Up at 7, listened to one (long) track on Henry Threadgill, Old Locks and Irregular Verbs - piano (Moran and David Virelles) dominates.
Meditated 18 min.
Left about 10:30 for 53rd St. Library. Had coffee before, read Sanjek.
Worked about noon-4 on bridge article; to 1500 words, which might be halfway point.
Dithered a bit online and checked out a couple of books.
Was mistaken about time of a movie across the street at MoMa, so headed home around 5.
Rested, finished the Sanjek and read more of Fagin until dinner (nearby Thai) w/ Bree at 7.
Came home and finished the Fagin, which I’m afraid I got very little out of it at the level of either language (I assume the stiffness of the abstractions is intentional); ultimately, knowing that she was the librarian at Zucotti Park and that some poems, though more disjunctive than documentary, are recognizably written out of that is neither here nor there.
Did some very small household chores for Bree. 30 min. b-w.
Read a couple of chapters of Justin and Katherine Williams, The Singer-Songwriter Handbook - odd UK (Bloomsbury) collection of academic and career/practical pieces about the genre. No special reason - looked interesting at the library. Reads fast.
Lights out 12:30.
6.19.18
Much of today was wasted, and I don’t feel like recounting it in detail. I woke up to early, got distracted by politics, needed a nap later. Managed very little before 5:30, except the usual meditation and piano. I need to think about how to restructure my day, esp. the early part. I am, simply put, not getting enough writing done.
Listened to Code Girl again on the way downtown, did a better job of following lyrics & comp. structure than previous. Took a small box of books to trade in at Codex on Bleeker, bought a pocket hardcover of Trollope’s The Way We Live Now, kept $30 credit for later. Walked from there to Jean & David’s. A couple of regulars didn’t show, Tomeka Reid only other guest. After Leonard was put to bed, played Scrabble. I bingoed w/ BRO[M]IDES, immediately after David did so w/ HO[T]ELIER; ended up winning by 1 point. (Jean usually wins.) We listened to a Marion Williams album and the Bailey/Holland improv rec. I’d bought at Penny Lane in Upland.
Wrote 2 day-poems on train back. Lights out 12:30.
6.18.18
Up at 7.
Meditated 18 min. 30 min. b-w.
Listened to Mary Halvorson, Code Girl on train. Brought lyrics, but couldn’t find it in my bag (turned up later).
Coffee, read a bit of Fagin, wrote 2 daybook poems.
Therapy.
Read in Sanjek over lunch.
Worked on bridge encyclopedia piece 2:30-6:30 at Lincoln. Read Middleton’s relevant sections on “Form” in the previous edition. Revised about the first 1/4 of the piece - 650 words, not bad.
MoMa, for screening of Frances Stark’s adaptation of The Magic Flute. Basically a teaching piece, sort of a cross between a two-hour follow-the-bouncing-ball animation and Peter and the Wolf. I’m not an opera buff, so I learned a lot. Saw Dan Fox on the way in, but he had to wait for his gf Sarah, and I didn’t see them on the way out.
Read a little more Sanjek on the way home, didn’t make 50 p. today.
Lights out 12:30.
6.17.18
Decadent: Up at noon.
Went to Caffe Bene to update this.
Came home, meditated 18 min. Read a few p. of Fagin.
Called Dad, w/ Bree, for Father’s Day.
30 min. b-w. Also tried to play “Bye-Ya” and “Reflections.”
Went to E77 around 5:30. Read 50 p. of Sanjek.
Came home, listened to a ch. of Trollope, and Cecil Taylor Jazz Advance (1958; Trane’s “destructive” “My Favorite Things” has nothing on alleged “You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To”). Which reminded me to read Val Wilmer’s obit in The Wire.
Slow, post-show recovery day.
6.16.18
Up 8.
Meditated 17 min.
Coffee/bagel - finished the Scalapino.
Gym. Finished a ch. of de Unamuno (did I mention he’s long-winded), listened to Tyler First Recordings, and some of Coltrane Time (w/ Cecil Taylor).
Home around 11. 30 min b-w, about the same practicing tonight’s set.
Started getting myself/equpiment/merch/clothes together after that, and tried to relax a little. Watched a conversation between Henry Threadgill and Jason Moran at Harlem Stage from a couple years back, and part of another Moran talk that started making me mad.
Left around 4:30. Listened to the rest of the Coltrane/Taylor + the Tres Oui record.
Got to Bushwick w/ time to stop in a bookstore called Human Relations (there’s another I haven’t been to a few blocks away, Topos). A couple of tempting academic music books, but limited myself to a $1 book by a UK poet I’d never heard of (title not handy). Loaded in at Alphaville, made set list and read a few p. of Betsy Fagin, All Is Not Yet Lost. (Had decided not to pack the heavy hardcover Sanjek w/ guitar/cords/pedals/records. Felt like a pack animal as it was.) Rest of the band, and the others’ rolled in around 7. Annie brought her husband. Didn’t try to soundcheck. Went back and forth about the order, finally settled.
Overlord - solid, covered “Just What I Needed.” Pepto G, apparently an offshoot of a band I don’t know called Psychic Selves - very delayed/revered out; their hipster friends left immediately after, which I could have predicted. Still, decent, attentive crowd for the HH set - inc. Drew G. and Katie D., Deborah W. and a friend, Drew B., Rory B., Andrew H., Nick M. Seemed like most of the songs got over, Annie sang a bit more than previous show.
Set: See Me As a Lover/Inland Valley Water Table Blues/A Different City/Soft Gamma Repeater/Illusions/The Old Currencies/Still in Error/Guesthouse/Not Just When We Kiss/Flag Pin
Unfortunately, some of -our- friends left for Tres Oui, but they brought it. Nate, the frontman, does Morrissey when not playing guitar. Got to hang out + talk for a while after, good guys. Walked to train w/ Andrew, until he found a car. Ran into Marc Nasdor just outside the Monroe L station, biking home from Katy Bohinc’s reading at Torn Page. Chatted. Listened to an audiobook of Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage which I’ve been listening to off and on, mostly before bed. Home at 2, but stayed up for an hr. to wind down. Lights out 3.