Furious cool : Reviews

The Irish Times.
David and Joe Henry make plain their love for their subject without ever drifting into hagiography. The result is an intelligent and beautifully written book, which is full of heart and which rescues Pryor’s legend from the unfortunate, fat Elvis period of his later movie career. It sent this reviewer scouring the house for an old DVD copy of Richard Pryor: Live in Concert to enjoy again the man in all his heartbreaking, broken brilliance.

villagevoice.com

"We didn't set out to write the definitive cradle-to-grave biography of Richard Pryor," say the Henry Brothers, "We chose to go exploring, mine the soil out of which he grew . . ." Despite the Cultural Studies disclaimer, the authors — brothers, one a screenwriter, the other a musician — have fashioned Pryor's unruly tale into a coherent narrative with a lot of respect to the context. They investigate the story that Pryor's grandfather got crushed between railroad cars in 1925, and they interview natives of Pryor's unlikely hometown — Peoria, Illinois, for God's sake — demonstrating along the way how inappropriate a simplistic documentarian approach would be for such a contradictory, profane-yet-profound figure. Or let's say curious fool.

chortle

The creative slump was perhaps inevitable, and Pryor’s decline into unwatchable movies is acknowledged, though not dwelt upon, in the book, as the Henrys seek to polish his professional reputation, not tarnish it, even while acknowledging his deep failings as a decent human being.

Their passion provokes in the reader a renewed admiration for such groundbreaking work, and if anyone who knew Pryor more for Superman III than his comedy seeks out his stand-up after reading their book, their job will be done.

the spectator

"every page carries something either appalling or amusing — Furious Cool is an energetic contribution to the written history of stand-up comedy."

Laphams Quarterly podcast
(an interview with Joe and David Hery)

theprojectroom podcast
(an interview with Joe and David Hery)

undercovers
It’s a must read for any Pryor fan and may create plenty of new ones who will watch any Pryor DVDs or movies they can find.

Find more reviews on God is in the details' review page

Wild edges : getting ready

The Independed daily at duke university, called the chronicle, has an article about the concerts this weekend.

This weekend is the 'wild edges' project I talked about in a previous post.

From the duke article :

about the venue :

“It is a really impressive acoustical space,” said Aaron Greenwald, director of Duke Performances, of the former African Methodist Episcopal church. “The room handles reverberation quite well, so you don’t get distortion.”

The unusual dimensions of the wide and wood-paneled space enhance the acoustics that define the center as exceptional for performing and recording music. 

about Joe's part of the gig :
Joe Henry, ....................will lend his voice to the tight harmonies and rich lyrics of Cincinnati band Over the Rhine and Los Angeles duo The Milk Carton Kids.

about recording it :

............Greenwald admitted that none of the previously recorded albums from Hayti performances have been released in a widespread fashion. However, he has hope for this particular project.

“There’s a very real chance that this will come out as a record,” he said.

Read the full article here.


Organiser Duke performances has released a rehearsal picture on twitter.

'Wild Edges' rehearsal today. @JoeHenryMusic, Levon Henry, @MilkCartonKids, @overtherhine, Jen Condos, Jay Bellerose. pic.twitter.com/S6qGer6mvj
— Duke Performances (@DukePerformance) April 9, 2014

Update April 11 :
 'God is in the details' posted a link to over the rhine's website. They have a nice photo diary with more rehearsalphoto's.
Duke performances posted another rehearsal photo on twitter.

Wild Edges rehearsal @ dP: @JoeHenryMusic, @overtherhine, @MilkCartonKids, L.Henry, J.Condos, J.Bellerose. Sold out. pic.twitter.com/qe7heqkNQP
— Duke Performances (@DukePerformance) April 11, 2014

The Joe Henry Conversation

One for the archives....

Last february, there was an episode with Joe Henry on 'Compared to what podcast'.
The 'Compared To What Podcast' is produced by Charlie Hunter and Mocean Worker.



Topics covered during the session :
 - The book Joe and his brother David had out, about Richard Pryor, ”Furious Cool-Richard Pryor And The World That Made Him”
- Discovering Jazz as a kid , Joe’s having grown up in suburban Detroit the son of a father in the auto industry.
- The making of Joe’s album “Reverie” and the importance of sound in recordings and everyday life in general.

 from the site :
Lastly this description would be useless without mentioning the great Little Jimmy Scott. Mostly because Little Jimmy Scott is truly an American Treasure. ( Joe and Mowo! have also worked with him. ).

The podcast is still online. Listen to it here

Critic Jim Fusilli about Scar

Jim Fusilli is an American writer who is the rock and pop music critic of The Wall Street Journal and author of seven novels and one non-fiction book.  He resides in New York City. (source)

Jim Fusilli wrote about the album 'scar' in the series : catching up (a new series in which we look at great 21st century albums.)

Read the article here.

He ends the article with : 

"...Thus, “Scar” was a milestone in Henry’s career:  a summit after his early work and a springboard for what followed and is yet to come."

Wild Edges : A collaboration

Next week Joe will be performing together with 'Over the Rhine' and 'the 'milk carton kids'.

This is old news actually, the concerts are already sold out and take place on April 11 & 12 in  the Hayti Heritage center in Durham.

But this is not a 'standard' concert in their tourschedule. 

The 2 evenings are organised by duke performances.

It will be an evening around 'the great american songbook'.
The evenings will be recorded for an album. 


.......This one-of-a-kind ensemble is set to engage, according to Henry, the “Great American Songbook,” performing a set of original songs that “embraces songwriters from Robert Johnson to Jimmy Webb, Woody Guthrie to Nina Simone.”

".....in front of a live audience at Hayti Heritage Center, Henry, Over the Rhine, and The Milk Carton Kids will perform and record an album of new songs they wrote together, taking advantage of the flawless acoustics at this former AME church."

On Joe's Facebook, there is a picture of them together working on it.

Post by Joe Henry.

I'm not going to be able to see 1 of these shows, but I am looking forward to the result of it.

Update from Joe's facebook (April 5, 2014)
so, here it comes, finally- our fully collaborative performances of all-new songs, written by commission of Aaron Frank Greenwald and duke university: the wild edges, happening next friday and saturday evenings at the hayti heritage center in durham, NC.
to say i am looking forward would be to understate something of tremendous significance to me. to boot...
we will be joined in performance by jay bellerose on drums, jennifer condos on bass, and Levon Henry on reeds; and the whole of the enterprise shall be recorded by the one and only Ryan Freeland.

am grateful for the opportunity; and i hope i may see some of you there.
— with Karin Bergquist.

Release date Europe 'Invisible hour'

Invisible hour will be released in Europe and in the UK on May 20th.
US  release date june 3rd.


from Joe's facebook.

may i please reveal, this will be released in the UK and in europe may 20th; and in the US on june 3rd. i am most proud of this one...

Tickets for 'The Birchmere' Washington on sale.

Tickets for the Washington show are also on sale.

You can find them on ticketmaster.

P.S. Boston tickets you can also find on ticketmaster. (see previous posts)
For the other concerts : see Joe's official website.