Bingo Row 2 – Purple
(There were three names on the cover of Nina Simone’s Gum that attracted me to the book. I put a disambiguation at the end of this review if that’s helpful.)
One day, a five-ish year old Warren Ellis woke up to see his yard was full of clowns making burgers. His father acts like raccoons got in the yard again and grumbles about dealing with them when it’s time to hang the laundry. This is nonfiction.
Nina Simone’s Gum, by Ellis, is written with a sense of wonder that feels like it could only come from someone with very little life experience or too much. Since Ellis is a rock star with a long career, I’d assume the latter, but that doesn’t feel right either. He feels like the boy from Boy’s Life (by Robert McCammon) grown up.
Many years after the clowns, Warren Ellis stole a piece of chewing gum that Nina Simone took out of her mouth and put it on a piano before a concert. She also enjoyed champagne, cocaine, and sausage before that concert.
He cherished the gum for 20 years before offering it to a museum for a Nick Cave exhibit. He cherished it because it was Nina Simone’s and he may not have literally worshipped her, but he revered her in a way that seemed religious.
Nina Simone wasn’t the only musician Ellis cherished. He was also haunted by Beethoven’s ghost. While he portrayed it as a good thing, it sounded like Beethoven was trying to take a living body for himself. Ellis also tried to buy Alice Coltrain’s ashram with Flea. He considered David Bowie’s used chewing gum could have been better than Nina Simone’s (but acknowledged Bowie would disagree).
But he didn’t have Bowie’s gum. Or if he does, he’s not sharing it. But I think he would because he wrote an entire book about his journey with Nina Simone’s used chewing gum, his appreciation for other musicians, and finally confirmed with his estranged brother that yes, one day they watched a bunch of clowns frolicking and cooking in their yard.
And I am slightly relieved that the Nina Simone’s gum necklaces aren’t easily available to buy because I’d want one and they are probably expensive.
Who’s who?
- Warren Ellis is a musician in the band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, which I was familiar with, but not enough to know who was in the band besides Nick Cave. I initially thought the disgraced comic book writer named Warren Ellis wrote a book about Nina Simone’s gum.
- I think Nina Simone is well known enough, but according to the author, a number of people are not familiar with the troubled jazz musician/ musical genius/ Bach superfan/ civil rights advocate with a reputation for her personality.
- Based on the author, it’s relatively easy to figure out the Nick Cave who wrote the blurb on the front is the musician and not the visual artist. But it’s always a question I have when I see “Nick Cave” out in the wild.