Ep 4 | The Violin Conspiracy: A Story of Black Heritage and White Supremacy

In today's episode, we'll be discussing Brendan Slocumb's, "The Violin Conspiracy". A riveting mystery thriller novel, centered around a Black classical musician prodigy and the theft of his violin. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:28 Content Warning
• 0:33 Overview (spoiler free)
• 3:39 Plot (spoilers)
• 24:09 Flip or Skip

Transcript

0:01

[Intro Music] Hey, y'all. Welcome back to episode four of Flip the Page. I'm your host, Zo. And today we're going to be talking about The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb. Content warnings for anti-Black racism and graphic content. This story is a mystery centered on a young black classical musician, Ray McMillian, and the theft of his violin, a family heirloom, on the eve of a major classical music competition. It takes place in the modern day US. Ray has had to battle being poor an unsupportive family and the inherently racist classical music world in pursuit of his dream to be a professional musician. When he receives his great-grandfather's violin, he learns it is actually a priceless Stradivarius. He prepares to take on the International Tchaikovsky Competition, essentially the Olympics of classical music, until his violin is stolen. With time ticking down and a hefty ransom posted for his violin, Ray is determined to get it back. In the face of racism, and while fighting legal disputes over the true owner of the violin, will Ray ever get to see his beloved violin again? Now this book... y'all... this was a read. While the mystery of who stole Ray's violin was something, I was waiting with anticipation to be revealed, I do think this was secondary or even tertiary to other plotlines and themes in the story. The only reason I say this is because to me it was very obvious who the thief was, very early into the novel. And look, y'all... I'm not no Sherlock Holmes. So I do think this may have been purposely done by the author Since I assumed the thief, my focus was directed more so towards Ray's relationship with his violin, and the significance the violin held to him, and Black heritage in general, rather than exerting much effort determining who the thief was. The reveal of the thief was very satisfactory, though. Both the way it unfolded and how much it just made sense. I love a good open and close. The story deals with Black heritage, intricacies of familial relationships, the anti-Black racism running rampant throughout the classical music world, and ties back to slavery and the legacy, resiliency, and heritage of those enslaved. The author of this book, Brendan Slocumb, has a degree in music education with concentrations in the viola and violin. I love when people well-versed in a discipline pick up a pen, because you can really see the knowledge of the subject matter in the writing. It's so authentic and effortless. In contrast, I think it's harder for people unversed in the discipline to translate that knowledge into their writing so seamlessly. Unless they invest a lot of time into studying it. I don't think someone without an intimate and knowledgeable relationship with music could have written the rich depictions of music that appear in the story. I felt like I was in the theater, y'all. Slocumb also drew inspiration from his own experience of having his violin stolen in a break in when he was young, and a lot of the story, including specific events and characters, reflect his own life. Okay, let's get into the mix. Spoilers ahead. You've been warned. Before I get into the play by play of the plot. I'm going to highlight three main parties around this violin conspiracy. In one corner we got Ray-don't-call-me-Raquan-McMillian and his closest friends and family comprised of: Ray's grandma Nora, a real down as woman. Ray’s day one for real. Who always supported him emotionally and with his music. She's the one who gifted the violin to him. Next you have Dr. Janice Stevens. A professor who scouted Ray for a full time scholarship to university. She was his violin teacher, mentor, and friend, and played a huge role in shifting the trajectory of his life. Ray's Aunt Rochelle, a lawyer and the only member of his family who supported him after Grandma Nora passed. She helped get Ray, a lawyer, to suit up against the multiple legal battles he had to deal with. Then you have Nicole, Ray's girlfriend, and you have Alicia Childress, who is a private art detective hired by Ray's insurance company. In the next corner, we got Ray's family. Ray financially supports his family. I'm talking about giving over 50% of his earnings to them up until a certain point. You have Ray's mom, who's unsupportive of Ray's career choice and wants him to get a real ass job to help pay bills. But she changes their tune once he starts bringing in some money from strumming that little violin. And then you have who I like to call the financial leeches. Uncle Thurston, Uncle Larry and Aunt Joyce. His family decides to sue him when he reveals to them the worth of the violin, and he refuses to sell it. Mind you, they ain't had not one interest in that violin until they saw all them zeros. At the end of that figure. In the last corner we got the Marks family. Dante and Andrea Marks. Descendants of the slave owners who owned the plantation, Ray's great grandfather, Leon, was born on. They contest that the violin belongs to their family. Something so predictable and so vile and heinous. The pair of them are two racist ass, trifling ass white folk who should be focused on scraping together reparations and not focused on no damn violin. They got no real claim to actually. I'm just going to outline the actual history of the violin to get it out of the way. The violin had belonged to the Marks family, who moved from Italy to Georgia. Where they had built a plantation and become slaveholders. Leon, Ray's great grandfather, born into slavery on the plantation, learned to play the fiddle at a young age and would play the violin for the Marx family. The head of the Marx family eventually giving Leon the violin and his freedom papers before he passed. The violin has been passed down by Leon generation to generation, although it skipped Ray’s momma's generation because they care to pluck them strings, as I mentioned before. Okay. Now that we got a bit of a better grasp of the cast, Let's get into more of the plot. Part One. The Disappearance. Part one gets right into the drama in the present, with Ray and his girlfriend Nicole leaving their hotel in New York. With Ray returning back to Charlotte and Nicole returning to her hometown, Erie. When he's back home, he opens up his violin case to find his violin replaced with one shoe and a ransom note telling him to cough up 5 million American dollars worth of Bitcoin in about five weeks. That note doesn't even say if return of the violin is guaranteed Due to the value of the violin, which is public knowledge at this point of the story, this is a major crime and all the feds come out. I'm talk in the Charlotte Police, FBI, NYPD, CPD, PPD, LAPD. Naw I'm actually playing. But the Charlotte police, NYPD and an FBI art crime unit. I didn't even know they have those, start working the case, and the theft is broadcast on every news channel. So, you know, this is serious. Ray himself is itching to get the violin back. Not only for sentimental value, but because the International Tchaikovsky Competition is around the corner, and Ray believes he needs his violin if he has any chances of winning. He does end up getting another violin several days after the theft in the interim, however. We're also introduced to Alicia in this part of the story, who grills both Ray and Nicole separately on their movements prior to the theft. Ray pushes his family and the Marks as the top culprits to her, and he does visit his mom to question her about the violin, but she denies it before kicking him out of her house. He proceeds to get a call from his Uncle Thurston, who cusses him out for “threatening” his mom. And you see, there isn't much love lost between Ray and his family. His family speaks as if Ray has slighted them in some horrible way. Spoilers. Ray ain’t done nothing of the sort. Part Two. The Joy of the Family. Part two of the story pushes us back into the past, with Ryan his senior year of high school, where we learn more about Ray's upbringing and journey into playing the violin. Ray grew up in a poor family and started working at a young age. Despite this, he aspired to be a professional musician, using a rental violin from his school to practice. His mom was unsupportive, is even putting it lightly. His mom wanted him to get his GED and a real job to help pay the bills. Ray refused. And when one of his friends hooked him up with a gig at a wedding recital, it opened him up to more gigs and a way to make enough money for him to help pay his mom's bills and save up a bit for his future. At his first gig. Ray seems to have his first outright racist interaction When he's initially denied entry into the venue because what do people like him know about classical music? There are some slurs thrown around as well. We're also introduced to Grandma Nora in Part two, who Ray is the closest to in his family. She is a space for him to be open about what he's feeling and experiencing. You can also tell that they have a special bond, which I think stems a lot from their passion for music, specifically the violin. His grandma always pushed him to pursue his passion of music, despite the adversity he would face, and would have Ray play for her whenever he came to visit. Grandma Nora gifts Ray their great grandfather's violin for Christmas. A violin in a green alligator case that ain't in the best condition anymore due to lack of use or proper care. Ray does pay to get the violin fixed up a bit, and although it still isn't in the best condition, it's good enough for him to use. It's during this time as well that Ray starts developing a good relationship with his Aunt Rochelle, who becomes more openly supportive of his pursuit of music. At an audition for the North Carolina Regional Orchestra, Ray meets Dr. Janice Stevens, who hears Ray perform and offers him a full ride music scholarship at Markham University, where he would study as one of her students. His momma still ain’t supportive despite this, and tells him he needs to give that up and get a real job. But Ray does end up applying and goes to Markham University. Part Three. Treasure. In part three, we're transported to Ray in his senior year of college, two years prior to the theft of his violin, where his talent and skills have only improved, leading him to embark on his journey towards the International Tchaikovsky Competition. It is during this time that his Grandma Nora passes. R.I.P to the realest bitch in here. Dr. Stevens, the second realest bitch in this story, had taken him to a musical instrument store to get a concert level instrument in preparation for the competition. Rather than buying a new instrument, however, Ray decides to have his violin properly restored. After the glow up, Jacob, the man who restored the violin, tells Ray that he should get his violin appraised because the quality of the craftsmanship is giving priceless. After getting an appraisal and authentication, it is revealed that Ray's violin is an original Stradivarius. One of the string instruments built by the Italian family Stradivari in the 17th and 18th century. Valued at over 10 million American dollars. Before the news broadcasts this discovery, Ray tells his family who, to nobody's surprise, immediately tell him to sell it so they can all split the profits equally. If y’all saw the way I looked around because I know they ain't serious about splitting anything. Ray decides to stand on business and says he ain't selling it. It was important to his great grandfather, important to his grandma. And now the violin is important to him, and he plans to continue the tradition that skipped their raggedy generation and pass it down to his children. Part Four. Music Making. The next part kicks off 11 months prior to the theft, with Ray making his debut. Which he ate up. At this point, he's a household name in the classical music industry and outside of it, as everybody and their momma was witness to the media circus that occurred revolving around the Black violinist who was not only a prodigy but also played on a 10 million dollar violin. During this time, Ray starts receiving letters in the mail from Andrea Marks claiming to be a descendant from the Marks family and the true owners of the violin. The audacity. The letters are condescending and dripping with that faux niceties tone that white women have passed down from generations, thanking Ray for finding their violin and extending gratitude for the quick return of their violin. Ray ignores these letters until Andrea and her brother show up at his doorstep, barge into his home, and aggressively demand Ray cough up the violin or they'll be first to claim legal action. I'm going to run through that again to emphasize how absolutely unhinged this whole thing is. The direct descendants of the slave owners who ran the plantation that Ray's great grandfather was born onto. Showed up on his doorstep. Barged into his home. Assumed ownership of the violin. And demanded he return it. GIRL. This whole ordeal was actually violent. Like I wanted to jump into the pages and put my hands on them. Ray says, that ain't happening, and threatens to call the cops, causing them nasty ass siblings to leave. He calls up his Aunt Rochelle shortly after, who helps him lawyer up. Later on, Ray receives acceptance into the Tchaikovsky competition and enlists Kristoff Van Cordin, an experienced but racist ass musician, to help train him. Not so much in the techniques, but more so the showmanship of his performances. While Kristoff does help garner a more positive and endeared outlook from the audience, Ray ultimately parts ways when he has an unjust, racist run in with the police on the way to a performance, to which Christophe chastises him for ruining the performance by missing it. While this is going on, the Marks lawyer up and Ray receives a warning from their lawyer that they will take things to court if he doesn't surrender the violin, And why not throw some more mess into to his already hectic life? His Aunt Rochelle, lets him know at the end of this part that her nasty ass brothers and sisters are officially suing him for custody of the violin. So whilst training for the competition, Ray also has to search for evidence that the violin belongs to his family while navigating through a legal battle with his family. Part Five. Starstruck. This part takes place six months before the theft. I repeat, SIX months before the theft. Ray meets Nicole when he books to play with Erie Philharmonic. A booking that clearly equates to a charity case in the eyes of Dr. Stevens. Ray and Nicole end up hooking up for the first time a couple of days after meeting and start dating. Some time after. Four months before the theft, Ray settles things with his family by offering to pay each of them $100,000 over the next ten years, and listing them as the primary beneficiaries of the violin, if anything were to happen to him. However, they wouldn't get any payout if Ray were injured and they or their friends or other relatives were involved. He also wrote up in the agreement for them to surrender any papers they could find related to his great grandfather, Leon, to help him confirm ownership of the violin, but unfortunately they were unable to find anything. Part Six. Competition. We're back to the present tense with the Ray at the Tchaikovsky competition. This part of the story is focused very much on the competition. Ray's focus is split between his lost violin and the competition, but he still kills it. And wins second place. It can be argued he lost due to prejudice with him being Black and American. Ray is the first American violinist, however, to ever place so high in the competition. Part Seven. Breaking In. In the final part of the story, we get to the reveal of who stole the violin. But before we get there, the ownership of the violin is finally resolved, when Ray learns all the documents pertaining to Leon were kept in a compartment of the original alligator case, the violin had been placed in. When Ray had the violin restored, he had replaced the case. Through these documents and a letter written by Grandma Nora, when she was a child, ownership of his violin to Leon and his descendants is confirmed, and the Marks family are forced to withdraw their claim. Shortly after this is resolved, a slip of the tongue reveals who stole the violin and surprise, surprise it’s none other than Nicole. She had conspired with her boyfriend Marcus Terry, and had stolen the violin from her and Ray's hotel room that day and hidden the violin with Terry. During the trial, she sent Ray bare emails, apologizing. Shifting the blame onto her partner and asking Ray to write a letter requesting leniency from the judge. Ray said, bet. I'll write you a letter, and he penned a letter to the judge, telling the judge to give Nicole the maximum sentence. He nibbled a bit. Nicole's own orchestral career was over, and she went to jail for eight years with a $1.8 million fine. I don't know where I'm getting the money for that fine, if that was me. At this point, Ray had very much elevated to a celebrity status and was traveling all around the world performing living his best life. He even formed his own group. He earned quite a lot of money, but gave a lot of it away, never fully feeling comfortable in that celebrity lifestyle. His focus, like always, was on the music and also helping highlight music by Black and Latinx composers, as well as providing poor students with instruments and other charity organizations. That's pretty much a wrap for the Violin Conspiracy. I want to talk a bit about Ray's relationship with his violin and the significance of the violin, but I'm going to do a quick breakdown of the theft and the obviousness of the culprit, first. Look, Ray, don't be letting that violin out of his sight. He always got that case on his back and knows where it is at all times. Deadass he brings the violin with him to the bathroom. And do I blame him? No. But given this, based on who had the most and easiest access to the violin, it's unsurprising Nicole was the culprit. From jump, I was looking at Nicole’s ass sideways. Just based off the dynamic of the relationship. The way she spoke to Ray a lot of the time read as unempathetic and very dismissive of his feelings towards the loss of his violin. Her focus was very much on pushing him away from the loss of his violin, and towards finding another violin to practice with. Which I get but at least offer him three seconds of empathy over the loss. It was literally the morning after he lost his violin, and she's telling him to get his ass up and start strumming on a new one like did she even pretend? The disappearance never read as urgent for her. And it was a red flag for me. Also, at the beginning of the novel, the way they were talking and interacting, I thought Ray and Nicole had been in a relationship for a long time. I'm talking YEARS. She knew the ins and outs of all his business and his routines. But then I come to find out they've been together for barely half a year? Oh, my spirit was not taking to her ass at all. Like Ray It’s some people in your circle, plotting against you. Open up them eyes. Ray’s relationship with his violin is one of the most intriguing plot points in the story, for me. There's honestly so much you can dissect pertaining to the violin when it comes to Blackness and Black heritage. Like my neurons were firing. I'm just going to focus on Ray's deeply intimate and codependent relationship with his violin, because I ain't trying to keep you out here overnight. Ray's descriptions of his violin clearly establish it as its own entity. When he loses his violin and is choosing a replacement, he explicitly states the replacement violins were “tools”. A means of making music. Whether consciously or unconsciously, Ray is drawing a comparison and making a delineation between his violin and all others. Whereas other violins are vessels used to make music, his violin functions in the opposite way for him. His violin is its own entity, using him almost as a vessel to make music. You see this with how Ray oftentimes attributes his violin for his own abilities and achievements. During one performance, Ray describes his violin “taking over” the performance. It helps Ray pour his passions and emotions out and into his performance. I do think this personification of his violin stems from its origins, both for his great grandfather Leon and Ray. Ray had two loves in his life growing up his grandma Nora, rest her soul and music. He struggled to hold onto one of them: music, in the face of poverty, anti-Blackness, and a lack of support. Ray nearly had to give up his career when school ended because he had been using his school's rental violin up to that point to play. His grandma gifting him this violin was not only a sign of her support and love, but literally a lifeline that changed the trajectory of his life by enabling him to continue playing music. In many ways, his grandma and this violin saved Ray from a very different life. So it's understandable why he has such a codependent relationship with it. Like that violin stays on him. The relationship of the violin to raise great grandfather can't be swept under the rug. The violin existed as a source of happiness for Leon and other enslaved people on the plantation. Leon's abilities with the violin helped to keep him and his mother alive and ultimately helped earn him his freedom. It's important to also understand that the violin is one of the last relics connecting Leon to the present day, and his descendants. Especially now that Grandma Nora has died. The violin clearly harbors immeasurable sentimental value and weight, particularly for Ray, who uses music and the violin to connect with others. I could go on and on for days, but I'm going to end here and move right into the Flip or Skip section. Flip. Flippity, flip, flip flip flip flip. Girl, I'm giving this a 4.5 out of 5 rating. it would have been a 5 out of 5, if I could close my ears and eyes to the respectability politics that was riddled throughout the book. But I chose violence today, so 4.5. Look, Brendan... I wasn't familiar with your game, but damn, you got me locked in. Finally, some good food. I'm definitely copping a physical copy, because who the hell am I to not have this on my shelf? I fear it’s getting multiple rereads from me. I'm also planning to read Brendan's other book, Symphony of Secrets. like he got me. Y'all need to go pick it up and tune in. Anyway, if you've made it to the end of the podcast. Thanks so much for listening. Don't forget to like and subscribe if you enjoyed today's episode and drop a comment below if you have any thoughts. Thanks! Peace.