Don’t go to the mountains alone
Tropicalfete’s tribute to African American struggles
Jahzrel Henderson, Kiah Henderson and Sheila Thomas
performing “The African Experience.” Tropicalfete, Inc. /
ALTON AIMABLE
Caribbean Life, MARCH 12-18, 2021 23
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
Keep your eyes open. Don’t
blink.
Sometimes, that fraction of
a second is all you need to miss
something. Blink, and you may
wonder if it really happened, or if
you just think it did. Blink again,
and you just don’t know. So keep
them peepers open because, as
in the new novel “Blood Grove”
by Walter Mosley, bad things can
happen in a…
From the hollow look in his
eyes, it was obvious that the skinny,
nervous white man standing
before Easy Rawlins was a veteran.
The guy, Craig Kilian, sported
a bruise on his left temple
and a bunch of Franklins in his
hand, and claimed that another
veteran sent him to WRENS-L
Detective Agency because Easy
Rawlins was trustworthy.
The story he told Easy probably
wasn’t.
Some time before, Kilian
said, he was camping in the
mountains around Los Angeles,
dealing with his demons in
Book cover of “Blood Grove” by Walter Mosley.
the moonlight when he heard a
woman scream outside a cabin
nearby. He ran to her and found
her tied to a tree, then he wrestled
with a bear of a Black man,
stabbing him in the chest before
Kilian was hit in the head and
knocked out. When he woke up,
there was no woman, no man,
and no blood. Did he kill a man,
or just think he did?
Finding a ghost or a dead man,
neither is simple. Easy started by
going to the veteran’s hang-out
where Kilian said he first heard
Easy’s name. He took Christmas
Black to the mountains, where
Black said that there were more
than three people at the cabin.
Kilian’s mother got a visit, so did
a beautiful escort, a stripper, and
so did a corpse named Alonzo.
The case could’ve gone in any
direction, but when the owner
of a “talent agency” came looking
for him with two goons and
guns, Easy Rawlins knew that
the next step was his…
You know how it is: you get
to the end of a chapter in a book
you’re reading, and you sense
that that’s a good place to slip
in a bookmark and stop for the
night. But author Walter Mosley
won’t let you do that.
Get “Blood Grove,” and you
might as well just put that bookmark
in a drawer.
Set in 1969, in a Los Angeles
that resembles a small town, this
book is full of everything you
want in a mystery – foremost, a
smart private detective with an
attitudinally-matching name, a
California-sized heart, and what
seems like three extra sets of eyes
so he never misses a thing, even
if you do. Wrapped up in a dark
atmosphere and more murders
than you can almost keep track
of, that’s the ultimate delight.
For fans, Mosley goes the
extra step, offering a chance to
catch up with the dark characters
that Rawlins has called
“friends” in past novels. If you’re
not a fan, grab this book and you
will be quick. Just don’t grab it
after dark: “Blood Grove” will
keep your eyes open all night.
“Blood Grove: An Easy
Rawlins Novel” by Walter
Mosley
c.2021, Mulholland
Books
$27.00 / $34.00
Canada 309 pages
Blood Grove author, Walter Mosley. Marcia Wilson
By Nelson A. King
Brooklyn’s Tropicalfete,
Inc. cultural group on Friday,
March 5 partnered with New
Lots Learning Center, Brooklyn
Public Library in celebrating
Black History Month by
paying tribute to the struggles
of African Americans.
Alton Aimable, the St.
Lucian-born founder and
president of cultural group
told Caribbean Life on Monday,
“The celebration was a
tribute to the generations of
African Americans who struggled
with adversity to achieve
success. There was an added
bonus offering the community
resources to empower themselves.”
The organizers streamed
the event live on Facebook,
YouTube, Periscope, Twitch
and LinkedIn.
Aimable said he and Jermane
E. Graham from Literacy
Zone, case manager, Brooklyn
Public Library, gave welcome
remarks.
He said vocalist Cheryl Vincent
and pianist Ras Vally performed
a medley of four songs
– “Day O,” “One Love,” “No
Woman No Cry,” and “Lioness
on the Rise” — and that Tropicalfete’s
Steel Pan Ensemble
and Tropicalfete Stilting Unit/
Limbo “were in the spotlight
with their performances.
“African dance, drum and
spoken word were masterfully
put together by Kiah Henderson,
Sheila Thomas and
Jahzrel Henderson,” Aimable
said. “That performance took
the audience on a journey from
slavery to today’s struggles.
“A moment of silence was
called for the sacred African
American burial grounds in
New York City, with sounds
of nature in the background
with the images on the screen
showing Manhattan: African
Burial Ground National Monument,
The New Lots African
Burial Ground future development
and Schomburg Center
for Research in Black Culture,”
he added.