May 30

Woke up before 5. Listened to the rest of Graham Priest interview and some Debussy. Tried to close a bunch of tabs, documents, etc. - the desktop itself is a to-do list. Got back to bed 7-10, felt a lot better. Read a chunk of Robbe-Grillet at coffee. Spend most of the day on home tasks - tidying my office and so forth. Listened to/half watched a set by Fay Victor, Jamie Branch, etc. from last year’s Vision Festival. Bought several things I’d bookmarked on Bandcamp, notably the new Verlaines album (and one other I didn’t have), and a new Dave Douglas/Andrew Cyrille CD/dl. While Bree was out, prepped to record that Secret Stars song. Got out the baritone gtr (which was hard to tune to my keyboard for some reason), set up the amp - physically difficult w/ the unassembled bookshelf boxes &c. - played a bit, found a key, transcribed the lyrics, rehearsed the song. Didn’t actually push record or anything before Bree got back. Obviously, this is no way to have a “studio.”

Went out in heavy rain at 6 to hear Fay Victor (v), Darius Jones (alto), and Sean Conley (double bass) do 2 sets of Ornette tunes at 55 Bar, between the Duplex and the Stonewall. Some lyrics (existing ones to “Lonely Woman,” new ones to “Eventually”), some scat, broadly defined, some extended vocal technique. Approach didn’t seem fully harmolodic, but the lack of a chordal instrument, as in O.’s quartets helped in not get too change-y. It was good, but Sam Newsom sat in for a couple of tunes each set, and frankly raised the level; everyone stepped up their game after an amazing solo on “Blues Connotation.” Low-key gig - 2 drinks and a tip bucket, seemed mostly like regulars of the scene, if not the bar. A very New Yawk woman in her 60s (70s) at a table near me complimented the coat I got in Ontario. “I like a good coat…and you wear it well.” Someone else gave me a Vision Festival schedule, and a younger woman commented on my Robbe-Grillet book. Which I finished over pizza after the sets. Odd that it happened to be set in Greenwich Village, of which I was in the heart. I don’t have much to say about it - admire the style and technique, not the politics or implied morality. (That there isn’t one is b.s.). Could have gone to see someone else at Small’s not far away at 10:30, but it seemed wiser to come home. Lights out midnight.

May 29

Up 7. Listened to the start of an interview w/ Graham Priest on Buddhist logic. I guess he and Jay Garfield, both Australian or at least teaching there, are the current main advocates for applying those perspectives to the analytic study of non-classical logics. All very interesting to me, and I can see it affecting the way I teach (might already have done, last semester), though I’ve read more and less convincing stuff by Priest himself. Went to coffee at 8, read another 1/3 of Nicholson. She’s definitely not afraid of the lyric — occasion, rather than narrative, is the poems’ main unifying principle — but some social concerns come in, more so than her 1st book, as I remember it. “The Greenwood tree/Where False Sir John—who in the West’s/Collective nightmare, that is, its literature/Becomes Bluebeard—kills his maidens seven.” (“False Sir John.”) “I am…obsessed with mourning/the transformation of labor/Into empire.” (“O’er). I also appreciate “I was told never to break a line on the “the”/But the rules seem quaint to me know” (“Beowulf”) — for me it was “of.” Saw an email from Greg Peterson that Judith Berkson can’t play on 6/8, which is disappointing.

Came home 11 or so. It doesn’t seem as though I did a great deal w/ the afternoon. Blew some time online, but didn’t get involved in a movie or anything. Sent materials to writing coach at some point, read a few p. of Bolano, Antwerp, which I picked back out of the “sell” box to reread. Disappointed w/ myself that I didn’t get anywhere w/ recording a compilation contribution while Bree was out.

Left at 6. Read some Robbe-Grillet on train. Got to Sid Gold’s at 6:30, Laura was running late so we started late. My cousin Lynda, on vacation w/ husband Steve from CA, came, as did Bree (she usually stays home); also saw David Hadju, Pete Galub, Jay Sherman-Godfrey, Jack Silbert. I think it was a good set: everyone played well, and I didn’t feel too ashamed of my solos. For posterity, the set list (approx. order):

Have You Ever Been Lonely? (Hill/DeRose via Patsy Cline/Jim Reeves; LC); Massachusetts (Roberts/Razaf; Danhy); New River Train (trad./Kenny); Walls of Time (Jimmy); Fair and Tender Ladies (trad. via Baez; LC); MTA Song (Bess Lomax/Jacqueline Steiner via Kingston trio; my vocal feature); If You’re a Viper (Stuff Smith via Jim Kweskin; Kenny); Tombstone Every Mile (Dick Curless; Mark); Road Runner (Jimmy); Green Fields of Summer (LC); Bartender’s Blues (James Taylor via George Jones: LC): Face Up (Jimmy’s original); In Spite of Me (Morphine; Mark); All Blue (Blood Oranges; LC); Girl Crush (Little Big Town; Danhy killed this); Orphan Girl (Gillian Welch; LC).

Took Lynda and Steve to Sarge’s deli for a nosh and visit. Good choice, very NY. Overate (pastrami and stuffed derma). Talked about their trip, our families. Parted ways, took cab home. Read to p. 45 or so of Robbe-Grillet, lights out 12:30.

May 28

Up at 7. Out at 8. Read Rogin on train - he’s into some post-war social problem films that are less directly relevant to my concerns, but still interesting. Someone on the train seemed to be doing some kind of self-tutoring (perhaps even studying for a citizenship exam?) - I heard it say to her, “What was one cause of the Civil War?” Wonder how revisionist the range of acceptable answers are. Therapy on UWS (new day/time, to interrupt the day less). Wrote for an hr. over coffee nearby. Got back home about 12:30, rested for a bit, took some charts to stationary store to be copied, assembled myself for rest of the day. Called Unnameable to see if they were buying books; they weren’t. But I got the broken printer, Bree’s dead laptop, and some smaller electronics/and accessories together for the e-waste drop-off in Gowanus (coincidentally close to Mark Spencer’s apt.) Called a car for that; finished Rogin in traffic on the way. He over-reads, in a film-theoretic mode, occasionally, but the book’s politics are interesting, and I made a lot of pencil notes I have to copy out, inc. refs. I should track down. Did the drop-off, the guy  who took the stuff gave me a fist bump for supplying a good-quality MIDI cable. Seems like a small task, but actually kind of huge, since this stuff had been sitting around for a while and disposing of it seemed like a burden. Walked a little farther than I expected to meet Dan Clucas near Unnameable (which I’d arranged w/ him before aforementioned call). Talked over coffee, took him to dinner at Dinosaur BBQ, closer to Mark’s/where I’d started out. Got to rehearsal at 6:30, played until 10 w/ Laura, Mark, Kenny Kosek, Jimmy Ryan and Danhy Clermont, who is well suited to “Massachusetts.” It’ll be a good set. Took a break to bring back some ice cream from Ample Hills nearby, which was appreciated - a thunderstorm hit on the way back. Car home to neighborhood w/ L. Lights out a little after midnight. Didn’t feel like a wasted day.

May 27

Up from about 3:30-5, put on some podcasts, fitful after that, finally got back to sleep, really started day around 10.

Wrote about convention 10-20 min. at E77, edited for rest of hour. Worked on “informal” narrative for writing coach. Came back at 12:30. Read 25 p. of Rogin, on the residue of blackface in post-war musicals (Singin’ in the Rain) and social problem films (Body and Soul) - w/ some interesting connections to that song and “Strange Fruit,” though not surprisingly w/o musical specificity. Read 25 p. of Nicholson.

Made plans to meet Dan Clucas in Brooklyn tomorrow afternoon before rehearsal, and figured out the rest of my day around that. Sent bio, photo, links to Pete’s Candy Store.

Went back out to E77, got involved in the note to the writing coach, about 8-9:30. Finished a draft, will try to cut it down a bit before sending it this weekend. Came home, spent a couple hrs. getting charts and lyrics together for tomorrow, since I’ll be out all day. Wrote quick charts for “Green Fields of Summer,” (a Peter Wolf song, nothing like J. Geils) and “Fair and Tender Ladies.” Others are responsible for other songs in the set, so I feel fairly prepared, and like I’ve done my bit.

Read a few pages of Robbe-Grillet, Project for a Revolution in New York. Takes him until the second whole project to get into a bondage thing. Lights out before midnight.

May 26

Up 8.

Groceries.

Out at 10, wrote yesterday’s entry + some email and worked on the interview until about 12:30.

Didn’t do a great deal w/ the afternoon, frankly, except for watching Not Reconciled (1965, Jean-Marie Straub [Huillet isn’t co-credited yet). Intentionally toneless, even relative to Machorka-Muff; similar thematic territory (and source material, Böll, who I’ll probably never get around to reading).

Re-read a writing productivity book and decided to sign up for a coaching session. Candidly, I don’t like reporting this - that after 1 (short) book of criticism, 1 of poems, and however much prose published since 1995 or so, I’m this stuck, and seeking help. But the main points of this journal are to remind myself of what I’m doing and to give others some window on what goes on w/ someone who’s trying to finish a book, just in case evidence that it isn’t easy or smooth helps anyone feel less ashamed of their own process.

After a thunderstorm, went back out and managed to work on a little section. Wrote for 10 min., the very minimal, gentle, do-able contract I made with myself, and then spent 45 finding related bits in another draft and incorporating them. I think it was useful. A little a day is better than nothing for days.

Came back at 8 and worked on charts for “Massachusetts” (Roberts/Razaf) “Have You Ever Been Lonely?” (Hill/DeRose) and “The M.T.A. Song,” (Bess Lomax/Jacqueline Steiner), sent them to L.C.’s band, and gave another listen to a few songs in the set. Knocked off 10:30.

Read 15 p. of Rogin and the first poem in Sara Nicholson, What the Lyric Is. I’ve read much less this month than usual; I’ll be happy if I finish both of these by June 1. Lights out 11-ish.