another day, another $1.75

though that really hasn't been an applicable sentiment for nigh on three or four years.
ain't I the lucky guy?
(yes. yes, I am.)

so a week has passed since Cy Twombly passed (and Dick Williams and John Mackey have passed in the interim), and I don't have a whole lot of news here, but if you're going to keep a blog you should update it at least once a week (even if you can't remember that far back without looking at your own blog posts to see what happened or, as the case may be, who died).

but I do remember today (Monday, 7/11/11), when I was fortunate enough to do (what's the best verb here?) two interviews, with a physics professor and a puppeteer (today's interviews were brought to you by the letter P), and that was cool, and I sent out a few more interview requests (we're coming down to the wire here with something like 37 more days of interviews before that part of the 49er project will come to a dead stand still, so if you know of any fascinating 49 year olds (English speaking, born in 1961 at this point) please let me know), set up a few more interviews, got inspected (by phone) by a representative of a government agency (no grade, but a recommendation to a potential interviewee (a government employee, but not the President and not the Treasury Secretary, both of whom are 49 year old English speakers born in 1961 with, I'm guessing, an interesting story or two) that I'm worth talking to (thanks government!)) and then I rushed (rushed) towards the East Village in an attempt to return a library book (Nicholson Baker's Human Smoke) before closing but I got hosed (hosed, I tell you) by the NYC MTA, specifically the 6 train which not only made me wait but decided (probably with some human help) to skip Astor Place so I was not only too late to return the book (Nicholson Baker's Human Smoke) but late for dinner (at Apiary for the first night of Restaurant Week) as I was dropped off something like twelve blocks south of where I was eating, which made us kind of rush through the entree (slow, quite slow, in coming) and dessert portions since by then we were running late to catch Corey Smith's early show (thanks Cass!) at the Mercury Lounge.

rush, rush, rush.
I am a New Yorker.
and that was pretty much my day.

what I'm listening to: all make and manner of Steve Wynn music (a complete lack of surprise to many of you), but let's say the Dream Syndicate's Ghost Stories in a tip of the cap to specificity

your new home run derby king: the Yankees' Robinson Cano

the most interesting piece of prose I've read on the Internet in the past few days that has little if anything to do with me: Diane McWhorter's Redemption in Birmingham on back home in Alabama history, Chris McNair and whether or not there's such a thing as earned mercy
(full disclosure: I interviewed Diane McWhorter after her excellent (and recommended to all those with Alabama roots) Carry Me Home came out but before it won the Pulitzer. and it was a really good interview but I can't for the life of me remember where it was published, much less able to provide a link to it; so yeah, that makes it a little about me, but not nearly (really, not nearly) as self-serving as . . .)

the most interesting piece of prose I've read on the Internet in the past few days that has quite a bit to do with me, actually: Lisa from England (nope, it's Lisa from Ireland; my bad) is reviewing/sharing her thoughts on various entries from Continuum's 33 1/3 series, and those of you keeping score at home will likely remember that I penned the entry on Fleetwood Mac's Tusk album (that link will take you to my book, not the music, by the way).
and after the most recent, rather scathing review posted on Amazon (I've been told that these things matter, and yes, I well realize that, in some ways, I wrote not only a non-traditional book but, I guess, a difficult book, one that might even be viewed as "confrontational" (someone else's description, not mine), though I was not aiming for a fight (that is, my primary goal was neither a non-traditional nor confrontational approach)), I was greatly pleased to read that Lisa from Ireland cast aside the seemingly prevalent urge to simply list the ways that the book failed to address certain preconceived notions (lyrical analysis, interviews with studio engineers, et al) and was not only able but willing to approach the book on its own terms.
and for that I say, thank you, thank you, thank you (and thanks to Sharon also, for very kind, though less public, comments). something akin to faith has been (somewhat) restored.