3.14.21

“We made sure the songs were songs, not just funky blues. The productions had to have the R&B with a dance rhythm. Regardless of how funky it go, it had to have a melody so the songs could be sung by anyone. And, when we could, dress it up, put icing on the cake, which was the strings and horns…..If you check back, just about all of it had those elements. That’s why those songs survive today. The name of the game was the song, not the artist.”

Billy Davis on “the Motown concept,” in John Broven, Record Makers and Record Breakers, 335.

Up 5:30, listened to dharma talks, got back to sleep off and on, not really up until 9:30. 
Took it very slow today, didn’t wright. Can’t entirely account for it.
Eventually went to the park, read a few JA poems and 30 p. Broven.
Saw Jeremy Tepper and Macgregor Card (separately) outside at E77 walking back; chatted w/ both for a bit. We’re all vaxxed. It’s still weird. It’s conceivable we’ll go visit Laura and Jeremy in their garden before too long.
Joined Bree’s call with Ron for a while.
Eventually wrote out one harmony exercise.
Went to bed around 11:30. Marketing criticism.

5.13.21

Should redirect for "Drittes Reich" and "Third Realm" be to Abstract object (per Frege), or to Nazi Germany (per Hitler)?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AGottlob_Frege

Up at 6:30. (Had been awake at 3 or so, made myself stay in bed.)
Breakfast/coffee.
Wrote 2 p. in poetry notebook, read 3 JA poems.
Read 10 p. Fanon.
Worked 9-12, not as successful as yesterday.
Rec’d video of “Free to Organize.” Had some trouble w/ QuickTime/Photo Booth lagging, closed a bunch of shit and restarted. Took about 4 takes, not thrilled w/ the mic sound, but settled. Quick edit in iMovie, uploaded. Took about 12:30-2:30.
Called dad.
Took it fairly easy after that - honestly, disoriented from processing the new CDC recommendations; I didn’t expect t to be told I could do most or even some things yet. Had Bree watch/read relevant links.
Cooked some mushrooms and onions, and scrambled eggs.
Watched most of Chris Molphany’s “Old Town Road” Books in Process session.
Chatted w/ RJ again from about 9 to 10:30.
Really impressed w/ new Dylan Hicks song. https://dylan-hicks.bandcamp.com/track/twyla-tharp.
Took out trash and a box of junk for bulk pickup day inc. our old vacuum cleaner.
Lights out about 11. Never got around to Broven - maybe a few pages.

5.12.21

It was becoming clear that the heteroclite army which Fanon and Manville had hoped would free Europe and the world from fascism and racism was in fact structured around an ethnic hierarchy, with white Europeans at the top and North Africans at the bottom. Black colonial troops were seen as superior to Arabs, and the position of West Indians was ambiguous in the extreme. [As Fanon later wrote in Black Skin, White Masks] “the North Africans loathed men of color…The French do not like Jews, who do not like Arabs, who do not like negroes.” 

David Macey, Frantz Fanon, 93 and 96.

Woke up at 5:30, listened to a couple of talks about Dogen. Up at 6:30. Coffee, breakfast.
Started working 7:30, before Bree got up — seemed to help to be in my own head. Lasted ’til 10-ish.
Read 3-4 poems JA.
Therapy. 
Walked to the park; read chunk of Broven. Listened to most of the Dry Cleaning album again, following w/ lyrics. I don’t think every song turns the trick, but there’s enough going on there that they could break through to something even better.
Needed a nap when I got back.
Couples therapy.
Processed some easy email. Had a bite w/ Bree.
Spent an hour on harmony exercises.
Watched most of recorded Zoom session w/ Anita Allen, Charles Mills, and Bryan Van Norden on Western Philosophy and Racism.
Talked to RJ Smith on the phone for a while, but he had another commitment; going to continue tomorrow.
Lights out about 11. Marketing crit.

5.11.21

Initially, self-published songs and those in the public domain were seen by record companies as a bottom-line method of reducing statutory royalty commitments—and not as future nest eggs. The return was even better when a label owner was a designated songwriter. At best, the system, which was feudal in nature, did encourage the writing and use of new songs. However, through the years, there has been a growing perception of injustice at writer shares accredited to record men.

John Broven, Record Makers and Record Breakers, 300.

2 weeks today since 2nd shot. Bree will hit that on 5/19, just as the city “reopens.” We haven’t decided what we can and can’t do.
Up 9. Breakfast. My new coffee (from a subscription service) is from Peru and is said to have a “pleasantly sticky body.”
Slow start. Watched some cooking videos and some of Laurie Anderson’s 3rd Norton lecture.
Read 2 JA poems. 2 p. in poetry notebook (skipped yesterday).
Worked on the same section, 3-6 pm. Frustrating, not cracking it.
Attended Pop Music Books in Process Zoom session on singer-songwriters; asked not-stupid questions about Randy Newman and W.C. Handy (re Joni’s “Furry Sings the Blues”).
Read 30 p. Broven.
Put on a new water bottle. Short walk outside. Put out some roach traps.
Read 10 p. Fanon.
Went to bed at 11, marketing book.

5.10.12

These mental gymnastics, even if none of their results are fee of error, nevertheless often effect a greater advancement inability than could be achieved by producing faultless examples. Such are only possible if one clears away all difficulties for the pupil, thus taking from him the trouble of choosing, but at the same time diminishing his joy in accomplishment. The solution he finds on his own, although it may be more defective, not only gives him more pleasure but also strengthens more intensively the muscles involved.

Arthur Schoenberg, Theory of Harmony (trans. Roy A. Carter), 89

Up at a soft 9, listened to a couple of political theory podcasts.
Breakfast, coffee.
Wrote 10:30-1:30. Read JA poems during break.
Called dad 2-3.
Therapy.
Took a break. 
30 p. Broven, 10 p. Fanon bio; 5:30-7:15.
Re-read the section of Schoenberg, Theory of Harmony corresponding to last week’s lesson.
Had an email exchange last night and today w/ Robert Griffin about doing an expanded vinyl reissue of Emotional Discipline on Scat.
In bed 11. Read another chapter of the marketing/lit-crit book.