Steven Shapiro, Karl Marx’s Capital
Alain Robbe-Grillet, Topology of a Phantom City
Gunnhild Øyehaug, Knots, trans. Kari Dickson
Man’Yoshu (Anthology of the Ten Thousand Leaves) v. 1, trans Ian Hideo Levy
Jarrett Earnest, What It Means to Write About Art: Interviews with Art Critics
Michael Rogin, Blackface, White Noise
Alain Robbe-Grillet, Project for a Revolution in New York
Sara Nicholson, What the Lyric Is
Roberto Bolaño, Antwerp.
May 31
Up a little before 6 - felt more rested than the last few days, but had a bout of heartburn. Had coffee and listened to a podcast about reparations. Bree was out after 8. Managed to record and mix by track by 11. Used a phone app called Spire that Simon Joyner told me about. Did about 3 vocal/guitar takes, once I found a good place for the mic. Found that I hadn’t tuned to the keyboard, but that our “out-of-tune” piano, a half-step up in G minor, was close enough. Started fooling around w/ a more determinate part, finally decided to do 2 passes, floating in/out of time a bit. Mostly high-register ringing stuff, added more solid chord on one take near the end. Not an “arrangement,” but effective enough hard-panned. Harmonized w/ last chorus and tag, to “go” somewhere at the end — think it works. Mixed in the app (though you can export individual tracks), didn’t mess w/ add’l effect. Basically, it sounds like a 4-track recording from 1991. Emailed myself the file (not in the best format possible - a lot of data transfer involved), checked it on other headphones, dropboxed it to Luigi in Italy.
Rested for a while after that, listened to a duo set of Angelica Sanchez w/ Sam Newsome, ending w/ Monk’s “Raise Four”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VybhoOuZ-cI. Hot water was out, and then the water was off while it was being fixed; couldn’t shower or do laundry. Read the rest of Nicholson. Better when it gets past pointing out lyric conventions. Sent the Secret Stars cover to Jodi (who wrote it); old, email address, who knows if I’ll hear back. Talked to my dad; took energy. Finally showered.
Left at 7, to hear Dan Clucas (and NY musicians he’s fallen in with) William Parker’s music, some unrecorded, at Michiko, w/ Charlie Waters woodwinds; Matt Lavelle, trumpet, alto and bass clarinets; Hilliard Greene, double bass; Jack DeSalvo, guitar; Tom Cabrera, drums. Other 2 horn players have worked w/ Parker, and know his ‘book.’ Two uptempo numbers, “Mayor of Punkville,” and “I Believe” (in 3) were outstanding - the latter just sounds like a classic hard bop head. Ballads, arranged kind of chorally between the 3 horns and bass, were harder to distinguish on first hearing — a lot of donuts and fermatas - but the solos were good. Didn’t hang out long, ate a salad and read Christgau’s piece on his friend Marshall Berman on my phone.
Read Antwerp on the train (both ways) - it’s 60 p. I’ve read it before but it didn’t stick. It’s not so strange coming off some Robbe-Grillet — whether it’s a new novel, and anti-novel, or something else, it’s more in that line than later Bolaño.
Physically out of sorts all day, off and on. Lights out 11 - went to sleep to Crispell/Dresser/Hemingway playing Braxton.
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.