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Reading Book 6 of My Struggle. Karl Ove stumbles upon the essence of Buddhism, though he doesn’t acknowledge it as such. Like Korzybski’s “the map is not the territory.”

“A world without language was a world without categories, where every single thing, no matter how modest, stood out in its own right. It was a world without history, in which only the moment existed. A pine tree in that world was not a “pine,” nor was it a “tree,” but a nameless phenomenon, something growing up out of the ground, which moved when the wind blew.”

I love Tao Lin‘s Twitter style, especially his “I recommend…” tweets. Like:

“I recommend avoiding insane culture and people who mock and ridicule other people”

At the gym today, the soundtrack was 100% young white male post-Strokes rock. It was so bland and formulaic, the lyrics so forced and shallow, that when a song by Foreigner — Foreigner! — came on, it seemed fresh, human, real.

Just finished reading Matters of Vital Interest: A Forty-Year Friendship with Leonard Cohen by Eric Lerner. And it was a beautiful friendship, and thanks to “Old Eric” for sharing it with us. Buddhism isn’t really as mysterious and complicated as it seems; the “enlightenment” people chase is no big deal. Their Roshi couldn’t simply tell them this, but toward the end I think they “got it.”

Keeping a close eye on the soon-to-be-available Digital Performer 10 upgrade from MOTU. I’ve kept my copy of DP upgraded (through most versions) since DP3, I think. Like the program, like the company (hey — they’re local!), and I think it’s an excellent platform for mixing. But for composing, I really need to have the freedom and speed you get with MIDI regions — which DP lacks. Maybe the new Clips are a harbinger of Object-Oriented MIDI in the timeline? Peter Kirn at CDM talks about DP 10’s new features in the context of the DAW universe: DP10 adds clip launching, improved audio editing to MOTU’s DAW

We had dinner at the Gardner Ale House last night, and enjoyed music by Bees Deluxe. “Acid Blues” they call it, but it’s not crazy — understated if anything — but certainly not the same old boring blues you hear all too often. Loved Conrad Warre’s bare-fingers guitar work (PRS into a little Fender, with dollops of Uni-Vibe). Digging their latest LP, Voice of Dog, on Spotify.

Reading Birth of the Cool: Beat, Bebop, and the American Avant-Garde by Lewis MacAdams. I want to see the 1961 film version of The Connection (directed by Shirley Clarke), Jack Gelber’s play originally staged in 1959 by Judith Malina and Julian Beck’s Living Theatre.