Coming soon to 2006, a new Lame House release & a new website for The Tiny (not to mention a new issue in March). But first: the New Year's Day Marathon Reading at St. Mark's Poetry Project. Here is tomorrow's schedule:

3-4 Bob Holman, Shanna Compton, Jose Angel Figueroa, Ethan Fugate, Yuko Otomo, Michael Lydon, Susan Maurer, Nicholas Powers, Gina Myers, Don Yorty, Lauren Russell, Courtney Frederick, Denize Lauture, Bob Rosenthal

4-5 – Merry Fortune, Steve Cannon, Marc Ribot, Rosa Alcala, Tan Lin, Susan Landers, Foamola, Joanna Sondheim, Hassen, Bruce Weber, Prageeta Sharma, Bethany Spiers, Paul Catafago, Aaron Kiely, Marianne Shaneen

5-6 – Philip Glass, David Mills, Brenda Iijima, Huang Xiang, Patricia Spears Jones, Too Much Light Makes the Baby Blind, Kazim Ali, Kimberly Lyons, Steve Dalachinsky, Paolo Javier, Lourdes Vazquez, Donna Brook, Bob Hershon, Ted Greenwald

6-7 – Filip Marinovic, Latasha Diggs, Ammiel Alcalay, Lo Galluccio, Dorothy August Friedman, Rebecca Moore, Shanxing Wang, Chris Rael, Bill Kushner, Cheryl B., Jim Neu, Charles Bernstein, Anne Tardos, Tyehimba Jess

7-8 – Adeena Karasick, King Missile, Christopher Stackhouse, Maggie Dubris, Lenny Kaye, Avra Koufmann, John Giorno, Ange Mlinko, Murat Nemet-Nejat, Penny Arcade, Dana Bryant, Ed Friedman, Yoshiko Chuma, Steve Earle

8-9 – Willie Perdomo, Elliott Sharp, Kimiko Hahn, Todd Colby, Taylor Mead, Brenda Coultas, Edwin Torres, Edmund Berrigan, Anne Waldman, Tuli Kupferberg, Eileen Myles, Eric Bogosian, Patti Smith

9-10 – Rodrigo Toscano, Jackie Sheeler, Janet Hamill, Keith Roach, Hal Sirowitz, Elizabeth Castagna, Judith Malina & Hanon Reznikov, Tracie Morris, Mercedes Roffe, Brendan Lorber, Wanda Phipps, Stephanie Gray, Sharon Mesmer, Drew Gardner

10-11 – Douglas Dunn, Jo Ann Wasserman, Gillian McCain, Steven Hall & Arthur’s Landing, Tonya Foster, Tom Savage, Jenny Smith, Joe Elliott, Vicki Hudspith, Mitch Highfill, David Vogen, Tracey McTague, Paul Lafarge, David Henderson

11-12 – Marcella Durand, Alan Gilbert, Monica de la Torre, Joshua Beckman, Jen Benka, Nathaniel Siegel, Katie Degentesh, Douglas Rothschild, Charles Babinski, Karen Weiser, MacGregor Card, Brad Will, Greg Fuchs

12-1 – Brian Kim Stefans, Erica Kaufman, Dana Maisel, CA Conrad, Jessica Rogers, Frank Sherlock, Jim Behrle, Corrine Fitzpatrick, Stacy Szymaszek, Anselm Berrigan.

Here is Andy’s year end recap, composed for some contest or another & only available here at A Sad Day for Sad Birds II: Revenge of the Blog--

My Favorite Albums of 2005:

1. The National, Alligator
2. Antony and the Johnsons, I Am a Bird Now
3. Witchcraft, Firewood
4. Animal Collective, Feels
5. Vashti Bunyan, Lookaftering
6. Gang Gang Dance, God’s Money
7. Jens Lekman, Oh You’re So Silent, Jens
8. Mountains, Mountains
9. Keith Fullerton Whitman, Multiples
10. The Books, Lost and Safe

My Favorite Reissues of 2005:

1. Judy Henske and Jerry Yester, Farewell Aldebaran
2. Judee Sill, Dreams Come True
3. Pep La Guarda and Tapineria, Brossa D’ahir
4. Jean-Claude Vannier, L’enfant Assassin de Mouches
5. Congreso, El Congreso
6. Guided By Voices, Propeller
7. Cluster and Eno, Cluster and Eno
8. Gary Higgins, Red Hash
9. Pescado Rabiosos, Artaud
10. Congregacion, Viene

My Favorite Songs of the Year:

1. Art Brut, “Emily Kane”
2. Antony and the Johnsons, “Paddy’s Gone”
3. Cat Power, “The Greatest”
4. Prefuse 73 feat. Ghostface and El-P, “Hideyaface”
5. Bloc Party, “Banquet”
6. Dangerdoom, “Crosshairs”
7. Love is All, “Felt Tip”
8. Sam Prekop, “Between Outside”
9. Out Hud, “Old Nude”
10. Edith Frost, “Emergency”

Some Albums That I Didn’t Hear in 2005 That Are Probably Good:

M.I.A., Arular; Kate Bush, Aerial; Broadcast, Tender Buttons; Earth, Hex or Priniting in the Infernal Method; Sun O))), Black One; Serena Maneesh, Serena Maneesh; Nadja, Truth Becomes Death; Jackie-O Motherfucker, Flags of the Sacred Harp; this list could go on and on….

Albums I Actually Listened to Most Often in 2005:

Bob Dylan and the Band, Basement Tapes
The Smiths, Hatful of Hollow
New Order, Power, Corruption and Lies
Iron Maiden, Iron Maiden
The Misfits, Static Age
Eric B. and Rakim, Paid in Full
Gillian Welch, Time (The Revelator)
Witchcraft, Witchcraft
Otis Redding, Otis Blue
Glenn Gould, Goldberg Variations
The best of the Fucking Champs CD I made for Tony but never sent him

Album I Will Probably Listen to Most Often in 2006: Thin Lizzy, Dedication

Best Concerts I Saw in 2005:

1. The Books at Café Du Nord
2. Antony and the Johnsons at Great American Music Hall
3. Slint at Great American
4. Gang of Four at The Fillmore
5. Juana Molina and Keren Ann at Café Du Nord

The only lit journal I know of that draws a monster for each piece it prints has just released its second issue. Check out Mustachioed here, & be sure to read Gabriella's poem while you're at it. Also, if you know Gabriella, send her birthday wishes today too--

There are a few books coming out in 2006 that I am really looking forward to--Joseph Lease's Broken World on Coffee House Press, Kate Greenstreet's case sensitive on Ahsahta Press, & Aaron McCollough's Little Ease--which I think comes out in 2006, but might be 2007. I'm sure there are more that I'm just not aware of currently. Anyhow, I realized there are a number of books from 2005 that I am greatly interested in that I haven't picked up copies of yet. Here is a brief list of my 2005 wishlist (in no particular order):

1. Stephanie Young's Telling the Future Off (Tougher Disguises)
2. Chuck Stebleton's Circulation Flowers (Tougher Disguises)
3. Geraldine Kim's Povel (Fence Books)
4. Lara Glenum's Hounds of No (Action Books)
5. David Larsen's The Thorn (Faux Press)
6. Shanna Compton's Down Spooky (Winnow Press)
7. Drew Gardner's Petroleum Hat (Roof Books)

Anyone wishing to donate any of these books to the Gina Myers literacy program, please feel free. (I'm kidding of course, though not entirely.) ; )

Current events in Saginaw, MI: The city is involved in a great gang war. The past few years murders & crimes have been on the rise. This year, things are especially hot. Last week: a shooting broke out at a bar/music venue killing two & injuring six. Two weeks ago there was a break in at a "sporting" goods store in a small town right outside of the city. 53 handguns were stolen. Merry Christmas everyone.

Word has it, Craig Teicher was inconvenienced by the transit strike. Of course, inconveniencing people was the whole point of the strike. (Check out this great article by Michael Hirsch.) We rely on the transit workers & we take them for granted. The strike wasn't selfish, it was necessary. Teicher takes an us versus them approach to the whole thing--"It’s the interests of 37,000 people vs. the interests of 7,000,000"--which I find completely inaccurate. Perhaps Teicher believes that his need to take mass transit to work & back is more important than the workers standard of living--their wages, health care, work conditions, pension plans, etc. Teicher felt a sudden solidarity with his "fellow New Yorkers," but "fellow New Yorkers" here does not apply to the transit workers. This attitude is something that I just don't understand.

Dial-up is driving me crazy! On another note, my current music obsession:

Second cup of coffee. Sitting at my parents' new computer in Saginaw, MI. Snow everywhere.

I am sad to see the TWU strike come to an end. I would have liked to have seen the strike last through the New Year, to have seen what Times Square would be like on New Year's Eve with the strike still on. One thing that I admire about the TWU is how they are really sticking to their demands for pensions for future workers. Many years back at an auto plant in Michigan, the UAW shot themselves in the foot by selling out the future workers. These workers now have nothing to bargain with. They are hired part time at lower wages, receive no benefits, etc. Though I admire the TWU sticking to its guns, I do think it was a huge mistake for the workers to return to work without contracts.

However, since the trains are up & running again this morning, New Yorkers should check out the Rauschenberg retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum. (Article here.) Also, the Van Gogh show is up until the 31st, so there's still time to check it out if you haven't already.

No real plans for today. Doing some grocery shopping with my mom, maybe hitting up a cd store that is going out of business--everything 30-50% off. That's one of the great wonders of Saginaw--it seems every time I come home something is going out of business. Two years ago another cd store was going out of business during my visit. They maybe had 40 cds left in the store, which they were selling at 80% off. Not much was in those 40 cds; however, I was able to pick up cds by Jeff Buckley, Belle & Sebastian, & Mott the Hoople for two bucks a piece. Not bad. Maybe I'll hit up some thrift stores today too, (the thrift stores in Michigan being truly thrifty vs. those those expensive vintage stores in NYC). Tonight it looks like I'll be hanging out with some "lot" kids, if you know what I mean. (Only a handful of my readers know what I mean.)

Currently listening to Syl Johnson's "I Can Take Care of Business." Packing. I will be in Detroit at 1:08PM tomorrow if all goes as scheduled. Michigan folks, give me a call. Will be there until the 28th.

Check out the Sona Books gift project here.

Day One of the MTA strike. The strangest thing I saw: tonight coming off the Williamsburg Bridge into Brooklyn there was a Red Cross "Disaster Relief" vehicle giving hot chocolate or some other hot beverage to people walking over the bridge. Personally, the walk both ways was nice. Go MTA workers! Shut this city down.

This past weekend, I finished reading Everything is Illuminated. I was surprised by how much I liked the book. I was initially resistant but fell for the characters, plot, & structure surprisingly fast. I only felt the book dragging in one section, during the excerpts from The Book of Antecedents. The book shares the same magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude--perhaps my all time favorite novel. I'm now looking forward to reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, though I am skeptical of its nine year old narrator thanks to my friends' opinions. Perhaps after the nine year old narrator I'll be ready for Auster's dog narrator in Timbuktu. Perhaps. Sometimes I feel like I can never read another Auster novel again. (I've nearly completed his oeuvre--poems, plays, reviews, forewords, novels, memoirs, etc. included.) Another person whose oeuvre I've nearly completed: David Markson. A gave me Going Down today. Actually, I'm not as close as I think I am with Markson. I've only read four of his seven novels, & have picked up & flipped through his poems from time to time at the bookstore. Today I began reading Kafka's The Trial (again) on the train. Tomorrow--depending on the possible MTA strike--I may not be riding the train. Tonight: I'm going through my bookshelves trying to figure out what books to take on my trip home. A is watching Foyle's War & even though I have missed the beginning of it, I keep getting caught up in the story.

Me & A at the Tyrant party at KGB on Wednesday. Open bar = good times. 

I've seen it mentioned already a few places, but I thought I'd mention it here too: the new issue of H_NGM_N is up. I have a review of Brian Blanchfield's Not Even Then in it. There are a lot of poems & reviews worth checking out--I'm just finally getting to it myself. I'm happy to see the chapbook reviews by Nate Pritts. Anyhow, check it here.

check one check two

Today was dead white male day at Spoonbill & Sugartown. Or at least it was for me. I picked up the following used, in good condition, & reasonably priced:

The Collected Poems of Theordore Roethke (the hometown hero)
Wallace Stevens' Opus Posthumous
& W. H. Auden's Selected Poems

Don't forget the Lungfull! party tonight--details here.

Just finished & greatly enjoyed:

Steve Powers' First & Fifteenth: Pop Art Short Stories.

1940-2005

Currently reading:



&

Today is my parents' 31st wedding anniversary. I recently asked my mom why they decided to get married on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor. She explained that it fell on a Saturday roughly between football season & basketball season. This makes all the sense in the world if you know my dad. She also added that the date would always be easy to remember.

*

Back now from the church. The reading tonight was really great. A lot of love for Kenneth all around.

*

A couple of delightful gifts I received today:

Rabbit Duck - thirteen collaborative poems by David Shapiro & Richard Hell (Repair 2005).
At That by Skip Fox (ahadada books 2005).

A few things coming up:

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2005
Poetry Project, 8PM

Celebration of the Collected Poems and Collected Fiction of Kenneth Koch.

Readers include David Shapiro, Ron Padgett, Charles North, Paul Violi, Mark Halliday, Jordan Davis, Philip Lopate, Katherine Koch, and Mark Statman.

*

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2005
The Pierogi Gallery, (177 North 9th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211, 718.599.2144), 7PM

Pete Markus & Bill Corbett

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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2005
Bowery Poetry Project, 4PM

Paul Foster Johnson & Norma Cole

Consumption:

Last night I ate Ma Po Tofu and Vegetable Dumplings at the mysterious Chinese restaurant/bar on Havemayer. It was excellent--I can't believe I hadn't ate there before. Then it was off to see Saviours at Kingsland Tavern. (Check out their EP streaming on the website.) A good night. Today I am completely wiped out. I have spent the majority of the day sleeping. I woke up late, went to pick up a package at the post office, hung out for about an hour at N's new apartment, came back home, had lunch, put in episode three of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, & prompty fell back to sleep until now. Looks like I'll be missing the Steve Powers party this evening.

Received in the mail today: Coltsfoot Insularity by Aaron Tiger & Jess Mynes. Hot off the new Fewer & Further Press, you can order a copy here. It looks good--the cover is stamped, (which is something I had thought of doing with Gabriella's chapbook originally), & the site says each cover will be unique--different colors, stamp impressions & design.

Recently viewed: Rois et reine (Kings and Queen), a strange movie that I enjoyed.

How much xmas shopping did I get done today? None. But I am about to purchase airline tickets home. I didn't even make it to the store to buy shampoo today. Lazy lazy lazy.

I think I'm about to give episode three another try--

Ugh. Over 200 new messages in my hotmail inbox...

Why are my posts on California time?

Today: received an e-mail asking me for information regarding the readers and my class to be posted on a book store's website. My response: What readers, what class?

Things that have happened since I started my new job:

1. I'm tired all the time.

2. I drink 3 times the amount of caffeine I used to.

3. The majority of the time I read is spent on the commute & it's a short commute. (Still reading Wittgenstein's Mistress.)

4. I have become terrible at responding to e-mails.

5. I use math more than I thought I ever would.

6. I feel a little like a grown up.