5.8.21

In 1960, folk blues artists Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry made some of their last commercial recordings for the R&B market courtesy of Old Town. “They were the best,” said [label owner Hy] Weiss, showing his genuine affinity for the blues, adding that with him “they weren’t folked up!”

— John Broven, Record Makers and Record Breakers, 226

Up around 8. 215, not bad.
Breakfast, coffee.
2 p. Poetry notebook.
10 p. Fanon bio.
Wrote 12-3, w/ a couple of breaks. I think the 2 grafs I’ve been working on are ok, started trying to write something short about “Last Kind Words.”
Took a walk around 5, read quota of Broven in the park.
Did an hour of harmony. Fairly challenging.
Learned “Where Is Love?” from Oliver! to play/sing for Bree’s mom when we call her tomorrow for Mother’s Day.
Listened to Big Science up through “O Superman.” It holds up.
Took out trash, short walk out. Wrote 1 extra page in poetry notebook.
Lights out 11.

5.7.12

The Bibliotheque Schlechter…is Fort-de-France’s strangest public building. Built of cast-iron and glass, designed to resemble a pagoda, decorated with colored mosaics and surmounted by a glass dome, it was first erected in the Tuilieries gardens in Paris in 1887 and then dismantled and shipped in pieces to Martinique, where it was re-erected on a swampy patch of ground adjacent to the Savanne in 1893.

— David Macey, Frantz Fanon, 60.

Up 7. Breakfast/coffee.
Read/watched a few things online - I have too many open tabs again.
The 2nd shot hit Bree, about 24 hrs. later - she spent some of the day in bed.
Ordered a cast iron pan and dutch oven, after months of wanting to; last of some kitchen tools I’d budgeted for, though I think we need a new can opener.
Wrote for an hour. Not enough.
Therapy 1-2.
Didn’t accomplish much 2-5 — tweeted about Scat putting some Nothing Painted Blue d/l’s up, which rec’d more response than I’d expected and required various replies; also did a thread about what I’m buying for (the last?) Bandcamp Friday.
Read 30 p. Broven, 10 p. Fanon - with various breaks, that took me until nearly 9.
Spent 45 min. on harmony, fooled around at the piano for a bit afterwards.
Watched part of a keynote (Ann Powers interviewing a bunch of musicians inc. Roisin Murphy) from the Pop Con a couple weeks back.
Took out recycling, short walk outside.
Couple of JA poems. 
Lights out 11.

5.6.21

“Shall we gather at the river? On second thought, let’s not.”

—John Ashbery, “River of the Canoefish,” Planisphere, 85

Woke up from a dream at 3 am, up for a while; so was Bree.
Listened to dharma talks. Got back to sleep.
Up after 9; Bree was out, getting her 2nd shot.
Breakfast/coffee. Notebook poem (out of dream).
Listened to side 1 Oh-Ok, The Complete Reissue.
Read an above;ground chap (zero dawn, shelley harder) 2 JA poems.
Wrote noon-2. Also had an exchange off and on w/ Elijah Wald about “Trouble In Mind”; finally turned up a sheet music scan.
Called dad; stayed on more than an hour.
Spend late afternoon cooking: dandelion greens, onion soup (I had ordered too many). Listened to the rest of the Dry Cleaning album. Should listen again w/ the lyric sheet.
Had dinner w/ Bree. Pleasant. A lot of clean up. Put on Andrew Hill, Pax, but didn’t really concentrate on it.
Took it easy in the evening; tired. Killed a nasty bug.
Skipped the serious reading, but read a few extra JA poems.
Took out trash/recycling 10 pm. Short walk outside.
Lights out 11.

5.5.21

Were they in love with each other? Cluny could only have answered, she supposed so. All she knew consciously of love were its preliminaries as taught by the movies, and these she and Belinski had skipped: they had met at the centre of the maze, not on its outer rim: they accepted each other simply and finally as the basic fact of their joint lives.

— Margery Sharp, Cluny Brown

Up 6:00. Slept alright. 218.
Read Cluny Brown in bed. 5 p. Fanon bio
Breakfast, coffee. 
Watched the rest of Aleph. Looked up an Argentinian pop song in the soundtrack - Sandro, “Trigal” (Wheat/cornfield).
3 JA poems.
Rod posted the essay; I posted it on FB and twitter (to muted response).
Therapy.
Another 5 p. Fanon bio. Spent an hour (maybe 45 min.) on harmony, wrote a staff of voice leading exercises, tried them on the piano.
Took a walk to the park, read 30 p. Broven. Listened to 1st half of Dry Cleaning, New Long Leg walking back. Out maybe 90 min.
Did more of the Viable pre-mastering. Funny, the songs from the Flag Pin EP didn’t need it - actually came back quieter when they went through the algorithm.
Read a long essay on moral education by Michael Clune in the Chronicle of Higher Ed. Thought the position was going to be more one-dimensional.
Took out recycling; short walk outside.
Notebook poem. 
Lights out 11:30

5.4.21

POEM

The sun travels all day,
then falls down.

Let us use your shoes 
as they have almost demonstrated. 

From its inscrutable lap 
a chicken with a wooden leg issues

All these people are running around.
I wonder what they do in real time.

— John Ashbery, Planisphere, 79.

Up 8:30. Had been up a bit around 3:30 am.
Send a couple photos re chapbook to Rob McLennan.
10 p. Fanon bio. Learning about Martinique.
Extended a twitter exchange about octave identity w/ a friend of Peli Greizer’s - actually interesting, for once.
Notebook poem.
Harmony lesson 1:30-1. I didn’t do much work the last 2 weeks, but I understood where we are; I’ll do more exercises before the next lesson.
Wasted time. Watched a mildly interesting YouTube explainer on free jazz. Got semi-involved w/ an Ellery Queen TV movie w/ Peter Lawford, Harry Morgan, E.G. Marshall, and Stefanie Powers, largely for the Jerry Fielding score
30 p. Broven, could of poems in JA. (Pretty sure I did this yesterday, forgot to note it down).
Cleaned up my desk and inbox; made sure I filed my vaccination card somewhere I’d remember.
Watched first hour of Aleph (2010, Iva Radivojević) via MoMa. Some of it, I really loved. I like movies that take place partly in cafes.
Bed around 11:30, read a ch. of Cluny Brown.