Exclusive Extract from
Gil Scott-Heron's
The Last Holiday
To mark the anniversary of John Lennon's murder (December 8, 1980), here is an exclusive extract from Gil Scott-Heron's forthcoming memoir, The Last Holiday, in which Gil recounts the night that he and Stevie Wonder were playing the Oakland Coliseum as part of the Hotter than July Tour.
The purpose of the tour was to try and force legislation to make Martin Luther's King's birthday a national holiday. Dr King, another great man who worked for peace, was shot and killed on a motel balcony in Memphis on April 4, 1968. That assassination is one of the starting points for The Last Holiday. But little did Gil and Stevie know when they arrived in Oakland on this fateful night that another tragic murder was to take place.
As well as the text of the Lennon chapter (which was originally titled Deadline), we have also included an audio reading of the chapter that Gil recorded with his long time producer, Malcolm Cecil. Interestingly this recording dates back to the early 90s when The Last Holiday was a third person narrative in which he refers to himself as The Artist throughout. Gil decided in the end that the book worked best in the first person which is why the two are different and he did not have time to record this section again.
We feel it is a powerful and moving piece and hope you agree.
And look out for The Last Holiday which we are launching next January (on Martin Luther King Day)
To listen to the audio, click here.
To download the chapter, click here.
To go to the Gil Scott-Heron channel, click here.
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Jamie Byng, publisher of Canongate Books, was a friend of Gil Scott-Heron for more than 20 years. During 2010 they recorded this interview in London where the rapper-poet talked about his life and work, interspersed with intimate performances of his music.
via: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mHG7Ls5rgP8
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Writing on the Wall :
ADW salutes
Gil Scott-Heron
by on Dec 6, 2011
Picture lifted from ADW's Facebook back, just click to zoom over there.
Graffiti is probably something that is going to sneak on to StompMag more and more. It’s something which has always interested me and a passion for it was fostered by my girlfriend to the point where I walked into All City one day and dropped as much on spray cans as i normally would on vinyl. I never quite developed to the point of delivering anything with artistic merit but happily there are plenty of people in Ireland who have and one such person is ADW.
Below is a vid of his smashing tribute to Gil Scott-Heron, so we are not skirting too far from our brief due to the musical connection.
Irish Stencil artist ADW's Homage to legendary poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron.
Completed over two separate dates due to concerned granny at 0:55 taking photos of all involved and meaning business immediately went to phone the Guards...we bailed! Finally returning a week or so later to finish off...relief!>via: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYGJ1bFLw9U&feature=player_embedded