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Book Review:“My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me”

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You’ve heard the stories.

 

Great-Grandpa made hooch in the basement during Prohibition. Grandma was arrested for protesting back in the ‘60s. Your great-grandma once chased a man off with a gun.

 

 

Scandalous then, maybe, but quaint family stories now. You cherish those rebel-rousing ancestors of yours – but in “My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me” by Jennifer Teege and Nikola Sellmair, some tales may lie buried.

 

At 38 years old, Jennifer Teege had everything she wanted: a degree, success, a husband, two healthy sons, and a bright future.

 

And then, while idly browsing in a nearby library, she says, “I found the book.”

 

Photos inside it seemed familiar – then recognizable. They were pictures of her birth mother and the grandmother Teege loved. And between the pictures was a story that was “the key to my family history, to my life”: the mother who gave Teege up for adoption was the child of one of Germany ’s most notorious Nazis.

 

The grandmother who cared for Teege as a child was the mistress of Amon Goeth, commandant of Plaszów concentration camp.

 

Did her adoptive parents know the truth? Teege had contact with her mother until she was 7 years old and she knew her father was Nigerian; why didn’t anyone say anything about the bigger secret of their lives?

 

And how could Teege ever reconcile the gentle grandma she loved with the woman who surely knew what was going on at the camp, but who chose to ignore it in favor of a life of comfort?

 

Though it felt like picking at a painful scab, Teege needed to know everything about her grandfather, a man she understood would have been outraged at her very existence.

 

She toured his home near Plaszów, and visited sites of former concentration camps. She looked hard at old photos, and contacted her birth parents to find closure.

 

“I want to walk upright, to live a normal life,” she says. “There is no such thing as inherited guilt. Everybody has the right to their own life story.”

 

Think that’s impactful? Just wait.

 

Half of “My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me” is what you just learned – which is so powerful, so striking a tale that it’s impossible to tear yourself away.

 

Except there’s more.

 

Author Jennifer Teege tells about her experiences, her memories, and her heartbreaking repugnance for her ancestry, but journalist Nikola Sellmair acts as a sort of narrator, filling in the historical gaps among Teege’s tale.

 

Sellmair’s part of this book puts Teege’s words into perspective, in short, and so we see modern personal anguish side-by-side with past brutality and horror.

 

We read about warm-fuzzies, followed by breathtaking inhumanity and, in the juxtaposition of the two, we become just as baffled as is Teege about events that don’t make sense. Wow.

 

Without Sellmair’s half of this book, I think this would be just another biography; with her half, it’s just incredible for World War II scholars, students, and biographers.

 

Now out in paperback, “My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me” is one amazing story.

 

“My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me” by Jennifer Teege and Nikola Sellmair, c. 2015, The Experiment, $14.95; 240 pages.

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Oakland Post: Week of December 18 – 24, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of December 18 – 24, 2024

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Arts and Culture

Promise Marks Performs Songs of Etta James in One-Woman Show, “A Sunday Kind of Love” at the Black Repertory Theater in Berkeley

“The (show) is a fictional story about a character named Etta, aka Lady Peaches,” said Marks. “She falls in love with Johnny Rhythm, leader of the Rhythm Players Band and headliners of Madam G’s Glitta Lounge.” Marks channeled the essence of Etta James, singing favorites such as “Sugar on the Floor” and “At Last.”

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Photo Courtesy Of Promise Marks.
Photo Courtesy Of Promise Marks.

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It was “A Sunday Kind of Love” at the Black Repertory Group Theater in Berkeley on Saturday night, Dec. 7. The one-woman musical based on the music of Etta James featured the multi-talented singer Promise Marks

Marks, who wrote and directed the musical, also owns PM Productions.

“The (show) is a fictional story about a character named Etta, aka Lady Peaches,” said Marks. “She falls in love with Johnny Rhythm, leader of the Rhythm Players Band and headliners of Madam G’s Glitta Lounge.”

Marks channeled the essence of Etta James, singing favorites such as “Sugar on the Floor” and “At Last.”

In between her soulful songs, Marks narrated impactful moments of the love story and journey of blues and forgiveness.

Marks sultry voice carried the audience back to an era that echoed with the power of Black music and a time of great change.

Marks said James shared love for the Black community by singing at gatherings during the Civil Rights Movement uplifting the people.

“She spoke to the movement, spoke to the people, and let her music speak for itself,” Marks said.

Backing the musical’s monologues, images and videos of Etta James are projected for the audience to view. While the production is fictional, Marks infused script with the unfairness and heartbreak James experienced while performing.

Marks performed gospel artist Donnie McClurkin’s “We Fall Down” as she narrated acts of reconciliation and forgiveness among the characters at Johnny Rhythm’s deathbed.

Marks, who regularly sings for the Miss America Pageant, was asked to perform as Etta James last year. “(At the event) a lady yelled out to me: ‘You’re Etta James!’ And then the audience went crazy. I said to myself, ‘I may have something here,’” she said.

Within 12 months, Marks created the musical production, which featured a dozen songs honoring “the great legacy of Etta James,” she said.

Marks says she was saddened to see how Etta James was often judged by the struggles in her life and wanted to offer attendees a more layered view.

“Etta’s life was so big. I want people to know that she was more than her drug addiction,” said Marks. “We can’t make that her legacy. Her catalog is too amazing. You can’t just be that and have the catalog that she (created). I don’t want the addiction to be the focus: I want her music, her element, her sassiness, and what she brought to be the focus – her woman-ness, that she was strong, and I wanted to honor that.”

Set Designer Nora Burnette says she created the set segments to mirror James’ life story. A set designer for BRG since 2016, she explained that her process of researching the scenario and the character serve as her inspiration for her design.

“I try to design a set as close to real life as possible so that the actress can deliver the performance sincerely,” said Burnette. “By creating the right setting, it helps the actors release the true essence of a character.”

The set brought the story to life and absolutely floored Marks. “Once Promise (Marks) saw the actual set, she understood my vision: ‘Wow, you get me. You get it,'” Marks told the designer.

Born Jamesetta Hawkins, Etta James, began her career in 1954 and gained fame with hits such “At Last” and “I’d Rather Go Blind.” She faced a number of personal problems, before making a musical comeback in the late 1980s with the album “Seven Year Itch.”

Co-producer and BRG Development Director, Sean Vaughn Scott, works with Overseer Production. According to producer Pamela Spikes, “Marks talent truly does Etta’s life story justice.”

Pam Jacobs of Hercules, a friend of Marks’ mom, Jackie Smith, said, Marks “was fabulous and sang all of those songs flawlessly.”

“I’m so proud of my daughter,” said Smith.

Marks, who has served as an instructor for BRG, will return on Feb. 21- 23 for an encore run of the musical.

“It’s an honor to be a part of the BRG (Black Repertory Group) family and continue our executive director Dr. Mona Vaughn Scott’s vision for the Black Repertory Group theater,” said Marks.

The Black Repertory Group Theatre is located at 3201 Adeline St., Berkeley, CA 94703. For information, visit: BlackRepertoryGroup.com

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Oakland Post: Week of December 11 – 17, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of December 11 – 17, 2024

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