Talk, Talk, Talk, it's Only Talk

On May 27th, I appeared on the Brooklyn Rail’s New Social Environment discussion series, talking about minimalist music and my Minimalist Music book with Adam Shatz, the US editor of the London Review of Books, an author who’s working on a book about creative Black music (which I’m exceedingly interested in), and an excellent critic. It was an honor and a pleasure to do the show with him, because, to paraphrase one of the great losers in American politics: “Message: I care.” I do, I care about the music, I care about music’s place in society and how it reflects things back to us, I care about the beauty of sound and the beauty of musicians working together to create something that comes together in time and then vanishes into our memories. That’s one of the things my book is about, and if you’re interested you can watch the show at your leisure:

I also appeared on The Tonearm podcast, a great discussion with Lawrence Peryer that started with minimalism but extended to John Zorn, Bill Laswell’s remixes of Miles Davis, and beyond. They have a nice page for it with links to the podcast itself and a lot of contextual ones to connect you to all the subjects we discuss.

And if you want to hear me in person, I’ve got a book event at Moondog HiFi in Brooklyn:

When: June 9 (Tuesday), 6-9 p.m.

Where: Moondog HiFi, 119 Ingraham Street (close to Morgan L)

What: Talking Moondog and Minimalism, and signing books.

Moondog HiFi is indeed named after their namesake, American-original, outsider/street musician Moondog, the Viking of Sixth Avenue. He was part of the pre-history of minimalism: Glass and Reich (and a lot of other people) not only knew his music but formed an ensemble—that also included the late composer and Philip Glass Ensemble saxophonist Jon Gibson—that played Moondog’s music for no other reason than they dug it; and Moondog lived with Glass for a time. I’ll be talking about Moondog’s connection to minimalism, the bar has Moondog on vinyl, and I’ll sign anyone’s book if they bring it! And will have copies for sale!! Hope to see you!!!

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