12.3.17

Up before most of the house, except Bryan D. Walked into the village to pick up coffee pods for the Keurig, and have coffee [by] myself at Bread Alone, where I used to go before class when I taught at Bard. Read to p. 40 of Tony Hiss, The Experience of Place and finally caught up to the date in the poetry daybook. Went back to house for last breakfast/packing/goodbyes, got out by 11. Spent rest of day looking at antiques/books/records in Rhinebeck and Kingston w/ Bree. Gritted my teeth and bought an obscure underground Dylanologist publication from 1971 for (a) research (b) more than I’d normally spend. Other smaller purchases – looking forward to a book on C.L.R. James, and a bunch of $2.50 LPs from Rocket No. 9 (owned by Doug Wygal of the Individuals, apparently, though he wasn’t there). Bree found things she liked as well. Glanced at a couple of historic bldgs./plaques. Had snack/coffee in an odd shop/café called Outdated that specialized in deadstock notions (inc. some tempting memo pads, but I really do own enough blank notebooks of all sizes) and oversized scones. Left a little after 4, drove home, talked and listened to the O’Jays, Ship Ahoy – I’d forgotten about “Money, Money, Money,” which I arguably unconsciously swiped for a moment in “Faith and Credit.” Didn’t hit bad traffic, back in JH before 7. Unloaded car, left Bree, returned it to Enterprise, did the same routine as a couple weeks ago of walking home along the bus route. Have been really lucky, generally, that it’s not as cold as last year (whatever that means for the species).

The amount of time I’ve spent out of town, either for music (Catskill, Kernersville) or not (Thanksgiving, this weekend) in the last two months is unusual. Not unpleasant, but I’m glad to be done until we go back to CA before Xmas. Haven’t written for more than 3 or 4 days in a row in weeks. Anyway, finish line of weekend reached by 8. Saw that a small package from Mitch came in the mail; turned out to be a hard drive, presumably w/ my Pro Tools sessions and (I hope) rough mixes – too tried to plug it in. Lights out by 10.

12.2.17

Up 8:30-9, slow morning/breakfast w/ about crew. Most stayed around the house. I walked around town to check out the various Sinterklaas festivities, because why not, and poked around in Oblong Books w/o buying anything. (The selected Coolidge and a couple of anthologies from Station Hill, local to Barrytown, were tempting but not at full price.) Saw Andrew and Emily there as well. Met up w/ Bree at the Lutheran church a block from the house to watch 3 ½ hr sets of local music – a gypsy/Balkan group, an a cappella group from Bard (though several looked too young to be undergrads) doing Georgian music, and a group from a local jazz school (I guess some kind of private extracurricular thing) who were way better than they had any right to be. The teachers/ringers were one tenor sax and the guitarist, the other two sax players were maybe 16-17, and could both solo, and the rhythm section were 12. One drummer better than the other, and neither was Max Roach, but both could keep good time on the ride, and the bass player was completely solid. 2 Vince Guaraldi crowd-pleasers, Shorter’s “Footprints,” and a Gigi Gryce tune, “Stupendous Lee” – pretty hip, all told. Guess I’m impressed b/c my high school jazz band, and me in it, was crap by comparison.

Bought and cooked some kale to contribute to the group dinner, also bacon for tomorrow. Walked over to the Sinterklaas parade after – fascinating and weird, though less so than last year when it was a total mystery. Not going to go into detail.

Sang Kristin’s song (Jenny made handouts); it went over. Played songs (some Bacharach, some standards, “Watching the Detectives”), and/or improvised in various combinations w/ Trip, Warn, Amy for the next couple hrs. Jean found and sang the lyrics to “Take Five” in a fakebook I’d brought. After that, most of the group played liar’s dice; I went to bed before midnight, though it seemed much later.

12.1.17

Up 8:30. Finished Kristin’s lyric in am, returned Otis Redding bio to local library, skipped p.o. Packed etc. at home, picked up rental car, came back for Bree, headed to Rhinebeck. Traffic not as bad as last week; listened to asst. Christmas music. Stopped in Peekskill for most of the afternoon, went to a Salvation Army and Bruised Apple Books – scored Reminiscing with Sissle and Blake—and had an unusually cheap and satisfying lunch of beef stew w/ cassava at an Ecuadorian deli. Got coffee, caught up minimally on email, wrote 1 poem in day book (I’m 4 behind). Made the drive w/ some 1962 Ellington, inc. an interesting arrangement of “Blue Monk” I had no idea existed, had a more substantial conversation w/ Bree than we often get a chance for. Pulled into Rhinebeck about 8, had dinner w/ the Tsunami/Simple Machines circle: Jenny + Brian, Kristin + Bryan, Andrew Webster + his wife Emily (don’t think we’d met), Amy + Stefan, Kevin Cordt, David Brown, Warn Defever, Trip Gray. Played Cards against Humanity (don’t think I’ve ever won before). Stayed up talking, joined Bree in guest room at 2.

11.30.17

Up 8, got out before 10. Tried/a little hungover from last night (only 2 drinks), lasted all day. Started looking at the intro again over coffee, in the hr. before therapy. Lunch, then resumed, worked about 2-4. Actually very close now – have marked 2 grafs I want to polish, and footnotes are needed. Called dad while walking down B’way. Home about 6, tried to rest until 7:30, got up and did a few things to prepare for tomorrow’s trip. Went out to work on Kristin’s b-day song 9 to 11. Lights out not long after I got back.

[Dylan/Band “All You Have to Do Is Dream” to The Shepherd Sister’s “Alone (Why Must I Be Alone”)]

11.29.17

Up 7, worked at E77 8:30 to nearly 1. Lunch. An elderly woman who apologized for her English tried to discuss her banking issues with me. Voicemail from Laura asking if I could talk about the “folk process” around a song in the show. Came home and tried to get into some tasks.

-       Partially cleaned tub.

-       Took a bunch of things that were too heavy for Bree downstairs to our storage space.

-       Worked on the rest of the songs for tonight, inc. another Guy Clark

-       Figured out something to say about “Handsome Molly” and “Dublin Blues”

-       Cleaned an partly assembled a found CD cabinet.

-       Talked to someone from Bree’s insurance provider.

Walked over to Laura’s, took a train to Sid’s together, played year’s last States of Country (of 5 or 6 I’ve been on, I think) about 7:30-9: 

Starry Skies

Lee Harvey Was A Friend of Mine

Dallas (Flatlanders)

Lone Star State of Mind (Nanci Griffith)

Ain't Living Long Like This (Waylon Jennings)

White Freightliner (Townes Van Zandt; Mark Spencer feature, w/ blazing gtr.)

Long Long Time (Linda Ronstadt, w+m Gary White; w/ Mary Lee)

Dublin Blues (Guy Clark)

She Ain't Going Nowhere (ditto; w/ Eric Ambel)

Die Fun (Kacey Musgraves, w/ the Tall Pines)

How Do You Feel About Fooling Around? (Kristofferson/Jennings, w/ the Tall Pines)

It’s Alright (Buddy Holly, w/ Jay Sherman-Godfrey – he showed us the song in the bathroom)

One Way Crash Course (Doug Sahm – great song)

No Place to Fall (TVZ; w/ Mary Lee)

Pancho + Lefty (TVZ)

Hung out for an hr +, talked about sexual harassement w/ Laura, Jay, Rachel Gilkey. Inconclusive. Rode back to JH w/ Laura per usual – cabbie lived a few blocks away, as sometimes happens. Home/lights out about 12:30.