Books and Music

I finished reading Palinuro of Mexico by Fernando del Paso yesterday. That was a big one! It was really good, though there were times throughout it was maybe getting the better of me. It's pretty encyclopedic, though it does lots of different things throughout its many different sections. It could be dense, but it also plays with language in a very playful way (surreal) that at times could feel a little precious. But for the most part it was really good and the real goodness won out in the end for me. Also, throughout the day and later into the night I read all of Tropisms by Nathalie Sarraute. I managed this because it is extremely short. But it was also very good. You can definitely see its massive influence on minimalist literature and the nouveau roman. Yesterday afternoon Mary Beth and I "attended" a show put on my Experimental Sound Studios ("Quarantine Concerts"). I hooked up the laptop to the tv so we got a nice experience with it. Charles Hayward was first and I don't have to tell you how awesome that was. Next was Daniel Blumberg & Crystabel Riley. They were good, I especially liked Crystabel's drumming. Then it was Tyondai Braxton, though we didn't actually see any performance because there was a video artist he collaborated with so the video was other stuff. His set was really good though. Next was Xylouris White, collaborating in Crete and Australia! I don't think it was coming to us real time though because, while part of it was them collaborating together in different places, the last part was from a pre-recorded live show. They were good though. Last was Xiu Xiu with an intense improvisation. Angela was on piano (really killing it too) and Jamie on harmonium. Anyway, that was a nice Sunday afternoon/early evening hometime event. And that about catches you up.