david hockney/ joan didion/ grace jones as a child

such were the three people horsemouth and howard discussed in their zoom call.  

david hockey - well david was a northerner in the art world (this was his relevance to howard). he kept going and so you've heard of him. howard teaches his photography (not his painting). 

with joan didion horsemouth's work was cut out - but howard did have a copy of slouching towards bethlehem with him,  so horsemouth's task was made easier. notebooks - says didion and she pulls out a quote, and via the quote a scene, poolside in LA. later (years later) a re-encounter at sachs in new york. look at this. the fecundity of memory assisted.

horsemouth sang her praises. by the end he may have had howard convinced.  

it was howard who mentioned grace jones as a child (from a poem horsemouth believes).

here a photo from howard. in his back garden reading and writing (and drawing probably).

meanwhile back in the wilds in the day a wander up the hill to deliver the eggs (and then a wander down the hill to check the defibrillator at the village hall). later a walk over to the village shop for the hereford times and then a walk back. 

horsemouth missed a concert at the abbey. it would have required time and planning to get to it (and rapid sobering up after the zoom beers with howard). 

that was a mostly written the day before blogpost.

it looks like a nice day out this morning.

horsemouth has been out to feed the chickens and to open up the garage. whilst he was having a quick pee he saw the black cat (the beast is not inclined to be over friendly). 

et je prends mon violon...

 an entirely written in the morning blogpost

horsemouth could really do with getting up to the wen.

that said he has been fairly productive of late. he has made more music. (something he has been wanting to do for a while). he has emailed a contact about co-op stuff (though not the old communal endeavour but a new communal endeavour). 

he has heard much of the far future village band III. the fragment of la travailler c'est trop dur works particularly well. 

he will take a crack at j'ai vu le loup (a notorious french tongue twister) and at playing the riff from poor black mattie. 

he will also take a crack at recording a 3 against 2 rhythm. given the success of the clap and vocal tunes. 

it is strange to be dealing with this material after all this time. 

today a beautiful morning. horsemouth will wander the eggs up the hill at some point. perhaps a zoom call with howard. certainly some sitting out and reading. 

the behaviour of nomads

'akhmatova, like gogol, wanted to posses nothing. she gave away the presents given to her... this characteristic recalls the behaviour of nomads.' 

- e.m. cioran, the lure of disillusion. 

yesterday in the morning horsemouth recorded. he took a crack at il est né le divin enfant, he recorded himself singing some of travailler c'est trop dur to handclaps and he recorded a  crack at the headhunters' rhythm from you got it, you get it (you got to get it). 

hopefully some of that will stick. 

rob (in far off rio gordo) has processed some photos of horsemouth for the far future village band project. strangely the most conventional photo has come out the best. 

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oh dear. looks like the day starts with a death. horsemouth will let you know more when he is sure. 

'terribly sad to read of the passing of mickey mann, music producer and engineer, who connected the dots between the shamen, aphex twin, orbital, ramjac, moby,  irresistible force and many more. I was honoured to work with his band pressure of speech too.'  - robin rimbaud  (scanner)

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last night a very mixed bellringing. horsemouth missed catching the sally practically as soon as he started (and down came the bell). however got straight back up on the horse and indeed had a second go without incident (ok he missed catching the sally again early on but recovered). 

afterwards the pub. 

no lift in (so he walked). otherwise everything came together to enable him to go.

worst oil shock ever!

ok so horsemouth's current plan is to take a crack at il est né le divin enfant (a french christmas carol as covered by siouxsie and the banshees and featured in the film the curse of the cat people - you remember the one, the one that doesn't feature any cat people).

he doesn't think you need all the verses just

he is born the divine child...

we've been waiting for this a long time...

did I mention the divine child has been born... 

of course the real question is what else can he offer up. 

he has been thinking about attempting a version of poor black mattie as pauvre henri (or henry callaghan or some such). perhaps the opening chords to fauré's pavane (op.50) aka. theme from an imaginary (spaghetti) western. maybe rework a la luna yo mi voy. 

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the world has been proper shit of late 

(as you may have noticed) 

and horsemouth thinks it is going to get worse (as the oil shock and inflation and interest rate rises hit). of course the argument will be that this is the fault of the incumbent government (however useless they actually are) rather than the fault of an orange shitgibbon in washington starting an unwinnable war on the advice of his genocidal mate. 

add to this a leadership contest in the government (one where you won't get a vote on it for two and a half years) and mobs of racists partying it up in the streets (and that's all proper shit). 

this morning rain. and it looks like it is in all day. (and quite possibly all tomorrow). 

horsemouth has fed the chickens in a bit he will go and get the bin from the bottom of the drive. (ok nix that plan - it's raining too hard).

autobiography (camouflage) (myths of the near future)

'... all his works are merely a more or less camouflaged autobiography, an adept introspection, a diary of his mind, a promotion of his experiences...' 

- e.m. cioran in valéry facing his idols (1970).

and you could say much the same about horsemouth and his 'literary' endeavours. isn't he telling you too much? inviting you to delve into his life to explain his works? (such 'works' as there are).

valéry is buried in the (now renamed)  cimetière marin of his poem.

'ce toit tranquille, où marchent des colombes,

entre les pins palpite, entre les tombes ;

midi le juste y compose de feux

la mer, la mer, toujours recommencée...' 

or at least that's how it was quoted by iris murdoch in her novel the unicorn. like dark places a haunted place novel. strangely, anachronistically, gothic. 

a strange day

'thunder blossoms gorgeously'  (jean toomer)

then almost immediately the sun comes out

meanwhile various of horsemouth's substack posts. the flux wedding. (george and billie maciunas)

and various horsemouths playing guitar (mostly) and the heron that flew into no.10 downing street (symbolising the imminent collapse of the government).

not last or least the pyramid of oyster shells from the graveyard of the outcast dead. (now collapsed and revealed as hollow - but still great nonetheless). surrounded by hollyhocks (horsemouth believes).

last (but not least) another grid. howard, la chinoise. various horsemouths, post-it notes, enza, horsemouth playing a gig, a j.g. ballard book cover (myths of the near future). as a result of going looking for thsi he also found a guardian article on a biography of ballard by writers nina allen and christopher priest. 

'ballard made a mistake when he wrote empire of the sun, that the work that came after was less intense, less radical, that in revealing the source of his inspiration he had drained himself dry.' 

horsemouth hoped the rain would drive the chickens in early. 

it's the morning. today the egg delivery day. the bin down the drive day. perhaps some weeding. 

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.