If I thought my life were really interesting, I probably would have said something during the last six months about (these are in no order):
- Robert Fagles’ death and how much I’m reminded again by reading/hearing his recent translation of the Aeneid that I’ll miss him.
- An enjoyable steampunk anthology
- Michael Chabon’s audacious alternative history romp/murder mystery [which deserves all the accolades it gets]
- The release of Max 5
- Doing Max/MSP workshops in London and Copenhagen in a time of awful exchange rates and being buoyed by wonderful students, the help (in London) of Nick Rothwell, and morning and evening walks into town (down the Tottenham Court Road to Soho, or across the Bridge past the lake in Copenhagen).
- The opportunity to see The Nels Cline Singers here in Madison, and to hear the band set the place ablaze.
- Discovering the pleasures of Paavoharju – who, while not pinning the quirk-o-meter, are certainly a great listen across the great linguistic abyss.
- The Punch Brothers’ sublime “The Blind Leaving the Blind”
- New recordings from The Hub, Autechre, and its recontextualizations, Collections of Colonies of Bees, Morton Feldman, Ry Cooder , and the Scott Fields Freetet, (among others).
- The amusing progress of my own career as a muso – specifically, how unabashedly proud I am of the duet with Jeff Kaiser, the first PGT release [these people are still willing to perform with me, happily], and a solo online release with Stasisfield.
- My sadness at the untimely passing of Swedish pianist Esbjorn Svensson. What a shock and a loss.
- George Lewis’ marvellous, meticulous, and lively history of the AACM.
- The arrival of a good place in town to get a Mojito or Caipirinha.
- How miserably hackneyed and uninspired my recent attempts at solo recording have been.
See? All I can do is point to things.
