the 2009 MacArthur Fellowships were awarded

and I can continue to sleep untroubled by thoughts of what I would actually do (I don't know. Write?) with all that money.
for those of you out of the loop, the MacArthur "genius grants" bestows $500,000 ($100,000 a year for five years) on select recipients without application. according to the New York Times, recent local recipients include New Yorker music critic Alex Ross, saxophonist and composer Miguel Zenon, lighting designer Jennifer Tipton and violinist Leila Josefowicz (none of whom I know well enough to borrow money).

so I remain busy. busy enough to not really remember what's been keeping me busy.

although I do remember that on Friday I missed seeing Basia Bulat (though I had passes) and Randy Newman (I did not have passes). and on Sunday I missed Rachel Mason and Giant Sand and Bobby Bare Jr (I spent the evening - the entire evening - transcribing an interview with Jimmy Cobb, the sole surviving member of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue sessions (that piece will run in a little more than a week's time) with the Yankee game, the final contest at the Stadium, on).

but on Friday I did manage to interview Rivers Cuomo of Weezer (the band plays the night two of their North American tour tomorrow at the Garden and my interview should post at the Voice shortly after the sun rises). and yesterday I interviewed Craig Finn of the Hold Steady and Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers (touring together this fall) for a future Voice feature.
and after I talked to Craig and Patterson I met the Annuals in Central Park to film a Possibly 4th Street session that should run in about a month (their new album, Such Fun, comes out on October 7th).
then it was home for a short nap, not enough to eat (I was searching for food on Sixth Avenue about this time last night and finally settled for a couple of Papaya Dogs hot dogs which, I'm told by those nearest and dearest, cause some kind of smelly burps), before heading down to Washington Square to photograph night one of Steve Earle's five-night stand at Judson Memorial (the link will take you to one of those photographs, as well as Mr. Harvilla's summation of the evening. that's a bonus pic above).
also yesterday, my long-form interview with Kings of Leon frontman Caleb Followill posted at the Voice online. their new album, Only by the Night, came out today and this afternoon they taped Letterman and tonight they played a sold-out (with tickets going for right around six times face value) record release party at Webster Hall (yep, I missed out on that, too).

but busy ain't genius, baby. busy ain't genius.