Friday, February 16, 2018
Tim: Spitfire
The new Nuffield Theatre opens opposite work this weekend. The first play is some locally-inspired thing to do with Spitfire production in the city. So out in the square there's a Spitfire on a trailer waiting to be reassembled.
- 9:34 am
Comments:
nick: Cool! I'm up for going to the play if you're getting tickets.
And.. I didn't get round to booking anything for the jazz stuff, sorry
Tim: Don't think I'll be going to the play. I might still be getting tickets for the 6th May Frisell thing. If I do, do you want one?
nick: I am still eating cheese, but would like to try and stop. Any suggestions for good vegan options for sandwiches? The sandwich bar I go to doesn't seem to have a lot of choice (I could have a salad sandwich I suppose)
Tim: Do you mean homemade, or suggestions for the sandwich bar?
I do quicky homemade, I don't care about gourmet so long as there's a bit of variety. Standard items (other than cheese) include Cheatin' Ham etc. + chutney, sausage (cook an extra one) + ketchup, cole slaw + tomato, marmite, peanut butter.
Tim: Since we're talking tucker, have either of you tried Toastie Pockets? I reckon it's got to be done, maybe next weekend.
nick: re: vegan lunch, I was thinking of sandwich bar because it's a sort of social thing to walk there with other people at lunchtime and I feel I ought to keep doing it. But home-made ideas are good thanks.
Someone at work here used to make himself toasties in those toast pocket things and really rated them. I haven't seen him use them lately. Maybe I should just get bread from sandwich shop, bring in my own peanut butter+banana, and make toastie pockets
Tim: Meanwhile, I've crossed another threshold on the music download front. I've bought a flac of an album that is also available as a double CD. A factor is that it was £7 instead of £20+p&p.
nick: so you've saved money, precious environmental resources, and space - win!
I went for an eye test at the weekend, the floater in my eye that I got on JoGLE is continuing to be annoying. I was sort of relieved when he looked at my eye and straight away said "wow, that is a big floater".
The guy I saw at the hospital said that you might see adverts offering to operate and get rid of them but he wouldn't recommend "I've seen people who've had those operations and they've made things worse". But I later thought "well, you probably only see the people where it went wrong, maybe lots of people have successful floater removal". Not sure I'd want to risk it though.
I listen to a sceptical podcast which recently did a series on the Flat Earth society. In the last episode of that, they had an interview with one of the main guys there, and so I looked forward to a bit of debunking, but rather worryingly, the guy was completely unfazed by the arguments against FE, and came up with some convincing-sounding points about why FE was obviously true. Not that I was persuaded at all, but it was quite unsettling to hear how convinced he was, how sane he sounded, and how many things he could say to support his PoV. One problem was that he was citing lots of bits of info - e.g. how few photos NASA has released of earth from space (they keep using the same one) - that would take quite a while to check out. But I can see how people might find this persuasive
Tim: I thought I might listen to the podcast, but when it came down to it I couldn't be arsed. It's not really interesting that people can come up with an endless stream of blather to be honest.
I did have a look at the website for "the" flat earth society (same one as geezer?) and it's pretty pathetic. e.g. what does a map of the world look like then? Answer = er, not sure actually (https://wiki.tfes.org/Layout_of_the_Continents)
nick: No, I wouldn't recommend it as a "must-listen". I had it on while riding, so it passes the time a bit. But it was interesting to hear someone sounding so 'reasonable' and never being stumped for an answer.
nick: I have mentioned it at work though, and now people keep saying to me "so how does he explain XXX then?" and "what about YYYY"
- I don't know! I'm not trying to defend this! - "but what about ZZZ?"... etc
Steve: I'm put off by their last gig I'm afraid.
And I tried a Sainsburys cheese substitute and it's the 3rd "food" I've ever had to spit out. Other being Fisherman's Friend and Stilton.
I have serious trouble with Parmesan at times.
nick: nice typo in some doc I'm reviewing:
hint - optional either the routing indicator or the email address. This value is shown in the hint popup when hoovering over the recipient.
nick: Tim are you around for an evening in the next week? I could do with your help on "The Witness". I am making progress with it but too often am solving things by accident and finding it hard to work out what I did right. And I'm (currently) still stuck on the bit with the Russian film playing. Can bring it down to yours or you could come here?
Tim: Sounds good. I guess there's less tech faff if I come to you, although I might need station ferrying. Either way, Tuesday or Thursday maybe?
nick: Tuesday then? No tech faff either way, it's on the iPad so only thing I'd need is a plug socket in case the battery runs out while we're watching the russian film. Had another go last night and it's really annoying - I can't tell if I'm failing a puzzle because I'm doing the puzzle wrong, and have missed some clue, or because there's another puzzle I should have done earlier on, or left something else in a certain state. I don't think I'm as good at this sort of thing as you are.
nick: I checked with Lesley and it's fine for you to come to ours and have tea on Tuesday, I can give you lifts to/from station if you're doing it by train
Tim: Well as it happens I was due to be cooking pasta on Tuesday, Tina likes to line her tucker up well in advance. Could count you in on that?
nick: In another attempt to read it, I've got the audiobook of part 1 (of 7) of "Remembrance of Things Past" out of the library. 17CDs, 21 hours. I'm about an hour in so far and haven't got to the madeleine bit yet (I did get past that when I tried reading it previously). So far it's quite wordy
Tim: I had to think twice then because I'm reading Remembrance of Earth's Past (first volume = The Three-Body Problem) by Cixin Liu.
It's a lot shorter.
nick: I just listened to "Inner City Codes" by Subsonic Park. It was good! What else should I listen to that's like that?
nick: Someone must have lent it to me, I can't imagine I'd have known to buy it. Or maybe I bought it because we were shopping and someone told me to?
Tim: Pretty sure that'll be mine then.
There are quite a lot of good/decent albums on the Elektrolux label and its offshoot Mikrolux (which is smaller and probably had a better hit rate). Maybe you could try some at random (if you're going to be streaming?) or I can fish out a few more for you to borrow.
Steve: Hmm having trouble remembering that book. And musical accompaniment?
I've never heard of Subsonic Park BTW.
nick: Not looking great for tonight tbh Tim. Think it's safer to give it a miss: snow here and likely to be below freezing which means roads pretty dodgy. Maybe we could try and sort out a video link or something so you can talk me through solving the puzzles
Better news about teabags. I signed that petition!
Tim: That's probably a wise move, although all we've seen so far is a light dusting of snow. Looks like we're on the edge of the amber warning so it could easily go either way.
I saw that teabag news, didn't realise it was down to you.
nick: working at home today, so it occurred to me I could rip my complete Scarlatti boxset. Good news is that someone has entered all the meta data so I don't have to fill that in myself. Bad news is that I think I'm likely to get a fair dose of harpsichord form now on whenever I ask for random play
nick: 10 past 2? That gives me time to get to BSK station, maybe can meet Tim on the train and get him to solve my puzzles on the ipad
Tim: If your arrival time is anyone's guess, I don't mind getting off at BSK at 12:17 and seeing when you arrive, so you don't have to hang around. Looks like there are 5 useful trains per hour. Any use?
Steve: Oh dear this leaves me way too much time in Fopp...
BTW I don't actually have the album we are going to see, is it any good?
Tim: No, the thing we're going to is Dudley-Jeczalik-Langan reboot Art of Noise's In Visible Silence.
Steve, so we might be a bit earlier if poss.
nick: I've been listening to some of the Scarlatti, got up to K21 (goes up to K555) and that one's been going round my head all day. He did do some catchy tunes.
Tim: Random suggestion: there's a thing just started at the Wellcome Collection we could have a nosey at, same part of town as the library (but closes at 6pm).
http://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2018/03/review-somewhere-in-between-at-the-wellcome-collection-london/
nick: I am Intending to get 13:17 at BSK. Working at home this morning so shouldn't be a problem getting there in time
Steve: OK so we are looking at about 2:15 in London, shall we meet at Wellcome 2:45? I will probably go to Fopp before that to get a load of walking in.
nick: I'm being energy efficient by WFH without having the heating turned on. Pretty chilly just sitting in front of the PC though, my hands are very cold
Tim: I heard Nick mention this yesterday, I think:
Don't take money out of pensions until you've stopped paying in, because your ability to pay in gets reduced.
I think basically this is to stop you recycling, i.e. taking a tax free sum and using it to reclaim further tax.
nick: ah yes, that's the thing I was thinking of. I guess the recycling thing must apply to just the money purchase - my colleague at work just started taking a final salary pension from ICL at 60 (he didn't want it, but they told him that if he didn't take it now he wouldn't get any extra when he DID take it) and has just upped his employee contributions to his current work pension by a corresponding amount.
I suppose there would be potential for skulduggery if you could pay into a SIPP, get tax credited, then take money out tax free, and put that money straight back in and get more tax credited.
Tim: Probably. More stuff about it here. It's not something I've looked into a lot because I won't be doing anything like that.
Steve: Well you can only take a proportion out tax-free so I don't really see the issue as the loop would get smaller and smaller. Whatever you put back in would have to count against earnings you had paid tax on.
Tim: Nick, I bought The Witness. So far all I've done is complete some simple mazes to enable me to emerge from a small castle into the wider world.
nick: you've not got to the puzzles with the tree and fruit on yet? You helped me with that one. I came out from the cinema room and have been wandering around topside. But not yet got further. I expect you'll overtake my progress soon
Tim: I bought the game yesterday and spent most of the afternoon downloading. So I only had a short go. More later, and I'll try and keep you posted on roughly what I do or can't.
nick: yes, it is quite big. I bought it soon after it came out on the iPad (I think there was a cheap offer) and there were several updates over the next couple of weeks, each of which involved downloading the whole thing, and each of which I did just in case it was a fix I needed. Haven't been any updates for a while now though
nick: I think this is the mix that we heard before AoN came on. Although listening to it now, there's a fair bit I don't remember - maybe because the sound quality on my headphones is better than it was at the gig
Steve: So the Mahler 2 for organ (David Briggs arr and playing) and choir was excellent Saturday night. They rigged up a camera so you could watch the guy literally pulling out the stops. Only an hour for the guys to wait before they came in for the last movement!
Also wanted to say again how good the Richter Four Seasons is Tim, and nowhere near as cheap nowadays. Slight snag in that when I play the proper version, I keep expecting the newer parts. I have a seemingly-mint Pinnock LP (from where?) which I've had on recently. Interesting to hear the different (normal) versions and their emphasis on different instruments.
Tim: Sounds good.
Witness: I've been through the puzzles inside and outside of a half-built white shed, then to a crafts workshop on stilts in the sea, then to a sandy rocky headland, got the laser started. I suppose logically the thing would (ooh, EFL just came on) be to follow the laser to the other end - like following the coloured cables - but on the way I got distracted and did the trees and got the windmill moving. Downstairs from there gets to the cinema room but there's nothing on. All six panels are black.
nick: All six panels are black. Ah, so something I did must have enabled the first one. Maybe if I could remember (or you can find out) what the triggering action is, that'll help work out how to get the other ones. So I take it you're not seeing the film?
nick: The one that springs to mind is the large-ish collection (about 10 or more?) that have some outside and some underground, all of the same theme, which include a mechanism to flood a chamber with water. There is also the tree one which you helped me with, and some of the ones where you need to separate the black/white dots. Did you do the one on the floor of the hexagon? I don't think I had to do that to get the movie going, IIRC I didn't notice it was there at first
Tim: No, I haven't done that. I just came into the chamber and thought: time to report back to base.
Tim: Witness Correction: if I put your pattern into the hexagony puzzle the third panel lights up and a film starts about a geezer with a candle. I must have got the wrong end of the stick about the sequence of events.
Tim: I didn't do a lot more but the bits I've looked at started to get trickier.
In the cinema room, the puzzle on the floor I only did by trial and error, I don't understand it. Same with a similar one lying out on a beach somewhere.
And there are double-doors out from the cinema one, I could only open one of them. (Doesn't seem to be a massive problem, but still.)
nick: ah, I did work out the solution to the puzzle on the floor (I mentioned this to you - there are two possible solutions, when I worked out one of them I thought "this should be solvable in another way", and it was).
I did solve the other double door thing and I sort of know how it worked but didn't fully understand it
I bet Steve is really interested in following our progress
nick: Nice spot Steve and far enough in the future that I can't find an excuse to say no, so count me in please. Hope it doesn't go on too late though!
nick: oh, maybe I was getting mixed up with the Orb. Anyway, I definitely would like to do the Orbital thing, thanks
Tim: No thanks on the Orbital.
For the Eno, it looks like I've got a decent chunk of that already - it's the side of Eno I like so I've collected some of his more obscure releases. It looks nice though, I'll have to look into it, cheers.
Tim: On the other hand...
This familiar site links to shops, and shows that jpc.de (ordered from them before) have got the generally pointless limited edition verion listed for £40, I'll give that a try, see what happens.
Steve: I tried listening to his BBC lecture last year but he seemed to be saying absolutely nothing so I gave up. Never managed to get into his music either. I like the idea of it (like jazz), but can't latch onto it.
Tim: I know none of us were really interested with the Albert Hall thing but I saw that Camel are playing over the road here in the Guildhall, 12th September.
There were a few good seats remaining so I spontaneously snapped up a group of three of them, Row H iirc. Anyone interested? I'm assuming you may well not be, so don't worry about it if you're not. Also, HM Government wealth warning: £60 each.
Steve: It is the Moonmadness tour?
Hmm that's a Wednesday so could be a bit tricky so if you think you can use it otherwise I'd say do so thanks. We also tend to have our annual holiday around that time.
Tim: Moonmadness it is. It might end up being tricky for me too, no idea yet. I'm going to leave worrying about it too much until a bit nearer the time.
nick: Camel: I think I'm another maybe. I do fancy seeing them especially given that someone else has sorted the tickets, but it's Ken's 80th on the Thursday and I might be away (I don't expect so but it's a possibility). So me too, I'd take a ticket but if you find someone else then no prob.
Ella's wedding went well on Saturday despite sudden unexpected death of Lesley's brother David on Friday. It has all been quite emotional here and Lesley has today gone to Exeter to help drive people around (David's wife Teresa doesn't drive). I think we managed not to let the wedding be spoiled but I am finding it quite hard today when I want to tell everyone how much I enjoyed the wedding but they are (understandably) more interested in talking about heart attacks and funerals.
There was a lot of work tidying up the hall on Saturday night/Sunday so I'm still feeling tired now. Heaven knows how Lesley is managing
Tim: Glad to hear you enjoyed it (presumably others did too then) despite everything.
I'll pencil you in for the Camel, ish, and we'll see how things look in a couple of months.
Steve: Yes Nick "stuck two fingers up to death" - I was shocked :)
BTW Propaganda was excellent, they put a ton of effort in with a full band that included producer Steve Lipson on guitar plus percussionist and trumpet. A few sound glitches but otherwise fab. The crowd were singing along nicely.
A lot of effort for one then two gigs you'd think. Maybe not, as I see they will be supporting Heaven 17 on a tour in the autumn.
PS I'm in love with Suzanne Freytag.
Steve: Going to see George Fitzgerald tonight. Paul was on a waiting list for Islington Assy Hall tickets and heard earlier this morning. They will send the QR codes 2 hours b4 - I assume to reduce reselling.
He went to Brighton last night to see him which is pretty hardcore.
Leaves D to fill my seat for the live ballet screening I was going to in Dunstable. Oops!
nick: Was it good then?
Looks like the funeral for Lesley's brother is on 17-April which means I won't be able to go and see Jethro Tull with Tony. If either of you knows of someone who may want the ticket then let me know
Steve: Hmm not too tempted by JT.
Yes I'll get the new one at some point.
Last night they had relatively simply visuals, a load of what looked like fluorescent tubes randomly scattered and four square light things. I wish I could find an image as these squares could do any colour from the edges and seemingly beam in any direction through the smoke. I was torn between eyes-closed music-fest and watching the gorgeous display.
Steve: BTW the Marconi album is great thanks Tim, not got to the remixes yet. Although I did go on to play my LP of Tim Hecker's Mirages which is also great. But those short sides... I guess this is because a CD album of say 55-60 converts really badly to 20 min sides.
Thank flip Klaus did his best stuff during the LP days else can you imagine 72-minute versions of Trancefer tracks? Wouldn't have the same impact would it?
Tim: I wouldn't rush with the remixes. Just something to try when you're fully familiar with the album.
Tim: Nick, are you making any progress with The Witness? Probably been too busy.
I'm 4/7 of the way through, maybe.
Steve: I loved this comment on a Tim Hecker best albums post: "i've been listening to a lot of Hecker and other ambient music while studying, but i always feel super isolated and depressed after. is this common?"
nick: Witness - no, I've not been playing recently. Did you get past the cinema thing?
Google has a find out what we know about you service which you can use to dump an archive of anything they know about you. I did this yesterday (it took about 10 hours for them to generate it) and I ended up with about 4GB of data, the vast majority of which was the contents of my gmail account (I've used gmail for over ten years and it's got most of the mail I've had over that time)
The rest included my history of google searches, history of what I'd watched on youtube, and a few things I had saved in google docs (university essays).
There was an archive of location data but this was almost empty (the only thing I could find in there was data to say I'd been at home and at work).
I use DuckDuckGo as my default search engine,and am using an iPhone rather than an Android device, so I think maybe that's why there was less stuff in there than I'd expected.
I didn't find anything in there which made me think "oh! I didn't realise they knew THAT"
Surprisingly, there was nothing about this blog in there, although there was a "blogger" section.
Nick
Tim: Thanks for the search engine tip, I'd been thinking of looking for alternatives.
I'm ignoring the cinema, basically. Maybe it will eventually lead to something, or maybe not.
Tim: I've just remembered there's that platform thing above the cinema. How do you even try to get there? Maybe I'll have another look.
Steve: So how do DuckDuck make money??? And thanks also from me, I had never heard of it.
Was thinking of putting a written data request into Facebook for what they have on me. Although never a member, they extract phone contacts from people who are users.
nick: I think DuckDuckGo do serve advertisements in their results so I guess they get money from that
I was in facebook for about a year but deleted my account because it was too depressing seeing everyone else having such a fantastic life compared to me. But you're right, maybe they'd have some stuff on me via other people I know. Let us know how you get on!
nick: some pictures from Ella’s wedding photographer. I’m not sure what he did with the colour ones but he seems to have made them look more lush than I remember it being on the day
Steve: Very good. I bet there is a standard filter like the one on Google.
Just seen announcement of a collaboration between Claudia Brucken and Jerome Froese coming in June.
nick: Was thinking of putting a written data request into Facebook for what they have on me. Although never a member, they extract phone contacts from people who are users.
I think you use WhatsApp Steve? That's owned by Facebook. I'm sure they'd never harvest your data from that though
Steve: Yes good point on WhatsApp.
BTW Tim, did the new TD album ever amount to anything? I saw some announcement about a re-issue.
Tim: Which new album, Particles? Not bad, I was meant to lend it to you of course. There have been a few since then.
nick: Heaven 17 + bits of Propaganda on 30-Nov. Lesley saw Heaven 17 a year or so in Basingstoke and really liked it, fwiw
Tim: The weather seems to be improving. There's going to be some rain this weekend but it may not be too long before I check if I've still got a bike in the garage.
nick: Sounds good! I cycled to work this week and that was the first time I'd been on the bike for over a month. I've not been doing very well this year. Probably I'm busy this weekend and next but definitely up for summer cycling after that
nick: Are you doing a big ride or giving it a miss this year? Nothing planned yet although there is family discussion of the Bodensee option so perhaps that will come off
David's funeral is next Tuesday and there's been a fair amount of stuff for that, I'm producing service sheet and liaising with with funeral home to arrange music/slides, all fairly stressful although lots worse for Lesley and her mum and sister. I am fine until people start saying kind things to me. It is a wretched business :-(
Steve: Well you did a good job on the wedding service sheet Nick, so it will be good I'm sure. No idea how people come back from these sorts of events, I have lived a charmed life so far.
Tim, I bought the ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER (Daniel Lopatin) album R Plus Seven. Good old Fopp Glasgow. Very good so far. Not as glitchy as I was expecting, bit hard to categorise. He loops things in a minimalist way but for fairly short sections so not an easy listen, voice samples maybe? With plenty of bass notes. But then I didn't buy it as an easy listen did I?
Steve: Yeah 4 days of museums & Macintosh design etc. Train from MK, Premier Inn bang in the centre near a Wetherspoons for breakfasts, was excellent. Slight shame they had loaned the famous Dali crucifix picture out.
Steve: They were awesome enough as it was. Last day I wimped out and just had beans on toast much to D's amusement.
nick: (more for Steve I guess) I got a copy of the latest Public Service Broadcasting album, which I'd sort of been reluctant about because it's about the Coal industry in Wales which sounded a bit dreary. But - it's really good! here's one of the obviously catchy tracks but I like the whole thing and in fact it seems better than the other two albums. Includes snatches of Richard Burton, who always sounds good.
Steve: I got their Space one and it's a bit disposable after a few goes. so I'm glad it's better.
How is it that I put my long-lost Steve Hackett Defector album on I haven't heard for 30 years(?) and I still remember it?? Reminiscent of Camel's Single Factor. Matt was shocked at the sounds being used.
Steve: Had a batch back from cousin Jonathan as Gill & Richard had a clear-out pre-move, had completely forgotten I lent them out. I'm sure I've not quite got them all but nevermind.
BTW Burningshed has some amazing Yes t-shirts at good prices but I feel that period of my life (band wear) is gone. And they did nothing after their 8 years of excellence - grrr. Apart from milking live albums that is.
Tim: Node's live album from the RCM is finally coming out on DiN next month. Demo mix of one track here.
Tim: The new Schulze album is available as a reasonably-priced 2LP+CD
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00TKNQVLA
It's a shame that the cover is so terrible. Come to think of it though, that's not unusual for a Schuze album.
Tim: I'm keeping an eye on the weather forecast in case... is there any scope for a ride this weekend, Nick? Steve??
nick: Thanks Tim - yes I'm available for a ride this weekend (28/29 Apr).
The following weekend is the Randonnee (Sun 6 May) which I would like to do if possible, although I'm a bit out of condition this year, it's been my worst year since 2013 in terms of how many miles I've done by this time.
Funeral was last Tuesday and went as well as I suppose it could have done. It felt awkward to lead the service but several people said it helped that the person leading it did know him. I just keep thinking of things I should have done better. Lesley did really well, but it has hit her quite badly.
Steve: I'm staying here for a bit as D just had a hysterectomy and she is confined to barracks for some weeks. Well, she can't do anything physical. She's doing fine though, not even on painkillers.
Her auntie Barbara recently fell and broke her wrist. Then fell AGAIN a few weeks later and broke her hip so had a new one. So it's all go here in Luton.
I'm trying not to buy stuff from Amazon so will look for another source, but they are thin on the ground so far. Yes that cover is like a modern version of Inter*Face.
Recently bought a CD with Stockhausen's Gruppen and (more interestingly) stuff by Kurtág on it. Sounds amazing but how often you can bung it on I'm not sure.
Tim: Nick, there seems to be some rain forecast for the weekend, I'll check again nearer the time. On the plus side, I'm pretty much available whenever looks best.
nick: Yes.. "drizzle and breezy" it says at the moment. Lovely
Went to see A Quiet Place last night to celebrate our silver anniversary. For reasons not explained, there's been some apocalyptic event after which there are nasty creatures are around who want to eat you; they're blind but have excellent hearing so you're OK so long as you don't make a noise. It was pretty quiet in the cinema! And satisfyingly scary, I had my eyes shut for quite a bit of it.
nick: Tony said "They are immune to all our herbicidal battering!"
From reading it, I think they are talking about chemical/herbicide treatments rather than physically digging it up/burning it. So maybe that is an effective way of getting rid of it. (It must be possible to physically remove the stuff, even if it's difficult and impractical in all cases)
Tim: The forecast for the weekend has improved, and it's just cloudy and breezy (as it stands). What's the best timing option(s) for you, Nick?
nick: Early afternoon, say 1pm onwards? my forecast has rain at 3pm in Basingstoke so maybe best to do MD->HE (HE looks dry all afternoon)
Tim: That's Saturday is it? Pencil me in.
I'll check the forecast again tomorrow and it'll be completely different.
Tim: Inevitably it's saying Light Rain for tomorrow afternoon now.
I'm still aiming for 1pm at MIC though, unless it's looking decidedly worse first thing tomorrow.
Steve: It seems they did a 4hr thing in 2016 as well. They lost me with Exai - I just can't listen to it. Maybe I'd better have another go though.
Tim: And in 2015 they released a set of 9 1-hour live sessions of new(ish) music. Clearly they've lost the ability to edit anything.
But the difference this time is that it's not download-only.
nick: Saw yet another Genesis tribute band on Saturday night at QMC Studio (where we saw Carl Palmer and also Bill Bruford). I only heard about this the day before. Their remit is to play Collins-era stuff, i.e. TotT onwards, so there was some Abacab, We Can't Dance, Mama etc. in there ("we're going to do some old songs and some very old songs") and it was sort of refreshing to hear some different stuff. But I couldn't help but be struck by how simple the more recent stuff is compared to the "classic" era. E.g. watching the guitarist struggling with "Blood on the Rooftops" vs strumming along with "Land of Confusion". Also, I can't work out how, but the keyboard player was not in time with everyone else - he was consistently ahead by half a beat, which didn't matter too much as long as he was doing welling chords, but was very distracting when playing solos.
Someone posted a link to Dungeon master of engineering twitter. Sample There is an entire chapter of The Monster Manual, Advanced Edition titled “February 29th” Some of it is quite funny but it strikes me that if you aren't familiar with software development AND D&D, it might be a bit bewildering
nick: well, he wasn't particularly effusive about it - he said he liked it, but hadn't recognised much of it (I thought from what he'd said before that he was familiar with the back-catalogue but I think when he said he knew the old stuff, he meant 20-30 years old). I was expecting/hoping he'd be more knocked out by it. I offered to lend him some CDs (fancy never having heard Trick of the Tail!) but he didn't take me up on it (yet). We did meet a couple of other people there who we know, and who've been to other Genesis tribute bands and Steve Hackett etc., so perhaps he was a bit overwhelmed by everyone else talking about all the other performances they'd seen.
nick: 20-30 years old is the new stuff! - yes, well I know but mentally I still think of "We Can't Dance" as being pretty new (it was the last album they made before Collins left). And that was 1992!!
Tim: There was a thing on breakfast news this morning about Kew Gardens. The glasshouse has had a massive overhaul and is about to reopen. It's been closed for five years apparently. Hang on, it was open when we went there? OK, that was 2008, gark.
Steve: So you Do watch TV Tim...
You know the rule, think of a number, then double it.
Not much news here. Had a Greenslade session the other day WFH, 4 very decent albums which I cannot tell apart. In the office today with 3 other people...
nick: My phone popped up a new photo memory the other day which included pictures of Kew.
Are you busy at work then Steve? or getting bored?
Steve: Not massively busy. Have to learn a new Support system which will be painful to say the least. We need more developers but the cack-handed recruitment system is simply not working.
nick: Pretty busy on the 8am ferry - I think the nice weather brought people out. I think it was the best weather I can remember for a Randonnee - typically it's not that hot and sunny.
I sent an email to J Willgoose Esq. telling him how good the new Public Service Broadcasting album is and got a nice reply back from him. I really do like the album, and it makes me want to buy more copies of it now.
Tim: Nick, I don't think I'll be cycling this weekend. Give it another couple of weeks - 26th maybe?
Tim: The Node Live album is out. I've bought, downloaded and listened to it already, that's how up to the minute I am.
nick: All set for the big match Nick? Actually, I do know what you're talking about - the sandwich shop we go to at lunch had signs up last week saying they'd be opening on Sunday. We asked why and they said there was a "big match" on at the ground. I take it that the Beavers didn't do so well?
Also, my friend John (late of HP) is just finishing a motorcycle tour of the North Coast 500. He's been tweeting (I think I'm his only follower) and looks like he's had some pretty decent weather. I had considered doing this on the bike, and am now pretty keen.
Tim: Looks a good route. You've done some of it before though, right?
Lost on penalties, apparently. I can't believe you weren't at Beaver Parade to see it.
nick: Yes I've done a bit of the top, and came down the the east coast bit with Steve - we had quite good weather when we did it although he had fog and didn't stop at Whaligoe Steps where we did. But I think of the places I've cycled, Scotland might be my favourite
Tim: So you could do e.g. Inverness > down the loch SW, up the W Coast, SE back to Inverness. Or something.
nick: yeah... lots of options, probably not many of them would completely avoid hills! Or maybe I need you to plan a route for me tim
Tim: The Dark Side of the Moog series reissues are finally starting to come out on vinyl. Originally announced as a 16LP box a few years ago, they are actually going to be individual double LPs with shorter sides it seems. Which reminds me what a pain in the arse vinyl always was.
nick: Been looking for a replacement Gore cycling jacket - my current one is 5 years old, the zips on the arms are stuck and the main zip doesn't do up properly so it's held together with safety pin (a mending shop in town said they couldn't fix it, and Lesley said she'll have a go but isn't confident). Had one in my basket from Amazon which I noticed last night has dropped significantly in price (list price 150, now down to £66). Maybe of interest to Steve in case you want a new one?
Tim: For the cyclist riding with friends who makes the most out of every ride
Somebody actually wrote that.
Steve: Hmm I was just going to say that, and on those grounds I'm out.
Other (maybe better?) colours are dearer I see.
If you follow the SuperDeluxeEdition site, all sorts of huge and hugely expensive vinyl sets are being issued. I assume only a small proportion is actually played.
I see the Sylvian/Czukays are getting remastered issues, but will probably stick with what I have.
Tim: I haven't listened to those albums for a couple of years, must dig them out.
Anyone got a pic for a new post?
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nick: Cool! I'm up for going to the play if you're getting tickets.And.. I didn't get round to booking anything for the jazz stuff, sorry
Tim: Don't think I'll be going to the play. I might still be getting tickets for the 6th May Frisell thing. If I do, do you want one? nick: I am still eating cheese, but would like to try and stop. Any suggestions for good vegan options for sandwiches? The sandwich bar I go to doesn't seem to have a lot of choice (I could have a salad sandwich I suppose) Tim: Do you mean homemade, or suggestions for the sandwich bar?I do quicky homemade, I don't care about gourmet so long as there's a bit of variety. Standard items (other than cheese) include Cheatin' Ham etc. + chutney, sausage (cook an extra one) + ketchup, cole slaw + tomato, marmite, peanut butter.
Tim: Since we're talking tucker, have either of you tried Toastie Pockets? I reckon it's got to be done, maybe next weekend. nick: re: vegan lunch, I was thinking of sandwich bar because it's a sort of social thing to walk there with other people at lunchtime and I feel I ought to keep doing it. But home-made ideas are good thanks. Someone at work here used to make himself toasties in those toast pocket things and really rated them. I haven't seen him use them lately. Maybe I should just get bread from sandwich shop, bring in my own peanut butter+banana, and make toastie pockets
Tim: Meanwhile, I've crossed another threshold on the music download front. I've bought a flac of an album that is also available as a double CD. A factor is that it was £7 instead of £20+p&p. nick: so you've saved money, precious environmental resources, and space - win!I went for an eye test at the weekend, the floater in my eye that I got on JoGLE is continuing to be annoying. I was sort of relieved when he looked at my eye and straight away said "wow, that is a big floater".
The guy I saw at the hospital said that you might see adverts offering to operate and get rid of them but he wouldn't recommend "I've seen people who've had those operations and they've made things worse". But I later thought "well, you probably only see the people where it went wrong, maybe lots of people have successful floater removal". Not sure I'd want to risk it though.
I listen to a sceptical podcast which recently did a series on the Flat Earth society. In the last episode of that, they had an interview with one of the main guys there, and so I looked forward to a bit of debunking, but rather worryingly, the guy was completely unfazed by the arguments against FE, and came up with some convincing-sounding points about why FE was obviously true. Not that I was persuaded at all, but it was quite unsettling to hear how convinced he was, how sane he sounded, and how many things he could say to support his PoV. One problem was that he was citing lots of bits of info - e.g. how few photos NASA has released of earth from space (they keep using the same one) - that would take quite a while to check out. But I can see how people might find this persuasive
Tim: I thought I might listen to the podcast, but when it came down to it I couldn't be arsed. It's not really interesting that people can come up with an endless stream of blather to be honest.I did have a look at the website for "the" flat earth society (same one as geezer?) and it's pretty pathetic. e.g. what does a map of the world look like then? Answer = er, not sure actually (https://wiki.tfes.org/Layout_of_the_Continents)
nick: No, I wouldn't recommend it as a "must-listen". I had it on while riding, so it passes the time a bit. But it was interesting to hear someone sounding so 'reasonable' and never being stumped for an answer. nick: I have mentioned it at work though, and now people keep saying to me "so how does he explain XXX then?" and "what about YYYY"- I don't know! I'm not trying to defend this! - "but what about ZZZ?"... etc
Steve: I'm put off by their last gig I'm afraid.And I tried a Sainsburys cheese substitute and it's the 3rd "food" I've ever had to spit out. Other being Fisherman's Friend and Stilton.
I have serious trouble with Parmesan at times.
nick: nice typo in some doc I'm reviewing:hint - optional either the routing indicator or the email address. This value is shown in the hint popup when hoovering over the recipient.
nick: Tim are you around for an evening in the next week? I could do with your help on "The Witness". I am making progress with it but too often am solving things by accident and finding it hard to work out what I did right. And I'm (currently) still stuck on the bit with the Russian film playing. Can bring it down to yours or you could come here? Tim: Sounds good. I guess there's less tech faff if I come to you, although I might need station ferrying. Either way, Tuesday or Thursday maybe? nick: Tuesday then? No tech faff either way, it's on the iPad so only thing I'd need is a plug socket in case the battery runs out while we're watching the russian film. Had another go last night and it's really annoying - I can't tell if I'm failing a puzzle because I'm doing the puzzle wrong, and have missed some clue, or because there's another puzzle I should have done earlier on, or left something else in a certain state. I don't think I'm as good at this sort of thing as you are. nick: I checked with Lesley and it's fine for you to come to ours and have tea on Tuesday, I can give you lifts to/from station if you're doing it by train Tim: Well as it happens I was due to be cooking pasta on Tuesday, Tina likes to line her tucker up well in advance. Could count you in on that? nick: In another attempt to read it, I've got the audiobook of part 1 (of 7) of "Remembrance of Things Past" out of the library. 17CDs, 21 hours. I'm about an hour in so far and haven't got to the madeleine bit yet (I did get past that when I tried reading it previously). So far it's quite wordy Tim: I had to think twice then because I'm reading Remembrance of Earth's Past (first volume = The Three-Body Problem) by Cixin Liu.It's a lot shorter.
nick: I just listened to "Inner City Codes" by Subsonic Park. It was good! What else should I listen to that's like that? nick: Someone must have lent it to me, I can't imagine I'd have known to buy it. Or maybe I bought it because we were shopping and someone told me to? Tim: Pretty sure that'll be mine then.There are quite a lot of good/decent albums on the Elektrolux label and its offshoot Mikrolux (which is smaller and probably had a better hit rate). Maybe you could try some at random (if you're going to be streaming?) or I can fish out a few more for you to borrow.
Steve: Hmm having trouble remembering that book. And musical accompaniment?I've never heard of Subsonic Park BTW.
nick: Not looking great for tonight tbh Tim. Think it's safer to give it a miss: snow here and likely to be below freezing which means roads pretty dodgy. Maybe we could try and sort out a video link or something so you can talk me through solving the puzzlesBetter news about teabags. I signed that petition!
Tim: That's probably a wise move, although all we've seen so far is a light dusting of snow. Looks like we're on the edge of the amber warning so it could easily go either way.I saw that teabag news, didn't realise it was down to you.
nick: working at home today, so it occurred to me I could rip my complete Scarlatti boxset. Good news is that someone has entered all the meta data so I don't have to fill that in myself. Bad news is that I think I'm likely to get a fair dose of harpsichord form now on whenever I ask for random play nick: 10 past 2? That gives me time to get to BSK station, maybe can meet Tim on the train and get him to solve my puzzles on the ipad Tim: If your arrival time is anyone's guess, I don't mind getting off at BSK at 12:17 and seeing when you arrive, so you don't have to hang around. Looks like there are 5 useful trains per hour. Any use? Steve: Oh dear this leaves me way too much time in Fopp...BTW I don't actually have the album we are going to see, is it any good?
Tim: No, the thing we're going to is Dudley-Jeczalik-Langan reboot Art of Noise's In Visible Silence.Steve, so we might be a bit earlier if poss.
nick: I've been listening to some of the Scarlatti, got up to K21 (goes up to K555) and that one's been going round my head all day. He did do some catchy tunes. Tim: Random suggestion: there's a thing just started at the Wellcome Collection we could have a nosey at, same part of town as the library (but closes at 6pm).http://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2018/03/review-somewhere-in-between-at-the-wellcome-collection-london/
nick: I am Intending to get 13:17 at BSK. Working at home this morning so shouldn't be a problem getting there in time Steve: OK so we are looking at about 2:15 in London, shall we meet at Wellcome 2:45? I will probably go to Fopp before that to get a load of walking in. nick: I'm being energy efficient by WFH without having the heating turned on. Pretty chilly just sitting in front of the PC though, my hands are very cold Tim: I heard Nick mention this yesterday, I think:Don't take money out of pensions until you've stopped paying in, because your ability to pay in gets reduced.
I think basically this is to stop you recycling, i.e. taking a tax free sum and using it to reclaim further tax.
nick: ah yes, that's the thing I was thinking of. I guess the recycling thing must apply to just the money purchase - my colleague at work just started taking a final salary pension from ICL at 60 (he didn't want it, but they told him that if he didn't take it now he wouldn't get any extra when he DID take it) and has just upped his employee contributions to his current work pension by a corresponding amount.I suppose there would be potential for skulduggery if you could pay into a SIPP, get tax credited, then take money out tax free, and put that money straight back in and get more tax credited.
Tim: Probably. More stuff about it here. It's not something I've looked into a lot because I won't be doing anything like that. Steve: Well you can only take a proportion out tax-free so I don't really see the issue as the loop would get smaller and smaller. Whatever you put back in would have to count against earnings you had paid tax on. Tim: Nick, I bought The Witness. So far all I've done is complete some simple mazes to enable me to emerge from a small castle into the wider world. nick: you've not got to the puzzles with the tree and fruit on yet? You helped me with that one. I came out from the cinema room and have been wandering around topside. But not yet got further. I expect you'll overtake my progress soon Tim: I bought the game yesterday and spent most of the afternoon downloading. So I only had a short go. More later, and I'll try and keep you posted on roughly what I do or can't. nick: yes, it is quite big. I bought it soon after it came out on the iPad (I think there was a cheap offer) and there were several updates over the next couple of weeks, each of which involved downloading the whole thing, and each of which I did just in case it was a fix I needed. Haven't been any updates for a while now though nick: I think this is the mix that we heard before AoN came on. Although listening to it now, there's a fair bit I don't remember - maybe because the sound quality on my headphones is better than it was at the gig Steve: So the Mahler 2 for organ (David Briggs arr and playing) and choir was excellent Saturday night. They rigged up a camera so you could watch the guy literally pulling out the stops. Only an hour for the guys to wait before they came in for the last movement!Also wanted to say again how good the Richter Four Seasons is Tim, and nowhere near as cheap nowadays. Slight snag in that when I play the proper version, I keep expecting the newer parts. I have a seemingly-mint Pinnock LP (from where?) which I've had on recently. Interesting to hear the different (normal) versions and their emphasis on different instruments.
Tim: Sounds good.Witness: I've been through the puzzles inside and outside of a half-built white shed, then to a crafts workshop on stilts in the sea, then to a sandy rocky headland, got the laser started. I suppose logically the thing would (ooh, EFL just came on) be to follow the laser to the other end - like following the coloured cables - but on the way I got distracted and did the trees and got the windmill moving. Downstairs from there gets to the cinema room but there's nothing on. All six panels are black.
nick: All six panels are black. Ah, so something I did must have enabled the first one. Maybe if I could remember (or you can find out) what the triggering action is, that'll help work out how to get the other ones. So I take it you're not seeing the film? nick: The one that springs to mind is the large-ish collection (about 10 or more?) that have some outside and some underground, all of the same theme, which include a mechanism to flood a chamber with water. There is also the tree one which you helped me with, and some of the ones where you need to separate the black/white dots. Did you do the one on the floor of the hexagon? I don't think I had to do that to get the movie going, IIRC I didn't notice it was there at first Tim: No, I haven't done that. I just came into the chamber and thought: time to report back to base. Tim: Witness Correction: if I put your pattern into the hexagony puzzle the third panel lights up and a film starts about a geezer with a candle. I must have got the wrong end of the stick about the sequence of events. Tim: I didn't do a lot more but the bits I've looked at started to get trickier.In the cinema room, the puzzle on the floor I only did by trial and error, I don't understand it. Same with a similar one lying out on a beach somewhere.
And there are double-doors out from the cinema one, I could only open one of them. (Doesn't seem to be a massive problem, but still.)
nick: ah, I did work out the solution to the puzzle on the floor (I mentioned this to you - there are two possible solutions, when I worked out one of them I thought "this should be solvable in another way", and it was). I did solve the other double door thing and I sort of know how it worked but didn't fully understand it
I bet Steve is really interested in following our progress
nick: Nice spot Steve and far enough in the future that I can't find an excuse to say no, so count me in please. Hope it doesn't go on too late though! nick: oh, maybe I was getting mixed up with the Orb. Anyway, I definitely would like to do the Orbital thing, thanks Tim: No thanks on the Orbital. For the Eno, it looks like I've got a decent chunk of that already - it's the side of Eno I like so I've collected some of his more obscure releases. It looks nice though, I'll have to look into it, cheers.
Tim: On the other hand...This familiar site links to shops, and shows that jpc.de (ordered from them before) have got the generally pointless limited edition verion listed for £40, I'll give that a try, see what happens.
Steve: I tried listening to his BBC lecture last year but he seemed to be saying absolutely nothing so I gave up. Never managed to get into his music either. I like the idea of it (like jazz), but can't latch onto it. Tim: I know none of us were really interested with the Albert Hall thing but I saw that Camel are playing over the road here in the Guildhall, 12th September.There were a few good seats remaining so I spontaneously snapped up a group of three of them, Row H iirc. Anyone interested? I'm assuming you may well not be, so don't worry about it if you're not. Also, HM Government wealth warning: £60 each.
Steve: It is the Moonmadness tour?Hmm that's a Wednesday so could be a bit tricky so if you think you can use it otherwise I'd say do so thanks. We also tend to have our annual holiday around that time.
Tim: Moonmadness it is. It might end up being tricky for me too, no idea yet. I'm going to leave worrying about it too much until a bit nearer the time. nick: Camel: I think I'm another maybe. I do fancy seeing them especially given that someone else has sorted the tickets, but it's Ken's 80th on the Thursday and I might be away (I don't expect so but it's a possibility). So me too, I'd take a ticket but if you find someone else then no prob.Ella's wedding went well on Saturday despite sudden unexpected death of Lesley's brother David on Friday. It has all been quite emotional here and Lesley has today gone to Exeter to help drive people around (David's wife Teresa doesn't drive). I think we managed not to let the wedding be spoiled but I am finding it quite hard today when I want to tell everyone how much I enjoyed the wedding but they are (understandably) more interested in talking about heart attacks and funerals.
There was a lot of work tidying up the hall on Saturday night/Sunday so I'm still feeling tired now. Heaven knows how Lesley is managing
Tim: Glad to hear you enjoyed it (presumably others did too then) despite everything.I'll pencil you in for the Camel, ish, and we'll see how things look in a couple of months.
Steve: Yes Nick "stuck two fingers up to death" - I was shocked :)BTW Propaganda was excellent, they put a ton of effort in with a full band that included producer Steve Lipson on guitar plus percussionist and trumpet. A few sound glitches but otherwise fab. The crowd were singing along nicely.
A lot of effort for one then two gigs you'd think. Maybe not, as I see they will be supporting Heaven 17 on a tour in the autumn.
PS I'm in love with Suzanne Freytag.
Steve: Going to see George Fitzgerald tonight. Paul was on a waiting list for Islington Assy Hall tickets and heard earlier this morning. They will send the QR codes 2 hours b4 - I assume to reduce reselling.He went to Brighton last night to see him which is pretty hardcore.
Leaves D to fill my seat for the live ballet screening I was going to in Dunstable. Oops!
nick: Was it good then?Looks like the funeral for Lesley's brother is on 17-April which means I won't be able to go and see Jethro Tull with Tony. If either of you knows of someone who may want the ticket then let me know
Steve: Hmm not too tempted by JT.Yes I'll get the new one at some point.
Last night they had relatively simply visuals, a load of what looked like fluorescent tubes randomly scattered and four square light things. I wish I could find an image as these squares could do any colour from the edges and seemingly beam in any direction through the smoke. I was torn between eyes-closed music-fest and watching the gorgeous display.
Steve: BTW the Marconi album is great thanks Tim, not got to the remixes yet. Although I did go on to play my LP of Tim Hecker's Mirages which is also great. But those short sides... I guess this is because a CD album of say 55-60 converts really badly to 20 min sides.Thank flip Klaus did his best stuff during the LP days else can you imagine 72-minute versions of Trancefer tracks? Wouldn't have the same impact would it?
Tim: I wouldn't rush with the remixes. Just something to try when you're fully familiar with the album. Tim: Nick, are you making any progress with The Witness? Probably been too busy.I'm 4/7 of the way through, maybe.
Steve: I loved this comment on a Tim Hecker best albums post: "i've been listening to a lot of Hecker and other ambient music while studying, but i always feel super isolated and depressed after. is this common?" nick: Witness - no, I've not been playing recently. Did you get past the cinema thing?Google has a find out what we know about you service which you can use to dump an archive of anything they know about you. I did this yesterday (it took about 10 hours for them to generate it) and I ended up with about 4GB of data, the vast majority of which was the contents of my gmail account (I've used gmail for over ten years and it's got most of the mail I've had over that time)
The rest included my history of google searches, history of what I'd watched on youtube, and a few things I had saved in google docs (university essays).
There was an archive of location data but this was almost empty (the only thing I could find in there was data to say I'd been at home and at work).
I use DuckDuckGo as my default search engine,and am using an iPhone rather than an Android device, so I think maybe that's why there was less stuff in there than I'd expected.
I didn't find anything in there which made me think "oh! I didn't realise they knew THAT"
Surprisingly, there was nothing about this blog in there, although there was a "blogger" section.
Nick
Tim: Thanks for the search engine tip, I'd been thinking of looking for alternatives.I'm ignoring the cinema, basically. Maybe it will eventually lead to something, or maybe not.
Tim: I've just remembered there's that platform thing above the cinema. How do you even try to get there? Maybe I'll have another look. Steve: So how do DuckDuck make money??? And thanks also from me, I had never heard of it.Was thinking of putting a written data request into Facebook for what they have on me. Although never a member, they extract phone contacts from people who are users.
nick: I think DuckDuckGo do serve advertisements in their results so I guess they get money from thatI was in facebook for about a year but deleted my account because it was too depressing seeing everyone else having such a fantastic life compared to me. But you're right, maybe they'd have some stuff on me via other people I know. Let us know how you get on!
nick: some pictures from Ella’s wedding photographer. I’m not sure what he did with the colour ones but he seems to have made them look more lush than I remember it being on the day Steve: Very good. I bet there is a standard filter like the one on Google.Just seen announcement of a collaboration between Claudia Brucken and Jerome Froese coming in June.
nick: Was thinking of putting a written data request into Facebook for what they have on me. Although never a member, they extract phone contacts from people who are users.I think you use WhatsApp Steve? That's owned by Facebook. I'm sure they'd never harvest your data from that though
Steve: Yes good point on WhatsApp.BTW Tim, did the new TD album ever amount to anything? I saw some announcement about a re-issue.
Tim: Which new album, Particles? Not bad, I was meant to lend it to you of course. There have been a few since then. nick: Heaven 17 + bits of Propaganda on 30-Nov. Lesley saw Heaven 17 a year or so in Basingstoke and really liked it, fwiw Tim: The weather seems to be improving. There's going to be some rain this weekend but it may not be too long before I check if I've still got a bike in the garage. nick: Sounds good! I cycled to work this week and that was the first time I'd been on the bike for over a month. I've not been doing very well this year. Probably I'm busy this weekend and next but definitely up for summer cycling after that nick: Are you doing a big ride or giving it a miss this year? Nothing planned yet although there is family discussion of the Bodensee option so perhaps that will come offDavid's funeral is next Tuesday and there's been a fair amount of stuff for that, I'm producing service sheet and liaising with with funeral home to arrange music/slides, all fairly stressful although lots worse for Lesley and her mum and sister. I am fine until people start saying kind things to me. It is a wretched business :-(
Steve: Well you did a good job on the wedding service sheet Nick, so it will be good I'm sure. No idea how people come back from these sorts of events, I have lived a charmed life so far.Tim, I bought the ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER (Daniel Lopatin) album R Plus Seven. Good old Fopp Glasgow. Very good so far. Not as glitchy as I was expecting, bit hard to categorise. He loops things in a minimalist way but for fairly short sections so not an easy listen, voice samples maybe? With plenty of bass notes. But then I didn't buy it as an easy listen did I?
Steve: Yeah 4 days of museums & Macintosh design etc. Train from MK, Premier Inn bang in the centre near a Wetherspoons for breakfasts, was excellent. Slight shame they had loaned the famous Dali crucifix picture out. Steve: They were awesome enough as it was. Last day I wimped out and just had beans on toast much to D's amusement. nick: (more for Steve I guess) I got a copy of the latest Public Service Broadcasting album, which I'd sort of been reluctant about because it's about the Coal industry in Wales which sounded a bit dreary. But - it's really good! here's one of the obviously catchy tracks but I like the whole thing and in fact it seems better than the other two albums. Includes snatches of Richard Burton, who always sounds good. Steve: I got their Space one and it's a bit disposable after a few goes. so I'm glad it's better.How is it that I put my long-lost Steve Hackett Defector album on I haven't heard for 30 years(?) and I still remember it?? Reminiscent of Camel's Single Factor. Matt was shocked at the sounds being used.
Steve: Had a batch back from cousin Jonathan as Gill & Richard had a clear-out pre-move, had completely forgotten I lent them out. I'm sure I've not quite got them all but nevermind.BTW Burningshed has some amazing Yes t-shirts at good prices but I feel that period of my life (band wear) is gone. And they did nothing after their 8 years of excellence - grrr. Apart from milking live albums that is.
Tim: Node's live album from the RCM is finally coming out on DiN next month. Demo mix of one track here. Tim: The new Schulze album is available as a reasonably-priced 2LP+CDhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00TKNQVLA
It's a shame that the cover is so terrible. Come to think of it though, that's not unusual for a Schuze album.
Tim: I'm keeping an eye on the weather forecast in case... is there any scope for a ride this weekend, Nick? Steve?? nick: Thanks Tim - yes I'm available for a ride this weekend (28/29 Apr).The following weekend is the Randonnee (Sun 6 May) which I would like to do if possible, although I'm a bit out of condition this year, it's been my worst year since 2013 in terms of how many miles I've done by this time.
Funeral was last Tuesday and went as well as I suppose it could have done. It felt awkward to lead the service but several people said it helped that the person leading it did know him. I just keep thinking of things I should have done better. Lesley did really well, but it has hit her quite badly.
Steve: I'm staying here for a bit as D just had a hysterectomy and she is confined to barracks for some weeks. Well, she can't do anything physical. She's doing fine though, not even on painkillers.Her auntie Barbara recently fell and broke her wrist. Then fell AGAIN a few weeks later and broke her hip so had a new one. So it's all go here in Luton.
I'm trying not to buy stuff from Amazon so will look for another source, but they are thin on the ground so far. Yes that cover is like a modern version of Inter*Face.
Recently bought a CD with Stockhausen's Gruppen and (more interestingly) stuff by Kurtág on it. Sounds amazing but how often you can bung it on I'm not sure.
Tim: Nick, there seems to be some rain forecast for the weekend, I'll check again nearer the time. On the plus side, I'm pretty much available whenever looks best. nick: Yes.. "drizzle and breezy" it says at the moment. LovelyWent to see A Quiet Place last night to celebrate our silver anniversary. For reasons not explained, there's been some apocalyptic event after which there are nasty creatures are around who want to eat you; they're blind but have excellent hearing so you're OK so long as you don't make a noise. It was pretty quiet in the cinema! And satisfyingly scary, I had my eyes shut for quite a bit of it.
nick: Tony said "They are immune to all our herbicidal battering!"From reading it, I think they are talking about chemical/herbicide treatments rather than physically digging it up/burning it. So maybe that is an effective way of getting rid of it. (It must be possible to physically remove the stuff, even if it's difficult and impractical in all cases)
Tim: The forecast for the weekend has improved, and it's just cloudy and breezy (as it stands). What's the best timing option(s) for you, Nick? nick: Early afternoon, say 1pm onwards? my forecast has rain at 3pm in Basingstoke so maybe best to do MD->HE (HE looks dry all afternoon) Tim: That's Saturday is it? Pencil me in.I'll check the forecast again tomorrow and it'll be completely different.
Tim: Inevitably it's saying Light Rain for tomorrow afternoon now.I'm still aiming for 1pm at MIC though, unless it's looking decidedly worse first thing tomorrow.
Steve: It seems they did a 4hr thing in 2016 as well. They lost me with Exai - I just can't listen to it. Maybe I'd better have another go though. Tim: And in 2015 they released a set of 9 1-hour live sessions of new(ish) music. Clearly they've lost the ability to edit anything.But the difference this time is that it's not download-only.
nick: Saw yet another Genesis tribute band on Saturday night at QMC Studio (where we saw Carl Palmer and also Bill Bruford). I only heard about this the day before. Their remit is to play Collins-era stuff, i.e. TotT onwards, so there was some Abacab, We Can't Dance, Mama etc. in there ("we're going to do some old songs and some very old songs") and it was sort of refreshing to hear some different stuff. But I couldn't help but be struck by how simple the more recent stuff is compared to the "classic" era. E.g. watching the guitarist struggling with "Blood on the Rooftops" vs strumming along with "Land of Confusion". Also, I can't work out how, but the keyboard player was not in time with everyone else - he was consistently ahead by half a beat, which didn't matter too much as long as he was doing welling chords, but was very distracting when playing solos.Someone posted a link to Dungeon master of engineering twitter. Sample There is an entire chapter of The Monster Manual, Advanced Edition titled “February 29th” Some of it is quite funny but it strikes me that if you aren't familiar with software development AND D&D, it might be a bit bewildering
nick: well, he wasn't particularly effusive about it - he said he liked it, but hadn't recognised much of it (I thought from what he'd said before that he was familiar with the back-catalogue but I think when he said he knew the old stuff, he meant 20-30 years old). I was expecting/hoping he'd be more knocked out by it. I offered to lend him some CDs (fancy never having heard Trick of the Tail!) but he didn't take me up on it (yet). We did meet a couple of other people there who we know, and who've been to other Genesis tribute bands and Steve Hackett etc., so perhaps he was a bit overwhelmed by everyone else talking about all the other performances they'd seen. nick: 20-30 years old is the new stuff! - yes, well I know but mentally I still think of "We Can't Dance" as being pretty new (it was the last album they made before Collins left). And that was 1992!! Tim: There was a thing on breakfast news this morning about Kew Gardens. The glasshouse has had a massive overhaul and is about to reopen. It's been closed for five years apparently. Hang on, it was open when we went there? OK, that was 2008, gark. Steve: So you Do watch TV Tim...You know the rule, think of a number, then double it.
Not much news here. Had a Greenslade session the other day WFH, 4 very decent albums which I cannot tell apart. In the office today with 3 other people...
nick: My phone popped up a new photo memory the other day which included pictures of Kew.
Are you busy at work then Steve? or getting bored?
Steve: Not massively busy. Have to learn a new Support system which will be painful to say the least. We need more developers but the cack-handed recruitment system is simply not working. nick: Pretty busy on the 8am ferry - I think the nice weather brought people out. I think it was the best weather I can remember for a Randonnee - typically it's not that hot and sunny.
I sent an email to J Willgoose Esq. telling him how good the new Public Service Broadcasting album is and got a nice reply back from him. I really do like the album, and it makes me want to buy more copies of it now.
Tim: Nick, I don't think I'll be cycling this weekend. Give it another couple of weeks - 26th maybe? Tim: The Node Live album is out. I've bought, downloaded and listened to it already, that's how up to the minute I am. nick: All set for the big match Nick? Actually, I do know what you're talking about - the sandwich shop we go to at lunch had signs up last week saying they'd be opening on Sunday. We asked why and they said there was a "big match" on at the ground. I take it that the Beavers didn't do so well?Also, my friend John (late of HP) is just finishing a motorcycle tour of the North Coast 500. He's been tweeting (I think I'm his only follower) and looks like he's had some pretty decent weather. I had considered doing this on the bike, and am now pretty keen.
Tim: Looks a good route. You've done some of it before though, right?Lost on penalties, apparently. I can't believe you weren't at Beaver Parade to see it.
nick: Yes I've done a bit of the top, and came down the the east coast bit with Steve - we had quite good weather when we did it although he had fog and didn't stop at Whaligoe Steps where we did. But I think of the places I've cycled, Scotland might be my favourite Tim: So you could do e.g. Inverness > down the loch SW, up the W Coast, SE back to Inverness. Or something. nick: yeah... lots of options, probably not many of them would completely avoid hills! Or maybe I need you to plan a route for me tim Tim: The Dark Side of the Moog series reissues are finally starting to come out on vinyl. Originally announced as a 16LP box a few years ago, they are actually going to be individual double LPs with shorter sides it seems. Which reminds me what a pain in the arse vinyl always was. nick: Been looking for a replacement Gore cycling jacket - my current one is 5 years old, the zips on the arms are stuck and the main zip doesn't do up properly so it's held together with safety pin (a mending shop in town said they couldn't fix it, and Lesley said she'll have a go but isn't confident). Had one in my basket from Amazon which I noticed last night has dropped significantly in price (list price 150, now down to £66). Maybe of interest to Steve in case you want a new one? Tim: For the cyclist riding with friends who makes the most out of every rideSomebody actually wrote that.
Steve: Hmm I was just going to say that, and on those grounds I'm out.Other (maybe better?) colours are dearer I see.
If you follow the SuperDeluxeEdition site, all sorts of huge and hugely expensive vinyl sets are being issued. I assume only a small proportion is actually played.
I see the Sylvian/Czukays are getting remastered issues, but will probably stick with what I have.
Tim: I haven't listened to those albums for a couple of years, must dig them out.Anyone got a pic for a new post?
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