The Bayou Maharajah himself: James Booker. (photo by Henry Horenstein) “…His music pushes the boundaries of what is possible on the piano with an intricacy that surpasses Chopin. It was this complexity that attracted me to Booker. I needed to find out how a man could be both barely tolerated and completely loved – and how his music might make that possible.” ––Lily Keber, Director’s Statement  Bayou Maharajah , a film by director Lily Keber and producer Nathaniel Kohn on the life of the late New Orleans genius of jazz James Carroll Booker III made its Savannah, Georgia, debut before a full audience at the Telfair Museum’s Jepson Center for the Arts on December 19, 2013. Keber’s exceptional accomplishment in Bayou Maharajah has been acknowledged with several important awards. Among them are: the Oxford American’s Best Southern Film Award, and both the Audience Award and Special J...

                                Cover of Notes to the Future by Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu . “Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves.” ––Nelson Mandela, Presidential Inauguration Address When Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela stood before the people of South Africa on May 10, 1994, as its first black and democratic president, the moment represented much more than a personal victory. It embodied the kind of glimpse into humanity’s potential for harmonious coexistence that history rarely provides. Neither the concept nor the practice of persecution were invented the day Mr. Mandela began as a middle-aged man serving his 27-year prison sentence on Robben Island in 1963.  There are nevertheless, in his case, the notable distinctions of excruciating sacrifice, phenomenal grace, and uncommon personal evolution which moved almost 100 wor...

        Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy greet poet Robert Frost. (photo by Reuters) During observations from November 16 - 22, 2013, of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, various news commentators noted a history-changing event of a different kind involving the four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Frost. When invited by President Kennedy to become the United States’ first presidential inauguration poet, Mr. Frost dutifully composed for the occasion a 77-line poem frequently referred to as “Dedication” and now published in his collected works, The Poetry of Robert Frost , as: “For John F. Kennedy, His Inauguration, With Some Preliminary History in Rhyme.” However, when attempting to read the poem at the ceremony on January 20, 1961, the glare of sunlight reflecting off snow made it impossible and Frost instead famously recited from memory the much shorter 16-line poem titled “The Gift Ou...

                   Albert Camus graphic with quote by Aberjhani provided by Postered Poetics . After kicking off the Text and Meaning Series with an article on Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech in August, the latest installment is on Albert Camus’ classic book, The Myth of Sisyphus. The Text and Meaning Series is one reminder that some of the battles we’ve found ourselves struggling through in 2013–– as if thrashing while asleep and trying to wake from nightmares–– have been fought before. In many cases it was believed victory had already been won. I started the Text and Meaning Series largely as a way of introducing classic works into conversations on current topics and events. It presently consists of the following: 1) Text and Meaning in Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream Speech 2) Text and Meaning in Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance 3) Text and Meaning in Langston Hughes The Negro Artis...