MONDAY 9:30

On the recommendation of Manolo, a member of the Matadors boxing club (Cortez and Noble) who once did some work for Daniel, we try La Condesa, a block south of El Barco. Coffee is weak (a cheap U.S. blend, not Bustello), chips stale, but flour tortillas are served underneath the eggs, not on the side. Price is the same: $14 breakfast for two, including tip. Decide tomorrow to return to our first choice, and continue the interview there.

Daniel agrees that we should meet every morning in the coming week, and let the day-to-day record give form to the interview. Instead of the usual Q&A, we'll record what happens to each of us, each day. Much of it will be trivial, no doubt, but these details are the texture of life.

Particularly as it is lived by Daniel. A spartan set of rooms on Cortez (400 square feet at $350 a month); savings earned working periodically for Leitner in Stuttgart are converted to US$ and spent in Chicago; no salary; no patron; no university position. No need to pay taxes (his income falls below the German minimum of 20,000 Marks; in fact it comes out negative, since he is allowed by law to deduct "standard" amounts for stays in foreign countries – 225 per diem).

Henry Caderey used to build sticks out of wood, colored in patterns with always one built-in mistake. In the sixties he would walk into NY openings (not his, he never showed there) and lean his artwork on the walls. A temporary intervention. One show in Köln featured him walking through the city with a seven-foot stick on his shoulder, according to a schedule.

Daniel agrees to record all daily expenses during the term of the interview.