Franklin Bruno

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.

YouTube video by Intergalaxtic Music: Rare Sun Ra Sonny Blount Trio 8/17/1949 You Go To My Head / Blue Chicago Blues

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.

The Love Synthesis, by Tiers La Familia 11 track album

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)

l'actu des mots, by pä 1 track album

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-...

Secret Love, by Dry Cleaning 11 track album

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...

Sea Triptych, Pt. 3 - Iris Murdoch, by Adam O'Farrill from the album ELEPHANT

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)

dance! skip! hop!, by Tomeka Reid 5 track album

Tomeka Reid Quartet, dance! skip! hop! AACM-associated cellist w/ a band including Mary Halvorson & Tomas Fujiwara. Her tunes/heads/compositions are more than pretexts from improv; I heard some of these at The Jazz Gallery before recording. outofyourheadrecords.bandcamp.com/album/dance-... (3/7)