I sometimes think that this review of Georges Perec's A Void I wrote in college -- 701 words without using the letter "e" -- is the best newspaper article I've ever written. It's probably too clever by half (or perhaps I flatter myself), but c'mon! It doesn't have an "e" in it! Sigh. To have peaked before drinking age is a pitiable thing. Just ask Rimbaud, though I guess he was probably drinking plenty.
I'm off to see Lee Konitz, the alto saxophonist who played on Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool. He's playing at a hotel bar next door to where I'm staying in Cambridge, Mass. I have high hopes. I love me some live jazz, and I'm going to drink me a martini to go with it.
Update (11:18p): I did see Lee Konitz, and I did drink that martini, and both were quite good. I wasn't wholly prepared for the oddity of Konitz's style, though -- or at least that's how it struck me. It's difficult to explain, but he sounded as if he was playing everything sideways (he was backed up by a bassist and drummer, incidentally). This is neither bad nor good, just different. But I did enjoy it. I found myself losing the thread of the music a little too often, I admit, probably due in no small part to the coffee I had earlier.
Of which: it was the first coffee I'd had in months. The first sip was frighteningly delicious. I felt it throughout my entire body. But, many sips later, I felt as wrung out as an old dishrag. Harsh stuff. I think it's best overall that I don't drink it. We can discuss this further when I'm still awake at 5 a.m.
Posted by nedlog at August 4, 2006 9:06 PM | TrackBack