I thought should be in the book: St. Paddy’s Day Parade, the Mississippi Museum of Art, the Welty House, various bars and restaurants, the Edwards Hotel and the Tower Building. I continued researching online, reading older books and asking around, and even as a lifetime Jacksonian, I discovered some local treasures I had never known about. I was astounded at what this city has to offer that I had not taken advantage of.

JACKSON LAMAR

The photographer Ken Murphy did a fantastic job of capturing the beauty and spirit of Jackson, MS, and I appreciate the city and his talent all the more for it. I know that purveyors of the book, whether you live in the city limits, in the Metro Area, or have moved on to other places, will once again appreciate Jackson as your hometown. As a proud Jacksonian (and bookseller) I am excited to be part of something that showcases the city I am proud to call home. And while we couldn’t include everything that Jackson has to offer in the book, I have a list of places to check out. I’m going to have to take some time to be a “tourist” in my hometown.

Written by Maggie

Jackson: photographs by Ken Murphy is available now for purchase. To order a copy, call Lemuria Books at 601.366.7619 or visit us online at lemuriabooks.com. Please join us in celebrating Jackson on August 5th at 5:00 in Banner Hall!

Cover of Snow by Jenny Milchman

By Former Lemurians

On April 12, 2013

In Mystery

You meet this wonderful man and marry him. You then move to a very small town in the Adirondack Mountains of New York where he grew up but you just don’t ever seem to fit in. You start a business where you are fixing up older houses and it is starting to really pick up. You have a wonderfully romantic evening with you husband and drink a little too much wine. You sleep late the next morning, wake up, and feel something is wrong. You find your wonderful husband has hung himself but left no note. What do you do next? You start asking questions.

Why would Brendan, who loved his job as a police officer, loved his hometown, and loved his wife and their future plans suddenly decide to end it all?

Nora decides to try and reconstruct her husband’s final days but has to contend with much resistance from his best friend and partner, his fellow police officers and other family members, mainly Brendan’s mother. It soon becomes very clear that she is asking questions that no one wants to answer and will do whatever it takes to keep the answers hidden.

Check out this great debut mystery, Cover of Snow, and meet Jenny Milchman at Lemuria on Tuesday, April 23. Jenny will be signing at 5:00 and reading at 5:30.

Funk and Soul Covers

By John

On June 27, 2012

In Music

Soon after I started reading The One, R. J. Smith’s fine new biography of “The Godfather of Soul” James Brown, I realized I didn’t know many of his funk albums. I didn’t even know what made an album funky or soul except by listening to the beats. I grew up on soul music, but as funk goes, I was inclined to spend my hard earned on World, Jazz and Blues. Growing up with the soul sounds of black music that baptized me in my junior high and high school years. And for me, the Godfather was my Soul King.

As I journeyed through The One, I became more curious about Brown’s funk period on vinyl, of which I own none but have listened to extensively since the CD era. While reading The One, I have enjoyed to its fullest Joaquim Paulo’s fine and extensive study, Funk & Soul Covers. I even found a few vinyl gems in my collection that are among the main stays of my musical listening experience.

In 1969, when I was forced to go to summer school to beat the draft, I was late and cut a must-be attended class that must be passed or go to 1A. (For you youngsters, 1A was a quick ticket to Vietnam.) The reason for being late was Issac Hayes Hot Buttered Soul in full album (both sides) was being played on the radio and I heard for the first time his version of Walk on By. Long songs made this record and I couldn’t stop listening. Hot Buttered Soul soon became part of my record collection. I flunked that class but squeaked by the second semester and did not have to visit the jungle.

In 1979, We Are Family by Sister Sledge played constantly in Lemuria as the World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates wives danced on top of the dugout at Three Rivers Stadium.

In 1974, my second most influential Soul and Funk Album is Oluntunji’s Soul Makossa, my first Baba Olatunji discovery. I found this gem in a small record shop in Washington, D.C. Before the Internet, young folks, record hunting was truly like prospecting.

Without question, my favorite, most listened to, most partied to, most drummed with, and a record that says it all about my choice of funk is the brilliant 1974 Wild Magnolias with the New Orleans Project which includes the great New Orleans hand drummer Alfred “Uganda” Roberts. Occasionally a record can change lives and for me and my pals, this masterpiece did just that.

Back to James Brown. Funk and Soul includes three James Brown covers. One is Mother Popcorn featured above. The other two featured are Get on the Good Foot and Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud. I ‘m not sure I have ever seen or listened to these albums.

If you have either of these three records bring them to share at our James Brown party Friday June 29 at 5:00 for a couple of beers. It’s vinyl time for James Brown as we celebrate R. J. Smith’s fine biography The One: The Life and Music of James Brown.

From Funk and Soul Covers, I have many CDs of the included, from which I have enjoyed countless hours of listening pleasure. However, many of the albums just passed me by. I don’t know if these are any good except for their cover art.

However, one album cover caught my eye and it has no accompanying description. I feel certain I would have bought it based just on the cover alone. In 1974, I guess I didn’t flip it by while I was browsing: Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky by O’Donel Levy. If you own this one, you would most likely remember the album art. It’s outrageous!

If anyone knows this record, please burn me a disc, bring it Friday night and I will give you a beer. If you have never seen this cover, check it out in Funk and Soul Covers.

Search results: "The Cove" Page 1 of 72

The Cove by Ron Rash

the art of the cover

William Dunlap’s new book rediscovers savvy, ingenious art of Mississippi’s Pappy Kitchens

Ace Atkins’ latest Quinn Colson novel, ‘The Shameless,’ uncovers mystery decades old

Discovery brings Twain back to life in kid’s bedtime story

‘The Great Gatsby’ dust cover has created its own story

Author Discovery: Katherine Rundell (Middle-Grade)

Let’s Talk Jackson: Rediscovering Home

Cover of Snow by Jenny Milchman

Funk and Soul Covers

Authors

Categories

Tags