'savage and improbable demons...'

horsemouth's plan had been to meet up with a friend and then go walking in the unhelpful conditions (or just hang out and talk) - but it was not to be. 

as usual he has planned things very poorly/ failed to notify people/ succumbed to wandering feet without a plan. 

nonetheless he had a booking for the evening and one for the morning and that should be enough to tide him over and that will be what he did. he has cheered up. he fells valued and necessary. 

earlier in the day (or was it yesterday) horsemouth helped a mum swap over the boots onto the right feet of a small protesting child. (once again he felt socially useful). 

he then stabilised his psychic economy with some old-school consumption. this is not an option usually available to him without a fair amount of travelling.

accessions diary

- type: the secret history of letters (simon loxley) - 50p there may be another copy of this in the house already. there was a brief fashion for books about type and typefaces etc.  

- zastrozzi (percy bysshe shelley; forward by germaine greer) - £1.99  

‘one of the most savage and improbable demons that ever issued from a diseased brain’ or at least so the main character and the author were jointly described at the time. 

nothing else leapt out of the stacks at him. 

not the best weather conditions for the book trade (it's due to be a bit better today so they say). 

soon we will be half way through the embers. that just leaves the -uaries, well that just leaves the marches and the aprils and then we are into the mays and junes. 

having met up and enjoyed a pizza and two beers together the former blockmates parted.

an exhibition on radical living (less walking around than originally intended)

an exhibition on radical living

ok there was less walking around than originally intended (horsemouth had already walked two and a half miles to get there and the weather being blowy and thus not conducive to walking about anyway). 

so the radical living?

victorian artists' communes from as far a field as llangollen (and surrey and sussex and the chilterns). then that 70s, 80ies squatter radical thing. 

horsemouth recognised a few people in the photos or videos (pink rachel etc.). in particular the lawyer who saved him from a fate worse than death at the hands of the british legal system. thanks dude. horsemouth genuinely means this. 

there was a video that seemed to have been soundtracked by the co-creators. (remember them?)

before that a walk over to the transportation hub. before that a coffee and a tea in a not very good modern cafe. after it a walk to the nearest hostelry. two pints (maybe two pints and a bit) of grapefruit-y modern IPA. a packet of crisps each and some sweet potato chips. once again they found themselves too poor (or too mean) to eat out. 

having walked in first thing (two and a bit miles) and seen his friend off onto the bus horsemouth got the train back out. 

ok in the evening drama as an item of technology back at the homestead in the wilds refused to start up. RESET eventually did it. a power cut is the most likely cause.

horsemouth realises he has no patience with these things and is stressed to fuck. 

they have fed him (thank you). and he had a very pleasurable rant in defence of a scientific technical goal over which he has no control (and the political headwinds against it more generally). 

it is the morning. will everything go forward as hoped? 

another walk around is proposed but the details are not yet arranged

yesterday

horsemouth decided to walk even though it was raining. 

he had time to kill until the meet.

he crossed the park but emerged near the memorial to dead love and then down the row of exhibitions. soon he was trapped in nest of backstreets with doorways in walls leading to other streets on lower levels. not his part of town. he used the tourist navigation maps. YOU ARE HERE.  

eventually he reached the river and proceeded back along to his original destination. 

when he got there there was a queue was it was a bit vast and slow moving (and in the rain). he doubled back to the prophet of morpeth and had a pint and dried off a bit (did he mention it was raining). a baby shower was going on. a northern irish girl was discussing potential life partners... and the well-heeled (and tourists) of this end of town were eating and drinking and having coffees etc.

horsemouth returned. the queue was shorter... and he was in.

first an espresso in the canteen. then a general wander round until horsemouth found himself slumped and watching a film about the early (revolutionary) days of the algerian film industry being projected from a small camper van. 

a text from a friend. horsemouth claimed to be lost in an art gallery. eventually he managed to orient himself (having tried the gift shop in the vague belief that it would be near the exit). 

back to the prophet of morpeth. seats and a pint each. talk talk. horsemouth hands over the copy of virginia woolf's orlando. another pint and a packet of crisps (and by this point they were drying out nicely). thence to food (they were definitely too poor to eat there) and falafel wrap in a basement. 

from here on in you know the pattern horsemouth and his friend dithered over whether to have another pint all the way up through the zone to the transport hub. there they decided against it and would have gone their separate ways immediately but for the vagaries of the transport system. 

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

last night a dream

they were all together but when horsemouth next looked the object of his affection and the object of her affection were already quite a way a way. they stopped and waved. 

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

today as it will be

another walk around is proposed but the details are not yet arranged. 

ten years of the golden glow (enchanted sky machines)

so (here we go) it is ten years since the publication (to the usual limited acclaim) of horsemouth's mix of his folkish influences on mixcloud. (horsemouth is the guest DJ on this one).

thinking about it these are mostly recordings horsemouth doesn't physically own. nor did he hear them be broadcast over radio services (like in the good old days of mix cassettes).  they are mostly songs he heard via youtube (and thus its recommendation algorithm). 

horsemouth believes that if you pay close attention to the the materials of things then what they are will emerge from it. the mix was constructed by howard out of the tracks horsemouth recommended (with a few substitutions). 

the cover photo is from lost hearts one of the bbc's ghost stories for christmas. 

track listing

edges of illusion by john surman comes from ze (horsemouth's friend in porto). he will have played it (off CD or record horsemouth can't remember) round his house. 

hard time killing floor blues skip james. horsemouth is pretty sure this is from the social media era. he doesn't own a physical copy of this. his interest in skip james was reignited by discovering john fahey's connection with him. 

lift him up washington phillips. definitely from the social media era. gospel and zithers (a marriage made in heaven if you'll pardon the pun).

cold rain and snow obray ramsay. now horsemouth knew this from the pentangle version. many people know it from the grateful dead version. a youtube find. 

witchi-tai to jim pepper (but horsemouth can't remember which specific version this is. there are numerous versions of this one). definitely a youtube find. 

three kingfishers gabor szabo instrumental version. originally by donovan. in a way horsemouth is surprised there isn't a siouxsie and the banshees version. 

now this one horsemouth has forgotten the name of. but it's by johnny and sipho. horsemouth first heard it on a compilation called rhythms of resistance late 80ies/ early 90ies that he had on record (so the first track on this compilation horsemouth actually owns on physical media). as you may know horsemouth was mad keen on african guitarists for a long while. 

a track he has forgotten the title of by sonny sharrock from his ask the ages album which horsemouth owns on CD. pharoah sanders, elvin jones, charnett moffett, produced by bill laswell. here again howard picked a track which he felt fitted better. 

flaming telepaths by the blue oyster cult here played by espers. horsemouth doesn't own the espers version (ok maybe he does on CD he now remembers - but he's not played it much) but he does own the boc version on vinyl (as the youth say with admirable materialist analysis). 

ah it's sweet earth flying (by marion brown) but the guitar led version from november cotton flower. this was one of howard's substitutions (for the album version). horsemouth has the album version on CD (but not this version). karl rausch on guitar. 

la fille au cheveux de lin (debussy). horsemouth can't remember who the pianist is (he has the CD round here somewhere). 

folon by salif keita. horsemouth has this on CD (on the album of the same name) but there used to be a much better solo live version on youtube. horsemouth finds the strings a bit unnecessary. 

sign of the judgement (mcintosh county shouters) horsemouth thinks he picked this up from true detective. again he doesn't own a physical copy. 

vitamin c by can from the movie inherent vice horsemouth thinks. he doesn't own a physical copy. 

child of the moon by the rolling stones. definitely from youtube - it was the release of the film shot by the stones at the time that drew horsemouth in. 

on the banks of the owichita by john fahey. now horsemouth almost certainly owns a copy of this on CD (but if he does it's currently lost in the stacks). lifted from ravi shankar's improvisations on a theme from pather panchali which horsemouth does not own. (god it's good). 

bruce janaway from puritanical odes.  a substitution by howard from one of those great tompkins square compilations or something (so no horsemouth doesn't own a physical copy). quite rush like. 

wade in the water  another howard substitution (balances out the mcintosh county shouters). 

judee sill and a live version of enchanted sky machines probably first heard on spotify or youtube. horsemouth particularly liked it for the dedication and specifically requested that version. 

ruby tuesday by the rolling stones but played here by a brass band. this horsemouth owned on CD (god bless you record and tape bargain bins). 

red cross disciple of christ today by moses mason (fragment of sermon) followed by john fahey's version. horsemouth almost certainly has the fahey on CD-r or something. 

am I born to die? doc watson and gaither carlton. a horsemouth request.

take your problems to the lord (and leave it there). a howard substitution. 

tomorrow people theme (no horsemouth does not own a physical copy of this). watched on tv as a kid. found again via youtube. 

horsemouth has forgotten who this is. 

electrophonic tonic by sonic's rendezvous band  a definite youtube find. 

----------

so we have john fahey (acoustic and electric). we have african music. we have gospel. we have blues and hillbilly music. we have ECMish jazz. we have the rolling stones. 

horsemouth had a very pleasant afternoon listening to these. 

it's too long of course 

musicians of bremen have taken a crack at am I born to die? and la fille au cheveux de lin (as a slide guitar instrumental under the title he hair like some glittering gold).

later on horsemouth's golden glows  get shorter and more perfected. 

horsemouth's next 10 year anniversary with the golden glow will not be until 2030. 

there will be the usual winter solstice triumvirate of mixes (round the winter solstice) 12th, 18th, 24th december. after that he may distribute the other 3 mixcloud mixes similarly (30th, 5th, 11th) or he may forget. 

the end of horsemouth's (limited) engagement with streaming services

there's a discussion in the government (allegedly) about making people pay the BBC licence fee if they use streaming services (but don't use the BBC). 

he thinks this is just trolling. politically it would be a move of starmer-like stupidity (though he thinks no move is too stupid and authoritarian for labour party central office). 

this would (in the unlikely event of it happening) probably mark the end of horsemouth's (admittedly limited) engagement with streaming services. 

whatever is behind a paywall he can live without. 

at the moment horsemouth is heavily reliant upon youtube (and has been since the pandemic). before that he serviced his watching habit with DVDs from out of the libraries and charity shops. 

in the event of him being charged for using streaming services he would probably go back to reading more and listening to more music (off physical media - he can barely remember the last time he listened to a CD or a record). 

horsemouth likes the hunt to find those CDs, DVDs, and books  (but possibly he doesn't like listening, watching, and reading things off physical media as much).   

the main thing youtube replaces for him is magazine type stuff - podcasts, interviews, current affairs etc. 

for many years successively horsemouth lived without a TV (he barely even watches it now, pretty much only when his mum watches it). 

he guesses the more tech-savvy people will torrent the whole lot or keep up with the latest VPN or some such. maybe it would drive some digital peer-to-peer form of tape trading similar to napster (now there's a nightmare to conjure with). 

it is important to remember that the streaming services were a reassertion of control over digital copyrights after the pirate years of napster and torrenting. it would indeed be strange if the BBC as national broadcaster received special treatment this late in the game. 

horsemouth guesses such a decision would be deeply unpopular. the demographic who were loyal to broadcast media are fading out. the demographic who just expect access everything all the time on their smartphones are fading in. 

in fact he thinks it is a complete non-starter. 

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

last night it rained. today more rain. 

the skies are illuminated (but not the lands)

'perhaps a book... will grow out of these scraps'

- lawrence durrell, prospero's cell.

it's interesting, horsemouth has found much more in the book this time of reading. 

horsemouth has taken to locking up the chickens early (when he feeds them). it makes it harder to forget to lock them up (which has happened he's sad to say (though infrequently)). 

today a walk to the crossroads to deliver some eggs and he walked the bin down the drive (remind him to bring it back up tomorrow).  

tomorrow a possible visit by his brother's eldest (or maybe friday) and maybe a visit by an old work colleague of his dad's friday or saturday (no one can tell right now). 

and so much for what horsemouth wrote yesterday. 

on to today which looks pretty good so far. (given that the sun has barely risen up above the hills).  the skies are illuminated (but not the lands). rosy-fingered dawn.

horsemouth's sides of the clouds are dark but those facing towards the dawn are a kind of golden orange. 

something happens with the clocks soon. horsemouth has a poor understanding of the mechanism of it. the clocks will go back. we will have an extra hour in bed but it will be darker soon in the afternoons/ evenings. people will require cheering up (diwali/ halloween/ bonfire night). 

circular dances (star dances)

'coming over the crest of a hill behind kastellani we see that a dance is in progress... through the hum of human voices one can hear the scratch and squeak of the violin and guitars, and the hollow beat of the drum, resonant and vulgar as a full stomach struck with the palm of the hand . 'ah look,' says N, 'just look at the dancers.' 

a multi-coloured  circle of flowing head-dresses and skirts moves slowly round the axis of the musicians, reversing and advancing with slow rhythmic measures. in the centre of the circle, moved by the current but free, the young men dance, each improvising his variations upon the theme...' 

- lawrence durrell, prospero's cell. 

N is durrell's first wife nancy myers (for once she gets a mention). 

the theory is proposed that the round dance moves are connected to the movement of the stars. 

'ah,' says theodore with pleasure, 'it is a star-dance, called the corcyrean dance. as you may know I have theories about the origin of these dances, some of which are very ancient...

all the circular ones I call star dances,' says theodore. 'I read somewhere that dancing originated in a desire to imitate the movement of celestial bodies - the early clock as it were.' 

the documentary makers have done very well to find this scene still being lived when they revisited corfu with durrell. 

meanwhile 

tracks keep coming from rob in far off riogordo. horsemouth tried several cracks at the first two verses for le bateau ivre (the drunken boat). rob has repurposed one take (a without clapping take) as a song sung in a late bar with a tentative backing. it really works quite well. this is probably because it is not on a click (as it were) like most of the stuff horsemouth sings.

horsemouth is up early. he has just been out to feed the chickens. a grey day with little to recommend it. 

silent days in sommières

more lawrence durrell. this time in the south of france. the sun is shining. 

horsemouth followed it up by researching lawrence durrell's four wives. 

- nancy myers

- yvette (eve) cohen

- claude marie vincedon

- ghislaine de boysson

horsemouth supposes he will finish up prospero's cell and then move on to reflections on a marine venus and bitter lemons. if he comes upon any of the others in his travels he will probably pick these up. the women are airbrushed out of durrell's writing (mothers, friends, wives, daughters). men stay up late drinking and discussing poetry (at least the way durrell tells it). 

he'll take a crack at this radio documentary too.  

it's a rainy grey morning out there. fortunately horsemouth does not have to do too much. it's rainy and grey for most of the next two weeks (which is preparation for the winter to follow). 

far future village band IV is sounding good (very good in fact) - rob has sent him a link to all the tracks (except that more continue to come). now there's just a matter of weaving in the stories. there is the matter of embracing the limitations of their recording set up. 

night walk (rain and snow)

horsemouth has made a list of the tracks for far future village band IV. these broadly break down into rob's instrumentals and rob's responses to horsemouth's singing and clapping or whistling or wordless singing. 

on one of the tracks horsemouth jangles some guitar while whistling (but he's whistling badly so he's not sure if that one will make it on). no harmonium this time (so far). 

so far he only has night walk from off the album to play you. to peek behind the curtain -  horsemouth whistles the theme, rob improvises the backing (across several tracks). it came out well. 

horsemouth's general theory is first take best take but he's by no means an improvisational purist. he is not particularly committed to honour your mistakes (as your hidden intention). he believes in nip and tuck. 

there are also horsemouth's recitations of his tales of the far future village band  and its times (the far future). 

there's a pronounced nautical theme this time - which is strange given the inland setting of the village (ok it's on a river we know that much). 

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

yesterday horsemouth wandered the eggs up the hill (and it was pretty sunny). things are starting to look pretty autumnal. 

from tuesday the 20th the weather goes to shit with rain most days. the rainy weather keeps it a bit warmer at night which means the plants will last longer before the frosts get them. or, at least, so horsemouth supposes, looking on the bright side and that. 

horsemouth isn't worried about the flooding just yet. the land is still bone dry from the summer drought. it will soak up a lot of water before it starts running off (horsemouth hopes). this time last year the dulas brook at ewyas harold was flooding. 

by the time you are reading this it will have rained overnight. that's not to say that there won't be sun next week (just not very much of it). 

it's the morning. it has rained. last night horsemouth watched lawrence durrell revisit corfu. there was no footage of puppet shows but there was  film of a corfiot wedding complete with musicians (about 15 minutes in). the music wasn't like horsemouth thought it would be.  chunks of the text of the book were repurposed as commentary. 

'dancing is never a performance so much as a communal rite. the transmission of an enigmatic knowledge which the musician has summoned up from below the earth. it flows upwards through the dancing feet which are building the dusty circles stitch by stitch like a fabric being woven, step by step like city being built. and the darker circle outside, the lookers on, gradually absorbs the rhythm which triumphs over them by sheer repetition, being laid down in the consciousness like successive coats of a thrilling colour. one can watch the crowd being drawn into such a dance man by man impelled by something like a gravitational law which decrees that autumn windfalls should plunge towards the centre of the earth when they are ripe.' 

- lawrence durrell comments on a corfiot wedding dance and its music (1975).

ask and you shall receive

today an entirely written in the morning blogpost

yesterday zoom beer with howard (and a dream where horsemouth failed to keep up when they were running for a train). howard woke up remembering a hymn (ask and you shall receive). horsemouth said it reminded him of chapter 24 by pink floyd. 

yesterday (and doubtless today) more reading of prospero's cave (lawrence durrell). the old count lawrence and his wife have taken to visiting has a theory that shakespeare visited corfu and that corfu is indeed prospero's island. it's almost certainly bollocks. they will not meet until the 21st of september 1937. right now (in 1937) lawrence is wrestling with his friend's zarian's historical accounts of the island.

yesterday the anniversary of the release of levitation by hawkwind in 1980.

tim blake, ginger baker, huw lloyd-langton, harvey bainbridge 

(completely by accident dave brock has assembled a competent band). 

the album is excellently recorded. 

huw in particular is playing his heart out.

horsemouth saw them on this tour (only his second ever gig). 

today a wander up the hill to deliver some eggs. 

an account of a puppet show (and the music)

in lawrence durrell's prospero's cave (p.47 onwards) there is an account of a puppet show with kharaghiosis and his sidekick hadjiavatis. 

it was a shadow-puppet show. it is possible the shadow puppet show originated in indonesia and was brought to the ottoman turks by the trade routes (and thus to the greek islands).

'two violins and a drum keep up a squalling sort of overture, punctuated by the giggles of children and the pop of ginger beer bottles...

our seats are right at the front, where the orchestra can scrape away right under our noses... thus equipped we prepare for the spectacle of kharaghiosis, whose greek is sure to baffle us however much his antics amuse... 

presently the acetylene lamps on the hedge are extinguished... but the orchestra is still driving on with the awkward monotony of a squeaking shoe... the familiar noise of sticks being rattled together sounds from behind the screen. this is a sign for the play to begin...'

kharaghiosis (black eye) is a hunchback with one outsized prehensile arm. he and hadjiavatis are always poor and engaged on some ridiculous get rich quick scheme. in this case a getting elected to public office.

'the drama reaches its peak with a faked election, in which kharaghiosis, in order to win, manages to resurrect all the corpses in the local cemeteries, who pass in grizzly single file across the stage to the polling booth to vote for our hero.' 

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

yesterday a visit to town

accessions diary

- orlando (virginia woolf) - one squid hospice shop in a pretty vintage classics edition. this contains a baileyshome.com bookmark (a shop near bridstow near ross-on-wye).

- travels into bokhara (alexander burns - cousin of robbie burns, victorian explorer and spy) - one squid hospice shop  in an eLand edition. 

this copy contains an off-peak day return rail ticket from wivenhoe to london terminals (£26.70) as well as a dedication happy birthday mary. phil.

supplementary expenses 

£3 each way on the bus, £3.20 sandwich, £1.30 bus down the valley. walk back. 

whilst he was there he saw sproatly smith but didn't manage to speak to him because he wasn't convinced it was him. (but they chatted briefly online later).

it is the morning. it is a cold morning. horsemouth has been out to see the chickens who seem remarkably unbothered. 

the best thing that can be said of it is that it is over

horsemouth is self-medicating with beer. 

the situation horsemouth hates is to be stuck between two people. he has got himself out of the way and hopefully done enough so that it all worked out.

remind him to never do that again (he says now).

the best thing that can be said of it is that it is over. 

all he has to do now is let it go.

what is tomorrow like? ah rainy all night then decent over the weekend. maybe horsemouth can do a run into town and indulge in some retail therapy (books mostly). 

in the morning 

he's up. he forgot to lock up the chickens last night (blue bloody bastard bollocks). fortunately no deaths.

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

my mix playlist

joy - john coltrane (the classic quartet version first meditations 1965)

john is up and cooking. elvin too. mccoy tyner horsemouth can hear it is good but it's a bit too chordy for him. it's jimmy garrison on bass but as usual you can barely hear him (until right at the end). 

next up marion brown bismillahi rrahmani rrahim (by harold budd from off vista 1975). reggie workman on bass this time. great piano. 

earth is no resting place jesse may hill (1927-1933). earth is not home you say. 

more john coltrane stellar regions (1967) the great rashied ali on drums. named by alice coltrane when she rediscovered the tapes but named by coltrane dream chant at the time and venus a week later on the interstellar space session. 

song john fahey.

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

last night another song from rob in far off riogordo - thursday sailor's song - and very good it is too. very wickermany. 

when the hard frosts come

in the day a walk upon the common and some photos.

 shadows and tall trees

ok so another holiday plan has manifested (now to get on with it). 

half terms

it might be too soon. people might still be knackered/ busy etc. horsemouth won't know until he checks. 

where are we? one hundred years of faust. 

(also in black and white (and sepia tinge) lest we forget).

this the best photo of the bunch (horsemouth feels)

a misty morning (for sure) and possibly a frosty one (if not actually frosty it is certainly near). a lot of the remaining growing depends on delaying the frosts. last night horsemouth had some of the runner bean beans (and good they were too).  the weather forecast says the frosts will hold off for the next two weeks at least. 

when the hard frosts come and the nasturtiums die back horsemouth will dig out the bed where they are and dump the soil elsewhere (so that the nasturtiums will be successful elsewhere). at the moment their riotous growth mocks his vegetable growing efforts (only the runner beans vaguely compete). 

he will uproot the giant overgrown spinach plants also. 

there are still a few potatoes and some parsnips in there. horsemouth will lift these. the sprouts and the cabbage he will wait to see how these do. 

how does horsemouth write?

he doesn't have a desk. he writes propped up in bed with the laptop in his lap. (he was just reading a piece on writers' desks, the view out of their window, their hours of work, lunch etc.). he writes a bit (or a lot) and then goes unconsciously and farts about on the internet. 

this afternoon/ evening the version of le bateau ivre (first two verses) comes back from rob (it sounds good), horsemouth is trying to work out a title for it - boat trip (gone wrong), downriver - something like that. it sounds cheerful even. 

today (this morning) the electricians are coming. horsemouth has woken up the chickens. he figures he can get them into one shed while the electricians work on the other (to reduce the amount of chicken underfoot). there is no chicken problem with the garage. 

today the anniversary of john fahey live in hobart tasmania in 1980. it's an exemplary gig by the old curmudgeon. 

history and conjecture

horsemouth admits

some of this was written the day before 

the idea occured the night before that even when horsemouth settled down to read a few pages from lawrence durrell's prospero's cell: a guide to the landscape and manners of the island of corfu (or as he calls it corcyra).

now this is based on time spent there from april 1937 to the end of september 1938. there should therefore be chances to discuss what durrell was up to in the various months as they occur. horsemouth's edition is a faber and faber (ff) edition from 1983 (horsemouth would have sworn it was earlier).

strangely it seems to have been printed on two paper stocks (or two papers of different ages). the first 32 pages are darkened down considerably, the remaining 110 pages have stayed bright. 

'their daughters are called sky and freedom..,' 

history and conjecture

in october 1937 durrell is reading histories of the island - history and conjecture he says - diodorus, thucidides...

in the morning horsemouth walked the eggs up the hill. he returned to contemplate his reading...

and there horsemouth left it

not seeing a part 2. not seeing, or finding in his reading, something that could be placed in juxtaposition to it. 

this morning part 2 is still proving elusive. 

overnight over on substack he had two likes. a psychologist and someone who has liked his stuff before. the previous liker liked his quoting henry miller's the air-conditioned nightmare. he himself liked a post arguing that people producing work through AI had vastly expanded indicating that the motive was less self-expression than taking up more space in the world. this horsemouth liked by way of agreement. 

the land is dark but skies are bright. the vapour trails of the aircraft brilliant white. the sun breaking through. 

anyway here he is

last night horsemouth had a look back through his posts going back about a year. he was looking for a post where he expresses an opinion about the genocide in palestine. 

as you might expect horsemouth is against the genocide in palestine. 

he didn't have any luck finding his earlier post. (but he did enjoy reading his earlier posts).

to horsemouth it is important that he writes what he likes. others may feel he should do or say more or less. he doesn't care that is simply not his business. 

over on substack horsemouth wrote something on selling your time for money. 

this is something horsemouth did for many years. unfortunately he wrote the piece in a real hurry because his computer started beeping and making strange noises. horsemouth's broad point was that many people are dreaming away on social media sites and one of those dreams is that they will invent a cultural commodity the ones and noughts of which can be sold and  will make them money. 

now horsemouth liked the structure of work, employer, employee - there were boundaries and a pattern there. (not that he was a big fan of it whilst he was in it).

it is important to horsemouth that free activity be freely chosen (well as much as is possible) - activity that is not freely chosen falls into three interlinked categories work, slavery, necessity; 

work is where you sell your labour to enable you to survive, keep a roof over your head, put food upon the table etc. it is for the most part an activity that merely reproduces you (though you may find pleasure and satisfaction in parts of it/ it may move you or other people forward).

slavery is when you are forced and coerced into activity. the decent lineaments that hide the element of compulsion within the system are removed. 

necessity is a rawer version of  work - you have to do it in order to survive  - the decent lineaments of civilisation have been weakened or removed. 

broadly horsemouth views all of this as climbing the pyramid that is maslow's hierarchy of needs. 

hannah arendt would be another guide here. (the human condition rather than anything else)

one thing horsemouth bemoaned was that he has not become mega-creative now that he no longer works. 

horsemouth accepts that his ideology that work (for money) and freely chosen activity (not for money) are different inhibits his ability to make money out of his creativity/  freely chosen activity. he has noticed that many people do not see them as separate and are thus more successful at it. 

anyway here he is. 

today a rainy gray day. later a walk up the hill to deliver some eggs. 

when the real crisis starts

an entirely written in the morning blogpost (excepting the following quote he wrote down in his diary last night).

'a piece of writing is a whole that proceeds as a whole - it never presents itself as a matter of choice...' 

- marguerite duras, practicalities. 

forever war (the stupidest war ever)

horsemouth has said he thinks the current gulf war is the stupidest war ever. unlike the war of jenkins ear it is not the pretext for this war that is stupid, it is the complete failure to think through the consequences.

horsemouth fails to see whose strategic interests it serves and for this reason he thinks it is the stupidest war ever. 

the israelis have lunched their reliable ally status with the US. the US has lunched its reliable ally and hegemon status with the rest of the world by precipitating an oil (diesel) crisis without any clear way out. it is a forever war in which the enemy cannot be dislodged from their fortress and that fortress controls a vital strategic asset. 

the full effects of the crisis have not appeared yet because the world is running on its reserves of diesel. when the reserves are gone the real crisis starts. 

when the real crisis starts

production and distribution can happen because of energy - you need energy to get the workers to work and to  run the factories, and diesel (in particular) to transport the finished goods to market.  a major part of any saleable item in a globalised economy is the transport costs, if these rise (as they will) this will drive up inflation and thus interest rates and thus reduce investment into the economy and drive up unemployment as demand falls.

(horsemouth should really talk to his brother's eldest about this - it's his area of expertise). 

as usual the rich are well placed to ride this out (and indeed will make more money out of the crisis to the extent that they are invested in oil) but the poor of all countries will take the beating. 

the suffering will be pretty much incalculable. 

now the US as a country (as the world's reserve currency and net energy exporter) is well placed to ride this out, the other countries of the world that are not oil or gas producers will take a beating. 

it could be argued that this is a blow against china (and, as a by-blow, other far east economies) in the sense that this is where the oil from the strait of hormuz goes - but no, china has far greater oil reserves than the US and is better placed to ride it out. 

arguably russia is one of the few countries to do better out of the crisis - it gets an export market for its oil and gas. (the people of russia do not benefit from this, the oil and gas they would have used gets exported)

but (similar to covid, the 2008 financial crisis, the ukraine war gas price shock) things that harm the global economy can have side effects in terms of weaning states and populations off oil and driving the electrification of the economy. of course the economic effects of the crisis will limit the ability of the governments, companies, people,  to electrify their energy supply or require greater effort to do so. 

there is the further benefit that the production and consumption that does not happen does not generate the CO2 it would have generated which is then not dumped in the atmosphere, does not contribute to global warming etc. 

further, while gas supplies from the US will drive the EU towards them the knowledge that it was the US that kicked off this crisis will drive the EU (and the rest of the world) away and towards greater independence from the US.

of course horsemouth may just be overthinking it. the direct benefactors are the oil companies (who can now charge a much higher price for their product) and the states that produce oil and gas (and who can get their oil and gas to market). 

we may just have witnesses the beginning of the fall of the US as world hegemon. this does not mean that china will simply and directly replace it or that the world will become multipolar (a bloodbath of competing powers). 

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

ok having opened up this issue horsemouth will return to it soon. 

the apocalyptic warning of m. segalot

so this is an entirely written in the morning blogpost benefitting in full from horsemouth's wit and perspicacity...

it should be very short then (is all horsemouth can say).

well he's had the first cup of coffee and is progressing rapidly through the second. 

yesterday he read a little in the french to perform some dialogues for far future village band. he focused in on the madison scene from jean-luc goddard's bande à part. in particular he focused in on the apocalyptic warning of m. segalot.

'oh my poor friend. empires are falling. republics likewise...' 

'bravo m. segalot. ca c'est du meuble.' 

in keeping with the maritime theme of recent far future village band songs (though quite how this can be made to fit into the story horsemouth is unsure) he attempted most of the first verse of paul valéry's  le cimetière marin (the cemetery by the sea but it might as well be the cemetery in the sea). 

he also attempted a few lines from jacques attali's bruits (noise) on the round dance (viewed as annunciatory of the new political economy of music). 

he's hoping the bande à part will fit into an already recorded bar scene with accordions. he's hoping the attali and the valéry will insipire more music.  

he found a book of french proverbs from before the 15th century (formerly the property of birkbeck library) and cassell's colloquial french (a handbook of idiomatic usage). 

rob has proposed taking a crack at le bateau ivre (the drunken boat) but it's very long and complicated. the pogues robbed a verse from it (drunken boat for the 1993 album waiting for herb) but in a bit of a cack handed fashion in horsemouth's opinion. léo ferré set the poem into music also using  two first quatrains as a chorus (this might be more possible - nice ouai on it too). 

there's a strong rhyme scheme (an alexandrine) and it all seems fairly regular. (horsemouth thinks you might get it over the junction signal). 

an entirely written in the morning blogpost (except for this line)

the commons water society

so last night horsemouth went to a meeting of the commons water society (and very good it was too).

things progress on keenly. the water supply is getting out from under its section 18 order but it will cost money to do this (which has to be raised). fortunately the sums to do it are not huge (at least in this incarnation) and the members are (mostly) reasonably well heeled. horsemouth thinks it should be possible to prevent a tragedy of the commons. 

the members of the committee are very smart and competent bringing plenty of skills to the table. 

horsemouth can't help but compare this situation with the communal endeavour. he should send them an email to see how it is going. 

at the end horsemouth got a lift back (having taken a torch and prepared himself for a walk back across the common). 

so this is an entirely written in the morning blogpost (except for this line).

horsemouth is up and has been out to feed the chickens in the dark. his body is waking him up at 6.30 for some reason and by then it is still dark (and will be increasingly so). 

horsemouth and his mum an nibbling at the heating and will soon have to move on to lighting the fire in the evening. in a way this would be horsemouth's preferred option for heating the house - it saves on expensive fuel oil, they have a shed full of wood and it looks good. the fly in the ointment is the time when his mum is cooking (and then when they are both doing the washing up) before his mum sits down to watch tv or read is quite long. this means the time for his mum to sit near the fire is comparatively short. 

in which it will all sort itself out

horsemouth is waiting for the arrival of the far future village band III radioactive reptile bootleg CD to come. he's got his eyes out for the postie. 

soon there will be the far future village band IV CD and download. this last he imagines it will come with a booklet and he can get some copies of it made and get into distributing them round. 

rob has proposed taking a crack at le bateau ivre (horsemouth thinks this is a bit ambitious). 

horsemouth 'an angry prophet denouncing the hypocrisies of our times'

 'a book which goes backwards and forwards, advances and retreats,,,' 

- abram tertz (andrei sinyavsky - birthday today), a voice from the chorus. 

excepting the above a wholly written in the morning blogpost.

ok and excepting this...

horsemouth has been trying out a robbie basho guitar tuning (an open Gm/D - dgbflatgbflatd) and most trance inducing it is too. 

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

the night before horsemouth watched network (1976). practically every line made him chortle. 

this morning he was haunted by the junction signal by blyth power. he also had a dream where he was trying to buy two vegetable samosas but the correct money would not be found in his pockets and there was a big queue waiting behind him. junction signal belongs to a very specific part of horsemouth's life (as does the zimbabwean tune take cover that was bothering him also). 

he awoke early and went and fed the chickens in the dark. he turned on the heating. 

himself and rob are coming to the end of their campaign on far future village band IV, they have enough songs for the album, and, with the addition of the accordion they are all sounding great. horsemouth would probably nip and tuck a few of his 'performances' (left to himself) but rob is more an 'honour your mistakes as your secret intention' man. 

this evening the commons water society meeting. 

psychic abilities (birth of liquid plejades)

today is judee sill's birthday. today grey all day (it looks like). 

'judee developed her psychic abilities at this time and became a gifted reader of tarot cards...'

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

excepting the above an entirely written in the morning blogpost

during horsemouth's chat with mike the concept of a boo-leader became important (not a cheer-leader but a boo-leader). here we were, endlessly pointing out the ways in which society was bad. 'you. yes you. boo. you suck...' and so on. 

coming up abram tertz (andrei sinyavsky)'s birthday. horsemouth has started collecting quotes and re-reading a voice from the chorus.

how paranoid is horsemouth? 

when the platform pacer (on his recent journey to cheltenham) said he used to work in cheltenham horsemouth only really knew GCHQ as an employer in cheltenham, he therefore assumed he was dealing with some signals intelligence spy type (probably hacking his laptop while he was using it on the train). by way of comparison the old dude on the bus, the young engineer in abergavenny, horsemouth does not suspect of perfidy. 

hmmm

something has complicated his mood

maybe this is the right thing for it (he listened to it last night)

tangerine dream's birth of liquid plejades

edgar froese – christopher franke – peter baumann

with additional musicians

florian fricke of popol vuh– moog synthesizer

steve schroyder (earlier member) – organ outro

the cello intro played by

christian vallbracht

joachim von grumbkow; credited as jochen von grumbcow; co-founder of hoelderlin

hans joachim brüne

johannes lücke

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

ok just heard the version of trois matelots (3 sailors dance) with accordion (it sounds rocking!).