essential/random thoughts

Some people have WAY too much time on their hands ...

2007-11-02T13:57:54+01:00

http://www.dangermouse.net/esoteric/

I particularly like the "Whenever" programming language and the "Petrovich" operating system.

A playlist

2007-11-02T11:16:28+01:00

It being 365 days since I last posted anything here, maybe I need something to motivate some regular ramblings! Hardly groundbreaking, I know, but a quick overview of the music I've been listening to may serve as a springboard for other, even more random/rambling thoughts.

Miles Davis "Dark Magus". Typically classified as one of Miles' "difficult" albums (and originally released only in Japan, in spite of having been recorded at the Carnegie Hall in NYC). I know that this is one of the first Miles albums I ever heard ... As an impressionable 18 year old I had a job (in what these days would be called a "gap year") working in the central public library in Belfast. In some ways it was the best job I ever had; my daily routine was to open up the boxes of newly arrived books, etc., check them off against purchase orders and match them up to requests from the library's numerous branches. Fortunately the expected productivity was low, so I could get my "day's" work done in a few hours and spend the rest of the day reading :-)

As well as books, though, I also did the same job with new records that arrived for the music library and was often able to borrow these in pristine condition. One of the albums that I was able to hear by this route was "Dark Magus". At that time I had had little real exposure to jazz, although I knew enough to recognize Miles being an "important" artist. However, prior to hearing "Dark Magus" I suspect that I'd only listened to one or two Miles albums and that those were from the late 50s/early 60s. Not the best preparation, then, for the heavy, electric funk that Miles's band was creating in 1974! With the benefit of 30 years, and a lot of time spent listening to work from throughout Miles's career, I find the music from this period exciting, at times frustrating (especially the sloppy guitar playing), but far more accessible than many critics/experts would have us believe.

If anyone still thinks of "Dark Magus" as a challenge then my next choice is probably one to avoid ...

Henry Cow - Halsteren, Netherlands, 26-Sept-1974 (remastered soundboard tape). From the same tour as the "Groningen" and "Groningen Again" tracks on the "Concerts" album, when HC temporarily excluded Lindsay Cooper from the band and played a series of shows in Holland as a quartet (Frith, Hodgkinson, Greaves, Cutler). As noted on Chris Cutler's website, they weren't able to play any of their existing repertoire without Lindsay, and created something "derived entirely from the first three minutes of an unfinished composition of Tim's (Living In The Heart Of The Beast)". This takes up the first 30 minutes of this recording, follower by a free(r) improv, of similar length. I'll admit that HC are an acquired taste - and that some may be equally deterred by the complexity of their music and by the Socialist Worker nature of the lyrics to some of their vocal pieces. However, having been familiar with their work since 1973 (when the "Leg End" LP first came out) I'll stand by the assertion that I was wont to make to school friends at that time (especially those given to championing the likes of Yes and ELP) that Henry Cow were one of the few truly "progressive" bands of that - or any other - period. It's been a delight over recent years to discover and acquire a significant number of live recordings of the band from early BBC sessions through to their final concerts in 1978.

Phil Lesh & Friends - July 7, 2007 @ The Sweetwater, Mill Valley, CA. My first exposure to the latest lineup of Phil's ensemble (albeit in this case with Barry Sless on guitar rather than Larry Campbell). A good show without being a great one, and I think that it'll take a while to determine how well Jackie Greene fits into the P&F framework. On this evidence at least I don't think that this particular set of friends will reach the dizzying heights often achieved by the "PLQ" lineup (Lesh, Haynes, Herring, Barraco, Molo) from a few years back, or the elegant "rock-jazz" flavour brought to the GD repertoire by the lineup with John Scofield that recorded the "Live At The Warfied" CD/DVD.

Still, its early days for this particular lineup and, much as Barry Sless's playing always impresses me, I think that Larry Campbell's inclusion in the band that's been touring in recent weeks will be a big improvement. Hopefully I'll find myself in the situation where a trip to the US allows me to take in a P&F show - I miss the days when I was travelling regularly to San Francisco and was able to see the PLQ lineup six times over a period of a year (three times at the Warfield, twice at the Greek in Berkeley, once at the Frost Amphitheater at Stanford).

Van Morrison "Still On Top - The Greatest Hits" (3CD version). Far be it from me to deny the Grumpiest Man In Showbusiness a further top-up to his pension fund, but three compilation albums in one year (Best Of Vol.3, At The Movies, and now this one) does seem a little excessive. I was a little put off at first by the non-chronological sequencing but on the basis of a couple of listens it does seem to work. Nice, too, to see that the sleeve notes are written by my former classmate at Belfast Royal Academy, Barry McIlheney!

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Prescient, or what?

2006-11-02T11:46:23+01:00

I was clearing out some folders in my Usenet/Newsgroups application and found the following, written (but never posted) in August 2002. It was responding to a post suggesting that it would be "poetic" if the US was to attack Iraq on September 11th, 2002. This is exactly what I wrote then (even the emphases) ...

Under no circumstances does a military attack on anyone, for whatever reason, count as "poetic". As to the linkage with 9/11/01, I'm not aware of much evidence linking the current Iraqi regime to al-Qaeda (there's much more, for example, linking al-Qaeda to Saudi Arabia - a country regarded for the last half century as the US's ally, and protector of the West's interests in Middle Eastern oil).

(Putting it another way, how would you have reacted if someone from an Islamic country described the events of 9/11 as "poetic"??)

No matter how despicable Saddam Hussein is (which he is), no matter what atrocities he's committed against the people of his own country (which he has), no matter that he initiated a war of aggression against Kuwait a decade ago (which he did), no matter that he has created a military infrastructure which has, or is capable of, developing chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons (which he probably has) .... a US attack on Iraq will be perceived, by millions of people around the world, as another American attack on Islam. On that basis, how much easier will it be for Osama Bin Laden and his followers, or Hamas, or other terrorist organizations, to recruit people willing to commit another 9/11 (or worse)?

Add to that the fact that many of the US's ertwile allies will perceive a US attack on Iraq as (a) GWB "finishing the job his Dad started", (b) GWB fighting the mid-term elections and/or the next presidential elections in the deserts of the Middle East, or (c) the US protecting its long-term supplies of crude oil.

In this situation it barely matters what's right or wrong, or what's true or false ... its all about managing and making the best of highly complex political situations. Military action against Iraq may well be necessary -- that country in particular, and the Middle East in particular, would certainly be a safer place if a more moderate regime was in place in Baghdad. However (and its a big "however"), the advantages have to be weighed up against both the likely and active opposition not just of "Islamic terrorists", but also political distancing of the US from Arab and Islamic countries previously regarded as friendly to the US and the US's traditional Allies in Europe.

I don't have a solution to it - but I do know that unilateral military action against Iraq is not it.

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Where does all the soap go??

2006-10-26T00:21:12+02:00

I've been staying in a hotel in Charleston, SC for the last week. Every morning I open a packet of soap to have a shower, leaving it on the provided soap dish when I'm done - I've used 10% of it at most. Every evening, the 90%-of-a-bar has gone, and a new, wrapped one has appeared in its place.

I can understand that some might like the luxury of fresh soap everyday, but I want to know is what happens to all the 90%-of-a-bars of soap every day? Are they returned to the factory for recycling? Smoothed off, rewrapped, and sent to cheaper hotels? Is there, maybe, a vast landfill somewhere containing nothing but 90%-of-a-bars of soap??

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Just a normal day ...

2006-10-19T00:32:14+02:00

The National Trust is encouraging people to record the activities for yesterday as an historical record of what the country was doing on October 17, 2006 (see http://www.historymatters.org.uk/output/page96.asp). I've summarized my day there, but here's a somewhat expanded record of a slightly out-of-the-ordinary 24hrs (+55 minutes)

5:50am BST. Wake up, shower, coffee
6:35am Drive to Lancaster station
7:15am Train to Manchester Airport (on time)
8:55am Arrive Manchester Airport (10 min late)
9:15am Check in for flight to Chicago
9:40am Join queue for security ...
10:05am ... through security
10:35am Board
11:05am Flight departs (on time)

... next 8hrs 10min spent reading (Lindsey Davis "Last Act In Palmyra", Terry Pratchett "Thud"), writing up notes for work, listening to music (KT Tunstall, Bellowhead, ZZ Top, Robyn Hitchcock, The Mars Volta, Trees) on my iPod, eating medioce food, drinking sem-decent Italian red wine ...

1:15pm CDT. Flight lands at Chicago O'Hare airport (on time). I'm travelling on a new US visa, and had been forewarned that immigration might need to check through paperwork and/or conduct a secondary interview, so I'd booked flights with more time than I'd usually allow for my onward connection
1:40pm Very short queue at immigration, just a very quick check on my visa paperwork, no delays in collecting bags or at customs ... only 5 hours 35 minutes until my connection is due to leave ...
1:45pm Check with airline to see if there's an earlier flight ... there isn't
1:50pm Phone home to let the family know that the first part of my journey is complete
2:30pm In departure terminal, through security, make way to United Red Carpet Club lounge

... next 4hrs spent reading (finishing "Thud", starting Richard Dawkins's "The God Delusion"), checking email, drinking bad coffee ...

6:30pm Go to gate for next flight
6:50pm Board
7:10pm Pilot: "we're just completing paperwork, we'll be on our way in a few minutes"
7:20pm Pilot: "we're just getting maintenance to check a couple of things, we'll be on our way in a few minutes"
7:35pm Pilot: "maintenance says its a no-go ... the airline's locating an alternate aircraft for you"
7:45pm Off the plane ... gate agent says to hang on, they'll have information soon
7:55pm Good news ... flight will leave (from a different gate) at 8:30pm
8:15pm At the new gate ... "Passengers waiting for the flight to Charleston, we'll be boarding you in 15-20 minutes"
8:35pm "Passengers waiting for the flight to Charleston, your flight will now leave from (the original gate) at 9:30"
8:40pm Hungry. Only place to get something quickly is McDonald's :-(
8:45pm Back at the original gate. Screens confirm 9:30 departure.
8:50pm Screens updated - now say 9:10 departure ... seems unlikely, given that there is not yet an airplane there ...
9:10pm Screens now say 9:23 departure ... but still no airplane
9:15pm An airplane, an airplane!
9:25pm Scheduled departure now 10:00
9:30pm I've now been at O'Hare airport for 8hrs 10min - the same time taken to fly from Manchester to Chicago
9:45pm Gate agent "The crew are on board preparing the airplane ... we'll be boarding shortly"
10:05pm Start boarding
10:07pm Passengers are queuing on the jetway ... no-one allowed on the plane yet, they're trying to switch the internal lights on
10:10pm Lights are on, and on we go ...
10:20pm Pull back from the gate

... at this point I must have dozed off, I've no recollection of the plane taxiing away from the terminal or taking off!

1:05am EDT. Pilot announces that we're preparing to land at Charleston
1:10am Plane lands - 2hrs 55min late
1:15am Phew ... Avis desk is still open, pick up keys for rental car
1:16am Waiting at the baggage carousel ...
1:25am ... still waiting ...
1:30am Bags arriving ... mine is fourth to appear :-)
1:45am walk into the Hampton Inn ... 24hrs 10min after leaving home.

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Today's playlist (etc) ...

2006-09-21T10:52:36+02:00

Lined up for today's entertainment-while-working ...

Steve Hillage "GGGGong-Go Long" (2 disc set, live radio broadcasts from 1977 and 1979)
Colourbox "Colourbox" (a favorite for many years, finally upgraded from cassette to CD - even though, irritatingly, the CD version omits 3 tracks from the double-play cassette edition)
Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers - August 11, 2006 @ The Biltmore Estates, Asheville NC
Art Bears "Hopes & Fears" (nothin' like a little avante-jazz-pop with Socialist Worker lyrics to cheer up the day)
Phil Lesh & Friends - December 4, 2005 Albany, NY (with the mighty John Scofield on guitar)

I came across an old story on the BBC News website a few days ago that revealed that the average British adult owns 170 albums. At the last count my collection (which I'll still maintain is "modest" giving the number of CDs which I'd like to have but haven't yet acquired) stood at around ten times that number ... plus around 5000 live concert recordings. Should I have started this entry with the statement "My name is Julian and I'm a musicaholic"??

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9/11 - Five years on

2006-09-11T14:32:52+02:00

Its hard to believe that five years have passed since the day when, like millions of others around the world, I stood transfixed in horror as the television brought us pictures of the terrorist attacks on the United States. The first we heard was a report of a plane crash in NYC involving the World Trade Center. Knowing the geography of New York and the proximity of both JFK and Newark airports to Manhattan my first thought was of some terrible accident; however, the impact of the second plane made it clear that there was horrific intent behind the catastrophe.

I was in New York City a couple of months ago and went to Ground Zero. As yet (and unlike, say, the site of the Oklahoma City bombing) there is no real sense of this being a memorial of any kind. A building site the size of a city block, surrounded by high wire fencing, with a very odd mix of tourists taking pictures of each other and street vendors trying to sell tacky souvenirs.

I'm intrigued - if somewhat repelled - by the aspect of the human psyche that apparently makes large numbers of people espouse ever more bizarre conspiracy theories regarding the events of 9/11/01. It seems to be some kind of collective denial that renders people incapable of accepting that aircraft were hijacked in the skies over the eastern USA and flown, by their hijackers, into the Twin Towers and into the Pentagon, and that those hijackers did so based on a twisted, deviant form of Islam coupled with rabid anti-Americanism. Do people go from the genuine bewilderment of "how could this happen" to wanting to bring blame onto their society or their government? It saddens me that, on this of all days, that I continue to read and hear those wanting to blame the actions of the US for what happened in New York and in Washington. Do people really think that changes in the US's foreign policy towards Israel, Iraq, or Saudi Arabia would have neutralized the threat of Al Queda (who were attacking US lives and interests for many years before 9/11, much less before military interventions in Afghanistan or Iraq)?

We are, sadly, in a world where the Communism vs Capitalism confrontations of the cold war are being replaced by a very different form of conflict. I don't recall who coined the phrase (although I suspect that I first encountered it between GWB's election in 2000 and the events of 9/11), but it seems frighteningly true that the growth of the Christian right / neo-conservative movement in the US and the increased radicalism of Moslem populations around the world seems to be pitting "one community that never had a Renaissance against another than wishes it had never had one". It really does depress me that so many seem all too willing to deny or ignore the most important discoveries of the human species: that it is possible for individuals to reach decisions about their actions based on the application of rational thought to their experiences of the world around them, without resort to superstitution or irrational "authority".

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When "home" becomes a strange place ...

2006-09-05T12:15:01+02:00

I had to make a quick trip to Belfast last week - the city in which I was born and lived until my late teens (and again for a few years in my mid 20s). Although we have been making trips most years to N Ireland (Pauline still has family there) I've not had much opportunity to see the city centre for many, many years. Of course, to anyone who grew up there during "The Troubles" the lack of security barriers, heavily armed police and troops on the streets, etc. is a major plus - as are the signs of significant economic prosperity. However, there's no doubt that the revival of Belfast has come at the price of homogeneity: apart from the accents, and a few bits of instantly recognizable architecture (even if the old Provincial Bank building is now a Tescos!) I could have been in Anytown, UK. Hardly any of the shops that I recall, either as child being dragged unwillingly on family shopping expeditions, or as a teenager hanging out in record shops on Saturday afternoons, seem to be there any more.

I don't think I've ever felt more of a "stranger in a strange land"!

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Not much of a blog, is it?

2006-09-03T19:05:25+02:00

Note to self: there's not a lot of purpose in having a blog and including links to it in your standard email sig if you don't post content to the damn thing!. Hopefully a little self-discipline will be applied in future ;-)

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The delights of country living ... revisited

2006-03-15T12:40:12+01:00

Like much of northern Britain, we've had some unseasonally late snow over the last two weekends. Not enough to cause too much disruption, but highly photogenic!

This is a panoramic view of the Wenning Valley, creating using a very neat piece of software called Autostitch (free demo copy available from http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html) -- highly recommended!

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Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells is alive and well ...

2006-03-14T15:23:48+01:00

... on the BBC News website's "Have Your Say" section. On any topic with even a remote connection to politics (and even those with none), there appear to be small groups of serial posters, obviously with little else to do, falling into one of two categories:

1. The Little Englander

Typically spouting views derived entirely from the editorial pages of the Daily Mail or Daily Express, these can be summarized in a few bullet points:

- "Human Rights" are a Bad Thing
- The UK should withdraw from the European Union, but by some magic retain all the trading benefits of membership
- "Multi-culturalism" is a Bad Thing
- The current government is left-wing, socialist (ha!)
- There are illegal immigrants and asylum seekers lurking under every stone
- Anything that cannot be blamed on Human Rights, the EU, multi-culturalism, our left-wing socialist government, illegal immigrants, or asylum seekers is the result of "Political Correctness"

(One variant often to be seen in discussion on family issues is the Childless Little Englander, who is clearly convinced that the government is engaged in a sinister campaign to penalize people who don't have children by daring to fund such things as education and child benefits ...)

The Little Englander's views are often amusing, if only for the near total ignorance of any subject under consideration; however, there's often an undercurrent of nastyness -- all too often comments about "multiculturalism" etc. are thinly disguised (or undisguised) racism.

2. The Old-Labour activist

Almost inevitably Guardian reading, I get the impression that these people were never happier than when Michael Foot was leading the Labout party -- they could be enthusiastically against things (even today, most ills that cannot be blamed on the current government are clearly the responsiblity of Margaret Thatcher) whilst remaining hopelessly unelectable. New Labour's election victory in 1997 was probably the worst day in their lives ...

Of course, recent history has given Homo Oldlabourus something of a new lease of life, hence contributions to the BBC's discussion pages that always mis-spell the PM's surname ("Bliar" -- so amusing, darlings), and the compulsory inclusion of the word "illegal" before any reference to the Iraq conflict. Hence the general purpose comment on almost any topic: "If Bliar had not taken us into an illegal war in Iraq then ...".

Careful observation does reveal a close relative - possibly even a sub-species - of the Old Labour activist: the Enviro-Nazi, for whom the existence of 4WD vehicles (sorry, in the correct verbiage of this catechism of cliche: "gas-guzzling SUVs") is a personal affront and the cause of any environmental problem you care to name ...

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The delights of country living

2006-02-22T15:13:40+01:00

Over the past 20 years we're gone from city living (Stoke Newington, London), to a village (Addingham - about 20 miles NW of Leeds), to our current rural location on the extreme western edge of North Yorkshire (the border post with Lancashire is less than a mile down the road). There are occasions, of course, when the negative aspects (mainly related to transport) of living in the country can be a bind; however, sometimes little things serve as a reminder of just why we choose to live here.

I've taken, as part of a modest effort to offset middle-age spread, to taking a 2-3 mile walk most days. My regular route ("up to the cross-roads and back") affords a near-continuous view across the Wenning valley to the Three Peaks - and, on a good day, to the hills of the Lake District to the North West. Here's a typical view (on a not particularly good day):

Its all too easy, in my experience, for such things to merge into the general background of life. Fortunately there are also times (often prompted by having a camera in hand) when something you see every day can still make you go "wow!".

For many years we followed the routine of taking our cars to a main dealer for servicing and maintenance. After several years of grumbling about what the simplest of tasks seemed to costs, their eagerness to replace rather than repair, etc., we decided a few months ago to try out a local place (A I Harrison in High Bentham) - what a difference! Now we can book in for routine servicing a few days in advance (rather than weeks), for anything more urgent we can be sure that the car will get looked at that day.

For example, last week I was having a problem with my otherwise trusty (12 yr old, 110,000 miles) Rav 4 - the engine was cutting out when cold, the engine management warning light light was coming on, and it seemed to be down on power in higher gears. So, I dropped the car off on Friday morning - Tony said that it could be a problem with a sensor on the engine management system, he'd take a look at it. The following morning he dropped the car off here (did I mention that they usually do this?) and said that they'd found the faulty sensor, cleaned and replaced it, and that the problem seemed to have been cured -- but that if it came back they'd have to fit a new sensor.

Had I taken this to the Toyota dealer I imagine that at the very least they would have fitted a new sensor and could very well have tried to tell me that I needed a new (£1000+) engine management system fitted. So here's a big "cheers" to one local country business!

(Now all we need to do is find a local joiner of similar reliability to finish of the work on our staircase that two chippies - so far - have left unfinished).

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Railroad Earth - "Elko" review

2006-02-17T14:59:59+01:00

A good place to start for post #1. Here's a review that I wrote a few days ago for the EuroTraders Yahoo list and also submitted to amazon.co.uk (although it doesn't seem to be available there as yet).

Railroad Earth "Elko" (2CD live set - SCI Fidelity 2006)

I've been listening to this on a daily basis for the last couple of
weeks -- it really is a wonderful and rewarding set. The twelve
songs included here show the depth and variety of Todd Sheaffer's
songwriting: several are taken from the repertoire of Todd's
previous band, From Good Homes, others are more recent and make
their first recorded appearance here.

For those who may not yet have heard any RRE, their music seamlessly
melds bluegrass instrumentation (plus drums!) with elements drawn
from country, jazz, celtic, and rock musics. Every member is a
superb musician -- Tim Carbone's fiddle, John Skehan's mandolin, and
Andy Goesling's banjo (and much else besides) are the immediate
standouts, but repeated listening shows just much the others
contribute to the band's overall sound. Todd Scheaffer's guitar
playing is a delight throughout, and the rhythm section of Carey
Harmon (drums) and Johnny Grubb (bass) anchor everything with a
subtlety and fluidity that's rarely found in any genre.

With several songs stretched out to around the 15 minute mark, you
can see why this band might be associated with the "jam band" label
(maybe reinforced by the appearance of this album on the String
Cheese Incident's SCI Fidelity label). However, there's none of the
endless (some might say pointless) soloing that characterizes so
many jam bands; rather, RRE mix up solos with rapid fire exchanges
between the lead players and, at times, ensemble playing reminiscent
of the Grateful Dead at their best.

The production quality is tremendous: kudos to the band's engineer
Mike Partridge and to Todd, Johnny and John for the mix. The detail
of the all-acoustic instrumentation is pristine without being
clinical, with perfect separation of instruments and vocals bringing
out aspects (including Johnny Grubb's driving -- sometimes near-
rockabilly - bass playing, and Carey Harmon's harmony vocals) that
sometimes get lost in the many audience recordings that circulate
within the band's fanbase.

I can find only a couple of very minor criticisms: "Elko" misses out
on some of the high tempo dance tunes that are a standard feature of
their live set (maybe because most of those are covers rather than
originals), and the closing "Seven Story Mountain" has a rather
unexpected and abrupt fadeout.

Those points notwithstanding, this is a great set that deserves to
be widely heard -- buy it now!

("Elko" isn't released in the UK at this time - but you should be able to get it from the band's own website, Amazon, or -- if you're lucky enough to have one -- your local independent record shop.)

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