Jen's been tracking guitar today. Using her old Sheraton, which she hasn't used since the Leave Your Light On days (unless you count that one time a string broke in Ewing, NJ... I don't). A little behind right now, some weird noise started creeping into the mics. Dan's trying to fix it right now.

Deeply saddened to hear J.D. Salinger died. His writing has deeply affected me and he's one of the few writers whose work I re-read often and with little effort. I'm not even talking about The Catcher in the Rye, either (which I've only read twice; strange now that I think about it). His stories on the Glass family are goddam brilliant.

 I was 18 and faking my way through that one year I tried college, and I skipped class one day to hang out at the bookstore. (The class was some international relations course with some dickhead right-wing professor.) Anyway, at the store I saw a copy of Raise High the Roof Beam (etc.) and picked it up. I'd been apprehensive about reading anything beyond Catcher, fearing disappointment, but the fear was unfounded. I read the entire thing in one sitting on a park bench and—to my surprise—loved it leagues more than Catcher. I finally got around to reading Nine Stories on this last tour and while I may be chided for taking so long to get my hands on it, I take comfort in knowing I saved the best for last. What I love most is the way he wrote about the nuances of person-to-person interaction without being tedious; the subtle ways someone reacts to little things, a nervous tick, anxiously talking too much for fear of silence... (Other personal favorites: italicizing syllables and extensive use of the em dash, but that's because I'm a geek.)

 It's a bummer, that's for sure.

 Looks like Dan's solved the noise problem. We may proceed with our aural conquests.

With love and squalor,
Henry's phone