THE NINA-JACK SHOW
“I am afraid we are not rid of God because we still have faith in grammar.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche
Fearlessly facing nouns and participles, recklessly splitting infinitives, in come Nina Serrano and Jack Foley, KPFA’s interwoven pair. Today’s show will feature the usual mixture of wit, brouhaha, political awareness, music and daring do. A special aspect with be the recitation of Jack’s piece, “Noir” by the author and Sangye Land. Jack writes, “I’ve thought about Noir for years, grew up with its voices and images in my head. It was in a way the primary world-view of my childhood—the post-war world of the forties. What did all that mean? These days people think of Noir as strictly a phenomenon of film—‘film noir’ is a phrase invented by French critic Nino Frank in 1946—but Frank lived in France and didn’t fully understand how all-pervasive the notion of Noir was in the US: one found it prominently featured, along with film, in radio drama and even in comic books—both factors of my childhood. ‘Voiceover’ in so many Noir films is a conscious recollection of Noir on the radio. The audiences of the films had heard such voices in such stories on their favorite radio shows: Broadway’s My Beat; The Adventures Of Sam Spade; Box 13. Gunsmoke on the radio was a Noir Western. World-weariness, loneliness, paranoia were evident in the voices of the heroes of these stories—all of them post war but with the war haunting the consciousness of the people who lived through it. This piece was written as a libretto to be set to music by my friend Tony Perez.”
Here is a poem by Nina:
TEXTILE
(For textile artist, Elizabeth Serrano)
Bring your spinning wheel along
and we’ll make yarn while we chat
tell stories made of whole cloth
woven of ancient tales from families
cradling sorrows and pain
folded into creases and stitched tight
to hold fast the millenniums we birth
Blood oozing stains our thighs
that we open close and lift to move through life
Keeping us on the go
under over around and around
Patterns evolving as we mix colors to dye threads
tying our dreams to our actions
and the reactions they evoke
It makes a chain through the bloodline
knotting links connecting one to another
Fabrics blown in the breeze
the flag of the mind
fancifying words to dress up language
Glamorizing the charm of a ribbon that captures the heart
Unfurling uncurling
Inching along unmeasured yet growing
An evolution of consciousness cuddling with warm breath
Heating soft skin through the coldest night
The tale of survival persists
struggling through bouts of laughter and floods of tears
One ply, two ply, then five
Knitting the balls so we can dress for the elements blowing us about
Bring your spinning wheel along
and we’ll make yarn while we chat
tell stories made of whole cloth
woven of ancient tales
Under over under over
Pass the shuttle along
This loom as vast as the universe
in its constant motion in this unfinished
never-ending saga
moving towards eternity
knowing no end
On August 9 Jack will turn 79. He writes,
7 KEYS TO JACK FOLEY
- He is Irish.
- He is Italian.
- He is Irish and Italian.
- He is Irish and Italian and writes poetry.
- He is Irish and Italian and writes poetry and talks a lot.
- He is Irish and Italian and a Californian and writes poetry and talks a lot.
- He is Irish and Italian and a Californian and writes poetry and talks a lot and has wonderful friends who make him pictures and write him poems and wish him a happy birthday as he enters the hallowed halls of Antiquity with a leap and a bound and a tendency towards transgressive behavior. And what continent will you be in, Mr. Foley? I am likely to be in INcontinent. Heh. 79. Years flew. Still flying.
And from “Noir” (an excerpt):
NOIR
Means the labyrinth of the city
Means the labyrinth of the city
New York-San Francisco-Vienna-Berlin-LA
New York-San Francisco-Vienna-Berlin-LA
Noir
Noir
Is “post war”
Is “post war”
During the war
During the war
You had orders,
You had orders,
However insane
However insane
You had a structure
You had a structure
Called “command”
Called “command”
Now you are alone
Now you are alone
With no one to give you
With no one to give you
Orders
Orders
But the dangers of war
But the dangers of war
Are still with you
Are still with you
During the war
During the war
You had a sergeant
You had a sergeant
And a discernable enemy
And a discernable enemy
You could hate
You could hate
Now it is unclear, unclear
Now it is unclear, unclear, unclear
Who your friend is
Who your friend is
Who is your enemy
Who is your enemy
Now the war
Now the war
Seems to be within
Seems to be within
You don’t know
You don’t know
Betrayal is everywhere
Betrayal is everywhere
You associate
You associate
With the rich
With the rich
But you understand
But you understand
Their corruption
Their corruption
And you both want
And you both want
And don’t want
And don’t want
Money
Money