Not Just Another Pretty Picture

The Masque of the Red Death

When I was a sophomore at Christian Brothers High School in Memphis, TN one of the requirements in my English class was to write a long “term” paper on a favorite author. Well, like any good moody young teenager, I was particularly drawn to Edgar Allen Poe. I read everything he wrote as well as a couple of biographies. Each story seemed to get stranger and weirder. I’d had no idea. It wasn’t until later, though, that, marinating like fine wine, some of the deeper meanings would sink in. One of those was THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. Stories in yesterday and today’s New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/12/us/politics/coronavirus-poverty-privacy.html?searchResultPosition=1; https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/nyregion/new-york-coronavirus-homeless.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage; https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/opinion/coronavirus-racism-african-americans.html) offers a stark and grim reminder that the spirit which led to Poe’s tale is still with us. Shelter in place? That’s all well and good for those of us lucky enough to have a nice spacious shelter or even more than one shelter. Big Surprise? The Marginalized and Minorities, especially African-Americans are suffering disproportionately. Yet as Poe reminds us in his dark and cautionary tale: from such a recipe there can be no real escape.
Soundtrack: Bryan Ferry’s cover (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5_NjVaeGoI) of “I Put a Spell On You”, the classic written & composed by Jalacy “Screamin’ Jay” Hawkins. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screamin%27_Jay_Hawkins

Footnote: the appearance by Bryan Ferry on a very young Jay Leno’s show is quite interesting. A big deal is made out of “legendary” guitarist Robin Trower who dramatically plays of lot of teeth-gritting whole notes (yawn) while no mention was made of the absolutely KILLER band featuring an incredible David Williams on Guitar, Nathan East playing Bass, Steve Ferrone on Drums, & Greg Phinganes on keyboards.