Gil Scott Heron lived and recorded in and around Washington D.C. He taught Creative Writing at what is now the University of the District of Columbia. His song, “In the Bottle,” was written here. He is part of the city’s history and especially so during its recent rich cultural renaissance where Go Go music rose, black poetry flourished, and the pulse of the city was for the most part, the black pulse.
This song is one of his great songs, of his many great songs. Of course, while it is a song about nuclear disaster and Detroit, it has appeal outside of Detroit now. Just a year or so ago, Japan was up against nuclear disaster. Gil Scott Heron was before his time, surely.
He transitioned off the earthly plane one year ago today and we are vulnerable without his voice.
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