Barely slept after 3:30. Went to Cafe Benne after 6, actually worked an hr. or so on preface. Left at 9:30 for Mt. Sinai w/ Bree to consult about her kidney stone. Liked the doctor. CAT scan next week, another appt. Wed., and then we’ll figure out what to do - probably surgery. Bree isn’t too freaked out, just glad she’s getting help. Probably means she won’t sing at Sid’s at the end of the month. I had planned to stay out, was just too tired. Came back, got some groceries, read 4 short Graeme Greene stories, slept from 1-3. Made myself work on horn chart for “Faith and Credit” for at least 15 min. (That’s my plan until I’m finished w/ that and another one.) Called a car at 5 to get down to Unnameable w/ a box of books to sell. Buyer had left (though I’d called in the afternoon and been told he was staying until 8), clerk took the box and my # somewhat under protest - but I wasn’t about to haul it back to JH. Got ice cream across the street at Ample Hills. Walked quite a ways in slight drizzle and fog to hear Mara Rosenboom, the pianist I’d met at a Carla Bley show, at I-Beam, a tiny, collectively-run space w/ a nice piano near the Bell House. She seemed surprised I’d made it out (as I would be were the situation reversed.) Two sets - 1 trio, very diverse pianistically, with bangy free sections and very delicately voiced ones, with some glances at “Melancholy Baby” and “Caravan.” 2nd set added 3 strings, a project she’s calling “Bone Labyrinth,” w/ more composed passages. She’s good. Bought an early trio record. On the walk there and the train home, listened to the new Verlaines album, the perfectly titled Dunedin Spleen. 19 songs! Artfully arranged and harmonized rock tunes, mainly by a straightforward 4 piece band, often adding some genuinely contrapuntal (not “combo”/chordal) organ, with a more jazz-tinged or dirgey/difficult song every few tracks. Not stylistically flashy, for the most part, but a lot of dense musical content to chew on, as usual. Standouts on first listen include “None of the Chords,” “Man Selling Poems,” the title track, and the closer, “Way Too Old To Grow Up Now,” but I have no doubt there are some growers. Downes’ voice alone is a comforting pleasure to me. Inspirational verse: “Fascists have always been snappy dresser.” Home before midnight, lights out almost immediately. Read through ch. of Cook on “Resistance” in the course of the day. At least as presented here, so much of F.’s and A.’s though just comes off as a series of pronouncements.
June 9
Up at 8. Little of note in a.m.; read two Greene stories, inc. a satire on wartime bureaucracy at the Ministry of Propaganda. Put up a dry-erase display to track my writing. Left around noon, worked at Spacious from 1-4 pm. 1 hr. reading over and replying to writing coach’s assessment; 90 min. on preface; rest of time replying to a listserv thread about writing (I’d promised to comment on someone’s post a few days ago). Dave Schramm asked me to play keys on July 1; think I’ll use it as an excuse to get my gigging keyboard situation together, probably by buying something (a Nord) in trade for an amp I’ve been wanting to unload. Spent an hr. and change at MoMa across the street, mainly in a show around Lincoln Kirstein’s role at the museum. Guess it’s inevitable that the institution has to pay periodical obeisance to figures of that era, even though their aesthetics and sense of modern-art history has (at least officially) been somewhat superseded. In other words, they dragged up a lot of Pawel Tchelitchew dance sketches. Still, I enjoyed some of the Mexican and social realist art, and discovered two now lesser-known figurative painters: O. Louis Gugliemi (Egyptian-born, despite the name; Wedding and South Street, 1937), and Honoré Sharrer (Workers and Paintings, 1943), who was in the AbEx launching Fourteen Americans show and seems really interesting on a cursory image search. Also walked through the Joan Miró show, a current art & technology show that isn’t so much my thing, and looked at the full display of Jennifer Bartlett’s Rhapsody in the second floor space. Came back to go to dinner w/ Bree, and have a somewhat serious discussion of my writing issues/plans. Home around 9, took out some recycling and a bag of broken glass (from the bottle/staircase accident a few days ago); printed test results for Bree’s doctor’s appointment tomorrow; sent pics of amp to buyer at Main Drag. Read a few p. of Cook during the day (does secondary literature on critical theory have to be this intellectually and stylistically dull?), but that’s it. Lights out at midnight.
June 8
Up 7. Worked on preface at Caffe Bene for an hr. or so. Came back, practiced songs, printed lyrics, got my gear together, etc. Read 2 Greene stories (some are quite short) Left for Brooklyn about 2:30. Read a bit Listened to the Venezuelan comp I got at ARC. Stopped for a coffee at a new Think near Metropolitan - a guy working named Jonathan Douds knew me from the band, put on Refrigerator’s How You Continue Dreaming in My Honor. Posted the incident on Facebook. Read to end of ch. of Cook. Played a fun but, uh, intimate solo show at Pete’s Candy Store. Andrew H., Drew B., David + Rachel Heatley came, + some folks for the other acts. Greg Peterson first, solo banjo w/ some blues, Lowell George covers, a few originals, ended w/ a violin duo on an old reel - impressive. My set:
Signed Curtain (Robert Wyatt)
Our Hearts Do
Man Up!
Model Worker (Magazine)
Illusions
- did a card trick -
Loser on A Roll
Dirty Back Old Town Road (B-52’s/Lil Nas X mashup, w/ Greg on ad hoc banjo - came off well
Control Freak
Each and Every One (Everything But the Girl)
Milkcrate
Rose Thomas Bannister and Bob Bannister after - some new songs from an EP written for a Shakespeare production + older material and a Richie Havens cover. Her voice and their playing dynamic keeps getting stronger and more distinctive, particularly like her “Virgin Mary” song. Glad I got the show together. Followed Rose, her creatively precocious daughter Lilian, Bob, and their friend/bassist Debby Schwartz to the community garden near there house, had a casual cookout. Left around 10, long ride home. Lights out midnight.
June 7
Up for a while around 12:30-2, got back to sleep, up at 7. Once Bree went out, worked off and on, mostly on, on my set for tomorrow. A few covers, a couple old songs, 3-4 newer ones not on the record in progress, almost nothing I play regularly. Went out around 2:30 to try to finish some lyrics at E77, just for a change of scene. Ran into David Heatley. Some ideas, but nothing final: this particular song (“Viable”) has just been a bear - it’s been incomplete for several years now. Came back, play a bit more, hemmed and hawed about whether to try to get downtown early enough to sell a box of books at Codex (i.e., to carry them on the subway); finally couldn’t face it. Left at 4:30. Listened to John Coltrane, My Favorite Things - directly related to things I’m trying to think through in the preface. Called my dad. Met Matt Houser for a bite in Essex Street Market. Decided we wouldn’t look for a Human Hearts show until Fall. Went to Piano’s to see George from Overlord do a solo set, under a fake name I can’t remember - Lester something. Interesting presentation - he wore a silver suit, not unlike Phil Ochs’ gold one, and played in front a video backdrop that intercut Match Game with ‘70s UK music TV - Wizard, Bellamy Bros., and what have you. First song was very Bryant/Bryant. Followed by Tris McCall, with Matt on drums. Liked a song called, probably, “American Flag.” Realized Matt wasn’t playing drums for Palomar, so only stayed for a few songs of their set. Home before 11, practiced a little more, lights out by midnight. Read maybe 20 p. of Cook over the course of the day, and a Graham Greene short story.
June 6
Slept poorly. Up for good at 9. Post office; dry cleaner; some groceries. Lassitude in the lat am/early afternoon. Read the first item in Graeme Greene, 21 stories. Bree on the phone a lot trying to make an appointment to consult about the kidney stone. After that was settled, left at 2:30, went to a Think Coffee near Canal, worked on Gates/Signifyin(g) for about 3 hrs. Walked (v. close, hence choice of cafe) to Archive of Contemporary Music, made a quick pass through their record sale, spent $62 on the 2CD version of Dylan’s Trouble No More, some Trane, Hawkins, Ethel Waters, Eddie Cantor, 4 Brazilian CDs, a comp of 70s Venezuelan rock-psych, and an unfamiliar Billy Strayhorn LP. Went up to the Parkside Lounge to hear the Sam Phillips/Jules Shear tribute night Tom Shad and Dave Foster put together, with a bunch of good singers. Had 1 beer. Came home, finished listening to Unrest, Imperial f.f.r.r., read a few p. of Foot. Home 11, spent a while learning Everything But the Girl, “Each and Every One,” lights out 12:30.