3/16

Up 8, left around 10 — realized that I hadn’t put any of my current reading in my bag! Went to the Think Coffee on 14th in case I’d left my black notebook there, but no luck. Maybe I should take it as a sign (of?) Worked about 3 hrs on form/harmony section. Too much second-guessing, very little progress. Listened to some solo Craig Taborn on the train, home around 4. Spent 2 hrs. on the phone with Verizon and Lenovo trying to fix Bree’s wi-fi, to no avail; we’ll have to mail it in or take it to a Best Buy. So that was a thrilling way to spend the late afternoon/early evening. Called my uncle Joseph and my dad, worked on my taxes, other domestic tasks/organization. Thoroughly mundane day - even fell of the wagon w/ my reading quotas.

I think I’ve come to a decision to take 2-3 weeks off from the book: I’m spinning my wheels/running on fumes/unfocused, and I’m going to be out of town from 3/20-25 and 3/30-4/7 anyway. It’s possible I could find some time in the 2nd trip to CA, but overall, it is probably better to get everything else done (giving + grading a midterm, my taxes and helping my dad with him, States of Country on the 27th, rehearsing the HH show on 4/15, plus home projects and tasks with/for Bree. 

3/15

Up 6, left before 7. Reviewed some proofs for class, read to 350 or so in DeVeaux. Listened (yesterday & today) to the Still/Dawson/Ellington disc, played by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Is there an Ellington Orchestra recording of “Harlem”? Usual prep in office, taught, bite, office hrs — a couple students, and a firedrill. Read McMorris while waiting to go back inside. A sequence of prose poems based on Miro’s etchings of Barcelona after a bombing; and what he left out of them. Headed home at 3:30, just listened to a meh podcast, and napped. Home 5:30, read a bit of the card magic books that arrived yesterday. Went to Laura’s w/ Bree and L.’s friend Rachel and daughter Bella (Jeremy is at SXSW) at about 7:30, ordered in and watched “Co-Op,” the Sondheim/Pennebaker/Company parody from the new season of Documentary Now! A labour of love, and I’m more forgiving of the technical imperfections in the lyrics than Bree. The music by my slight acquaintance Eli Bolin is spot-on. Explained my schedule leading up to States of Country to L. Hung out until 11:30, went to bed shortly after. 

3/14

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.