Up 4:30, read 10 p. on convention, dozed off and on ’til 8, when Bree called briefly for computer help (that I couldn’t give). Breakfast, coffee, continued reading.
Therapy 11.
Finished convention book; started intro to Nicholas Brown, Autonomy. Dense, Jamesonian.
Listened to about 30 min. of Craig Taborn’s cool 60 X Sixty project. https://60xsixty.com/. (I minute pieces, some solo piano, some electronic, played in a randomized order.)
Hard to recall much else from the afternoon. Some emails. Played the piano at some point.
Wrote at E77, 8-9:30 pm. One stout.
Watched most of the last 2 episodes of Prime Suspect. Lights out midnight.
12.7.21
Up 7. Breakfast.
Went to E77 before 9. Read 15 p. of convention book.
Worked about 3 hrs. on Williams. A couple paragraphs; slow going.
A few groceries.
Took a break for a couple hours. Learned that Greg Tate died. From an ’87 review of Michael Jackson’s Bad:
“The intermingling of working-class origins and middle-class acculturation are too mixed up in black’s music evolution to allow for simpleminded purist demands for a black music free of European influence, or of the black desire for a higher standard of living and more cultural mobility.”
Spent late afternoon/early evening on the convention book (partly b/c I had time and haven’t been reading much of anything in a sustained way lately). Plain, unsexy style, befitting the author’s meat-and-potatoes (but not wholly unselfcritical) liberalism. Interesting sections on quarantines/public health and acequia associations (a system of portioning out access to water in New Mexico that I’d never heard of). This is a decent expression of the book’s guiding content (somewhat related to David Lewis’ analysis, which I depend on a bit in my book).
“A convention is like a well-worn path that I choose to follow in the woods. I know that many hikers in the past have used it to get from point A to point B. If I do not know the woods and follow the path for the first time, I may not even know of the existence of point B. I assume, however, that the path will take me somewhere — to the other side of the woods or a place worth visiting. A convention is like that. We assume that it makes sense because other people have used it. Like the origin of a path, a convention may seem an arbitrary or random choice. There are, after all, a number of possible paths from point A to point B. Still we take the well-worn path because it offers advantages. We don’t have to clear a way; we assume the path has some purpose; and well-worn paths, more often than not, get us where we want to go.” (24)
Anyway, I read up to p. 100. Watched 2 episodes of DCI Banks, another British procedural, don’t think I’ll continue. Lights out midnight.
12.6.21
Up a little after 8. Breakfast, coffee.
Therapy w/ Bree.
Worked at E77 for an hr - trying to write about Bert Williams’ “Nobody.”
Came back, called dad; had another business call; therapy at 3.
Rested, watched an episode of Prime Suspect.
Started reading David Brown, When Strangers Cooperate (on social/legal convention).
Lights out midnight.
12.5.21
Up 7:30, read a bit, called Bree to catch up after I showered; breakfast around 9. Packed to get out of the air B&B by 11. Said some goodbyes, gave Jenny an old shirt for a quilt, talked about getting together for a more serious/real musical project w/ her and Trip. Train wasn’t until 12:30, so I went to the big antique mall in Hudson w/ Jenny & Kristin for a while before the drop-off. Bought Henry Pleasant’s book on classical singing (I’ve never read the “popular” companion, which Christgau swears by) and a guide to Callas’s recordings - a buck each. Saw a huge poster for Scatterbrain, one of the Judy Canova vehicles I’ve watched w/ Bree.
Got coffee across from the train station; left 12:30. Read the last 2-3 essays in the transference book, finally; kind of repetitive, all told, and listened to the last few songs on Nashville Soul. Penn Station to subway, home a little before 4.
I’m sure I overate over the weekend, we’ll see what the scale says tomorrow and get back on the horse. (Same w/ writing, though I have several calls scheduled.)
Rested and regrouped, went out to Bowery Ballroom a little after 7. Read Crichtley, Notes on Suicide on the train (it’s short; finished it on the way back, skimmed the Hume essay included as an appendix.)
Met up w/ the person I sold my extra ticket too, chatted downstairs through the opening band (11th Dream Day, probably should have seen more of the set); a guy named Eric Sinclair, whose radio show at Northwestern I played on many years ago, introduced himself. Went upstairs for Joe Pera’s comedy set. Per custom, some or all of 11DD joined Yo La Tengo for most of their set; Mark Greenberg was playing keyboards, I got a chance to say hi later. Closed w/ a full-length “Sister Ray”; encore was w/ two surviving members of Bush Tetras, doing “Dum Dum,” “Run, Run, Run,” and “Too Many Creeps.” Then Ira’s mom came out to sing “There Goes My Baby” and “My Little Corner of the World.” Long set - got back to Jackson Heights at 1, bought a couple tacos in the rain; lights out 2 am.
12.4.21
Up for breakfast w/ the rest of the party by 9. Derek flew w/ tamales from L.A.
Walked into Hudson w/ some other people, split off after we’d been to the end of Main St. Bought an easy listening songbook, ephemera, and an Ernest Tubb CD at an antique store; Blackburn, Kizer, a copy of Wittgenstein Reads Freud, Crichtley on suicide, and a book I hadn’t seen by Susan Buck-Morss.
More casual hanging out/playing music. Read some of the transference book off and on during gaps in the day, before dinner (pizzas w/ Amy and Stefan’s homemade dough).
Played liars’ dice and a parlor game called Celebrity.
Lights out 1 am.