Thursday, June 01, 2017
Steve: No Business Like Rome...
- 9:17 am
Comments:
nick: Nice!
A couple of those really remind me of Assassin's Creed - game set in 14(?) century where you run around Rome. Barcelona had a bit of that too, with bell-towers dotted about the place.
nick: Steve, I see that the M3 is completely closed between J2 and J3 for w/e of 10-11 June. Not sure what the best alternative route would be, maybe M25 then A3 to Guildford, then A31 to Winchester?
nick: I know the M3 is going to be closed because I've been driving on it every day this week and seeing signs announcing the closure. But I can't find a website that has clear information about exactly when/where it is closed (highways agency just lists multiple ongoing lane closures and "expect disruption" type things), so can't provide a reference for you to look at, sorry.
Steve: Was Nad Sylvan singing with Steve Hackett as he sounds incredibly like Phil Collins?
Got some of his solo stuff on currently, and he has sung with him before.
nick: Yes, it was Nad Sylvan we saw. I thought I'd watched some youtube clips of Hackett doing Genesis stuff and Sylvan in those sounded pretty Gabriel-like; the Collins era stuff we saw him to (W+W mainly) didn't sound particularly authentic. But I think he had a cold or something, his voice wasn't great.
nick: yes, sounds to me like a mixture of Collins/Gabriel. Good podcast by the way!
I'm going to see Regenesis on both Sat and Sunday nights this weekend, which I'm thinking now might have been a bit ambitious, but I guess I'll get good memories of it. And it's a nice venue.
Weather looks good tomorrow Tim in case you want to try for a ride in the afternoon
Tim: Good idea but sorry I'm out tomorrow pm.
Is there any hint of a plan for the following weekend? Apart from Titchfield Saturday, obv.
Steve: Should I bring a bike next week is the question?
We would aim to turn up mid morning Saturday, or maybe not without a motorway to use.
nick: Steve, I'll be doing Sat am bike ride with men from church (typically 4 or 5 people) so if you're considering bringing a bike and came Friday night you could come on that - I'm expecting this isn't going to fit in but fyi.
I think I'm doing election watch on Thursday night so may have Friday off to sleep/come to terms with awful outcome
I'm up for cycling any time in the weekend if anyone wants to - but Lesley won't be up for this.
The TFT thing is 7.30pm Saturday so we need to be there for that. Steve I'm assuming you're staying with us Sat (and Fri?) night - that's fine. In which case you'd be coming back to BSK after the play. What car arrangements are necessary may depend on cycling.
If cycling is on the agenda (I don't want to assume people want to do this but am happy to if others are keen) then we could do a circuit starting from Southampton, or maybe to MD->HE (I'm not sure if Deborah would want to do this?) and then tea at Tim's before play
Alternative could be cycle HE->BSK, tea here, then drive to Sotn with Tim's bike in the back (I think it'll fit with the front wheel taken off and still room for 4 people)
If not cycling, then I guess best may be tea in Sotn on Sat, with some suitable activity in the afternoon beforehand. In this case N+L drive to HE and rendezvous with S+D+T+T Sat pm
Sunday we can do breakfast and (depending on weather) sort out NT property that you may not have seen before, lunch too if you want it
nick: another option for Sat (suggested by Lesley) is for girls to drive to Alresford, and boys to cycle there & meet them there
Tim: Trying to get my head around some of that, is Lesley going to the play? ("Room for 4 people" suggests not, but "N+L" in the puzzling next paragraph seems to contradict.)
nick: Sorry for confusion. Yes Lesley will be at the play.
You're right, I'd missed her off the count of those driving to HE. But if we can get your bike in the back without putting the back seat down, we can get 5 in the car.
Steve: Excellent work there Nick.
All change.
D will drive down Fri afternoon with my bike.
If you are in the office I can train to you and we drive home together. Or I train to BSK.
So I could do the 7AM ride and hope that the slow guy turns up.
Play it by ear after that.
(I like the idea of watercress scones in Arlesford! didn't we walk there once? DX)
nick: Steve - great! I probably shall be at home on Friday - I've booked the day off in expectation of being tired from staying up late.
That means I can be around for whenever Deborah turns up.
The ride on Sat is ~7 miles to the start, then probably around 20 miles ride, then ~7 miles home (although sometimes I bail out early if we're coming near the village). None of them is fantastically fast but there is one especially slow one. Last Saturday was gloriously sunny skies so it can be really nice (John Wood came last Saturday although he's away next weekend so won't be there). We could always skip it if it's not nice weather though.
Was at Regenesis concerts last night and the night before (not sure what the monkey mask was about, it didn't get used). It's a very small venue and so little trouble standing right in front of the stage. Lamb Lies Down was really good, partly because lots of it I'd not heard live before (Grand Parade, Back in NYC, Chamber of 32 doors, Riding the Scree). Last night was "greatest hits" type thing which was good but disappointing in that there was no Cinema Show nor Can Utility. Great being able to watch what the keyboard player was doing, which was quite a lot!
Tim: OK, with the cycling sorted out, does that make it simpler for the rest of Saturday?
Perhaps just Alresford/NT/tucker/play?
Steve: Yeah the ride looks fine and I know it'll be early which is not an issue.
Two Regenesis on consecutive nights seems a bit much!
And the Reading route (no M3) seems okay, D will be fine driving down.
nick: The signs say that the M3 J2-J3 is closed from 9-11 May. I am assuming it'll shut about 8pm so if Deborah is driving in the early evening she'll be OK. But yes, M4 to Reading then A30 to BSK would work
Tim you're welcome to come on Friday evening for dinner, we can do lifts from/to MD for you.
Alresford is about 11 miles from our house (if you take the shortest route - others are available) so if we were cycling there on Saturday then maybe Deborah would want to join in? She could do just one way and meet Lesley there and stick her bike in the car for the way back or something. Anyway I'm sure we can sort something out, perhaps the weather will determine it.
Tony is really getting into the election - he's read all the manifestos and been watching the TV debates and says he's torn at the moment about who to vote for. Which feels quite depressing as Basingstoke is one of the least swing seats there is. Judging by the state of the polls it may not be quite the landslide May was hoping for so I guess tomorrow evening might be a bit interesting but I think the exit polls last time were pretty much spot on so I assume we're likely to know by 10.01pm what's going to happen.
nick: Three people in the office have sent me this article today. Maybe I should do Ireland after all
Tim: Ooh, forgot to mention I'm out Friday night, sorry. Arranged that when it was fixed up that nobody was around until Saturday.
nick: Lesley's doing meal planning and I'm assuming we're eating in Southampton on Sat evening (either Tim's or Pizza Hut or something) - is that OK?
Steve: I can't face this any more, make it go away someone.
I'm also puzzling car/bike logistics for the 4-player ride but am sure Nick has it sussed. Maybe we end up back at BSK?
Tim: I'm going to sidestep cycling, no idea if that helps/hinders. For me a nice ride is one that's followed by a good solid siesta, rather than an ongoing program of events. Conceivably I could meet up en route, or wait here until later. Alternatively could be available for the NT type stuff Sunday am instead or something.
Steve: Yeah Nick's level of fitness is pretty scary.
I cycled most of here and back yesterday and my legs certainly know it today.
nick: We can have a chat this evening and see if there's a non-cycling alternative that would suit Tim better
nick: Ok Tim we dropped the idea of cycling to alresford and are going to drive there from here instead and then from there go to Southampton. So if you can get here we'll do breakfast about 10-ish before departing for alresford for a walk/lite bite then down to Southampton. Sound any good?
Tim: Nice relaxing day yesterday cheers. Hope Lesley's feeling better.
To stop you searching around: the i and pen are on the coffee table here. There's always something.
Steve: This could be interesting although I might be on holiday: Gilmour Pompeii screening
BSK Odeon seems to do some of these but maybe not go far enough forward to see this.
Steve: Sorry I mean Festival Place Vue, not sure what happened there. Well I do, I clicked a right-arrow assuming it would be later dates and it moved to another town!
nick: Yes.. not sure about the Gilmore thing. I don't know if I like his solo stuff, and the Floyd stuff I will have heard quite a lot already.
I considered cycling all the way in today but couldn't get myself enthusiastic enough. Although now, I wish I had done. It is lovely weather.
The weekend also looks good for a ride and a siesta if you're up for it Tim
Steve: I cycled in and plan to ride home, feeling a bit tired although tried to take it easy. Wonderful weather, just the Kraftwerk shirt required. And Quorn sausages in the restaurant, finally!
Must try to leave at 5....
nick: kraftwerk live review has 5 stars and nearly all the comments seem to agree. Maybe we should have tried harder to get tickets
nick: A rare co-op game that might be an excuse for Tim to get a PS4? " two players must work together to break characters Leo and Vincent out of prison and then help them avoid the authorities. Apparently the very different characters have to build trust and friendship as they go." See A Way Out
nick: Developers who use spaces make more money than those who use tabs. Unfortunately I already use spaces, so I can't switch from using tabs in order to get a pay rise.
nick: Cycled in from home this morning - it was lovely! Starting to get quite warm by 9am. Main problem was that I was cycling into the sun a lot of the time so a bit hard to see because it was so bright. I'll also be cycling into the sun on the way home.
I planned an Ireland route but am rather nervous about the weather, having checked precipitation rates for August, so I'm not sure whether to do it. I do fancy doing Scotland again...
Steve: Hmm I already have a 2-disk special version from 2009 - the bonus disk is very good. Wikipedia says those releases were not with the band's consent. Collector's item?... can't find this version (no DVD) so I guess not.
Might get the new Roger Waters, but scared it will be terrible.
nick: I don't quite understand this - new Radiohead CD from Amazon is £9.99, and for that you get a free MP3 download of the album. Or, alternatively, you could just buy the MP3 edition and that's £11.99. So you're paying £2 extra to avoid having a CD
Steve: And the amazing price variations you get when you check Amazon in the Camel site! I could have got the Relayer Blu-ray setup for less than a tenner if I'd been looking on that specific day. But what would I have done with it?
Apart from getting the odd LP, I feel like I'm done buying music.
Spotted a Trancefer half-speed on eBay for £10 + P&P. But Tim already has one. Seems cheap for a 500-off item. Could be tempted for when you get your stuff back Tim.
nick: Not sure when Tim is back, but it's another gloriously sunny-interval day on Saturday for a potential bike ride.
My friend John at HP is finally being made redundant (after having been told many times over the past few years that they were at risk). I think he must have been there nearly 30 years so he's a bit nervous of entering the job market; I'm not sure he's quite ready to retire to Hunstanton yet
Steve: Someone said to me yesterday was I retired?!? Do I look that old?
Hmm Hunstanton...
We had a day by the sea at Barmouth last week and it was fantastic, no comparison.
Someone has bid on the LP with a couple of hours to go so I can safely leave it.
One of the best pairings on the DiN label are doing a gig in Liverpool Sat 18th Nov. Not at all convenient of course: Ian Boddy and Nigel Mullaney and the U-boat is a disappointment.
nick: to be fair you do look quite old steve, although so do I - I was asked if I was retired last year when I was on the cruise ship.
Aren't Boddy/Mulaney playing anywhere else? I can't imagine how you find out about all these obscure gigs Steve.
Steve: Yeah well who would go on a cruise who isn't retired or disabled?
DiN email list, Tim will have it as well I would guess.
nick: Just booked my first B&B in Ireland, so I'm sort of committed now. Route is not really sorted yet but is more or less here
Tim: They only sell them in sets of four.
And your route misses out Donegal, so can hardly be considered complete.
How does next Saturday look?
Tim: Re: Trancefer/ebay, there are a couple of listings (!) for an NME advert we must have seen. Presumably he only played the Venue once, in which case we were there, and I got him to sign some stuff in an Oxford St megastore once, so that was probably the day after.
Steve: The LP went for about £18 all-in. Seems cheap for only 500 made. But no regrets.
I love the diodes etc on the advert. Don't remember going to the Trancefer tour but I guess we must have.
Listening to his stuff, and a lot of other electronic music, his earlier stuff is absolute genius. Thanks flip he was limited to LP sides though. He pushed those to the absolute limit.
nick: Tim - next Saturday is a tentative yes - what time would you be thinking of doing it? I am possibly doing lunch or something in Romsey with Lesley and some others that day (not yet confirmed though) so if that went ahead an option would be to cycle to HE in the morning and then proceed to Romsey from there, or maybe cycle from Romsey to HE and then to MD.
Ireland plan is to start from Rosslare, mainly because getting a ferry from Pembroke to Rosslare sounds less challenging than getting one from Liverpool (not sure how I'm getting to Pembroke yet). The route I mapped is roughly 1000 miles which I know is manageable, although a possibility is that I cycle from home to the ferry, which would add another couple of hundred miles (and 2 days) each way so I'm not certain about that
Tim: I think Klaus only played The Venue once (wherever that was). I think I vaguely remember Rainer Bloss was involved, and I guess we didn't really know who he was at that point? No idea what they played, maybe there's a bootleg.
Tim: Rosslare makes sense, it was just your route map that made me wonder.
Saturday I can probably fit in with you, given a bit of notice.
Tim: No, but I've got stacks of vouchers to use up so if this looks like a goer I can swap them for some tokens (at £5 for £15 so dirt cheap) you can use:
www.stenaline.co.uk/tesco
Tesco suggests Irish Ferries take them for car trips only. OTOH their booking site doesn't look that way. Also they do combined train/ferry tickets.
So as usual aargh it's all really complicated. If you think the option you prefer is payable with Tesco then let me know and I'll get a big bunch of tokens (online). As long as my vouchers haven't expired :-)
nick: yes, complicated. My plan is to book the B&Bs (which depending on availability may mean I end up doing a different route) and then ferries, and then try and work out how to get to/from the ferry port. I'm assuming I'm not taking a car across, although for all I know there may be long-term parking next to Rosslare harbour, in which case I may consider it so I could drive to Wales - I'm a bit wary of trying to sort out train especially in August when Waterloo is out of action and routes may be disrupted
Tim: There are trains from Portsmouth via Southampton to Cardiff. I can't see they'd be affected by Waterloo.
Then I guess it's local trains to Pembroke/Fishguard.
nick: I'll check out trains.. a quick search for tickets from Basingstoke is coming up with some pretty pricey options (£200+) to get there in time for the ferry on mon 7th, and then there's the faff of getting cycling bookings. But thanks for the Southampton tip, maybe that would be better
nick: I am booked into a B&B in Kilmore Quay on 7th Aug. So the idea is to ferry to Rosslare on 7th (ferry gets in at 6.45pm), but failing that I suppose I could to ferry to Dublin on 5th or something, and take a couple of days going down the coast
Tim: Or maybe get the train to Swansea or Carmarthen on the Sunday and stay near there somewhere? Then ride to Pembroke or Fishguard on Monday. Saves the rush from BSK to ferry, but possibly not cost-effective.
Tim: Stena will do you a £48 single on the Monday:
BSK 7:47
Reading 8:11
Swansea 11:00
Fishguard 13:10
Rosslare 16:25
Extra £41 for a return, possibly depending on date.
Tim: https://www.stenaline.co.uk/ferries-to-ireland/rail-sail/find-and-book
Some of the connections are a bit tight, it would be nice if you could start the journey earlier to give a bit more leeway. Not sure what the terms are.
nick: Been looking at those - it does look quite reasonable. Booking bike reservations is a bit nerve-wracking: I did this for the trips back from Inverness last year and although I reserved a spot on each of the trains, there was only one of them that they were expecting me on, and I think I'd have been stuck if there hadn't been a free place. I'll check into this at the weekend, thanks
nick: Tim, the Romsey thing isn't going ahead on Saturday so I'm free all day after about 10am if you're up for a ride!
nick: 12 then? (I could make 10 but would be a bit more of a rush)
I don't mind starting at HE if you'd prefer, but MD would be fine
Tim: BTW, I don't know how train/bike booking works (or doesn't) but conceivably it's worth booking the 3 legs of the journey separately/direct. Something like
£8 BSK to RDG (whoever, depending on timing)
£15 RDG to SWA (Great Western)
£36 SWA to RSB (Arriva sailrail)
No idea why BSK - Fishguard or Pembroke is >£100 each way, just an artefact of the crap system I spose.
nick: Yes.. the wonders of split ticketing. That's what I did when I came back from Inverness last year (a ticket from INV->BSK was about twice as much as buying individual tickets for the exact same trains) - Steve got me on to that trick.
I *assume* the advantage of buying a through ticket is that you may have some potential for compensation/alternative travel if one of the connections goes wrong - maybe you're not tied to the specific trains that were suggested. Whereas if you buy individual tickets and one of the trains is late so you miss a connection, then tough.
Still booking B&Bs. A few of them are on a B&B Ireland website that lets you check availability on a calendar before booking, but the booking isn't definitely confirmed until the B&B gets back to you (one of them today said they couldn't accommodate me even though their calendar is still showing availability). So it's a bit of a slow process.
Tim: Good point about connections. But like I said before, the all-in-one ticket specifies a 7:47 start, and if any of the connections fail you're just not on the ferry. (You may well be entitled to get on the 11:45 pm ferry. Super.)
If you are allowed to start earlier then great, but I think you don't get to see the conditions until you're in the booking process.
If you can't... then if it were me I'd be thinking of a separate ticket for the 7:11 from Reading (a bit early I know). That gives you 75 minutes of leeway at Swansea instead of 15, at the end of a 2:34 leg. Looking at the fourth line here (if this works) there's a 16/127 chance of the 8:11 being 10+ minutes late.
Tim: Nick, just discovered this so I don't know much about it, but it might be worth a quick squint for Ireland. www.flattestroute.com
nick: ohh, that does look handy, thanks. A quick check from Sligo to Kells (County Meath) seems to show quite a lot of up and down but the way they do the graph I think any route would look like it's going up and down. I'll do a bit of playing
Tim: Oh dear, just tried it for MIC-HDE and it gives exactly the same route as bare Google Maps. Could be no use after all.
nick: Have now booked the first 9 B&Bs, 2 or 3 more to go. I should have remembered this from the last times, but B&Bs near the coast are much more expensive and full than ones in the middle of the country. And weekends are harder. Galway on Saturday night was pretty tricky.
nick: Just booked tenth B&B, one or two more to go. I spoke with the landlord on the phone - he had a very strong Irish accent and recommended loads of places to look at but I couldn't get them all written down
Tim: 80 miles to Rosslare Harbour means you need a B&B there, fine. Where's the other possible one? Have you got a leg of the route that's a bit too long?
nick: Booked one in Rosslare last night, which is near enough the ferry terminal to get there for the morning ferry, so that'll be the last one. I need to update my map and put locations in for all the stopping points, I'll try and do that tonight.
Now working out transit options for getting to the Welsh ferry terminal.
Tim: Which reopens the question of which Welsh ferry terminal. Stena at Fishguard has the SailRail ticket. IrishFerries at Pembroke can be paid for by Tesco. You eyeballed the parking at Pembroke IIRC, so that fits in. Departure and arrival times must be worth a look.
nick: Yes, that confused me for a bit because Irish Ferries go from Pembroke, and Stena from Fishguard, but if I tried the "train/rail" thing on either of their websites, BOTH of them tell me to go to Fishguard (i.e. they both end up telling me to use Stena)
Ferry times for Mon 7th are
Pembroke/Rosslare 02.45->06.46; 14.45->18.46 (Irish Ferries)
Fishguard/Rosslare 13:10->16.25; 23:45->04:00 (Stena)
So one thing I'm thinking of is train from Reading->Swansea on Sunday; cycle half-way to Fishguard, overnight stay (in Carmarthen?) on Monday cycle to the 13.10 ferry. That would mean I don't have train changes to worry about but this may not be the cheapest way of doing it
Tim: Or you could treat Lesley to a luxury Sunday night in a hotel in Swansea. Next day, you get the train from there (with a cheapo Basingstoke - Rosslare ticket), and Lesley brings the car home, there's handy.
Tim: Right, I just tried booking the SailRail. I thought you had to register with thetrainline, but no you can just supply a crap email address and get started.
Looks like the Advance ticket (£41) specifies exactly which trains you have to be on, and the (normal) single (£48) is just "Your journey must be on the date, or in the case of overnight sailings, the day after the date, specified on the ticket."
nick: ok thanks... I may try the Lesley idea. The complication with "any train on the date" is that I need to book cycle space in advance, so I don't necessarily have flexibility of changing trains
Tim: Mainly I was thinking of just booking them for less risky (i.e. earler, as far as Swindon) trains than the tight default connections. But yes.
Tim: And I was forgetting, the tickets are singles anyway (not return) so Swansea to Rosslare, Rosslare to BSK, is a couple of quid cheaper.
nick: I had no idea Alec Baldwin was into music (I've seen some of his comedy stuff), thanks for the tip
nick: I listened to the Jon Anderson interview - pretty good. I had the impression that he wasn't in great health, but from the interview he sounded fine. I thought it was notable how he talked about how much he's still into music and composing and enjoying his life etc., but the interview focused exclusively on stuff he'd done up to GftO - nothing since then at all which sort of gives the impression that the last 40 years haven't had much happening
Tim: I was looking at your route and see that there are (at least) a couple of ferries you can use. One at Cobh (between Youghal and Clonakilty), and one at Glin.
nick: yes, I was planning on doing the Tarbert ferry near Glin. Maybe do the Cobh one too. I haven't planned routes very much yet. For the last couple of years it's taken me roughly one evening of route planning for each day of riding. I was imagining that it would be a lot simpler in Ireland because there won't be so many roads to choose from, so I'm hoping it'll be quicker this year.
But there is a bit of research needed on what to look at. I am expecting to see Powerscourt Waterfall whose web page claims it's the highest in Ireland. Wikipedia says it's the second highest though, so maybe I need to find get to the Devil's Chimney which is not quite on my intended route but not far off
Tim: Here's some top-10 stuff then, that might be near your route at a glance.
Brú na Bóinne (prehistoric), north of Dublin.
Ring of Kerry (scenic route including official cycling version) NE of Caherdaniel probly.
Cliffs of Moher (also The Burren) SW of Galway.
It would all be a lot easier if I had any idea where Irish counties were.
nick: I'm doing a bit of the Ring of Kerry. Will look up the other places, thanks.
I decided not to risk multiple train connections so I am going to get train on Sunday from Reading to Swansea, then cycle to St Clears and stay overnight there, before cycling on to the ferry on Monday morning.
What's the deal with Tesco vouchers Tim?
nick: Train £15 Reading to Swansea
departs Reading at 09:16 travel by Train service provider Great Western Railway to station Swansea arrives 11:57 ( seats reserved: Coach: D Seats: 52 , and space for 1 bicycle
Tim: I just checked. If you're booking with Stena or Irish F direct (e.g. not Sailrail, which you may still be doing on the way back, dunno) then I request vouchers on the Tesco website, and they quickly email me voucher number(s), which I forward to you and you type in at the point of booking. Multiples of £15, and worth rounding up a bit (no harm if a fiver's worth goes unused). So just let me know how much the crossings are.
Tim: Stena blah here (don't think I spotted this before?)
www.stenaline.co.uk/tesco
IF:
www.irishferries.com/uk-en/special-offers-from-britain-to-ireland/tesco-tokens/
nick: OK well I'm going for the Pembroke option, which is Irish Ferries, Mon 7-Aug 14.45, then come back Fri 18th 08.45. I only need ferry on the way out. If I try rail+sail for Irish Ferries for the Ireland->Britain, then it only offers me Dublin->Holyhead, which isn't very useful, so I'll get ferry there too. (If I try Irish Ferries rail+sail FROM the UK, then it ends up putting me on a Stena ship via Fishguard).
Cost is £42 each way which includes £10 each way for the bike (total £84). So any vouchers would be handy, I can pay you for them, just let me know how much
nick: So far as I can tell
sail+rail £42.50, which doesn't include bike (I don't think you can add a bike on the "sail+rail" site, or reserve bike space on the train, but Irish Ferries site says it's £10 for the bike), and I'll have to call the ferry/train operators to add it), so total £52.50
sail fare with bike £42
rail fare ~£26-£31 depending on route/how you book trains.
So I think I could potentially save about £20 by doing sail+rail, but I can't seem to do that online so will have to call the various ferry/rail companies about the bike
So yes, I could do rail/sail on the way back with some post-booking calling of ferry/train to sort out the bike
But I think from the point of view of booking online, I'd need to pay £42 for the one out, and about £42 for the one back regardless of whether I do rail+sail (for which I'd just pay another £10 to add the bike later)
Tim: OK, just the inadequate systems then. I've got the voucher now, I'll forward it next. Happy birthday or something. Hope you're not too seasick.
Steve: This looks interesting: Harald Grosskopf.
Loscil and separately Fennesz is also on at the Jazz cafe but I'm probably not fussed.
I will probably book this as well: Billy Cobham.
Tim: Also on: Nearly Dan.
It's a perennial problem that about this time of year stuff goes on sale for September/October when I could well be on holiday. I can't really opt in, but might turn out to be available on standby. Probably no help.
nick: I'd be up for Grosskopf and/or Cobham (maybe tonyi would like the Cobham, I sent him a link)
Where's "Nearly Dan" on?
nick: oh yes, I was looking on the "Nearly Dan" website and they make no mention of it. Perhaps that's a *different* "Nearly Dan"
Steve, if you're getting tickets for Cobham could you get one for me and one for Tony - he says he's up for that
Steve: Yeah I can't work out what the GroBkopf is as it says "transmit live". But not expensive. Will book 3xCobham, he is a legend in jazz-circles.
Not sure about a book-reading course, it will just show me how crap I am.
nick: When I did the aesthetics course at university and we spent a while looking in detail at certain art works I was a bit worried that it would spoil them (like when you find out how a magic trick is done and it's such a disappointment). But that's not what happened: it did make me see and appreciate things which I'd missed; so I can see doing this might be interesting. Not sure I can commit to it though, especially if it means reading 4 prize-nominated books
nick: Tim, sorry but I can't this Saturday - Julie and Ken are coming on Saturday, I'm picking them up from station at 12 and entertaining them for the afternoon/evening. Would have done otherwise
Tim: No probs.
On the books front, you don't have to actually read those 4 do you? It says "using examples from a range of texts including the four novels shortlisted for the James Tait Black fiction prize."
I had a quick look at the Guardian reviews.
A Country Road, A Tree by Jo Baker
"a re-creation of Samuel Beckett’s war years, from his desperation to leave the Ireland that stifled him, through his time in occupied Paris working for the resistance and escape to the south after being betrayed to the Nazis, to his postwar job helping set up a French hospital."
What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell
"It documents three phases in an unnamed author’s infatuation with a Bulgarian hustler, and the various settings and transactions involved are described with a detached, carefully styled literary brutalism that feels very of the moment;"
The Lesser Bohemians by Eimear McBride
"The two embark on a course of friendly but casual sex that turns, without either of them quite understanding what is happening, into a love affair that frightens them both in its intensity."
The Sport of Kings by C. E. Morgan
"For the first 200 pages, the book appears to be a conventional multigenerational saga set in the American south."
Let us know how you get on.
Steve: I was up for the first one, "...working for the resistance" but then gave up with "setting up a French hospital".
BTW just got my third Sony Discman D-NE700 as the second is no longer reliable. This one for £34 (seems a lot) appears mint. Will this show me that the issue was my old rechargeable batteries all along :( Sure I tried new alkaline ones.
I see Focus have released almost every album
nick: This is quite an old column but it really struck a chord with me: Making wrong code look wrong he's got some really excellent ideas about naming variables
nick: I woke up with a song in my head, so googled and found it on youtube. It sounds better than I'd remembered (proper 70's band with brass section) but what made me laugh was the first comment (and replies) - I can identify with the sentiment!
Steve: Yeah the pull to go back to those times is so strong at times, it hurts.
You can easily spend your life watching Youtube. My recommends took me to Starless like the one we saw.
BTW I sneaked in a visit to the Jazz Cafe last night to see Bill Frisell, only booked it yesterday. Then promptly forgot to load up with cash and buy the future tickets. Main act on at 9 so a bit of standing around and very crowded - will Tony be okay???
Can now cross Bill off my bucket list though.
nick: Main act on at 9 so a bit of standing around and very crowded - will Tony be okay??? How big is the venue? I think what he wasn't keen on was the size of the crowd (~5000?) and the amount of people who seemed to be there just to have a chat and not listen to the music, so being at the back meant he didn't have a very good experience
Steve: It's tiny, maybe 300 people? And I guess not as flipping hot in the autumn. But tiny with 300+ means just as crowded. People were paying attention though as mostly older.
nick: oh, it's the place where we saw Brand X with Pierre Moerlen? that's not too big. I think he'll be alright... I guess he must have been there before
Steve: OK yes same place. Could have been standing next to Stewart Lee watching KC Projekts as well.
Steve: Nice to know Dick Pountain was there, and it was You Only Live Twice AFAIK, too scared to comment though: Guardian Review.
Maybe I do need to buy more albums...
nick: gig sounds like it was worth going to, should I be embarrassed that I don't know who Dick Pountain is?
You're lucky being in London Steve, glad to hear that you're making the most of it though!
Steve: Was WFH as I cannot stand sitting next to the new guy. So actually came into London for that. Author of the Penguin Dictionary of Computing, and has been around in computer journalism for ages.
Spotted the gig in the Guardian mag. Can't believe there were tickets free.
Steve: I can't really work out what's going on with the recent KS stuff, when you look a lot of it was already released in Contemporary editions. So is this new? Eternal - The 70th Birthday Edition
Steve: Aaaarrrggghhh why not release something really decent for his 70th?
Two weeks tomorrow, I'll raise a glass and bung some vinyl on.
nick: Sustrans have a 25% off everything sale, including Ortlieb panniers. I'd probably buy another pair, if my original pair weren't doing so well (I had to replace the bike rack because they wore holes in that, but the panniers are fine)
I hadn't realised KS was 70, but I suppose that's only 15 years older than me (so he was in his early thirties when we first came across him which sounds plausible)
Tim: If you're after a bit of nostalgia, there's the Mirage 40th Anniversary Edition, but I haven't seen anyone say yet whether it's a good remaster or not (the previous one wasn't, apparently).
Steve: Yeah I wandered onto the MIG label site and saw that. The LP sounds pretty nice so I'll stick with that I think. Wonder why they didn;t go for 24-bit versions to get us to buy another version, maybe they are holding those back.
Although I do need to think of birthday ideas - I really don't want anything. Not even panniers - I would also get these again. If I'm not careful I'll end up with the KC On and Off the Road. RF was in my dream last night BTW and shook my hand!
nick: I'll try and dream about RF and if I can get it to a lucid dream, I'll ask him to come and shake your hand in real life
Steve: Yeah would be good to meet Toyah if you can arrange it. And considering he doesn't shake hands I thought it was pretty good.
Steve: I'm going to post a card via KDM.
How was the dream? Nothing for me this time.
Up early to ride in and a nasty if warm headwind. Train home.
nick: Unfortunately I can't remember any dreams from last night at all. But I'm sure I would have asked him.
I saw Tony last night, who's just come back from a holiday with his partner+his sister and her husband; they drove from Hunstanton up to Scotland (deliberately) following much of my route from last year, plus a bit of my initial LeJog (they went through the Cairngorms to Tomintoul). He really liked all the sights especially Scotland. He also made a special effort to go over the Transporter Bridge but it was closed because a bit had broken. But he said he had a good chat with the people in the engine room.
Cycled in this morning, lovely tailwind much of the way. Hope it'll be like that this evening too. Big Wheel on Sunday.
Tim: Drove in this morning, listened to a bit of HIA. Hoping to get home before it buckets down, I hate driving in the rain.
Steve: On the KS theme I discover that Are You Sequenced was recorded "February to March 1996, Hambühren & 27 April 1996 at the concert in Derby, England." I never knew that.
I'm hankering after the newer version with the remixes replaced by a 77 minute bonus track, but I listen to the remixes more than the main album. Go figure.
Got The Unforgettable Fire on currently which Tim, you said was their Close to the Edge, remember?
Tim: Sounds reasonable, but of course I don't remember saying it. Whatever happened to them, anyway? I remember Joshua Tree coming out, maybe that was the last album of theirs I actually listened to.
On the Schulze front, apparently he only did three concerts in 1982. After the one at The Venue, there was one in Budapest. That became disc 3 of Jubilee Edition. I've got that on minidisc so I dug it out and gave it a spin - it's quite a racket, with lots of Rainer Bloss tinkling of the ivories. Two long tracks (the first one based on Ludwig) and an encore.
Steve: It would be!
The last good U2 seems to be Achtung Baby, the next one Zooropa is also good. I got How to Dismantle which is pretty good. Wiki shows the last one Songs of Innocence with only 60,000 UK sales?
Could be tempted to get the new Mirage or the new En=Trance which I really like.
nick: "Songs of Innocence" was the one that was free on iTunes and was pushed to everyone who had an iTunes account (I think it coincided with a new iPhone release or something). So I imagine the 60,000 UK sales does not include all the free copies. There was a ton of moaning when they did this and I don't think I've ever got round to listening to my free copy
Steve: Yes exactly! I found out there was a double LP of it which surprised me. I have the excuse to re-buy in that there is a slight skip in mine.
A while back I got the newer Mirage secondhand and there were issues with it so I threw it away. Turns out there was a mastering mess-up. But I was never going to return it to the shop was I?
This new version is done by his long-trusted sound engineer, and we all know the sound output is quality.
Krautwerk sounds promising.
Tim: I never bought the vinyl but I always thought of En=Trance as a double album.
It's as if it was a stepping-stone on the lengthening of Schulze albums. At this point we're up to about 68 minutes which is too long for a single vinyl but still OK for 1 cd. I suppose the 2LP was relatively expensive to make and demand was drooping, so it was a one-off.
Subsequent albums were 70+ minutes, and tracks were dropped and/or edited to make 1LP vinyl editions, so there was no longer a 29-ish minute ceiling on track length.
Steve: Yes, when the rot set in. Although I like RFH and Beyond Recall, has anything after that been worth the money? In Blue maybe but soooo long. Dosburg good in part but spoilt by the "Who gives a" bloke.
Yes as predicted, Are You Sequenced disk 1 is long and boring. Tried the first disk of Historic and that's pretty poor. Remember the ridiculous clapping at the start, 5 whole minutes of it?
Steve: Tim any thoughts on Klaus & Solar Moon? It has singing but sounds impressive, and we all know collaborations are better for him in recent years.
Tim: I only remember it as being a small part of Contemporary Works I - all of which sounds OK, but there's 12 hours of it and lots of it similar (or in some cases basically the same?). At the time I focussed a bit on the Ballett 4-CD subset, but even that proved to be a too hard going really.
It could well be that any individual reissue is worth a go if you fancy it.
Tim: I dug out a minidisc of the Solar Moon thing, gave it a bit of a sample. Sounded OK if a bit dull. But then I was a bit puzzled about the track times, and it turned out to be the wrong disc. It was labelled Solar Moon but was actually the prior CD in the set, U.S.O.
I'll have another dig tonight.
Steve: Hilarious. I'm banking on the remixes being better than the original disk anyway.
Remind me, you had the set and got rid of it, or was it just in transit to Don in Aus?
Richter's Four Seasons in the Walkman today, excellent.
nick: Richter's Four Seasons in the Walkman today, excellent.
Re-watched the "Arrival" film last weekend, which features music by Richter, and the music was notably good.
Tim: was it just in transit to Don in Aus?
Yes.
I've accidentally ordered (from SMD) a copy of Virtual Outback, which was the first reissue from Contemporary Works 2. I don't think I've ever heard any of that.
Steve: Good, saved you having that cluttering the place and you not having the will to sell it.
I thought you had that one already, or maybe it was the green one Kontinuum? SMD do have way too many sales emails but you can get sucked in. Their Schulze section is very small. I can't work out what they specialise in, seems so random. And the search is terrible, I can get a server error very easily.
Tim: I've kept up with the "proper" albums (which only means Moonlake/Kontinuum/Shadowlands) but hadn't got any of the Contemporary Works reissues.
I've found a real minidisc of KS+SMS and a quick skim suggests it's going to be more interesting than KS on his own, like you thought. All downtempo, so probably no excitement, but not just the same sequences chugging away for 79 minutes (which I expect Outback is).
nick: I've got he ability to rip MD into WAV files if you want it.
I've had a cold this weekend so was a bit out of it; was off work today. Bought all the rail tickets, but haven't done enough route planning yet: so far I've planned from Swansea to St Clears (which is where I'm stopping next Sunday night). I'm hoping roads in Ireland will be very uncomplicated and well signposted
Steve: Trying again to go through that huge Touched compilation, started a doc to flag up good tracks and maybe why. Quite a lot of them are good, probably easier to mark the less-good ones. But it's huge. Good for work.
Trawling the Internet on one of my faves Dean de Benedictis (who has 3 tracks on the comp), I find a recent album I did not know about. Can I do a download to avoid huge US postage costs? Do I go 24 bit?
And he has some sort of jazz-fusion-electronics band that sounds up my street.
And I found he wrote an excellent little tribute to Allan Holdsworth, who he raves about.
Tim, do you have any Ochre? Bought a second one, Lemodie a short while back and played it loads. Similar to Plaid on a chirpy day.
Great having a Walkman again.
nick: I am back home for w/e of 19th August (I get home on Fri 18th) if that makes any difference, happy to host any visitors
Tim: Quick update (there's other stuff I'm meaning to reply to as well): I'm free most of the 19th weekend except for a home fixture Saturday 3pm.
Steve: Trying to see if anything fits with D going to the New Forest that weekend. But she does not have a plan yet as she is relying on others.
Tim: On the Ochre front I think I've only got Like Dust Of The Balance. Possibly might have borrowed something else from Neil, not sure.
I like it, a couple of tracks are *too* Plaidy, but some of the others are different enough to make up for it.
Steve: This 4:00pm SESSION track from the new TD album is pretty good. But as there are no original members I'm in a quandary, is it just like a good ARC or RMI track?
Current thinking is next weekend isn't a great fit BTW.
And Nick has missed some of the worst rain we have ever seen in GB.
Tim: Yes, the TD sounds quite good, I think I'll get it in, ta. Not too worried about the quandary.
Thanks for the weekend update. Are there any candidate dates in September? I'll probably book a couple of Fridays or Mondays off soon, which helps free up some of the rest of the weekend, so I might as well make them coincide in case. Doesn't matter if nothing ends up happening.
Ireland seems to consist of empty roads and tucker.
Steve: Hmm September we are on holiday 1st and second weekends and I'm running short of holiday. 16th/17 is a possible.
Yes people are saying the new TD album is good. Tangram Set 2 on at the moment.
TD were great at subtlety, something other EM artists lack. They had just the right amount of delicate faffy bits (must save that for my next Amazon review). And took so much care over the sounds.
Steve: Well done, I like to try to visit physical shops as you know to keep them going. That is on a par with online I would say. If we think that CDs were £10 30 years ago it helps. But yes we all have a mental block at a tenner.
I recently ordered the newest Dean de Benedictis from dodax which I think is in Germany, but a lot cheaper than other sources for a US import. Search is terrible and has not arrived yet though.
Steve: Aaarrggghh, wasted a few more hours recently on Volumio. Thought I'd update the version. Did it twice with reboots, old version remained.
Downloaded newest version to start again. This never seemed to complete syncing with the NAS drive and could hang completely.
Plugged previous memory stick in and will try a newer version in a few months. I suppose it is free...
Tim: Coincidentally I've got a Volumio story too. I might have made a bit of a psychological breakthrough in that I bought a cd from bandcamp, it hasn't arrived yet but already I've downloaded and listened to the flac.
We need a new post. Got a pic handy? Otherwise I'll do it tonight.
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nick: Nice!A couple of those really remind me of Assassin's Creed - game set in 14(?) century where you run around Rome. Barcelona had a bit of that too, with bell-towers dotted about the place.
nick: Steve, I see that the M3 is completely closed between J2 and J3 for w/e of 10-11 June. Not sure what the best alternative route would be, maybe M25 then A3 to Guildford, then A31 to Winchester? nick: I know the M3 is going to be closed because I've been driving on it every day this week and seeing signs announcing the closure. But I can't find a website that has clear information about exactly when/where it is closed (highways agency just lists multiple ongoing lane closures and "expect disruption" type things), so can't provide a reference for you to look at, sorry. Steve: Was Nad Sylvan singing with Steve Hackett as he sounds incredibly like Phil Collins?Got some of his solo stuff on currently, and he has sung with him before.
nick: Yes, it was Nad Sylvan we saw. I thought I'd watched some youtube clips of Hackett doing Genesis stuff and Sylvan in those sounded pretty Gabriel-like; the Collins era stuff we saw him to (W+W mainly) didn't sound particularly authentic. But I think he had a cold or something, his voice wasn't great. nick: yes, sounds to me like a mixture of Collins/Gabriel. Good podcast by the way!I'm going to see Regenesis on both Sat and Sunday nights this weekend, which I'm thinking now might have been a bit ambitious, but I guess I'll get good memories of it. And it's a nice venue.
Weather looks good tomorrow Tim in case you want to try for a ride in the afternoon
Tim: Good idea but sorry I'm out tomorrow pm.Is there any hint of a plan for the following weekend? Apart from Titchfield Saturday, obv.
Steve: Should I bring a bike next week is the question?We would aim to turn up mid morning Saturday, or maybe not without a motorway to use.
nick: Steve, I'll be doing Sat am bike ride with men from church (typically 4 or 5 people) so if you're considering bringing a bike and came Friday night you could come on that - I'm expecting this isn't going to fit in but fyi.I think I'm doing election watch on Thursday night so may have Friday off to sleep/come to terms with awful outcome
I'm up for cycling any time in the weekend if anyone wants to - but Lesley won't be up for this.
The TFT thing is 7.30pm Saturday so we need to be there for that. Steve I'm assuming you're staying with us Sat (and Fri?) night - that's fine. In which case you'd be coming back to BSK after the play. What car arrangements are necessary may depend on cycling.
If cycling is on the agenda (I don't want to assume people want to do this but am happy to if others are keen) then we could do a circuit starting from Southampton, or maybe to MD->HE (I'm not sure if Deborah would want to do this?) and then tea at Tim's before play
Alternative could be cycle HE->BSK, tea here, then drive to Sotn with Tim's bike in the back (I think it'll fit with the front wheel taken off and still room for 4 people)
If not cycling, then I guess best may be tea in Sotn on Sat, with some suitable activity in the afternoon beforehand. In this case N+L drive to HE and rendezvous with S+D+T+T Sat pm
Sunday we can do breakfast and (depending on weather) sort out NT property that you may not have seen before, lunch too if you want it
nick: another option for Sat (suggested by Lesley) is for girls to drive to Alresford, and boys to cycle there & meet them there Tim: Trying to get my head around some of that, is Lesley going to the play? ("Room for 4 people" suggests not, but "N+L" in the puzzling next paragraph seems to contradict.) nick: Sorry for confusion. Yes Lesley will be at the play. You're right, I'd missed her off the count of those driving to HE. But if we can get your bike in the back without putting the back seat down, we can get 5 in the car.
Steve: Excellent work there Nick.All change.
D will drive down Fri afternoon with my bike.
If you are in the office I can train to you and we drive home together. Or I train to BSK.
So I could do the 7AM ride and hope that the slow guy turns up.
Play it by ear after that.
(I like the idea of watercress scones in Arlesford! didn't we walk there once? DX)
nick: Steve - great! I probably shall be at home on Friday - I've booked the day off in expectation of being tired from staying up late. That means I can be around for whenever Deborah turns up.
The ride on Sat is ~7 miles to the start, then probably around 20 miles ride, then ~7 miles home (although sometimes I bail out early if we're coming near the village). None of them is fantastically fast but there is one especially slow one. Last Saturday was gloriously sunny skies so it can be really nice (John Wood came last Saturday although he's away next weekend so won't be there). We could always skip it if it's not nice weather though.
Was at Regenesis concerts last night and the night before (not sure what the monkey mask was about, it didn't get used). It's a very small venue and so little trouble standing right in front of the stage. Lamb Lies Down was really good, partly because lots of it I'd not heard live before (Grand Parade, Back in NYC, Chamber of 32 doors, Riding the Scree). Last night was "greatest hits" type thing which was good but disappointing in that there was no Cinema Show nor Can Utility. Great being able to watch what the keyboard player was doing, which was quite a lot!
Tim: OK, with the cycling sorted out, does that make it simpler for the rest of Saturday?Perhaps just Alresford/NT/tucker/play?
Steve: Yeah the ride looks fine and I know it'll be early which is not an issue.Two Regenesis on consecutive nights seems a bit much!
And the Reading route (no M3) seems okay, D will be fine driving down.
nick: The signs say that the M3 J2-J3 is closed from 9-11 May. I am assuming it'll shut about 8pm so if Deborah is driving in the early evening she'll be OK. But yes, M4 to Reading then A30 to BSK would workTim you're welcome to come on Friday evening for dinner, we can do lifts from/to MD for you.
Alresford is about 11 miles from our house (if you take the shortest route - others are available) so if we were cycling there on Saturday then maybe Deborah would want to join in? She could do just one way and meet Lesley there and stick her bike in the car for the way back or something. Anyway I'm sure we can sort something out, perhaps the weather will determine it.
Tony is really getting into the election - he's read all the manifestos and been watching the TV debates and says he's torn at the moment about who to vote for. Which feels quite depressing as Basingstoke is one of the least swing seats there is. Judging by the state of the polls it may not be quite the landslide May was hoping for so I guess tomorrow evening might be a bit interesting but I think the exit polls last time were pretty much spot on so I assume we're likely to know by 10.01pm what's going to happen.
nick: Three people in the office have sent me this article today. Maybe I should do Ireland after all Tim: Ooh, forgot to mention I'm out Friday night, sorry. Arranged that when it was fixed up that nobody was around until Saturday. nick: Lesley's doing meal planning and I'm assuming we're eating in Southampton on Sat evening (either Tim's or Pizza Hut or something) - is that OK? Steve: I can't face this any more, make it go away someone.I'm also puzzling car/bike logistics for the 4-player ride but am sure Nick has it sussed. Maybe we end up back at BSK?
Tim: I'm going to sidestep cycling, no idea if that helps/hinders. For me a nice ride is one that's followed by a good solid siesta, rather than an ongoing program of events. Conceivably I could meet up en route, or wait here until later. Alternatively could be available for the NT type stuff Sunday am instead or something. Steve: Yeah Nick's level of fitness is pretty scary.I cycled most of here and back yesterday and my legs certainly know it today.
nick: We can have a chat this evening and see if there's a non-cycling alternative that would suit Tim better nick: Ok Tim we dropped the idea of cycling to alresford and are going to drive there from here instead and then from there go to Southampton. So if you can get here we'll do breakfast about 10-ish before departing for alresford for a walk/lite bite then down to Southampton. Sound any good? Tim: Nice relaxing day yesterday cheers. Hope Lesley's feeling better.To stop you searching around: the i and pen are on the coffee table here. There's always something.
Steve: This could be interesting although I might be on holiday: Gilmour Pompeii screeningBSK Odeon seems to do some of these but maybe not go far enough forward to see this.
Steve: Sorry I mean Festival Place Vue, not sure what happened there. Well I do, I clicked a right-arrow assuming it would be later dates and it moved to another town! nick: Yes.. not sure about the Gilmore thing. I don't know if I like his solo stuff, and the Floyd stuff I will have heard quite a lot already. I considered cycling all the way in today but couldn't get myself enthusiastic enough. Although now, I wish I had done. It is lovely weather.
The weekend also looks good for a ride and a siesta if you're up for it Tim
Steve: I cycled in and plan to ride home, feeling a bit tired although tried to take it easy. Wonderful weather, just the Kraftwerk shirt required. And Quorn sausages in the restaurant, finally!Must try to leave at 5....
nick: kraftwerk live review has 5 stars and nearly all the comments seem to agree. Maybe we should have tried harder to get tickets nick: A rare co-op game that might be an excuse for Tim to get a PS4? " two players must work together to break characters Leo and Vincent out of prison and then help them avoid the authorities. Apparently the very different characters have to build trust and friendship as they go." See A Way Out nick: Developers who use spaces make more money than those who use tabs. Unfortunately I already use spaces, so I can't switch from using tabs in order to get a pay rise. nick: Cycled in from home this morning - it was lovely! Starting to get quite warm by 9am. Main problem was that I was cycling into the sun a lot of the time so a bit hard to see because it was so bright. I'll also be cycling into the sun on the way home.I planned an Ireland route but am rather nervous about the weather, having checked precipitation rates for August, so I'm not sure whether to do it. I do fancy doing Scotland again...
Steve: Hmm I already have a 2-disk special version from 2009 - the bonus disk is very good. Wikipedia says those releases were not with the band's consent. Collector's item?... can't find this version (no DVD) so I guess not.Might get the new Roger Waters, but scared it will be terrible.
nick: I don't quite understand this - new Radiohead CD from Amazon is £9.99, and for that you get a free MP3 download of the album. Or, alternatively, you could just buy the MP3 edition and that's £11.99. So you're paying £2 extra to avoid having a CD Steve: And the amazing price variations you get when you check Amazon in the Camel site! I could have got the Relayer Blu-ray setup for less than a tenner if I'd been looking on that specific day. But what would I have done with it?Apart from getting the odd LP, I feel like I'm done buying music.
Spotted a Trancefer half-speed on eBay for £10 + P&P. But Tim already has one. Seems cheap for a 500-off item. Could be tempted for when you get your stuff back Tim.
nick: Not sure when Tim is back, but it's another gloriously sunny-interval day on Saturday for a potential bike ride.My friend John at HP is finally being made redundant (after having been told many times over the past few years that they were at risk). I think he must have been there nearly 30 years so he's a bit nervous of entering the job market; I'm not sure he's quite ready to retire to Hunstanton yet
Steve: Someone said to me yesterday was I retired?!? Do I look that old?Hmm Hunstanton...
We had a day by the sea at Barmouth last week and it was fantastic, no comparison.
Someone has bid on the LP with a couple of hours to go so I can safely leave it.
One of the best pairings on the DiN label are doing a gig in Liverpool Sat 18th Nov. Not at all convenient of course: Ian Boddy and Nigel Mullaney and the U-boat is a disappointment.
nick: to be fair you do look quite old steve, although so do I - I was asked if I was retired last year when I was on the cruise ship. Aren't Boddy/Mulaney playing anywhere else? I can't imagine how you find out about all these obscure gigs Steve.
Steve: Yeah well who would go on a cruise who isn't retired or disabled?DiN email list, Tim will have it as well I would guess.
nick: Just booked my first B&B in Ireland, so I'm sort of committed now. Route is not really sorted yet but is more or less here Tim: They only sell them in sets of four.And your route misses out Donegal, so can hardly be considered complete.
How does next Saturday look?
Tim: Re: Trancefer/ebay, there are a couple of listings (!) for an NME advert we must have seen. Presumably he only played the Venue once, in which case we were there, and I got him to sign some stuff in an Oxford St megastore once, so that was probably the day after. Steve: The LP went for about £18 all-in. Seems cheap for only 500 made. But no regrets.I love the diodes etc on the advert. Don't remember going to the Trancefer tour but I guess we must have.
Listening to his stuff, and a lot of other electronic music, his earlier stuff is absolute genius. Thanks flip he was limited to LP sides though. He pushed those to the absolute limit.
nick: Tim - next Saturday is a tentative yes - what time would you be thinking of doing it? I am possibly doing lunch or something in Romsey with Lesley and some others that day (not yet confirmed though) so if that went ahead an option would be to cycle to HE in the morning and then proceed to Romsey from there, or maybe cycle from Romsey to HE and then to MD.Ireland plan is to start from Rosslare, mainly because getting a ferry from Pembroke to Rosslare sounds less challenging than getting one from Liverpool (not sure how I'm getting to Pembroke yet). The route I mapped is roughly 1000 miles which I know is manageable, although a possibility is that I cycle from home to the ferry, which would add another couple of hundred miles (and 2 days) each way so I'm not certain about that
Tim: I think Klaus only played The Venue once (wherever that was). I think I vaguely remember Rainer Bloss was involved, and I guess we didn't really know who he was at that point? No idea what they played, maybe there's a bootleg. Tim: Rosslare makes sense, it was just your route map that made me wonder.Saturday I can probably fit in with you, given a bit of notice.
Tim: No, but I've got stacks of vouchers to use up so if this looks like a goer I can swap them for some tokens (at £5 for £15 so dirt cheap) you can use:www.stenaline.co.uk/tesco
Tesco suggests Irish Ferries take them for car trips only. OTOH their booking site doesn't look that way. Also they do combined train/ferry tickets.
So as usual aargh it's all really complicated. If you think the option you prefer is payable with Tesco then let me know and I'll get a big bunch of tokens (online). As long as my vouchers haven't expired :-)
nick: yes, complicated. My plan is to book the B&Bs (which depending on availability may mean I end up doing a different route) and then ferries, and then try and work out how to get to/from the ferry port. I'm assuming I'm not taking a car across, although for all I know there may be long-term parking next to Rosslare harbour, in which case I may consider it so I could drive to Wales - I'm a bit wary of trying to sort out train especially in August when Waterloo is out of action and routes may be disrupted Tim: There are trains from Portsmouth via Southampton to Cardiff. I can't see they'd be affected by Waterloo.Then I guess it's local trains to Pembroke/Fishguard.
nick: I'll check out trains.. a quick search for tickets from Basingstoke is coming up with some pretty pricey options (£200+) to get there in time for the ferry on mon 7th, and then there's the faff of getting cycling bookings. But thanks for the Southampton tip, maybe that would be better nick: I am booked into a B&B in Kilmore Quay on 7th Aug. So the idea is to ferry to Rosslare on 7th (ferry gets in at 6.45pm), but failing that I suppose I could to ferry to Dublin on 5th or something, and take a couple of days going down the coast Tim: Or maybe get the train to Swansea or Carmarthen on the Sunday and stay near there somewhere? Then ride to Pembroke or Fishguard on Monday. Saves the rush from BSK to ferry, but possibly not cost-effective. Tim: Stena will do you a £48 single on the Monday:BSK 7:47
Reading 8:11
Swansea 11:00
Fishguard 13:10
Rosslare 16:25
Extra £41 for a return, possibly depending on date.
Tim: https://www.stenaline.co.uk/ferries-to-ireland/rail-sail/find-and-bookSome of the connections are a bit tight, it would be nice if you could start the journey earlier to give a bit more leeway. Not sure what the terms are.
nick: Been looking at those - it does look quite reasonable. Booking bike reservations is a bit nerve-wracking: I did this for the trips back from Inverness last year and although I reserved a spot on each of the trains, there was only one of them that they were expecting me on, and I think I'd have been stuck if there hadn't been a free place. I'll check into this at the weekend, thanks nick: Tim, the Romsey thing isn't going ahead on Saturday so I'm free all day after about 10am if you're up for a ride! nick: 12 then? (I could make 10 but would be a bit more of a rush)I don't mind starting at HE if you'd prefer, but MD would be fine
Tim: BTW, I don't know how train/bike booking works (or doesn't) but conceivably it's worth booking the 3 legs of the journey separately/direct. Something like£8 BSK to RDG (whoever, depending on timing)
£15 RDG to SWA (Great Western)
£36 SWA to RSB (Arriva sailrail)
No idea why BSK - Fishguard or Pembroke is >£100 each way, just an artefact of the crap system I spose.
nick: Yes.. the wonders of split ticketing. That's what I did when I came back from Inverness last year (a ticket from INV->BSK was about twice as much as buying individual tickets for the exact same trains) - Steve got me on to that trick.I *assume* the advantage of buying a through ticket is that you may have some potential for compensation/alternative travel if one of the connections goes wrong - maybe you're not tied to the specific trains that were suggested. Whereas if you buy individual tickets and one of the trains is late so you miss a connection, then tough.
Still booking B&Bs. A few of them are on a B&B Ireland website that lets you check availability on a calendar before booking, but the booking isn't definitely confirmed until the B&B gets back to you (one of them today said they couldn't accommodate me even though their calendar is still showing availability). So it's a bit of a slow process.
Tim: Good point about connections. But like I said before, the all-in-one ticket specifies a 7:47 start, and if any of the connections fail you're just not on the ferry. (You may well be entitled to get on the 11:45 pm ferry. Super.)If you are allowed to start earlier then great, but I think you don't get to see the conditions until you're in the booking process.
If you can't... then if it were me I'd be thinking of a separate ticket for the 7:11 from Reading (a bit early I know). That gives you 75 minutes of leeway at Swansea instead of 15, at the end of a 2:34 leg. Looking at the fourth line here (if this works) there's a 16/127 chance of the 8:11 being 10+ minutes late.
Tim: Nick, just discovered this so I don't know much about it, but it might be worth a quick squint for Ireland. www.flattestroute.com nick: ohh, that does look handy, thanks. A quick check from Sligo to Kells (County Meath) seems to show quite a lot of up and down but the way they do the graph I think any route would look like it's going up and down. I'll do a bit of playing Tim: Oh dear, just tried it for MIC-HDE and it gives exactly the same route as bare Google Maps. Could be no use after all. nick: Have now booked the first 9 B&Bs, 2 or 3 more to go. I should have remembered this from the last times, but B&Bs near the coast are much more expensive and full than ones in the middle of the country. And weekends are harder. Galway on Saturday night was pretty tricky. nick: Just booked tenth B&B, one or two more to go. I spoke with the landlord on the phone - he had a very strong Irish accent and recommended loads of places to look at but I couldn't get them all written down Tim: 80 miles to Rosslare Harbour means you need a B&B there, fine. Where's the other possible one? Have you got a leg of the route that's a bit too long? nick: Booked one in Rosslare last night, which is near enough the ferry terminal to get there for the morning ferry, so that'll be the last one. I need to update my map and put locations in for all the stopping points, I'll try and do that tonight.Now working out transit options for getting to the Welsh ferry terminal.
Tim: Which reopens the question of which Welsh ferry terminal. Stena at Fishguard has the SailRail ticket. IrishFerries at Pembroke can be paid for by Tesco. You eyeballed the parking at Pembroke IIRC, so that fits in. Departure and arrival times must be worth a look. nick: Yes, that confused me for a bit because Irish Ferries go from Pembroke, and Stena from Fishguard, but if I tried the "train/rail" thing on either of their websites, BOTH of them tell me to go to Fishguard (i.e. they both end up telling me to use Stena)Ferry times for Mon 7th are
Pembroke/Rosslare 02.45->06.46; 14.45->18.46 (Irish Ferries)
Fishguard/Rosslare 13:10->16.25; 23:45->04:00 (Stena)
So one thing I'm thinking of is train from Reading->Swansea on Sunday; cycle half-way to Fishguard, overnight stay (in Carmarthen?) on Monday cycle to the 13.10 ferry. That would mean I don't have train changes to worry about but this may not be the cheapest way of doing it
Tim: Or you could treat Lesley to a luxury Sunday night in a hotel in Swansea. Next day, you get the train from there (with a cheapo Basingstoke - Rosslare ticket), and Lesley brings the car home, there's handy. Tim: Right, I just tried booking the SailRail. I thought you had to register with thetrainline, but no you can just supply a crap email address and get started.Looks like the Advance ticket (£41) specifies exactly which trains you have to be on, and the (normal) single (£48) is just "Your journey must be on the date, or in the case of overnight sailings, the day after the date, specified on the ticket."
nick: ok thanks... I may try the Lesley idea. The complication with "any train on the date" is that I need to book cycle space in advance, so I don't necessarily have flexibility of changing trains Tim: Mainly I was thinking of just booking them for less risky (i.e. earler, as far as Swindon) trains than the tight default connections. But yes. Tim: And I was forgetting, the tickets are singles anyway (not return) so Swansea to Rosslare, Rosslare to BSK, is a couple of quid cheaper. nick: I had no idea Alec Baldwin was into music (I've seen some of his comedy stuff), thanks for the tip nick: I listened to the Jon Anderson interview - pretty good. I had the impression that he wasn't in great health, but from the interview he sounded fine. I thought it was notable how he talked about how much he's still into music and composing and enjoying his life etc., but the interview focused exclusively on stuff he'd done up to GftO - nothing since then at all which sort of gives the impression that the last 40 years haven't had much happening Tim: I was looking at your route and see that there are (at least) a couple of ferries you can use. One at Cobh (between Youghal and Clonakilty), and one at Glin. nick: yes, I was planning on doing the Tarbert ferry near Glin. Maybe do the Cobh one too. I haven't planned routes very much yet. For the last couple of years it's taken me roughly one evening of route planning for each day of riding. I was imagining that it would be a lot simpler in Ireland because there won't be so many roads to choose from, so I'm hoping it'll be quicker this year. But there is a bit of research needed on what to look at. I am expecting to see Powerscourt Waterfall whose web page claims it's the highest in Ireland. Wikipedia says it's the second highest though, so maybe I need to find get to the Devil's Chimney which is not quite on my intended route but not far off
Tim: Here's some top-10 stuff then, that might be near your route at a glance.Brú na Bóinne (prehistoric), north of Dublin.
Ring of Kerry (scenic route including official cycling version) NE of Caherdaniel probly.
Cliffs of Moher (also The Burren) SW of Galway.
It would all be a lot easier if I had any idea where Irish counties were.
nick: I'm doing a bit of the Ring of Kerry. Will look up the other places, thanks.I decided not to risk multiple train connections so I am going to get train on Sunday from Reading to Swansea, then cycle to St Clears and stay overnight there, before cycling on to the ferry on Monday morning.
What's the deal with Tesco vouchers Tim?
nick: Train £15 Reading to Swansea departs Reading at 09:16 travel by Train service provider Great Western Railway to station Swansea arrives 11:57 ( seats reserved: Coach: D Seats: 52 , and space for 1 bicycle
Tim: I just checked. If you're booking with Stena or Irish F direct (e.g. not Sailrail, which you may still be doing on the way back, dunno) then I request vouchers on the Tesco website, and they quickly email me voucher number(s), which I forward to you and you type in at the point of booking. Multiples of £15, and worth rounding up a bit (no harm if a fiver's worth goes unused). So just let me know how much the crossings are. Tim: Stena blah here (don't think I spotted this before?)www.stenaline.co.uk/tesco
IF:
www.irishferries.com/uk-en/special-offers-from-britain-to-ireland/tesco-tokens/
nick: OK well I'm going for the Pembroke option, which is Irish Ferries, Mon 7-Aug 14.45, then come back Fri 18th 08.45. I only need ferry on the way out. If I try rail+sail for Irish Ferries for the Ireland->Britain, then it only offers me Dublin->Holyhead, which isn't very useful, so I'll get ferry there too. (If I try Irish Ferries rail+sail FROM the UK, then it ends up putting me on a Stena ship via Fishguard).Cost is £42 each way which includes £10 each way for the bike (total £84). So any vouchers would be handy, I can pay you for them, just let me know how much
nick: So far as I can tellsail+rail £42.50, which doesn't include bike (I don't think you can add a bike on the "sail+rail" site, or reserve bike space on the train, but Irish Ferries site says it's £10 for the bike), and I'll have to call the ferry/train operators to add it), so total £52.50
sail fare with bike £42
rail fare ~£26-£31 depending on route/how you book trains.
So I think I could potentially save about £20 by doing sail+rail, but I can't seem to do that online so will have to call the various ferry/rail companies about the bike
So yes, I could do rail/sail on the way back with some post-booking calling of ferry/train to sort out the bike
But I think from the point of view of booking online, I'd need to pay £42 for the one out, and about £42 for the one back regardless of whether I do rail+sail (for which I'd just pay another £10 to add the bike later)
Tim: OK, just the inadequate systems then. I've got the voucher now, I'll forward it next. Happy birthday or something. Hope you're not too seasick. Steve: This looks interesting: Harald Grosskopf.Loscil and separately Fennesz is also on at the Jazz cafe but I'm probably not fussed.
I will probably book this as well: Billy Cobham.
Tim: Also on: Nearly Dan.It's a perennial problem that about this time of year stuff goes on sale for September/October when I could well be on holiday. I can't really opt in, but might turn out to be available on standby. Probably no help.
nick: I'd be up for Grosskopf and/or Cobham (maybe tonyi would like the Cobham, I sent him a link)Where's "Nearly Dan" on?
nick: oh yes, I was looking on the "Nearly Dan" website and they make no mention of it. Perhaps that's a *different* "Nearly Dan"Steve, if you're getting tickets for Cobham could you get one for me and one for Tony - he says he's up for that
Steve: Yeah I can't work out what the GroBkopf is as it says "transmit live". But not expensive. Will book 3xCobham, he is a legend in jazz-circles.Not sure about a book-reading course, it will just show me how crap I am.
nick: When I did the aesthetics course at university and we spent a while looking in detail at certain art works I was a bit worried that it would spoil them (like when you find out how a magic trick is done and it's such a disappointment). But that's not what happened: it did make me see and appreciate things which I'd missed; so I can see doing this might be interesting. Not sure I can commit to it though, especially if it means reading 4 prize-nominated books nick: Tim, sorry but I can't this Saturday - Julie and Ken are coming on Saturday, I'm picking them up from station at 12 and entertaining them for the afternoon/evening. Would have done otherwise Tim: No probs.On the books front, you don't have to actually read those 4 do you? It says "using examples from a range of texts including the four novels shortlisted for the James Tait Black fiction prize."
I had a quick look at the Guardian reviews.
A Country Road, A Tree by Jo Baker
"a re-creation of Samuel Beckett’s war years, from his desperation to leave the Ireland that stifled him, through his time in occupied Paris working for the resistance and escape to the south after being betrayed to the Nazis, to his postwar job helping set up a French hospital."
What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell
"It documents three phases in an unnamed author’s infatuation with a Bulgarian hustler, and the various settings and transactions involved are described with a detached, carefully styled literary brutalism that feels very of the moment;"
The Lesser Bohemians by Eimear McBride
"The two embark on a course of friendly but casual sex that turns, without either of them quite understanding what is happening, into a love affair that frightens them both in its intensity."
The Sport of Kings by C. E. Morgan
"For the first 200 pages, the book appears to be a conventional multigenerational saga set in the American south."
Let us know how you get on.
Steve: I was up for the first one, "...working for the resistance" but then gave up with "setting up a French hospital".BTW just got my third Sony Discman D-NE700 as the second is no longer reliable. This one for £34 (seems a lot) appears mint. Will this show me that the issue was my old rechargeable batteries all along :( Sure I tried new alkaline ones.
I see Focus have released almost every album
nick: This is quite an old column but it really struck a chord with me: Making wrong code look wrong he's got some really excellent ideas about naming variables nick: I woke up with a song in my head, so googled and found it on youtube. It sounds better than I'd remembered (proper 70's band with brass section) but what made me laugh was the first comment (and replies) - I can identify with the sentiment! Steve: Yeah the pull to go back to those times is so strong at times, it hurts.You can easily spend your life watching Youtube. My recommends took me to Starless like the one we saw.
BTW I sneaked in a visit to the Jazz Cafe last night to see Bill Frisell, only booked it yesterday. Then promptly forgot to load up with cash and buy the future tickets. Main act on at 9 so a bit of standing around and very crowded - will Tony be okay???
Can now cross Bill off my bucket list though.
nick: Main act on at 9 so a bit of standing around and very crowded - will Tony be okay??? How big is the venue? I think what he wasn't keen on was the size of the crowd (~5000?) and the amount of people who seemed to be there just to have a chat and not listen to the music, so being at the back meant he didn't have a very good experience Steve: It's tiny, maybe 300 people? And I guess not as flipping hot in the autumn. But tiny with 300+ means just as crowded. People were paying attention though as mostly older. nick: oh, it's the place where we saw Brand X with Pierre Moerlen? that's not too big. I think he'll be alright... I guess he must have been there before Steve: OK yes same place. Could have been standing next to Stewart Lee watching KC Projekts as well. Steve: Nice to know Dick Pountain was there, and it was You Only Live Twice AFAIK, too scared to comment though: Guardian Review.Maybe I do need to buy more albums...
nick: gig sounds like it was worth going to, should I be embarrassed that I don't know who Dick Pountain is?You're lucky being in London Steve, glad to hear that you're making the most of it though!
Steve: Was WFH as I cannot stand sitting next to the new guy. So actually came into London for that. Author of the Penguin Dictionary of Computing, and has been around in computer journalism for ages.Spotted the gig in the Guardian mag. Can't believe there were tickets free.
Steve: I can't really work out what's going on with the recent KS stuff, when you look a lot of it was already released in Contemporary editions. So is this new? Eternal - The 70th Birthday Edition Steve: Aaaarrrggghhh why not release something really decent for his 70th?Two weeks tomorrow, I'll raise a glass and bung some vinyl on.
nick: Sustrans have a 25% off everything sale, including Ortlieb panniers. I'd probably buy another pair, if my original pair weren't doing so well (I had to replace the bike rack because they wore holes in that, but the panniers are fine)I hadn't realised KS was 70, but I suppose that's only 15 years older than me (so he was in his early thirties when we first came across him which sounds plausible)
Tim: If you're after a bit of nostalgia, there's the Mirage 40th Anniversary Edition, but I haven't seen anyone say yet whether it's a good remaster or not (the previous one wasn't, apparently). Steve: Yeah I wandered onto the MIG label site and saw that. The LP sounds pretty nice so I'll stick with that I think. Wonder why they didn;t go for 24-bit versions to get us to buy another version, maybe they are holding those back.Although I do need to think of birthday ideas - I really don't want anything. Not even panniers - I would also get these again. If I'm not careful I'll end up with the KC On and Off the Road. RF was in my dream last night BTW and shook my hand!
nick: I'll try and dream about RF and if I can get it to a lucid dream, I'll ask him to come and shake your hand in real life Steve: Yeah would be good to meet Toyah if you can arrange it. And considering he doesn't shake hands I thought it was pretty good. Steve: I'm going to post a card via KDM.How was the dream? Nothing for me this time.
Up early to ride in and a nasty if warm headwind. Train home.
nick: Unfortunately I can't remember any dreams from last night at all. But I'm sure I would have asked him.I saw Tony last night, who's just come back from a holiday with his partner+his sister and her husband; they drove from Hunstanton up to Scotland (deliberately) following much of my route from last year, plus a bit of my initial LeJog (they went through the Cairngorms to Tomintoul). He really liked all the sights especially Scotland. He also made a special effort to go over the Transporter Bridge but it was closed because a bit had broken. But he said he had a good chat with the people in the engine room.
Cycled in this morning, lovely tailwind much of the way. Hope it'll be like that this evening too. Big Wheel on Sunday.
Tim: Drove in this morning, listened to a bit of HIA. Hoping to get home before it buckets down, I hate driving in the rain. Steve: On the KS theme I discover that Are You Sequenced was recorded "February to March 1996, Hambühren & 27 April 1996 at the concert in Derby, England." I never knew that.I'm hankering after the newer version with the remixes replaced by a 77 minute bonus track, but I listen to the remixes more than the main album. Go figure.
Got The Unforgettable Fire on currently which Tim, you said was their Close to the Edge, remember?
Tim: Sounds reasonable, but of course I don't remember saying it. Whatever happened to them, anyway? I remember Joshua Tree coming out, maybe that was the last album of theirs I actually listened to.On the Schulze front, apparently he only did three concerts in 1982. After the one at The Venue, there was one in Budapest. That became disc 3 of Jubilee Edition. I've got that on minidisc so I dug it out and gave it a spin - it's quite a racket, with lots of Rainer Bloss tinkling of the ivories. Two long tracks (the first one based on Ludwig) and an encore.
Steve: It would be!The last good U2 seems to be Achtung Baby, the next one Zooropa is also good. I got How to Dismantle which is pretty good. Wiki shows the last one Songs of Innocence with only 60,000 UK sales?
Could be tempted to get the new Mirage or the new En=Trance which I really like.
nick: "Songs of Innocence" was the one that was free on iTunes and was pushed to everyone who had an iTunes account (I think it coincided with a new iPhone release or something). So I imagine the 60,000 UK sales does not include all the free copies. There was a ton of moaning when they did this and I don't think I've ever got round to listening to my free copy Steve: Yes exactly! I found out there was a double LP of it which surprised me. I have the excuse to re-buy in that there is a slight skip in mine.A while back I got the newer Mirage secondhand and there were issues with it so I threw it away. Turns out there was a mastering mess-up. But I was never going to return it to the shop was I?
This new version is done by his long-trusted sound engineer, and we all know the sound output is quality.
Krautwerk sounds promising.
Tim: I never bought the vinyl but I always thought of En=Trance as a double album.It's as if it was a stepping-stone on the lengthening of Schulze albums. At this point we're up to about 68 minutes which is too long for a single vinyl but still OK for 1 cd. I suppose the 2LP was relatively expensive to make and demand was drooping, so it was a one-off.
Subsequent albums were 70+ minutes, and tracks were dropped and/or edited to make 1LP vinyl editions, so there was no longer a 29-ish minute ceiling on track length.
Steve: Yes, when the rot set in. Although I like RFH and Beyond Recall, has anything after that been worth the money? In Blue maybe but soooo long. Dosburg good in part but spoilt by the "Who gives a" bloke.Yes as predicted, Are You Sequenced disk 1 is long and boring. Tried the first disk of Historic and that's pretty poor. Remember the ridiculous clapping at the start, 5 whole minutes of it?
Steve: Tim any thoughts on Klaus & Solar Moon? It has singing but sounds impressive, and we all know collaborations are better for him in recent years. Tim: I only remember it as being a small part of Contemporary Works I - all of which sounds OK, but there's 12 hours of it and lots of it similar (or in some cases basically the same?). At the time I focussed a bit on the Ballett 4-CD subset, but even that proved to be a too hard going really. It could well be that any individual reissue is worth a go if you fancy it.
Tim: I dug out a minidisc of the Solar Moon thing, gave it a bit of a sample. Sounded OK if a bit dull. But then I was a bit puzzled about the track times, and it turned out to be the wrong disc. It was labelled Solar Moon but was actually the prior CD in the set, U.S.O.I'll have another dig tonight.
Steve: Hilarious. I'm banking on the remixes being better than the original disk anyway.Remind me, you had the set and got rid of it, or was it just in transit to Don in Aus?
Richter's Four Seasons in the Walkman today, excellent.
nick: Richter's Four Seasons in the Walkman today, excellent.Re-watched the "Arrival" film last weekend, which features music by Richter, and the music was notably good.
Tim: was it just in transit to Don in Aus?Yes.
I've accidentally ordered (from SMD) a copy of Virtual Outback, which was the first reissue from Contemporary Works 2. I don't think I've ever heard any of that.
Steve: Good, saved you having that cluttering the place and you not having the will to sell it.I thought you had that one already, or maybe it was the green one Kontinuum? SMD do have way too many sales emails but you can get sucked in. Their Schulze section is very small. I can't work out what they specialise in, seems so random. And the search is terrible, I can get a server error very easily.
Tim: I've kept up with the "proper" albums (which only means Moonlake/Kontinuum/Shadowlands) but hadn't got any of the Contemporary Works reissues.I've found a real minidisc of KS+SMS and a quick skim suggests it's going to be more interesting than KS on his own, like you thought. All downtempo, so probably no excitement, but not just the same sequences chugging away for 79 minutes (which I expect Outback is).
nick: I've got he ability to rip MD into WAV files if you want it.I've had a cold this weekend so was a bit out of it; was off work today. Bought all the rail tickets, but haven't done enough route planning yet: so far I've planned from Swansea to St Clears (which is where I'm stopping next Sunday night). I'm hoping roads in Ireland will be very uncomplicated and well signposted
Steve: Trying again to go through that huge Touched compilation, started a doc to flag up good tracks and maybe why. Quite a lot of them are good, probably easier to mark the less-good ones. But it's huge. Good for work.Trawling the Internet on one of my faves Dean de Benedictis (who has 3 tracks on the comp), I find a recent album I did not know about. Can I do a download to avoid huge US postage costs? Do I go 24 bit?
And he has some sort of jazz-fusion-electronics band that sounds up my street.
And I found he wrote an excellent little tribute to Allan Holdsworth, who he raves about.
Tim, do you have any Ochre? Bought a second one, Lemodie a short while back and played it loads. Similar to Plaid on a chirpy day.
Great having a Walkman again.
nick: I am back home for w/e of 19th August (I get home on Fri 18th) if that makes any difference, happy to host any visitors Tim: Quick update (there's other stuff I'm meaning to reply to as well): I'm free most of the 19th weekend except for a home fixture Saturday 3pm. Steve: Trying to see if anything fits with D going to the New Forest that weekend. But she does not have a plan yet as she is relying on others. Tim: On the Ochre front I think I've only got Like Dust Of The Balance. Possibly might have borrowed something else from Neil, not sure.I like it, a couple of tracks are *too* Plaidy, but some of the others are different enough to make up for it.
Steve: This 4:00pm SESSION track from the new TD album is pretty good. But as there are no original members I'm in a quandary, is it just like a good ARC or RMI track?Current thinking is next weekend isn't a great fit BTW.
And Nick has missed some of the worst rain we have ever seen in GB.
Tim: Yes, the TD sounds quite good, I think I'll get it in, ta. Not too worried about the quandary.Thanks for the weekend update. Are there any candidate dates in September? I'll probably book a couple of Fridays or Mondays off soon, which helps free up some of the rest of the weekend, so I might as well make them coincide in case. Doesn't matter if nothing ends up happening.
Ireland seems to consist of empty roads and tucker.
Steve: Hmm September we are on holiday 1st and second weekends and I'm running short of holiday. 16th/17 is a possible.Yes people are saying the new TD album is good. Tangram Set 2 on at the moment.
TD were great at subtlety, something other EM artists lack. They had just the right amount of delicate faffy bits (must save that for my next Amazon review). And took so much care over the sounds.
Steve: Well done, I like to try to visit physical shops as you know to keep them going. That is on a par with online I would say. If we think that CDs were £10 30 years ago it helps. But yes we all have a mental block at a tenner.I recently ordered the newest Dean de Benedictis from dodax which I think is in Germany, but a lot cheaper than other sources for a US import. Search is terrible and has not arrived yet though.
Steve: Aaarrggghh, wasted a few more hours recently on Volumio. Thought I'd update the version. Did it twice with reboots, old version remained.Downloaded newest version to start again. This never seemed to complete syncing with the NAS drive and could hang completely.
Plugged previous memory stick in and will try a newer version in a few months. I suppose it is free...
Tim: Coincidentally I've got a Volumio story too. I might have made a bit of a psychological breakthrough in that I bought a cd from bandcamp, it hasn't arrived yet but already I've downloaded and listened to the flac.We need a new post. Got a pic handy? Otherwise I'll do it tonight.
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