I recently finished reading The Letters of William Gaddis edited by Steven Moore. I've so far read 2 of his 5 novels, Carpenters' Gothic and Agape Agape, both of which come in significantly shorter than his other three novels. I appreciated getting insight into what the central problem was behind each of his works. With Carpenters' Gothic it was the notion of Getting It Wrong, and the fallouts and repurcussions for missing and misunderstanding one another.
It took me a year plus to get through, a slow march most nights before bed chipping away a few pages at a time.
Got to see ML Buch at Thalia Hall last week. Today is the last day of 2024 and it looks like Suntub will be my most listened to album this year, edging out Imaginal Disk by a few play throughs.
I also had the pleasure of seeing Magdalena Bay a few months ago, also at Thalia, and that was my second favorite live performance this year. A very thought out and conceptual staging, a further exploration of the themes of this new record of Identity/Self-Realization/Technology. High-camp production value with several costume changes: a sculptural flower into demonic coral into a divine angel.
Live performance of the year was Jamie XX at Pitchfork (r.i.p). A puppet master on the decks, he had me by a string and compelled me to dance my ass off for 90+ minutes culminating in a transcendental mixing of Life (ft. Robyn) with a drawn out Spanish Guitat + Cassinet intro that when he finally dropped I simply ceased.
The other night I coooked up a pot roast. My mother has been sounding off about Pot Roasts and sent me a specific recipe, but instead I made this one from Serious Eats.
Reflections: