‘the owl of minerva had taken flight and, as usual, seemed to have forgotten us’

musicians of bremen are back from the gig at water into beer (thanks dudes). he thanks martin for inviting them. martin played songs about the ecology with lou on backing vocals for the last one. jacken elswyth played (in solo mode) also (fretless banjo and shruti box).

and then it was the turn of howard and horsemouth. 

musicians of bremen had thought they might do two separate solo sets but when howard got there they decided to do the gig as a duo (cue restructuring of the set - or rather not). they then left it until they got onstage to decide what to play and of course they had not rehearsed anything together beforehand. 

there had been much talk of only playing new stuff and horsemouth had practiced based on this. ah well there's something to be said for tactical flexibility. so what songs do musicians of bremen have that they both know where horsemouth can play guitar and howard can sing harmony? 

how to open. 

satan (your kingdom must come down) as usual. an engaging piece of hokum designed to get people singing (which on this occasion it did). result! one down. horsemouth cheers up. a brief conflab about what to play next and then when the faun met alice (mercifully brief solo guitar piece) then the werewolf (designed to make the audience howl like wolves, but in the distance this time because of covid restrictions). somewhere round here horsemouth got in worldes blisse. 

what then? three of howard's new songs. all great. then painbirds by sparklehorse (mark linkous). then more of howard's new songs (horsemouth gets in a harmony on the lines he can remember on one) .

then to finish off two songs by karen dalton something's on your mind and then katie cruel (which for some strange reason at the critical juncture horsemouth could not remember the title of). horsemouth thought they might attempt starless (and bible black) as their last one (in the musicians of bremen karaoke) but in the end katie cruel seemed a better bet.  

so he didn't get in johnny remember me (horsemouth had been planning to instruct the audience in the singing of falsettos), highrise strutter's ball (banjolin), if you have ghosts (lighter tune to end the gig) or indeed any of the slide guitar pieces and the long disquisition on american primitive he had planned. 

gig done. horsemouth was now free to drink and pleasurably let the adrenaline subside. there seemed to be a tape trade/ CD exchange (possibly even a sale) going on with howard and jacken. horsemouth had planned to bring CDs but forgot so he had texted howard to do it. there may be a recording (howard brought the zoom) so we will have to see how it has gone. 

that's it settled. horsemouth is over to howard's next weekend to listen to it. howard says it is 'fun' (so it probably sounds terrible). 

thanks to mark and petra, lou and myk for coming, the young dude for coming over to chat about mark linkous, martin and jacken for playing and the water into beer lot horsemouth thanked earlier. 

later the train back, a walk back from dalston and a falafel wrap. at home a shower and some time spent reading to let the adrenaline subside. 

ok forwards to 2022.