july 14

[Realized I’ve been heading the last several days as “jun.” It’s annoying to edit posts - maybe I’ll do it on the plane on Saturday.]

Up 7. Rec’d some comments on first 20 p. - thinks there’s potential, but has issues w/ organization. Have to think more before responding, or implementing. Went to coffee, “processed” most of Culler. (I have a pile of books I need to do this to, won’t get to much of it before I have to go to CA; and new reading continues….) Had planned to take a train to lunch, Google Maps said it would be 45 min., w/ a bus transfer, so called a car at noon. But it didn’t come; after a couple of calls, I realized that the parade on 37th Ave. wasn’t letting anyone through. So I ended up walking up to Northern, looking in vain for a taxi for a while, and finally finding the storefront of a different car service. Sucked, basically, but it all worked out: made it to lunch at a Greek place in Astoria a little after 1, w/ Jay S-G, his partner Jay, and Chris and Cheryl from the Scene Is Now. Rode w/ Jay & Renee from there to the Noguchi Museum to hear 75 Dollar Bill in their sculpture garden (part of a Bang on a Can series immediately). Very site-specific: they started by walking to the “stage” area from opposite ends of the garden, playing “little instruments” in the AEC sense — took up maybe a third of the set. Fairly sure Rick was responding to birds, but didn’t ask. Good performance, bought the new record ($30 double vinyl, yet). Saw Sue Garner and Liz Clayton (& daughter). Also wrote a bit in poetry notebook during the set. Took a very quick look around the museum, inc. a special installation by Gabriel Orozco. TBH, I’ve never devoted any serious time and thought to Noguchi - I can look at it, but I don’t know what I’m looking at, or if I’m supposed to. Jay and Renee dropped me back a train, not too back getting back. Could have gone to another Jackson Heights Jazz Festival show in Travers Park at 6, but didn’t feel like running in and out. Spent a long time reading - day’s quota of Green, & 50 p. Of Louis Chude-Sokei’s The Last “Darky”: Bert Williams, Black-on-Black Minstrelsy, and the African Diaspora. Intriguing argument, but academically overwritten - one of those books that parcels out factual material about its object of study very sparingly, and theorizes about it copiously. Went out to Starbucks at 9:30 to make myself do enough writing to check off the day. Lights out midnight.

jun 13

Up 6. Went out early, did some shorter reading: my neighbor’s paper on practical deliberation, a Kevin Killian talk I asked Mairead Case to forward me, and the latest chunk of John Holbo’s huge paper on depiction. Made a few notes on the last. Came back around 9, watched 40 min. of pt. of Soderbergh’s Che diptych. Checked in w/ Jay S-G and others about lunch tomorrow. Read Green for most of an hr., napped briefly. Did about an hr. of chores, mainly unpacking a fan and the keyboard and breaking down/taking out the cardboard + packaging. Showed Bree a card trick I’m working on - the sleight of hand works, but she found the “plot” confusing, need to clarify what’s supposed to happening. Left at 1. Worked on “I Ain’t Got Nobody,” 2-5. Spent last 1/2 hr copying some marked passages/notes from Jonathan Culler, Theory of the Lyric. Finished quota of Green on the way back (train slow and crowded). Home by 6, rested/zoned out for a while, discussed some matters w/ Bree. Fussed at the piano w/ horn ideas for the last chorus of “Untimely,” didn’t put anything in the score. It’s getting frustrating, started thinking about getting some outside help on this. Walked over to E77 at 9 to hear 1/2 sets by bassist Kim Clarke, leading a trio w/ gtr and drums. Material like “Watermelon Man,” a Kenny Barron tune, a lot I didn’t know. Really liked the drummer - could have played on any straight-ahead 50s-60s jazz record, I don’t know what she does in other projects, but you don’t hear that “classic” approach so much anymore - but didn’t catch her name. Made a forced march through the last 2 sections of the Canadian anthology during breaks — Rita Wong, & Lisa Robertson. Her interview was less about her own poetics than her relationship to the Vancouver/KSW scene; I’ve read most of the work selected from Debbie: An Epic an other books before. I don’t know just why this book felt hard to complete, but I’ll be happy to go back to single-authored collections for a while. Also worked 2 pages/days ahead in poetry notebook, incorporating ideas from Green in a general way. Chatted w/ Ken Lauterbach for a while, split for home after the sets, back at about 11:30. Stayed up for an hr., actually did put something down in the horn charts. Bree still awake, talked more. Lights out after 1.

Also want to mark this interesting post on how not to respond to “SWJ” (not a term I’d use) responses to “logic,” by a black philosopher (I think in England - not sure if he’s English or American.) https://sootyempiric.blogspot.com/2019/01/logic-versus-social-justice-activists.html (Something’s changed w/ Squarespace’s link editor, and I’m not going to figure out how a hyperlink works right this sec.)

jun 12

Up 7. Listened to more Jordan, and read the liner notes - several of his rags and songs, inc. “Lovie Joe” and “Take Your Time” are well above the run of the mill. Finally wrote to my philosophy prof. neighbor about having a chat about practical reasoning re James Snead/essentialism. Wasted time on that Twitter exchange. Spent a lot of the day reading 60 p. of Green, it’s good but it takes willpower to attend to the details. Cooked while Bree was out so she wouldn’t have to bear the heat. Picked out a few books for CA trip. Wrote 1/2 a graf/157 words around 6 pm, just enough to mark on my calendar. Read more of the Canadian anthology - Dorothy Trujillo Lusk (unpretentious interview, but the work is opaque) and Sina Queryas (almost the reverse!). Went out for coffee, wrote in poetry notebook. Watched Lucky Night (1939, Norman Taurog), a strange, overwritten not-quite-comedy w/ Myrna Loy and Robert Taylor. Made a some headway on the horns. Lights out 11.

jun 11

Up 8. Coffee, poem. Some tasks for Bree, inc. installing an A/C unit in the kitchen. We need it. Left for Brooklyn around 12:30, read Green on the way. Stopped at Spoonbill and Sugartown, bought a used copy of Frederic Tuten’s The Adventures of Mao on the Long March. Went to Devocion, worked on “I Ain’t Got Nobody” from about 2-4; am up to the bridge of the better-known Spencer Williams version. Went to Main Drag and picked up my new Korg digital piano and case, and my repaired Princeton; the other Fender I’d sold them covered about 1/3 of the cost. Wasn’t expecting rain. Got a car back to Queens. Not a great deal of action in the evening - finished quota of Green, read Daphne Marlatt and Catronia Strang section of Canadian anthology. (I’ve always liked Strang’s poetry; I hadn’t realized her collaborator Nancy Shaw had died.) Didn’t touch the horns; had thought of going to hear some jazz at E77 but didn’t care to go out in the rain. So humid. Lights out at 11, listened to more of the Joe Jordan disc (had played his “Lovie Joe” from a David Jasen collection of facsimile sheet music earlier, and some James Reese Europe). Was up again for a while around 2, wrote some twitter responses to a somewhat authoritarian-sounding pop-music-theorist type. Probably inadvisable. Eventually got back to sleep.

jun 10

Up about 8. Finished last few p. of Rappaport. Bromides. Left 9, went to Think Coffee near Union Square to work before meeting Bree. Started Toby Green, A Handful of Shells on the train - voluminous history of West African through the centuries of the slave trade, w/ an emphasis on new discoveries about long-standing European contacts and the African societys’/kingdoms’ internal development and financial systems. In other words, they had currency, and credit. And a history, contra Hegel - this is ammo for me against James Snead. Revised the Adorno chunk of intro, sent it to Holbo, 10-1. Bree’s doctor’s appt.; really just a check-in/up, nothing new. She went home, I tried to go to Faccio’s on Bleeker for a sandwich, but they were closed for a July vacation; ended up at Dos Toros. Saw Paris Is Burning at Film Forum. Moving. I sure didn’t know in college what a huge rip-off Madonna’s “Vogue” was. (Taylor Swift’s whole queer-friendly campaign of late is offensive of late - not, of course, because of the side she’s on, but b/c of the cynicism of her allyship.) Got out, called dad, headed up to Bar 55 to hear Jane Irving, 2 sets. Straight vocal jazz, some R&H and some unusual material, inc. Gil Scott-Heron’s “Ain’t No Such Thing as Superman,” a Jimmy Rowles/Johnny Mercer tune called “Baby Don’t Quit Now,” and a song called “Alice in Wonderland” that seems to be by Sammy Fain and Bob Hillard. Tried to get back into the Canadian anthology before the gig and during breaks - Erin Moure, Daphne Marlatt. I’m afraid I’m not finding either the poetry or the thinking behind it that engaging. Home about 10:30. Touched on the horns. Lights out midnight: more Gilberto.

(Also listened to a little João Gilberto on Sunday. R.I.P.)