a hot day (lammas/ anniversary of the release of musicians of bremen volume four)

it is the fourth anniversary of the release of musician's of bremen's album volume four (or it will be tomorrow)

horsemouth hasn't worked out anything to do to celebrate. it is in any event lammas the next turn of the wheel of the year (or it will be tomorrow).  

yesterday

the engineer's visit for the broadband and the phoneline went well (horsemouth thinks). 

he blamed the poor quality of the sound on the phone (it was a hot day so horsemouth did not remember to point out that the sound was just as shit on the second phone). the guy argued that the router should be downstairs next to the main input (and so indeed it now is). should people wish for ethernet connections then they'll just have to sort it out themselves. 

the phone up in the office seems to be out. he was gone before horsemouth noticed this. it seems to horsemouth that people can use zoom or some kind of internet telephony or use their mobiles (if there's any signal). 

horsemouth's mum has noticed a leak from the black alkathene pipe feeding the water trough up on the banking. they have been visited by people from the commons water people and they have clamped the pipe to reduce the flow. horsemouth will now go and purchase a valve, an insert and then with his trusty hacksaw saw through the pipe and fit the new valve. hopefully that will all go ok. 

there's no particular need for the water trough - such sheep as visit will be fine without it. if the leak can only be reduced that's not fatal either - all it is doing is irrigating a hedge. 

when he is done he will bury the pipe so that it is no longer his problem. 

he says 'feeding the water trough' but in fact horsemouth's father had bodged the repair - unable to find a fitting that would actually work he had just stuck a plastic bag ontop of a cork and hammered it into the pipe. 'a classic john bodge' as the guy from the commons water put it. horsemouth can just imagine his father's fury when the repair wasn't going well and his cackling laughter when he hit upon a bodge for it. 

there's some stuff relating to insurance for mum's car (but horsemouth has farmed that off on his brother). earlier in the baking heat of the day his 80plus year old mum was determined to do some weeding in the garden and it took horsemouth a while to dissuade her. 

(this is probably why he was in such a foul mood most of the day).  

that and the fact that it was hot. the heat is only pleasurable when you have nothing or not much to do (and as you can see horsemouth was a little busy). 

he has the anxieties relevant to the task and some social anxieties round the bell-ringing (it's his turn to buy a round). 

he had a whole book based blog for you but he will do it another time.  ok wish him luck and he will see you on the other side of task hell. 

books, films, gigs, events july 2024

books 

- nlr sidecar review of thomas heise's work and on the french elections

- anna pavord's 'landskipping: painters, ploughmen and places', and, inspired by a reference in it  to 'byng's tours: the journals of the hon. john byng 1781-1792' edited by david souden

- 'the adventure of the boscombe valley mystery' and 'a scandal in bohemia'  some of 12 sherlock holmes short stories in 'the adventures of sherlock holmes'

- archival materials in the exhibition  'organic music societies: don and moki cherry'

-  anna neima's 'the utopians: six attempts to build the perfect society'

-  anastasia curwood, 'the hunter and the farmer: jean toomer's model of masculininty' 

- more in common's report on the general election 2024 and michael gallagher, 2024. election indices dataset

- review of the harry everret smith 'fragments of a faith forgotten' exhibition 

-  LRB blog 'fever dream', william davies 

-  'the teachings of don juan: a yaqui way of knowledge' by carlos castaneda (excepting the structural analysis)

- richard seymour, majority without a mandate (nlr) and james butler 'what is a majority for?' (lrb)

- the WIRE: interview with the woman from harrga, review of the reissue of john fahey's 'proofs &  refutations',  al karpenter gets an interview. in the november a primer on jazz and poetry. in december a review of a barbara dane movie. 

- NYT 'the nazi jurist who haunts our broken politics' jennefer szalai

gigs

ruth crawford-seeger 'three chants for women's chorus' at the QEH foyer

films

- some wes anderson paris set thing

- mark gatiss on aubrey beardsley

- the rick beato video, the real reason why music is getting worse, and andy edwards response

-  a prom of orchestral arrangements of nick drake's songs 

- LRB sean o'hagan at the republican national congress

- the estate agent's video for the house on the common

- lots of reaction videos

- LRB the golden notebooks of nadine gordimer and patrick mcguiness 'back to bouillon'. 

horsemouth has lived with the internet for how long now?

yesterday a visit to the queen's wood (horsemouth and his mum had an ice cream). on the way back a stop-off at tescos to buy some food his mum wouldn't have to prepare (but would have to cook anyway).

this followed on from a visit to the ancestors' graves in far off stoke prior. there was an attempt to visit leominster but it was decided that the queenswood would be shadier and more relaxing. (and so it proved). 

the grave yard in stoke prior churchyard provided the opportunity to see who has died of the people mum went to school with, to identify the houses where they lived (and where various relatives lived). in truth horsemouth felt very brave heading out into the heat. 

the internet has been well buggy of late, horsemouth has booked an engineer for the afternoon (let's see if they show up or if the service magically improves itself).

of course the internet is horsemouth's lifeline but it is also his addiction. 

horsemouth has lived with the internet for how long now? (for long enough that he remembers dial-up modems, bulletin boards and netscape). more than half his life. it seems inconceivable not to be able to look literally anything up while recumbent on your bed. it is, in many ways. the technology that made lockdown possible. he barely bothers with the tv and radio. 

it's the morning (a coolish morning). horsemouth has unleashed the chickens and watered the veg. he has also wandered the milk over to the fridge in the garage. today (if horsemouth remembers correctly) a day off. tomorrow the end of the month. thursday more bellringing and the anniversary of the release of musicians of bremen volume four.

in the solitude of the first waking hour

hail the moleman! (horsemouth has said this before)

the moleman is the genius artist and we are all just squatting in the ruin of his genius. 

the devil take your architect and your CD collection. 

horsemouth is typing this into some strange variety of notetaking software (one note) because the pesky internet is off yet again. (garn)

does he have anything deep and meaningful to say? nope. 

so this is NOT 'an entirely written in the morning blogpost' then, is it horsemouth? 

'the grey penumbra of dream persists, and indeed, in the solitude of the first waking hour, consolidates itself.'  - breakfast room, walter benjamin, in one way street. 

this is why the entirely written in the morning blogpost is valuable. 

and here we go.

'keep a bit of internet somewhere safe in case it runs out' (advised a friend).

what would horsemouth do if it all ran on (the internet outage he means)? 

well he'd probably nip back to the city and he'd probably remember the things he has stored locally on his various computers for a rainy day.  for instance he has a copy of one way street by walter benjamin with the susan sontag introduction just sitting there on his dad's old laptop from a previous visit. 

'it is understandable if a person grows tired and takes refuge in death' - walter benjamin, quoted in susan sontag's introduction to his one way street. 

ok the internet is a little buggy this morning but horsemouth seems to be back on (intermittently).

only really august now (and entirely written in the morning blogpost)

an entirely written in the morning blogpost. (it's nice to see the young people dancing to drum and bass, don't be confused though she does start with some electro). 

horsemouth has just been out to the garden and cropped some runner beans and some peas (this follows the lettuce he lifted yesterday). 

the runner beans are disappointing - beautifully coloured but small (he has learnt his lesson the seed pods need to be much more bulbous). the peas he seems to have judged it quite well - a few are drying out but most are succulent and the right size. 

he has his coffee. 

there's only really august now for things to grow in (though the weather can often be decent all the way out through september). that means the second lot of runner beans that he put in (actually the third lot because the first lot were eaten by slugs) will not have time to flower and grow (maybe, if there are any,  they could be mange touted). 

people used to grow runner beans just for the flowers (and horsemouth can see why). 

similarly with the second round of peas. with the carrots and the beetroot he will just have to see. 

with the tomatoes and peppers he may get lucky and get some. green tomatoes can be fried or ripened on window sills. 

it's a beautiful morning. 

yesterday horsemouth's uncle steve visited (one of horsemouth's dad's work colleagues) they chatted and horsemouth showed him where dad's ashes are buried. 

practice, record, release, tour, repeat

'it could be like this on every beach...

and better yet, it wasn't even necessary.

- figure of the mouth' 

this is from an auto-translated facebook photo caption. the photo shows a wire litter basket in the shape of a fish at a beach. 

did horsemouth post the rick beato video (the real reason why music is getting worse)? anyway here's an answer video (by proglord andy edwards). 

broadly horsemouth likes andy's point that bands know that practice, record, release, tour, repeat won't be make them any money anytime soon,  but that they do it anyway (because it's how they like to do things). 

on the other hand being a 'content creator' on youtube will make them money (and get them seen by way more people), andy knows this, but they don't want to do it because it is beneath them (would be horsemouth's view). it is not what musicians are mainly interested in doing. 

horsemouth has come round to the notion of the necessity of supporting other people's musical endeavours. 

but then again it's nearly august and horsemouth has to start getting a move on himself. 

he has of late only really rehearsed eyepennies  (and he hasn't rehearsed the line he really needs to rehearse in there). what else is he going  to bring? well broadbury down and am​á​rach (as long as he gets on and re-learns his guitar parts).  howard was talking about bringing falling snow. 

we are coming up to the anniversary of the release of volume four on august the 1st. horsemouth will have to work out some way to celebrate it. 

musicians of bremen have a gig august 24th down at waterintobeer. they will be going on first. 

yesterday horsemouth got up to very little. he woke up late and wandered about with a slight hangover in the morning and had a snooze in the afternoon. today his uncle steve visits (one of his father's work-mates).   

keep a bit of internet somewhere safe in case it runs out

 'fruit tree...

they'll stand and stare when you're gone...'

nick drake. there was a prom of orchestral arrangements of his songs (and those of his mother molly drake). seemingly the arrangements that were used on the albums themselves by robert kirby were not used unaltered. maybe using some of  the harry robinson arrangement for river man. lots of younger arrangers on the gig sam gale, peter riley and jochen neuffer and tom trapp.  

nick drake was a miss for joe boyd - and he couldn't understand why. the stuff that missed at the time is now famous (vashti bunyan, nick drake), the stuff that was a hit at the time (the incredible string band) is of its time. 

interesting horsemouth experienced an internet outage. he edited some photos, he watched some clips, he has listened to some mp3s. he's back. he'll try again in the morning. 

he has slept in. the internet is still on the blink. horsemouth will have to find the phone numbers to get in touch with them. (phew it has just come back on). 

'keep a bit of internet somewhere safe in case it runs out' advises a friend. 

horsemouth was contemplating having to read actual books, watch tv and write in a physical diary.