jul 23

Up in time for therapy via Skype - 6 am, b/c of the time difference. Tried to go back to sleep a bit, up at 8, got to KSPC by 10, did my first show. Playlist: https://spinitron.com/KSPC/pl/9157087/The-Manila-Folder

Stopped into Claremont Library book sale room, picked up some cheap classical CDs, inc. some Rorem and Britten, and a book of poems by someone I dislike personally, and one called Packs Small Plays Big, an insider term among magicians. Treated myself to lunch at the Meat Cellar. Went to Rhino - 2 Carla Bley LPs (they also have an Escalator Over the Hill), a v. early gospel box (Arizona Dranes, Washington Phillips), and a CD of Han Bennink and a pianist I don’t know (though they do one Misha M. tune). Home around 3, exhausted, called Bree and then napped through a terrible airplane disaster movie w/ Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, Anne Francis, Keenan Wynn, and Patsy Kelly. (Oh, ok: The Crowded Sky, Joseph Penvey 1960). Managed about 20 p. of the Art & Language book, and an interview w/ Green Gartside, in which A&L also come up, from a post-punk anthology. Dinner, Jeopardy! w/ dad, went out to Starbuck’s a little after 8. Worked on chapter intro until 10:30. Came home, listened to jazz interview podcasts until I fell asleep. 

Listening to a CD of Die Schoene Mullerin in the car, forgetting the singer right now. Its been 100+ degrees here, little end in sight. 

jul 22

Up in the middle of the night - watched this and that on YouTube. Up for good, more or less, at 7. Got an overview of practical stuff I need to help my dad w/ after breakfast, some printing and email connected w/ that. Indolent for most of late morning, afternoon - watched a B musical, Breakfast in Hollywood on Bree’s recommendation, napped to Alfred Brendel paying Schubert. Couldn’t get it up to read about Art & Language. Finally went out to a local Starbuck’s 4-6, pulled together a Frankenstein of current chapter from various existing documents. Dinner at home, left for Highland Park at about 8, for the Mekons show at the Lodge Room. Opening band, Skokie Girl were well-intentioned, w/ a combination of live and programmed rhythms and post-punk/disco elements I’m in favor of in principle, but their songwriting and vocal chops were limited. Mekons put on a great two-encore show, with a few key tracks from the new album (“Lawrence of Arabia,” “How Many Stars?”, the one about Rimbaud in Abyssinia) but ranging over the entire catalog, from “Last Dance” to “Millionaire” to “Orpheus.” Hung out w/ RJ Smith and Mike McGonigal a bit, saw Tara Jane O’Neil and John Herndon, and Daniel Brodo, briefly. Said hello to Jon, Sally, and David Trumfio on the way out - floated the idea of rec’ding a vocal at his studio while I’m here. Listened to Elis Regina and some very late Ellington, from a ‘60s pop tune session (“Alfie,” “Soon Its Gonna Rain,” and the like) done for a Reader’s Digest LP on the drive there and back. Home at 1 am, said hello to dad’s overnight caregiver, Nicole, before going to bed.

jul 21

Jet-lagged. My sleep cycle will be out of whack for a week or more, but you don’t need a blow by blow. No reading, no book work, but managed to finish and send off my email interview for Rob McClennan’s blog. Main even of the day was Eddie’s “Summer Sweat” bbq/casual music-making evening in Claremont. The usual crowd of Shrimper/Rhino/townie folks - and a couple people I hadn’t seen in years. Good to hang out. Managed to make it through my set, pretty much what I played at Pete’s Candy Store (including the card trick before “Illusions,” which went over). Skipped “I Invented Rock ’n’ Roll,” “Control Freak,” and “Milkcrate,” swapped in “Untimely Beggar.” Home about 10, pretty beat - managed to write in poetry notebook before sacking out. Listened to Deserted again in the car, and played through a couple of Monk standard arrangements much earlier in the day.

jul 20

Up before 6. Already mostly (over)packed, grabbed a coffee around 7, came home and tied up loose ends (e.g. Aug. rent check). Spent some time saying goodbye to Bree. Called car at 10, read a little sheaf of poems by Joel Lewis and Gerald Burns I’d printed out at some point and slipped into my bag this morning. Lewis is, I think, a better poet than many more famous; has a narrow furrow (Jersey), I guess, but mines a great deal from it. Flight: Did crossword and the easy sudoko, screwed up the medium one. Read about 80 p. of Robert Bailey, Art & Language International: Conceptual Art between Art Worlds, which focuses on the UK group’s collaborations and conflicts w/ associates in NY, Aus/NZ, and Yugoslavia. The prose is lucid, but I have to say that some of the A&L group’s “analytic” philosophy, linguisitics etc. at this stage, while not window dressing, strikes me as less impressive than it did in my 20s, for instance a complete misapplication of Chomsky’s notion of an “ideal speaker-listener.” Once I’d had enough, read through A People’s Map: Stories From the East San Gabriel Valley, a newsprint publication by some independent journalists/photographers, w/ 2 page-spreads devoted to a bunch of ordinary/extraordinary folks from the era. I only found out about it b/c David Allen from the Daily Bulletin is in it. Listened to Anthony Coleman’s Jelly Roll Morton album, Freakish. There’s something about the strangeness and artfulness of this music that Coleman does capture, without entirely losing touch with its barrelhousing nature - but what it consists in, I don’t know how to say. 4 hrs. in Denver airport. Lunch, a porter, some email, frankly wasted some time online, finally made myself work on the chapter conclusion the last 90 min. before the connecting flight. Didn’t quite get the draft off to my correspondent before takeoff, and the paid internet on the flight was down. Did another sudoko (got it right this time). Listened to Mekons, Deserted. It sounds really good - David Trumfio on keys, bass, and mixing adds a lot. There’s a lot of Tom on this one. A postpunk grinder called “Mirage” is pretty great. But I couldn’t concentrate too well on the lyrics on the plane. Should hear it at least once more before seeing them Monday. Notebook poem. Landed 8:30, sent today’s writing while waiting for bag, my aunt and uncle Anthony & Beverly picked me up, at my dad’s house in Upland at about 9:30. Said hi, chatted w/ A&B and the caregiver for half an hr, went to bed.

jul 19

Up 5:30. Coffee around 7, a little Williams (Sokei, but I keep forgetting his name), poem. Read the first poem in Vincent Katz, Swimming Home. Came back, relearned “Each and Every One,” “Signed Curtain,” and “Model Worker” for Sat. Tried to figure out some details of “Our Hearts Do” on the piano - fooled w/ this off and on during the day. I feel like I had the bridge changes a while ago, but something doesn’t gel when I play it now. Spent some time with Bree, left for library at 2:30, had a bite on the way, worked on chapter ending 4-6, though I mainly went to return books and copy a couple p. from Edward Berlin. (Looks like I’m writing 1500 words about James P. Johnston’s “Charleston” for Sound American, and Willie “the Lion” Smith’s comments are relevant.) Headed downtown to meet Drew Boston for an adaption of In the Penal Colony at New York Theater Workshop - his idea (he’d gotten the tix for his birthday), but he got stuck at work, couldn’t even meet me after for a bite. Saw it anyway - performed entirely by 3 African-American men, undifferentiated for the first 1/3, which opened w/ them singing Sam Cooke’s “Chain Gang” and some athletic dance/mime (I mean: boxing, basketball), before settling into an impressionistic but recognizable adaptation of the Kafka story, and then back out into the framing material. In sum, an interpretation of black incarceration and, a bit more confusedly, spectacular mediation; I don’t think I understood a closing speech on punishment, but the director’s notes had a reading list of The Fire Next Time, Citizen, and related titles. All in all, not completely effective, but it doesn’t bother me that it somewhat literalized the source material as “political”; the more ambiguous prose version (which is also a Christian allegory) still exists, and this is one thing theater does. Waited for Drew at Vesalka until he texted that he wasn’t making it, ate at Blue Ribbon closer to F train instead. Hot and humid all day, pretty sick of the walking. Ended up managing to read all of the short edited volume Adorno’s Dream Notes I’d intended as a birthday present over the course of the day. Humanizes him (not that I’m sure he’d have liked that). The essay at the end (by a German critic, can’t recall name) is fine, but much less engaging. Pretty much collapsed upon getting home around 11; read a few more p. of Katz.