Wilfrid

That would certainly solve my problem, but since I don’t only read books or watch movies I own, let alone only look at paintings I own, it seems a bit arbitrary.

I'll drop these thoughts here, as this is the thread where they've been acted out. Working through David Toop's Ocean of Sound, and making notes of all kinds of things to listen to, it's really sinking in that I need my listening to be regimented. This has been a problem for me ever since all the music in the world became available online. I am paralysed by choice. As Malcolm McLaren said, "post modernity is when you don't know what to buy any more." I can sit around thinking, hmm, Tangerine Dream or Bach or Glenn Campbell or Camaron de la Isla, and end up making the wrong choice or no c

Varése, Ionizations Dameron, “Fontainebleau“

Oh I'm an idiot, that's where I saw the pictures, not in the Brooklyn Rail. I would have had both print copies lying around the apartment at the same time (is my excuse). ETA There was an article on Matthew Shipp in the BR, if that exonerates me (no, why should it?).

Now listening to things I'm finding in David Toop's Ocean of Sound book,* ostensibly about "ambient music," but with ambient defined very broadly (if at all). The KLF, Chill Out - didn't get more than halfway, pointless elevator muzak. Sun Ra, Space is the Place Nice bit of synchronicity: although I've known Sun Ra's music for years, and saw the post-Sun Arkestra supporting the post-Tyner/Smith MC5 in Central Park, I didn't know about the Space is the Place movie until I saw stills from it in an article in the Brooklyn Rail, like three or four weeks ago. *Recommended by Sne

Oh I see, looks like we're just using "support" in different ways. You're supporting a business if you keep paying them even though quality has slipped, I'm supporting them just by spending money there, regardless of whether quality has slipped.

I think we're at cross-purposes. All I was responding to was the idea that middle class and above have a better shot at relief than lower class: not necessarily. I wasn't saying anything about the dining experiences (which post do you mean?).

I don't know: this is anecdotal, but when I dined out in Astoria, all kinds of places had outdoor dining, including the inexpensive taco place I went to. Maybe the East Village is unusual for the reasons you say, but definitely the downmarket places have seized the streets. I don't get around as much to be able to speak to a wide variety of neighborhoods. The other point, whether you intend your patronage to provide "relief" or "support," rather than just grabbing a bite to eat, I guess it does do that anyway.

Grub Street: restaurants preparing to open.

When I finish The Flame of Life, I'll be finished with D'Annunzio's novels (there's a later one, but I can't find an English translation). This and The Triumph of Death show him at his best: amazing set pieces like sick pilgrims packing a shrine to be healed, and a night of fireworks over Venice. Conscious attempts at Wagnerian scale and drama. Along with that, you get plots that move like drugged snails, and his thoroughly offensive worldview. Also: Alice Oswald, A Sleepwalk on the Severn Joe McGinniss, The Selling of the President 1968 Charles Olson, A Nation of Nothing b

Paolo Conte, live somewhere.

"blah food between rats, priced as if you're at Taillevent" Priceless.

Not necessarily. I've been inclined to spend my dollars at local places which don't have a particularly well-heeled clientele. I feel more sentimental (which may not be rational) about places in my neighborhood than the high end.

Mais non, je suis triste. 93 ans.

I'm sure you're right, and I phrased that badly. Trimming away at the customer experience was surely no more than a temporary fix for all the problems they had anyway.