the witches of vermont making films

Transformations from VTIFF on Vimeo.

greyish morning. cool. the air fresh after the rain. 

great discovery over on folk horror revival.

shot in norwich, vermont  by a vermont collective of women led by barbara hirschfeld  (director) & julia haines (soundtrack). an experimental film  about a group of witches performing white magic.

made in 1972, it was screened independently throughout the region being one of a handful of "essentially secret films," writes swamp thing cartoonist steven r. bissette, "self-distributed by the filmmakers themselves and/or via whatever underground film cooperatives they trusted".  

horsemouth likes julia haines soundtrack - harp and women's voices. she still plays.

and in other great discoveries (thanks myk)  an early film by ravi shankar. ravi wants to teach to pass on his understanding of indian music and the westerners want to learn, but they want to learn in a hurry. ravi's understanding of indian music is that it is not just notes and scales but arises from deep within the culture (and yet here he is 'correcting' george harrison). he shows the counting, the rhythmic underpinnings of the tabla (horsemouth remembers baaba maal doing a similar thing with the talking drum). the sitar enters western pop music as texture, as colour. 

ravi began as a dancer. he wants the transmission of indian music to the west to be stabilised by the guru-disciple relationship. there's an LRB article about him based on a recent biography (philip clarke 15/07/21). 

yesterday horsemouth laundered his bedsheet and his pillow covers (it was that kind of hot dry weather where everything dries really quickly). the day before he'd put sten's circular rug from the living room through the washing machine (it was covered with dog hair and they don't have a dog). he dried it outside and in moving it seems to have pulled a muscle in his side (an intercostal possibly). hopefully it will sort itself out. 

the rug has a grey oatmeal underside that suits the room better (plus it hides the doghair horsemouth couldn't get off). 

horsemouth expects a lot more back trouble etc. from his new sedentary lifestyle that he has been practicing for the last year or so. 

today. some slouching about (not good for his back or his intercostals). friday more of same. hopefully the news on the great works pension draw down (best thought of as a month's free rent a year). he should declare a beneficiary for it in case he pops his clogs early. 

saturday 9/11 (in the american usage) .