The Final Revival of Opal and Nev by Dawnie Walton

 

The Final Revival of Opal and Nev is a fictional oral history of the

 interracial 1970s rock duo Opal Jewell and Nev Charles. The journalist S. Sunny Shelton

 (nee SarahLena Curtis) is now editor of the music magazine Aural. Sunny proposes a book-

length feature about Opal and Nev because there’s a rumor of an upcoming reunion tour.

 Sunny has her own reasons for wanting to write this story. The book begins with her note:

Disclosure: My father, a drummer named Jimmy Curtis, fell in love with Opal Jewell in the summer of 1970. For the duration of their affair, he was married to my mother, who in ’71 got pregnant with me. Before my birth…he was beaten to death by a racist gang during the riot at the Rivington Showcase. And before my mother could bury his broken body, his mistress blazed to stardom.

In continuing the Urban Life Experience Book Discussion Series, six of us met on Saturday Oct. 22 to discuss this incredible book. The way that the fictional duo fit into the actual cultural events of the 70s and 80s, made each of us continually look up events and people to see if there was really an Opal and Nev. The novel reads like a documentary, spanning the Civil Rights movement, the Black Panthers Era, the Black Lives Matter movement, right up through 2016. Given all this, the star of the book is Opal Jewell. She’s the Black, bald, flamboyant cultural icon that S. Sunny Shelton had been curious about her entire life.

Robin started off our discussion with: Great choice of book I loved it. Here’s a quote I pegged:

This is supposed to be Mike Wallace asking Opal in an interview in 1973: “Do you feel that violence and danger follow you?”

Opal: I’m Black and living in the United States, violence and danger follow me always”

Barb: I suspect that the author Dawnie Walton will have an interesting career as a writer of fiction

Author Dawnie Walton
 Photo by Rayon Richards 

Barb: There was several times where she built such suspense that I said, Okay I’m going to put this book down for a few minutes.

Marian: I live the suspense while I’m reading. And there were so many details even about music. It makes me wonder if Dawnie Walton had musical training, how she knew about the different styles of drumming, how she knew that drumming created the set.

Robin: She clearly has an interest in it. It was interesting when you gave us that article.

(The article was written by Hanif Abdurraquib and called “I Would Like to Give Merry Clayton Her Roses.” It’s included in his 2021 book of essays: A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance.)

They mention in the book that the press referred to the Rivington Showcase as Altamont East. But I didn’t know what Altamont was. The Rivington Showcase was fictional, but Altamont was real.  During this free 1969 concert which featured acts like The Rolling Stones, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, and others, a black man Meredith Hunter was stabbed to death by members of the Hells Angels, who had been hired to provide security. They were paid in $500 worth of beer.

Marian: if you listen to The Final Revival of Opal and Nev on audiobook, there’s an ensemble cast. There’s even a voice for Jimmy, even though Jimmy had been killed. The narrator brought his voice back through old interviews. The thing about listening to books is that it gets more into your consciousness. You’re hearing their voices. Opal’s great friend and stylist, Virgil LeFleur with his talent, would be awesome today. He would be an international fashion icon.

Fans have brought Virgil LeFleur to life
https://d1hbl61hovme3a.cloudfront.net/assets_us/80182-finalrevivalopalnev-rgg-(1).pdf

Laura: the people would become real to you because you hear their voices.

Robin: The writer drew whatever was going on in the world into her story.  She spoke from all different eras. At one point it was the 80’s and it was all about AIDS and Opal and Virgil had a friend who was dying from AIDS. She kept whatever was going on in the world at the time.

Connie: That kept confusing me. I kept saying “This is a novel, right?”

Robin: It was a little confusing. The hardest part is recognizing what happened in this book in 1971 could easily happen in 2022. At the end, they showed it on tape, at least Nev couldn’t say “I never saw it.”

Barb: It’s white privilege at its worst, to turn away and say I’m ok and I’m going to continue my path.

Arthur: Nev’s whole life was white privilege when you look at the fact that his money came from his dad when he came over from Britain. Even with his drug issues, he’s nursed on through and can come out on the other side.

During the reunion concert there had been a montage of pictures and there had been a picture of Sunny’s father. Opal answered, “Because your father was up there with me, and he did it for me. So, I had to do it for that young woman.”

Patricia: That was brave I mean because the temptation must have still been there in a way, to try to come back to have more fame, more attention.

Robin: I also really liked when Sunny talked to her mother when she lost her job. Her mother at first, hadn’t wanted her to write the book, but now she said, “You’re giving up that book?”

Connie: And she had the courage to go back and renegotiate with Aural Magazine because of her mom’s insistence.

Patricia: Sunny had said, “Isn’t it odd or strange that Nev’s memory is so clear on so many things, all the stuff about his mother, everything that happened in his past.” I don’t believe he couldn’t remember what happened at the concert.”

Laura: I may be misremembering, but I seem to remember that Nev was really a mess after the Rivington Showcase event.

Robin: He had cracked ribs, having cracked ribs doesn’t do anything to your memory.

Connie: To Nev, his career was more important than calling out bigotry. I liken it to politicians; their career and power is the only thing that matters. Opal is in the thick of it. She sees the bigger cause and is willing to sacrifice her chance to regain stardom for what’s right.