Craig Watson, Motes
Ari Berman, Give Us the Ballot
Jen Tynes, Hunter Monies
Francis Fukuyama, Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment
Deborah Cook, Adorno, Foucault, and the Critique of the West
Grahame Greene, 21 Stories
Clark Coolidge, Space
Raymond Roussel/Ron Padgettt, Among the Blacks
Shepard and Wick, Music and Cultural Theory
Marva Carter, Swing Along: The Musical Life of Will Marion Cook
Robin D. G. Kelley, Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original
Jose Marti, Major Poems, trans. Elinor Randall, ed. Philip S. Foner
jul 1
Up 8. Put on new sheets w/ Bree. Went for coffee, read to p. 60 in Lee, wrote poem/page. Dad called. Came back around 10:30. Worked on tonight’s set for about 90 min. - could have run other songs, but I hit the roughest spots, and feel ok, musically. (On edge all day, though.) Bree got a call from the hospital - we have to be there at 5:30 am tomorrow. Reserved a car for 4:30 am - should be early, given pre-rush hour traffic. Got the keyboard etc. ready to take out. Tried to relax a bit, watched about 40 min. of Stephen Soderberg’s Che biopic, then napped. Got a car downtown, read Malech en route loaded in at 5. Soundcheck 5:30. Loud onstage. Had an hr. plus before the show, got slices at Two Boots, browsed in Mast, which has moved to the corner and is even pricier/artier/rare-booksier than previous, though w/ a few au courant new books. Coolidge’s Polaroid and Own Face for about $40, a full set of Art & Literature, Locus Solus 1 - like that. Skimmed a few pages on Othon from Richard Roud’s book on Straub-(Huillet, though her name’s not on the cover). Picked up Corina Copp’s Ackerman translation; mean to read this and Barthes’ Mourning Diary soon. Went back for show. OK attendance, not great - 50 Dollar Bill’s big show at Roulette was a competing draw. Lianne Smith solo electric - I don’t think I’ve seen a full set from her or heard her originals, quite compelling. Don Piper Situation more meat and potatoes, good band dynamic, liked a straight rocker with a 10-beat riff. Schramm on stage at 9:45. Kevin and Dave definitely brought the guitar duel firepower. No major fuck-ups on my part, though I could have (as so often heard myself better) and there are touches in the more “epic” songs I’d like to revisit. Really enjoy barreling through “Number Nineteen” and “Simple Arithmetic” (great iv6 chord in the chorus) on Hammond-manque. Everyone seemed satisfied. Didn’t hang out long, given tomorrow’s schedule. Got a car w/o much trouble, home by midnight, bed by 12:30.
jun 30
Up 8. Spend an hr+ typing up what I wrote yesterday. Helped Bree w/ laundry and a couple other things. Had intended to get a car to go into Manhattan, to avoid some walking for Bree’s sake, but was reminded by one of the Schramms that today was Pride, a particularly huge NYC-hosted global edition, w/ attendant crowds and street closures; so we took the bus/train, got a cab from 23rd st. Started reading Dora Malech, Stet on the train - curious book of anagram poems. Didn’t care for the prose proglomena poem, but began to be won over by p. 16 or so. “Must we fail in one form to find another.” Met Kio Stark to see Say Something Bunny - a one woman performance piece based on documentary research into the family that made two wire recordings in 1952-4; put me in mind of my “Milchadich”/My Fairfax Lady article - and my own family. Tried to help Bree get a car home, finally had to leave her to her own devices. (We failed to get her Uber acct set up.) Had to walk about a mile out of my way to get around the parade on the way to Euphoria - on foot for at least an hr. Finally made it to rehearsal at 6:20, went ’til 9. Feels pretty solid, a lot of progress on, e.g., “Faith Is a Dusty Word,” will work on some details at home tomorrow (particularly the songs w/ some space for impressionistic piano, “Spent,” “Honestly Now,” and “New England.”) Had bought tix for The Bad Plus’s 9:30 set at Jazz Standard (since I have a feeling I won’t be going out for a week after Monday), theoretically very close, but more rerouting. Got seated during the first tune. Dug the dynamics, new pianist Orrin Evans, and a few of the tunes (esp. the last, of which they didn’t announce the title), not a lot to say - just pleasant to listen to music. Had a burger and 2 beers. Got up to date, finally, on the post-solstice poem/page-a-day notebook during the set. Started reading Vernon Lee, The Psychology of an Art Writer — translation of an essay and “gallery notes” by an apparently prolific 19th-c. aesthete, travel-writer, &c., real name Violet Paget, now so obscure she might as well be made up. Also wrote ghost stories. Phenomenology w/ touches of Gestalt psychology, all very refined, dated, but readable. Home 11:30, lights out 12:30. Listened to a little Hank Jones, but fell asleep by the 2nd cut.
jun 29
Was up for a while around 2-3 am, listened to a 5049 podcast w/ David Grubbs. Got back up at 8:30. Read a chunk of Kelley, to about p. 400, continued over coffee. Got out around 1, w/ intent to go to Spacious, but changed my mind and went to Communitea in LIC, partly b/c I wanted lunch; but it turns out they now have no-laptop weekends. (And I would have gone elsewhere had I only wanted lunch.) So I used the time to finish Kelley. He is emphatic on pushing back against the mad genius/naive child myths about Monk; whether or his manic depression had any creative advantages, it was mainly a cause of inconvenience and suffering to him and his family. But I suspect Kelley says less than he might want to about racist interpretations of his music, and jazz in general; he lets a number of critics say their piece, but doesn’t comment at length. Drafted a couple grafs of next section in notebook, caught partway up on post-solstice poetry. Came back at 5, rested for an hr, helped Bree w/ organization until 7:30. Made myself some pasta and broccoli rabe, w/ anchovies and sausage. Worked on Schramms piano parts for an hr. or more, got through a little more than 1/2 the set, should do more tomorrow. Read the last few poems in Martí. I like a poem called “Prison Recollections,” which is not as clear as you’d expect something called that to be. Lights out midnight.
jun 28
Up 8. Still congested, but energy is coming back. Read 25 p. Kelley. Can’t recall the later morning. Left about 12:30, worked at Lincoln Center from 1:40. Stupidly left my hand-edits from yesterday at home, but re-did the work, and sent 2500 words to Holbo just before 6. Checked out a recent critical book on Bert Williams, which happened to be on the circulating shelves, though I should also look at the biographies, which aren’t. Went downtown to see Gordon Dahlquist’s play Veil Widow Conspiracy at New York Theater Workshop. Finished the Cook biography on the train. Engrossing, nested narrative about the contemporary production of a film about China in the ‘30s, with which the contemporary Chinese government interferes, framed by scenes of a couple discussing the film in a seemingly dystopian Brooklyn in the near future. Had a bite at Mighty Quinn’s, listened to some of the Schramm songs on the way home, back by 10:30, didn’t stay up long. Put on a Morton Feldman string quartet.