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.
David is working on a graphic novel about the Armistad rebellion of 1839. The Armistad is a schooner used in the slave trade, and while he has written about and illustrated sailing ships before, most notably in Under The Banner Of King Death, a schooner is quite different than the typical pirate galleon. And now you may be wondering why I happen to know this. Well, way back before there was a Mecca Normal, I was the co-owner of a sloop with my then-partner who was very keen on boats.
At 20, I was looking for adventure and had only been sailing once when we bought a 37-foot wooden boat. I definitely learned a lot, but overall, I’d say the whole experience was too stressful, and I just didn’t become an “I’d Rather Be Sailing” kind of person. In the name of trying to be useful on the subject, I’ve been sending David various videos about the mechanics of sailing, which is bringing up memories from my nautical youth.
Also, it is not lost on me that I’ve juxtaposed an important event in the history of slavery with my frivolous sailing adventures, giving short shrift to his work by showing you my holiday snaps, essentially.
“From The Surface” from Jarred Up (K, 1993) (download):
