so, while most everyone else on campus went into philly to see the roots, among other things, i stayed here and worked. at least i wore my roots t-shirt, which provoked a lot of remarks.

it was productive - although i didn't finish all the duchamp reading as i had hoped, i read everything except for two short articles (one because the library closed, the other because the syllabus was unclear about which chapter to read) and the inscrutable transcription/lation of the "green box" (which i paged through for twenty minutes or so), including a few things on the recommended list. the paper shouldn't be too hard to write, especially if those last two articles are as helpful as i hope they are.

i worked from before lunch straight through until dinner, only taking an hour-plus study break to audition for the night of scenes. that was actually tremendous fun. I read Tzara saying "dada dada dada dada" for Al Bradbury (in another uncanny confluence), I read a bizarre script with Hang for some auditioners who also had us recite the pledge of allegiance, and I read five scenes for Cat, by the end of which I was getting nice and loose with my interpretations. but the most fun of all was probably reading for the John Cleese role in a Fawlty Towers episode for two cool freshman (presumably?) who were pretty business-minded. i shouldn't speak too soon, but they seemed to enjoy seeing me audition as much as i enjoyed giving it - they had me stay and read quite a number of scenes.

i also paused in my reading for a very satisfying practice session. technique was a bit trying, but the bach inexplicably came together about five times better than last time i tried it (i love when that happens), and i played through the chopin several times, trying different approaches most of which seemed pretty expressive. probably after this week's lesson i'll get something else (20th century?) to work on, more of a full slate. and then something will suffer, perhaps. but for now it's going well.

i did some more reading after dinner, but gave up soon and invited joel over for some listening. we heard gerry levinson's "here of amazing most now" (much better with the score and the inspirational texts, from cummings, basho [how do you make a macron?] et al) and "for the morning of the world" (heavy shades of copland, stravinsky, and jazz), tom whitman's "aubade" (enough with the glockenspiel, guys) and the opening his opera (um, not sure about the next 75 minutes), and selections from cex, dälek, and parklife.

hanging/taboo plans seemed to be fizzling, but s-k popped up as we left k. joel writes music for soundtracks now, so skelly and i went off in search of fresh air (me) and inappropriateness (her). willets? no. phi psi? no (although apparently kellam thinks i'm 21, or maybe 12.) we stopped by the dana hq of sarah cohodes and brita (who has the campus record for kandinsky prints and recordings of the "internationale"), wandered through the halls of wharton ab (for no reason in particular), and then went down to the crum. we took the ornithology path, starting behind the fieldhouse, which is different in the dark. we lay in the meadow, had a planning meeting, and cheered whenever the (full!) moon made it into a clearing in the clouds. fantastic.

it was cute walking back and passing all sorts of swatties, in ones and twos, in various activities. back here, chatting with dan, alison, and jav; bowie and hubbard. i'll go to bed now. tomorrow should be fun fun fun.

out where the decent folks dance
that two-step revival
denial, deviation, temptation and trial