David Grubbs
Where are you now?
I’m at home in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, New York.
Where would you be?
This week my wife Cathy and I were supposed to be in Mexico City on vacation, perhaps catching up with Thomas Lehn and Tiziana Bertoncini, who by coincidence were to be performing there. Our son Emmett, who’s a high school student at the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts—that’s really its name—was supposed to be on a field trip to Japan. When I told my mother-in-law that he was going to Japan, her response was, “When I was in school we took a class trip to the slaughterhouse.” Things change.
What have you been doing lately?
I’m in the middle of a semester of teaching three graduate courses in three different programs at Brooklyn College: Sonic Arts, Performance and Interactive Media Arts (PIMA), and Creative Writing. These have all switched to meeting online, which is going better than I had expected—two of the three classes asked if we could go ahead and meet this week, even though it’s supposed to be spring break. It’s fine with me. I’m also having many more one-on-one meetings with students as they reconceptualize their projects in remote formats, especially the PIMA students, whose work is typically to be realized as collaborative live performances.
I have also been spending several hours a day—usually until noon—working on my next book, which is the third and final one in a series that includes Now that the audience is assembled and The Voice in the Headphones. I had thought that I wouldn’t be really getting down to working on it on a daily basis until the summer, but . . .
Apart from those, I’m out in Fort Greene Park twice a day walking the dogs.
What are you hearing right now?
We live close to Brooklyn Hospital—which was in the news for photos of the refrigeration truck outside that’s being used as a temporary morgue—and until a couple of days ago it seemed that we were hearing sirens more or less constantly. Really depressing. I’m taking it to be a good sign that the sirens are a bit less frequent. It’s pretty quiet at the moment (2:20pm)—definitely much less traffic than what I would normally be hearing.
Are you taking advantage of this containment period to make music?
Definitely. I’m playing piano a bit every day, but have been happier to be working—slogging—my way through Bach than trying to write new music on the piano. Last week I had two live events—a solo guitar performance as part of ESS Chicago’s Quarantine Concerts (https://ess.org/the-quarantine-concerts) and a surprisingly fun book launch for The Voice in the Headphones—and I just recorded and released (less than three days turnaround time—excellent!) a piece for Jon Abbey/Erstwhile Records’ marvelous AMPLIFY 2020: quarantine series.
How will the world be after all this?
Brutalized. In the United States we have to make certain to drive the fascist out of the White House. If that doesn’t happen, I truly cannot imagine how much worse things become for this country.
How can we support the music community?
People are doing a lovely job of being supportive of one another in spending time with and speaking up for and sharing music that they care about—and also by taking the time that they might not have otherwise to engage one another, to really give substantial feedback and support. But musicians and artists also need whatever financial support people can provide. I’ve been glad to try, and will continue to do so as best as I can.
Five musical recommendations?
Luiz Henrique Yudo, Chamber Works (Another Timbre)
Rafael Roginski, Rafael Roginski Plays Henry Purcell (Populista)
Thelonious Monk, Live at the It Club (Columbia)
Judith Hamann, “days collapse days collapse night” (AMPLIFY 2020: quarantine)
Noël Akchoté, You Don’t Bring Me Flowers: Plays Barbra Streisand
One book?
Lisa Robertson, The Baudelaire Fractal (Coach House Press)
What will you do when you're out?
Visit my parents and family in Kentucky. Go say hello to friends all over the world.
Links:
https://amplify2020.bandcamp.com/album/the-snake-on-its-tail-the-furthest-farthest
https://grubbsunami.bandcamp.com/album/comet-meta
