1/8

(Very brief; I wasn’t nothing things down during the day, so I’ve forgotten small/in-between stuff.)

Up about 8. Coffee, breakfast. Caught up in poetry notebook (3 p.)

Worked on ‘Chunk track - recorded 3 takes around 11:30, then spent 2-3 hours editing/comping. Added a celeste part. Took a break, then made v. rough mixes (w/ a couple steps I had to look up/learn from videos; not too hard). Got feedback from Mac - generally pleased (“this is fucking majestic”), a couple of notes for simplifying the first 1/2 of the song, which makes sense. Can do that this weekend. This was basically my day until 5.

Recorded/assembled radio show about 7-10, got to about 1:40. Seems like a bit of a trudge this week - partly b/c I’m entering the online playlist as I go (in batches, not after each song, but not entirely after the fact either). Took out trash around 10, short walk, did crossword. Chain in toilet came loose, had to open the tank. Not a big deal, but annoying - Bree’s better at fixing this than me. Lights out 11.

Hard to get in writing or even reading w/ these other projects. But at least I’m not doomscrolling or watching cooking videos all day.

1/7

Up 8:30.
Breakfast, coffee.
Watched a couple of news segments.
Carnap reading group 10-11.
Read to p. 153, Loop.
Called dad, 1-2.
Dead period. Played some scales, etc., 10 min. If that. Made more coffee.
Zoom call w/ Laura C. en familie 3:40-5.
Took a walk, earlier than usual. Just needed to clear my head. Ate what was around. Read just a couple of Ashbery poems.
Worked on radio show 7-10. Culled CDs, burned/dl’ed various tracks (wrote a couple of loose-end emails about co-op business while waiting) , assembled the first 20 min. set, dl’ed station announcements from shared folder, started the online playlist. Can start recording the back-chat tomorrow.
Took a break, another short walk. Crossword. Worked on the Superchunk track for a couple hrs. Close, almost there, didn’t get a fully usable take. Lights out 1 am.

1/6

“And if you argue that past customs are not to be changed, does this mean that the endless turning on the wheel of birth and death is not to be changed” (Dogen, trans. Cook, How to Raise an Ox, 107)

Up 10. Breakfast/coffee. Gave Bree some belated Xmas presents from Bob Baker Marionette Theater that just came.
Signed on to Carnap seminar. Asked a ? about relation between Vienna Circle and Frankfurt School. Listened, but did a number of small online tasks in the meantime. Renewed my Auto Club, for example, as though I’m gonna drive this year. Also bought, finally, a permanent license for Sibelius after paying month-to-month for the last couple years. Expensive, but it will pay for itself in 2 years.
Looked for my copy of Schoenberg, Theory of Harmony, for some lessons I’m going to take w/ Judith Berkson. Couldn’t find it, but found a pdf instead. But I did turn up a book of selections from Schopenhauer (the alphabetical proximity is coincidence) I’d been looking for not long ago. I’ll probably find the Schoenberg while I’m looking for something else down the line.
A relative called, took a while. Then I wanted to work on the Superchunk track, but Bree was on FaceTime with her mom. And then I got derailed - understandably, I think — by events at the Capitol; that continued off and on throughout the evening.
Therapy w/ Bree. Helped.
Later, read 25 p. of Lozano. Played piano for 40 min. or so — scales and arpeggios, worked on the solo for Superchunk. I think I can hunker down and do this tomorrow.
Short walk outside at 10. Crossword. Lights out after 11.
Missed writing, Ashbery, poetry, didn’t listen to a record. Not great. Also have to get going on the next radio show.

1/5

Up 7 - Bree’s alarm. By the time I got out of bed, she had left for an ultrasound appointment (walking distance).
Usual breakfast, coffee. Cleaned stove. Played a little piano.
Caught up in Ashbery, read to p. 63.
Worked on revision about 11-1:30. Finished the chapter revision (started about 12/1); cut 4000 words overall, and 1000 from the footnotes. I think it’s quite a bit better.
Accomplished very little from then until 5. Read 30 p. Loop, but needed to nap after getting up too early.
After 5: Sat 15 min. Made myself do “yesterday’s” page in the poetry notebook, had enough juice to do today’s. Read another 20 p. Loop. Halfway - it’s a little underwhelming. Fooled around w/ Monk’s “Bye-Ya.”
Listened to Johnny Dyani, Witchdoctor’s Son (1978) and tried to close some tabs. Read another article on The Dialectic of Enlightenment. Author doesn’t seem to have much critical distance from A+H’s critique of positivism. 
Read a few short interviews w/ poets form Rob McClennan’s site - found out about two Catriona Strang books I don’t have.
Took out trash, short walk. Crossword. Listened to a couple of those Eyelashes tracks, sung along quietly. Lyric ideas aren’t so hot. Lights out midnight.

1/4

Couldn’t sleep. Got up around 2, started reading Brenda Lozano, Loop. 
Up about 9. Usual breakfast, coffee.
Played through the Wyatt a little more. Told Bree I’d be singing it on Zoom around 10 pm tonight (it’s around when she goes to bed).
Worked 11-1; I’m ok w/ this section (which I got down to 2100 words), except for a couple of footnotes.
Not sure I accomplished much between 1-3. (I have been online a lot today.)
Therapy.
Spend 15-20 min. making a chord chart of the Superchunk song. Would have liked to try another recording pass, but didn’t get there.
Started cooking a lamb shank (w/ tomato sauce, onions, cumin, harissa, some broth) around 5, got it in the oven before 6; sort of an experiment in using a small La Crueset Bree’s mom gave us long ago.
Listened to News From Babel (Cutler/Krause/Cooper &co.), Sirens & Silences/Work Resumed on the Tower.
Went back to the concluding ch. of the section, but didn’t quite fix/finish what I needed to.
Ate around 7:30. Turned out well. Read a review of a sound studies book by my acquaintance Kevin Bozelka (the review, not the book); and one of Christgau’s last 2 collections, which I have but haven’t read, by Dai Griffiths. Tried to start reading a metaphysics paper on identity, wasn’t grabbed.
Listened to the Wyatt song 4 or 5 times to get it more firmly in my head, while paying bills deleting emails. (Got from 480-something to 345.) Ran through the song a couple more times.
Douglas Wolk’s Zoom birthday party 10-11:30 pm. Sang my song early, seemed to go ok; also poems by Sharon Mesmer and Stephanie Burt, other musical performances, talks on baked beans, early UK video games, and drawing (shading), and a video of one of Douglas and his wife Lisa’s old band’s covering Art Ensemble of Chicago’s “Theme de Yoyo.” Adult show-and-tell basically. Good to see people.
Short walk outside. Lights out midnight — too tired for Ashbery or poetry notebook. Tomorrow.