Summer of 2007 · Diary became a blog. Blog became short stories and essays. Decided I was writing a book. Wasn't sure what that meant.
2008 · Started working with local musicians and theater artists in Mitrovica. Corresponded regularly with Charlie Scott, Houston poet and actor. Started to suspect that I wasn't writing a book, but instead I was writing a glossary or an encyclopedia. Began obsessively compiling Kosovo trivia.
Winter of 2009 · Continued writing at a residency at the MacDowell colony in New Hampshire. The cabins in the New Hampshire woods had fewer electrical blackouts and less water rationing than our apartment in Mitrovica. Still, after a month, I missed Mitrovica.
Summer of 2009 · Realized I was not writing a glossary or encyclopedia. Read Herodotus' Histories. Decided I was writing a travelogue.
Winter of 2010 · Began volunteering regularly at the Mitrovica Rock School, a project focused on restoring that town's rock music culture (in opposition to the more insidious and pervasive form of nationalist music known as “turbo-folk.") Began to collect local songs for a possible project.
Summer of 2010 · Realized that the music project and the writing project were two sides of the same coin. Started putting them together with some ideas about Houston during a residency at the Brown Foundation Fellows Program at the Dora Maar House. Named the finished thing Apocalypse Town. Realized it was a performance piece.
2011 · Called the gang in Houston and told them that I was putting the band back together ...
- t
p.s. I love you, Kosovo music. Here's Kosovo chanteuse Nexhmije Pagarusha, performing in footage from 40 years ago.
p.p.s. I love you too, Houston.
