target with four faces

last night horsemouth developed a sudden interest in jamaican saxophonist and early free jazz musician joe harriott, and in particular the cover of his 1960 album freeform - a faux anthropological assemblage involving a toby jug, some wooden boxes and a penny bank in the form of an elderly black gentleman's head and shoulders in cast iron. horsemouth's grandparents once had one of these. the coin was placed in the gentleman's hand, the lever pressed, the hand would lift to the gentleman's mouth, his large eyes would roll up and the coin would slip down his throat into the piggy bank within. as a child horsemouth found this, and his grandmother's singer sewing machine (the legs of which were also in black cast iron) fascinating. they both lived in the same corner of the kitchen.

horsemouth could find no details on who had made the thing on the record sleeve or the cd re-issue - he thought (perhaps) it looked like jasper johns target with four faces (and it doesn't look a lot like that), eventually (after some blade runner style enlargement business) horsemouth discovered two names on the photo - donald silverstein and ken deardoff. donald was a noted music industry photographer doing many covers on the formula jazz musician + work of art, he also photographed jimi hendrix for the axis bold as love cover, ken deardoff a noted record cover designer - could it be that they made the assemblage themselves?

joe harriott also recorded with goan prodigy guitarist amancio d'silva who, later on, taught for a while at jenako arts in hackney (where horsemouth, in the graceland years, briefly studied african (ghanain) guitar with folo graff of orchestre jazira). people (well the guy from agents of chaos) told him amancio was good and that it was a real opportunity to study with him but horsemouth was busy with other things. (this is something he can now beat himself up about).

last night horsemouth should have made music (but, even though he was bored, he was also feeling a little tired).

(may the) sorrows of tomorrow bring you happiness today (the year so far roundup)

last night there were explosions in the sky - horsemouth suspects an art event at cody dock - he supposes barges on the river could have slipped their moorings and gone careening downstream, pushed on by the flood,  crashing into wharves and houseboats. it will be interesting to see if the lego housing/ scaffolding/ cranes have survived. not that horsemouth is taking pleasure in this destruction you understand.

high treason, murder, piracy with violence, incendiarism in state dockyards

last night horsemouth dreamed of a woman with an antique computer collection (and a nice ass).
the title comes from a list of offences for which capital punishment was considered the correct response. horsemouth is now reading the prisoner (which goes quickly).

'he can surely turn the tide, he can push the tempest by...'

horsemouth's mother opined (in a recent phonecall) that there hadn't been 3 rain free days since christmas yet, fortunately his mum and dad are well up a hill, meanwhile the rest of the intervening country is underwater. at christmas horsemouth's dad had to come and get him from newport in the 4by4, having just waded a flood horsemouth's dad and another 4by4 owner stopped to congratulate each other on their collective retiree's wisdom in buying such vehicles, and gave careful and lengthy direction to a fellow road user who had not. it kind of reminded horsemouth of the argument against 'western' development (and in favour of 'alternative development') that what the 3rd world needed was not better roads but more 4by4 high-wheelbase trucks.

horsemouth has been hunting solitaries, hermits, castaways and eccentrics again - this time with the aid of edith sitwell's english eccentrics, gordon campbell's the hermit in the garden,and the lives and portraits of curious and odd characters published by thomas drew of worcester in 1852 (who's presumably under water as well as sod by now). here we find an illustration and an account of wandering minstrels john and robert green and blind singer and musician anne longman. he has also found a copy of thomas m. disch's get paid novelization of the prisoner (one pound library sale)- which is pleasant enough and undemanding.

the grand old duke of york (better must come)

horsemouth has been grand old duke of yorked - he's been marched right up to the top of the hill... and then he's been marched back down again. as usual, after such exercise in the fresh air (and pissing wind and rain) he's feeling greatly refreshed. (ok don't worry folks this is all deeply metaphorical and horsemouth will refrain from providing you with sufficient detail to identify the culprits).

the view from the top of the hill was indeed beautiful, a sunny upland like a jehovah's witness painting, of people and their homes and workers working. there is however a legal problem which ensures this will never be and there has been for at least a year. horsemouth is therefore confused as to why this has been revealed now (after they'd marched to the top of the hill) rather than before. worse still other viable (though less initially sunny) paths were not taken and now people seem to be too knackered to take them.