Slept very poorly – up around 3, watched another tepid SNL and, for some reason, an entire 90 min. BBC documentary about Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Went out at 7:30 and worked on email – mainly from Brian Macpherson about Doormat/n Music, whom I had a deal with 20 years ago, suddenly showing up claiming to own the publishing on a bunch of NPB/solo songs from that period. There are still a few emails from this summer hanging around – I seem to have some block against getting the inbox below 25. Came back 9:30, took to bed, fell asleep to episodes of Open Source podcast, up for good about 12:45. This is not a pattern I want to get into. Called dad. Left for East Harlem around 4, some Brossard on train. Spent an hr or so a coffee place I’d looked up on 109th, wrote daybook poem, and tried to draft part of the last graf of the current section of my intro (longhand in an unwieldy notebook I’m doggedly committed to making use of; I left too late to make taking the laptop seem worth it). Walked to El Taller Latino Americano, a language school/arts space/community center for a “Race and Resistance” festival/show, also billed as an un-Columbus day event. I saw Craig Taborn, Tomeka Reid, and Ches Smith finishing their soundcheck, then waited around for a while; finished the Brossard.* Late start, really flaky intro, and then an interminable set by a tenor/viola/drums trio let by L. Mixashawn Rozie. He’s a talented, energetic player, the drummer had moments (but also miscues), and the strings were not adding much; but the whole thing seemed under-rehearsed, undifferentiated (despite stabs at “Purple Haze” and “Well You Needn’t,” and undynamic. I was either in a bad mood, or they put me in one. I left at the break, after 9, w/ Quincy Troupe, of whom I’m not a fan anyway, setting up to read w/ a guitarist. So I missed Taborn and Cooper-Moore, which is what I’d come for, but I just couldn’t hang. Read a good chunk of that recent issue of Prelude – frontloaded with some similar sounding (I assume by the editors’ intention) millennials, through a long, short-lined but baggy John Yau poem. Home by 10, put a couple of Schubert quartets (#s 10 and 14) on my phone, lights out by midnight.
10.7.17
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.