reading and releases

I've usually been updating my activities and quasi-commercial endeavors here, but I wanted those who haven't stumbled over there to know about the following. (Apologies for especially awkward html - no time to fiddle today.) Tuesday 12/4, I'm reading at a launch for the 2011 edition of Da Capo's Best Music Writing, edited by Alex Ross, who was kind enough to include the piece I wrote on Felice and Boudleaux Bryant for the Oxford American. Excellent bench, including Kalefa Sanneh, Nancy Griffin, Nitsuh Abebe, and Wendy Lesser. At powerHouse Arena in Dumbo, 37 Main St., 7 p.m. (free). Directions and lineup at the link. A new Human Hearts 7" (w/ download code) is now available from Fayettenam Records for $6 postpaid. One side rocks, one side creeps; neither one is on our forthcoming album. You can buy it right here: you can also stream both songs here, but you also like to possess music in a durable form, right? Right? Fayettenam has also just released Grow Up/Move Out, a download-only compilation. In addition to The Human Hearts, contributors include Bill Goffrier (Big Dipper/the Embarrasment), Ron House (Great Plains), Kleenex Girl Wonder, and my homies Refrigerator and Peter Peter Hughes. This is the label's final release, and the proceeds benefit City Harvest. Download it for $7 here. Lastly, I play guitar on several tracks on Drew Gardner's Flarf Orchestra, featuring readings by K. Silem Mohammed, Sharon Mesmer, Nada Gordon, Rod Smith and others, accompanied by a host of excellent NYC and D.C. out-jazz players.

agitourism

[I mean me, not the occupants/iers. Also, I've always been a crap photographer.] [Note Koch's Rose, Where Did You Get That Red?] [The poetry section at the People's Library. It's a start. Word to Cathy Wagner!] [I had been wondering about this statistic for the last few days. The first million is cut off; my camera doesn't count that high.]

lever

A number of interesting exchanges in this (crowd-sourced) Q&A with Rae Armantrout, but I felt a shock of recognition at this passage -- I think I've resisted narrative for similar reasons for a long time, without ever having thought of this metaphor: Remember how Archimedes, when speaking of the power of leverage, said “Give me a lever long enough and I can move the earth.” I imagine the fiction writer using such a lever. The problem, of course, is finding a place to stand in outer space (or outside time) from which to wield such a device. I guess I’m saying that, since I can’t find a place outside time to stand, I don’t feel comfortable writing narrative. But that’s just me.

my city was gone: chocolate martini edition

I saw this ad, not for the Rock Hall of Fame specifically, but for Cleveland tourism in general, out of an in-flight magazine this summer; today, I remembered to google the tagline "Unexpectedly 'You Go Girl' ": The text is a little small: Weirdest thing? I didn't realize that yesterday was Chrissie Hynde's birthday when I titled this post.

Jack Viertel on Jerry Lieber

New York Times: Jerry saw himself very much as a product of the vaudeville tradition: a Jewish comedian, though not a performer himself....Jerry and Mike turned the recording studio into a mini-theater that owed as much to radio drama (and comedy) as to more traditional songwriting. (picture: Richard Kollmar on the air as "Boston Blackie"; cf. "Searchin'")

Bree's latest adventure (edit: POSTPONED!)

POSTPONED in deference to Hurricane Irene. We will announce a new date (probably Sept. 18 or 25) as soon as we've made the necessary arrangements. In the meantime, keep safe and dry.

new site

After a good deal of dithering (10-15 years, in some sense) and self-taught coding, I've put up a little personal/promotional site, which I invite you to visit. I had to code it myself (though with recourse to a simple/free css template), because I can't figure out how to make Bandcamp or anything like that not make me look like a motivational speaker. There are about 10 free songs up for download, a discography, and a bibliography w/ links to various writing. Some other bells and whistles may be added as I have time (mainly, I hope to digitize some rare/unreleased stuff, and put up a gallery of old show flyers). Thanks to Mark Givens for all sorts of advice; he is not to blame for any remaining half-assedness. Shows and appearances will generally be announced at there, but, since I'm typing: The Human Hearts (me, Matt, and guest bassist Dmitry Ishenko) are playing at The Rock Shop in Park Slope on Fri., Aug. 19. We should be on at 10, preceded by Daniel Klag and followed by Hospitality, a fine Brooklyn pop band of whom you're quite certain to hear more soon. That site is not intended to house extended discourse, so I expect I'll still use this space on occasion. If I haven't mentioned it here, I'm tweeting as @humanfranklin, as gamely as my doubts about our lemminglike need to jump on every possible platform for garnering even the slightest bit of attention as though we were Berkeleyan idealists with respect to our value as human beings will allow. I'll be playing piano for Bree on various occasions in summer/fall; you can hear more about all that at her site. This single will be out someday: