12.1.16

Up around 7. Weight 213.8

Very scattered, hard to remember in order. Did daybook first thing, read 50 p. Hadju and 25 of Pollack for good measure. A lot of correspondence/printing/b.s. at home. Mailed the LPs; next, a larger order of various records for Dan H.'s record store in Des Moines. Rehearsed "I Don't Care" w/ Bree. Rested for a while, then played through other songs I'm playing on - "Video Killed the Radio Star" and "I've Got the World on a String" (just kept playing several choruses w/ metronome to get the changes ingrained), also spent a while on "I'm an Old Cowhand." Packed in a halfassed way, as I do, and went out around 8:30 to meet Laura C. at E77 and watch one Jacob Tilove play a couple of sets of gtr and mandolin - some trad bluegrass ("Liza Jane," basically a minstrel song), some singer-songwriter material, inc. a couple by John Hartford, who I know nothing about, a Neil Young song I know but can't name, and solid originals in similar modes; nice surprise was the Fleetwoods' "Mr. Blue," a better song than I'd remembered. (Turns out the writer also penned Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places," decades later.) A couple of high-lonesome-style duets w/ a guitarist. Ran into the fellow who hired me for the Bill Frisell/Woody Guthrie talks at Lincoln Ctr. a couple of years ago - seemed pretty interested in the bridge book. Also had a good catch-up with Laura. Nice evening, in all. Lights out midnight.

11.30.16

Up 7. Weight 213.5. Fitful sleep, cold persists, but a little more energy overall.

Needed a hot breakfast, went out for huevos rancheros, did daybook (also a page last night) and finished Hobson. Pretty intriguing account of the relationship between barbershop singing and blues tonality, not sure how to incorporate past 1 or 2 smaller points. Went on to E77 and had enough energy to write a graf on the bridge of "Somebody Loves Me." Did some organization at home, finished the "String" chart, and set up the new printer. It works, wirelessly even. Packed 2 record orders. Rested (listened to an ok talk on the poetics of "wrongness" by Rachel Zucker, and watched an episode of one of Jacques Pepin's cooking shows, which are idly comforting). Went out around 5, read 50 p. of Hadju, correspondence; invitation to play in Pittsburgh next Oct.; wrote to yet another publisher about "Strange Feeling." Nothing of great moment once I got home; looked at a few pages of Aleksandr Skidkan, Red Shifting, an UDP translation I've had around for a while.

Reminder that I want to see the following museum shows before leaving for the holidays:

Picabia, MoMa; Lackey, PS1; Ukeles, Queens Museum; possibly Agnes Martin, Guggenheim. Also need to see Daughter of the Dust at FilmForum, would like to see at least a couple from the Raul Ruiz retrospective at Lincoln Ctr.

11.29.16

Up 8. Weight 213.8. Still congested, resting in bed a lot between bouts of activity - not sure I'll go upstate this weekend.

Got coffee and read 50 p. Hadju, another chapter or so of Beatty.
Came home and finally got the "String" chart 90% together.
Got our plane tickets to CA for Xmas/Jan.
Entered "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" into Sibelius. Faster (but found out later I don't have to play it).
Printer arrived.
Had a burst of energy, went to E77 at 5 and wrote a [personal] letter. Faded again by 7.
Rested for a while, then took baby steps toward printer set-up and wrote to the Songwriter's Guild re mechanical license for "Strange Feeling."
Read to p. 100 of Hobson. Lights out before 10.

11.28.16

Up 9. Weight 213.9. Hope this is one of the worst 2-3 days of the cold. No hope of writing.

Read quota of Pollack. 
Got my phone battery replaced; hope this one works.
Got coffee, read first chapter of so of Paul Beatty, The Sellout and David Hadju, Love for Sale. Will probably have to put aside Pollack for a few days to finish the latter before the Dec. 4 show.
Zoned out/napped for a while at home, got back to some low-grade tasks around 3.
Correspondence; nearly cleared out my in-box; sent David Nagler "Enemies of Song"; contacted Wesley Stace about appearing on a Cabinet of Wonders show next year.
Actually have 2 records to send out, 1 to Germany; dug out materials, addressed mailers.
Ordered a new printer/scanner from B&H (Cyber Monday and all).
Thought I'd left the Hobson jazz book somewhere, but it turned up.
Went to Cafe Bene for a salad.
Came back and worked on Sibelius entry. Slow and annoying - it seems I was a little better at this a couple years ago (w/ a different iteration of the software). Think I'll just give up and write a transposed chart by hand. Played through "World on a String" for a bit.
Tried to work on some travel arrangements, but lost heart. Low energy.
Read another 25 p. of Hadju - goes at a clip.
Lights out at 10, but very restless - a lot of Shostakovich, and fitful sleep.

11.27.16

Up 9. 213.8. I have a cold, probably caught from some child at Thanksgiving - a real drag right now.

Went to E77 at 11, daybook, read quota of Pollack (interesting comments on the "chinoiserie" aspect of Gershwin's pentatonicism, in "I Got Rhythm" - the theater scoring of which involved temple blocks - and elsewhere), and a couple not-bad pieces on Whitman in VQR. Home for an hr., felt very rushed, turned around to go to Metrograph for Rivette's Pont du Nord, but had to abort b/c of train delays. Went to Oracle instead. Laptop sluggish, so I cleaned up my desktop; not sure it helped, should reboot. 3-7:30, improved the last graf on "Stairway," wrote another 6-700 words on that and "Somebody Loves Me." Read more of Hobson on the trains. Retrieve a 10" and packing material from storage when I got home, to fulfill an order, otherwise nothing worth noting. In bed by 10, though I got up once or twice and listened to a talk about the Ukraine and the Holocaust by Timothy Snyder.