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The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Nina Simone's Gum
On Thursday 1 July, 1999, Dr Nina Simone gave a rare performance as part of Nick Cave's Meltdown Festival. After the show, in a state of awe, Warren Ellis crept onto the stage, took Dr Simone's piece of chewed gum from the piano, wrapped it in her stage towel and put it in a Tower Records bag. The gum remained with him for twenty years; a sacred totem, his creative muse, growing in significance with every passing year.
In 2019, Cave - his collaborator and great friend - asked Warren if there was anything he could contribute to display in his Stranger Than Kindness exhibition. Warren realised the time had come to release the gum. Together they agreed it should be housed in a glass case like a holy relic. Worrying the gum would be damaged or lost, Warren decided to first have it cast in silver and gold, sparking a chain of events that no one could have predicted, one that would take him back to his childhood and his relationship to found objects.
Nina Simone's Gum is about how something so small can form beautiful connections between people. It is a story about the meaning we place on things, on experiences, and how they become imbued with spirituality. It is a celebration of artistic process, friendship, understanding and love.
Book Details
- Publisher: Faber & Faber
- Publish Date: Nov 22nd, 2022
- Pages: 224
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 8.00in - 6.00in - 0.80in - 1.00lb
- EAN: 9780571365630
- Categories: • Music• Subjects & Themes - Celebrations & Events• Instruction & Study - Appreciation
About the Author
Praise for this book
"Such a mad, happy book about art and music and obsession. I'm so glad I got to read it. It made the world feel lighter."-- Neil Gaiman
"A moving, inspirational insight into a beautiful mind." -- Jim Jarmusch
"Romantic, poetic, I was enchanted." -- Courtney Love
"Ellis' opus is a lyrical reminder that the ephemera we collect in life, that ignite our imagination and memory-- become the things we leave behind. Objects that seem like nothing-- a broken violin or piece of gum--can mean everything." -- Michael Stipe
"In praise of meaning-rich relics and magical things. Totally heartwarming project." -- Max Porter
"This is such a beautiful f*@king book. Thank you, Warren. I highly recommend this motherf*@ker." --Flea
"[A] beautiful, strikingly idiosyncratic book - part memoir, part essay, part conceptual art project, all testament to humans at their strangest and best . . .[Ellis] sees signifiance where others might not." --MOJO
"A glorious piece of object fetishism . . . Marvel as Ellis' collection of eccentric personal mementos morphs into a celebration of the intangible wonder of music." -- Uncut, Books of the Year
"Inspired, polyvocal, joyful . . . completely charming and joyful . . . you are in the company of a person with immense joie de vivre, combined with great intelligence and vitality, who wants to pass some of it on to you . . . a glorious testament." --LA Review of Books
"A joyous work full of love, connection, creativity and gratitude." -- Spectator
"A beautiful, haunting quasi-memoir about the 57-year-old's early life growing up in southeastern Australia and his years spent busking across Europe in the 1980s, as well as one particular, transcendent night that changed the course of his life." -- Vanity Fair