The tragedy of Phillips’ death is that it came just as he was hitting his stride.. He was already the voice from the void; he was James the Boptist, a hard-partying rock ‘n’ roller that pioneered a new genre of Afrikaans rock music (despite being English) that sparked and fired a revolution. He was working with heavy-hitters William Kentridge and Warrick Sony on Faustus in Africa, staged in Grahamstown in 1995. This is a rollicking musical ride through all these incarnations, with frank insights from 80’s and 90’s musicians and leftie luminaries – from Johannes Kerkorrel to Lloyd Ross, Pieter-Dirk Uys to Zapiro by way of the Radio Rats’ Jonathan Handley and Vusi Mahlasela. It’s an intimate portrait of a wildly talented poet painted by those who knew him best.
