Edward Whittemore yet again

It’s strange… reading Edward Whittemore’s books, no matter how often you do so, you still find yourself being mind blown by some piece of writing. It could be a brief phrase in a conversation that somehow sends a frisson through your brain at its aptness to the context of the moment and the entire setting of the novel. Whittemore’s writing has extraordinary depth. It is very wise, I think.

Take this short extract from Nile Shadows:

Long thoughts standing around like pilgrims outside an oasis, leaning on their staves and restlessly waiting to be spoken to life. Talk, the poor man’s gold. The thirsty man’s water.

It has that wonderful imagery of the pilgrims (in keeping with the Middle East setting) as an analogy for the brain’s function in formulating and expressing ideas in speech.

Reading Whittemore, as I have been doing over the past few months in order to gather a collection of quotations for a calendar for 2009, has delivered many of these moments of deep recognition that something serious and truthful is being expressed in the prose. And the prose, besides, is very beautiful.

It must be the tenth time I’ve reread the Jerusalem Quartet, but each time the books reveal further subtleties.

Nile Shadows is the third volume of the Jerusalem Quartet and is not even set in Jerusalem, but in Cairo during World War 2. It is an espionage novel, but it is also much more than that. In fact, it has to be the most unconventional spy novel ever written.

After the razzle dazzle of the first two tomes in the tetralogy, Nile Shadows is a much soberer novel and is thus sometimes dismissed as not up to the dizzying heights of invention of Sinai Tapestry or Jerusalem Poker. Certainly it is darker in mood, but by no means inferior to the two earlier novels in style or content. Every time I read it I am astounded by it and deeply moved.

It is written in a highly unusual way, complete with exquisite Whittemorian prose, as a series of conversations between individual characters. Conversation/talk dominates this book, but the conversations are so enthralling you are never bored. Somehow or other the action of the novel forges ahead despite or because of the all the talk.

As an aside, Whittemore does not use quotation marks and minimal punctuation. The writing is so good that I for one didn’t even notice it the first time I read the books, nor has it mattered since. It is always clear who is talking, but quite how Whittemore manages this is beyond me. I think a lot of it has to do with the how the words are spoken. Whittemore’s books read well out loud, for instance, the excerpt above. The punctuation doesn’t make sense until you speak the words in your head.

Here’s another extract from Nile Shadows which somehow expresses the inexpressible:

I suppose we all have to delve into the Egyptologist’s craft now and then, and there even seem to be some hieroglyphs involved. A code, so to speak. Things I can’t decipher because there’s no Rosetta Stone for this one.

It strikes me as amazing that Edward Whittemore’s books are not better known He’s been obscure for decades and even when he was alive never sold many books, but no one writes or has written quite like him, before or since. He’s unique and I feel privileged to be part of his small world wide devoted readership.

Midnight in Heidelberg

Danny O' Keefe - 29 February 2008

On Friday night I ventured into the wilds of Eaglemont and, inadvertently, Heidelberg which are suburbs to the north from where I live.

All this was for the Danny O'Keefe house concert. I caught the train to Eaglemont and puffed my way up a steep hill to the house where the event was taking place. It took me a while to find it as it was tucked away out of sight from the road. Luckily it was still daylight, otherwise I doubt if I would have found it at all, not being in the least familiar with the area.

Once inside I eschewed the wine (fortunately, as it turns out) and found myself a good position up the front in the room where Danny O'Keefe was to perform.

The concert was rather good - Danny O'Keefe is an old trouper and an excellent song writer and singer. He has a rather high voice, rather unusual in fact, but it suits his style. He sang about thirty songs in all, many of them unknown to me as I am not all that au fait with his music. I took notes for a review for Nu Country which I have yet to write.

By the time the concert finished it was quite late, and I was wondering how I was going to make it home. Trains were out of question as they have a reputation for being dangerous late at night, so a taxi was my only option. However, taxis were hard to come by in that part of town, but some people who had attended the show and were leaving offered to drive me to the nearest station - Eaglemont - then thought I would have a better chance of finding a taxi at Heidelberg station, so they dropped me off there.

By this time it was about midnight and of course there were no taxis in sight or at the taxi rank. Nor were there any trains running, as when I asked the railway official at the station when the next train would be running, he curtly informed me, 7.00 in the morning. I wandered the deserted streets of Heidelberg for a while looking for a taxi, feeling ridiculous and somewhat desperate. Eventually I made my way back to the station which fortunately had a pay phone. I don't have a mobile phone, so a pay phone was my only option.

It all turned out well in the end. I called a taxi company and booked one. I should have done this as soon as I was dropped at the station. Expecting to wait for a quarter of an hour at least, I was relieved when a taxi showed up shortly afterwards and I was able to get home at last. Hopefully , I'll never find myself in that situation again. I was glad I was sober at the time, with my wits about me, though I was a tad worried all the same.

Anyway, the photo above is one I shot on the night - in black and white for a change.

Live Music - odd connections and coincidences

There are no in store performances this week at Basement Discs, but I am going to a house concert for Danny O’Keefe on Friday evening. I have never been to a private house concert before so I’m interested in how it all works. This concert is by invitation only so will be a small and intimate event.

There’s a bit of a story attached to my invitation to this event...I met the people, Peter and Jane, who are hosting it, at the Northcote Social Club Teddy Thompson concert in November 2006, and we got talking as you do. They provided accommodation for Danny O’Keefe when he last toured here in November 2005 and had maintained contact with him since. I sent Peter some of the photographs I had snapped of Danny at his Basement Discs in store performance and directed him to a review on Nu Country written by an old Danny O’Keefe fan who had attended his show at the Corner Hotel and sent the review to Nu Country.

After that I didn’t run into Peter and Jane until the Mary Gauthier show at Northcote Social Club in January last year and not since.

However Peter knew I was interested in Danny O’Keefe so he invited me to the house concert.

Danny O’Keefe is famous for writing the song “Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues” which has been covered by many notable singers including Elvis Presley, Willy Nelson and Jerry Lee Lewis. He co-wrote a song with Bob Dylan and has been pursuing a music career for over 40 years. He is a masterful performer in his own right, so it should be a good night’s entertainment on Friday.

Interestingly enough, I received an email from Danny O’Keefe, way back in November 2001, a few months after I had launched the Edward Whittemore site saying:

"I had been speaking with my friend Tom Robbins, another fan of Edward Whittemore's and whom I initially turned on to "Quin's Shanghai Circus", and he wondered what had happened to him. I didn't know either, but today I did a web search and found him, through your grace.

"Quin's Shanghai Circus" was given to me many years ago, in galley form, by a writer friend, Barry Farrell, who I believe had been asked to review it. I fell into the book and was so enthusiastic about it that I tried to option it and get someone interested in it as a film. No one was, but what a wild film it could be.

I had lost touch with Whittemore's writings after reading "Jerusalem Poker" and "Sinai Tapestry" and occasionally wondered about him. I can see his effect on writers like Tom R., especially in his latest book "Fierce Invalids".

I think they would have enjoyed each other and I'm sure I would have enjoyed hearing the conversation.

I hope the reissues will be met with the appreciation they deserve. I have ordered the two books from the quartet I had missed and look forward to reading them.

Thank you for keeping the light.

Peace, in wartime, Danny O'Keefe"

On the subject of interesting emails, there was an email sent to Nu Country earlier this week from Pete Finney, the steel guitar player in the Dixie Chicks band. He was keen to get a copy of one of the photographs I had taken at the Dixie Chicks show in 2006 and had included in my review of the concert on Nu Country, which shows him pictured with the three Chicks. He said it was rare to find such a photo as he’s normally stuck to the side of the stage and seldom gets into the picture. Surprisingly my photo, even though it was shot from a fair distance away from the stage, is quite sharp and faces are distinguishable and not just blurs. I sent him a copy in the original size and he was very grateful for it.

It’s a small world…

Autumn Racing Carnival – Week 5

This Saturday sees the running of the Group 1 Futurity Stakes at Caulfield. For former star performer Miss Finland, it’s her last chance to prove herself as a race horse; otherwise she will be retired to the breeding barn. She was disappointing in the spring, winning only one race, and this autumn has not raced to expectations. There has been some criticism on the way Miss Finland was trained last year, and her trainer readily admits it was a mistake to try her out at longer distances. This year she is being aimed at middle distance races, so the Futurity, run over 1600 metres (a mile), should suit her down to the ground. Watching her performance this autumn in the shorter races, Miss Finland appears to be starting her run just as the race is about to finish. At present, she is the favourite for the Futurity – logical I suppose as she is the class horse in the field.

I made a few changes to my top 30 stable this week, seeing as how several of my selected runners have been retired or sustained injury, like Empire’s Choice, Wonderful World, Maldivian and Eremein. I’ve replaced them with Light Fantastic, Paratroopers, Sebring and Princess Coup.

Two new stars of the Australian turf

It's not every race day that you come across outstanding performances by young horses, but yesterday's Blue Diamond Stakes meeting resulted in the emergence of two young potential stars. First there was Light Fantastic's run in the Group 2 Perri Cutten Cup, where he won in sensational fashion, nudging out his stable mate Vivacious Spirit to win by a length. He is a handsome 3 year old grey gelding and it was only his third start. His racing debut was only four weeks ago on a country track on which occasion he won by several lengths. He also won his second start last week at Moonee Valley, scoring by two lengths. Of course the racing media has gone into rave mode since his win yesterday, but he does look to be a genuine potential star. Anyway, it sure will be interesting following his career from now on.

The other sensation of the day, was Weekend Hussler's win in the Oakleigh Plate, where he demolished his older rivals with an easy win. The Hussler was the star three year old performer last spring, and it appears he has come back better than ever. His trainer has always said he is the best horse he's ever trained. He may well be right.

New Zealand mare Princess Coup also caused a flurry when she won the St George Stakes against a strong field, which included group one winners, Maldivian, Mentality, Fuimicino and Magnus. Maldivian, despite starting favourite yet again, put in a shocker of a performance which doesn't encourage me to regard him as anything special, not that I ever thought him a truly first class performer anyway.

After all the excitement of the earlier races, the Blue Diamond itself was an anti climax. It was won by Reaan, a son of Hussonet, as is Weekend Hussler. I was however impressed by the run of Burgeis, who finished a close third.

So all in all it was great day to watch the races on television and I'm glad to have found another favourite to follow in Light Fantastic and also his stable mate, the filly Vivacious Spirit who was certainly not disgraced by her defeat.

Blues for a Sultry Day

I hot footed it down to Basement Discs at lunchtime today to catch Collard Greens & Gravy playing live. I say hot footed because I dressed inappropriately this morning donning boots instead of sandals, as the weather report was for rain and a cool change. The day so far has been warm and humid, so my feet feel a little warm.

The Collards put on a great show of splendid blues, drawn primarily from their latest CD Devil in the Woodpile. They are a trio ensemble, with Ian Collard providing vocals as well as playing harmonica and guitar, James Bridges playing tasteful slide guitar and Anthony Shortie on drums. Ian Collard has a superb voice rather reminiscent of Tim Buckley and it is appropriately suited to blues. He is also a very masterful harmonica player.

There was a reasonable crowd at Basement Discs to see the boys perform, as they are a popular local band and are recognised as one of the best blues outfits in the country.

Check out their My Space page to hear some of their songs.

There is a veritable feast of music acts performing at Basement Discs in March – Hans Theessink, a Dutch blues master, Danny O’Keefe, famous American singer songwriter, Ruthie Foster, also from the USA , the new queen of blues and soul, the wonderful Ron Sexsmith, from Canada and the renowned Aussie rock band Spectrum will be returning to the Basement stage at the end of the month.

So, lots of great lunchtime shows to look forward to.

Rediscovering Barbara Pym

For the past few weeks, as well as still being in the process of rereading Whittemore, I’ve taken to reading Barbara Pym again. I have a small collection of her books which I haven’t looked at for years.

I started with Excellent Women, a very good choice it turns out, as it typifies the Pym style. The Barbara Pym style is basically a cosy type of story with handsome vicars, distressed gentle women, jumble sales and the making of endless cups of tea being common threads through all her novels. Nothing much really happens, certainly nothing shocking or violent, but they are page turners all the same and beautifully written. A delicate irony infuses Pym’s prose and sharp and witty observations of human frailties and foibles keep the reader interested and entertained.

The emphasis on churchy settings is not in any way religious, but rather used in a social context. There is an old fashioned charm to Barbara Pym’s novels, set as they are in the post war world of the 1950s, however her observations on the human condition are universal and thoroughly modern. She has been described as the chronicler of quiet lives and her characters are unremarkable people. The heroine of Excellent Women is Mildred (not a name you hear these days) Lathbury a youngish spinster, happy to be so. Her life is made interesting by the arrival of the Napiers, Rocky and Helena, to occupy the flat below hers. Helena Napier is an anthropologist and Rocky seems to exist solely as a charmer of women and as a social assett having spent the war in Italy attached to the Admiralty making Wrens feel at home in foreign parts. He’s a splendid character and Pym’s artistry as a writer is made patent through his characterisation as a shallow, but personable man.

Anthropologists also feature in Pym’s novels, as she worked for many years at the Africa Institute and had first hand acquaintance with the species. The wonderfully named Everard Bone is Helena Napier’s colleague and adds another dimension to Mildred’s quiet life which has until the advent of the Napiers, revolved around the local church scene and her part-time job of providing assistance to distressed gentlewomen.

Barbara Pym wrote twelve books in all, but only achieved fame shortly before her death, when she was nominated as the most underrated writer of the century by Lord David Cecil and Philip Larkin, in an article in the Times Literary Supplement in 1977.

I am currently reading A Glass of Blessings another of her well regarded early novels. I picked up two of her novels, missing from my collection today in a second hand bookshop.
They were Some Tame Gazelle and An Unsuitable Attachment.

Here’s the first paragraph from Some Tame Gazelle, to give you some idea of Pym’s style:

“The new curate seemed quite a nice young man, but what a pity it was that his combinations showed, tucked carelessly into his socks, when he sat down. Belinda had noticed it when they had met him for the first time at the vicarage last week and had felt quite embarrassed. Perhaps Harriet could say something to him about it. Her blunt jolly manner could carry off these little awkwardnesses much better than Belinda’s timidity. Of course he might think it none of their business, as indeed it was not, but Belinda rather doubted whether he thought at all, if one were to judge by the quality of his first sermon.”