Muriel Spark, A Far Cry from Kensington. The rooming-house mise en scene recalls The Girls of Slender Means; the narrative voice, Loitering with Intent. Not her most ambitious book, but among her kindliest w/r/t judgments of character, yet still savage on hack writers and their publishers. #readin26
I've seen some video work that Warn and Davin did, maybe 25 years ago - I know if it's the same as what's on this tape, but I wouldn't know what to say about it either. Pretty out there.
Lesley Chow, You're History: The 12 Strangest Women in Music. Treats TLC, A. Banks, N. Minaj &c, yet feminist leanings run second to a general grain-of-the-voice pop/R&B-timism favoring timbre and texture over so-called literate songcraft. Uneven prose and pacing, but a worthwhile polemic. #readin26
good bridge
No, isn't great, but yes, it's waffle parties all the way down. There are a lot of "productivity"/coaching apps designed that way too - I think a lot of it stems from the "Tiny Habits" model of a psychologist w/ the unlikely name of BJ Fogg.
Ever do Duolingo?
I'd prefer to hear the originals of Chains and Honey Don't - and Chumbawamba's extended rewrite of Her Majesty.
Kyla Houbolt, Becoming Altar: New & Selected Poems. A kind of wisdom literature: lean, mostly short-lined lyrics on water, animals, planting, "Time and Change" (inc. death) + prose poems to refresh the ear. Some newer poems are more antic, but overall, RILY WCW, Ammons, dare I say Snyder. #readin26.
with more guitar pedals
Muriel Spark, The Only Problem. Rich guy studies the Book of Job in France, as his estranged wife goes on a left-wing crime spree (cf. Kushner's Creation Lake). A theological essay that struggles to take wing as a novel; hard to recall which name goes w/ which character for first 80 pages. #readin26
For pragmatic rather than artistic reasons, I want a couple of laughs when giving a talk/paper, for everyone's comfort and to break up the rhythm. In poems, I care less, but I don't read often. That said, the brevity of wit stands in proximity to the compression/condensare of lyric.
Though certainly I do concede that amusing oneself and amusing the reader are 2 different things. I heard Brendan Lorber read recently, and I was impressed that the poems were quite funny without feeling to me, schticky or like stand-up under another name. Hard to pull off.
Ah, that's a good call.
Certainly a signature of his late style (final 3-4 books especially), but I give him some leeway to amuse himself at that age. TBH, I think he sounds -more- like Tate when he narrows the semantic field in a light, less paratactic poem like "Interesting People of Newfoundland" or "Sleepers Awake,"
I'm disappointed by the lack of cabbage.
Muriel Spark, Loitering with Intent. A return to form (a phrase I avoid), w/ metafictional elements. It's real strength is Spark's 1st-person narrator, whose brio is her own. "The story of a life is a very informal party; there are no rules of precedence and hospitality, no invitations." #readin26.
Earl H. Brooks, On Rhetoric and Black Music. Musical/historical info is ok, but rhetorical categories are used loosely, & claims abt blues/jazz/gospel's communicative functions aren't tested against accounts of Black music's non-teleological character. Trane chapter touches on N. Mackey.
#readin26
That sounds awesome.
Hey, this very early Sun Ra - excuse me, Sunny Blount - live recording from 1949 just showed up on YouTube. I gather it's on some rarities CD, but I would assume most haven't heard it. I seem to have been the first viewer! Wilbur Ware on bass! www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCX0...
Yradier's "La Paloma" (1860) - of such longevity that Willie Nelson's sister Bobbie plays it on a 2023 album - deserves a nod here, as does the B section of Handy's "St. Louis Blues" (w/ more prominent habanera bass than "Memphis Blues," which of course Europe/The Castles used in performance.)
Muriel Spark, Territorial Rights. Novel, her 15th, of romantic intrigue and exhumed wartime secrets in Venice. Dialogue-heavy, w/ most action taking place offstage or in the past. Diverting, a little gruesome, but light compared to what James, Mann, or L.P. Hartley did w/ the same setting. #readin26
I don't think you call a tune "Iris Murdoch" by coincidence, but I'm too new to O'Farrill's work to speak to the connection.
I think it was a b-side circa Globe of Frogs, and the internet says he's covered it off an on since. Didn't know it had become an interpolation.
Exactly.
That would piss me off! I even try to figure out in advance if a coffeehouse I want to try has Christian affiliations (more common in CA than NY) -- I'll go anyway, but I want to know.
That's a very perceptive write-up. It's funny that Alway "discovered" her as a face for one of his pop experiments - as you probably know, she didn't write the first 7" - but she turned out to be such a good songwriter. I thought I'd heard everything, but I seem to have missed The Morning After.
Tiers La Familia, The Love Synthesis. Loose, glitchy NYC band w/ multiple layers of synth; members as of this recording include Cheryl Kingman of The Scene Is Now, and Jeff Tobias of Modern Nature. Curious to parse the lyrics I can't make out live. tierslafamilia.bandcamp.com/album/the-lo... (7/7)
pä, l'actu des mots. Portugese artist who has a cool account here, @paulodafonseca.bsky.social, and records sound poetry and ambient music of a sort. Many other medium-length releases at pay-what-you-wish rates, inc. realizations of Fluxus scores. lesondouble.bandcamp.com/album/lactu-...
Dry Cleaning, Secret Love. Sue me, I'm basic. (That said, what Cate Le Bon seems to have added to the songs I've heard helps keep things fresh, within self-imposed stylistic limitations.) drycleaning.bandcamp.com/album/secret...
Adam O'Farrill, Elephant. I've slept on O'Farrill, whose For These Streets made best-of-2025 lists; trying out the follow-up, featuring pianist Yvonne Rogers. Linking to the track/video page for "Iris Murdoch"; intriguing title, very current NYC sound. adamofarrill.bandcamp.com/track/sea-tr... (4/7)
