Reviews of Music Books
I'm obsessed with music. I started taking piano lessons when I was 6 or 7. I hated them. I learned some easy Boogie-Woogie on the piano as a teenager. I started playing guitar & harmonica around the same time. I took a few violin lessons at 18. I was basically a folksinger at the time but my repertoire included things like Frank Zappa's "Willie the Pimp" & Yoko Ono's "Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking For Her Hand in the Snow)". A large part of my repertoire consisted of Incredible String Band & Leonard Cohen songs. From ages 17-19 I was a teenage hitch-hiker/drifter & sometimes I performed for the people who picked me up hitch-hiking.
But I wanted to be more original. So by my early 20s I gravitated more toward electro-acoustic material & by age 30 I dubbed my work booed usic which evolved into things like Low Classical Usic & Uncerts. I currently have 212 published recordings, the list of which is here, & such a huge body of work that no-one other than myself has much of an overview of it. Some of the recordings can be heard on the Internet Archive & on my SoundCloud page & it wouldn't take much industry to find movies of Uncerts of mine on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel or on Vimeo or on the Internet Archive again, etc..
Alas, once again, my prolificness, strangeness, & resistance to established critical categories (not to mention poverty) has led to my being almost completely ignored by critics. 2 critics from Wire Magazine offered to review my record "Usic minus the square root of negative one" & both of them backed out of doing so. If anyone's interested in what interests me sonicly, check out this website: mm (for "m(usic(ian's))m(eetings)" or my "Top 100 Composers". In the meantime, these books that I've reviewed are pretty revealing of 'where I've come from' but not necessarily of where I've gone to & am going to.
- tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - October 4, 2017E.V.
0276. a. "& the Deadbeat Goes On & On & On..",
b. "Melody",
c. "egnekn's fridge"
- written as: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published in: MUSICWORKS 63 (Fall, 1995)
- Toronto, Ontario, canada
- edited by: Gayle Young
[The following CD-ROM is the 1st, & possibly the last, of my internet-published materials made available in an off-web form.]
0290. a. "tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE BIBLIOGRAPHY (of non-"vanity press" material) as of early 1996e.v." (the 1st 122 entries)
c. "& the DeadBeat Goes On & On & On.."
d. "PUBLISHED AUDIO (& VAUDIO) RECORDINGS
(in Chronological Order by Approximate Publication Date)
(compiled in November, '94ev)" (the 1st 63 entries)
e. "Diszey Spots Voice-Over 1 {written while drunk}"
f. "egnekn's fridge"
h. "Grounded!"
i. "History Begins Where Life Ends" - David A. Bannister
j. "YOUR HOROSCOPE!" - Karen Eliot
k. "Impractical Seriousness" (all 7 stories:)
k.1. "Free "Bob" Oster"
k.2. "Sheep Fucking Jesus, etc.."
k.3. "Pancreas/Tonsils, the Maze, Reinhardt & Via, Jeffrey Cohen, Dr. Thorne, the London Zoo, & the C.I.A."
k.5. "John Berndt's Bag Returners' Society [or, "Flow my tears, the Neoist Said"]" - w/ additional commentary from John Berndt
k.6. "Waking Rupert"
k.7. "Double Agents"
l. "USIC - square root of - 1 = A Plethora of No Longer Neglected Audio/Conceptual Obstacle Courses"
m. "A Mere Outline for One Aspect of a Book on Mystery Catalysts, Guerrilla Playfare, booed usic, Mad Scientist Didactions, Acts of As-Beenism, So-Called Whatevers, Psychopathfinding, Uncerts, etc.. {3rd Edition - July '95 Version of Text Only}" (the 1st 194 entries)
n. "Melody"
o. "Movieography (from late 1974e.v. to late 1994e.v.)" (1st 169 entries)
p. "Total Mobile Home Micro Cinema "Theme""
q. "tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE @ the Music Gallery"
r. "A Few Simple Statements about Neoism"
s. "An Awful Title in the Life of a Labor Pool Worker" - Michael Tolson
t. "the "Philosopher's Union Member's Mouthpiece Mega-Project""
u. "Telepathy Receptivity Training"
v. "Upping the Anti-School of Fucked-Up & Away"
w. "Vampire of Sacramento" - David A. Bannister
- all credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE unless noted otherwise
- given that this is written in HTML, Florian Cramer took advantage of this to meticulously create cross-referencing links
- All of this is contained in the "seven" folder - wch is an abbreviation for "Seven by Nine Squares" wch was what Florian Cramer had online
- While this was far from my complete writings of the time (probably less than 20%) it was & STILL IS the most comprehensive collection ever compiled by someone other than myself!!
- published as part of the "of(f) the w.w.web" CD-ROM from the European Media Art Festival (September, 1996)
- published in Germany
- the "Seven by Nine Squares" was created & edited by Florian Cramer
0371. "egnekn's fridge"
- written as: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published in: "PONDFLOORSAMPLE" double CD booklet (late 2002)
- CD created by Gen Ken Montgomery
- New York City, New York, us@
- published by: XI Records
0517. a review of John F. Szwed's "Space is the Place: The Life and Times of Sun Ra"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on January 29, 2008
- http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/283238.Space_is_the_Place
0520. a review of George Antheil's "Bad Boy of Music"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 6, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14706909
0521. a review of Gregory Battcock's "Breaking the Sound Barrier - A Critical Anthology of the New Music"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 6, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14708089
0522. a review of Graham Lock's "Forces in Motion - The Music and Thoughts of Anthony Braxton"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 6, 2008
- http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/219895.Forces_In_Motion
0523. a review of David Revill's "The Roaring Silence: John Cage: A Life"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 6, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14709575
0524. a review of Andy MacKay's "Electronic Music - The Instruments, the Music & The Musicians"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 6, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14710688
0525. a review of Thomas Holmes's "Electronic and Experimental Music (1st edition)"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 6, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14711627
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 6, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14712273
0527. a review of Henry & Sidney Cowell's "Charles Ives And His Music"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 6, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14713622
0528. a review of "Lennon Remembers - Rolling Stone Interview"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 6, 2008
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14728105
0529. a review of Arthur Jacobs's "A Short History of Western Music"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 6, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14729487
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 6, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14730867
0531. a review of John Cage's "Notations"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 6, 2008
- http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2760791-notations
0532. a review of Michael Nyman's "Experimental Music"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 6, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14733166
0533. a review of David Rothenberg's "Why Birds Sing"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 6, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14734445
0534. a review of Rollo H. Myers's "Erik Satie"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 6, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14736258
0535. a review of John Furnival, Stuart Hodges, Gary Birch's "Erik Satie"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 6, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14737632
0536. a review of Erik Satie's "A Mammal's Notebook: Collected Writings of Erik Satie"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 6, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14740459
0537. a review of Karlheinz Stockhausen, Robin Maconie's "Stockhausen on Music: Lectures and Interviews"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 6, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14741050
0538. a review of Michael Kurtz's "Stockhausen: A Biography"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 6, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14742751
0539. a review of Frank Zappa, Peter Occhiogrosso's "The Real Frank Zappa Book"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 6, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14744654
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 6, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14867619
0554. a review of Jonathan Cott's "Stockhausen - Conversations with the Composer"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 9, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15017149
0797. a review of McKinley Lee Jr.'s "Chosen by Fate: Life and Death Inside Death Row Records"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on April 7, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/19676222
0904. a review of Pauline Oliveros's "Sonic Meditations"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on May 7, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/21800701
0950. a review of John Doe, Exene Cervenka's "How I Learned My Lesson"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on June 3, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/23650943
0982. a review of Jetsons' "All New Haircuts"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on June 21, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25090390
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on June 23, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25276016
0998. a review of Laughing Tree's "Lands & Be-Es"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on June 29, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25815393
1012. a review of David Rothenberg's "Thousand Mile Song"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on July 13, 2008
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/27153388
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on August 11, 2009
1132. a review of Richard Wagner's "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 24, 2010
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/91287791
1229. a review of Robin James' "Cassette Mythos"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on February 10, 2011
- http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1961906.Cassette_Mythos
1241. a review of John Beaulieu's "Orgone Music - Visual Harmony"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on April 12, 2011
- http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11094769-orgone-music-visual-harmony
1267. a review of "The Music of Arnold Schoenberg Volume Two"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on October 26, 2011
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/227796891
1268. a review of "The Music of Arnold Schoenberg Volume Three"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on October 26, 2011
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/new/12964274-the-music-of-arnold-schoenberg-volume-three
1269. a review of "The Music of Arnold Schoenberg Volume Eight"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on October 26, 2011
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/227845713
1271. a review of "The OPEN SPACE magazine issue 12/13"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on October 29, 2011
- http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12977651-open-space-12-13
1321. a review of Franz Kamin & Kathy Bourbonais's "Egz Book of Frogs"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on March 26, 2012
- http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1634826.Egz_Book_of_Frogs
1359. "review of The OPEN SPACE magazine issue 7"
- credited to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads December 1, 2012:
https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/321308-open-space-7-review
1386. "A DI(diot's)Y's Guide to Iannis Xenakis' Formalized Music"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- broken into 6 chapters:
1. PREFACE
2. REVIEW: March 7, 2013 (16th day of juice fast)
3. REVIEW: March 8, 2013 (17th day of juice fast)
4. REVIEW: March 9, 2013 (18th day of juice fast)
5. REVIEW: March 10, 2013 (19th day of juice fast)
6. APPENDIX
- published on Goodreads March 10, 2013:
https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/329492-a-di-diot-s-y-s-guide-to-iannis-xenakis-formalized-music
1428. "review of J. K. Randall's TO ASTONISH THE ROSES - 7 emails to Walter Branchi"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads October 2, 2013:
https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/347936-review-of-j-k-randall-s-to-astonish-the-roses
1444. "[This review is NOT elegant] review of OPEN SPACE 15/16"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads January 27, 2014:
https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/357236-this-review-is-not-elegant?chapter=1
1556. "Review of Ryan Broughman's Illuminated Paths cassette release entitled "Flying into Myself""
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- finished March 7, 2015E.V.
- uploaded to Illuminated Paths Facebook page March 31, 2015
1569. "Re: Source"
- A review of the "Source - Music of the Avant-Garde, 1966-1973" book with passing mention of the associated records rereleased as CDs
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads May 27, 2015:
https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/399063-re-source
1596. "Experimental, Ism; Other, Wise"
- A review of Benjamin Piekut's "Experimentalism Otherwise - The New York Avant-Garde and Its Limits"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads January 6, 2016
- https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/412180-experimental-ism-other-wise
- A review of John Beaulieu's "Human Tuning - Sound Healing with Tuning Forks"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads February 1, 2017
- https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/522772-self-incineration-the-easy-way?chapter=1
1779. "There's no pun on the last name "Cage" in this title."
- a review of the Richard Kostelanetz edited "John Cage An Anthology"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on November 15, 2017
1792. "Henry Cowell"
- a 4 chapter review of Joel Sachs's "Henry Cowell - A Man Made of Music"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on December 19, 2017
- https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/610289-henry-cowell?chapter=1
1797. "Improvisation Writes"
- a review of Stefan Szczelkun's "Improvisation Rites: from John Cage's 'Song Books' to the Scratch Orchestra's 'Nature Study Notes'. Collective practices 2011-2017"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on December 25, 2017
- https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/610819-improvisation-writes?chapter=1
1861. "Pierre Boulez"
- a review of Joan Peyser's "Boulez, Composer, Conductor, Enigma"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on April 25, 2018
- https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/622967-pierre-boulez?chapter=1
1865. "Born's IR-ACHE"
- a 5 chapter review/critique of Georgina Born's "Rationalizing Culture: IRCAM, Boulez, and the Institutionalization of the Musical Avant-Garde"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on May 26, 2018
- https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/626518?chapter=1
1944. "Zappa"
- a review of David Walley's "No Commercial Potential - The Saga of Frank Zappa"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on May 25, 2019
- https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/1108335-zappa?chapter=1
1945. "Old Timey New Music"
- a review of Joan Peyser's "The New Music"
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on June 9, 2019
- https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/1115446-old-timey-new-music?chapter=1
1948. "review of OPEN SPACE's "Things That Matter""
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on July 22, 2019
- https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/1130473-things-that-matter?chapter=1
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads on December 22, 2019
- https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/1180178-rollo
2040. "Dick: Turner"
- a review of Dick Turner's "Fisher Random and Associated Essays"
- credited to: ENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- published on Goodreads November 12, 2021
- https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/1375496-dick
2220. "review of Peter R Meyer's "Audio""
- credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- uploaded to Goodreads February 29, 2024
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6305397167
idioideo at gmail dot com
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Anti-Neoism page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Audiography page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Bibliography page
to my "Blaster" Al Ackerman index
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Books page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE BYOC page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Censored or Rejected page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Collaborations page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE (d) compositions page
to Amir-ul Kafirs' Facebook page
to the "FLICKER" home-page for the alternative cinematic experience
to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's GoodReads profile
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Haircuts page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Home Tapers page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE index page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Instagram Poetry page
to a listing of tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's manifestations on the Internet Archive
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE as Interviewee index
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE as Interviewer index
to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE'S Linked-In profile
to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's Mail Art page
to the mm index
to see an underdeveloped site re the N.A.A.M.C.P. (National Association for the Advancement of Multi-Colored Peoples)
to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's Neoism page
to the DEFINITIVE Neoism/Anti-Neoism website
to the Philosopher's Union website
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE movie-making "Press: Criticism, Interviews, Reviews" home-page
to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE as Reviewer page(s)
to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's Score Movies
to SMILEs
to find out more about why the S.P.C.S.M.E.F. (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Sea Monkeys by Experimental Filmmakers) is so important
to the "tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - Sprocket Scientist" home-page
to "Top 100s" index
to Psychic Weed's Twitter page
to the Vermin Supreme page
to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's Vimeo index
to Vine movies relevant to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE made by Ryan Broughman
to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's presence in the Visual Music Village
for info on tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's tape/CD publishing label: WIdémoUTH
to a very small selection of tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's Writing