6.27.18

Up at 8.
Read 2 ch. TWWLN (1 yesterday) and early chapters of Lee Hays’ biography at coffee.
Got my charts together for the show tonight. Didn’t take as long as I thought.
Meditated 20 min.
Called my bank.
Hoped to get myself ready to leave in time to see some comedy shorts at Quad Theater near Union Square; not to be.
Played through “I Invented R&R” a couple times - still working on the modulations.
Left about 4. Had a bite at the Carribean/African buffet near Sid Gold’s, went and had coffee, read 1/2 of the Lee Hays bio.
Met the band at Sid’s, played the Arkansas States of Country set w/ Laura, Mark, Kenny, and Jeremy.

(Laura’s originals to start):

Starry Skies
Push the Swing (no relation to NPB’s ancient “Push My Swing”!)
World She Sees
Someday Sparrow
Arkansas Traveler (Kenny’s fiddle feature)
Battle of New Orleans
Folsom Prison Blues
This Train (Dahni Clermont)
If I Had a Hammer (me)
Long Black Veil (Cliff Westfall)
Big River (Cliff)
Is This My Happy Home? (Mark - Dan Hicks tune)
I Still Miss Someone (Lianne Smith)
Ring of Fire (Dahni)
Feel Like Going Home
Up Above My Head (Laura, Dahni, me)

Hung out for a while afterwards, saw Pete G., Yumeko Jenkins, Jack Silbert, a couple people I know only from Facebook.
Rode home w/ Laura. Lights out midnight - fell asleep to Jack DeJohnette/David Murray - In Our Style.

6.26.18

Up at 7:30.
Meditated 20 min.
Copied “Hammer” chart.
Train to mid-town; listened to 2nd disc of Absolute Grey reissue. Rehearsed w/ Laura et al, 10:30-1:30 (I was a little late). Ran Dahni’s and Cliff Westfall’s songs when they came. Pretty smooth overall - this set seems easy-peasy compared to last month’s. (No hard keys for solos, for one thing.) Talked to Mark about recording vocals.
Had a coffee at a place that might be a front for a Falun Gong-type cult, read about 20 p. of Richard L. Schur, Parodies of Ownership, which I’ve had trouble cracking.
Lunch. Got to Mid-Manhattan library around 3, probably not really working until 5. Worked on the James Brown graf more, tried to get into my discussion of “Night of the Living Baseheads.” Got stuck trying to i.d. the breakdown sample. Knocked off at 7:15. Probably only added a couple hundred not very solid words.
Returned a call from my dad.
Didn’t get up to much at home. A little work on Laura’s set. Got involved later in listening to various versions of Monk’s “Evidence,” inc. a great Lacy/Mengelberg duo. Would like this record. Lights out 2 am.

6.25.18

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.