Up at 5:30.
Took dad to 9:30 appointment with accountant. Finished to early for lunch.
Home, nap 11-1. Read quota of The Mao Case + about 10 p. of Pankey.
Assorted email, phone calls, dithering.
Went out at 3. Wrote 2 hrs. at Starbucks.
Dinner 6:30; Anthony and Beverly dropped by so I could go out a little early.
Listened to Anthony Braxton, Victoriaville 2017 - a remarkable solo alto sax document that includes abstract (but often lyrical) passages in his various “languages,” and explorations of “Body and Soul” and (uncredited) “Everything Happens To Me” and “What’ll I Do.”
Reading at PRB, w/ Diane Ward (strong prose-y sequence on Hurricane Katrina), Celina Su (liked the ideas/conceits more than the writing-as-writing), and SA Smyth (best poems concerned metaphor and geometry); said hi to Joseph Mosconi, Harold Abromavitz, Erica Kaufman (whom I didn’t recognize from NY at first); picked up a couple of chapbooks.
Home by 11. Went to bed soon after.
5.9.18
Up around 7.
Watched the rest of the Anne Baxter movie - I didn’t see the twist coming.
Left around noon (some hard-to-reconstruct delays in getting out of the house, and a phone call from Anthony.)
Tried to get a bite at a Thai place near Sprouts, but it was closed; went for a burger on Central instead. Skipped yesterday in daybook; caught up.
Proceeded from the tango disc to the Verve Parker collection - starts with a Bird with Strings track, “Just Friends,” which I guess fit someone’s definition of “best of.”
Got to the library around 1, read day’s quote of The Mao Case, got involved in some email, read Carl Wilson’s review of the Exile in Guyville reissue (Jessica Hopper’s came out in RS yesterday). Some email - wrote to Annie Nero about playing on the 6/16, and singing on "A Different City."
Wrote 3-5:30. I’m having a lot of trouble with this piece - need to push on to the end of the draft and then cut.
Home, dinner; too much meat today. Anthony came over so I could go out around 7:15.
Listened to Parker on the way to Pasadena to see a group called Need for Speed at Battery Books - turned out to be a group of Cal Arts students, inc. a bassoonist, who play music by Chris Speed (sax player/composer, I’ve seen him play w/ Halvorson), though they also did Julius Hemphill and Ornette pieces. Hardly anyone in the store, which is a shame; Rich West, the owner/manager, said he’d sold $4 of merchandise so far that day. Did my bit, I guess, by buying a collected Paul Laurence Dunbar, Art Lange Evidence, David Rattray Opening the Eyelid, Leslie Kaplan Excess—the Factory, a split LP of Billie Holiday and some third stream guy called Ralph Burns, and Sound Forms for Piano, a New World LP w/ Cowell, Cage, Nancarrow, and Ben Johnson pieces, and Gerard Schurmann, Six Studies of Francis Bacon (U.K. composer, never heard of him, taking a flyer).
Suzanne Vega, Beauty and Crime on the way back. Well-made; the lyrics, on first hearing, make fewer surprising leaps than her most distinctive material.
Got gas for tomorrow; home about 11, in bed soon after.
Have not been reading poetry (the Pankey book I have with me isn't that attractive), nor writing songs/working on music (I have to arrange horns for 2 songs).
5.8.18
Up around 7.
Read some of The Mao Case.
Discussion about family matters w/ dad.
Went out about 11, stopped in Huntley Bookstore (near the library). A shadow of its former self, but noted paperback of Ed Palvic’s book on improvisation, and that Robert von Hallberg’s book on lyric poetry has sections on Johnny Mercer and doo-wop. Also Sean McCrea’s In The Language of My Captor, which I’d like to read.
Worked at Honnold, about noon-4.
Had 1 beer with Evan Kindley and Aaron Kunin at the Press.
Home around 6:30. Dinner, Jeopardy, no good reason to go out. Dull evening; started watching Chase a Crooked Shadow (Michael Anderson 1958), w/ Anne Baxter - low-budget psychological suspense shot in Spain - but got drowsy before 11.
5.7.18
Awake/asleep more than once during night. Up for good around 6:30.
Breakfast, therapy.
Tried to make arrangements about getting one of my parents’ cars checked for its smog certificate; made appts. for dad w/ accountant and dermatologist.
Errands, 11-noon: lightbulbs, groceries. Listened to OMD s/t.
Probably overate for lunch. Read The Mao Case, took longish nap.
Went to Upland Starbucks around 3:45, mainly to get out for a while before dinner.
Daybook poem.
Finished Warwick.
Dinner, Jeopardy.
Went back to Starbucks, worked on bridge draft about 9-11. Listening to tango disc (will retrieve exact title/artist later).
5.6.18
Better sleep - up 6:30.
Found last bit of info for dad’s taxes. Will call for appt. tomorrow (a lot of this kind of stuff next week).
Read last 2 stories in Johnson. The most interesting pieces are the martial arts story, and one about the African tribe he invented for Middle Passage. You could, though, assign a story about Descartes and Queen Christina to an undergrad philosophy course. Listened to Gabor Szabo, Dreams (1968), w/ Keltner on drums, while browsing - I don’t know him, really, but this record suggests I’ve been missing out.6/16 is a lock.
Looks like we have a Human Hearts show w/ Tres Oui on June 16. Matt's in, unsure of Pete and Brandon, will contact Annie Nero or Tom Shad about bass if needed.
Left after 10. Drove around Pligrim Place, unsuccessfully looking for info on their weekly book sale. Found a park for the Farmer’s Market; bought a book of intro phil readings (“contemporary debates” kind of thing); zucchini for a frittata; and grape leaves and eggplant for lunch.
Listened to the rest of Uh Huh Her. It’s a return to a stripped-down style, all or mostly recorded solo I think; not as ambitious, song for song, as Dry or Rid of Me, but enjoyable - some great guitar tones/riffs.
Sanctuary. Caught up in daybook (had skipped yesterday).
Drove out to Rancho Cucamonga Library, bought a book on modern-day Brazil, and a handful of $1 CDs, inc. a compilation of classic tangos, a stray Rova Saxophone Quartet disc (very how did this get here?), and YLT’s Summer Sun, which I may already own. Worked on entry for a couple hours.
Picked up dinner at Vince’s, home around 5:30. Dinner - very dull evening afterwards. Read the first few pages of Qui Xiaolong, The Mao Case, watched an MGM “crime doesn’t pay” short about druggists selling stolen merchandise. Fell asleep to a 5049 podcast interview w/ Che Chen from 75 Dollar Bill.