Tag: Jazz

“Gil Scott-Heron’s posthumous memoir, The Last Holiday, plays back the life of a musician whose scorching political writings and recordings reflected the social injustice faced by African-Americans, inspiring today’s rappers.” —Elissa Schappell, Vanity Fair

Global loud mouth extraordinaire, societal rabble-rouser or fearless middle-finger waving poet agitator? Gil Scott-Heron wore all these labels shamelessly. He was, and still is, that singular black voice transcending the color line, challenging and thought-provoking. He was an attentive antenna transmitting the angst and global injustice of corrupt industry, ineffective political processes, and our blissful ignorance concerning not only race but the human conditional. He wanted to shock us out of our inefficacious complacency and to elevate our consciousness, to such a degree as to allow us all to acknowledge our sameness and collective and universal interdependency.

And perhaps now, albeit posthumously, he can occupy your eye space and breathe awareness into your very own precious and fortuitous existence. Here, the memoir The Last Holiday, with the help of writer-editor Tim Mohr, the thoughts and life story of Gil Scott-Heron are woven together into a coherent and wholly über interesting tapestry.  Revealing a man who walked the earth and let his words to the heavy lifting and the fighting. For more about this wonderful book, well read the memoir. It can be purchased at fine independent book stores everywhere, or visit Grove Press and for additional books, music and poetry by Gil Scott-Heron visit gilscottheron.net. Peace.