Awake for a while 4-6 am; got up for good 10:30. Went to market, came home, put on some Ellington (to 1931 – fair number of outside pop songs during this period, though of course they’ve been doing McFields/Hugh since 1928). Made 2 fritata for party in building; went to same at 2-4, talked to neighbors. Took a break and came back to the apt. to rest, read a little Brossard, and fool around at the piano. Went back down, met a philosopher and her architect husband who moved into the building in Feb. Party broke up around 6 – not sure what I did for the next hr. or so. Never really had coffee today, so went to E77 and read Brossard, w/o full concentration, until 9. A singer-songwriter was setting up, and I usually give local music there a chance, but I felt a bad vibe/attitude from his stray comments, so left before he started. Nothing else worth recording; lights out midnight.
10.6.17
Up 8. Watched The Good Place, which I enjoy. Moved some plastic pipes the gas company had left at our building to the street for trash day, at Bree’s request. Left before 10. Mainly lost in thought on train, but read a couple p. of Brossard. Stopped for coffee, got to library, checked in on some online controversies (waste of time, really), got to work 1:15. Bree had an appointment nearby, so we met for coffee/snack for a while around 3, then back to work. Output: one graf on compulsory licensing and the start of the next. 400 words. Left 5:45, got a little further into Brossard. Stronger narrative thread/sketch of Montreal than I’d have expected, though going off into associative erotics at will. “The words body and city get confused and mingled with a geography; maps or is it cards on the table, anatomical diagrams, systems.” I can see this book making a stronger impact on another reader. Got a sandwich at Sarge’s, headed to Community Church of New York (35th) for AACM show. So-so attendance: apparently there was an Art Ensemble of Chicago show at Columbia today, w/ Tomeka Reid, but I didn’t know about it.) Chico Freeman Quartet – pretty straight-ahead for this series, long vibes solos, some nice heads, all very tasteful, listened to Reggie Nicholson’s drumming as much as anything. Zoned out on train, home 10, lights out/dharma talk 12:15.
10.5.17
Up at 7, dithered online. Out no later than 9, spent a while at E77, redrafted graf on writer’s/publisher’s share, ran into C.D. Clifford. Read most of a chapter on Touch of Evil on train to LC. Worked a little bit nearby, then to the library. Got going about 1: another graf on publishing; day’s output around 700 words, plus a little drafting of the next graf. Section stands at 1660 words, w/o notes; would like to bring it in under 2000, and I have 2-3 paragraphs to go, so there may be more cutting. Left at 7:30, wrote daybook poem on train and read noir book, got home about 8:30. Put on Ellington (I’m up to 1929 – there’s a curiosity called “Who Said ‘It’s Tight Like That,” credited to Ellington/Mills, w/ a Cootie Williams vocal). Kept on w/ noir – 2nd ½ is comparative, w/ a slant toward tying both the rise and demise of noir to the post-war dissolution of the Popular Front-era American Left. Petered out about 15 p. before the end. Took a breather, watched some videos of Benmont Tench demonstrating his organ parts to Tom Petty songs, talked to Bree before she went to bed. Listened along w/ a transcription of Monk’s solo on “Bags’ Groove,” finished the book. “Curiously enough, it takes quite a bit of imagination to see film noir fantasy as reality.” Stayed up a while doing nothing of value. D/l’ed a dharma talk, lights out 1.
10.4.17
Up for a while around 5; dithered online. Went back to bed, listened to a little Craig Taborn, got back up at 7:30. Got coffee, started looking at Carl Richardson, Autopsy: An Element of Realism in Film Noir. Came home and spent a little over an hr. doing garden work w/ Bree (I do not like it, but want to sign up for watering once a week to set a good example for others in the building). Left about 11:15, got lunch, 7 toward Manhattan closed at my stop, had to backtrack toward Flushing. Read intro and ch. 1 of Richardson; strident and flat-footed in his Bazinianism (Bazinism?), but good on production details of The Maltese Falcon. Intrigued by discussion of Renoir’s Swamp Water (1941). Made it to LC library 12:45. Got going about 1:30, revised 1st 2 grafs on publishing, added another, seemingly usable. Left at 5:45 for the Kitchen; book launch/performance for Adam Pendelton, Black Dada Reader. Didn’t know much going in, only knew about it b/c I saw it was happening last night. The anthology is an odd mix of texts you might assume would appear under that title (Baraka, of course) – but are Adrian Piper and George Lewis dada, by most lights? Also a lot of work coming out of conceptual art (Lewitt) and language poetry (Silliman) that isn’t usually read in connection w/ race. So I guess making those connections was the argument. Readings by the editor (a New Sentence-y piece I liked), Stephen Squibb (economically minded, but I’m forgetting the details), Joan Retallack (on the “metaphysics” of white, I think the piece was mostly sleight of hand and let people my and her color off the hook of identifying as “white” a lot more easily than, say, Adam Fitzgerald might), and 3 songs by a multiethnic “New Orleans-style” brass band (SugarTone), ending w/ a long “I Only Have Eyes For You,” after Lester Bowie’s. Not sure I have a final verdict on whether it all hung together aesthetically/intellectually/as cultural politics. Chatted w/ Nathaniel Otting and a friend whose name I’d misspell. Read chapter on The Naked City on the train home – should see The City (Steiner-Van Dyke 1939), Black Legion (Archie Mayo 1936). Home, listened to a little more Taborn, lights out by 11.
10.3.17
Up 7:30. Dithered, looked up a piano transcription of “Black Beauty.” Coffee 9:30. Wrote up comments on Drew Gardner’s “proto-flarf” anthology intro, about 2 hrs. Came home: Bree out. Rested, made lunch, ordered a used copy of Ingrid Monson, Saying Something online. Put on Ellington, started a forced march through email. That turned into other mundane tasks; by 3, it didn’t seem feasible to try to get to the library to write. (Working past 11 on that intro set all this in motion, but it’s off the table.) Other interruptions: tech support call from dad, return call from doctor Bree might start seeing, old CD-R stuck in computer, requiring multiple logoffs/reboots. Left around 5:30; read Feist on train to the Kitchen. Free screening of Metropolis Video’s long-unseen public access shoots of various bands at CBGB’s in 1975: Hell/Thunders Heartbreakers, Blondie (pre-Destri, no keys), The Tuff Darts, the obscure Orchestra Luna (somewhere between the Tubes and Kid Creole, w/ Karla Devito fronting), and 40 min. of 3-piece Talking Heads footage, w/ more songs from Buildings and Food than 77. Q&A with Will Hermes and the video-makers; stuck around to say hi to Will briefly. Read the rest of the Feist on the way home; brisk, self-serving overview of “songpublishing” by the son/heir of one of the early TPA houses. Notable that David Sanjek is credited as a consultant. Prose mostly colorless but learned a few interesting details: I should have known that statutory mechanical royalty rates are maximums; publishers can’t negotiate higher ones! Read a few p. of the translator’s intro to Nicole Brossard, French Kiss. Home 10:30. Lights out 11; started listening to a dharma talk, but fell asleep quickly.