#06-21

2011-ből. Egy email címet kerestem egy beszélgetésben és egyszercsak ott volt egy rakás fotó a valakiről. Valakit mindketten ismerjük, de a fotómegosztás apropójára már nem emlékszem. Abban biztos vagyok, hogy ő nem tudta, hogy nekem tetszik a valaki, nem azért küldte a fotókat. Talán valami melóhoz kellett. És csak néztem, néztem a fotókat, hogy milyen picsa szerelmes voltam már akkor. Emlékszem a gondolataimra, hogy milyen klassz pasinak láttam, mennyire szerettem volna mindent tudni róla, és mennyire reménytelennek gondoltam, hogy egyáltalán közelebbi ismeretségbe kerüljünk. Valamennyire persze kapcsolatban voltunk, de csak ilyen haverkodás szinten.

Olyan furcsa érzés, hogy az ember fel tud idézni dolgokat. Mármint, hogy ennyire intenzíven. És végül mennyire kurvára felesleges volt a beleölt érzelmi energia! Mert tényleg nem lett semmi. És, ha egy csöpp eszem is lett volna, ezt pontosan tudom a legelején, hiszen semmi valós érdeklődést nem mutatott soha. Azt se tudhattam, hogy pár évvel később beleszeret egy lányba, aki sajnos nem én voltam, és akinek aztán még az emléke is elég volt, hogy eszébe se jusson, hogy más nő is van a földön. És amúgy is, egy tucat jele volt, hogy egy fasz.

Felkavart-e a dolog? Nem. Ha akarnám, felkavarhatna. De nem akarom. Minek?

Justin (Jussie) Smollett (born June 21, 1982) is an American actor, singer and photographer. He began his career as a child actor in 1987 starring in commercials and films, including The Mighty Ducks (1992) and Rob Reiner's North (1994). In 2015, Smollett attracted international attention and received rave reviews for his portrayal of musician Jamal Lyon in the Fox music-industry primetime TV drama Empire. Smollett has also appeared in Ridley Scott's science fiction film Alien: Covenant as Ricks.

Early life

Smollett was born in Santa Rosa, California, and is the son of Janet (née Harris) and Joel Smollett. He has three brothers and two sisters: Jake, Jocqui, Jojo, Jurnee, and Jazz, several of whom are also actors. His father was Jewish (his family emigrated from Russia and Poland). His mother is African-American.

Career

Smollett began his acting career as a child, co-starring in the films The Mighty Ducks (1992) and Rob Reiner's North (1994). On television, he starred alongside his five real-life siblings in the short-lived ABC sitcom On Our Own from 1994–95.

In 2012, Smollett returned to acting with the leading role in the LGBT-themed comedy-drama The Skinny. He later guest-starred on The Mindy Project and Revenge. In 2014, Smollett was cast as Jamal Lyon—a gay musician who struggles to gain his father's approval—opposite Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard in the Fox primetime drama Empire.

Smollett is also a singer-songwriter; in 2012, he released an EP album, The Poisoned Hearts Club. In February 2015, he confirmed that he had signed a recording contract with Columbia Records and would be releasing an album in the future. Smollett co-wrote the songs "I Wanna Love You" and "You're So Beautiful" on the Original Soundtrack from Season 1 of Empire album, which was released in March 2015.

In June 2015, it was announced that Smollett will guest-star alongside his younger sister Jurnee Smollett in her upcoming TV show Underground set to air in 2016.

Smollett was a rotating guest co-host with Kelly Ripa on Live with Kelly.

Personal life

Smollett subtly revealed he is gay during a televised interview with Ellen DeGeneres in March 2015.

In a 2016 interview with Out Magazine, Smollett clarified his sexual orientation by stating "If I had to label myself, I would label myself as a gay man." However, he stated his belief that openness to love is more important than gender, revealing that "If I fall in love down the road with a woman, I’m going to love that woman.” When Smollett's gay character Jamal Lyon from Empire engaged in a heterosexual tryst with a female character, Smollett defended the plot development by stating that he and Empire creator Lee Daniels were trying to create a conversation about sexuality fluidity in the gay community. Daniels has stated that “Jussie and I both share the same feeling that, yes, even though we are gay, we’re sexual human beings. And we do occasionally want to sleep with a woman." Daniels stated that "We’re showing life on Empire", in that both he and Smollett were incorporating their own sexual fluidity as gay men into Empire.

Mondja egy barátnőm tegnap, hogy bár az apja imádta, meg ő is az apját, de az apja mégsem állt ki érte az anyjával szemben. Sosem mondta, hogy Lujza, hagyd már azt a gyereket, ne gyötörd, vagy nézd már mit művelsz, ne tedd. Hogy milyen remek kapcsolat lehetett a szüleié az mutatja, hogy amikor egyszer az apja ilyesmit mondott az anyjának, az anyja odavágta, hogy ez az én lakásom, itt az lesz amit én akarok. És sértődötten elvonult. Valóban az ő lakása volt, de a férje egy jólkereső, magasan kvalifikált faszi volt a nőnek meg ez egy oldalági szerencsés öröksége, nem a kétkeze munkája. De ez a rész mindegy is, anyuka rosszabb volt az enyémnél, mert az enyémnek legalább szép ideáljai voltak a narcizmusához. Hogy kiáll-e érted valaki, az nagyon fontos. Kicsit hasonlít ahhoz, ezt egy másik barátnőmmel beszélgettük, amikor elvesznek feleségül/megnősülsz. Hogy valaki kiáll ország világ, a család a barátok színe elé és azt mondja, „őt választottam, ő fontos nekem, szeretem és mostantől tekintsetek ránk összetartozóként”. Ez egy fontos pillanat egy kapcsolatban és egy ember életében is. Nem a nyolcmillió forintos felhajtás a fontos, hanem a felvállalása az érzelmeknek, az összetartozásnak. Kell legyen az életünkben kisebb, nagyobb kiállás azokért, akik számítanak nekünk. Amikor egy barátom konfliktusba keveredett a neten és kiálltam mellette, még úgy is, hogy tudtam, hogy nem teljesen volt igaza, de a konfliktusban ő volt aki fontosabb volt nekem, akivel elfogult voltam, aki előnyt élvezett a másikkal szemben, annak volt számomra súlya. Azt mondta ne csináljam, mert le fog tiltani az akivel vitatkozik. Vállat vontam. Eldöntöttem hova állok. És letiltottak, vele együtt. A tumblin rengeteg kiállás van, konfliktus nélkül is. Talán ezért is szeret az ember ide járni. Szeretem amiket írsz –írja valaki – ez is egy kiállás, egy felvállalás, hiszen más is olvassa a hozzászólást. Betagelni valakit, az is, hiszen vállalom, hogy eszembe jutott, számon tartom, hatással van rám. És lehet mondani, hogy figyelmetlenül, számolatlanul szórom a lájkokat, de az mind egy pici felvállalás, hiszen nyilvános. Arról, hogy ez tetszik, ez imponál nekem, ez egyezik az értékrendemmel, az érdeklődésemmel. Hogy ennek mekkora a jelentősége az életünkben? Valójában kibaszott nagy! Azt hisszük, hogy nem, mert az eszünkkel tudjuk, hogy nem szabad neki jelentőséget ulajdonítani, meg azt gondoljuk, hogy olyan ez, mint egy pohár frissítő. Benézel a tumblérre, olvashatsz, lájkolgatsz, nehogymár ennek legyen bármi jelentősége?!?! Persze, hogy van. :) Mindenki tudja, hogy van, mert ennek a társasjátéknak is megvannak a maga szabályai, amiben még a kreténeknek is megvan a helye meg a szerepe.

Nade nem is a tumblér a lényeg, azon gondolkodtam, hogy más társaságaimban mennyire jellemző a kapcsolatok, a barátságok, a tisztelet és az elismerés kinyilvánítása. Hogy vajon jobb lenne-e az élet, ha több nyilvános dicséret hangzana el? Jót írtál, tetszett. Jól csináltad. Értékelem, hogy... Lehet, hogy fárasztó a jó dolgokra koncentrálni annak, akinek nem jön ez zsigerből? Fárasztó könnyednek, megértőnek és pozitívnak lenni? A tegnapi beszélgetés a barátnőmmel felkavarta bennem az utolsó konfliktusomat Logannel. Sérült bennem ez a dolog. Nem értem állt ki. Sérült, pedig tudom, hogy hibát vétettem, nem megfelelően viselkedtem, de lett volna más megoldás is. Ha engem választ, lett volna más megoldás is. Könnyedebb, vidámabb, viccesebb.

Én nyiltan vagyok erre érzékeny más meg rejtve, de mind érzékenyek vagyunk rá. és mind győztesnek érezzük magunkat amikor kiállnak mellettünk, amikor felvállalnak. Olyankor picit nem vagyunk egyedül.

Azért nem csak szar volt a gyerekkoromban, akármennyire erős nyomot hagyott. Vettek nekem bababútort és apám csinált hozzá egy babaházat vagyis egy ilyen nagy fél dobozt, amibe be lehetett rakni a bútorokat (ha megtalálom a pincében biztos széjjelbőgöm magam) és volt benne elemről működő villany, meg fürdőszoba rész ahol működött a zuhany, ha a hátsó tartályba töltöttem vizet. A lakásunkban nem volt folyóvíz a fürdőszobában. Háromtól hétéves koromig olyan lakásban laktam, ahol kád volt a fürdőszobává alakított spájzban, de a melegvizet fazékban melegítettük. Olajkályha volt a szobában meg palackos gáz a konyhában. Amúgy anyám egy fullos családiházat hagyott maga mögött, központi porszívóval meg központi kazánnal és minden flanccal, amit amúgy maga épített, a nagyszüleim támogatásával, az apám egy jóképű alkoholista volt. A nevelőapám meg egy fullos lakást hagyott ott a feleségének, aki lelépett egy másik faszival, meg a gyerekének. Tisztességes ember volt. Azért az ő érzelmi életük is cafatokban lehetett akkortájt. Vitte a puttonyát mindkettő. A pszichológus szerint anyám legnagyobb jótéteménye az én életemben az, hogy nevelőapámnak egy érzelmileg nyitott embert választott, aki képes volt a szeretetre. A nevelőapám elég sokat játszott velem. Arra emlékszem. Az anyámra nem. Pedig ő meg festett az ágyam fölé a falra mindenféle mesefigurákat. Ez akkor még nem volt divat, de az anyám tényleg különleges nő volt. Meg ügyes és ötletes. A babházhoz meg kaptam rengeteg kacatkát, lehetett pakolgatni és anyám varrt függönyt az ablakra meg ágyneműt az ágyhoz. Nyolc éves voltam amikor elment dolgozni egy elit presszóba és soha többet nem kaptam vissza az anyámat. Hogy a munka miatt vagy én kezdtem kinőni a cuki korból, ezt nem tudom. De onnantól elég boldogtalan gyerek voltam, bár előtte is sokat voltam egyedül meg rábízva a szomszédokra. Már akkor sem törődött senki azzal, hogy a szülők hogy tudnak dolgozni meg a gyerekért menni vagy megoldani a szüneteket. Nagyon sokat voltam egyedül, a szomszédnéni csak néha nézett ráám, hogy élek-e még. Aztán már nem volt szomszéd néni se. Érdekes módon a nevelőapámnak az anyukájáról (Tóth mamának hívtuk) róla nagyon kedves emlékeim vannak. Talán az apám nem véletlenül volt olyan kedves ember. Nemhiszem, hogy szar gyerekkorom volt. Vagy, hogy a szüleim ne igyekeztek volna, hogy boldog legyek. Folyton féltem az anyámtól. igazán ez volt a baj. Ha ez nem lett volna, ha az anyám nem egy ideggörcsként éli az életét, tulajdonképpen rendben lett volna még az egyedüllét is. Várok, jön, öröm és boldogság. De nem ez volt. Szorongás, aztán persze alakoskodás, manipuláció, hogy ne legyen baj és megússzam az együtt töltött időt. Ha meg köztük volt vita, akkor nagyon igyekeztem elsimítani a dolgokat (ez vicces lehetett, de tényleg sokszor beszéltem az anyám lelkére), annyira rettegtem tőle, hogy elmarja mellőlünk a nevelőapámat.

És ahogy a pszichológia is mondja, hogy mindig faltól falig megyünk, amikor én neveltem gyereket, azt hittem, hogy a legfontosabb az, hogy tudja, hogy mindig számíthat rám, lehet velem őszinte és én mindig mellette fogok állni. Bármit tesz, ha a legborzalmasabbat, én akkor sem fogom őt megtagadni és sosem hagyom magára. Így is gondolom most is. Csakhát, ha nem félsz, ha tudod, hogy alanyi jogon kapod a szeretetet, akkor nem küzdesz érte picit sem. És lehet, hogy értékelni sem tudod annyira. Majd kiderül.

Ott már elmúlt a szerelem, amikor valaki mással akar szexelni – mondta Logan és nem is értem, hogy miért csak most esett le, milyen szépen bebiztosította a megingathatatlan trónt: neki nem kellek, de ha mással szexelek, akkor nem szeretem. Számonkérhetetlen, megfoghatatlan, apró manipulációk. Igaz dolgok beékelve hazug helyekre. A hűség amúgy üzlet. Nem kizárólag a szerelem miatt nem szexel az ember mással, hanem mert hűséggel hűséget vásárol. Az egy másik dolog, hogy energiatakarékosságból is, mert ki a fenének van ereje meg ideje párhuzamos kapcsolatokat logisztikázni? A romantikus rész... nem tudom, most nem vagyok olyan hangulatban, talán nem is tudom megfogalmazni... de, szerettem azt az érzést amikor szerelmes voltam. Szerettem azt, hogy van valaki, aki mindenek felett áll valami más érzéssel, mint amit bárki iránt érzek. Szerettem bolond lenni. De szexelni lehet szerelem nélkül is, meg úgy is, hogy közben mást szeret az ember, meg úgy is, hogy senkit se, meg úgy is, hogy mindig éppen azt, akivel van, mint Casanova, rajongva imádni odaadóan, behódolóan, mindent bedobva, két teljes órán vagy egy délutánon át. Meglepő volt mennyi pasi lájkolt a társkeresőben. Fú, nem is tudom elmondani milyen érzés, mert ezek valami egészen más szintet hoznak. Jól néznek ki, van egzisztenciájuk, normális érdeklődésük, kedvesek, nyitottak, lehet velük beszélgetni. Persze megint megvannak a harmincas lájkdobálók, de őszintén szólva annak is van egy kis doppinghatása, hogy harmincas pasiknak tetszik a fotóm még akkor is, ha nyilván nem veszem komolyan. Tényleg csak azon múlott az egész, hogy megértettem, hogy mit jelent a lebegtetés, a háromszögelés, a gázlángoltatás, az ingeréhség, az üresség, az egész érzéketlen, örömtelen sakkozás, és az empátia nélküli „megtehetem”. És elfogadtam, hogy a győzelmemet sosem fogják elismerni. Sosem fogja azt mondani, hogy ügyes voltam, kiraktam a kirakóst, jutalmul megtarthatom a szárnyaimat.

Nyilván, egy narcisztikusabb ego, mint az enyém is, az átbaszás részt dolgozza fel nehezen, másik ember pedig az érzelmi veszteséget. Én az érzelmi részt félrerakom és apránként emésztem meg, előveszek egy-egy részt, megsiratom, írok belőle valamit. Amúgy ez a legelképesztőbb, hogy évek óta ebből a tragédiából gyúrom-szülöm a munkáimat, úgyhogy akár hálás is lehetnék, mert közel 10 éve tartja életben a parazsat. Hát igen, emészt is meg főzök is vele. Vannak azok a szaporítóknak nevezett tenyésztők, akik a kutya életével nem foglalkozva csak születik a kutyát, akár hormonokkal kezelve, hogy még többször tudjon szülni, hogy eladhassák a kiskutyákat. Aztán sokszor, amikor a kutya ebbe teljesen tönkremegy már, akkor kidobják. Még arra sem költenek, hogy a ketrecben tartott, fizikailag és érzelmileg lepusztult állatot elaltassák, hanem csak kiteszik az utcára. Ez egy jól körülhatárolható történés. A gondatlan, elégtelen tartás, a szívtelenség, a nem megfelelő kezelés, a pszichés elhanyagolás nem ennyire konkrétan megfogható. Volt egy ismerősöm, amelyik harci kutyák rehabilitációjával foglalkozik. Olyan kutyákat vezet vissza a normális életbe, amiket szándékosan neveltek valamilyenné, ami lehet, hogy valóban a lényüknek egy része, de mivel a többi része sosem lett táplálva, csak a stresz volt az életük, ezért egy idegbeteg görccsé váltak. Kiszámíthatatlanok, agresszívek, vadak. Ám, mivel a lelkük mélyén ott van ugyanaz a késztetés, mint minden más kutyában, a vágy a falkára, a biztonságra és jó érzésekre, ezért nem lehetetlen meggyógyítani őket. De ő is azt mondta, hogy néha már késő, és az egyetlen amit biztosítani tud, hogy öregségére harc és sebek nélkül élhessen az állat, ne az arénában marcangolják szét végül. na, jól elkalandoztam az eredeti gondolatmenettől. Szóval az ego. Bárki, aki kifogásolja az egodat, az az életedre tör. Az egod a lényed elengedhetetlen része. Az lehet cél, hogy ne egoból "dolgozz", ne vetítsd ki folyamatosan a belső világot a külső megtapasztalásokra, hanem érzékelni tudd a határokat. De mindig ott lesz, mert te magad csak vele vagy egész. Amikor egoistát kiálltunk, akkor a merev és betonkemény képződményt látjuk meg, a bevehetetlen bástyát. Normális, toleráns, jóindulatú embert folyamatosan egoistának mondani, az személyiségrombolás. Direkt módban.

Képes vagyok hálásnak lenni a sorsnak a megtapasztalásért, mert tudom, hogy csodás dologgá fogom alkotni. És mert az egom ott nevet a háttérben: Én tudom ki vagyok, és téged is látlak.

John Lee Hooker (c. August 22, 1912 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often incorporated other elements, including talking blues and early North Mississippi Hill country blues. He developed his own driving-rhythm boogie style, distinct from the 1930s–1940s piano-derived boogie-woogie.

Some of his best known songs include "Boogie Chillen'" (1948), "Crawling King Snake" (1949), "Dimples" (1956), "Boom Boom" (1962), and "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" (1966). Several of his later albums, including The Healer (1989), Mr. Lucky (1991), Chill Out (1995), and Don't Look Back (1997), were album chart successes in the U.S. and U.K., and Don't Look Back won a Grammy Award in 1998.

Early life

Hooker's date of birth is a subject of debate. It is believed that he was born in Tutwiler, Mississippi, in Tallahatchie County, although some sources say his birthplace was near Clarksdale, in Coahoma County. He was the youngest of the 11 children of William Hooker (born 1871, died after 1923), a sharecropper and Baptist preacher, and Minnie Ramsey (born c. 1880, date of death unknown). In the 1920 federal census, William and Minnie were recorded as being 48 and 39 years old, respectively, which implies that Minnie was born about 1880, not 1875. She was said to have been a "decade or so younger" than her husband (Boogie Man, p. 23), which gives additional credibility to this census record as evidence of Hooker's origins.</ref>

The Hooker children were home-schooled. They were permitted to listen only to religious songs; the spirituals sung in church were their earliest exposure to music. In 1921, their parents separated. The next year, their mother married William Moore, a blues singer, who provided John Lee with an introduction to the guitar (and whom he would later credit for his distinctive playing style). Moore was his first significant blues influence. He was a local blues guitarist who, in Shreveport, Louisiana, learned to play a droning, one-chord blues that was strikingly different from the Delta blues of the time. Another formative influence was Tony Hollins, who dated Hooker's sister Alice, helped teach Hooker to play, and gave him his first guitar. For the rest of his life, Hooker regarded Hollins as a formative influence on his style of playing and his career as a musician. Among the songs that Hollins reputedly taught Hooker were versions of "Crawlin' King Snake" and "Catfish Blues".

At the age of 14, Hooker ran away from home, reportedly never seeing his mother or stepfather again. In the mid-1930s, he lived in Memphis, Tennessee, where he performed on Beale Street, at the New Daisy Theatre and occasionally at house parties.

He worked in factories in various cities during World War II, eventually getting a job with the Ford Motor Company in Detroit in 1943. He frequented the blues clubs and bars on Hastings Street, the heart of the black entertainment district, on Detroit's east side. In a city noted for its pianists, guitar players were scarce. Hooker's popularity grew quickly as he performed in Detroit clubs, and, seeking an instrument louder than his acoustic guitar, he bought his first electric guitar.

Career

Hooker's recording career began in 1948, when Modern Records, based in Los Angeles, released a demo he had recorded for Bernie Besman in Detroit. The single, "Boogie Chillen'", became a hit and the best-selling race record of 1949. Despite being illiterate, Hooker was a prolific lyricist. In addition to adapting traditional blues lyrics, he composed original songs. In the 1950s, like many black musicians, Hooker earned little from record sales, and so he often recorded variations of his songs for different studios for an up-front fee. To evade his recording contract, he used various pseudonyms, including John Lee Booker (for Chess Records and Chance Records in 1951–1952), Johnny Lee (for De Luxe Records in 1953–1954), John Lee, John Lee Cooker, Texas Slim, Delta John, Birmingham Sam and his Magic Guitar, Johnny Williams, and the Boogie Man.

His early solo songs were recorded by Bernie Besman. Hooker rarely played with a standard beat, but instead he changed tempo to fit the needs of the song. This often made it difficult to use backing musicians, who were not accustomed to Hooker's musical vagaries. As a result, Besman recorded Hooker playing guitar, singing and stomping on a wooden pallet in time with the music. For much of this period he recorded and toured with Eddie Kirkland. In Hooker's later sessions for Vee-Jay Records in Chicago, studio musicians accompanied him on most of his recordings, including Eddie Taylor, who could handle his musical idiosyncrasies. "Boom Boom" and "Dimples", two popular songs by Hooker, were originally released by Vee-Jay.

Later life and death

Hooker performed "Boom Boom" in the role of a street musician in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. In 1989, he recorded the album The Healer with various other notable musicians, including Carlos Santana and Bonnie Raitt.

He recorded several songs with Van Morrison, including "Never Get Out of These Blues Alive", "The Healing Game", and "I Cover the Waterfront". He also appeared on stage with Morrison several times; some of these performances released on the live album A Night in San Francisco. On December 19, 1989, Hooker performed "Boogie Chillen'" with the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton in Atlantic City, New Jersey. As part of the Rolling Stones' Steel Wheels tour, the show was broadcast live on cable television as a pay-per-view program. His last studio recording on guitar and vocal was "Elizebeth", a song he wrote with Pete Sears, accompanied by members of his Coast to Coast Blues Band, with Sears on piano. It was recorded on January 14, 1998, at Bayview Studios in Richmond, California. The last song Hooker recorded before his death was "Ali d'Oro", a collaboration with the Italian soul singer Zucchero, in which Hooker sang the chorus, "I lay down with an angel."

Hooker spent the last years of his life in Long Beach, California. In 1997, he opened a nightclub in San Francisco's Fillmore District called John Lee Hooker's Boom Boom Room, after one of his hit songs.

Hooker fell ill just before a tour of Europe in 2001 and died in his sleep on June 21, 2001, in Los Altos, California, at around 88 years of age. He was interred at the Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland. He was survived by eight children, 19 grandchildren, and numerous great-grandchildren.

Awards and recognition

Among his many awards, Hooker was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2016. Two of his songs, "Boogie Chillen" and "Boom Boom", were included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of the "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll". "Boogie Chillen" was also included in the Recording Industry Association of America's list of the "Songs of the Century". He was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000. He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Grammy Awards

Best Traditional Blues Recording, 1990, for I'm in the Mood, with Bonnie Raitt

Best Traditional Blues Recording, 1998, for Don't Look Back

Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, 1998, Don't Look Back, with Van Morrison

Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, 2000

Discography

Charting singlesCharting albums

Film

The Blues Brothers on Maxwell Street (Chicago) outside Aretha Franklin's restaurant (1980)

John Lee Hooker & Furry Lewis DVD (1995)

John Lee Hooker Rare Performances 1960–1984 DVD (2002)

Come See About Me DVD (2004)

John Lee Hooker: Bits and Pieces About … DVD and CD (2006)

Marshall Walter "Major" Taylor (26 November 1878 – 21 June 1932) was an American cyclist who won the world 1 mile (1.6 km) track cycling championship in 1899 after setting numerous world records and overcoming racial discrimination. Taylor was the first African-American cyclist to achieve the level of world champion and only the second black man to win a world championship in any sport, after Canadian boxer George Dixon.

Early life

Taylor was the son of Gilbert Taylor, a Civil War veteran, and Saphronia Kelter, who had migrated from Louisville, Kentucky, with their large family to a farm in rural Indiana. He was one of eight children: five girls and three boys. Taylor's father was employed in the household of a wealthy Indianapolis family, the Southards, as a coachman, where Taylor was also raised and educated. When Taylor was a child, his father would bring him to work. The employer had a son, Dan Southard, who was the same age and the two boys became close friends. Taylor later moved in with the family and was able to live a more advantaged life than his parents could provide.

This period of living and learning at the Southard house lasted from the time he was eight until he was 12, when the Southards moved to Chicago and Taylor "was soon thrust into the real world."

At 12, Taylor received his first bicycle from the Southards and became such an expert trick rider that a local bike shop owner, Tom Hay, hired him to stage exhibitions and perform cycling stunts outside his bicycle shop. The name of the shop was Hay and Willits. The compensation was $6 a week, plus a free bike worth $35. Taylor performed the stunts wearing a soldier's uniform, hence the nickname "Major."

When he was 13 in 1891, Taylor won his first race, an amateur event in Indianapolis. Two years later, in 1893 at age 15, Taylor beat the 1 mile (1.6 km) amateur track record where he was "hooted" and then barred from the track because of his color.

Racing career

Amateur racing

Major Taylor won his first significant race in 1895 at age 16. The 75 miles (121 km) road race, near his hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana, "came amid the racial threats of his white competitors." Shortly afterward, he relocated to Massachusetts with the help of his benefactor, Louis D. "Birdie" Munger, who was to become his lifelong friend and mentor, to a more tolerant area of the country.

As an African-American, Taylor was banned from bicycle racing in Indiana once he started winning and made a reputation as "The Black Cyclone." In 1896, he moved from Indianapolis to Worcester, Mass., then a center of the United States bicycle industry with half a dozen factories and 30 bicycle shops, to work as a bicycle mechanic in the Worcester Cycle Manufacturing Company factory, owned by Louis D. "Birdie" Munger where he was a racer for Munger's team. Taylor first worked for Munger in Indianapolis and along the line, Munger "made up his mind to make Taylor a champion."

Taylor's first east coast race was in a League of American Wheelmen 1 mile (1.6 km) race in New Haven, where he started in last place but won.

The first time his name is mentioned in The New York Times occurred on September 26, 1895, He participated in a 10 miles (16 km) event in Brooklyn, New York, on Ocean Parkway; the race was called the Citizen Handicap. Major Taylor listed his address as Worcester, Massachusetts, and rode with a 1:30 handicap in a field of 200. There were nine scratch riders.

Professional racing

Taylor turned professional in 1896 at the age of 18 and soon emerged as the "most formidable racer in America." One of his biggest supporters was President Theodore Roosevelt who kept track of Taylor throughout his 17-year racing career.

Beginning on December 5, 1896, and ending on December 12, Taylor participated in a six-day cycle race in Madison Square Garden where 5,000 people attended. The event was an indoor cycle meet and Taylor had achieved enough notoriety to be listed among the "American contestants" which included A. A. Hansen, the Minneapolis "rainmaker" and Teddy Goodman. Many "experts from abroad" participated such as Albert Schock of Switzerland, Frank J. Waller, Frank Forster and Ed von Hoeg of Germany, and B. W. Pierce of Canada. Several countries were represented including Scotland, Wales, France, England and Denmark.

The main feature of the meet was the six-day race, however, several other events were of "full interest" such as the .5 miles (0.80 km) race between Jay Eaton and Teddy Goodman. Also, of interest, the .5 miles (0.80 km) scratch and the .5 miles (0.80 km) handicap for professionals. Additionally, there were .5 miles (0.80 km) scratch and handicap for amateurs.

Taylor entered the race and listed his address as South Brooklyn, New York. It was his first professional race and he won the final heat by 105 feet (32 m) over A. C. Meixwell of Philadelphia and E. C. Bald, scratch rider representing Syracuse, New York, and riding a Barnes bicycle. Taylor lapped the entire field during the .5 miles (0.80 km) handicap race.

At the Blue Ribbon Meet of the Bostonian Cycle Club hosted on May 19, 1897, Taylor won first place in the 1 mile (1.6 km) open professional on a Comet bicycle.

Although he is listed in the Middletown town directory in 1896, it is not known how long he still resided there after he became a professional racer. He eventually settled in Worcester, Massachusetts, (where the newspapers called him "The Worcester Whirlwind"), marrying there and having a daughter, although his career required him to spend a large amount of time traveling in America, Australia, and Europe.

By 1898, he held seven world records at distances from .25 miles (0.40 km) to 2 miles (3.2 km) and he placed first in 29 of 49 races in which he competed. No one else came close to that record. Taylor was entitled to recognition as national champion but formation of a new cycling league that year "clouded" his claim to the title.

During 1899 he won the world championship, preceded only by boxing bantamweight George Dixon as a black world champion in any sport.

In one six-week period in 1899, Taylor established seven world records. These included the .25 miles (0.40 km), .33 miles (0.53 km), .5 miles (0.80 km), .66 miles (1.06 km), .75 miles (1.21 km), 1 mile (1.6 km) and the 2 miles (3.2 km). He did the mile from a standing start in 1:41, a record that stood for 28 years.

Stearns racing

Taylor went to Syracuse, New York, for the 1899 season with his friend, mentor and manager, Louis "Birdie" Munger to sign a contract with E. C. Stearns Company. Taylor, Munger and sponsor, Harry Sager had arrived in the city to enter into negotiations with the Olive Wheel Company, however, they were able to work out a more lucrative contract with Stearns who agreed to build Taylor's bicycles using the Sager gear chainless mechanism designed by Harry Sager. The bikes only weighed about 20 pounds (9.1 kg) and had an 88-inch (2,200 mm) gear for sprinting and a 120-inch (3,000 mm) gear for longer, paced runs.

Stearns also agreed to build Taylor a "revolutionary" steam-powered pacing tandem "behind which he could attack world records and challenge the leading exponents of paced racing." Although the pacing tandem was temperamental, Taylor easily broke the world record of 1 mile (1.6 km) in 01:19 at a speed of 45.56 miles per hour (73.32 km/h) and beat his competitor, Eddie McDuffie on November 15, 1899.

After the 1899 world championship, many claims were made that the whole thing was a farce because Taylor had "not competed with the strongest riders." The world records, however, showed the record and were impossible to dismiss. No other rider that year had come close to his fast performances and the "range and variety" of his victories which included 22 first places in major championship races around the country, the League of American Wheelmen Championship which he won on points, world champion in Montreal, and the defense of his own world record in two "strenuous record-breaking campaigns."

Iver Johnson colors

In late 1899, Taylor raced under the colors of the Iver Johnson Arms and Cycle Company in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and won the 1 mile (1.6 km) sprint world championship by a lead of one wheel in a "thrilling" race at Montreal, Canada. He placed second in the 2 miles (3.2 km) sprint and won the .5 miles (0.80 km) championship.

World sprint champion

Earl Kiser, who was nicknamed the "Little Dayton Demon," raced for the Stearns "Yellow Fellow" team during the same period as Taylor. Kiser became a two-time world cycling champion and competed all across Europe in the late 1890s. Kiser gave support to Taylor after he was barred from most national races. Kiser petitioned to have him included.

Taylor won the world championship in the 1-mile sprint in 1899 in Montreal. He was the second African-American athlete to win a world championship in any sport, after Canadian-born bantamweight boxer George Dixon of Boston won a world title in a series of bouts in 1890-91. He did not compete in the world championships again until 1909 in Copenhagen, and he did not win there.

Foreign racing

Taylor participated in a European tour in 1902 where he entered 57 races and won 40 of them, defeating the champions of Germany, England and France.

Besides racing in Europe, Taylor also competed in Australia and New Zealand, although because he was very religious, never on Sunday. He always carried a catechism and began each race with a silent prayer and refused to compete on the Sabbath.

During February 1903, Taylor was competing in the Sydney (New South Wales) handicap for a $5,000 prize and the headline flashed worldwide was "Rich Cycle Race."

Nitroglycerine

The fascination with six-day bicycle races spread across the Atlantic and the same appeal to base instincts brought in the crowds in America as well. And the more spectators paid at the gate, the higher the prizes could be and the greater was the incentive of riders to stay awake - or be kept awake - to ride the greatest distance. Their exhaustion was countered by soigneurs (the French word for "carers"), helpers akin to seconds in boxing. Among the treatments they supplied was nitroglycerine, a drug used to stimulate the heart after cardiac attacks and which was credited with improving riders' breathing.

Riders suffered hallucinations from the exhaustion and perhaps the drugs. Taylor refused to continue one New York race, saying: "I cannot go on with safety, for there is a man chasing me around the ring with a knife in his hand."

Racism in the field

Although he was greatly celebrated abroad, particularly in France, Taylor's career was still held back by racism, particularly in the Southern states where he was not permitted to compete against Caucasians. The League of American Wheelmen for a time excluded blacks from membership. Other prominent bicycle racers of the era, such as Tom Cooper and Eddie Bald, often cooperated to ensure Taylor's defeat. During his career he had ice water thrown at him during races, and nails scattered in front of his wheels, and was often boxed in by other riders, preventing the sprints to the front of the pack at which he was so successful.

In his autobiography, he reports actually being tackled on the race track by another rider, who choked him into unconsciousness but received only a $50 fine as punishment. Nevertheless, he does not dwell on such events in the book; rather it is evident that he means it to serve as an inspiration to other African-Americans trying to overcome similar treatment. Taylor retired at age 32 in 1910, saying he was tired of the racism. His advice to African-American youths wishing to emulate him was that while bicycle racing was the appropriate route to success for him, he would not recommend it in general; and that individuals must find their own best talent.

Personal life

Taylor married Daisy V. Morris in Ansonia, Connecticut, on March 21, 1902. While in Australia in 1904, Taylor and his wife had a daughter whom they named Sydney, in honor of the city in which she was born.

Later life and death

Taylor was still breaking records in 1908 but age was starting to "creep up on him." He finally quit the track in 1910 at the age of 32.

While Taylor was reported to have earned between $25,000 and $30,000 a year when he returned to Worcester at the end of his career, by the time of his death he had lost everything to bad investments (including self-publishing his autobiography), persistent illness, and the stock market crash. His marriage over, he died at age 53 on June 21, 1932—a pauper in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood, in the charity ward of Cook County Hospital—to be buried in an unmarked grave. He was survived by his daughter.

In 1948, a group of former pro bike racers, with money donated by Schwinn Bicycle Co. (then) owner Frank W. Schwinn, organized the exhumation and relocation of Taylor's remains to a more prominent part of Mount Glenwood Cemetery in Thornton Township, Illinois, near Chicago. A monument to his memory stands in front of the Worcester Public Library in Worcester, and Indianapolis named the city's bicycle track after Taylor. Worcester has also named a high-traffic street after Taylor.

"Dedicated to the memory of Marshall W. 'Major' Taylor, 1878-1932. World's champion bicycle racer who came up the hard way without hatred in his heart, an honest, courageous and god-fearing, clean-living, gentlemanly athlete. A credit to the race who always gave out his best. Gone but not forgotten." Inscription on bronze marker on gravestone paid for by Frank W. Schwinn.

Taylor's daughter, Sydney Taylor Brown, died in 2005 at age 101; her survivors include a son and his five children. In 1984, Ms. Brown donated an extensive scrapbook collection on her father to the University of Pittsburgh Archives.

Major Taylor's gravesite: 41.554497°N 87.61436°W / 41.554497; -87.61436

Quotes

"It is my thought that clean living and a strict observance of the golden rule of true sportsmanship are foundation stones without which a championship structure cannot be built."—Marshall Taylor in The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World

"Life is too short for any man to hold bitterness in his heart."—Marshall Taylor

"I cannot go on with safety, for there is a man chasing me around the ring with a knife in his hand." Said allegedly under the influence of nitroglycerin, a popular performance enhancer at the time

"There are positively no mental, physical or moral attainments too lofty for the Negro to accomplish if granted a fair and equal opportunity."—Marshall Taylor

"I trust they will use that terrible prejudice as an inspiration to struggle on to the heights in their chosen vocations."—Marshall Taylor

“A real honest-to-goodness champion can always win on the merits."—Marshall Taylor

Honors and awards

Taylor was posthumously inducted into the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame in 1989.

In popular culture

The Major Taylor Velodrome in Indianapolis, Indiana, and a bicycle trail in Chicago are named in Taylor's honor.

On July 24, 2006, the city of Worcester, Massachusetts, changed the name of part of Worcester Center Boulevard to Major Taylor Boulevard — where his memory is honored for his athletic feats as well as his character.

The Major Taylor monument, a sculpture by Antonio Tobias Mendez, was commissioned by the Major Taylor Association and installed in Worcester, Massachusetts, in May 2008.

A bicycle, of unproven provenance was donated by Worcester resident Sy Farnsworth to the Worcester Historical Museum — with the understanding the bicycle may have belonged to Taylor.

The song "He Never Raced on Sunday" on the 2004 album "Double V" by blues musician Otis Taylor (no relation) is about Major Taylor.

The band Oh Yeah! performed a tribute song describing Major Taylor's Iver Johnson bicycle and the racism he encountered, entitled "Major Taylor's Grave".

The first African-American cycling club named in honor of Major Taylor was organized in Columbus, Ohio, in 1979.

In East Palo Alto, California, a racially mixed community that was until recently mostly black, hosts a Major Taylor Cycling Club.

Other cycling clubs dedicated to Major Taylor include the 'Major Motion' Cycling club in Los Angeles, the Major Taylor Cycling Club in Minnesota, the Major Taylor Cycling Club Chicago in Chicago, IL and the Major Taylor Cycling Club of New Jersey.

Nike markets a sports shoe named after Major Taylor.

The company Soma Fabrications makes a set of bicycle handlebars called the Major Taylor Track Bar, a replica of Major Taylor's 1930s bike handlebar.

The city of Columbus, Ohio renamed the Alum Creek Trail bicycle path as the 'Major Taylor Bikeway' on September 3, 2010.

In South Los Angeles between the intersection of Century Boulevard and Central Avenue to the east and 98th Street and Figueroa Street to the west is a route designated by officially installed city signs as the Marshall W. "Major" Taylor Bike Route.

Taylor was portrayed by actor Philip Morris in the Australian mini-series Tracks of Glory.