Prelude. The slave ship tows the ship of fools
Mad is a place
"He blew his brains out through the trumpet" : Buddy Bolden and the impossible sound of madness
Interlude. "No wiggles in the dark of her soul" : Black neurosis, art, murder
The blood-stained bed
A portrait of the artist as a mad Black woman
"The people inside my head, too" : madness, Black womanhood, and the radical performance of Lauryn Hill
The joker's wild but that nigga's crazy : Dave Chappelle laughs until it hurts
Songs in madtime : madness, Black music, and metaphysical syncopation
Afterword. The nutty professor (A confession).