5.23.18

Up 8:45.

Took out some recycling for Bree.
Jumping back into routine: E77, drafted 500 words on bridges in black music.
Home at noon, read some poems from the Man'yōshū (pre-8th c.) collection in Keene, and the last chapter of Tracy Thorn, Naked at the Albert Hall (which I’d left in a restaurant just before me trip, and which Bree retrieved while I was gone).
Partially unpacked while listening the Photos s/t. Classic skinny-tie sound, turns out to have been mostly produced by Roger Bechirian. Uneven songwriting, and the drummer is limited, but worth it for, at least, “Look at the Band” and the strings on “Now You Tell Me That We’re Through.” Internet tells me they were less obscure in the UK - there was one other album and a few singles, might be able to track down Cherry Red reissues. 
Paid a Queens Library fine on books that came due while I was away; have to do the same for NYPL (and take in outstanding items in). Those pretty much even up w/ the surprise checks I got for jury duty and NY state tax refund.
Read a bit more of Palmer - will save last series for tomorrow.
Started practicing “Route 66” for States of Country in a week. F seems like the best compromise key between my modest vocal and pianistic capacities. Don’t know the lyrics cold yet.
Left around 5 w/ the intent of going to Scrabble at Jean and David’s; looked for Jean’s email to RSVP before I got on the train, found a more recent one cancelling for this month. Detoured back to E77, took notes (quotes and references, mainly from the introduction) on Anthea Kraut, Choreographing Copyright, so I can take it back to the library tomorrow. Ran into Macgregor on the way back - could have gone w/ him to hear Anne Boyer and Gail Scott read at the Poetry Project (or, for that matter, to opening night of the Vision Festival). A quiet evening at home (Bree out w/ parents, who I’ll see tomorrow) is rare, though.
Groceries. Came home at 7, read about 25 p. of Said Vaidhyanathan, Copyrights and Copywrongs. Already some contentious claims about the collective and oral character of black popular music in the introduction - though it is interesting that the rise of ragtime coincides w/ piano rolls.
Put on LP of Lutoslawski, String Quartet (1964). A lot of surface noise for a $10 piece of vinyl. Difficult, w/ suitably pretentious liner notes - though I did recognize the role of a punctuating octave figure without being told. Bree came in just as it ended.
Read the last of Palmer after all - a sequence called “Still” that he says in a preface he imagines w/ musical accompaniment (not clear whether that means set to music, but I could hear parts of it chorally).
A few pages of the Keene anthology; lights out before 11.

5.22.18

Fitful sleep, as often before travel. Up at 4, dozed more, up for real at 7.
Last bits of packing, nothing unexpected. Moved some music and pdfs to phone and iPad for flight.
Had enough time to kill to watch the start of Trouble for Two, based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Suicide Club” stories (which I got a poem out of a few yrs ago), w/ Robt. Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, Frank Morgan…looks charming, locked the DVR recording for next trip. (I have about 15 hrs of movies saved long term on my parents’ TV at this point, we’ll see when and if I ever watch them.)
Our usual 3-11 caregiver Liz said last night that she could take me to the airport in between taking her daughter to school and her other client, so I took her up on it. To ONT about 9, easy check-in (bag wasn’t overweight). Wrote a sloppy draft of next graf of bridge piece while waiting for boarding; did crossword and a half-filled sudoko in the place, went back to the draft once I could. Quit after I passed the 500 word quota I’d set - ok for a flying day, glad I didn’t put it off. Now if I can keep that up for the next 7 months.

Read the multiple introductions to The Tragic Sense of Life, and most of first chapter. The core point so far is that we don’t want to die. I don’t know if this is a book I’m going to keep on with right now.
Made connection; on Dallas-Laguardia leg, just let myself watch in-flight entertainment - Roman J. Israel, Esq. (Dan Gilroy 2017), 2 episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, one of s short-lived show called The Girlfriend Experience. Most high-minded thing I did was listen to 2 movements of Debussy’s “Suite bergamesque,” from a collection I’d liked last time I was on American.
Finally read quota of Michael Palmer while waiting for baggage. That’s perverse, I suppose. Home, by cab, by 11:30. Talked w/ Bree, glanced at accumulated mail, read a few pages of the introduction to Keene, ed., An Anthology of Japanese Literature (at bedside).
Lights out midnight.

5.21.18

Up at 7. Last full day here. It rained last night.
Finished Schutt. Oates w/ Lishian torque, not dialed all the way to Diane Williams. (Not to say this is bad.)
Dropped off dad’s tax forms; met briefly w/ a friend of the family who has a real estate office nearby in Rancho; shipped my box of books/cd; last coffee at Rad.
Listening to Margaret Leng Tan disc of some early Cage piano music - the prepared stuff (Sonatas and Interludes) is great, though pretty directly imitative of gamelan. Surprisingly, I could imagine writing music in this style.
Came home and treated dad to lunch at Brandon’s (also in Rancho).
Packed and took care of loose ends, took a last ride to Rhino, saw Nathan again, picked up used CDs of Palm, David Murray quartet (w/ Roland Hanna on piano), and the Tres Out album on Shrimper, so I don’t have to bother Dennis for it. They were playing Chicano Batman in the store - vaguely heard of them, but I was taken with the trio dynamic, more like what they used to call a “combo” than a rock band.
Dinner, Jeopardy. Watched the last of the Dr. Kildare movie - Andy Hardy is more beloved but they share an ambling pace; there are whole scenes designed to demonstrate Lionel Barrymore’s bedside manner in a children’s ward, the last 20 min. or so of Man With a Cloak so I could delete it, and a (post?)-WWI govt. short, The Cummington Story, about Jewish refugees in a small town in New England.
Read 20 p. of Michael Palmer, Laughter of the Sphinx; 2 daybook poems (went ahead a day so I could put the thick notebook in my checked back).
Went to bed a little after 11.

5.20.18

Up around 8. Read Ethan Iverson’s long interview w/ Carla Bley in bed. D/l’ed Brahms’ exercises b/c Bley said she practices them daily (later, Hanon too, probably more w/in my abilities).
Played a little piano, mostly half-assed read-throughs of Monk. “Composer’s piano” indeed.
Opened up the dining room table.
Went to Upland Starbucks. Schutt. Finished Pankey - the “spiritual exercises” aspect is pretty much a career constant, and it’s maybe a little predictable that (as of 2008), the selected ends with reflections on aging (“The Effigy I Call My Body”). More direct introspection than introspection-disguised-as-description by this point, vocabulary and density simplifies a bit. The last (loosely prosy) poem, “Deep River” has several good moments (“One can name a river without mapping it. One can map a river without naming it.”) on the way to resolution.
D/l’ed a p.d. edition of The Tragic Sense of Life so I don’t have to carry the book around.
Entered dates of upcoming Moma films in calendar. Caught up in poetry daybook (2 p.). It may have been a strategic mistake, at present, to use a notebook w/ relatively large pages/small lines, as I let this determine the length of entries, but I have written (or written down) a lot of material that might generate something since April.
Visit from Tony + Bill Lakow, and their kids (my 2nd cousins) Maria and William for lunch, 1-4. Mom enjoyed the company.
That was our main meal, so no set dinner plans. Went out from about 7-9:30 to a different, recently opened Starbucks near the 210. Worked on bridge draft.
Came home, read all but last story in Schutt, watched half of Dr. Kildare’s Victory (W.S. Van Dyke 1942). To bed before 11.

5.19.18

Up around 8. Did a few sit-ups — hardly anything, but I promised myself. I need to start going to the gym when I get back to NY.
Watched The Gay Diplomat (Richard Boleslawski 1931), w/ Ivan Lebeff, Genevieve Tobin.
Out around 11. Bought 2 shipping boxes, worked on the bridge piece at the Spot for a couple hrs., picked up prune juice for my dad.
Home around 2:30, prepped pot roast (cutting vegetables, browning), got it in the oven for Liz to watch an hr. later.
Took a ride to downtown Pomona, specifically the Glass House Record Store. Bought some vinyl, inc. reasonably priced ‘70s Arista jazz. Good store.
Stopped in 2 thrift stores on Holt on the way back, found nothing. Picked up salad for dinner.
Listened to the Numero Group comp. (Penny and Nickel labels, Chicago).
Dinner, Jeopardy. Finished Artistic License (took a few notes, not as helpful as I’d hoped) and a couple more stories in Schutt.
Watched Crime Wave (Andre de Toth 1952), w/ Sterling Hayden, Phyllis Kirk.
Started packing for Tuesday. Book and record purchases fit in one 12x12x12 - I’ve been conservative by the standards of some recent visits. Vinyl has to go in my checked back, always a risk. Leaving behind a few larger books that I won’t get to soon immediately
Glanced at my dad’s copy of The Tragic Sense of Life. I don’t really know what’s in that book.
Friend I was supposed to see Mon. cancelled b/c of family health issue (paralleling mine) - replied w/ condolences.
Watched SNL - bad. Lights out around 1, fell asleep to a dharma talk.