Mavis Staples, who is to music what Michael Jordan was to basketball, holds center stage in the acclaimed book by the Tribune’s longtime rock music critic Greg Kot.
It’s titled “I’ll Take You There: Mavis Staples, the Staple Singers and the Music that Shaped the Civil Rights Era” (Scribner) and, having been the object of admiration and glowing reviews since its 2014 publication, is now the latest volume to join the distinguished roster on the “One Book, One Chicago” team.
“Frankly, I am stunned,” said Kot, who was informed of the honor by telephone by Jennifer Lizak, coordinator of special projects, cultural and civic engagement at the Chicago Public Library. “I don’t write for prizes or awards, but I am deeply honored by this. Honored and so stunned that when Jennifer first told me, I had to have her tell me again.”
“One Book One Chicago” is, of course, the civic celebration of literature launched in the fall of 2001 by then-mayor Richard M. Daley and Mary Dempsey, then the commissioner of the Chicago Public Library system.
“This project is about reading, not just reading this book but reading in general,” said Daley at the time. “It’s all about literacy and how really important it is in the modern age.”
And so, the books have come at a steady pace, two some years and one in other years, and each of them being the focus of citywide events. This year, things will get more expansive. The formal announcement is scheduled to take place Sunday morning. It will include the news that Kot’s book will be the foundation of “Music: The Beat of Our City,” a more extensive series of programs than for any “One Book” volume in the past.
“There will be events at most all of the library’s branches through April,” said Patrick Molloy, the CPL’s director of government and public affairs. “There will be tours of musically significant neighborhoods, and we’ll offer live performances of all sorts of music, from polka to hip-hop.”
Added Mary Beth Mulholland, the CPL’s director of marketing, “We intend not only to allow people to explore the rich musical history of the city but of modern scene and even take a look into the future.”
Kot’s book was selected, as have been all previous “One Book, One Chicago” titles, by a small committee of CPL librarians over weeks of discussion that began months ago. “The mayor was very involved in this entire process and is understandably excited,” said Molloy.
The first book was “To Kill a Mockingbird,” the 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee. (Only afterward it was learned that it was Daley’s favorite book).
Kot’s is the 28th book to be selected. Many previous choices — fiction, nonfiction and plays — were written by authors long gone (Lorraine Hansberry, Solzhenitsyn, Arthur Miller, Willa Cather, Raymond Chandler, Jane Austen, James Baldwin and others).
Living authors (Stuart Dybek, Isabel Wilkerson, Michael Chabon, Sandra Cisneros and others) have been accorded the honor. Some of the authors have been Chicago-born or bred.
The majority of selections have been met with approval. A few have caused modest complaint and slight controversy. And some in the city’s literary community have been awaiting the inclusion of books by that local writer triumvirate of Nelson Algren, Studs Terkel and Mike Royko. (You can see all previous choices at www.chipublib.org).
Kot’s book is the only one to focus on a living local icon. It is masterfully researched, critically clear-eyed and filled with interviews with many of the Staples’ contemporaries and with others who have been influenced by the family’s music.
He spent more than 70 hours interviewing Mavis, and that helps create a frank and intimate portrait. And there is typically first-rate Kot writing: “(The Staples family) delivered music amid the concrete and steel of Chicago that was solemn, Southern and rural — ‘hillbilly,’ as gospel singer Donald Gay described it. To worshipers who still had the South in their DNA and their accents, this music was deeply nostalgic. Just one of Mavis’s long moans, Cleotha’s swoops into a minor key, or a trembling chord on Pops’s guitar could instantly evoke the world they’d left behind.”
The Tribune called it “(A) fascinating testimony,” adding that “Kot’s portrayal of Mavis is deft and balanced, worthy of a performance that, no matter how often you play it, never fails to live up to the promise of its title.”
The New York Times: “A rich musical history.”
Kirkus Reviews: “A biography that will send readers back to the music of Mavis and the Staple Singers with deepened appreciation and a renewed spirit of discovery. … Through it all, the ebullience of Mavis Staples and her music shine through.”
The 60-year-old Kot has been in the Tribune’s employ since 1980 and was named the paper’s rock critic in 1990. Over the next decades he has reviewed thousands of shows in venues huge and tiny, interviewed every major star and introduced readers to every up-and-comer, and covered the music scene in all its socio-political and business complexities.
Born and raised in Syracuse, N.Y., Kot lives in a house on the North Side with his wife, Deborah, and their two daughters, Katie and Marissa. There Kot has found time to also write for a number of national publications and to write books. Those other books have been “Wilco: Learning How to Die” (2004) and “Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music” (2009).
He was the co-author, with Keith Miniscalco, of 2008’s “Survival Guide for Coaching Youth Basketball: Only the Essential Drills, Practice Plans, Plays, and Coaching Tips,” based on the youth basketball program the two men ran for many years.
He is also the co-author of 2010’s “The Beatles vs. The Rolling Stones: Sound Opinions on the Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Rivalry.”
It was written with Jim DeRogatis, Kot’s co-host on the radio show “Sound Opinions” (www.soundopinions.org). The duo has been together on air since 1998 on WBEZ-FM 91.5. They were once rivals of sorts, DeRogatis being the rock critic for the Chicago Sun-Times. The show has since thrived. Billed as the “world’s only rock and roll talk show,” it is still produced at WBEZ and syndicated to some 150 stations nationwide by Public Radio Exchange.
“Mavis Staples is an international treasure, and it’s about time her hometown gives her the recognition she deserves,” says DeRogatis, no longer with the Sun-Times but still writing and teaching (www.jimdero.com). He is also the author of a half-dozen books, including “Let it Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs, America’s Greatest Rock Critic” (2000). “Greg Kot is slightly less of a treasure, but it’s nice for him to get some recognition too.”
In the coming week, some of you who travel on the CTA will start to find copies of “I’ll Take You There” on seats on the “L.”
This is part of the CPL’s 2-year-old program that has been distributing “One Book” selections on various CTA trains. It is a wonderfully simple idea: Find the book, read the book during your ride and then put it back for the next rider/reader.
And many can look forward to a conversation between Kot and Staples on Dec. 14 at the Harold Washington Library.
But Staples will next perform here Oct. 27, playing the first concert at the new Wintrust Arena near McCormick Place. She will be performing with Bob Dylan, which brings to mind a story Kot tells in his book: At the Newport Folk Festival in 1963 when Dylan told Pops Staples that he wanted to marry Mavis, and though he never did, the pair would had an on-again-off-again romantic relationship for years.
Tickets go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. Friday. Needless to say, Kot will be there, reviewing the show.
rkogan@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @rickkogan
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