:: GussetBLOG ::

:: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 ::

RIP jand

“to all the people that knew and loved jand. I am sorry to have to break the news that John, died 20/06/2008.”

I never met John Anderson. He was another one of my blogger friends that I never got around to hooking up with, despite a couple of email conversations attempting it. He asked me to contribute to his g3rm blog, later reborn as g3rmy, although I contributed only a tiny percentage of the content there, and most of that was cross-posted with this blog.

I was unable to make it to his funeral earlier today, but my thoughts are with his family and friends, especially to those who have had to break the news to others (via the blog and via facebook, the first time I’ve seem a death reported in the form of a friend request). Unless anyone convinces me otherwise I plan to leave g3rmy as it is as a memorial to John, an index of his thoughts and his state of mind. RIP.

Labels: blogs, g3rm, RIP

:: Dan 16.7.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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George Carlin: Seven words that shook a nation

Read George Carlin's books for comedic brilliance

Labels: Comedy, Religion, RIP

:: Dan 24.6.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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Urban explorer pays for his hobby with his life

"To urban explorers, it's known simply as Hearn, one of Toronto's top destinations for camera-toting adventurers with a fondness for abandoned buildings. From now on, they will also know it as the place where a fellow enthusiast died after a three-storey fall into a coal hopper on the weekend. ...
Now that there's been an accident, he expects things to change at Hearn, and if that comes at the expense of [the] hobby, so be it."

RIP

Labels: News, RIP, Urban Exploring

:: Dan 23.6.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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Following Humphrey Littleton's death last week, the Beeb pull together this small but perfectly formed article on the art of innuendo.

Labels: Humour, RIP

:: Dan 1.5.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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Two teenage boys have been jailed for life for the murder of a woman who was killed for dressing as a Goth
I can't remember whether I've commented on this case before or not but I have been following it.

Passing sentence at Preston Crown Court, Judge Anthony Russell QC described the attack as "feral thuggery" which raised serious questions about the "sort of society which exists in this country".
He added: "This was a terrible case which has shocked and outraged all who have heard about it.
"At least wild animals, when they hunt in packs, have a legitimate reason for so doing, to obtain food.
"You have none and your behaviour on that night degrades humanity itself."

Strong words, totally justified. It's a sad, sad society we live in. Any form of prejudice grieves me but this one in particular stands out as she was so beautiful and caring and it is such a pointless waste of a young life. My heart goes out to her boyfriend, whom she was trying to protect, and to all her friends and family. RIP

Labels: News, Politics, RIP

:: Dan 29.4.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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"From Dr Who to the Dark Side of the Moon, the members of the Electronic Music Studios used pioneering technology and ideas to create a radical new soundscape for the 20th century."



What The Future Sounded Like
Documentary, 27 minutes
HDV and Digital Betacam
16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen
Stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound

"Post-war Britain rebuilt itself on a wave of scientific and industrial breakthroughs that culminated in the cultural revolution of the 1960’s. It was a period of sweeping change and experimentation where art and culture participated in and reflected the wider social changes. In this atmosphere was born the Electronic Music Studios (EMS), a radical group of avant-garde electronic musicians who utilized technology and experimentation to compose a futuristic electronic sound-scape for the New Britain.

"Comprising of pioneering electronic musicians Peter Zinovieff and Tristram Cary (famed for his work on the Dr Who series) and genius engineer David Cockerell, EMS’s studio was one of the most advanced computer-music facilities in the world. EMS’s great legacy is the VCS3, Britain’s first synthesizer and rival of the American Moog. The VCS3 changed the sounds of some of the most popular artists of this period including Brian Eno, Hawkwind and Pink Floyd. Almost thirty years on the VCS3 is still used by modern electronic artists like The Emperor Machine.

"What The Future Sounded Like colours in a lost chapter in music history, uncovering a group of composers and innovators who harnessed technology and new ideas to re-imagine the boundaries of music and sound. Features music from Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, Roxy Music and The Emperor Machine."

RIP Tristram Cary

Labels: Electronic Music, Film, RIP

:: Dan 27.4.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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Jazz legend Lyttelton dies at 86
Veteran jazz musician and radio host Humphrey Lyttelton has died aged 86. The chairman of BBC Radio 4's comedy panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue recently had surgery in an attempt to repair an aortic aneurysm. The latest series of the quiz programme was cancelled after Lyttelton was admitted to Barnet Hospital in north London on 16 April. BBC Director General Mark Thompson described "Humph" as "a unique, irreplaceable talent".

quote:

Hello, & welcome to I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.

In the 19th century, the docks became central to Bristol's industrialisation, and two great monuments to this period remain today - the Clifton Suspension Bridge, and the SS Great Britain. With its mighty stone block towers and steel rope construction, it's little wonder the ship sank on her maiden voyage, after she was hit by a huge paddle-wheel that fell off the bridge. In those days, clocks in Bristol and the West Country were between 10 and 20 minutes behind London, but with the coming of the railway, these had to be 'regularised'. Some towns refused to comply, however, and to this day when it's 12 noon in London, in Weston-Super-Mare it's still...1963.

In 1910, Britain's first commercial aircraft factory was established at nearby Filton to manufacture the 'Bristol Boxkite'. Despite the Boxkite's limited range, commercial flights soon began, with routes going as far as...the string would stretch. In the 1950's, the factory turned to making luxury cars such as the 'Bristol Bulldog' and the 'Bristol 401', which still have an enthusiastic following today. Every summer, the owner's club meets to display their classic vehicles, and while they chat and swop stories, members' wives proudly clean and polish their Bristols which are then displayed and judged by the mayor.

Labels: Radio4, RIP

:: Dan 27.4.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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Conversations with a science visionary
Clarke's three laws:

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
   
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
   
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Labels: Literature, RIP, Sci-Fi

:: Dan 20.3.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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Edited text from the two links:

Bobby Fischer, who died on Thursday aged 64, was a high school dropout who may have been the greatest chess player of all time, but ended his life in eccentric seclusion.

He turned the chess world on its head when he wrested the world chess title from Soviet domination in 1972, beating world champion Boris Spassky, in a Cold War chess showdown in Reykjavik known as the match of the century. But while the theatrics made him a celebrity he also succeeded in alienating himself from all but a small band of friends and chess enthusiasts. Despite having a Jewish mother, Fischer was a vicious anti-Semite, using broadcasts at far-flung radio stations to accuse Jews of everything from his legal woes to an alleged conspiracy to kill off elephants.

Fischer returned to chess in 1992 with a rematch against Spassky in Yugoslavia, then in the throes of the Balkan wars. At a press conference he spat on a US government notice warning him he was breaking sanctions and proceeded to defeat Spassky once again, winning more than three million dollars on which he boasted he would never pay tax.

In 1996 he created Fischer Random Chess (Chess960). Fischer's goal was to create a chess variant in which chess creativity and talent would be more important than memorization and analysis of opening moves. His approach was to create a randomized initial chess position, which would thus make memorizing chess opening move sequences far less helpful.

In 2004 Fischer was taken into custody at Tokyo's Narita airport for travelling on a passport which Washington said was revoked.

With Japan deliberating for months on whether to send him to the United States, Iceland came to his rescue in 2005, granting him citizenship in tribute to his role in making the island.

"The Jew-controlled United States is evil. They talk about the axis of evil. What about the allies of evil? What about the US, England, Japan, Australia and so on? These are the evil doers," said Fischer.

I can see the biopic already.

Labels: Chess, RIP

:: Dan 19.1.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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"Karlheinz Stockhausen, who died aged 79, was the leading pioneer of electronic music and of the new uses of physical space in the performance of music; he was regarded by many avant-garde musicians of his generation as the most significant German composer since Richard Wagner, but his appeal to the general public was more restricted." [source Telegraph]

"Ridiculed by many in the musical establishment for his increasingly outlandish ideas and self-agrandissement ("my personality is a universal statement"), alternately dismissed as charlatan and revered as a genius, Stockhausen once compared the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York's World Trade Centre to "a work of art"." [source AFP Google news]

Labels: Electronic Music, RIP, Stockhausen

:: Dan 8.12.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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Rob Deacon RIP [via Meat Beat Manifesto MySpace Blog]
I can't believe I've only just heard about this.

Robert Andrew Deacon, publisher and music producer: born Sutton at Hone, Kent 6 August 1965; died 8 September 2007.

"With CDs now stuck to the covers of most music monthlies and given away with newspapers, it is easy to forget how innovative Volume, the CD and magazine combination launched by Rob Deacon in 1991, really was. Beautifully packaged – usually with a colour picture of tropical fish on the glossy cover – the CDs contained tracks by a wide range of acts, as well as a CD-sized book packed with articles on the artists and the occasional irreverent feature. Publication was haphazard and never reached more than five issues a year, but Deacon's attention to detail and high production values, as well as the inclusion of exclusive mixes, demos and tracks unavailable elsewhere, made Volume a sought-after item."
[Independent]

"Rob's idea for Volume was to combine a CD of exclusive tracks with a full-colour CD-sized book of music journalism. In his tiny basement flat in Edith Grove, west London, he had spent months collecting music from the cutting edge. Old favourites, Wolfgang Press and Meat Beat Manifesto, mixed with indie shooting stars, the Shamen and Throwing Muses, and a contingent of dance and electronic-oriented artists, including the Orb, Nitzer Ebb and Consolidated.

"Working on one of the earliest Apple computers, paid for by a Prince's Trust grant, he produced Volume One in an atmosphere of enthusiasm and optimism. It hit the shops in September 1991, and sold quickly. Volume Two featured Blur, Definition Of Sound, the Sugarcubes, Bomb the Bass, Nine Inch Nails and Pulp among its 29 tracks. Volume Three had Orbital, Moby, the Breeders, the Charlatans. Volume Four included Suede, the Aphex Twin and the Fall.

"By the 1990s the music business had become an impersonal and increasingly money-obsessed place. Rob broke convention, continuing throughout his career to work with artists, contributors and business partners in a spirit of friendship and cooperation. He was changed by the dance music revolution, seeing in its gradual intermingling with rock a new vista of possibilities."
[Guardian]

I didn't discover these until I picked up Volume 14 at Reading Festival in '95, but I'm glad I did.


"...not to go into too many business details, he treated me very fairly in an industry that will eat you alive especially when you are really concerned about music and have little interest in the business end. Rob cared about the music and if he gained success, great for him. He loved life. For his vision and creativity, I will always be grateful."
[Jack Dangers - Meat Beat Manifesto]

There aren't enough people like that in the music industry and it's a sad day when we find there is one less than before.

Labels: RIP

:: Dan 24.11.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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Weather Report founder Joe Zawinul has died, aged 75. He also played keyboards on seminal Miles Davies albums, including Bitches Brew, he is credited as bringing keyboards and synths into use jazz, and he even claimed to have been pivotal in the invention of hip-hop.



My dad was a massive Weather Report fan - he has many stories of gigs he saw - and growing up they were a major influence on my musical surroundings and development. RIP

Labels: RIP

:: Dan 11.9.07 [Arc] [1 comments] [links to this post] ::
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Anthony Wilson dies from cancer
I didn't even know he had cancer. A sad day for music and for Manchester (even if he could be an opinionated twat a lot of the time).

Labels: RIP

:: Dan 11.8.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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SUBLIGHT RECORDS CLOSING THE DOORS - 2007.06.21
"We are sorry to announce that 2007 is the last year of Sublight Records. We have had the pleasure of putting out great music by amazing artists spanning over 50 releases in only 4 short years. Over the course of 2007 we will be selling off our remaining stock. We would like to thank the listeners, artists and friends who have supported us over the years. Our CDs will remain available for sale on our mailorder until 2008, so get them while you can."

R.I.P. Sublight was a great label with some amazing releases from truly inspiring artists. I think I better buy up the remaining releases I don’t have yet asap then. Another sad day for independent music.

Sublight's Benn "The Flashbulb" Jordan on The Revolution of Greed and the Music Industry
It makes interesting reading and is nice to see charts showing the cost breakdown, although I've seen very similar ones published elsewhere before (in Sound on Sound I think). I don't think he goes far enough in suggesting that buying direct from labels is the way forward. Buying direct from artists is. He confuses the two as he sits in both rolls. Benn also came across a little emotional and snivelling in places, not to mention slightly naive, but I agree with the point he's making. He also seems down on his genuine fans that pay for his music, the only mention they get is a passing reference to them as collector geeks who don't represent a big enough market for him. I might buy his new album to show solidarity, even if the previous one of his I bought was highly patchy.
Or as serpico009 summed it up much better here, "it's like reading the Wall Street Journal and a little girl's diary simultaneously."

Labels: Electronic Music, Music, RIP, Sublight

:: Dan 27.6.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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New York Times article
Wikipedia entry

In These Times - Cold Turkey
'Dr. Vonnegut said this to his doddering old dad: "Father, we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is." So I pass that on to you. Write it down, and put it in your computer, so you can forget it.'
Done.
[via Heartache with Hard Work]

Labels: Literature, RIP

:: Dan 12.4.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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