No Help for That | Jackie Clark

Negligent as ever with my updates, two Poets off Poetry have come and gone without me saying a word.  In November, Andy Mister’s “Furniture Music, or a Kind of Boredom,” and just last week JeFF Stumpo’s “16th Century France by Way of Chicago: Howlin’ Wolf, the Blues, and Villanelles.”  Every once in a while (in my sunnier times) I am struck by how lucky I am to be able to curate POP and format these essays and look for YouTube videos, and in general just read and learn about music, etc.   I guess this is one of my more “sunnier” times.  I just feel grateful for this little community of people who want to write essays about music for me.  It’s pretty awesome.  Also, if you haven’t checked out Andy Mister’s book Liner Notes you should.  It’s the perfect combination of melancholy and perseverance.

Songs of the Week!  Still going strong for 2+ years.  Since I last wrote there were pieces by Matthew Henriksen, Carrie Olivia Adams,  and A. Minetta Gould, finishing up the Black Ocean residency. Then pieces by John Ebersole and Cement Pond LLC. And beginning just this week the Flowers & Cream residency starting with Anne Boyer.  Looking forward to this residency.  Like I said, I am feeling pretty grateful that people are interested in these little projects of mine.  They feel so second nature at this point that it’s good to slow down every once in a while and take them in.

Another Yoga Sleuth piece went up last week.  You can check it out here.  Not to belabor the point, but this is another thing that I feel grateful for.  Doing yoga on a regular basis really does make me feel mentally and emotionally better.  It’s neat that I am able to write about my experiences for Yoga City.  20 year old Jackie would marvel at all of these things.  I need to keep that in mind more often.

One of my new favorite musicians is Sera Cahoone. I love it when I bump into music that perfectly encapsulates where you happen to be in you life right now.