Up around 7. Read the last ch. afterword in Isacoff before I really got the day going. Staid, in its way, but I learned a lot — what he says about reactions to his “defense” (actually, explanation) of equal temperament (and so, Western common practice music) is cautionary.
E77 family early; daybook poem, started Tracey Thorn’s Naked in the Royal Albert Hall, read maybe 20 p. Eric Pankey, The Pear Is One Example.
Took notes on intellectual property/critiical race theory refs in Kraut, Choreographing Copyright, until the kids/parents in the cafe on weekends got to be too much.
Tried to do laundry at home but the machines were in use. (Helped Bree change the sheets a day or two ago.)
Left before 2, Thorn on train.
Spent around 2 hrs at the Adrian Piper retrospective at MoMa. Tried to actually take the time to read the various text pieces/“pageworks,” and listen to some soundpieces - one is 20 min. of her and her partner at the time arguing about an argument they had previously had about a passage from Strawson’s Individuals on “disembodied consciousness.” I’ll probably go back. Would like to get the catalog and reader (sep. publications, though the latter didn’t seem to be available), also paged by a bilingual ed. of her Escape to Berlin, largely her account of how she came to leave Wellesley.
Headed down to Red Hook, listened to some of the 2nd CD of the Coxsone Dodd/early Studio One set - some very early Wailers toward the end of the disc.
Met Alex Abromovich at Freebird Books; bought a biography of Mike Romanoff for Bree, J. Warwick’s girl group book (which I should know), a translation of Russian absurdists at Alex’s rec, and a copy of Brian Evenson’s Altmann’s Tongue, a deeply strange book I clearly recall borrowing from the UCLA library in grad school but have never owned. Sad to pass up (overpriced copies of) a 1914 ed. of Vernon & Irene Castle’s Modern Dancing, and a copy w/ dustjacket of J.P. McAvoy’s Show Girl (satirical 1928 novel turned into early Alice White musical).
Drove to Unnameable. Bought one of the books on copyright whose title I’d written down this morning, and an older book on the English ballad.
Had dinner w/ Alex, hung out at his place until about midnight - ended up coming home w/ a recent Paris Review w/ a Charles Johnson interview, and his copy of Rock and the Pop Narcotic.
Lyft home; lights out 1:30.