Robert H. King @ Babylon Falling, 11/20, Toni Morrison on West Coast Live in Oakland, 11/22, and Poetry at Rebecca's Books 11/23

Last weekend was as busy as usual. This weekend is going to be even busier, not to mention first Fridays in December with all the holiday shopping. Don't buy anything today though. As a matter of fact, everyone should hold onto their cash, it's probably going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

The book reading at Babylon Books in San Francisco last Friday evening was a lot of fun. I didn't realize Toni Morrison was being feted not far away at the Fairmount Hotel. I would have popped by for that intimate gathering, but I saw the email invitation too late. Just as well, she was fabulous the next morning at the West Coast Live Broadcast in Oakland. The show included Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Ensemble, Bela Fleck and Victor Wooten, and an author. It was a great show, especially the addition of the choir, which was a musical score for Morrison's story, The Mercy, a pre-slavery tale--her process reminds me of the late August Wilson, whose 100 year sage, was not written chronologically. Morrison tackles these epochs in the African American sojourn via her characters and themes, similarly out of sequence. But just like Wilson was inspired by Romare Bearden and the jazz musicians of his time, Morrison is similarly inspired by the culture of the eras she explores, her goal like Wilson, to tell our stories.

Photo's by Wanda Sabir, All Rights Reserved.