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 43-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.
Mecca Normal’s song “He Didn’t Say” was included on a playlist by NYT best-selling author Ada Calhoun who said, “I always listen to music while I write and consider making a mixtape for each book as important as doing the bibliography and endnotes. I’ve put playlists in the back of all my books. The songs for this one are a mix about me, my father and Frank O’Hara, or just about the ultimate unknowability of even the people we love.”
For the “He Didn’t Say” entry, she wrote: “Clearly I can’t get enough of furious songs with whatever’s-whatever lyrics: ‘I never knew what he thought. He didn’t say.’”
“Maisy’s Death” from Empathy For The Evil (M’lady’s, 2014) (download):
