Elliott Sharp is a longtime composer and guitarist in the avant-garde music scene in New York City who has always sought to dismantle the barriers between jazz, No Wave, classical and experimental music with a cerebral, improvisational mindset. He applies that same open-ended approach to IrRational Music, his new memoir on Terra Nova Press. Among other things, Sharp “dodges fake cowboys’ real bullets by the side of a highway near Colby, Kansas; is called on the carpet by a prickly, pompadoured Morton Feldman (‘Improvisation … I don’t buy it’)” and “segues from Zen tea to single malt with an elfin John Cage.” Sharp will discuss this and more, as well as sign copies of the new release. Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood; Tue., June 25, 7 p.m.; free. (310) 659-3110, booksoup.com.

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