David Mutti Clark
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David Mutti Clark believes he was probably conceived and born between baseball and the blues.
His father was a fanatic Yankee fan, and, in the year he was born, 1951, the Yanks were world champions. His father also loved Louis Armstrong. And in the same year Louis recorded "A Kiss to Build a Dream On". Clark conjectures that nothing could have been more romantic for his father than the confluence of the best in baseball and the blues. There’s another reason Clark loves the blues: “In the blues, the real blues, there’s a hint of hope in every cry of desperation.” We all could use a little bit of hope. Life can be a relentless battle with despair. Clark’s father committed suicide a few months after his daughter was born. And his father’s father chose to end his life by placing the muzzle of a rifle in his mouth and squeezing the trigger. |
So Clark seeks solace in baseball and the blues. And there, between the black and white keys of the piano and in the sound of the bat cracking and the fans cheering the hitter home, he finds grace.
"How do you capture beauty in your life?" Clark asks himself. “How do you learn to swing a bat like Mickey Mantle or sing a duet like Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong?” Clark is still trying to figure it out. So he writes hoping that his characters provide him with the answer.
"How do you capture beauty in your life?" Clark asks himself. “How do you learn to swing a bat like Mickey Mantle or sing a duet like Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong?” Clark is still trying to figure it out. So he writes hoping that his characters provide him with the answer.
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Professor Brown Shoes Teaches the Blues
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Fiction
Professor Browns Shoes, Purveyor of the Blues, is an ancient black man who teaches piano. He whispers to his students, " . . . listen for the melody, that tune way deep inside." The Professor is mythical and magical; he represents the bluesmen who came before rock and roll, the ones who enriched our musical heritage and died in the poor house. As a modern-day griot, as a troubadour for troubled times, Professor Brown Shoes travels a circuit in the West, teaching the blues. In a small, white Idaho town, he meets a suicidal man, Robert Workman, who can't shake his funk. Robert has never recovered from that fateful day when he was downsized; the day he lost his wife, his daughter, his home, and his job in California. Robert relocated to Idaho to work for a government laboratory. He thought he'd be able to return home in a year. But he never did. It's been ten years. So he thinks he might as well kill the pain by killing himself. Robert makes a final, desperate cry for help and meets Professor Brown Shoes. With the helps of the Professor, Robert attempts to regain his life. 
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