Chester Himes was Iceberg before Slim. He was Goines before Donald. His fast living dames, and hard hitting 'bruhs strutted through the streets of a paper pulp Harlem before Walter Mosley could even spell. Chester Himes returned to the essence back in 1984...but he left his heir apparent in a very unlikely place.
Hurling himself and his skateboard into impossible positions, Jamal Simmons broke onto the scene in the early 90s. He became one of the first prominent African American pro skaters, making the cover of Transworld over a decade before there was a "Skateboard P". He held court with cats like the legendary Harold Hunter, shredding off every straight edge in the city, and then....he disappeared. Locked tightly in a frosty urban cocoon, Simmons made a very calculated transformation to the legendary Livingroom Johnston.
Starting his writing career as an audible force in New York's downtown spoken word scene, 'Liv cemented his relationship with many movers and shakers in NY's fiercely competitive underground. His work inspired urban poets like Mums (of HBO's Oz fame), and impressed the likes of Mike Ladd (who went so far as to include 'Liv in a photo shoot for an album he wasn't even on....simply cuz the brother had so much style). It wasn't long before Liv hit up a Kinkos and started manufacturing hand-made books that were nothing short of mini-masterpieces.
Most of his stories revolve around a stable of characters that always seem to be only six degrees of separation from his heroes Harlem Farfromsquare and Livingroom Johnston. At first glance it may seem this typical literary tool of creating a series of urban stories around the same characters may seem typical. Himes had Coffin Ed and Gravedigger Jones. Mosley has Mouse and Easy. But 'Liv's New York teeters towards being a psychedelic metropolis on the brink some mystic social decay. Kind of like Himes with a shot of Bukowski or Burroughs.
After being a series of hard to find hand made books, and a number of stories that have been featured in Mass Appeal Magazine for the better part of two years, 'Liv's first mass produced novel, I Don't Want To Think About It Right Now burst on the scene courtesy of us (heh you knew there was an angle here...) and MagicPropagandaMill. The book has already reached cult status, and Brooklyn icons like Mos Def have crowned 'Liv one of his faves. As the world holds it's collective breath waiting for the next novel, Peasant, 'Liv calmly applies his paintbrush to canvases, bricks, plywood or whatever, and coolly paints images just as trippy, and full of the strife of his written work.
Check for Liv Spring '07 for his upcoming art show with Ego Trip co-founder Sacha Jenkins.
By MM
Photo - Livingroom finishing his art installation the day of the show at Halcyon, Brooklyn
