-m>{_,_4. ._ . .___.__M___#, _ g

Mountain High

Calvin Levels Ascends James Baldwin’s Heights

 

BY KEVIN MCATEER

“The truth about the past is not that
it is too brief, or too, superficial, but
only that we, having turned our faces
so resolutely away from it, have
never demanded from it what it has
to give." — James Baldwin, Notes of
a Native Son.

Mountaintop, a one-man play
performed by Tony Award nomi-
nee Calvin Levels, tells the rich and

James Baldwin: Down from the

' complex story of James Baldwin’s

life. Baldwin, one of America’s
greatest 20th century writers, was an
out gay African American whose col-
lected works range from charged
p'olitical essays ‘to engaging fiction.
Baldwin addressed the
intersections of race, sexuality, and

_ class at a time when few others took

such risks. Giovanni ’s Room — pub-
lished in 1956 by a British company
after being refused by several
American publishers — is central to
the gay canon and often featured on
the syllabi of lesbian and gay litera-
ture courses.

Down from the
Mountaintop, performed last month
in the Billings Center at the
University of Vermont, was one of
the many highlights of the University
Of Vermont’s National Coming Out
Week 2004 programming. As did
Baldwin’s own writing, Levels’ dra-
matic adaptation and passionate per-
formance demanded from the audi-

ence a serious consideration of all
that the life of Baldwin has to offer —
both for its historical truth and its
applicability to the current political
and social climate.

The play offers an ethereal
representation of Baldwin as he visits
the Broadway stage where a perform-
ance about his life is about to take
place. As the actor who will portray
him waits backstage, Baldwin tells us
he would like us to hear the truth
about his life directly from the ,
source. As the story of Baldwin’s life
unravels, Levels’ production makes _
use of an accompanying slide show
and framed photographs as part of an
otherwise simple living-room set
design. The slides and photos serve
as visual introductions of individuals

' who influenced Baldwin: B’aldwin"s “ii

father, writer Richard Wright, artist
Beauford Delaney, and Lucien
Happersberger, Baldwin’s closest
friend and lover.

One of the earliest influ-
ences on Baldwin was the church. He
became a preacher at age 14.
Growing up in Harlem in the 1930s,
Baldwin took what the church
offered: an alternative to a working
life — subject to rampant prejudice —
or a life of crime. In The Fire Next
Time, Baldwin admits that it was his
“good luck” that he found himself in
“the church racket instead of some
other,” for “being in the pulpit was
like being in the theatre; I was ’
behind the scenes and knew how the
illusion was worked.”

In Down from the

Mountaintop ‘Baldwin’ proclaims
that as a preacher, “I was the greatest
actor in the world!” I realized I was
watchingan actor playing a historical
figure who was anticipating an actor
to follow him to portray the story of
his life. This staging of Baldwin’s
story raises questions about how
Baldwin may have used the methods
of acting during other times in his
life both to survive the discrimination
he faced and to point out the short-
comings of the societies and classes
in which he traveled.

Levels’ Baldwin continues
his story by reading highlights from
selected works including Go Tell It
on the Mountain (his first novel),
Giovanni ’s Room, Blues for Mister
Charlie (a play written in response to
the murder of Etnrnitt Till), and his" ‘
last work of fiction, Just Above My
Head. He also shares gossip about
his tenacious relationships with other
writers such as Norman Mailer and
Lorraine Hansberry, and activists

- Martin Luther King and Malcom X.

The writer’s network could be
exhausting, not so much because of
the impressiveness of the list, but.by
the high level of emotional invest-
ment Baldwin made with each of
these individuals. Levels captures
this emotional intensity not only in
his onstage impersonation of
Baldwin but also in the thoughtful
writing of Down from the
Mountaintop, which reflects the sty-
listic integrity of Baldwin: clean
writing done with an unquestionable
passion.

     mfbuntains

 

Calvin Levels’ dramatic adaptation
and passionate performance
demanded from the audience a
serious consideration of all that
the life of Baldwin has to offer.

Levels used creative
license to insert contemporary politi-
cal commentary into the play noting
the war in Iraq. His inclusion of a
contemporary issue illustrates the
timelessness of Baldwin’s writing
and its relevance to our own ability
to address some of the problems
Baldwin had attempted to resolve
during his lifetime. Down from the
Mountaintop ends with a hopeful
plea from Baldwin expressing his
desire that ‘.‘somewhere they will use
something I left behind. And if they

do that, I’ve accomplished some-
thing." There remains a tremendous
amount for all of us to learn from
what Baldwin has left behind.
Levels’ production is a creative
approach to capturing the heart and
essence of all Baldwin desired as a
writer, which was not just to write,
“but to disturb the peace.” 7

Kevin Mc/lteer works for Middlebury
College, is a graduate student, and in
his “spare" time, writes for OITM
from Bristol.

I 3;. -;

OUT Standing Indie Rock-Folk

BY LLUVIA MULVANEY-
STANAK

In an age with so many singer-
songwriters and hip folky gals
With guitars, it is rare to find a musi-
Cian who stands out from the crowd.
With her new album Single Bullet
Theory, Pamela Means steps out
from her indie peers with a sound

that is so original you would think
she invented indie rock-folk.,It’s
fresh. It’s mellow. And it’s even got
that political punch that makes it
truly folky, with songs ranging from
covers of the jazz classic “Strange
Fruit” to original pieces like “O.D.”

' that lyrically chronicle Dick

Cheney’s oily-capitalistic past.
The true essence of
Pamela Means is her intense guitar

  

playing. If you have caught her live
in the typical little coffee joint in
some metro-college-coffee shop
New England town, you know how
hard this woman plays — there is a
hole in her guitar from how hard she

 

strums! You get treated to an instru-
mental track halfway through this
album with “Mother’s Day” which
clearly displays her true gift for the
guitar.

Despite its heavy title,
Single Bullet Theory displays her
mellow side. Each track flows to the
next to create that rare, true album
experience. The tracks will teach
you history and current events and
how to respect the crazy ways of the
heart.

Pamela Means is every bit

an independent musician. She has
the passion, the guts and the dedica-
tion to do it on her own. Just skim-
ming the linear notes reveals she has
some of the best company in the
indie artist world: Alix Olson, Doria
Roberts, and Ember Swift — just to
name a few.

Constantly on tour, con-
stantly “playing it” how it is, and
constantly addressing topics ranging
from racism to heterosexism,
Pamela Means and her new record
are well worth your pennies. V