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Last week, I saw a guy super-engrossed in a book on the subway. He got off at my stop, and kept reading on the stairs, so I asked. It was The Melancholy of Resistance, his first L.K. novel; said he dug it. Meanwhile, I was carrying a copy of Austerlitz, which was "on his list."

Some of you know I'm playing guitar and a little piano w/ old friends in a reactivated Tsunami; we have 11 shows in March/April, supporting a massive Numero Group reissue. All shows w/ Ida, who are great. A coin toss decides who plays first, so come early if you like either band.

For several decades, poets were at each other's throats about "difficulty," modernist/avant-garde legacies/values, small v. mainstream presses, &c. Recently, those battles seem to be fought mainly by writers of prose fiction. What shifted, or is it a quirk of my attention?

Absolute. Cinema.

Just realized I'd been steering clear of that Chicago improv group Natural Information Society b/c of bad associations with the echt-80s alternative dance band Information Society.

This detention and revocation of legal status seems like a watershed; saying so shouldn't depend on your stance on the underlying geopolitical conflict. That is: if you think this is justified b/c you support the actions he was protesting, we will have a hard time breaking bread.

It’s remarkable how so many people who just got their law degrees on Twitter don’t understand a basic constitutional principle: a person is not convicted of a crime because someone, including the president, accuses them of a crime. This applies to US citizens & noncitizens alike.

This list (both pages) is such a great snapshot of the prevailing indie/underground community when I was in college radio, trying to find my way toward my own tastes as a critic and musician. I like some of these folks but, wow, it was an uphill battle. Note also: 3 women.

Algebra homework; desultory piano lessons; working up the nerve to show up at roller-skating parties; listening to Dr. Demento, English Beat and Split Enz cassettes, and the OCR of Evita; spending inordinate amounts of time at extended-family gatherings w/ few kids my age.

I sure wish that some of the writers and performers involved with Saturday Night Live over the years were willing to discuss how the show is made. They could even interview one another on talk shows, or podcasts. But I understand the humility and reticence that prevents this.

“It must be hard to be March, one of those adolescent months people patiently wait for the year to outgrow.” (line from James Schuyler's diary, March 10, 1971)

I know this is supposed to be a message to trading partners, but it’s a chilling series of words to see one’s government broadcast.

I'll be playing an instore at MY VINYL UNDERGROUND, 1410 SE Division St., Portland OR on SUNDAY APR 20th, w/ locals Field Drums (+ 1 TBA); doors 7/music 8. It's billed as "Franklin Bruno & Friends"; some of the musicians I'm traveling with may help out for a song or two.

Yes I'm interested in STEM (Scalapino, Tardos, edwards, Mayer)

It depends on what you mean by “liberalism”

What's the psychoanalytic read on why he's fixating on dolls as the go-to example of something children could get along with fewer of?

Need to hear, and possibly cover, this song.

Did Win Butler's way of being in his body always give the vibes we now associate with Elon Musk?

Rachel Kushner's recent Creation Lake goes into this history in some detail, as thematic background to the narrative. You could almost believe she made it up.