there's an awful lot of coffee in brazil... (diaries and notebooks)

'I had never been a writer or keeper of neat notebooks, yet I now needed to write continuously....'               - julian cope, repossessed: shamanic depressions in tamworth and london (1983-89).

... and it takes an awful lot of toy cars to keep julian cope's show on the road throughout the post-teardrop explodes years (he becomes a collector of dinky toys). other than that it's one long vast cold shoulder. japan saves him.

bolsonaro  is (almost to the day) having his copycat coup. horsemouth does not know enough about brazillian politics to make any kind of predictions. 

horsemouth has started on antonio lobo antunes south of nowhere (the title reminds him of bukowski's south of no north)- an ex-medical officer in a bar in lisbon in the 70ies reminisces about the angolan war (it's a chatto fiction proof edition from 1983 with a purple cover). john left it (horsemouth thinks he left all the books from the sally army in walthamstow unable to jam them into his rucksack). the prose is a little purple too (but maybe that's the character). horsemouth thinks his other antunes went west (but it may be round here somewhere buried in the stacks).

john also left a bohumil hrabal as well - closely observed trains (czech classic - there was a film too). john had no sooner returned to porto than it flooded. (horsemouth does hope everyone is ok). 

the angolan war is the thing that kicks it off - faced with their own unwinnable war in the global south the portuguese army rebel and bring down the dictatorship of salazar. there then follows a period of actual decolonisation (where the portuguese repudiate the colonial project). these processes are however never total - how do you handle this if you are from brazil?  

sten has headed off out of the door (in a bustle). 

yesterday he visited minty - he's up some jazz CDs from a friend of jacqueline's. some earlier than he usually likes it john coltrane (blue train/ giant steps), some eric dolphy, but some can too. 

horsemouth is not (physically) writing very much in his diaries and notebooks. he's started on his read, listened to, visited list for january. he's made some notes on his diet and on his walking. the little black notebook has not quite made it up into the diaries and notebooks box yet, the 2023 day a page does not yet feel natural and inevitable. horsemouth is writing it in cheap biro that may be a reason. 

this week the triple negative gig (wednesday 11th), maybe something with the mari lwyd (friday 13th).