When I was, oooohhhh I don’t know…it was 1991 (or ’92), so I was 14 or 15 years old, I went to my very first rock concert. First concert that I wasn’t dragged to. First time I saw a show coming to town and said, “I want to to see that band play!” It was Living Colour at (what was then called) the Universal Amphitheater. We sat in the balcony, fairly centered. It was me, my bass instructor (who got a kick out of it) and some other dude (a friend of mine at the time…we’ll call him “Travis” because I’m pretty sure his name had a “t” in it). The opening band was Primus, out supporting Frizzle Fry and damn they were weird. Living Colour was good. Just like the videos I’d seen. Pretty rockin’.
Here’s the point: Living Colour broke into a cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Talking ’bout a Revolution” and Corey Glover said something that I thought sounded so cool: “The Revolution will not be televised.” A couple of days later, I read the review of the show in the L.A. Times, and that was the first time I became aware of the name Gil Scott-Heron. That name would stick with me as I became more aware of the injustices in our society and the inequalities around me.
A powerful writer and speaker, he will always be remembered best by the world for his talk of revolution. I will always remember him best for the ride I took in my friend Richard’s car one summer evening as we ventured into Hollywood to see some band or another play. “Whitey on the Moon” played through the speakers and I felt the frustration in my soul.
I hadn’t followed Scott-Heron’s work faithfully and would say that I had only given his work a cursory listen. There are people, however, whose being provides comfort. Knowing that there was someone like Scott-Heron standing up and speaking for many people who couldn’t…”who will pay reparations on my soul?”…such a clear voice…so powerful…
never to speak again…but we have the records and we can still be touched by them.
I’m sorry, there was a bigger point here. This article is a beautifully written remembrance of Mr. Scott-Heron that made me a little teary eyed. Yes, I can be human sometimes.
This article made me remember another touching remembrance written when the great Harvey Pekar passed away. Harvey was a hero. An inspiration. His passing made my heart ache. This article was written by someone who was touched by Pekar’s work and had actually had the opportunity to meet and work with “our man.”
People like Gil Scott-Heron share their worldview with us and, if we let them, can alter our way of thinking forever. And even though the voices of these people, these heroes, become silent, they will never die out as long as we keep their words alive.
