As we have discussed before Southern Literature’s common thread between generations is the downward slide of tradition. What was once de rigueur for entire families, has fallen out of fashion (or better yet disappeared out of increases in work, roles of respect, and the steady increase in civil rights.) By the Fifties, the “traditional” South was largely vacant as everyone moved to fast-growing urban centers. Walker Percy’s “The Moviegoer” jaunts around New Orleans, but not in any manner of locality (like his later discovery of John Kennedy Toole’s picaresque “A Confederacy Of Dunces.”) Percy, writing as his protagonist John “Binx” Bolling is lost in the gallantry of New Orleans. His vision of life there is gloomy as the swamp is burning, the sky is “the color of ashes,” and “the ironwork of the balconies sags like rotten lace.”
Everywhere around Binx, life is a post-WWII (post-Korea, as well) hustle and bustle. Binx is lost. Sometimes on purpose. For instance, when he takes dates out to the empty theatre by Lake Pontchartrain, where the wind whips the water waves so loudly you can hear them under the film dialogue. Sometimes on “command.” In keeping one of his many girlfriends “happy,” he takes her to dinner at the Blue Room because “this I am obliged to do from time to time.” Sometimes to be at peace with himself. While planning where he will next traverse on an empty playground. Percy creates an interesting image of Binx here. With all of his consumerism in place, and his combination of tools (newspaper, phone book, city map) set aside, Percy has Binx “stroll around the schoolyard in the last golden light of day.” Honestly, Binx has lost his childhood.
Percy carefully inserts the reasoning for this disconnect into Binx’s ongoing narration. His older brother Scott passed away from pneumonia when Binx was just eight. His father died, and his mother went right back to her job as a combat nurse in Biloxi. Binx was left behind with his Aunt Emily. While Emily and her daughter Kate did everything they could to make him part of the family, the loss of connection now has 30-year Binx unable to maintain any relationship. Even his job as a stockbroker (a family occupation at that) profits the most from clients passing away.
Even with all the talk about death and lives in general disrepair, Percy has a sense of humor about Binx existing in this world. He reads situations and people alarmingly well. In his Walter Mitty-esque daydreams, life still seems ordinary. Yet in a crowd in the teeming French Quarter, he reads fear in the faces of others as it reassures him that he may not be alone.
No matter what he surrounds himself with, there are only fleeting moments of happiness. When forced to live under the roof of other family members, he becomes catatonic and boils with inner rage. In his own sub-suburbia warmth of a basement apartment, he protects the only particles of his life that are tangible: birth certificates, diplomas, insurance, stock certificates, and anything letting it be known that Binx is a model citizen. His entire inner world is devoted to self-preservation as an object. This self-described “everydayness” of life is his insulation. As long as everything is in its place, Binx can conduct conversations with anyone and co-exist as a member of society.
Yet, Percy wants you to feel that it all still passing him by. Like his idols Jean-Paul Sartre and Soren Kierkegaard, Percy is obsessed only with the details of Binx being “human.” He was in Korea, and now and then, “flashes back” to not an event - but a strange feeling. “Everything is upside down for me,” Binx explains, “What are generally considered to be the best times are for me the worst, and that worst of times was one of the best.” His bout of cognitive dissonance is an awakening. Like Sartre, Binx’s reality has no guide. There is no one leading him toward the discovery of himself. Also, while he may feel like life, at times, has nothing to offer him - his insulated life protects him from feelings of nothingness. For instance, with every pretty secretary he starts dating - he knows and tolerates the long series of “sighs and silences” on the phone that signal that the dalliance is drawing to a close.
In addition, Binx has no real religion. His Aunt Emily is actually practicing Buddhism, while her servant (a tradition that is thankfully disappearing) Mercer is reading Rosicrucian literature. Binx is smart enough to identify these and other different religious applications. Unlike Percy’s other idol Kierkegaard, Binx is not looking for religion but he is living a life unfulfilled. (“The specific character of despair is precisely this: it is unaware of being despair” opens the book as its epigraph.) Honestly, what better way to illustrate a character so unmovable slowly embracing the need for change other than one who has everything? With every success or even “upside-down” time, the hole in Binx only becomes clearer no matter how pressed the shirt or starched the collar. The women are not conquests. The job is there whether or not Binx is. Aunt Emily and even his old Korean War buddies are there and will always be there like pictures on some lace-covered mantle. However, this malaise and amorphous feeling of having no compass are slowly taking everything away around him. Binx, despite all his intelligence in reading people, is missing the cultural erosion because of his devotion to the movies.
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Mik Davis is the record store manager at T-Bones Records & Cafe in Hattiesburg.
New MUSIC This Week
RED CLAY STRAYS - Made By These Moments [GOLD LP/CD](RCA) • Mobile's Red Clay Strays managed to take their TikTok stardom ("Wondering Why") to AAA/Americana heights last year. Moving up to RCA and recording with Grammy-winner Dave Cobb bode well for the Bluesy/Rootsy band. What does not: all of the pre-release singles hitting the same notes as the excellent "Moment of Truth."
GHOST - Rite Here, Rite Now [SILVER 2LP/2CD] (Loma Vista) • Before you say, "not another live Ghost album," this one is different. While it goes with the live film, it seems to be better equipped to play to the crowd. Rather than perform their successful show in sequence, "Rite Here, Rite Now" looks for crowd-pleasers. The first album stays heavily concentrated on mixing the recent "Impera" tracks with old favorites, while the second ramps up hard from the TikTok hit "Mary on a Cross" to the bludgeoning "Square Hammer," before locking in their beautiful James Bond-ian film closer, "The Future Is a Foreign Land."
FRED AGAIN - USB [2LP](Atlantic) • If you have not heard of this Grammy-winning EDM artist, you are missing out. Fred Again violates several of the establishment rules of EDM (and even Pop for that matter) on his way to making tracks that feature incredible beats. "USB" is 2022 UK-only recording where he incorporated samples and tested beats into a lengthy mix (he describes it as "infinite" - saying it is still going.) These are longtime fan favorites that have been passed around from phone to phone and represent Fred doing a lot of work to go back through the archives and rediscover the perfect stems to capture the blinding heat of his live mixes.
EMPIRE OF THE SUN - Ask That God [LP/CD] (Astralwerks) • Hampered by the worldwide shutdown and working to write over long distances, Empire of the Sun has finally returned with a Psychedelic Pop/Dance album that bristles with bright but introspective songs like the moving "Changes." While Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore reflect on how different the world is after eight years away, they show no signs of keeping you off the dancefloor.
REISSUES OF THE WEEK
RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS - Californication [RED BLUE 2LP](Warner) • The most important aspect of losing a vital band member and then bringing them back is making an album that feels like they never left. So, with "Blood Sugar" alchemist Rick Rubin, the Frusciante-fueled Chili Peppers explored the faubles of their new lives colliding with their rock star lives, and finally got another massive hit.
FLEETWOOD MAC - 1969-1974 [SEA BLUE 2LP] (Warner) • Before Lindsey and Stevie joined the fold, the transitioning Mac put out several great but underrated albums. "1969-1974" joins the period of losing Peter Green's blues vroom ("Rattlesnake Shake") and taking on a new streamlined Pop approach with the fantastic Bob Welch ("Hypnotized.") This double album finally makes sense of all the personnel changes and highlights what a stellar band they were.
WARREN ZEVON - Warren Zevon [DLX 2LP] (Rhino) • With a stellar reputation as a songwriter, Warren Zevon made his debut with all the promise of being a tenth as famous as former roommates Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Touring with Everly Brothers and having a couple of his songs picked up by other artists, Zevon made his debut with the help of Jackson Browne. While it did not chart very high in 1976, every singer/songwriter took notice and started covering his songs. Still far more intellectual than most California writers of the Seventies, Zevon's debut is classic and now has even more session material added to this special version.
THE POLICE - Synchronicity [PIC DISC LP] (A&M/UME) • Sting, Stewart, and Andy were on the cusp of the proverbial "something big" for a while. They just needed THAT moment. Even with a pair of Top 10/Platinum albums, The Police had not yet fully broken in America. In 1983, all that changed with one stark black & white video. With "Every Breath You Take" rocketing up the charts and into Heavy Rotation on MTV, The Police announced they did not need the reggae lilt anymore. "Synchronicity" was a bold sweeping Rock album with thought-provoking lyrics and twists/turns. Ironically, it was the simplicity of "Breath" that actually led the band to blows and that was almost enough for producer Hugh Padgham to walk out on producing this classic.
GRATEFUL DEAD - Shakedown Street [SEA BLUE LP](Grateful Dead/Rhino) • After the claustrophobic experience of "Terrapin Station," Lowell George of Little Feat entered to produce the Dead circa 1978. As the Dead dally with Disco, Reggae and other musics, "Shakedown" marks the end of an era. The Godchauxs will be gone and the edited versions of live favorites ("New Minglewood Blues") will fall out of favor on future albums. While it wanders a bit farther than what most Deadheads prefer, at least you get "I Need A Miracle" out of Bob Weir/John Perry Barlow.
DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS - Southern Rock Opera [SUPER DLX LP/BOOK SET](New West) • On the weight of songs like "The Living Bubba" and the wildness of "Pizza Deliverance," we almost landed an early DBT gig here in Hattiesburg. However, this 2001 classic changed their fortunes for good. While Patterson Hood and company had been kicking around a concept album since their inception in 1996, "The Rock Opera" took enough shape for a self-released CD. Raising 23,000 dollars and recording in the top of a uniform shop, the stories of Lynyrd Skynyrd and their legacy of hard-touring bands came easy to go to tape. When they completed their magnum opus, they made 5000 copies on CD ready for release on September 12, 2001.
Universal critical acclaim followed and demand soared for live shows, interviews and more copies. By the time they paid off all their promissory notes, they had a record deal with Lost Highway who released it nationwide in July 2002. Now the truth can be told as the entire 3LP set is here to explain how a possible screenplay turned a sweaty September recording session into a career-making classic.
CONJURER - Mire [LP/CD](Nuclear Blast) • Rugby's Conjurer create some vicious Godzilla-paced industrial Metal. Beyond the growling and screaming, Conjurer bang out slow grooves that have their alignment in common with Sludge Metal. However, once they rev up to thundering Death Metal double-kick speed, the dynamics and the stairstep guitar riffing hit you like blasts from a nail gun. Their Holy Roar debut in 2018 was only heard by about 1000 lucky buyers. Finally, their aggressive first salvo can be heard on our shores.
