Harold Carr

books and movies while recovering

I had a rotator-cuff repair on November 19. I thought I would read lots of books and transcribe music while recovering. Wrong. It was just too uncomfortable to do anything but watch movies. Here’s a partial list of of the few books I (re)read and the many movies I watched, particularly the last two weeks of the year when I was off work.

I didn’t really “pick” the movies—I just selected them from what was on cable (with no commericials) at a particular hour.

A note on the rating system (* to *****, * being lowest): these are not objective ratings. They are completely relative to what interests me or strikes me in some way. A ’*’ definitely means uninteresting. But a ’**’ can mean it’s good but not particurlarly compelling to me.

Note, nothing received a 5-star rating in what follows - in other words, nothing really knocked me out (maybe because I was in pain). But I did find a number of 4-stars, some of which I had read or seen before and enjoyed the second time around too.

books

1857 Flowers of Evil, Baudelaire
- poetry
- translated by Keith Waldrop
- *** — the original bad boy of poetry
1944 Arcanum 17, Andre Breton
- essays
- translated by Jack Rogow
- * — another bad boy
1955 Illuminations, Walter Benjamin
- cultural studies
- translated by ?
- *** — he was linking (e.g., Arcades long before the internet)
1975 The Book of Sand, Borges
- short stories
- translated by Norman Thomas di Giovanni
- ** — if you like Bolaño, then go to the source
1994 Radical Alterity, Jean Baudrillard and Marc Guillaume
- cultural studies
- translated by Ames Hodges
- **** — what would the universe sound like without human conciousness?
1997 Van Gogh’s Bad Cafe, Frederic Tuten
- novel
- ** — author recommended by Anselm Hollo
2008 Saga/Circus, Lyn Hejinian
- poetry
- ** — really, small novellas with no beginning, middle nor end

movies

1930 Blood of a Poet
- Jean Cocteau / Jean Cocteau
- Enrique Rivero
- **** — alternate reality - reminds us of Eponine/Andrew’s shows
1936 Modern Times
- Charles Chaplin / Charles Chaplin
- Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard
- ** — proletariat
1941 Citizen Cane
- Orson Welles, Orson Welles
- Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead, Ruth Warrick
- **** — the fireplace, the floor shoot
1943 Shadow of a Doubt
- Thorton Wilder / Alfred Hitchcock
- Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, Macdonald Carey, Henry Travers
- ** — sweet and deadly uncle Charlie
1944 Gaslight
- Patrick Hamilton / George Cukor
- Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, Dame May Whitty, Angela Lansbury
- * — making crazy (and a similar Lifetime Movie Network movie)
1950 Orpheus
- Jean Cocteau / Jean Cocteau
- Jean Marais, Franois Prier, Mara Casares, Marie Da
- **** — presages Jack Spicer
1958 A Night To Remember
- Walter Lord / Roy Ward Baker
- ** — the Titanic: men with integrity (and some losers and some losers on a nearby ship)
1958 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
- Tennessee Williams / Richard Brooks
- Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives
- **** — E.T.’s shoulders in that dress
1958 Run Silent Run Deep
- Edward L. Beach / John Gay
- Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, Don Rickles
- **** — submarine bow shoot
1961 Judgment at Nuremberg
- Stanley Kramer
- Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Montgomery Clift, William Shatner
- *** — before captain kirk’s nazi startrek episode
1961 The Misfits
- Arthur Miller / John Huston
- Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift, Thelma Ritter
- **** — a real man in Nevada
1962 To Kill A Mockingbird
- Harper Lee / Robert Mulligan
- Gregory Peck, Robert Duvall
- ***** — I wish I had had a dad like Atticus
1971 Andromeda Strain
- Michael Crichton, Robert Wise
- Arthur Hill, David Wayne, James Olson, Kate Reid
- ** — we’re not alone (but maybe better that way)
1971 Man in the Wilderness
- Richard C. Sarafian
- Richard Harris, John Huston
- **** — Porter Rockwell-like survival - Huston captains real ship on land
1979 Mad Max
- George Miller, George Miller
- Mel Gibson
- * — revenge
1981 The French Lieutenant’s Woman
- John Fowles / Harold Pinter / Karel Reisz
- Meryl Streep, Jeremy Irons
- * — Jeremy Irons looks like Andrew Voigt
1986 Blue Velvet
- David Lynch / David Lynch
- Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern
- **** — the dead guy in the yellow jacket is still standing
1986 Platoon
- Oliver Stone / Oliver Stone
- Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen, Forest Whitaker, John C. McGinley, Johnny Depp
- *** — I’m lucky I escaped that meaningless slaughter
1986 River’s Edge
- Tim Hunter
- Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye, Daniel Roebuck, Dennis Hopper
- *** — apathetic teens in the face of a murder
1986 The Mission
- Robert Bolt / Roland Joffe
- Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons
- *** — Colonial South America
1988 A Fish Called Wanda
- John Cleese / Charles Crichton
- John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, Michael Palin
- * — it was the only thing on, honest
1992 Consenting Adults
- Alan J. Pakula
- Kevin Kline, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Kevin Spacey, Rebecca Miller, Forest Whitaker, E.G. Marshall
- * — moral: don’t swap - stupid movie
1992 The Player
- Robert Altman
- Tim Robbins, et. al.
- ** — Hollywood dealmaking and murder
1993 Body of Evidence
- Uli Edel
- Madonna, Michael Forest, Joe Mantegna, Willem Dafoe
- * — femme fatale (fucks man to death to inherit millions)
1993 Even Cowgirl’s Get The Blues
- Tom Robbins / Gus Van Sant
- Uma Thurman, Lorraine Bracco, Pat Morita, Angie Dickinson, Keanu Reeves, John Hurt,Crispin Glover
- ** — I read the book in the 70s
1994 Reality Bites
- Ben Stiller
- Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, Janeane Garofalo, Steve Zahn, Ben Stiller
- ** — irresistable (in the end) bad boy
1994 The River Wild
- Curtis Hanson
- Meryl Streep, David Strathairn, Kevin Bacon
- * — female hero myth
1995 Losing Isaiah
- Seth Margolis / Stephen Gyllenhall
- Halle Berry, Jessica Lange
- *** — black woman abandons baby but gets him back (and shares him)
1995 Se7en
- David Fincher
- Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Spacey
- * — clever but not for me - lust and revenge are the last two in the desert under power lines
1995 Twelve Monkeys
- Terry Gillian
- Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt, Christopher Plummer
- ** — Nietzsche’s Eternal Return
1996 Crash
- J. G. Ballard / David Cronenberg
- James Spader, Holly Hunter, Elias Koteas, Deborah Kara Unger, Rosanna Arquette
- *** — we’re only human when machines break down
1996 Muholland Falls
- Lee Tamahori
- Nick Nolte, Melanie Griffith, Jennifer Connelly
- ** — noire - Melanie’s a stay-at-home wife
1996 Stealing Beauty
- Bernardo Bertolucci, Bernardo Bertolucci
- Jeremy Irons, Liv Tyler
- ** — coming of age in Italy
1997 The Apostle
- Robert Duvall, Robert Duvall
- Robert Duvall, Farrah Fawcett, Billy Bob Thorton
- *** — murdering preacher starts over until the law catches up
1997 The Full Monty
- Peter Cattaneo
- Robert Carlyle
- ** —
1998 Celebrity
- Woody Allen
- Winona Ryder, De Caprio
- ** — script writer chases crazy actor around
1999 An Ideal Husband
- Oscar Wilde / Oliver Parker
- Cate Blanchett, Minnie Driver, Rupert Everett, Julianne Moore
- ** — blackmail/bet into marriage to protect friend
1999 Grass
- Ron Mann
- Woody Harrelson (narrator)
- *** — history of marijuana laws in the US
2000 Down To You
- Kris Isacsson / Kris Isacsson
- Freddie Prinze Jr., Julia Stiles, Henry Winkler, Ashton Kutcher
- * — main characters narrate film (like High Fidelity) - first love second chance
2000 High Fidelity
- Nick Hornby / Stephen Frears
- John Cusack, Iben Hjejle, Todd Louiso, Jack Black, Lisa Bonet, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Joan Cusack, Tim Robbins
- ** — main character narrates film (like Down to You)
2000 U-571
- Jonathan Mostow, Jonathan Mostow
- Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton, Harvey Keitel, Jon Bon Jovi, David Keith
- *** — dueling submarines (for an Engima)
2000 Up At The Villa
- W. Somerset Maugham / Philip Haas
- Kristin Scott Thomas, Sean Penn, Anne Bancroft, Massimo Ghini
- * — irresistable (in the end) bad boy
2001 Monster’s Ball
- Marc Forster
- Halle Berry, Billy Bob Thorton, Heath Ledger
- *** — woman hooks up with husband’s executioner (unknowingly to both)
2001 One Night at McCool’s
- Harald Zwart
- Matt Dillon, Michael Douglas, Paul Reiser, John Goodman, Liv Tyler
- ** — why a pair of tits makes men crazy?
2004 Lost
- Darren Lemke, Darren Lemke
- * — steal money, drive in desert guided by phone road-aid (crummy movie)
2005 Primo
- Primo Levi / Richard Wilson
- **** — concentration camp survivors wandering home
2006 Renaissance
- Christian Volckman
- *** — Rotoscope annimation - Immortality
2007 The Favor
- Eva S. Aridjis, Eva S. Aridjis
- Frank Wood, Ryan Donowho, Paige Turco, Isidra Vega
- *** — teenager who’s mom dies moves in with her first boyfriend
2008 Slumdog Millionaire
- Vikas Swarup / Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan
- *** — love trumps poverty
?
- .
- .
- ** — Scottish - about young girl who hosts immortal (evil) woman
?
- .
- .
- * — couple in out-of-the-way hotel - stuck in snuff film
?
- .
- .
- * — man and woman outsmarting each other for cash - nevada

Gwyneth Carr Zufelt

Hi Grandpa. I just arrived. It was a rough time for me but my Mom was great and did a wonderful job of bringing me into the world. I weigh 7 pounds 1 ounce and am super healthy. I can't wait to meet you. Here are some pictures my Dad took when he first meet me a couple of hours ago. I hope you like them and he said to call tomorrow when you get some time.

Love,
Gwyneth Carr Zufelt

From Jasmine the next day:

Hello Everyone. Yesterday was the big day. Bruce and I arrived at the hospital at 5 a.m. on Friday and spent the day in labor. Gwyneth made her way into the world at 4:55 pm. Not too bad of a day. She weighed in at 7 pounds 1 ounce and she is nearly 20 inches long at 19 3/4. Our new little family is doing well as we actually got some sleep during last night. We should be leaving the hospital first thing Sunday morning.

Talk to all of you soon.
Jasmine


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Phillip, Kate and me at peace rally

Phillip Bimstein, Kate MacLeod, (her husband Mark sang on some tunes) and I played at the state capital today for the peace rally.


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John, Geoff and me - final summer gig at Green Street

John Flanders, Geoff Miller and I play on the patio at Green Street tonight. It's the final Green Street gig for the summer. Hope to see you there.


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Geoff, Joe and I play at Bukowski CD release party

Geoff Miller, Joe Chisholm and I played at the Bukowski CD release party at Ken Sander's Rare Books.

These photos taken by Flavia:


more pictures...

These photos taken by Sherm Clow:


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crossing the andes

Thursday, Friday

Flavia and I spent March 15-21 in Buenos Aires. Here's are "trip report."

crossing the Andes
in the new century
less than an ant
on the earth’s surface
& never seeing below
the clouds from 30,000 feet
many, maybe most, seem happy
with tv

On the bus from the airport to our hotel we see posters for an International Jazz Festival at Ateneo starting on Sunday. Unfortunately, the two artists I’d want to hear the most, Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Eddie G��mez happen on the days after our scheduled return. But I planned to hear Jacques Morelenbaum Cello Zamba Trio on Monday and Terence Blanchard Quintet on Tuesday, but Tango took over.

Flavia’s nephew, Ulises, and his wife, Jorgelina, met us at our hotel (the Columbia Palace) to tell us the hotel lost our reservation. But Ulises and Jorgelina were able to get us a room at their hotel, the Hotel A&B International. The only room available the first night was a real hellhole that smelled of mildew and had a combined shower sink toliet room, a bed and a window to the hallway. The next day we were able to upgrade to a very nice room (number 108) for 185 pesos/night (about $65 US). The owner, Virginia, was very helpful. Ask for her if you stay there. The hotel is located at Montevideo 248 (a block away from Corrientes Avenue, 5 blocks from the obelisk.

We spent Thursday and Friday walking around the city seeing sites and being bitten by mosquitoes. There are 120 cases of dengue in Buenos Aires, ostensibly in people who were bitten by mosquitoes in Uruguay while traveling.

Ulises and Jorgelina introduced us to a great restaurant they discovered: Chiquilin. This place is great! We tried eating other places, but we always ended up back here for dinner. The food and service were just oo good to miss. It was here I discovered chimichurri under Ulises guidance—a sauce that ranks up there with Chileno pebre for me. Criolla is another typical sauce, but I got stuck on chimichurri. (By-the-way, in Argentina, “ll” is pronounced “ss”, so criolla is pronounced CREE-OH-SHA - instead of CREE-OH-YA). Our feasts generally totalled to 220 pesos, or about $70+ bucks - what a deal.

I maybe drink 2 glasses of wine a month at the most, but I drank 3 to 4 glasses of wine each night with dinner (which always started at 11pm) and felt completely fine the next day. Maybe it was the great Argentinian malbec. My favorite was Finca La Linda Malbec. But other malbecs, Nieto Senetinner, Trumpeter, Alamos (Catena Zapata), were also great. I think I have found another wine to drink (besides my standard Rosenblum Zinfandel).

Ulises is completing a Ph.D., in Computer Science at Aberdeen in Scotland, writing his thesis on search, specializing in librarianship and query construction. That got us to talking about hard to understand phrases. He pointed out the Scots phrase “fit fit fits fit fit”—meaning “which shoe fits which foot?” Try getting a computer to parse that with general rules! (For more of these see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_homophonous_phrases.)

Saturday

On Saturday Puvan, a friend of Ulises and Jorgelina, from Malaysia, living in Aberdeen, met up with us. He, Ulises and I went to El Ateneo bookstore located in the previous “The Grand Spledid” theatre (as much as I love bookstore, it’s a shame this is still not functioning as a theater). An English language teacher with many of her adolescent students approached me in the bookstore to ask if I would speak in English with them, which I did for about 30 minutes. I happened to be sitting on the floor at the time they approached me (to more easily check out the bottom shelves in the poetry section). I stayed on the floor the whole time while they talked down to me. It was a large circle standing around me. Others started joining too, to see what the action was all about—they thought I was someone famous!

I purchased a Spanish language editions of C��sar Vallejo’s N��mina de Huesos y Otros Poemas and Ra��l Gonz��lez Tu��n’s Demanda contra el olvido. I “read” these at night in the hotel, remembering reading Clayton Eshleman’s translation of Vallejo as Payroll of Bones.

Later we joined up with Jorgelina and Flavia and went on a bus tour around the city. I would not recommend it since you spend too much time in traffic (maybe on a Sunday - if it runs - but on Sunday you want to be elsewhere—see below).

On the tour the woman guide spoke in Spanish and English. She said “si” continuously like many people use “a” as a filler. When she did the English version of her guiding she said “yes”. It got to be pretty humorous. Less humorous was the many many time she pointed out the Hotel Hilton from all angles - who cares!

When the tour stopped at Plaza de Mayo our guide neglected to mention the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (not unlike the guides at Neruda’s Isla Negra home—now a museum—neglected to mention any connection between his death on September 23, 1973 and the coup in Chile on September 11, 1973).

The best part of the tour was the stop at Caminito in the poor barrio of La Boca. The best artisans I saw while in Argentina were here (I bought a leather purse for my daughter Jasmine). This is the first place I saw dancers dancing tango in the street for tips (like musicians who play for tips).

Our guide was helpful in pointing out that the Rio de la Plata is the most polluted river in the world (it supplies Buenos Aires with its drinking water, which I did drink from the tap at the hotel).

On Satursday night we had great seats ($25 US) for Tanguera at the Teatro Nacional of Buenos Aires—a musical with no words, describes the history tango dancing from its beginning with European immigrants, through brothels to the modern stage. It featured Tango legend Maria Nieves. Very good show except for the canned music. After the show we went to Chiquilin for dinner starting at 11pm.

Sunday

On Sunday we took a taxi back to Caminito to shop at the artisan booths in la feria and have lunch while watching the tango dancers on the street. At lunch, the first tango couple were fun to watch on the sidewalk while having lunch. They were followed by a cheesey tango singer, Gerardo Peyrano. Flavia purchased on of his CDs for her mom (but her mom, who has taste, did not like it). Worse, while doing the CD transaction he stood at our table, blocking my view of the next couple dancing tango, who, for us, turned out to have the most striking woman dancer we saw while in Argentina.

After Caminito we went to San Telmo where they close one of the street’s on Sunday. It is here that we finally heard live tango music (as well as other music and more street dancers). One of the tango bands, Orquesta T��pica Imperial, had a violinist who played left-handed—never saw that before.

The same “walking in the wind” statue people we saw in Valparaiso last year were on the street in San Telmo.

We then went back to our hotel to freshen up before walking to a theater on Corrientes to see the musical Dr��cula, Jorgelina’s favorite (and in which she sang in 3 different productions in school). I didn’t understand the words, but, with the Spanish speakers help, I was able to get the story. The live orchestra was a pleasure to hear—reminded me of my days in the Pioneer Memorial Theater pit. After the show we tried to eat somewhere else but ended up back at Chiquilin for dinner starting at 11pm.

Monday

Monday was a shopping day. At an exchange rate of about 3 pesos to the dollar, you can’t pass it up. In the evening, Puvan and I were going to go see Jacques Morelenbaum at the jazz festival but broken ticket machines had us having dinner with everyone at Cafe Tortoni, the oldest coffee shop in Argentina. Once there we discovered they had two different live tango shows (with live music) going on simultaneously—one in the basement and one in a room to the side of the main floor.

We were able to get tickets for the basement show. It was a variety of comedy, tango, and music performance. The second half of the show after intermission started with two men playing bombos. Next they performed with boleadoras—kind of like tap dancing but with the added rhythm and skill of the sound and site of the bolas.

The live band consisted of acoustic bass, baby grand piano and bandone��n. The bass uses the bow more than pizzacato in this music.

After the show, while people were leaving, I went up to the edge of the stage and, with Flavia’s help, talked to the bass player, to let him know I liked his playing and to ask for the names of good modern jazz clubs. He said he didn’t know but that the piano player was a jazz maestro, and brought him into the chat.

The piano player, Juan Johermida (juanjohermidapianohotmail.com) recommended Notorious. He also said that there used to be more jazz clubs but they have been closing.

He asked if I played and when I said yes he immediately invited me to play a tune with him. He suggested Victor Young’s “Beautiful Love,” which I don’t know, so I countered with Dizzy Gillespie’s “A Night In Tunesia.” He didn’t say another word. He just sat down at the piano and started vamping the intro (well and with good time) before the bassist even offered me his bass.

I started playing the great Tunesia bass line but immediately had to adjust - the strings were too high, the endpin too low, and the end of the fingerboard was covered in rosin so my fingers were sticking together. So I implied the bass line. But it sounded good on the bass player’s fat bass.

We made it through the head then he indicated for me to solo. I was only about 16 bars into a solo when the stage manager made us quit so they could start the next show. But it seems I have made a new musician friend. He’s leaving in a few days to play in Alaska. If I come to Argentina again, you can bet I’ll look him up.

After the show we walked back to Chiquilin for another late dinner. We’re regulars now. They treated us great the first time—but now it’s even better, with waiters that served us the night before coming to shake our hands and help, even though we are not in their section.

Tuesday

On Tuesday Jorgelina, Ulises and Puvan checked out. We accompanied them to the bus station to say goodbye as they head to Rosario (Ulises and Jorgelina’s home town) where they will be attending a wedding.

Then Flavia and I took a train to Tigre, a city on the delta of the Paran�� river. Once in Tigre we went on a 2 hour rio tur. The leisurely boat cruise was a nice change of pace after hectic Buenos Aires. After the cruise Flavia explored the casino while I walked in the middle of town and had a bite to eat.

We took the train back to Argentina, rested for a hour, then went back to Cafe Tortoni for dinner and a last tango show (with live music).

Wednesday

On Wednesday we got up late, ate then checked out of the hotel. We still had several hours left. At first we split up, me heading to bookstores and Flavia to shoestores. I went to Kel, an English language bookstore. The store was packed—2 long lines, one with numbered tickets to pick up special orders, the other to pay.

I hoped to find contemporary Argentinian writers translated into English (hopefully with facing Spanish). Unfortunately all they had was Borges. I did end up by Latin American Stories edited by Carlos Fuentes and Julio Ortega—a collection of short stories from Spanish authors (and about 4 Argentinos). The little I read so far suggests the translations are hasty (misspelling, incorrect punctuation, awkward feeling). I also spent some time sitting in a plaza, writing a poem and watching the dog walkers.

on our walk the trees
stay separately

can he land our love
or dull our pain

the way so long
so low

Flavia and I hooked up for lunch at, you guessed it, Chiquilin. After lunch we went to a music instrument store where she played an incredibly inexpensive ($300 US) electric violin while I played an acoustic bass guitar. We ended up buying the violin.

And that was it. A 40 minute ride to the airport. 2.5 hours of airport hassle (and we needed every minute of it), a 2 hour flight to Santiago, a 2 hour drive to Re��aca (via Quilpue to pick up my bass) and our apartment in Cochoa. Exhausted but happy.

Here’s a link to all the pictures we took in Argentina.

The only thing I had hoped to do (besides the jazz clubs and festival) was go to listen and buy some CDs of artists recommended by Ulises. For the record, here are his recommendations (for next time):

Books
- Roberto Arlt
- M. Onetti
Tango singers
- Carlos Gardel
- Alberto Castillo*
- Angel Vargas*
- Floreal Ruiz*
- Polaco Goyeneche
- Edmundo Rivero*
Bandone��n players
- Anibal Troilo
Orchestras
- La Fernandez Fierro*
- Sextetu Mayor
- Juan de Dios Filiberto
- Mariano Mores (piano)
- Osvaldo Pugliese
- Manos Brujas (piano)
Folklore
- Chauen��o Palavecino
- Chango Spaziuk

John Flanders, Geoff Miller, Harold Carr recording

On Feb 2, 2007 John Flanders (tenor and soprano sax), Geoff Miller (guitar) and myself (bass) recorded at Jo-Ann Wong's beautiful home. Sherm Clow did the engineering. Here are some tracks and pictures from the session. I'll add more in the future.

Transformation, h. carr (6.4MB mp3)


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a recent trip to California

Saturday, January 27, 2007 — upright locked position

I am
a concept
like rain
in reality
it doesn’t exist
instead
a million water drops

thought like a clock
connecting ticks

what you see &
what you say

out the window
through thin
clouds 4 billion
years of rock
& blue reflecting
centuries
while we move
in the porous world

the sun moved
too before you
a desire
to become one
—the buffalo long gone

[Written on a plane flying SLC→Oakland with Flavia while reading Bob Perelman’s a.k.a. Venus and Chiara picked us up at the airport. We drove to 24th Street in SF. I hung out at Phoenix Books while they walked and shopped the street. Later that night we went to Pearl’s and heard drummer Babatunde Lea’s band with Richard Howell (sax & vocal), Glen Pearson (piano) and Geoff Brennan (bass). Mr. Brenan did some triplets in thumb position that were very striking—I think with three fingers on his right hand—I’ve got to figure it out. Afterwards we walked across the street to City Lights where I picked up Cole Swensen’s Noon and other books. Then we drove “home” to Sonoma.]

id: 28-poem-morning-bed

Sunday, January 28, 2007 — morning

         in bed

     drift

         &

     list

(& forget)

[At Venus and Chiara’s in Sonoma.]

id: 28-poem-coal-sound

Sunday, January 28, 2007 — coal

white light
behind the cave(s)
like five
blind
bats alive
evolving alone along the border

(turn to the sky)

[Written in response to the sounds of words in Cole Swensen’s “The Landscape Around Viarmes number 3.]

id: 28-poem-photo

Sunday, January 28, 2007 — photo

facing a forest
birds in the sky
a well (or wall) behind
somewhere a sea
a sound
child blurred turning
image

[A condensing of Swensen’s “The Landscape Around Viarmes” sequence in Noon. I’d love to use the line “mile after mile sea after child” too, but I can’t—too blantant (perhaps as a title?).]

id: 28-note-swensen-noon

Sunday, January 28, 2007 — sounds from cole

bare where stare there air

sun one once done
blind nine line a lake

when awake was world woke what want

id: 28-poem-white-relativity

Sunday, January 28, 2007 — white

train on its rail smoothly
inside its own world
traveling to the sea
a field on fire out the windown fading
curving across the world
the face looking back your own

walking on a moving train
green blends with the blind equation
field after field
all we see is light

[A condensing of Cole’s “Thought Experiment” sequence in Noon.]

id: 28-note-bass-seller

Sunday, January 28, 2007 — bass seller

From Wilhelm:

Michael Olivola (and his wife).

id: 28-note-music-andrew

Sunday, January 28, 2007 — music at Andrew’s

Sunday morning lying around reading while Flavia and Venus laugh in the front room and Chiara makes a great breakfast. We drive to Napa and tour Copia. Then we have a light dinner at a deli in downtown Napa before splitting up—me to Andrew’s in Oakland to play music—them back to Sonoma to have dinner with Venus’ family (Flavia’s ex).

I arrive in Oakland after an hour drive. Andrew and I hug and head upstairs to his studio where I get out my bass that is stored at his house. I was planning on selling it, but the minute I took it out of its case I changed my mind—the wood is too beautiful.

I warm up while Andrew sets up his recording gear and saxophones and flutes. A bit later Debra Craig (drums) and Terry Rolerie (guitar) arrive. We improvise then take a dark chocolate, blood orange and cake break. Then improvise again. Terry is a very quiet electric guitar player (and avid bike rider) and Debra is a sensitive drummer. Lucky for me—I played without an amp.

Driving home I found a station with some great solo piano—kind of an update minimilist Eric Satie. The show was Heart of Space playing Hans Otte’s The Book of Sounds. I just caught the tailend at 10:50pm. PT. At that time it was just single piano notes, one after another, no chords. But the choice of intervals and sequence were beautiful. I’ve gotta get that work.

id: 29-poem-body

Monday, January 29, 2007 — her body

where she lives
she fills it completely
(let me touch your lip
it is is your & it is)
where & to watch
inseperable from her
silent & private country
sleep in my cupped hands
where you can see clear
to the bottom words carved
into the body falling
her arm as if
it lived her life too

[A condensing of Cole’s “Signature” sequence in Noon.]

id: 29-note-embassey

Monday, January 29, 2007 — Chilean Embassey San Francisco

We said goodbye to Venus and Chiara and drove to San Francisco. Flavia had an appointment at the Chilean Embassey to get her passport renewed. While she took care of her business I went to Rasputin Music and picked up some CDs. In particular, one I’ve been looking for: Thelonius’ Monk’s Greatest Hits. The exact versions of the tunes on this CD made me realize just how much Monk was a percussionist (in a different way from McCoy Tyner). I want to transcribe some of his approaches to his melodies and solos and arrange them for bass.

Then I went a block away to Cody’s (the San Francisco branch - unfortunately the Berkeley branch closed down recently) and picked up Craig Dworkin’s Strand (I figured I should learn a little about the author’s work who lives and works so close by).

Flavia and I then hooked up and drove to Berkeley and had lunch at La Note on Shattuck. After lunch we walked a few doors down to Pegasus Books where I picked up Bob Perelman’s iflife.

We drove to the airport (several hours early for a change) and enjoyed reading all our new books waiting for the plane and flying back to Salt Lake.

poetry bus at Ken Sanders


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poetry at Sanders
& her tanned shoulders
one after another
authors all
older than sound

checkmate meaning crisscross

just testing jests
the poet
should her answer call
off streaming creeks lakes books
books books voice in page
say heart or brain or joke &
some sound mumble tone
says softly seeming visit
or living here all mingling
stumbling down trusts the poet

he she mostly he
sings their say hear
& why worry
about being behind
time or even
ahead oddly posted often if
blest hymn

painting, performance, party, porch, picnic


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On Friday we went to Michael Lucarelli's art opening "lyrical meditations, " followed by attending the John Flander's and Double Helix concert at Westminster (the inaugural performance for the series that we will play with Red Rock Rondo in May 2006). After the concert we went to Michael and Shayla's birthday party.

The next morning we spent the morning on the porch and in the garden, followed by a hike to Dog Lake from MillCreek Canyon with Phillip and Charlotte.

defined horizon 1

—for Phillip, Charlotte, Flavia & Suni

out in the mountains
looking down
on the destined horizon

The UK Terror plot: what's really going on?

From Craig Murray's site. Given the level of deception our governments are willing to engage in, it is worth considering seriously.

I have been reading very carefully through all the Sunday newspapers to try and analyse the truth from all the scores of pages claiming to detail the so-called bomb plot. Unlike the great herd of so-called security experts doing the media analysis, I have the advantage of having had the very highest security clearances myself, having done a huge amount of professional intelligence analysis, and having been inside the spin machine.

So this, I believe, is the true story.

None of the alleged terrorists had made a bomb. None had bought a plane ticket. Many did not even have passports, which given the efficiency of the UK Passport Agency would mean they couldn't be a plane bomber for quite some time.

Flavia, Harold and Coco "in Utah this week"

On July 21, 2006 Kim Burgess interviewed us for an article on our home that appeared in the August 3, 2006 issue of "in Utah this week" magazine. The original online edition of the article (different from the print edition) can be found here.

(The following is a stripped down copy of the online version---which is different from the print edition---in case the original link disappears.)

HAPPY COINCIDENCE GUIDES COUPLE TO DREAM HOME

Home Tour by Kim Burgess

Synchronicity is not only the name of a great Police song, but a real-life experience that sometimes guides people to exactly what they need.

If you don't believe me, ask Harold Carr and Flavia Cervino-Wood. Two years ago, the couple were looking to expand from a 980 square-foot house to something bigger. They searched Emigration Canyon, but decided they were too far from nightlife and high-speed Internet. Luckily, the moon was in the seventh house and Jupiter aligned with Mars.

On a casual drive, Cervino-Wood spotted a lovely old bungalow and was immediately drawn to it. Ironically, it was the same home that Carr had admired for years on bike rides. "I would look up and see the porch and think that it looked great," Carr said.

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Red Rock Rondo recording at Herc's

We, Red Rock Rondo, did a test recording at Herc's today. Unfortunately, some band members had allergic reactions to Herc's dog, so, no matter how the recording turns out, looks like we won't be doing more here.


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Milton Voigt, March 19, 1924 - July 29, 2006

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Milton Voigt died July 29, 2006 in Salt Lake City of causes incident to age. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1924 to Ester Bartelt and Arthur William Voigt. In World War II he was a navigator-bombardier in the U.S. Army Air Corps.

He attended The University of Wisconsin—Madison (Ph.B., 1948), The University of California—Berkeley (M.A., 1950) and The University of Minnesota (Ph.D., 1960). He taught at The University of Idaho and The University of Kentucky before coming to The University of Utah in 1960, where he taught English literature and History of Ideas for 32 years and served as Dean of the College of Letters and Sciences (until its division into separate colleges in 1970) and as Chairman of the Department of English (1971 to 1975). He was the author of one book Swift and The Twentieth Century (1964) and other studies of the eighteenth century satirist, Jonathan Swift.

He married Leta Jean Slack in 1947, with whom he had three sons, John Gregory (Northport, FL), James Lewis (Kalamazoo, MI) and Andrew Charles (Oakland, CA). He is survived by his sons and six grandchildren, Nicholas (Madison, WI), John and Zachery (St. Louis), Janna, Jesse and Evan (Kalamazoo) and by daughters-in-law Rebecca (Kalamazoo) and Lisette (Northport), by sister, Beatrice Manskee (Milwaukee) and special friend, Beth Burdett (Salt Lake City).

He was a lay reader at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, and served on the boards of several organizations including The Utah ACLU, The Salt Lake Chamber Music Society, and The Friends of the Children’s Center.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to The Salt Lake Chamber Music Society, P.O. Box 58825, SLC, UT 84158-0825. A memorial will be held on Friday, August 4, 6pm - 8pm at Fort Douglas Post Chapel, 120 South Ft Douglas Blvd (around 2100 east). Friends and family will also gather at his home at 1376 East Princeton Avenue (1290 South), Salt Lake City after the memorial. Condolences may be sent to miltonvoigt@gmail.com

death & rain

—for Andrew Voigt

another dead dad
summer—light rain
sounds on the rooftops

can hear death
bubbling up
—too proud

no one
makes it
til August

drifting in
& out of
sleep

clouds
cooler
sounds of trains

not a dream
a real live
loss

gone
is a word that says
goodbye

waiting
for lightning’s
thunder

(can I
even give this
to my friend?)

each small moment
makes a
day

even
the ones that
leave

the rain’s
thinking
water

the sun’s thinking
morning the day
after death

“after death”
so many millenium
answers

let’s make it
simple
absence

not here
not there
not

not yesterday
any
more

back to rain
rivers
oceans

small things
like sitting
in the mist

in the midst
of
forgetting

no
more
anymore

writing
while
waiting

to hear
him
move

even some
blue as the sun
moves through morning

take
your
time

echoes
thought’s
body

Steiner's Sad Thought

Ten (Possible) Reasons for the Sadness of Thought

George Steiner

My brother-in-law, Guillermo Antonio Cervi��o-Wood, recommended George Steiner’s Ten (Possible) Reasons for the Sadness of Thought. I found his essay of that title (originally published in Salmagundi) here and here.

I can’t say I like Steiner’s writing. It seems unnecessarily convoluted. Plus, all his points were made earlier by Bataille and Bataille’s writing is much better, even in English translation. He even uses some of Bataille’s phrases (e.g., “sadness unto death,” “laid bare”).

But I did take the time to read and summarize the article.

Introduction
1 — Infinite thought cannot think everything that exists.
2 — We can’t control thought for long, and even if we could, it might be dangerous to our health.
3 — Thinking is private but common and repetitive.
4 — No absolute truth (language is inherently ambiguous).
5 — Thinking is wasteful.
6 — You can’t do everthing you think.
7 — Thought veils as much as it reveals.
8 — The veil makes it impossible to know what others are thinking.
9 — The fact that few are capable of great thought (“creativity”) conflicts with the ideal of social justice.
10 — We know (and try to escape) death.

Millcreek---Elbow to Terrace


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the 4th of July

men
working in ditches
below the surface of the road women
working the

safety flags

the day before the

fourth of July

flags flying already
little orange ones marking
the new sprinkling system

the system seems or seemed
to work the system
of the fourth flags
still flying
the traffic lights

work too another
part of the
system or the fact

that we don’t kill
each other when we
meet unknown

lecture on music


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       for/by Phillip Bimstein

tick
    by
    tick the
clock uses
time

while the story
of songs is
told

at one

place about
another

his words
about another's

      harmonica

turned into song
like you like to do it
take the wheat down
the way we did it
about as much out
as it is in

      baseball

the voice of one man
selling beer for forty
years

      guitar

an
active
participant
in the tick

spruce top maple
sides & back
steel
strings

      ghosts

her words his
words
two young girls
back & forth
kill on a busted swing
    (forever)
---that deserves a song

      moo

history into story
   ---an accident
the cows won't speak

      detention

but

kids

in jail

have plenty to
say

      quilts

now
spinning on track four
pretty quilts

on the
line
called the sheriff
red lights flashing down
at the junction all
I want is my
money

      mulberry

meanwhile, back in
town, after the first
hard frost, the leaves
in mounds on the
ground---gone
no place for trees
anymore

      frogs

slowed way down
like rocks
like melody
in water

      rancher rap

sample
splice
sing
loop
strum
strike

echo imitate bow