Black and White Comics

The first article the Leopard ever published was for a comic book fanzine called Amazing Heroes.  Back in 1989, comics were still not mainstream - it was before the Spider-ma n movies, before the Summer blockbusters adapted from comics like The Avengers. It was still a world of kids and fanboys. We actually read the things and talked about the stories, the artists, the writers. 
 I was trying to break in to the comic business at the time as a cartoonist, and still read superhero stuff.   I loved comics –especially as a child, but one thing that always bothered me was how they depicted minorities, particularly African Americans.

The portrayals were usually stereotypical and often offensive. Superheroes almost by definition were were square-jawed,  uber-muscled white men. There was almost no portrayal of them as anything else, except the odd sidekick.

So I wrote an article about how I felt they were depicted in comics. I even drew the Editorial illustration.

It may have been among the first of its kind.

Amazin' Zadie

One of the most exciting novels to come out of the late 90’s was the Dickensian epic White Teeth. The then 25 year-old British novelist Zadie Smith burst forth into the literary world as a new Talent To Watch.

Born in a London working class family and daughter of a Jamaican mother and a British father, Smith was also a physically striking woman, which made her the subject of countless articles and photo spreads. She won numerous awards (The Orange Prize for fiction for one) for her incredibly smart, multi-layered works. This month, Smith unleashed her fourth and newest novel, NW.

The jury is still out, but The Leopard will be among those first on line for a copy.

The New York Review of Books review by Joyce Carol Oates can be seen here:

Happy Birthday, John Coltrane

The Leopard does not like to speak in absolutes, and I don't like to compare art. Yet, when I'm really honest with myself, the one whose music has mattered to me the most is that of John Coltrane.  His method of communication, jazz, and more specifically, his expressive tool, the saxophone, cuts straight to my heart and closes around it, like a fist, or a hug. He is everything I strive to be as an artist, and everything I admire.

Today, John William Coltrane would be 85 years old (younger than my own father). He was born in Hamlet, North Carolina on September 23, 1926.

Thank you, Mr. Coltrane. Your music lives on. 

Click here to listen to the Coltrane composition "Tunji".

Dragonfly

The first time the Leopard saw a dragonfly was when I was about 7 years old.  I'm a city kid, but in the summer my family and I would go visit relatives down south. My grandmother used to take us fishing in a small pond. I remember hot, humid summers sitting in silence by her side, waiting for a bite as mosquitoes buzzed around us.

One day a huge insect that looked to me like a tiny helicopter hovering just a few inches above the water rushed toward me like a torpedo. It shot right past my ear. I was horrified! I grabbed onto one  of grandma's large, ample arms and cried out. It seemed to swing around the pond and come back towards us, making a terrible zzzzz sound as it swept past. I had never seen an insect that big and I screamed, holding her tighter. Grandma said, "Aww baby, they ain't gonna hurt you. They eat the mosquitos. They helpin' us."

After that, I fell in love with dragonflies. They may be my favorite insect. Streamlined and beautiful, they may be one of nature's most perfect creations.

Brad Mehldau

-->

Because of my interest in this music, The Leopard is sometimes asked who are some of the best artists around these days.

Even though at 41 I wouldn’t call the brilliant musician Brad Mehldau a “young lion”, his experience and pianistic prowess is quite remarkable for his age.

Mehldau has often (unfairly, I think) been compared to Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett, and even though there may be some validity to that as far as primary influences, Mehldau has  a  sound all his own. Drawing from classical , pop and jazz idioms, Mehldau is a trailblazer. He’s played with only the most exemplary of musicians – Joshua Redman, Charles Lloyd, Pat Metheny,  Jon Brion, and many more. He’s also responsible for the recent custom of bringing in more contemporary music to jazz, such as Radiohead and Neil Young with great success.   

Click this link to see youtube video of song  Wyatt's Eulogy For George Hanson from Brad's album "Ode"

Moondog

In a pivotal scene in the comedy Pineapple Express, James Franco as a fuzzed up marijuana dealer and Seth Rogen as his erstwhile customer meet in a cluttered apartment for a transaction.  In the weed-clouded room, the boys wax poetic about the wonderfulness of chronic while a strange, slithery jazz plays in the background.

I was immediately attracted to the oddly surreal music, and a quick stop on IMDB brought me the desired information: It was the work the brilliant blind composer/musician/inventor Moondog.

Moondog (real name: Louis Thomas Hardin) was the epitome of the outside artist.  He was born in Kansas in 1916 an moved to New York in the 1940s where he became a street musician. He was a fixture on 53^rd street and 6^th avenue for over 30 years and was well known to the community  for his eccentricities: he sported a flowing white beard and homemade viking outfit complete with a horned helmet. He played his strange music on curious self-invented instruments, but counted among his admirers and friends established musicians like Leonard Bernstein and Philip Glass. 

Even though Moondog’s music is often characterized as avant-garde, it is strangely accessible. Though wholly original, there’s humanism to his style that, even in the soundtrack of a Judd Apatow movie, commands attention.   

Click hear Lament I: Bird’s lamenthttps://www.box.com/s/c9ba9ef82c22e09b3e7e

Gabby & The Gold

The Leopard has had few occasions recently where I have felt incredibly proud in that strange way when you feel good about something that isn't quite personal, actually outside yourself, but just as moving.

I was watching the recent Olympic games, which I never do, and my attention was grabbed by a tiny gymnast with a big talent. After watching competing China and Russian gymnasts - both incredibly skilled & professional, there was something about the cute black girl with the giant grin that set her apart. Her routine had heart, but also precision.

So when this talented young lady from somewhat humble beginnings won the gold, the hairs in the back of my neck sprung up and took notice. Gabby Douglas could not exist in any other place under any other circumstances. I felt proud of her and what she achieved as if she were a sister or a daughter.