Up 7:30.
Meditated 19 min.
Read Myles on train.
Coffee: responded to request to review a paper for JAAC, wrote to Annie Nero and Mark Spencer re vocal sessions for HH album. FB’d/tweeted about States of Country.
Therapy. Lunch.
Lucked onto Myles’ I Must Be Living Twice for $4 at Housing Works.
Library. Located Lee Hays’ bio and a book of his writings, a book of Sidney Kingsley’s plays for Bree, ripped Fats Waller and Chicano Batman CDs to hard drive, updated finances.
Bridge article, 3:45-6:45. Junked a couple of grafs, wrote 2 new ones, 775 words.
Finished Myles, Different Streets on the way home.
30 min b-w. Spent most of the evening working on Laura’s set and writing a chart for “If I Had a Hammer.”
Walked down to La Terraza - thought there was a band tonight, but it was dead.
Lights out 12:30.
6.24.18
If I’m going to keep this up much longer, it has to get shorter, telegraphic.
2 ch. TWWLN.
Worked on modulations in “I Invented R&R.”
Left around 2. Meditated 17 min. on train. Kind of cheating, but the best I could do.
Worked on bridge article at a cafe near East Broadway/Canal about 3:45-5:45.
Tom Capp (ft. Kurt Ralske) and Daniel Carter groups at Downtown Music Gallery. Bought new Thumbscrew (Halvorson), Threadgill CDs, + 1 by David Murray/Jack DeJohnette (w/ Threadgill’s bassist Fred Hopkins). Could have spend 100s $s more - they had the Braxton Parker box - $149.
Home 10. 30 min. b-w. Otherwise pretty tired.
No serious reading or (other than the show) listening.
6.23.30
Up at 6:30.
Meditated 19 min. Monkey mind.
Caffe Bene: 1 ch. TWWLN, finished the s-s anthology, finished the Snowflake 1/2 of Myles (it’s the volume that’s two books back to back, one upside down, like an Ace SF double.)
Went back to sleep for a while.
30 min. b-w (kept playing for a while after).
Bree went out, I had trouble keeping going in the afternoon. Read an extra ch. of Trollope. Put on a record of some George Crumb and Edwin London vocal compositions, didn’t listen that closely. Saw I had a message from my dad as I was preparing to go out - returned it. Then Bree came home, discussed the situation w/ my parents. Finally went back to Caffe Bene and picked at the bridge draft for about 2 hrs - revised, didn’t add much. Need to make it a priority tomorrow.
Made dinner w/ Bree - trying to do this more often. Put on Mal Waldron, Signals.
Laura C. dropped by about 8:30 to go over, very roughly, what we’re doing for States of Country on Wed. Decided I would learn/sing “If I Had a Hammer” (b/c Lee Hays was from Arkansas). Ended up watching Debbie Reynolds’ incredible (as in, not credible) 1963 performance.
Walked to La Terraza around 10 to hear the Cumbia River Band - a genre I don’t know at all, but pretty hard not to like. Dancing crowd. Oddly, their accordionist was Will Holhauser, who Drew and I hired to back me at a reading a few years ago. Said he was not their regular play, but subbed occasionally. Also ran into Georgia and Wesley from my building (which is rare).
Came back at midnight. Looked around for versions of “If I Had A Hammer” (and “Wasn’t That a Time” and other Lee Hays songs), worked out the chords. Didn’t work on songwriting today, but I guess I did some gig related work and a fair bit of playing. Lights out 1:30.
6.22.18
Up 6:30. Dithered online, read ch. 2 of TWWLN.
Meditated 18 min.
Went to E77 a little before 9. Finished Stammers. Read more of the singer-songwriter collection. Diminishing returns.
Groceries. Home, 30 min. b-w.
Read a chunk of Eileen Myles’ Snowflake. The short lines tempt one to go fast - it looks as simple as Rupi Kaur, but isn’t.
Did a couple of chores - changed the shower curtain, tried to wash some grime off a wall. Needs a stronger cleaner, more elbow grease, or both. Would have liked to have cleaned out some debris from our freezer, but Bree couldn’t decide how to proceed.
Went back to E77 and wrote from about 2:30-5:30. Bridge article is at 3000.
Bree went out this evening, so I was home alone. Dithered at home for a while, then found the lyric file for “I Invented Rock ’n’ Roll,” made a few small changes/improvements (“Frances Faye” for “Joel Grey,” for one), and messed with the chord progression on both gtr and piano. I played a rough version of this song in Claremont last summer, but wasn’t happy w/ some details (and can’t remember others). The idea is to put the solo in a different key, ala Squeeze, but go back for the last verse/outro. Spent maybe 45 min. (Getting back to regular work on new songs is my replacement activity for the poetry daybook.)
Made spaghetti, failed once again to open a can of beans with our modish, allegedly advanced, but actually terrible can opener. Listened to 2 LPs - Hawklords s/t (1978), an obscure UK band pitched right on the line between Bowie/Roxy glam and new wave (titles like “Psi Power”), and a Pilgrim Travelers best-of (Specialty sides from the 50s). Remembered there was laundry downstairs.
Walked down to La Terraza to hear what was billed as “Flamenco Jazz” but seemed to me to just be a very good Latin jazz piano trio, led by Alex Conte. Warmed to the drummer. Highlight - Monk’s “Played Twice,” kind of in 3/4? Kind of ridiculous that I can hear this on an ordinary night 3 blocks away. Had 1 Guinness.
Came back between sets, read more Myles, played “Played Twice” myself (once, badly), lights out around midnight.
6.21.18
Up at 9.
Coffee, read a few poems in John Stammers, Panoramic Lounge-Bar. (The dollar book I picked up last week at Human Relations.) Romantic/elegiac, a bit decadent - like, John Ash w/ the Continental influence dialed down a bit.
Home. Meditated 18 min. 30 min. b-w.
Business call. Also called my dad. Difficult time for my mom (and so for him and me). Talked it over w/ Bree.
Left around 2:30, listened to disc 1 of Absolute Grey reissue; their ’84 album Greenhouse. Early R.E.M is the main flavor, structurally and sonically, but w/ female vox and a reasonably meaty cover of “Beginning to See The Light.” Read a couple chapters of the singer-songwriter anthology - somewhat interesting discussion of integrating digital recording into that tradition.
Worked at Communitea in LIC about 3-5:30. Added 650 to the bridge entry, could cut a bit, not bad for the time available.
Met Rael and Liz in Prospect Park to see Superchunk. Opener Jonathan Coulton nearly as awful as I expected - skilled and not insincere, but such a line-drive for “nerd rock”/NPR crowds. Like me w/ less shame. Superchunk solid, though from a distance I’d have been unsatisfied if I hadn’t seen them in their element at Bowery Ballroom a few months ago. “Driveway to Driveway,” “Like a Fool,” and “Throwing Things” hadn’t been in that set, so those were nice to hear. Paul Lukas came over to say hi. Cut out 2-3 songs into headliner Aimee Mann - I respect her craft and dedication, but the dynamics are limited, and the words don’t get over.
Since I don’t get to Park Slope often, walked about a mile to Unnameable (Threadgill), bought the Mark McMorris book I’d wanted last time, and an Eileen Myles collection (since I’ve been ignorant of her poetry).
Listened to the Trollope audiobook to while away the time on the way home.
Home midnight. Wrote the last daybook poem! Read 1 ch. of The Way We Live Now. Lights out 1.