RIGHT NOW

I am sat in bed, drinking coca cola and listening to the MUSEUMS COMPILATION ahead of it's completion (one last track to come, imagine SILK FLOWERS sandwiched between WAITERS and ROLLIN HUNT) and it is AMAZING in every way.

THANK YOU C.O.A.T. THANK YOU FRIENDS. 

Also, due to life situations, MUSEUMS ONE has no choice but to be ready by the end of the month. (i mean it this time...) party plans forthcoming. 

LOVE. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

GIFTS

80% photocopied (A5 zine "REASONS" 12 pages, drawings & a photograph; A3 poster of JD Salinger (r.i.p) / flip side = excerpt from "Franny and Zooey" + SPT ticket as bookmark; "The Twelve Healers" content page; 1/10 from "Track Plans"; "Part One: Two Thousand Years of Counting Sheep", 3400 words) 

20% originals (1/10 postcards from "A Pictorial History of The Isle of Man Steam Packet Ships" w/ handwritten message (eg. "dear true love, will you miss me when i'm gone" "dear beyonce knowles, you are my spirit sister" "dear everyone i have ever known, i am sorry for everything (still)" ) ; 1/10 pages w/ typewritten, letraset or handwritten characters, using excess paper that was once used to print "These Are The Coolest Things Ever" (r.i.p) of 08/09)

Wrapped in an A3 photocopy of a collage which got left in photocopier No. 6.

Available from GOOD GRIEF, £4. 

MOLLY'S FUNERAL

This is a photograph of photographs from the second to last funeral that I went to. It is hopefully the last photograph of photographs because I am soon to inherit the Higgins family scanner, Ma & Pa are upgrading.

This is a photograph of the Twelve Healers, a very special little book which is on it's way, second class mail to JULIA SCOTT, of Glasgow and recently of Berlin, she is home safe now but we still miss her dearly south of the border.

The contents of which are remedies for the following;

- For Fear

- For Uncertainty

- For Insufficient Interest in Present Circumstances

- For Loneliness

- For Those Over-sensitive to Influences and Ideas

- For Despondency or Despair

- For Overcare for Welfare of Others

Expect a fanzine... soon.

This is a photograph of balls of clothes which were ready to be Tie-Dyed with bleach, very cool right now.

This is a photograph of a full run (41) of Marks & Spencers Sponsors Mark Ronson, DAVID BAILEY's top Clahs comic for MUSEUMS.

This is a photograph of all three of Tim Lahan's posters, screenprinted by myself and LUCY JONES, all folded and numbered, also 41 of each, ready to hang out with Dave's comic & the book from the previous post, all 41 copies of which are now stitched (with the help of MIRIAM AVERY) and ready to be bound.

This is a photograph of the red whistling kettle which Miriam got me for christmas. It is my pride and joy. Miriam & I recently played records at KATY FLYNN's birthday hoedown, which took place at Islington Mill, also on the bill was Irma Vep, Waiters & Former Bullies, who played all the hits and a sweet time was had by all. AVERY & HIGGINS would be interested in DJing again, we have many good qualities to offer.

Also in the news; a few people's favourite show HEROES is back to much relief and excitement, gracing everyone's saturday night with more drama than you'll ever find at TigerTiger. I will be going to PERRY & LAETITIA'S later today to watch it and drink Coca Cola, P&T managed to brave the digital switchover and post a really nice end of year list on their blog, as well as working on some sweet tape releases for 2010, AND compile their best mix yet LOVE MEANS GOOD NEWS FOR YOU. Yes!  Also on our TV schedule, MADMEN returns to screens this Wednesday... double Yes!

See picture evidence for MUSEUMS progress, all components are completed (or there abouts..) and ready to go, there is still work to do, the screenprinted gatefold sleeves for example (big job), but it is on it's way, work has been slow due to 

a) christmas

b) being snowed in (or ... out) for a week

c) the laziest holiday ever. Yes, I am on HOLIDAY, which has, thus far, meant a week off work to lie in bed, fine dine, run a few life errands, crash the Alan Fletcher opening at CUBE gallery (to mixed reviews, I thought it was fine and fully accept the inescapable downfalls of an extensive retrospective) and a trip back home for an injection (into my SHOULDER BONE, leaving my left arm out of action) and to visit my pa, who was in bed, so I ate crisps alone and watched half an episode of the Gilmore Girls.

Other exciting things are; THIS WEBSITE, a full archive of J.D Salinger writings, most importantly (to me) unanthologised works that can only be read in print if you a) lived fifty years ago & bought The New Yorker alot, or b) had the means to fork out a lot of money for back issues. THE COLLECTED STORIES OF LORRIE MOORE, which only set me back 80p and has every short story Moore has ever written including four stories which haven't been in any anthology previous, it is beautiful, tragic and funny. Spending money on records rather than rent (notably an original of THIS which has recently been reissued by Mississipi Records, found for £4 during a near clockwork weekly visit to King Bee with M.Avery (we mean it about the DJing..) and of course, SEINFELD series one through four and counting. Christmas was good too.

DECEM-BROTHER

So the past week and a bit (and kind of the past month or more) has been spent slicing the hell out of hundreds of sheets of paper, watching my printer develop alzheimers while it chews and chews at all my hard work and shoulder pain (really! yeeeeeowch!), taking about ten trips to clahs ohlson for craft paper and ink, ordering more ink and more paper over the internet, feeling sick from having too much ink and too much paper but not enough food and "HELPING YOURSELF IS NOT A SIN: TRANSCRIPTS FROM THE "SHARON MAYFIELD TEACHES YOU HOW TO LIVE AND GET TO KNOW YOURSELF ALONG THE WAY" TAPE SERIES" but moreso "REASONS TO KEEP QUIET" in all those early hours.

Hooowwwweeeeevvvveerrrrrrrr

THIS is the very first completed and stitched and trimmed and bound copy of MUSEUMS 001.

Look at my hands, look how much bigger it is than my hands! That's big! It is approximately 12" wide and 11.75" tall, about a quarter inch thick and 46 pages long. FOUR of those pages hang out slap bang in the centre and are a seriously beautiful fold out spread of drawings by LUCY JONES depicting the HEROES OF NIAGARA FALLS (look forward to that, mamas and papas!), which can be seen printing in the photograph below

THEEEE Office! which is probably tidier in this photograph (believe it or not) than it has been in a while, not that I am a particularly messy person, just that t

he printing and the paper and the ink has mostly been my life and i live much of my life on the floor, beneath the table is a monstrous box full of 40 fully collated sets of prints ready to have the LJ drawings slotted in and be STITCHED. The second printer over there is designated for DAVID BAILEY'S new comic MARKS AND SPENCERS SPONSORS MARK RONSON, which is  halfway printed already and RIDICULOUSLY FUNNY. Dave has also just opened a shop in AFFLECKS PALACE, it's called GOOD GRIEF and is the most exciting thing to happen in a while.

There are also two waste paper bags, two heavy things for trying to flatten paper that was once rolled, another box full of paper, a rug which needs respreading, more rolls of paper and a binbag and letterpress machine that have nothing to do with the zine. What's not in this picture but very much part of the MUSEUMS BEDROOM OFFICE is a very big cutting mat, a two foot long rule, a verr swish rotary blade, two big packages of A1 greyboard, pencils and rubbers, one template for cutting, one template for stitching, about a million different scraps of paper and mock ups of the sleeve, a thick thick needle, a big dried out ball of white tac, thread and two paper clips. as well as a load of newsprint and two/three screenprinted posters, but they're not here right now.

Street date? we'll see.

Here is a picture of my christmas tree, which is the other thing I dragged and decorated since you' been gone.

HANG TIGHT!

TOTAL GNARL

I was going to make a cushion cover but instead  i made a collage. T.F.I.Sunday huh!?

TATTOO PARTY.

dear diary,

the well ran dry yesterday and museums work is on halt now until.... monday! what'll i do next? gee!

ALOHA

SO the internet hiatus has finally come to a close, flat eight is now online. surf's up! initiating new food blog "what i ate at flat eight"; "how hot, how cold"; "find the loo roll" ; "pet cemetary" and my favourite "things that should go in the bathroom bin if we had a bathroom bin"

but mostly it means no more picture only/in a rush blog post and back to the old DEAR DIARY format.

HOT TAMALE!, next step is to find scan capability. 

in other news, those are two paintings for MUSEUMS 001, which, (since you' been gone) has been roaring ahead and hopefully through a mixture of late nights, mutual favours, self imposed bankrupcy and one visit back to the old house should be done SOON, hopefully before christmas, 

NO NEED TO HIT UP DEBENHAMS GUYS AND GALS, PRE-ORDER IT NOW!

if you've forgot, my e-mail address is jhessiggins@hotmail.co.uk,

DO IT

TWO POSTERS

is all

I'M SORRY FOR EVERYTHING, IDEALLY TWO TEALIGHTS, WELCOME HOME AGAIN, FOX HUNTING, THANK YOU, WE WERE WRONG ABOUT OURSELVES, WHAT MIGHT'VE BEEN A GREAT DEN, DEAR MINDY IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT, MOSTLY BAD DAYS, YOU BROKE MY HEART AND I CANNOT FORGIVE YOU FOR THAT, SOMETIMES IT'S HARD, I DO NOT FEEL PEACEFUL TODAY IT MIGHT NOT BE A GOOD ONE, WE DO NOT MAKE IT EASY FOR OURSELVES, EVERYBODY WANTS TO GO HOME, DEAR MINDY YOU NEVER MADE ME HAPPY, DEAR MINDY I'M NOT SORRY THAT I LIED, DEAR MINDY, YOU WEREN'T ENOUGH FOR ME, DEAR MINDY IT WASN'T OKAY, DEAR MINDY YOUR MOTHER IS NOT A GOOD WOMAN, DEAR MINDY I DON'T REALLY HAVE A SLEEPING PROBLEM, DEAR MINDY I'VE BEEN DRINKING ALOT LATELY, DEAR MINDY THAT PERM NEVER SUITED YOU, TOUCH , FIREWORKS 

WE        ARE      MEAN

FENG SHUI