October 28, 2007

Day 1 of Chicago Calling [10/24]:

1. Arrive at 6 am Midway. Take orange line to the green line; off at Kedzie. Dan Godston rolls up in a white car with a sunroof.
2. Back to Dan's studio and crash while Dan goes to jobby-job.
3. Green line into Adams stop.
4. Harold's Chicken Shack lunch crowd.
5. Bought a pen & new notebook.
6. Bought a thermal undershirt: Lake wind is cold wind, regardless of thermometer.
7. Sculpture garden near the Art Institute.
8. Lake Michigan=small ocean. [Last time I was here, I swam in my skivvies].
9. Planned garden and post-modern oyster shell pavillion.
10. Extra large Dunkin Donuts coffee.
11. Kasey's Tavern.
12. Met Dan at Columbia College w/ Bill [guitarist] and off to Northwestern.
13. Northwestern set-up at WNUR. Chicago Calling over live radio airwaves and internet feed. Studio is a nice performance space.
14. Ask radio station manager if I can swear if it's a literary context: he gives me the George Carlin routine, which while misguided ["community standards" being the never-defined benchmark for on air obscenity] is fine, since they're being nice to us and why would anyone want them to have the FCC on their asses. I did have to change my what-to-read plans at the last minute though.
14. Ed Roberson the first to read with the musicians. Just awesome, as in awe inspiring.
15. Musicians change configurations to make different ensembles. Mostly free jazz.
16. I start to read and the band goes from free jazz to quiet [I'm sure to privelege the spoken part]. It throws me off a little. I plinked on some instruments. Read from a notebook I'm working on, from a ms. I've been shipping around, and from a postacrd series I've never read out loud before.
16. Dan's neighbor Alpha has an art consulting gig between Chicago & Sacramento. She seems well-plugged into things.
17. Back to Dan's about midnight. Dan cooks salmon, rice & onions. We have a beer & catch up. A nice end to the evening.