four trees (dark places)

'writing is a vice one can weary of. in truth, I write less and less, and i shall doubtless end up no longer writing at all.' - e.m. cioran, foreshortened confession (undated).

'the two students also asked me why I had not stopped writing and publishing. not everyone has the luck to die young was my answer.' - e.m. cioran, rereading (1978).

both essays collected in anathemas and admirations (1986). this is going well. it being less concentrated than a history of decay. 

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yesterday a walk on the common.

in the evening horsemouth watched dark places (1974) a 'psychological thriller' starring robert hardy, christopher lee, herbert lom and elizabeth taylor. there's the old ruined house, there's robert hardy there in search of treasure, there are the local scheming to get their hands on it. 

jane birkin is in it too. 

horsemouth has watched it before (but he can't remember when). 

horsemouth was up early enough to miss the first light shower of rain for the day. yesterday the weather was remarkably good. today 

today  it looks like an 'off and on' sort of day. horsemouth has stuff he should be getting on with and must avoid getting into a dither. 

far future village band II (poor black mattie)

'I climbed mount gassan on the eighth. I tied around my neck a sacred rope made of white paper and covered my head with a hood made of bleached cotton, and set off with my guide on a long march of eight miles to the top of the mountain...' 

- matsuo basho from the narrow road to the deep north. 

meanwhile the far future village band II  has arrived from rob lawson in far off riogordo 

it features horsemouth (or perhaps his french cousin mâchoire d'âne) on vocals on three tracks. horsemouth also plays harmonium, guitar, and handclaps on one track each. he is glad to be out singing and playing again on this the first release he has been involved with in five years. 

that is not to say that horsemouth can't spot mistakes in his french or poor pitching and phrasing choices but he's glad (nay excited!) to have got it out. next time more harmonium (as initially promised) better recorded!

in the week rubbish weather. 

the week after better weather (it sez 'ere).

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it's the morning. horsemouth is back from feeding the chickens and has his coffee. 

he is relieved to have got something out. just lately he's been working on the guitar part to poor black mattie (as played by rl burnside). burnside plays the bass (1 and 3) with his thumb and the chord (2 and 4) also. his forefinger picks the melodies. 

horsemouth tried it burnside's way and then went for a simpler approach (thumb bass, forefinger chords and melody). 

it's in openG. this means horsemouth could take a look at la fille au cheveux de lin. or his version of am I born to die? 

he thanks one of the youtube dudes who teaches this stuff (feedback guitar academy).

sunday afternoon a zoom call with enza. he sent her a link for future village band to see what she reckons. 

'rereading this book ... I try to recognise the person I was...'

the diversions of satan 

'dined at llan thomas. a family party. major thomas showed me his stereoscopic slides 'the diversions of satan' which he bought in india. they were made for an indian prince, but were not pronounced enough to suit his taste.' 

- kilvert, diaries, on this day 1872. 

this made horsemouth search for stereoscopic slides - the idea being that the image(s) are taken from slightly different positions producing a 3D image in the mind of the viewer if the correct apparatus is used. 

as a child horsemouth used to own a set and a viewer (a 3D viewmaster) for the tv series UFO. 

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it's the morning. greyish. coolish. horsemouth thinks the basho deep north stuff kicks off again tomorrow (as he climbs another mountain). 

he has pulled down e.m. cioran's anathemas and admirations down from the pile. it it is a book 'goverened by the fragment... the epigrams constitute a series of perplexities'. 

it ends with a chapter rereading... an apology (of sorts) for his earlier a history of decay and its madness (and, once again, horsemouth has abandoned reading it).

'rereading this book, which is now over thirty years old, I try to recognise the person I was...' 

a friend has this problem (horsemouth probably has it too). they are trying to recognise themselves back 40 years ago. back in the mid-80ies. a very strange time. 

yesterday horsemouth went for a brief walk up on the common. he's just not up there enough and doesn't make enough effort to get round the other sights in the neighbourhood.

later a phonecall. 

a bookfair in very sunny london (and an entirely written in the morning blogpost)

aha! an entirely written in the morning blogpost (how did that happen?).

no kilvert today (drat! horsemouth will have to make it up himself).

a friend has sent him photos from a bookfair in very sunny london. hot air balloons are launched. small children run around in arsenal tops (in high barnet?). typewriters are demonstrated. there is merciless sunshine and heat (by the look of it). 

horsemouth is very envious. he regrets not being there but it was simply impossible to get away. 

he should check on his contacts in london. he should see how they are doing. zoom calls and such like. 

here in the wilds it is now rainy and grey

here in the wilds it is now rainy and grey. horsemouth is not sure what to do. 

he has been out to feed the chickens (here endeth the tasks for the day). 

last night the wave debb show 61 - strange musics from the ambient dub swamps. 

in the day horsemouth delivered the eggs up the hill. on his way (round the back of abbey dore court) he saw a long grey adder in the grass. as he stepped towards it it slithered off. 

(he's forgotten to mention on wednesday there were people abseiling down the outside of the abbey tower, presumably doing structural checks).

this follows up from his slow worm encounter. 

ten years ago horsemouth was crossing into portugal (through the tunnel so new it wasn't on the GPS). on the map the car floated over the mountains. 

forward to the day

'rode mr. venables' pony to bredwardine and called on the housemans. at luncheon there was mr. williams, vicar of bridge sollers. when I saw him in the garden at first I took him for a beggar.' 

- kilvert's diary, on this day in 1872.

'I visited gongen shrine on the .... here the doctrine of absolute meditation preached by the tendai sect shines forth like the clear beams of the moon...'

- matsuo basho, the narrow road to the deep north, on this day (perhaps). 

there was a DJ tendai who was part of the japanese drum and bass night hexion (together with T-Ak).  it was a good night. 

above a T-Ak and  makoto tune. the tune he is looking for is the one that is a knock-off of upper and lower egypt by pharoah sanders. he thinks his copy of the double 12 inch record he has is mislabelled. 

well it's the morning. and a very hopeful morning it is too. 

horsemouth failed to go bell-ringing last night. this was probably a mistake (he should really try to get in as much practice as he can). he just doesn't like the bells at grosmont as much as he likes the other bells. 

meanwhile a copy of the far future village band II CD is winging its way to him. he'll let you know (and start getting all advertorial) when it arrives. today is NOT a bandcamp friday but he has nonetheless made some recommendations over on musicians of bremen's page. 

bookpilled has been back in the states for a while and has reactivated his 'thrift-a-life' alias and the clothing resale business. he promises us he'll do a video talking about his travels. there was an early video where he was in the parking lot of the writing mill where he used to work and he talks about his former career as a stand up comedian. the 'thrifting' came to take over largely because it was something he was in control of as other economic 'opportunities' dried up. 

ridiculous as it seems horsemouth wants to get into town and buy more books. this is largely for the thrill of the hunt. but it is also because he wants new things to read. and this is ridiculous because he has tonnes of books that he hasn't read (or has not read fully, or has not read in a long time). 

ok forward to the day. 

the main hall of the temple (affectionate lamentation)

 'blessed indeed 

is this south valley,

where the gentle wind breathes

the faint aroma of snow...' 

- composed on this day in the main hall of the temple possibly at the dewa shrine by matsuo bashō. 

'the news of my leaving clyro is spreading through the village. these people will break my heart with their affectionate lamentations.' 

- kilvert's diary on this day in 1872. 

horsemouth is up. he has had his coffee and is just contemplating dashing downstairs to get the dregs. ok back in a minute. 

today and tomorrow the anniversary of the recording of geechie recollections by marion brown.

a greyish morning. horsemouth very likely to be excused watering. bell ringing later (maybe). 

yesterday a crow walked into the greenhouse to inspect a birdfeeder to see if there were any peanuts that had escaped in the process of filling it. having satisfied itself that none had escaped it hopped off. 

meanwhile. look at this baby experimental cinemas in state socialist eastern europe by gurshtein and simonyi. horsemouth found it while hunting for a poster of an exhibition of eastern european film clubs from an art exhibit at the whitechapel art gallery. he didn't go (but it's very him). 

allen ginsberg on the centennial of his birth (the record of my mind's epiphanies)

'I write about what goes through my mind, and naturally, the world goes through my mind. so it looks like I'm writing about the world, but I'm just writing about notating the record of my mind's epiphanies...' 

- allen ginsberg (born this day 1926). 

horsemouth has read the barry miles ginsberg biography. previously horsemouth thinks he focused on ginsberg's blake  experience. 

ginsberg was a fan of matsuo basho and worked on various haiku. 

today (maybe) matsuo basho climbed mount haguro (at least according to his a narrow road to the deep north). the dates might not be right (they may have moved as calendars move) but it's the date he claims.

horsemouth has two copies of the narrow road to the deep north - one falling apart, one in decent condition - the one has led a quieter life than the other or may be older (when he has found them both he will check). 

ok so the better edition is from 1979 (or thereabouts) and was bought from judd books (marchmont street), the other was printed in 1981 (or thereabouts) and while barcoded horsemouth doesn't know where he purchased it. 

he owns duplicate copies of terry eagleton's literary theory, of baudelaire's paradis artificiels, of george eliot's silas marner for sure. 

yesterday a walk on the common and a guide to the development of the common's water from st. james's well, to the tank, to the windmill, to the round tank. 

today the bins (recycling) and the eggs. a rainy day (hell weatherwise the next two weeks are not looking great). 

a 'godzilla' el niño is coming but it looks like it will not affect this summer but it will affect the winter.