today on his 82nd birthday renaissance man harry taussig (scientist, tarot card designer, american primitive guitarist) releases an album '80'. many happy returns.

horsemouth will put up a link so you can have a listen and possibly buy it as soon as he can. 

today a zoom meeting about retrofit - a meeting about de-carbonising the social housing sector (something the government have volunteered the social housing sector for).  

now retrofitting the old, leaky and under-invested housing stock of the UK is no small and easy task. the government have just had to re-write their plans for getting to net zero (carbon emissions) because the supreme court had ruled them insufficient.

energy used in housing (heating the housing mostly) makes up about 15% of uk carbon emissions. it is something that must be dealt with. the government has made it a legal requirement for the ALMOs, TMOs, housing associations and co-ops to reach net zero by 2050 (and to reach some intermediate targets by 2030). there is some money from government to help begin this process (but arguably not enough). the social housing sector is expected to just suck up these costs (and like it) after years of austerity in which inflation has increased their costs and the government has enforced real terms rental income cuts upon them.

anyway. like horsemouth says a meeting.

----------------------------------------------------

meanwhile in 1865 with the goncourt brothers jules and edmond and their co-authored journal. .

jules (for once) writes about himself (and his elder brother edmond). he writes as if they were not in fact  indivisible. he writes as 'I' not as the 'we' of the brothers. 

'I can feel in myself something of an 18th century abbe and also something of the chronic perfidy of 16th century italy...

edmond, on the other hand, is almost unbelievably good-natured. he was born in lorraine and is germanic in temperament. I am a latin and a parisian.

(it is as if they were their own novel by zola)

the strange thing is that although we are absolutely different in temperament, taste and character, we are absolutely identical in our ideas, our judgments, our likes and dislikes as regards other people... our minds see alike and see with the same eyes.' 

but they will be divided. jules will die after a debilitating disease. edmond will go on alone. 

ok forward to the day (enough time spent here). 

grown deep like the rivers (film calendar)

it  is the anniversary of the death of hollis frampton (jonas mekas filmed his funeral but horsemouth cannot find it on youtube at the moment). both are interested in the calendar - frampton wanted to make a film calendar with a short clip of film for every day  of the year. 

hmmm looks like drama outside (cops in attendance). 

'... my soul has grown deep like the rivers. 

I bathed in the euphrates when dawns were young. 

I built my hut near the congo and it lulled me to sleep. 

I looked upon the nile and raised the pyramids above it...'

there's an art exhibition named after this langston hughes poem with work collected by a collector from georgia (this reminds horsemouth of marion brown's jean toomer influenced georgia trilogy). 

friday horsemouth goes to a zoom meeting. he has been reading the paperwork so that he can take care of business and say the right things. soon enough he will have to explain it to people (that will be punishment enough).

horsemouth is not two (he is one)

once again we are nearly out of the month.

and horsemouth has compiled his books, films, gigs, events list for march 2023 (again slightly early).

he is sitting up in bed wearing a jumper and with the requisite cup of coffee. 

his events for the month include...

'howard visits, horsemouth visits howard, visit to enza. SHDF decision announced. spring equinox (we enter the bright half of the year). death of MC fats. anniversary of the death of hollis frampton. begin celebration of the 72 days of the paris commune....'

it is a grey day but overall the weather seems warmer. friday the inaugural zoom meeting for round two of  the decarbonisation stuff. 

anyway 10 more days and horsemouth is on holiday - he will be able to leave the house politic behind for 8 days. (the house politic has been a bit strained). 

soon after that max's booklaunch. soon after that the AGM. after the AGM horsemouth is technically free (may eve and so forth).

'it is alarming to see, how in every discussion, we are always alone and never make converts. perhaps that is why god made us two.' - edmond and jules de goncourt. 

but horsemouth is not two (he is one). 

meanwhile (in the present day) the people are in the streets of paris

'islands of freedom' - hannah arendt on the 1957 hungarian workers' councils. 

'the new commune held its first meeting on 28 march in a euphoric mood. the members adopted a dozen proposals, including an honorary presidency for blanqui; the abolition of the death penalty; the abolition of military conscription...' - wikipedia article on the paris commune of 1871.

on 28th march 1871 (also in paris) edmond de goncourt (noble, novelist,diary-writer and no fan of the commune) pens these thoughts

'the newspapers see nothing in what is going on but a question of decentralisation as if it had anything to do with decentralisation! 

what is happening is nothing less than the conquest of france by the worker and the reduction to slavery under his rule of the noble, the bourgeois, and the peasant. government is passing from the hands of the have's to those of the have not's, from those who have a material interest in the preservation of society to those who have no interest whatsoever in in order, stability, or preservation...'

here goncourt (though a reactionary) is uncharacteristically far sighted. 

in some ways the 26th march election of delegates to a ruling body by the commune is a distraction (for a lot has been happening since the 18th). what the commune really need to do is to march to versailles to stop the counter-revolution being plotted there by thiers and his republican government. but it is probably already too late for that and besides their troops are not ready. 

later (in 1892) zola will write the novel la débâcle about the franco-prussian war and based on his eye-witness accounts of the crushing of the commune  (he is a reactionary also, his is an unsympathetic account). 

nonetheless this is also an 'island of freedom' in history. 

meanwhile last night (in the present day) the people were in the streets of paris.  but so are the police - the CRS or whatever they are are currently called, moving from corner to corner. it is not hard to see parallels.  everybody was filming it and livestreaming it.

but nothing repeats exactly. and yet in repeating what was hidden may come to light. the people are out on the streets united by an attack upon them all. and president macron would have been in versailles dinning with a king. 

oh what a beautiful morning!

here we see horsemouth (round howard's) playing a little bit of music. the shot took a little while to achieve as the walls and the doors and the ceiling had to be coated in fresh brilliant white emulsion.

this is not where he is right now ladies and gentlemen. he is sat up in bed at home wearing two jumpers and with the window open to let in the fresh air. 

fresh air was one of the things howard and horsemouth discussed while in the pubs of east ham - the members of their respective households have a bad habit of drying their clothes inside the house leading to damp and condensation problems.

horsemouth has submitted the gas and electricity usage figures (meter readings) for his house for the month.  

the house does not have smart meters because the company head (main fuse) installation for the electricity is of an old and considered unsafe to work on type - the youngster horsemouth's power company sent round practically backed away in terror when he saw it. horsemouth's house can therefore not participate in any 'sell your under-consumption' schemes. 

electricity, gas, and the standing charges they charge you for having the gubbins in your home, all these have effectively doubled. 

horsemouth (and his homestead) are using much less of both electricity and gas but their bills are considerably higher than they were. this is one of the major drivers of inflation but soon it will drop out of the governments headline inflation figure (but sadly gas, electricity and standing charge prices will not go back down).  .   

horsemouth's latest book-box discovery is ada or ardor a family chronicle by vadimir nabokov  which is set in a russian occupied united states (horsemouth is finding it a little annoying already and may well abandon it). even though, despite being published in 1965, it is 'the last 19th-century russian novel'.

more about the commune  (and more about the paris demonstrations against the changing of the retirement age) tomorrow.

it's a beautiful sunshine-y day horsemouth may well go for a wander. 

musicians of bremen live from the pubs of east ham

so here's howard in the second pub (grade II listed) - horsemouth proposed the shot (he just liked the colours). 

this is their usual pattern - beer and pizza in the italian run place by the park, then back up to the larger pub on the crossroads for a few pints of volden session (to end it off).

horsemouth almost invariably ends up calling for more beer. howard tends to be the leader of the 'we've had enough/ it's time to go home' party. 

here's horsemouth in the first pub judging by the number of empties on the table by this point they've eaten already. 

they are (of course) not live from the pubs of east ham because they are not playing any musical instruments. 

max has a booklaunch coming up soon.  horsemouth will be playing for sure. the problem for howard is that it is a work night (so we may or may not be getting him). it is the other side of half-term anyway. 

here's more of howard in the second pub. note the great colours of the wallpaper, the natural wood and the charcot type black and white photos of local characters from days gone by. 

earlier (of course) round howard's they had got his guitar out and played through a few things. they had listened to some music (howard is particularly in j dilla at the moment, horsemouth was recommending leven signs). 

horsemouth is currently uncertain what the time is. this is because we have passed british summer time the clocks have gone an hour forward (we have lost an hour) but we have gained more daylight in which to do our allotted tasks (horsemouth does hope he has understood it properly and is explaining it to you correctly). 

today horsemouth doesn't know (maybe a jam with pete).  it's greyish out and not very inviting. he does not feel too bad after his eastern adventure. he puts this down to kind (but expensive) modern beers, eating something whilst drinking and above all afternoon drinking (giving the body a chance to recover). 

 

"charles III do you know the guillotine?"

The Universal Clock - The Resistance of Peter Watkins, Geoff Bowie, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

graffiti left in paris during thursday's march read: 

"charles III do you know the guillotine?"

once again hail the commune!

a french response (to the news charles III woud not be making a state visit to paris just a this very moment).  'ah non, les gars, si vous le voulez raccourci, va falloir le faire vous même, on a les mains pleines en ce moment' ('oh no, guys, if you want it shortened, you'll have to do it yourself, we have our hands full at the moment.')

this is why horsemouth loves the french (they have the correct attitude). 

right now (the now when he typed (most of) this, yesterday evening) horsemouth was a bit moody. he was writing his blog post a little early and cooking dinner.- pasta and chick peas.  

after that he settled down to watch peter watkins' la commune.

this horsemouth has been watching in parallel with the events in paris - he considers them their direct continuation. 

to begin with at the start of la commune (1871) two unemployed teachers mention education nouvelle - perhaps this is pestalozzi, perhaps it is an artefact, a 'productive anarchronism' argued back in time and into the text. there were certainly debates over the need to educate street children (and feed them) and the way the state was closing down the state schools and permitting their replacement by religious institutions (where the children were taught according to their station in life - sewing for girls for example). 

'it does not so much resurrect the paris commune as it refuses the death of this historical, revolutionary moment' argues roxanne panchasi in her essay.if the revolution had been televised.

'making a film is a social act, a political act, a human act of work love and communication.' says peter watkins himself.

but this attitude to his work as a director is rare. horsemouth became distracted by watching the universal clock - the resistance of peter watkins by geoff bowie - . geoff goes to a conference where the aim is to sell documentaries round the world - each formatted to a 47 minute hour (to permit the sale of advertising into the gaps).

geoff  interviews some of  the participants (many of them non-professional actors) in wilkins' la commune about how it made them feel and respond to the actual (historical) commune. 

today horsemouth is off to visit howard (maybe a little guitar). 

'all crimes should be investigated' (london or some babylon of the future)

crime - wooo- bad. 

political philosophy has done its finest work and we debate the eternal verities. and while other states appoint eurobankers such as mario draghi etc.(to defend them from austerity). adverts show red riding hood and the wolf dressed as her grandmother having a great liberating rock and  roll time together. 

we ourselves appoint hedge fund managers (to defend us from rampaging capitalism) (well actually we didn't get asked about the current hedge fund manager turned prime minister, and actually when asked his party said no (but we got him anyway)). while all of this, what happens? 

his successor in waiting (the grand inquisitor) chooses the least illuminating ground (crime) on which to fight the election. 

crime -wooo - bad. (god give horsemouth strength)

won't somebody phone a policeman (er. no on second thoughts best not). 

the fire brigade then. er. no. 

'our paris, the paris in which we were born... is disappearing. I am a stranger to what is coming and to what is here, as for example to those new boulevards which have nothing of balzac's world about them but make me think of london or some babylon of the future.'  - the goncourt brothers, 18th november 1860 (note the shift between the 'we' and the 'I' - and yet the two brothers would still have been writing it together). 

paris (capital of the 19th century) has some mobs active (we are in to the eight or ninth day of the new commune). those wide boulevards are supposed to be unblockable by barricade and to permit the troops to move easily around the city. macron (rat man II) wants to roll back the protections for older workers - he wants to push the retirement age back to 64 (and sweat another two years out of the saps).

this will (of course) solve all the problems of french capitalism.

horsemouth is a little more worried by the banks. he is worried that they may go into credit crunch  spasm again (following the credit suisse thing, and the silicon valley bank thing). once again there is a problem with CDOs (collateralised debt obligations) - the problem is that they are big complicated baskets of commodities that are supposed to produce a stable return whatever happens, however when bad news strikes it is difficult to work out what their value actually is. panic sets in. hey ho. 

everyone is hastening to assure us it is not like 2008 all over again (well maybe just a little bit).

horsemouth is particularly excised because he wants the communal endeavour to borrow money, to purchase housing, to get more rent money in, to pay  the central costs. it was not (in any event) the best possible time to do this anyway (interest rates are high and it would have cost them more than at any time in the previous 20 years) and it may now have become impossible. 

and it is certainly taking its time.

we are about four weeks off the annual general meeting (the AGM) of the communal endeavour - horsemouth is preparing his arguments. (it was keeping him up at night).  

meanwhile horsemouth has been reading his way through the social housing decarbonisation fund grant funding agreement. 

it looks like it should all work. there's a launch event - the endeavour are too small in the scheme of things to physically attend but may be there on zoom etc. 

today horsemouth will go for a walk around and he will go play some more music and he will do some more reading of official documents. 

 

 

‘6 p.m., place de la concorde, every night until the government falls’ (every thought is an afterthought)

‘6 p.m., place de la concorde, every night until the government falls’ 

 - horsemouth hails the return of the commune.

'on the dawn of march 18, paris arose to the thunder-burst of “vive la commune!” 

what is the commune, that sphinx so tantalizing to the bourgeois mind?'- so writes karl marx (old mole) to his friend ratty (the factory manager).

so where are we now? eight nights of insubordination by the french proletariat. macron (rat man II) wants to raise the pension age for the workers from 62 to 64 does he now? we will see about that.

here in the uk the pension age is currently 66 (we have failed to defend our rights with the vigour of the french workers and so suffer accordingly) and by the time horsemouth gets there it will be 67. the youth are probably facing 68-69-70. 

there is one problem with this meanness - improvements in lifetime have been going in to reverse since 2010, arguments (by the rich) that there will be too many poor old people for the those actually still working to support are looking thin.  

horsemouth remembers african headcharge at the hackney empire - the gig had overrun (largely because of lee perry chuntering on and refusing to get offstage), african headcharge started but almost immediately the venue decided to close the curtains.then the brave crusty masses of hackney held the curtains open. (hail the crusties! good work!).

'I don't think any thought process is possible without personal experience... that is, every thought is an afterthought, a reflection on some matter or event.' - hannah arendt, interview 1964.

our political actions together matter because they are not the mindless production/ mindless consumption of everyday life but the opening of a doorway to a world beyond it (a world of new action and new thoughts).   

 

the discretion of monsieur horsemouth (what heaven's name is that?)

'the only memoirs of any interest have been those written by indiscreet individuals' - edmond de goncourt 

but horsemouth (as a diarist) is very discrete. so much so in fact that he will not give you the proper names of things. 

- 'a meeting'. 

- a meeting of what? 

- the communal endeavour. 

- well what in heaven's name is that? 

this circumlocution perhaps began as a security procedure (back when horsemouth was paranoid. legitimately paranoid perhaps. but paranoid none the less). it became a game in misdirection (where does horsemouth live? the seaside towns). above all horsemouth is a fabulist who would rather live in a world of fiction (and is prepared to make some efforts to get himself there).

horsemouth's memoirs will therefore not have the ring of truth, they will not be of interest to later historians. 

with the goncourt brothers there is a marvelous indiscretion (requiring the establishment of an academie goncourt to ensure publication of the journals after their death). their truth was not an agreeable truth but a disagreeable truth larded with harsh bon mots. it is june 1857 and the girls are speaking javanese, one vomits another cries. 

yesterday horsemouth had toothache. he did some laundry but failed to get out and do the shopping (he'll do that today). up to aldi.

horsemouth can't help note the similarity between the commune (1871) (at least as portrayed in peter watkins' film from 2000) and the portuguese revolution (1974) - endless people in rooms (or the streets) endlessly talking. the media infrastructure of today is over-layed on the events of then - one problematic is replaced by another (at least in peter watkins' film) - during a break in the historical action the actors discuss how this will change their political feelings about now (the now of 2000).

and while horsemouth was typing this the parisian people were out in the streets fighting pension reform (2023) (or had they all gone home by this point? certainly the media has gone quiet). 

ok horsemouth should get on. 

in which horsemouth confronts the day on unequal terms

so horsemouth - what did you get up to after the meeting.

well 3 pints of beer (and a falafel wrap  on the way home). 

on the plus side  he did walk there and walk back. 

'the diary is the most individual of all forms of literature...' - robert baldick in his introduction to pages from the goncourt journals. 

'there was now only one consuming interest left in our life, the passion for the study of living reality, apart from that there is nothing but boredom and emptiness.' - the goncourt brothers, 22nd may 1865. 

because (of course) the goncourt brothers write their journal together. 

later edmond (the eldest) writes a book on hokusai. 

and so we are into the bright half of the year (not that you'd know it by looking out of the window). 

horsemouth has slept poorly (this is rare) and now confronts the day on unequal terms (but that's ok he doesn't have very much to do). he will probably snooze a bit. 

we enter (into the bright half of the year)

drizzly mid-day (otherwise ok). horsemouth believes. 

well here it is! equitable equinox (everybody's having fun). the spring equinox will arrive exactly at 21:24 UTC (coordinated universal time) march 20 2023, according to earthsky. next sunday british summertime kicks in.

for your listening pleasure horsemouth provides at the top the electronic music introduction to the science program  equinox and (down here) the orbital remix of it. 

it is 5 weeks to the AGM when horsemouth has to present the rent rise (and the members get to vote on it) - JOY! (not!). 

five years ago the vocals for sliabh na m'ban from denise ishaque had just arrived (by email) and most excellent they were too. 

the days of the week are in sync between us now and the paris commune of 1871, 

we may therefor enjoy a closer communion between its 72 days and our current times. horsemouth has been through the goncourt journals noting the days when significant events occur (and the elder goncourt is an eye-witness) and continues watching la commune (2000). on may 28th the commune will fall, goncourt will discuss the treatment of the prisoners for a few more days (and then it is back to literary business). horsemouth only has the selection pages from the goncourt journal so he will get that down from the stacks to be our guide to the events. 

we move into spring. horsemouth can see the buds on the trees and the daffodils are up. soon also nowruz. 

the people seize power and begin to talk ('from the daguerreotype to 'the selfie')

horsemouth loves the smell of coffee in the morning (it smells like victory). 

so it is day two of the commune (1871). the canons have been seized but the  mutinous national guardsman interviewed above is right they should have pressed home their advantage and marched immediately to take versailles. of course this is one of those 'amateur cast re-enacting political events' things that horsemouth loves. the people seize power and begin to talk. la commune (2000). directed by peter watkins.

there is (of course) a purpose to this - to criticise the modern 'mass' media (as explicator of the action) that was not present to such an extent in the events of the commune. there were (granted) workers' newspapers, billposters etc. there is a reporter from the revived  le père duchesne (a radical newspaper of the time named after a folk-character) wandering around in the drama. 

horsemouth has some books but neither are from the right period (the right revolution or the right parisian commune) - the sans culottes by albert soboul (the popular movement and the revolutionary government 1793- 1794) and la presse ouvrière (1819-1850) - there are a few notes in this book that horsemouth hadn't opened (it is in french, which he reads only with the greatest difficulty and reluctance). 

there are discussions of the paris commune in the goncourt journals and in zola's la débâcle (he was there at the end as  as a journalist for le sémaphore de marseille). none of the fine literary gentlemen are in favour of the commune.  

edmond de goncourt writes this on sunday 19th march 1871 (it is interesting that the days of the week match up between our years 1871-2023).

'in the train, people around me were saying that the army was retiring towards versailles and that paris was in the grip of insurrection... 

above the hotel de ville , a red flag was flying and down below, the square was swarming with an armed mob behind three guns...'

meanwhile 'from the daguerreotype to 'the selfie' a catalogue found on a walk (and rained on so now drying out). a catalogue from a show at the ICPNA in lima (miraflores) from back in 2016. people pose in their finery (mostly). 

yesterday horsemouth went round a friend's flat for lunch (and delicious it was too) and then a walk round victoria park.  it was good to catch up. today his friend is off to their busy social whirl, horsemouth will probably be wandering about the marshes. friday he went for a wander with TG. 

'the whole crowd waiting for a famous comedian (and I shuffled on to talk about icarus)'

today a rainy grey morning. 

later horsemouth goes round a friend's house (there will be food). after they have eaten the weather may have improved and they may go for a walk. horsemouth's friend works and so may be knackered  at the weekend (or maybe saving themselves for something else - horsemouth will see). 

soon the equinox and we enter the bright half of the year. there can be no guarantees that it will not rain (some years summer will not come).

monday a meeting of the communal endeavour and then five weeks later the AGM, votes on rent rises and such like.  

above the velvet underground sped up and film from their first gig - the art scene swirls about (a young jonas mekas has an eye for the girls). 

reading kae tempest's on connection has encouraged horsemouth in a number of recording fantasies - ones where he gets kae to work with roots manuva (and ones where he tempts his friend who works in the music industry into the studio to play keyboards and double bass). horsemouth as producer (strangely) - everybody has a most excellent and creative time. 

horsemouth likes recording - in many ways he prefers it to performing or rehearsing (mere playing). there is always the chance that an accident might sneak through and become something interesting. home computers mean recording can be done at home rather than under the time pressure of a recording studio (in a room that resembles the  starship enterprise or the tardis control room but done up in natural wood). 

horsemouth's band botched almost all the recording they did by putting themselves under too much pressure (which was a pity because they had a couple of decent tunes). they embraced the ravey-davey-gravey new thing and when that wave broke it left them high and dry. horsemouth worked at it solidly for five years and then retired defeated, he has little desire to return to it. 

it was a strange beast. one that seemingly didn't want to release anything. this is why horsemouth likes recording because it can be released. 

there's a book launch coming up. horsemouth will endeavour to play. he doesn't know if he has any new material (as such). 

pass into nothingness (somewhere towards the end)

'a thing of beauty is a joy for ever:

its loveliness increases; it will never

pass into nothingness;' - john keats, endymion. 

joan didion mourns the loss of her husband (and then of her daughter) and finally of herself. what galls her particularly is that the memories of her husband and daughter will die with her. the objects saved from her family's wreck for the sake of memory she no longer values because of the pain those memories bring.  

joan was beautiful when younger and she makes a beautiful frail-looking old person. and the sentences she writes are flint hard.

'I had lived my whole life to date without seriously believing that I would age.'  she says and beyond the ageing there is only illness and death. 

diana athill in somewhere towards the end, is essentially a sensible, practical woman (she says so herself). she notes the essential luck of people who can make things, and, towards the end of her life, she discovers that she can write (and that people want to read it). she discovers gardening. she accepts the necessary caring.   

'much as I wanted to continue to write, I found it impossible unless something was itching to come out.'. she accepts the necessary reductions. even when the writing leaves her the essential optimism remains.

and similarly in days of rain rebecca stott deals with the legacy of her family's time in the exclusive brethren and her father's wanting to turn this into words (and her wanting to turn this into words). like plato with socrates she writes him. 

of course colette simply announces she's given up writing for gardening.  

today a greyish day(maybe with rain). horsemouth dashes to get this post in (before the connection pops again). 

chance (would be a fine thing)

 what was that horsemouth saw on the packet of lavazza red label coffee?

a 'product story'  about the red of the label and the italians' passion for coffee. 

what is horsemouth's product story?

of late he has been working on a slide guitar part for rory gallagher's secret agent on the hohner tuned open G, he has the rhythm guitar part worked out already that his is currently playing on the resonator. he would probably be better off playing the rhythm guitar part on the hohner and the slide part on the resonator (but actually it is probably another tune that doesn't need a cover). 

of course rory (ballyshannon's finest) already has a slide guitar part worked out for his piece (it is just that horsemouth can't face working it out and learning it). as usual horsemouth wants to make the tune different (he can't see the point of just playing it as is). actually there is little point in working up the tune anyway - horsemouth would be better off writing more of his own music.

the 'new' tunes horsemouth worked up back in april last year  at howard's (no name resonate, murder ballad, jai guru) lie about undeveloped on soundcloud.   

otherwise (yesterday) he was off round pete's (for the first time in a while). they worked on tom waits' broken bicycles (now beginning to sound decent). they will probably revisit the get carter theme and a number of pete's tunes. 

max has got a book launch coming up. 

it's a grey morning. 

last night a phonecall from horsemouth's mum (everything is ok-ish in the valley). 

saturday - a wander out (or a museum visit) with a friend. 

monday - the equinox and a meeting of the communal endeavour.

the santana piece that heads up this blog is a tune by john coltrane with alice coltrane playing piano on it (a continuation on from illuinations). the album opens with her (allegedly) playing on a version of going home. it is similar to versions found on alice coltrane's lord of light  and santana's lotus except that it features the drummer michael shrieve truly 'going for it'. 

what will horsemouth get up to today? he doesn't know. the rebecca stott book on the exclusive brethren is done, he will probably move his attentions on to joan didion's blue nights. 

on the social psychology of cults and totalitarianism

'none of the brethren hymns that I remembered had any birds or animals in them' 

yesterday was a beautiful evening with sun on the tops of the houses opposite. this morning is a beautiful morning with a hazy sun shining through the bare branches of the tree opposite. 

horsemouth has finished reading rebecca stott's in the days of rain: a daughter, a father, a cult. 

her parents marriage has imploded as the exclusive brethren split. it has entered a period of cultish strengthening of central power. brethren members (already banned from trade unions) are now to be banned from professional associations (such as lawyers, doctors, dentists, architects, engineers have) on the basis that they should be shunning the world not engaging with it. similarly brethren young people in higher education have to leave their courses. as a result they have to leave their professional jobs and find work elsewhere  (often in brethren run businesses).

there are unannounced priestly visits to check on the orthodoxy of members who can then be disciplined  by being shut up  in isolation in one of the rooms of their houses, isolated from their family and given time to reflect. 

stott is guided by a 10 week course she did at the mary ward centre on the social psychology of cults and totalitarianism taught by alex stein PHD (another cult survivor - see above), many of the students had children in cults or had lived in communities. she read hannah arendt, she mentions milgram's compliance with authority experiments (themselves inspired by arendt). 

in a way horsemouth can't help but compare the being shut up with covid isolation in the home, he can't help but see it as designed to produce a new soul in the shut up person (in a foucault type reading). 

her father is a larger than life figure. initially he is caught up in the need to get the truth out to other brethren about the leaders abuses but the exiles from the cult (those withdrawn from) reproduce the cult in smaller and smaller circles. he was one of the last university educated brethren and the literature that he had read, the films he had watched became the basis of his new personality. he becomes involved in amateur dramatics, lives a double life with another family, drinks a lot, watches a lot of bergman and becomes involved in amateur dramatics. 

and he takes up gambling. (why the roulette wheel? asks a stoner friend of rebecca's) he goes to work for the bbc (as a researcher for religious programs then making documentaries). 

he is in search of his reward, he is trying to make up for lost time, he is just trying to fund the lifestyle. 

'none of us have many pictures from that time' and yet rebecca finds photos for the book. 

the book is a bit baggy (the way real lives are baggy and not the hero's journey). rebecca has a things to say about darwin  (cut out of the family encyclopedia by her grandfather), about bergman, about the gyres that inform her father's gambling system, about birds. some of this works. there is an entire other book to be had in the father's post cult life. 

when not reading in the days of rain horsemouth was finishing off watching ireland - a television history. david kee goes and interviews the old IRA men of the easter rising. he plays the early episodes to catholic republicans in the north. he lauds moderate voices. 

when horsemouth finished that he took up with feargal keane's the story of ireland a more modern 'multicultural' reading of same material. 

there is good news. but horsemouth cannot tell you what it is yet because it hasn't been announced.

'as I was moving ahead... I saw brief glimpses of beauty' (a tin shack leaned against a cathedral)

 'I was raised in a cult.' 

not quite page 18 line 4 (but nearly).

for some reason horsemouth was just thinking about kafka's zurau aphorisms. then the dreadful thought came to him that they might have been extracted from disparate texts, collected and published by max brod (and thus not really be an intentional work by kafka at all but a further example of brod's light fingered bad taste).

a similar tin-shack leaned against a cathedral  is probably the work of thomas de quincey. take his on murder considered as one of the fine arts where he makes reference to coleridge dashing out to watch a building burning down as an aesthetic experience. 

eventually wordsworth and coleridge disdain de quincey's services (and money) and run him off.

now horsemouth is a bear of little talent - he therefore sympathises with the little men de quincey and brod as they scuttle around making the clever little things the big men disdain to make. horsemouth's talents are talents on this small scale. he is frustrated 

that said he finds something inferior in the construction of the creative-writing tutors. a certain over-work(shop)ed  desire for popularity.  it has not been allowed to become narrow and particular and truly great. 

yesterday a walk up to walthamstow (st.james street oxfam, the scope, the sue ryder etc.). no joy other than that of the walk. 

horsemouth has a cough (and a drippy nose) still. but the weather seems to be warming up (we are moving towards the equinox and spring). today - er. he doesn't know. he wants to be well by saturday (so he can go for a walk/ museum-visit with a friend). monday a meeting of the communal endeavour/ the equinox itself. 

rapture ('following the spirit and preparing for the end times')

such was rebecca stott's life as a young girl (and that of her family as members of the exclusive brethren). worldlies had to be shunned. 

as a child rebecca thinks that her family will be raptured up into heaven (because they are righteous and so escape the tribulation) but that she will be left behind because she is sinful. (the rapture is one of the brethren's theological innovations she claims). her task will then be to make it to higher ground before the floodwaters come so that she can be present at the second coming and for the judgement.  

shunning - it sounds to horsemouth like excellent practice for the pandemic and lockdown (except of course that meetings were banned also). 

sunday a walk up to the aldi book box (nothing - after the bookbox glory of saturday's haul). 

another phoenician has died (details on application). horsemouth supposes that people are getting older and it is to be expected. nonetheless circumstances should be examined carefully to see if there is more that the communal endeavour can be doing.  

horsemouth is feeling full of the joys of spring (but to be fair he is also still coughing). we are in one of the archetypal 5-week months of the year (the first). 

horsemouth (as you know) has just had covid (again) (or rather a housemate who tested positive for it had all the same symptoms as horsemouth roughly over the same period)

 this is an interesting piece (horsemouth isn't a fan of the group who produced it but bear with him). 

what would it mean for the pandemic to be over? (like really over?)

it would either mean the coronavirus (or the descendants of it) were not circulating in the community or that they no longer caused an appreciable level of death and sickness. 

but this is not where we are. 

horsemouth is not a conspiracy theorist but he does believe that capitalists cannot afford to let a crisis go to waste. ultimately they will want to make up the value lost during the disruptions of covid and the subsequent lockdowns - they will want 'their' money back (and that is where we are with it).

the virus has not been fought in the best manner because it does not suit capitalism to do it - if it disrupts their profits then safety measures have to go and an 'acceptable' level of death and sickness be permitted and encouraged. 

and so the pandemic is 'over'. because although viruses don't work like that capitalism does...

there is connection among the poets and writers (for everything there is a season)

horsemouth is back from book patrol  

(powerscroft road bookbox and colenso road front garden potlatch)

- in the days of rain (rebecca stott). cult-survivor memoir written by the daughter of an exclusive brethren member. 

- blue nights (joan didion). a mourning memoir (horsemouth has been after this for a while after reading her the year of magical thinking).

- on connection (kae tempest) 'I will write in praise of creativity..'

there is connection among the poets and writers.

rebecca stott's father escaped the exclusive brethren - a small protestant sect that did not like its members to communicate with non-members (on the basis that non-members are damned to hell) decorated the wall of his mill-cottage in east anglia with quotations from eliot's the four quartets (just as john fahey lifted lines from it as titles for his guitar pieces on the album fare forward voyagers).  

both kae tempest and olga tokarczak opt for blake's  the proverbs of heaven and hell.(the shallower end of the blake pool). 

joan didion   famously went all yeats second coming on us 'the center cannot hold...'. but for the blue nights (for those long evenings of light in midsummer, from the end of april onwards, roughly after may eve, when the day seemingly will not end) is there an equivalent poet? ecclesiastes or the byrds  'for everything there is a season'? 

yesterday howard visited. they sat around and drank bottles of beer and played a little guitar - howard on the hohner (mostly) and horsemouth on the resonator. horsemouth did not succeed in feeding him (beyond a few rounds of peanut butter on toast). howard has survived being 'ofsted'ed once again. 

they are nearly at the spring equinox. three more weeks or so and it is easter. 

then it is exam season (and following that...) the curious dead weeks to the end of term. 

horsemouth (of course) continues to stay sat down. april he finds out how his finances are doing. at some point he has to refuel. 

he has been watching  ireland - a television history - irish voices speak and give us their understanding, an impeccably english accent corrects them ('well not quite'). he has started reading the rebecca stott. 

'I came to understand that I was not a poet'

hollis frampton day / hollis framptn fortnight (and a bit) 

born this day 1936 (dies march 30th 1984). and thus we have hollis frampton fortnight (and a bit).

hollis was a film-maker but before that he tried his hand at poetry (hanging around ezra pound when he was in st. elizabeth's hospital  in washington). there he saw the depth of it and realised that he was not a poet. 

in nostalgia he burns photographs on the electric ring of a cooker (it makes horsemouth cough just to look at it). the pattern of the heating element burns through the photograph first (and on to the film). 

somewhere horsemouth has the footage of hollis frampton's funeral (shot by george mekas) he will try to post this on the 30th. 

yesterday the death of MC fats was announced. this tune by dj hype (and 97 style  by ellis dee) really do it for horsemouth. he is not doing fast style but some ind of sing-j thing (and horsemouth likes the message). 

horsemouth supposes the MCs die young because the lifestyle is none too healthy and the life expectancy for the poor is pretty terrible anyway. as the economist noted there are a quarter of a million less people in britain than there should be compared to other developed economies  because improvements in life expectancy have gone into reverse since about 2010. the life expectancy for the posh in kensington for a man is 92, in new cross gate (south of the river and with the poor) it is 74. 

a corollary of all this is that more people are living with ill health. 

sorry if this is a bit morbid. he has been reading diana athill's somewhere near the end which is refreshingly honest about ageing, caring and death (and well written too).

later howard visits.  

.

everything is taking forever

horsemouth has reached friday. it's a rainy friday. rany and grey. horsemouth is still coughing (but he thinks he's on the mend). tomorrow (3pm) howard may be coming round for a visit. 

'housing is directly responsible for about 14% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions... (and) about 7 million UK households... (are) experiencing “preventable fuel poverty”..'

well still no news from the government on their social housing decarbonisation fund wave 2.1 (which would be helpful seeing as we are now 1-2 months behind schedule with it on only a two and a quarter year programme). it is 'expected in the coming week or two'. 

horsemouth just wants to get on with it. he wants to get on with the work of whacking insulation into the houses so that they are easier to heat over winter. 

horsemouth assumed that seeing as capitalism has just doubled the cost of gas and electricity the masses would be delighted to see measures to insulate their homes and reduce their bills. but of course many people are afraid of the disruption this might bring. 

similarly with the bank loan (to purchase more housing) thing - that's taking forever also. ideally horsemouth would like to get it done (so that it is done). 

everything is taking forever remarks horsemouth. 

but despite that  he supposes that the actual direction of travel is the the right one and (come to think of it) the purchases of new flats to replace st. john's church road is going well and quickly (so mustn't grumble). 

today more shuffling about (sorry paddy but it's true). last night he watched autopsy (armando crispino 1974) tonight he will probably watch another giallo. 

'they can abolish time' (horsemouth makes it to yet another morning)

 and indeed here he is. huzzah!

he is sitting up in bed typing this wearing two jumpers and jeans and a little woolly hat. sadly the moths have been at the topermost jumper so it doesn't look as stylish as it once did.

the day before yesterday - aldi, the yester day - asda (fuckers). asda overcharged him for some linda mccartney sausages (which he bought in bulk because he thought they were on offer). but when he got to the checkout it turned out not. (fuckers). he also went in search of a ramadan tinned beans offer but the best they could offer was two tins for a quid. jesus we are all going to starve (or have to learn to  pressure cook dried beans). 

the diana athill book (somewhere towards the end) is most excellent. having dispensed with old age, sickness, sex and death, she has moved on to her hobbies - gardening and drawing. 

she is most fascinated by drawing (but gives it up because she is never going to get good at it, as good as she is with words).

'they (drawings) can abolish time...perhaps oddly drawings presented as works of art are less likely to have this hallucinatory effect than private notes or studies.'

it is, horsemouth thinks, like barthes' grain of the voice, the movements of the hand that went into making the drawing can be seen in the 'finished' work and 'read' by people who themselves draw. time is thus abolished, the viewer has a vision of the artist drawing. this is similar perhaps to canetti (who gets a mention) and his fetish for manuscripts of author's works (when author's did not type or word process).

drawing (the activity) has made her better at seeing things because drawing trains the hand and the eye, the eye to see what is actually there and the hand to draw it accurately. at least this is athill's interest. the other students in the class seem interested in cutting directly to the modern art.

horsemouth also finished off listening to the lovecraft investigations - a bbc sounds series that reframed lovecraftian themes as investigated by a true-crime podcast. it was a particular favourite of his during various lock-downs and stay-homes. 

'ermeghaad! sneh!'

 or (to translate) oh my god! snow!

yes ladies and gentlemen. here in the ever temperate seaside town it has snowed. it has not covered everything and it has only stuck  where there is metal that can grow cold or cover from the wind allowing it to settle (or perhaps even drift).. 

horsemouth has a cough and various nostrils full of snot (sorry for the detail). one of his flatmates has come down with the dreaded norovirus (or winter vomiting and shitting bug). horsemouth (who lives on a bean based diet) worried that his every fart would turn into a stream of diarrhoea. eventually he figured out that he did not have the stomach pain that his flatmate reported and thus was unlikely to have the bug (yet). 

he settled down to sleep and while he slept the magical transformation of the world was effected. 

his main aim (for the next few days) is thus to avoid catching the bug  through their shared kitchen or bathroom use.  

yesterday evening horsemouth watched a little of autopsy (1975) (aka. the victim or macchie solari) - mimsy farmer is in rome during a heatwave (caused by sunspots), she's cracking up, the city is cracking up, people are committing suicide or murder left right and center. 

he also read diana athill's somewhere towards the end - she visits the mortuary to identify andre deutsch's mother (she writes a poem). in the village no.6 (the prisoner) is much concerned with l'arlesienne (multiple copies of l'arlesienne in fact). 

tonight a phonecall from his mum. 

'boys and girls come out to play'

today a full moon, the prisoner, and the anniversary of the recording of altruvista (an edited version of a piano solo that was recorded on march 7, 1967, at the van gelder studio in englewood cliffs, new jersey during the session that yielded two tracks for the john coltrane album expression).

horsemouth is gradually returning to heath from the lands of sickness.  

he has been listening to the lovecraft investigations again and most excellent they are). 

last night horsemouth got grumpy and had to have a bottle of beer to self-medicate (this is his first alcohol in 14 days so he's not doing so badly). 

the year is rolling round and once again it comes time to present the rent rise (there being little alternative to it in these inflationary times). the mancom has been hopped forward a week to do this. the picture is further complicated by the fact that the communal endeavour are still in the midst of their big tasks which are not completed yet and so the danger still exists that the plans could be reverted or stymied or generally fucked with (at the very least horsemouth could be made to argue for them all over again). 

horsemouth was hoping to have everything done in time for the meeting (as per the EGM vote) but no such luck. horsemouth will check his email to see if things have moved forward. 

nope no joy. horsemouth should write some things to try and make the situation(s) clearer (that at least he will enjoy). 

in the region of the spring equinox

 GOLD

that was the key word in the dream. the one horsemouth was not supposed to utter that fixed time on its magical track. the little boy didn't want him to utter it (but horsemouth said it anyway). thereafter time was fixed upon its track. 

and (good morning! good morning!). horsemouth is up and awake. he is still coughing but he supposes that the covid is on its way out. 

it is the anniversary of horsemouth's 2016 golden glow mix

horsemouth chose the tunes for this one. featured artists include judee sill, alice coltrane, nico, gene clark, santana, art ensemble of chicago, milton nascimento and stella chiweshe. horsemouth supposes that it could be thought of as being in the region of the spring equinox. three of his six mixes cluster nicely around the winter solstice, one clusters at the end of may/ start of june, horsemouth is considering that he should cluster the other three around the summmer solstice (despite this not really being the case).

recent changes in the contract mean that there will almost certainly be no more of these.  the cover photo is one john clarkson took during their visit to no.1 the thames.

it is also the anniversary of horsemouth's visit to a photographic exhibit that enza had some photos in back in 2022.  

horsemouth and his blogging

he began blogging on the dreaded myspace back in november 2006. this lasted until the great mysace blog dieback of june 2013. 

horsemouth started blogging on blogger in earnest (in fact just copying over the occasional feature) on 22nd june 2013. it is not until november 2020 that facebook's notes tool is demobilised and horsemouth comes to blog on blogger full-time (that is every day, if not without fail then certainly mostly). 

as he says he enjoys it 

yesterday was the 51st anniversary of bryter later - by chance horsemouth picked up a copy from the powerscroft road book box. howard sent him a new track (it's decent). he started re-reading diana athill's towards the end (a gift from the aldi book box), he listened to hawkbinge on live chronicles (an off-project filler of a show). next the xenon codex an album horsemouth has never listened to. 

it is two weeks until the spring equinox (and then we are into the bright half of the year). horsemouth hopes the year picks up (between his teeth and covid it's been a rubbish start). he supposes that he is slightly further forward on his teeth than he was. 

canto de los flores (til dreams come true)

good morning! good morning!

it's a bit of a grey morning outside. horsemouth still has a cough and a bunged up nose. there was a plan to go for a walk today but horsemouth has cried off (which he now regrets, but he's still not back tip-top so it's probably just as well). 

similarly he regrets not letting howard visit. next weekend perhaps. 

he watched paris police 1905 - painters, gambling, morphine, syphilis, poverty, riches, snow, beautiful clothes (did horsemouth mention the beautiful clothes).

he listened to borboletta  by santana which is not as good as caravanserai but which certainly has its moments. the instrumentals are all wonderful (the percussion and recording are amazing) but the lyrics and singing are all a bit happy clappy and let it down. it would be a prime candidate for letting the notoriously grumpy bill laswell at the tapes. 

the narrow path to tory victory

well horsemouth has no idea how they are going to manage that. a few more mis-steps by sir keir (of the hiring susan grey variety - a classic sir keir home goal) would help  but the election is his to lose. the great british public seem to have decided the tories are done, will a year of competently delivered austerity under sunak be enough to convince them otherwise? (horsemouth doubts it). 

horsemouth demonstrates audacity of the intellect above his pay-grade

'what intellect can have had the audacity to judge who is better, and who is worse.' 

the heating is on (it is very firmly on). mr.sten is ill and has retired to bed in a proper old state. 

for all that it is on it makes very little difference to the warmth of the house - in most cases the radiators are either heating up air in corridors or so covered-over with kipple you can't tell whether they are on or not. a light refreshing breeze blows through the badly fitting sash windows and round the frame of the downstairs door. 

it make little difference to the warmth of the house (but it will provide a nice spike in the heating bill). 

nonetheless the house are well ahead of the increase in gas and electricity costs curve - they had already adjusted to the new charges before the government got round to offering its mitigating largesse (funded by you the humble tax payer rather than a tax upon the wealthy). the mitigating largesse is due to end (or be reduced) but may end up being extended or funded through benefits etc. (of no use to the mule). 

ok the government has extended the largesse by a few months. 

horsemouth is very proud of his house who have drastically reduced their consumption of electricity and gas (but have however seen bills rise). they have saved the government largesse and will be using it to subsidise them through the coming period without largesse. 

horsemouth awaits his bank statement (so he can see how he is doing) and later he awaits his savings statement (as above so below). he has made it to the weekend. and (as the day goes by and roll towards the equinox) he is making it out of winter. 

yesterday a discussion of love, devotion, surrender by john mclaughlin and carlos santana. horsemouth will freely admit it has its moments but on the whole he thinks the album with alice coltrane (illuminations) is much more successful - if in this he demonstrates audacity of the intellect above his pay-grade then he is sorry. he worries that he has failed to defend the album enough. 

he is due to go out for a wander with enza tomorrow (his first such wander since he got ill and his first in a long time) but he may be too ill (still). he was due to wander out with howard today (but again he thinks that is a bit previous also). 

in a month of bandcamp fridays (the festival of the dolls)

the morning starts nicely. some kids in lithuania (looks like by the names) have recorded a fahey tune (guitar and cajon line up). it sounds great. well done young folk. the sentimental old mule may start crying.  

it is also bandcamp friday once again where if you were to purchase a musicians of bremen digital download or streaming right then howard and horsemouth would receive a greater proportion of the sale than usual. 

tbh musicians  are not in it for the money (this is just as well really) but it is just nice to know that people actually have the songs and may even be listening to them. 

once again there was a plan for horsemouth and howard to meet up this weekend but horsemouth may still be too sick. 

it is the second day of the jackson c. frank celebration and hinamatsuri (the festival of the dolls). platforms are covered with a red carpet–material and are used to display a set of ornamental dolls hina-ningyō representing the emperor, empress, attendants, and (crucially) 5 musicians in traditional court dress of the heian period.the festival was traditionally known as the peach festival momo no sekku, as peach trees typically began to flower around this time.

we are out of the uarys (january, february). we are out of the -embers (september, november, december - and (charitably) october) - we are into the 6 months of the year that do not have formulaic names. soon we will roll past the equinox and up into spring and summer. 

yesterday horsemouth mostly read drive your plow over the bones of the dead a blake themed backcountry picaresque set on the polish/czech border. someone is doing in the local huntsmen (maybe the animals they kill are doing it).  it was enjoyable (if slight). horsemouth will finish it off today. 

'it is at dusk that the most interesting things occur, for that is when simple differences fade away.'

horsemouth is horrified to discover that covid is still a thing (matsuo basho and robbie basho and steffen basho-junghans)

yes gentle readers covid is still a thing. 

someone in horsemouth's house has just tested positive for it. in retrospect this makes horsemouth believe that he must have had covid as well (that'll be the  'cough and cold' he keeps (hopefully) referring to). he does hope he hasn't infected anyone else. he doesn't feel particularly guilty (infectious disease - the clue is in the name) but he does blame himself for falling for the prevalent desire that it be over.  

last night the prisoner - a kafkaesque nightmare set in port merion. 

matsuo basho and robbie basho and steffen basho-junghans 

two days after the last day of fahey week 2023.

maybe robbie basho saw himself in a portrait of matsuo basho (now in the itsuo museum, museum in ikeda city, osaka), the one that graces the cover of the penguin paperback. matsuo basho looks thin and wirey, with heavy grey stubble.

it is not the portrait of basho by katsushika hokusai, nor by nakamura hochu, or emori gekkyo. 

robbie basho, on the other hand,  is altogether bigger framed (he's a great galumphing boy).nonetheless there is a similarity.   .

there are many hokusai prints and drawings of travellers. it is possible to imagine that these are matsuo basho (and one of his various companions) on a  journey. sometimes basho would take a horse (sometimes it would throw him off).  

robbie basho wanted up and out. (and he did it!) he  got to california. he got to make acoustic guitar music infuenced by a wide range of oriental musics. perhaps it was his love of debussy that got him there. that enabled him to make those connections.

steffen basho-junghans died this year gone. he became interested in robbie basho first and as a result matsuo basho, incorporating them into his name. 

there is something marvelous about the concision and portability of books of poetry (and good songs). horsemouth is up (he has just finished his coffee), he plans a day of a little light shuffling about. 

blueprint x-ray ghost song (firm foundation)

the edges don't quite match up (but they sound like they might). he confidently goes for the note (but it's not the right chord underneath it). the guitar parts sound purposeful (like they would work) but the drums are missing (or rather they're there but turned down so low they can't do their work - there's a whole pop single in there sunk beneath the waves). 

horsemouth often talks about recording as if it were housebuilding -  a firm foundation - as long as you have a firm foundation you can build something upon it. this is more like a ghost house with hidden rooms and passages. 

it sounds like something where their concentration has slipped and they don't know how to fix it. and now they can't bear to throw it away. 

couldn't someone just sort it out goes horsemouth (missing the point entirely). have you got it yet? 

-------------------------------------

horsemouth is confirmed believer in the church of the firm foundation (this is why he is always interested in drum and bass and rhythm guitar). if you have a tough rhythmic conception then the track will almost certainly work. turn yr heater on works  - it works because it's a one-drop (and because it's basically the telephone love rhythm). there are lots of other things that work about it (the melodicas impersonating horn sections - genius!) 

he was slightly miffed that howard got in there ahead of him and did the the bassline. 

'I feel... so alone... at night...' 

horsemouth supposes this is what the song is about -  an admission of vulnerability. it is both ghost town and there is a light - the night drive. (pardon him - it has been a long time since he listened to this stuff). 

horsemouth is coming out of his cough and cold. he's feeling more like walking. he's out of coffee.