One of the benefits of a career in arts journalism is the access it affords to some of the most creative minds of our times. Nothing is more inspiring than talking to an accomplished writer, musician or artist about their creative process and what compels them to make art.
That’s one of the pleasures of reading Atlanta author Peter McDade’s new novel, “King Cal” (Trouser Press Books, $17.95). His central character, Calvin, is a struggling young musician and talented songwriter who is just beginning to master his craft. How, and why, he does it provides the foundation for everything else in the book.
It is a topic McDade knows something about. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, he was the drummer for Uncle Green (later renamed 3 Lb. Thrill), an Atlanta-based rock band that garnered critical acclaim, as well as a contract with Atlantic Records and production by hitmaker Brendan O’Brien. Alas, commercial success proved elusive.
While touring with the band, McDade began writing stories. Now, he is the author of three novels and teaches history at Clark Atlanta University.
“King Cal” is a coming-of-age novel that cleverly takes place over a 24-hour period. Flashbacks fill in the backstory: Calvin is the quiet new kid in middle school who befriends charismatic Grady when they bond over music. They form a band with Calvin on keyboards and Grady on guitar and lead vocals. After high school, they leave their small Florida town to make a go of their rock ‘n’ roll dreams in Atlanta.
“King Cal” picks up three years later. Calvin and Grady are still sharing a bedroom and sleeping on the floor of a house share in Stone Mountain. They occasionally play an opening gig someplace, usually on a Tuesday, but they’ve recorded a solid body of original songs that get a few listens every now and then on SoundCloud. To pay the bills, Calvin runs the drive-thru window at a fast-food joint called Burger Buddies.
Credit: Miguel Martinez for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Miguel Martinez for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For a book about music, I came away from reading “King Cal” with a lot of insight into the world of fast-food workers. Everyday Calvin greets a parade of colorful customers, including a “sharp-dressed man in a tiny BMW”; vanloads of kids; and a gently crying man blasting Pearl Jam in a red Volvo. All the while, Calvin works on lyrics in his head: "Crying alone in my Volvo, crying in front of someone I don’t know."
For a book not about race, there’s an interesting lesson in white privilege when Calvin is offered a potential promotion to management. He later denigrates the opportunity to his co-worker Kendall, who doesn’t mince words over how much a pay hike and insurance would mean to him and his family if he were given the same opportunity.
Calvin is appropriately humbled, but music and the future of his band are all that matter to him. The problem is, Grady has been temporarily poached by a local jam band on the rise while they’ve been on tour. Their big homecoming show is that night at Variety Playhouse. As much as Calvin dreads the concert, he’s eager to spend the evening with his girlfriend Melli and reunite with Grady.
Unbeknownst to Calvin, though, other forces are at play, and he’s going to be forced to confront some uncomfortable truths as the night unfolds. Meanwhile, he’s blind to the fact that he’s got an ace up his sleeve that could change the course of his future.
Calvin’s trials and tribulations are sure to resonate with anyone familiar with the hopes and heartbreaks of the aspiring artist so determined to share their art with the world they risk burning bridges in the process. But despite his flaws, Calvin’s single-minded drive comes from such a pure place, you can’t help but root for him.
“He may have spent the day making one mistake after another,” he muses at the end of the disastrous night, “ … but he also created something new, something that would not have existed without him, something that may even, someday, be good.”
Suzanne Van Atten is a book critic and contributing editor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She may be reached at Suzanne.VanAtten@ajc.com.
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