The Lovers’ Chronicle 3 June – blues – art by Theodore Robinson, Raoul Dufy, & Mikhail Larionov – birth of Josephine Baker

Dear Zazie, Here is today’s Lovers’ Chronicle from Mac Tag.  Do you get the blues?  Rhett

The Lovers’ Chronicle

Dear Muse,

any blues song would work
so lets go with Stevie Ray;
‘’I’m a love struck baby
Yeah I’m a love struck baby
You got me love struck baby
And I know just what to do’’
’’Just remarkable the way he could play’’
i had every album, and played them often
after his statute was erected on Town Lake
in Austin, I would stop by every chance i got
this was before i understood what it meant
to feel blue and then when i did, his music
and others, played loud, came as a comfort 
’’And now my darling’’
i no longer git blue but i am love struck 
‘’And you know just what to do’’

© copyright 2023.2024 mac tag/cowboycoleridge all rights reserved

the more things change, the more some things stay the same, still love the blues, no longer git ‘em but still listen to ‘em, began when i was in college in Austin at the right time, when Stevie Ray was just gittin’ started, as a feelin’, that began early with mother, her battles went beyond the blues, next was the first encounter with a lover whose blues sometimes had her bed ridden, my own encounters followed, but now with you, i only go there for the music

© copyright 2022.2024 mac tag/cowboycoleridge all rights reserved

not now, not as a way of life
commencin’ with a familiar groove
we stay, keepin’ all else at bay

our nothin’ else matters place
dues fully paid, no down payments
we stay, keepin’ everything away

these ensconced moments
sought after, even fought for
we stay, keepin’ our way

© copyright 2021.2023 mac tag/cowboycoleridge all rights reserved

Pale Love, Pale Rider

each time i set out
on this journey,
chasin’ the blues,
the verse on the way
lights the lonesomeness

whence comes solace
from seein’, from doin’,
sufferin’, bein’

in cleavin’ to the dream
and in gazin’ at memories

we two keep house,
the past and i,
leavin’ me never alone

© copyright 2020 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

for T

descendin’ with that familiar groove

we stay, because of the storm,
within the car’s dry recess,
through the minutes slowin’,
we sat on, talkin’ snug and dry

then the downpour eased,
and the ensconced moment flew
and out the door you went

i would have held your hand
had it lasted a minute longer

© copyright 2019 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

the only color
i see
is blue

not white, black,
brown, or yellow
just blue

we are all the same
just different shades
of blue

© copyright 2018 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

for M

Interestin’
pair, you and me
You one of the
wanted and the
forgiven. Me
one of the un-
wanted and the
unforgiven.

To want to be
wanted, or not
to be wanted:
The question that
haunts my nights and
harrows my days

And I do not
even know where
to go with your
beauty. My God!

Never would have
guessed that any
light could shine in
this darkness. Tells
me it must be
one helluva
very strong light

You say you are
damaged. I see
past that. I see
past the mistakes
I only see
exquisiteness

© copyright 2015 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

This one was inspired by my love for the state of Wyoming and my love for blues music.  I believe with this poem, I have created a new poem category called Blues Poetry.  I was in Laramie when I wrote this.  It was a beautiful day; cool mornin’ and warm afternoon.  I saw some pretty women and I could not help but think about what, or who, was not there.  Then I got the…

Wyoming Blues

Sun shinin’ down
Stars fill the sky
Give me shelter
Though without you…

Sun shinin’ down
Tries to warm up
My cold, cold heart
My frozen words

Stars fill the sky
Try to bring hope
Keep it alive
Keep me around

Wyoming days
Wyoming nights
Wyoming girls
Wyoming blues

Give me shelter
Pretty cowgirl
Give me strength
Though it be brief

Though without you
There’s no sunshine
There are no stars
There’s no shelter

Wyoming days
Sun shinin’ down
Wyoming nights
Stars fill the sky
Wyoming girls
Give me shelter
Wyoming blues
Though without you

Big sky, big storms
Big forever
Now without you
Wyoming blues

Blue everywhere
Blue evermore
Blue without you
Wyoming blues

© 2013 Cowboy Coleridge All rights reserved

The Song of the Day is “Driftin’ Blues” by Bobby Bland.   We do not own the rights to this song.  All rights reserved by the rightful owner.  No copyright infringement intended.

Theodore Robinson

Today is the birthday of Theodore Robinson (Irasburg, Vermont; June 3, 1852 – April 2, 1896 New York City); painter best known for his Impressionist landscapes.  He was one of the first American artists to take up Impressionism in the late 1880s, visiting Giverny and developing a close friendship with Claude Monet.  Several of his works are considered masterpieces of American Impressionism.

he died of an acute asthma attack. He was buried in his hometown of Evansville, Wisconsin. He was 43 years old.

Gallery

Today is the birthday of Raoul Dufy (Le Havre 3 June 1877 – 23 March 1953 Forcalquier); Fauvist painter and brother of painter Jean Dufy.  He developed a colorful, decorative style that became fashionable for designs of ceramics and textiles, as well as decorative schemes for public buildings.  He is noted for scenes of open-air social events.  He was also a draftsman, printmaker, book illustrator, Scenic designer, a designer of furniture, and a planner of public spaces.

Gallery

Regatta at Cowes, (1934), Washington, D.C. National Gallery of Art

Today is the birthday of Mikhail Larionov (Mikhail Fyodorovich Larionov; Tiraspol, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire; June 3, 1881 – May 10, 1964 Fontenay-aux-Roses, Paris); avant-garde painter.

His lifelong partner was fellow avant-garde artist, Natalia Goncharova.

Gallery 

Josephine Baker

And today is the birthday of Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald; 3 June 1906 St. Louis, Missouri – 12 April 1975 Paris); entertainer, activist, and French Resistance agent. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted France. During her early career she was renowned as a dancer, and was among the most celebrated performers to headline the revues of the Folies Bergère in Paris. Her performance in the revue Un Vent de Folie in 1927 caused a sensation in Paris. Her costume, consisting of only a girdle of bananas, became her most iconic image and a symbol of the Jazz Age and the 1920s.

Baker was celebrated by artists and intellectuals of the era, who variously dubbed her the “Black Pearl”, the “Bronze Venus”, and the “Creole Goddess”. She renounced her U.S. citizenship and became a French national after her marriage to French industrialist Jean Lion in 1937. She raised her children in France. “I have two loves,” the artist once said, “my country and Paris.”

Baker was the first person of color to become a world-wide entertainer and to star in a major motion picture, the 1934 Marc Allégret film Zouzou.

Baker refused to perform for segregated audiences in the United States and is noted for her contributions to the Civil Rights Movement. In 1968 she was offered unofficial leadership in the movement in the United States by Coretta Scott King, following Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. After thinking it over, Baker declined the offer out of concern for the welfare of her children.

She was also known for aiding the French Resistance during World War II. After the war, she was awarded the Croix de guerre by the French military, and was named a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur by General Charles de Gaulle.

Her first marriage was to American Pullman porter Willie Wells when she was only 13 years old. The marriage was reportedly very unhappy and the couple divorced a short time later. Another short-lived marriage followed to Willie Baker in 1921; she retained Baker’s last name because her career began taking off during that time, and it was the name by which she became best known. Baker also had several relationships with women. During her time in the Harlem Renaissance arts community, one of her relationships was with Blues singer Clara Smith. In 1925 she began an extramarital relationship with the Belgian novelist Georges Simenon. In 1937, Baker married Frenchman Jean Lion. She and Lion separated in 1940. Lion died in 1957 of Spanish influenza. She married French composer and conductor Jo Bouillon in 1947, but their union also ended in divorce. She was later involved for a time with the artist Robert Brady, but they never married.

On 8 April 1975, Baker starred in a retrospective revue at the Bobino in Paris, Joséphine à Bobino 1975, celebrating her 50 years in show business. The revue, financed notably by Prince Rainier, Princess Grace, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, opened to rave reviews. Demand for seating was such that fold-out chairs had to be added to accommodate spectators. The opening night audience included Sophia Loren, Mick Jagger, Shirley Bassey, Diana Ross, and Liza Minnelli.

Four days later, Baker was found lying peacefully in her bed surrounded by newspapers with glowing reviews of her performance. She was in a coma after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. She was taken to Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, where she died, aged 68.

She received a full Roman Catholic funeral that was held at L’Église de la Madeleine. The only American-born woman to receive full French military honors at her funeral, Baker’s funeral was the occasion of a huge procession. After a family service at Saint-Charles Church in Monte Carlo, Baker was interred at Monaco’s Cimetière de Monaco.

dancing the Charleston, 1926

thanks for stoppin’ by y’all

Mac Tag

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