from the oblique plucking of a string

opening sequence of peter jackson's heavenly creatures - 1994
cinematography by alun bollinger

(title from old man ponge)

the sounds of the sounds of the sounds of the sounds

twenty three recordings of reality by jean painlevé

lighting on the printless verdure (and at a great distance all appear alike)

and at a great distance all appear alike. the sea, however, is said to be blue one day and green another without any perceptible change in the atmosphere. some consider blue 'to be the colour of pure water'...


lying between the heavens it partakes the colour of both...


some have referred this to the reflection of the verdure; and it may be simply the result of the prevailing blue mixed with the yellow of sand.


... or because there is more light mixed with it, it appears at a little distance of a darker blue than the sky itself; and at such a time, being on its surface, and looking with divided vision, so as to see the reflection, i have discerned a matchless and indescribable light blue, such as watered or changeable silks and sword blades suggest, more cerulean than the sky itself...
...
yet a single glass of its water held up to light is as colourless as an equal quantity of air.
henry david thoreau - the ponds

images - r.p. leitch - a course of water colour painting - londres - 1883

—

the light of the sun or the moon, seen in a place from which they are invisible and one cannot discern the source of the light; a place only partly illuminated by such light; the reflection of such light, and the various material effects derived from it; the penetration of such light into places where it becomes uncertain and obstructed, and is not easily made out, as through a cane brake, in a wood, through half closed shutters, etc., etc., the same light in a place, object, etc., where it does not enter and strike directly, reflected and diffused by some other place or object, etc., where does it strike; in a passageway seen from inside or outside, places where the light mingles, etc., etc., with the shadows, as under a portico, in a high overhanging loggia, among rocks and gullies, in a valley, on hills seen from the shady side so that their crests are gilded; the reflection produced, for example, by a coloured pane of glass on those objects on which the rays passing through that glass are reflected; all those objects, in a word, that by means of various materials and minimal circumstances come to our sight, hearing, etc., in a way that is uncertain, indistinct, imperfect, incomplete, or out of the ordinary.
giacomo leopardi - zibaldoni

images - aaron e. penley - the english school of painting in water colours: its theory and practice. with the several stages of progression - 1861

—

leaf rubbing & leaf imprint

—

froebelian drawings - perforated paper in the form of a leaf

—

...the more vague and imprecise language is, the more poetic it becomes...
italian is the only language in which the word vago (vague) also means "lovely, attractive." starting out from the original meaning of "wandering", the word vago still carries an idea of movement and mutability, which in italian is associated both with uncertainty and indefiniteness and with gracefulness and pleasure.
italo calvino - exactitude from six memos for the next millenium

—

(for patrick farmer and sarah hughes the wonderful beings behind compost & height, who very much inspired the leopardi and calvino, and quite possibly the thoreau *)

((all images from the book la infancia de las vanguardias - cátedra - 2007))

to the finder. remember me.

brother charles ferdinand ganebin - ca. 1935

stereoview of the inside of church family school - ca. 1870

charles brown - to the finder. remember me.
letter - june 30, 1871

brother ricardo belden - ca. 1958

1786 meetinghouse at hancock, massachusetts
1938 (taken during its dismantling)

poplar bark/populus tremuloides - chest detail
mount lebanon, ny - ca. 1815

ethel (left) and alice smith (right) - ca. 1895

portrait of edward deming and faith andrews - ca. 1922

western union telegram - sent to edward deming andrews

to the finder. remember me.
when this is found most likeley
i within my grave shall sleep
and ore my head light zephyrs lull
to [make] the mourner weep
but may it be in some far clime
remote from these bare hills
in some lo[w] del or shining nook
or by the running rills.
for these bare hills i have dred
my soul disdaineth myrth
and may god deliver me
from living a hell on earth.
charles brown
june 30, 1871

images and text from gather up the fragments, yale university press, 2008

à la recherche de la guitare perdue - la première partie - dark was the night

- robbie basho - the seal of the blue lotus - takoma - 1965
- robbie basho - the grail and the lotus - takoma - 1966
- robbie basho - basho sings! - takoma - 1967
- robbie basho - the falconer’s arm, volumes 1 & 2 - takoma - 1967
- robbie basho - venus in cancer - blue thumb - 1969
- robbie basho - song of the stallion - takoma - 1971
- robbie basho - visions of the country - windham hill - 1978

- the birdtree - orchards & caravans - last visible dog
- the ivytree - winged leaves - catsup plate - 2004

- sir richard bishop - salvador kali - revenant - 1998
- sir richard bishop - plays sun city girls - no-fi - 2005
- sir richard bishop - vault volumes 1-3 - s/r - 2006
- sir richard bishop - all strung out - s/r - 2006
- sir richard bishop - fingering the devil - latitudes - 2006

- james blackshaw - lost prayers and motionless dances - tompkins square - 2004/2008
- james blackshaw - sunshine - tomkins square - 2005/2008
- james blackshaw - walking into sleep - göteberg, 27,05,06 - kning disk - 2006
- james blackshaw - o true believers - important records - 2006
- james blackshaw - the cloud of unknowing - tompkins square - 2007
- james blackshaw - litany of echoes - tompkins square - 2008

- kath bloom - come here
- kath bloom & loren mazzacane connors - 1981-1984 - megalon records - 2000
- kath bloom & loren mazzacane connors - sing the children over - ambiguous - 1982
- kath bloom - terror - chapter music - 2008
- bill callahan - the breeze/my baby cries from loving takes this course - a tribute to the songs of kath bloom - chapter music - 2009

- sandy bull - fantasias for guitar & banjo - vanguard - 1963
- sandy bull - inventions - vanguard - 1964
- sandy bull - e plurubus unum - vanguard - 1968

- bill callahan - sometimes i wish we were an eagle - drag city - 2009


- loren chasse - works (especially amazing live performance with steve roden using large metal fan-like rotating device to drone guitar, some of the best guitar playing i have ever seen)

- clear horizon - clear horizon - kranky - 2003

- bon iver - for emma, forever ago - jagjaguwar/4ad - 2008
- bon iver - blood bank - jagjaguwar - 2009
- bon iver - brackett, wi + big red machine - from dark was the night - 4ad - 2009
- bon iver - the park (live on triple j) - 2009

- boris - pink - diwphalanx records - 2005 (mellow tracks)
- boris - sound track from film "mabuta no ura" - essence music - 2005 (mellow tracks)
- boris with michio kurihara - rainbow - drag city - 2007 (mellow tracks)
- boris - smile - diwphalanx records - 2008 (mellow tracks)

- john fahey - fonotone recordings 1958-1962 - fonotone records
- john fahey - death chants, breakdowns, and military waltzes - takoma - 1963/1967
both rereleased by fantasy in 1998
- john fahey - red cross (recorded 2000-2001) - revenant - 2003

- jackson c. frank - blues run the game - castle music - 1965/2003

- chico hamilton - the original ellington suite with eric dolphy - pacific jazz - 1958
- chico hamilton - the complete pacific jazz recordings of the chico hamilton quintet - mosaic records - 1997
especially the track blue sands, found also in the film jazz on a summer's day - 1969

- homegas - homegas (produced by john fahey) - takoma - 1970

- giuseppe ielasi - aix - 12k - 2009 (track 9)

- bert jansch - bert jansch - transatlantic - 1965
- bert jansch - it don't bother me - transatlantic - 1965
- bert jansch - jack orion - transatlantic - 1966
- bert jansch and john renbourn - bert and john - transatlantic - 1966
- bert jansch - nicola - transatlantic - 1967
- bert jansch - birthday blues - transatlantic - 1969
- bert jansch - rosemary lane - transatlantic - 1971
- bert jansch - l.a. turnaround - charisma - 1974

- blind willie johnson - dark was the night - 1928
- ry cooder - dark was the night - from paris texas - warner bros - 1990
- kronos quartet - dark was the night - from dark was the night - 4ad - 2009

- leo kottke - 6 and 12 string guitar - takoma - 1969

- bruce langhorne - the hired hand - blastfirstpetite - 1971/2005/2007

- gordon lightfoot - complete greatest hits - rhino entertainment company - 2002

- willie nelson - country willie - his own songs - rca - 1965
- willie nelson - yesterday's wine - justice records - 1971
- willie nelson - shotgun willie - atlantic - 1973
- willie nelson - phases and stages - atlantic - 1974
- willie nelson - red headed stranger - columbia - 1975
- willie nelson - troublemaker - columbia - 1976
- willie nelson - stardust - columbia - 1977
- willie nelson - crazy: the demo sessions - sugar hill - 2003
- willie nelson - the ghost, part one through three - masked weasel - 2005
- willie nelson - he was a friend of mine - from brokeback mountain - 2005

- the north sea & rameses iii - night of the ankou - type recordings - 2006

- pentangle (bert jansch, john renbourn) - the pentangle - transatlantic records - 1968
- pentangle - sweet child - transatlantic records - 1968
- pentangle - basket of light - transatlantic records - 1969
- pentangle - cruel sister - transatlantic records - 1970
- pentangle - reflection - transatlantic records - 1971
- pentangle - solomon's seal - reprise records - 1972
- pentangle - lost broadcasts: 1968-1972 - hux records - 2004
- pentangle - the time has come: 1967-1973 - sanctuary records - 2007

- stefano pilia - action silence prayer - die schachtel - 2007


- popol vuh (guitar daniel fichelscher) - aguirre - spv recordings - 1972/2004
- popol vuh - nosferatu: the vampyre - spv recordings - 1978/2004
- popol vuh - sei still, wisse ich bin - spv recordings - 1981/2006
- popol vuh - fitzcarraldo - spv recordings - 1982/2005
- popol vuh - letzte tage - letzte nächte - spalax music - 1992
- popol vuh - perlenklänge – the best of popol vuh - ohr - 1992

- django reinhardt - django reinhardt & stephane grappelly with the hot club of france: souvenirs - decca - 1988
- django reinhardt - the complete django reinhardt hmv sessions - mosaic records - 1999
- django reinhardt - djangology 10cd set - membran music ltd. - 2005

- steve roden - works

- seaworthy - 1897 - 12k - 2009

- slowdive - just for a day - castle music - 1991/2005

- göran söllscher - bach: cello suites (transcriptions for guitar)

- sons of the pioneers (leonard slye, karl farr, doye o'dell, roy lanham, etc.) - wagons west (1945-1954) - bear family - 1996

- sssd - (taku sugimoto, martin siewert, burkhard stangl, werner dafeldecker) - home - grob - 2002

- sunn o))) & boris - altar - southern lord/inoxia records - 2006/2007

- taku sugimoto - opposite - hat hut records - 1998

- souled american - notes campfire - moll tonträger - 1996
- scott tuma - hard again - truckstop - 2001
- scott tuma - the river 1 2 3 4 - truckstop - 2003
- scott tuma - not for nobody - digitalis - 2008

- peter walker - rainy day raga - vanguard - 1967
- peter walker - second poem to karmela or gypsies are important - vanguard - 1969
- peter walker - long lost tapes 1970 - tomkins square - 2009
- peter walker - echo of my soul - tompkins square - 2008

- peter wright - pariahs sing om: collected drone poems 2000-2003 - last visible dog - 2003
- peter wright - distant bombs - last visible dog - 2004
- peter wright - desolation beauty violence - ikuisuus - 2005
- peter wright - yellow horizon - pseudoarcana - 2005
- peter wright - unvarnished, untreated, unzipped - the seedy r! - 2006
- peter wright - red lion - digitalis recordings - 2006
- peter wright - at last a new dawn - students of decay - 2007


- neil young - neil young (with ry cooder) - reprise - 1968
- neil young - everybody knows this is nowhere - reprise - 1969
- neil young - after the gold rush - reprise - 1970
- neil young - harvest - reprise - 1972
- neil young - journey through the past soundtrack - reprise - 1972
- neil young - time fades away (live) - reprise - 1973
- neil young - on the beach - reprise - 1974
- neil young - tonight's the night - reprise - 1975
- neil young - zuma - reprise - 1975
- the stills-young band - long may you run - reprise - 1976
- neil young - american stars 'n bars (includes will to love + like a hurricane) - reprise - 1977
- neil young - chrome dreams (unreleased) - 1977
- neil young - decade - reprise - 1977
- neil young - comes a time - reprise - 1978
- neil young - rust never sleeps - reprise - 1979
- neil young - live rust - reprise - 1979
- neil young - hawks & doves - reprise - 1980
- neil young - arc & weld - reprise - 1991
- neil young - dead man soundtrack - vapor - 1996
- neil young - live at the fillmore east 1970 - reprise - 2006
- neil young - live at massey hall 1971 - reprise - 2007

- richard youngs - sapphie - oblique - 1998
- richard youngs - airs of the ear - jagjaguwar - 2003
- richard youngs - the naive shaman - jagjaguwar - 2005

- townes van zandt - for the sake of the song - poppy, tomato - 1968
- townes van zandt - our mother the mountain - tomato - 1969
- townes van zandt - townes van zandt - poppy, tomato - 1969
- townes van zandt - delta momma blues - tomato - 1971
- townes van zandt - high, low and in between - rhino, tomato - 1972
- townes van zandt - the late great townes van zandt - tomato - 1972
- townes van zandt - a gentle evening with townes van zandt live 1969- dualtone music group - 2002
- townes van zandt - great american music hall, san francisco - 1995

- various - wooden guitar - locust music - 2003
with jack rose, steffen basho-junghans, tetuzi akiyama, sir richard bishop

(some guitar music i have been
surrounding myself and young gossamer with lately)
((as always, thanks to d. granahan and the lighttowlers for many suggestions,
and all the great music sites/blogs out there for too many ideas))
(((my baby cries when she's tired, my puppy howls with the moon
i think i know the dark as well as you do, i think i know it very well)))

and diamond drops turned to half-liquid pearls, and the water went to sleep

joseph goold - watered cross effect
(drawing realised with a harmonograph)
from harmonic vibrations and vibration figures
london, newton & co. - 1909

from every leaf and petal of these, from every branch-tip and tendril, dropped bright water. it gathered slowly at each point, but the points were so many that there was a constant musical plashing of diamond rain upon the still surface...
george macdonald - cross purposes

floating in the air above out of which it has arisen

—

oskar fischinger - wax experiments - 1923-1927

—

oskar fischinger - an optical poem - 1938

—

mary ellen bute - tarantella - 1940

—

annie besant & charles leadbetter - thought-forms - 1847-1933

mobile color machine

(images for young gossamer)
(luxorgan - mobile color machine)

image 1 - watercolor from the series mathematical abstractions - 1941
image 2 - watercolor for a mobile-color composition - 1934
image 3 - drawing showing wiring connections between keyboard and luxorgan lamps - ca. 1917
image 4 - lamping plan for a later version of the luxorgan - 1920

"from 1917 on, claude bradgon began to develop a systematic technique for using mathematical correlations to harmonize music, geometric form, and color in a new art of 'mobile color'"

image + text found in crystal and arabesque: claude bragdon, ornament, and modern architecture - univ. of pittsburgh press - 2009

also of interest:
the frozen fountain: being essays on architecture and the art of design in space - alfred a. knopf - 1932

softened melody

from the railroad station in the distance came the sound of shunting trains, ringing and rumbling, softened almost into melody by the distance. my wife pointed out to me the brightness of the red, green, and yellow signal lights hanging in a framework against the sky. it seemed so safe and tranquil.

- h.g. wells - the war of the worlds - 1898
photo taken 12.19.(year undetermined) at pt reyes lighthouse by bolesław okoniewski

bird with the shoe-button eyes

joseph cornell - cotillion - c. 1938
cinematography - larry jordan

"a room in third avenue"
nostalgic thoughts most of day
working in cellar on new bird box

october 3, 1949

—

in the quince tree petals making a medieval tapestry of the lawn

resolution of mean mood in cellar, approaching the sublime "early morning" of monday and tuesday - birds under the quince tree in early summer shadows sun gradually illuminating the quiet atmosphere of the rustic effects, birds and feeding etc.

5/26/56

—

leaving city in autumnal mood - crisper than seasonal - sunlight with that almost hazy aspect of autumn - foliage of bryant park - beautifully poetic mood

aug. 23. 1956

—

the early mornings are incredibly sweet, what sunny ones there are, with the first flush of sun the inevitable array of squirrel, starling, sparrow, jay amidst the "rustiv effects" uncer the chinese quince tree. ondine's thrush made an spring appearance, has not been heard (or seen) from since.

8/29/56

—

tiny beads of rain nestling in cupped green leaves - some larger resembling quicksilver in their substance and movement and shape but then the discovery that they were miniature crystal balls reflecting the sky.

july 2, 1946

text from joseph cornell: theater of the mind, selected diaries, letters, and files - thames & hudson - 1993