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Soul survivor
In Focus
Jacob Blickenstaff
Film Soul survivor
Miss Sharon Jones! Directed by Barbara Kopple, 2016, USA, 93 min http://misssharonjones.com/
Sharon Jones’ story is the kind that everyone loves, a come-from-nowhere success that tells us that talent, perseverance, and a little luck can take you to the top, even if it takes a little while to get there. As a young woman, Jones dreamed of being a singer, inspired by the sounds of Motown and Stax, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, and, above all, James Brown. Even with an undeniable talent, she finally got a meeting with a record executive only to be told she was “too short, too fat, too black, and too old”. After a series of jobs (including as a corrections officer) and moonlighting as a singer for a wedding band, in her forties, Jones finally met the right set of collaborators who came together as Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, a combo who channelled the soul of Booker T & the MG’s and the JB’s. Miss Sharon Jones! documents the recording and release of Jones’ and the Dap-Kings’ 2014 album Give the People What They Want, the follow up to their commercial and critical breakthrough, I Learned the Hard Way. But it also documents Jones’ diagnosis and treatment for stage II pancreatic cancer. The film splits its time between these two tracks, with Jones recovering with a friend in upstate New York, USA, and visiting her family in Georgia, while her band and management are seen working behind the scenes in New York. An interesting, but underexplored thread of the film is the fact that this unlikely group of
people depend on Jones for their livelihood: for the musicians in her band, if they do not tour, they do not make money. Structurally, the film is a series of vignettes, strung together more or less artfully, with archival footage of the band and interviews filling out Jones’ backstory and introducing the members of her band. We see clips of Jones at her energetic best, and exhausted, sick, and angry. Some scenes seem to be there just because the crew happened to be on hand, as when a visibly frail Jones visits a small church midway through her chemotherapy regimen and belts out a gospel song with her all, throwing herself around and dancing with the kind of abandon she used to display on the stage. It contrasts strangely with the images of her struggling to mount the stairs to the church, and you spend the entire scene waiting, breath catching, for her to collapse. As a document of a unique performer at a difficult and rewarding junction, Miss Sharon Jones! is a success, bringing a bit of the energy and love that Jones brings to the stage to life. It’s also a fascinating portrait of an artist who arrived late, and via a rocky path. Jones really does embody those clichés about sticking with your vision and not taking no for an answer, lessons that Jones brings with her during cancer treatment.
Aaron van Dorn
Book Living with an inflammatory bowel disease
Go your Crohn Way Kathleen Nicholls, Singing Dragon 2016 Pp208. £9.99 ISBN: 9781848193161
96
At the age of 27 years, after years of pain and countless visits to medical professionals, Kathleen Nicholls was diagnosed with the incurable inflammatory bowel disease Crohn’s. In Go Your Crohn Way, we hear an honest and witty account of Nicholls’ relationships with her bowels, her body image, and her family, as she embraces life, disease, and all. Although, as Nicholls emphasises, the experience of living with Crohn’s disease can vary greatly from one patient to another, all patients are likely to experience many aspects of living with the disease. Go Your Crohn Way is an often alarming, but equally uplifting, roadmap of living with an inflammatory bowel disease. Nicholls shares with the reader her life before and after her diagnosis, describing the “confusion, anger, and depression” she felt pre-diagnosis; the intimate details of a diagnostic colonoscopy, and her battle to find a treatment strategy that worked for her. Nicholls does not shy away from uncomfortable details. Although aspects of this book might be difficult to digest for those newly diagnosed with Crohn’s disease (including Nicholls’ description of living in “constant
agony and gut-crunching misery” and the repetition of the word “incurable”), the candour with which Nicholls discusses maintaining her relationship with her partner will instil hope to those who, understandably, worry that an inflammatory bowel disease might make them undesirable. This book does not aim to educate the reader about Crohn’s disease (although the basic facts are given) or the pros and cons of various treatment options; rather it aims to help those with the disease see that it doesn’t have to be all-consuming and to help their loved ones to understand what they can do to make the lives of “Crohnies” a little easier. Tortured puns aside, the book is peppered with valuable advice on how to live with Crohn’s disease, from not being afraid to grieve for the life you thought you would have, what to keep packed in an emergency hospital bag, how to ask where the toilet is in six languages, and to always keep some wet wipes handy!
Robert Old www.thelancet.com/gastrohep Vol 1 October 2016
Jacob Blickenstaff
Film Soul survivor
Miss Sharon Jones! Directed by Barbara Kopple, 2016, USA, 93 min http://misssharonjones.com/
Sharon Jones’ story is the kind that everyone loves, a come-from-nowhere success that tells us that talent, perseverance, and a little luck can take you to the top, even if it takes a little while to get there. As a young woman, Jones dreamed of being a singer, inspired by the sounds of Motown and Stax, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, and, above all, James Brown. Even with an undeniable talent, she finally got a meeting with a record executive only to be told she was “too short, too fat, too black, and too old”. After a series of jobs (including as a corrections officer) and moonlighting as a singer for a wedding band, in her forties, Jones finally met the right set of collaborators who came together as Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, a combo who channelled the soul of Booker T & the MG’s and the JB’s. Miss Sharon Jones! documents the recording and release of Jones’ and the Dap-Kings’ 2014 album Give the People What They Want, the follow up to their commercial and critical breakthrough, I Learned the Hard Way. But it also documents Jones’ diagnosis and treatment for stage II pancreatic cancer. The film splits its time between these two tracks, with Jones recovering with a friend in upstate New York, USA, and visiting her family in Georgia, while her band and management are seen working behind the scenes in New York. An interesting, but underexplored thread of the film is the fact that this unlikely group of
people depend on Jones for their livelihood: for the musicians in her band, if they do not tour, they do not make money. Structurally, the film is a series of vignettes, strung together more or less artfully, with archival footage of the band and interviews filling out Jones’ backstory and introducing the members of her band. We see clips of Jones at her energetic best, and exhausted, sick, and angry. Some scenes seem to be there just because the crew happened to be on hand, as when a visibly frail Jones visits a small church midway through her chemotherapy regimen and belts out a gospel song with her all, throwing herself around and dancing with the kind of abandon she used to display on the stage. It contrasts strangely with the images of her struggling to mount the stairs to the church, and you spend the entire scene waiting, breath catching, for her to collapse. As a document of a unique performer at a difficult and rewarding junction, Miss Sharon Jones! is a success, bringing a bit of the energy and love that Jones brings to the stage to life. It’s also a fascinating portrait of an artist who arrived late, and via a rocky path. Jones really does embody those clichés about sticking with your vision and not taking no for an answer, lessons that Jones brings with her during cancer treatment.
Aaron van Dorn
Book Living with an inflammatory bowel disease
Go your Crohn Way Kathleen Nicholls, Singing Dragon 2016 Pp208. £9.99 ISBN: 9781848193161
96
At the age of 27 years, after years of pain and countless visits to medical professionals, Kathleen Nicholls was diagnosed with the incurable inflammatory bowel disease Crohn’s. In Go Your Crohn Way, we hear an honest and witty account of Nicholls’ relationships with her bowels, her body image, and her family, as she embraces life, disease, and all. Although, as Nicholls emphasises, the experience of living with Crohn’s disease can vary greatly from one patient to another, all patients are likely to experience many aspects of living with the disease. Go Your Crohn Way is an often alarming, but equally uplifting, roadmap of living with an inflammatory bowel disease. Nicholls shares with the reader her life before and after her diagnosis, describing the “confusion, anger, and depression” she felt pre-diagnosis; the intimate details of a diagnostic colonoscopy, and her battle to find a treatment strategy that worked for her. Nicholls does not shy away from uncomfortable details. Although aspects of this book might be difficult to digest for those newly diagnosed with Crohn’s disease (including Nicholls’ description of living in “constant
agony and gut-crunching misery” and the repetition of the word “incurable”), the candour with which Nicholls discusses maintaining her relationship with her partner will instil hope to those who, understandably, worry that an inflammatory bowel disease might make them undesirable. This book does not aim to educate the reader about Crohn’s disease (although the basic facts are given) or the pros and cons of various treatment options; rather it aims to help those with the disease see that it doesn’t have to be all-consuming and to help their loved ones to understand what they can do to make the lives of “Crohnies” a little easier. Tortured puns aside, the book is peppered with valuable advice on how to live with Crohn’s disease, from not being afraid to grieve for the life you thought you would have, what to keep packed in an emergency hospital bag, how to ask where the toilet is in six languages, and to always keep some wet wipes handy!
Robert Old www.thelancet.com/gastrohep Vol 1 October 2016