Here’s another portrait inspired by the Blue Danube Coffee House in Alameda. (I’m still a little disappointed that this cafe no longer calls itself Java Rama. The old name was so much more fun to say!) Over the weekend I made a quick stop at the coffee house, just to see what kinds of tea were on the menu, now that the place was under new ownership. Waiting at the counter was the man who inspired this drawing. I was immediately struck by the curious fact that he had almost the same haircut as Roy Orbison, except that his hair was super curly and Roy Orbison’s hair was completely straight. I offer this drawing as a salute to the brotha with the Roy Orbison hair. If you happen to see this, you know who you are.
Two kinds of people who always capture my eye are 1) people with cool glasses and 2) nerds. So, when I spotted this guy at Blue Danube (A.K.A. the coffee house formerly known as Java Rama) I immediately took notice.
I was thinking about age and wisdom today, and the importance of experience. I’m thinking especially about my maternal and paternal grandmothers and my maternal great-grandmothers, both of whom I knew throughout most of my childhood. When I think about about these amazing Black women–all of whom, in addition to their intelligence, also bore the wisdom of having seen and experienced so much change in their lifetimes–I think of the older Black men I know, most of whom I met during a 3-year stint volunteering with a local service agency for seniors. I think of one gentleman in particular, named George. I called him on the phone every Friday morning, and I would always look at his photo while we were speaking. His expression was contemplative and accepting, but not complacent. This was also reflected in the tone of his voice and in the things he said during our short conversations. We rarely spoke more than 15 or 20 minutes, but I think of him to this day. Wherever he is, I wish him well, and I thank him for his example. If he is still living, may he have health, happiness, and family all around. If he has died in the years since we last spoke, then I say rest in peace, George. Rest in peace.
If you’re a fan of the UFC, then you know that tonight’s event features an exciting fight card that will culminate in a decisive battle for the light heavyweight championship. The fight will pit regining champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua against against top light heavyweight contender Jon “Bones” Jones. At the present moment, Jon Jones is the number one African American contender in the UFC. Mixed martial arts is much more racially diverse than boxing, and while there are African American competitors, the proportion of Black fighters to their white and Latin American counterparts is much closer to the proportion of Black people in the U.S. population at large. Today’s drawing is a tribute to all of the Black fighters in the UFC. Best of luck to Jon Jones. I’m hoping to see him win with 2nd round submission against the champ, but I settle for a unanimous decision at the final bell.
This in another drawng inspired by the Me’Shell Ndegeocello concert at the New Parish. I saw this guy up at the bar and I was immediately struck by the luxurious thickness of his awesome beard, and by the fact that he had no mustache. It was like a Black-hipster-Abe-Lincoln look, and I knew it would end up in a drawing. 8-Rock
This drawing is composite of several men I saw on line at the bank. The line for customer service reached almost to the front door and no one seemed very happy about the wait.
The Me’shell Ndegeocello concert last Friday at the New Parish was a great example of how satisfying a good cover can be in the hands of the right music ensemble. Me’shell Ndegeocello did a great set of Prince covers. The highlights included her versions of “Pop Life,” “Controversy,” and “Party Up.” While I would have loved to hear her do more from Purple Rain, her interpretations of key early hits were more than enough to make this an outstanding show.
The biggest surprise of the night, however, was the opening band, headed by singer and musician Martin Luther. Their set was amazing. Their Beatles covers were soulful and tight, and they threw in songs by The Police and U2 that had the whole crowd singing along.
About this drawing: Even though they were standing near the stage, in full view of the band, the men in this drawing never sang along to any of Martin Luther’s songs. It was hard to tell whether or not they were having fun at all, though they did clap energetically at the end of the set. They might have been saving all their enthusiasm for Me’shell, but I cannot say. I lost sight of them before she went onstage.
When I saw the man in this drawing in the Barney’s restaurant on College Avenue, it got me to thinking about the relationship between race, ancestry, and color. The thing that I love about drawing people of African descent is the way that it highlights how unimportant color really is when it comes to questions of race and ethnicity. Few of the figures in this series of pictures (of African American men) are depicted as having brown skin, and yet their race/ethnicity is apparent through other features like their hair, their noses and their eyes. For most Black people today, our ancestry is written on our bodies in ways that are far more complex than the simple color of our skin, and yet even our features and our hair only amount to a minor suggestion of the richness of our identities; and for some, the common association of certain characteristics with the identity that we call Blackness feels more like erasure than affirmation.
Here’s the backstory: A little warmth and sun seems to bring everyone outdoors. I spotted the subject of this drawing on Piedmont Avenue where he was stopped right outside the windows of Gaylord’s cafe. He was chatting with some friends who were seated at the sidewalk tables. Though they aren’t visible in the drawing, his hands are resting on his bicycle, a nice vintage Cannondale, made back in the years when that company still built its bikes one-at-a-time. I was seated inside doing some database research, but it was nice to be able to look out the window and enjoy the warmer weather vicariously, though the bikers and strollers and outdoor table sitters whose comings and goings made it feel like spring just might be on the way.
Bay Area drivers sometimes seem to be operating according to what amounts to an unwritten handbook of how to drive poorly. The agreed-upon rules seem quite simple:
4-way stop signs are just a suggestion.
Turn signals are optional.
Cellphones should be used only when you are driving.
Text messaging should be done only when you are driving in rush hour traffic.
Please drive 5-10 miles below the speed limit, but only when you are in the passing lane.
Passing should only be done on the right.
It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to figure out that these unwritten rules have made crossing the streets a nightmare for pedestrians. The man in this drawing was nearly run down by a minivan while he was attempting to use a crosswalk on San Pablo, near Stanford Ave.The driver of the minivan was talking animatedly on her cellphone and did not seem to notice the man who was making his way across the road. You’ll notice that the left arm in this drawing (his left arm) is extended, but the hand is off the page. That was the hand with which he responded to this near miss, with a vulgar gesture that the driver did notice, and to which she responded with a vulgar gesture of her own. With one hand making a gesture and the other one holding her cellphone, I’m not sure what she was using to steer!
