Finish the book!

I've read several articles and social media posts recently along the lines that if a book doesn't grab you after twenty or thirty pages then give it up. Your time is too precious to waste.

Which all seems fair enough. There's no point spending time struggling through a bad book.

But what if it's not a bad book? What if it's a book that others have recognised as fine book, maybe even a masterpiece? Why did you consider reading it in the first place?

In one of those articles, by Marianna Mazza in La Presse, she complained about a two-page description of the winter sun she came across in a book, how it really annoyed her, so she closed the book and abandoned it. So with that mindset the long-windedness of Marcel Proust would not be for her, evidently. But on the other hand, perhaps that's why persevering with a Proustian novel might be perfect for her. By opening her mind to a different sensibility she might gain a new appreciation for the viewpoints of others. She might even become a more patient person. 

I suspect that Marianna Mazza is an advocate of inclusion and diversity in the world, for whom empathy for how others feels is an important value, and here's a way she could embrace that in a very personal way.

Alain de Botton wrote a clever book on this topic: How Proust Can Change Your Life.

One of his points is that Proust was quite deliberate in his style, as he wanted readers to slow down and really pay attention to the scene, and ultimately to the world around them. Botton, a philosopher, describes how habitual behaviour causes us to overlook the beauty around us, that we go through much of our lives on automatic pilot, and that there is much to be gained by focusing on the rich detail all around us.

 The writer L.M. Sacassas is often very wise on these matters. Here he is on the difference between being a tourist through life, or a pilgrim:

The way of the tourist is to consume; the way of the pilgrim is to be consumed. To the tourist the journey is a means. The pilgrim understands that it is both a means and an end in itself. The tourist and the pilgrim experience time differently. For the former, time is the foe that gives consumption its urgency. For the latter, time is a gift in which the possibility of the journey is actualized. Or better, for the pilgrim time is already surrendered to the journey that, sooner or later, will come to its end. The tourist bends the place to the shape of the self. The pilgrim is bent to shape of the journey.

Rhiannon Giddens in Ottawa

Last week I finally got to see Gillian Welch, and this weekend I finally got to see Rhiannon Giddens. You wait years for the opportunity to see one of your favourite artists and then you get a week like this! 

Giddens brought one of her (many!) bands, The Old Time Revue, to the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, mostly playing banjo and fiddle music from her latest album What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow. It was an unforgettable evening. Giddens is just an incredible musician, singer, composer, historian, and chronicler of injustice, who is equally at home in folk, blues, or opera. The Southam Hall at National Arts Centre was packed, and the audience completely rapt from her first notes. She covered most of the new album which really has to be heard live to fully appreciate it, infused with the energy of her playing and that of long-time musical collaborator Justin Robinson.

She did a few songs from her back catalogue too and I had tears in my eyes at her performance of her song "At the Purchaser's Option", her voice completely inhabiting the story of the enslaved girl who is raped and abused by her "purchaser":

You can take my body 

You can take my bones

You can take my blood

But not my soul

My francophone partner-in-life came with me to the concert and she in turn was brought to tears my Giddens' encore performance of Un Canadien Errant , sung in perfectly-pronounced French:

Un Canadien errant,

Banni de ses foyers,

Parcourait en pleurant

Des pays étrangers.

This is not a well-known song but it's hard to think of a more apt one, considering the themes it shares with many of the other songs she played (themes of forced migration, dispossession) and also considering the politics of this moment in time (an African-American  - albeit one who lives in Ireland these days - coming to Canada and singing a patriotic French-Canadian song). There were a couple of moments where the concert could have veered into capital-P Politics but Rhiannon Giddens is too good an artist for that - she shows you, she makes you feel, she makes you think, but then she lets you draw your own conclusions. 

There are so many sides to her music that I really hope to see her again soon with one of her other projects e.g. her collaboration with The Silk Road Ensemble, or with Franceso Turrisi, or with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, etc. etc. etc.

 

 

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings at Carnegie Hall

I've been boycotting many American products these past months in response to the hostile actions of the Trump administration towards Canada. But I bought the tickets for this concert when Kamala still had hope, and I sure as hell wasn't going to let the orange ogre stop me from finally seeing Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. Their music has been important to me for at least two decades, and besides, as Gillian sings, "hard times ain't gonna rule my mind".

So Martine and I drove to New York in our not-a-Tesla electric car, taking in this concert on the Wednesday, and a visit to the Metropolitan Opera on the Tuesday (where we saw Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting Salomé - that'll have to be another post!).

Welch and Rawlings were spectacular. Acoustically, Carnegie Hall was perfect for the subtleties of their music. The hall was packed, the audience wildly enthusiastic between songs and hushed during them, and there were two brilliant encores. The whole evening was just one sustained highlight for me that will live long in the memory so it's hard to pick out any one song, but the cover of The Grateful Dead's "China Doll" was unexpected and Rawlings' playing on it was exquisite. The aforementioned "Hard Times", "Revelator", "The Way It Goes", and more, were all hold-your-breath stunning. And the final song of the evening was a raucous cover of "White Rabbit" that had everyone on their feet.

Screen capture from a YouTuber's recording
of their performance of Revelator.
Carnegie Hall, May 7th 2025

I had an exchange with Gillian Welch on Instagram last year where she confirmed that the Woodland tour will eventually come to Canada - so I hope to see them again soon.