| Good reportage on celebrities is a dying art. It seems that all you have now is Vanity Fair-styled wankfests where rich people are risen to godhood and praised for vaguely considered ideas on life, which means what they wear and who they date.
Author and journalist Touré has stepped up the game with his collection of essays and editorial pieces, Never Drank the Kool-Aid (Picador, 400 pp.), a series of portraits and other pieces on hip hop and black culture. The ubiquitous title deserves some explaining, as it comes from the deadly Kool-Aid that followers of Jim Jones’s cult drank to kill themselves – the Jonestown Massacre. Touré says that throughout his career, he’s never "drank the Kool-Aid," which is to say that he’s maintained a relationship between insider, fan, friend and reporter. This is legitimate, considering the fact that many of the essays have appeared in everything from Rolling Stone, which has sucked for years now, to the Believer, which is always fascinating, and all of them carry equal weight and intelligence.
This is mainly due to his approach to journalism, which, rather than straight reportage, takes a fly-on-the-wall approach – he isn’t afraid to get involved and find some tasty tidbits. He doesn’t skewer celebrity, but doesn’t pander to it either – if Beyoncé’s physical obsession with her body and her queen bee egotism appear ridiculous, it’s because, well, it is.
More intelligent subjects get extra credit. The interview Touré has with Roots drummer ?uestlove proves to be both challenging and informative, carefully orchestrated to dance around various curiosities, while sneaking in some tough, naked questions. Throughout the rest of the collection, he plays poker with Jay-Z, slams Mary J. Blige, and in one truncated but amazing essay, calls Condoleezza Rice a house slave. The book is a must-have for fans of hip hop heroes and culture gurus.
Events of note this week: at McNally Robinson, on Thursday, March 16 at 12:30 p.m., Katherine Barber presents her new book, Six Words You Never Knew Had Something to do With Pigs, digging around to find the roots and bizarre meanings behind English words. Later that evening at 7 p.m., Gary Botting reads from his new book, Chief Smallboy: The Pursuit of Freedom, a history of the chief who encouraged a return to a traditional aboriginal way of life.
The next Word Silo lecture, on Saturday, March 18 at 2 p.m. will be held at the Memorial Park Library, and is entitled The Friendly Gun: Cowboys, Childhood, Guns and Me. Led by Dr. Rod McGillis, it explores the pull old-west narratives have on the adult imagination.
Irish author Edward Rutherfurd will be here to read from his new novel, The Rebels of Ireland, the conclusion to his Dublin saga. The event, hosted by Pages, is on Monday, March 20, at 7:30 p.m. in the John Dutton Theatre, at the W.R. Castell Central Library.
Tonight, Thursday, March 16 at 7 p.m., Single Onion hosts readings at Hole in the Wall Studio from spoken-word artists Marlene Cookshaw (Lunar Drift), Carrie Schiffler and Kirk Miles.
And of final note: prolific author Frederich Busch (Invisible Mending) passed away last month. He was to be here in Calgary on Wednesday, March 29 as the University of Calgary’s Distinguished Visiting Writer. Instead, a series of readings from his works will take place on the aforementioned day, at 7:30 p.m., in the Rozsa Centre at the University. |
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