Black Music Month 2023: Serendipity

One reason that I am always behind on various reading goals is that I am always juggling multiple goals. So, yes, I was working on Black music, but there are six other lists on my main tracking page and then other things come up, like books about birds.

(Because different materials tend to combine in surprising but good ways, I am okay with that, even if I periodically wish that I was 100 books or so ahead.)

My comics reading tends to be more spontaneous than planned, but there are a couple of series that I have been meaning to check out for a while and decided to get to this year. That had me thinking, well, how many volumes does the library have for Bee and PuppyCat and for Stumptown.

As I did a quick keyword search, there was this intriguing result, When Stumptown was Jumptown, A Sam Allen film. 

What is this?

It is a 45 minute film about the Portland jazz scene starting during World War II and for about 25 years after.

It is a student film, and I don't even mean a college student film. When he is talking about Century High, I was thinking he meant when he had been there, but no, he was a sophomore, and in the credits thanked a family member for doing all the driving, because he couldn't yet.

In terms of cinematic quality and editing and focus, it is not a great film. Also, Sam Allen is a little too enamored of himself as an artistic, musical, not-like-the-other-kids kid. Those are both probably age appropriate.

However, there in the first shot is the Aloha Mall! Then there are places I recognize in Beaverton, and Jimmy Mak's and Shute Park and Dick Bogle!

The movie itself is inspired by a book, Jumptown: The Golden Years of Portland Jazz, 1942 - 1957 by Robert Dietsche. I had not been familiar with him or the book, but he was a co-founder of Django Records. That name was totally familiar because the mother of one of my best friends worked there. (And I will read that book, but not this year.)

So there were all of these little flashes of recognition, which I enjoyed a lot. It is also important that someone filmed it, because we have lost of a lot of those those people since the movie release in 2005. 

It was a good find, and a surprise.

There was another surprise, though not quite as delightful.

For all of the movies and videos that I have been able to find, there are two that have been eluding me, and I just may need to put them off.

Joseph Shabalala: Music is My Life (2022)

The United States vs Billie Holiday (2021)

The issue is streaming of course. I know exactly where to find the Billie Holiday movie, but I don't have Hulu, and this is not really the time to sign up for new channels. If I do go that route, there will be other things I will want to watch, so I am not taking that lightly.

For the Joseph Shabalala movie, it may even be available for free, but my searches kept leading me to Apple TV+. I decided to sign up for the trial, and was shocked to find out that the free trial was only one week; most services give you a free month. I was just going to make sure to watch it right away, and then end the trial.

Once I completed signing up and signing in -- even though I was clicking on prompts to watch the movie to even get there -- they did not have it available.

However, they had a link to CODA (2021) which I have been wanting to see. It was really good, it gave me lots to think about, and I don't regret that.

I do think that Apple TV+ sucks the most out of all the different streaming platforms, and I do not love that business model under the best of circumstances.

Of course, CODA does not relate to Black Music Month (despite quite a bit of Motown), but it fits in with other interests. 

It will probably come up again.