Up from about 3:15-5. At least I did some scheduling and the like. Door handle stuck when I tried to go back to bed - had to get Bree up. Up for good at 7. Wasn’t able to read, for various reasons. Bought a ticket for This Heat on Monday. Left a little after 9. Re-reading a writing productivity book, The Clockwork Muse — weirdly anal in some respects, helpful in others. Listened to the “Catalog” disc of that Peer set — “summer” tunes like “Little Bit of Soul,” “Beach Baby,” and a few Hoagy Carmichael songs (one of Ralph Peer’s important non-country/Latin signings). Went to a Think Coffee near 14th St. E, close to rest of the day’s itinerary. Worked 10-1, happier w/ the 1st 3 grafs of section at least. Pushed ahead a little. Dealt w/ some email, wrote to the band about scheduling rehearsals. Working on getting Dave Schramm to play on 4/15. Went to the Whitney for the Warhol show that’s been up for months, sat through some screen tests (everyone leaves after Edie) and other short films; also passed through a sort of “systems” show w/ Lewitt, a film of a Lucinda Childs/P. Glass piece, and such up against a bunch of recent coding-based video/computer art. (I don’t have a lot to say about visual art, usually. I see it and read about it sometimes.) Bought a small book on Glenn Ligon’s “I Am a Man” work. Could have eaten somewhere, but just went back to Think to recharge the laptop. Band replied about rehearsals - that got done pretty efficiently. Read to 317 in DeVeaux - need to go back to a few of the musical examples. Had intended to go to an acquaintance’s photo opening on 4th St., just not up to it. Home around 7, read W&P (Napoleon leaves Moscow) and Brecht (L.A., Chinese translations). Bree having some computer difficulties that I can’t solve. I may have left a notebook at coffee earlier today (a black one that has felt like a burden, but I guess there’s a little of value in it). Can’t think of anything worth reporting. Lights out 11.
3/13
Up 4-6 am, not doing anything of value. Up for good at 10, coffee, W&P. Finished assembling furniture w/ Bree; listened to last disc of Bebop Spoken Here (title track is a Charlie Barnet vocal novelty with an Emily Post joke). Read some Brecht - the (in)famous L.A. poems - an experience of Southern California rather different than mine, let’s just say. Went to E77 about 3:30, read DeVeaux until a seat at the main table where they allow computers opened up. Desultory work on form, 4-6 (at most). Chatted with MacGregor. Came home — Bob Durkee sent me a record cleaning kit + a t-shirt from the Desolation Center documentary — really nice, owe him one. Worked on organization and new to-do lists in a quasi-GTD vein, 7-9:30. I’m pretty overwhelmed with loose ends. Lights out before 11.
3/12
Up 6. Tired, but not awful - at least I went straight to bed last night. Carried laundry up from basement, left just before 7. Listened to rest of Latin disc - my sense is that commercial Latin music tends to be (or did in 2011) more melodically and harmonically varied (in a word, song-based) than much current U.S. chart pop, despite the obvious production influences from hip-hop and current R&B. Read DeVeaux - were into the Minton’s/jam session scene. Put on disc 3 of Bebop Spoken here - amazing early recording of Monk’s “Epistrophy” with an even more aggressively angular feel than on later versions, and vibes - not sure of date and personnel. (I don’t know where the liner book to that set is.) Got on the wrong shuttle bus — asked the guy if he was going to Purchase, he said yes, but it was not the campus bus, and took a different route, dropping me off at a PepsiCo complex about 3/4 miles away from my office. Walked, got to office at 9:45; thought I missed a student, but I got an email that she overslept. Taught. Caught 12:30 bus (the right one) back, listened to 5049 podcast interview w/ Alan Licht (who I know slightly but haven’t run into in years - pretty different musical circles by this point). Had a bite, went to Spacious, looked at form section, distracted by a fast-talking phone conversation in French. Met Bree at MoMa for Scotland Yard (William K. Howard 1930), w/ Edmund Lowe and a young, blonde Joan Bennett. Double/lookalike plot at the dreamlike pace of the first years of sound. Had a pleasant dinner nearby with Bree. Back to Queens, picked up a sweater I’d left at Macgregor’s, home before 9. Got involved reading some card magic MS online, lights out 11.
3/11
Memory already sketchy. Up around 6-7, can’t recall accomplishing much before leaving around 10. Listened to some of the peermusic “Latin” disc. Wrote in poetry notebook over coffee. Therapy. Lunch. Poked head into Housing Works and Salvation Army on UWS, no finds. Lunch - overpriced Cobb salad, missing avocado. Read some McMorris - trots out that trope about the “invention of zero” as the abstraction that made, I don’t know, rationalized exchange possible; there’s some standard critical work on this that may of filtered into poetry through R. Waldrop. Called dad. Went back to Italian coffee place on B’Way, worked on “form” section of preface 2:30-6 — really struggled, spun wheels. No real progress. Pretty dispiriting. Went up to Bookculture on 112th for an event for Florence Dore’s book on rock ’n’ roll and Southern fiction. Rick Moody interviewed her; I held my tongue during Q&A, though Laura and Jay asked questions similar to those in my head. Then Will Rigby, Peter Holsapple, Mark Spencer, and Jeremy Chatzsky played a set, highlight’s being the ancient dB’s song “The Death of Rock” and a Bryant/Bryant tune “Hey, Sherrif,” I’d never heard. rec’d by the Kershaw Brothers. Lots of acquaintances showed up - Todd Abramson from Maxwell’s, Eric Lott (who I keep running into). Bought a book of criticism with a chapter forthrightly titled “Brecht’s bad poetry,” and a chapbook, Feeling on Arrival by Saretta Morgan. Went for a bite and drink w/ Jay, Laura, her friend Rachel, and Pete Galub; Rachel drove us back to Queens, which seemed on this occassion take as long as the train. Home near midnight, much later than I’d intended. Did read quota of DeVeaux over the course of the day, but had to skip W&P and Brecht.
3/10
Up 9. Daylight savings time. My weight has been creeping back up the last week, need to reverse that trend. Watched last night’s SNL clips - liked the Twitter game show parody. Coffee, W&P (Pierre spared), a bit of DeVeaux. Came back, read Brecht until Bree was ready to help w/ furniture, put on another bebop disc, did that 11-1. Tidied my office, went to a rummage sale up the street w/ Bree at 3. Bought a CD of “Caribbean Favorites” w/o artist credits just to see what it would be, and a ‘70s-looking clock radio b/c ours finally gave up the ghost last week. Read a little Brecht, left for downtown at 4:30. Realized I hadn’t charged my phone, so no music. Read DeVeaux on train, went to Malaysian coffee place on 4th for an hr. and drafted 3 p. crap poem. (Decided DST was a good time to start versifying, daily if I can, again.) Ran into Kimberly Lyons and had some ice cream. Heard Regan Good and Albert Mobilio read at Zinc, said hi to Douglas R. (I guess I could read there if I wish, but I don’t have much new). It’s difficult to comment on poems you’re hearing for the 1st time, so I won’t pretend I can. Talked to Regan and Andrew Hultkrans for a while after. Headed home, read to p. 175 DeVeaux. Interesting account of the contraction of the big-band business around 1939-1940, as a factor in how the young musicians who would become “boppers” turned to small groups and jam/blowing sessions. (Jump blues and R&B came out of this economic shift too, of course.) Starting to get into the specifics of Diz and Bird’s early band careers. No appetite for McMorris today. Home 10-ish, lights out 11.