I’m very glad there are people like Rob Walker out there. Not only is he one of the finest of the NY Times’ Magazine columnists – writing the always sharp Consumed page, which turned me on to the amazing lastexittonowhere – but I only recently found his No Notes Web site, Walker’s obsessive guide to the song “St. James Infirmary.”
Walker’s obsession is original and organic. It grew out of an essay that he first wrote for a book called Letter From New Orleans (read Google excerpts here), which is a kind of dispatch from N.O. covering 2000-2003, describing, in his words, “Celebratory gunfire, rich people, religion, the riddle of race relations in our time, robots, fine dining, drunkenness, urban decay, debutantes, the nature of identity, Gennifer Flowers, the song “St. James Infirmary,” and mortality.”
That essay was e-mailed to some people he knew; out of the comments and suggestions he received from that mailout came a second essay, which then blossomed into a third. The third essay turned into his Web site, which covers all things closely and not-so-closely related to the song. Walker’s site includes a comprehensive sidebar that links to some versions of the songs – from Louis Armstrong to Cab Calloway, Kansas City Frank and his Footwarmers, and King Oliver.
So, Mr. Walker, a big thanks to you and the site, a superb study, and it’s obvious that the search for new versions of the song and more info about it keeps your wheels churning. It’s an inspiring exercise, this No Notes thing, so much so that I’m keeping my ears pealed to similar cultural phenoms like this.
Filed under: music | Tagged: No Notes, Rob Walker, St. James Infirmary
