The Hofmann Wobble

In Which the Story Learns to Tell Itself

My Dear Faux Believers,

It was 2,314 days ago that I spoke these words into my voice memo app.¹

And then just yesterday I was sitting in the sun in my backyard marvelling at a hummingbird while reading Harper’s Magazine,² and this experimental piece of writing by their poetry editor, Ben Lerner, zapped me back to this voice memo.

The piece in the magazine is called “The Hofman Wobble,³” and I have brazenly borrowed that title for this week’s song addition to the “Mixed Up Files” record. The song was recorded to cassette 4 track in 2005 or so and goes like this:

This number kicks off with Kabbalah, a Collie owned by my then-roommate Cornelius, barking⁴ in disapproval as I begin another attempt at recording the lead-guitar part rather than taking her for a walk— while simultaneously attempting to light a cigarette or some such thing.

I may at some point in the future get around to properly finishing this recording with words and all, but for now it works as a tool to facilitate the “Wobble.”

---

My Dear Father, Thomas, aka Faux Pops, started gifting me a subscription to Harper’s Magazine probably 20 years ago.

Last year, he was ill in hospital and the subscription lapsed, so I’ve taken over paying for it myself.⁵

Every month when Harper’s Magazine appears in my mailbox, it brings me joy.

And I think, if only everyone in the United States could get on board with Harper’s version of the truth, we’d be a much better country, although there might be excessive laughter over bird names like “blue tits” and the like.

I’ve even set a goal of writing an album of songs gleaned from the pages of Harper’s, with titles like “The Penis Thieves of Lagos” and “Blue Balls for the Red States.”

By borrowing “The Hofmann Wobble” for today’s song title, I’ve perhaps made that more likely to occur, the way Teddy Roosevelt loves Bocce.

And who knows, Faux Jean may even wind up getting a proper Wikipedia entry out of the deal.

I remain your humble servant,

OX&C,

Faux Jean

Some of what's going on outside the Wobble.

1. “In Which the Story Learns to Tell Itself,” were the words spoken into the voice memo app. I think maybe I’d been reading about the coming storm of AI or some such thing. Also, I should warn you that I’ve gobbled two of these things before sitting down to write here:

I’ve gobbled a couple of these before sitting down to write today.

2. Perhaps America’s greatest magazine.

3. And I encourage you to read it at the link!

4. Whining?

5. He also gifts me and my siblings The New Yorker, another great American Zine.