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.