Every week, we’ll be posting a new illustration by David Lester. The Mecca Normal guitarist is visually documenting people, places and events from his band’s 41-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.
At any given time, with David working on graphic novels and me selling paintings to finance an artist residency program, it can feel like Mecca Normal isn’t at the forefront, yet, somehow, the basis of it always is. This weekly column, the digital release last month of an early album (1988) and, unfortunately, the way history repeats itself, bring Mecca Normal into the frame. Not to suggest that we’re relevant, but perhaps a beacon of inspiration from a not-so-distant past.
With David’s graphic novels, a thread that runs through the books might be called history from below, also known as “people’s history” or “radical history.” As in, regular people in various courageous struggles, endeavors that might otherwise be overlooked or forgotten. This theme appears frequently in Mecca Normal lyrics (“One Woman” and “I Walk Alone,” for example), and in essence, we’re very fond of the idea of broadcasting useful snippets as a form of activism within culture.
“Crimson Dragnet” from Sitting On Snaps (Matador, 1995) (download):
