Head On A Stick

Reviewing the Situation

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 02:03:57 GMT

A couple of years ago I posted on the emergence of a Durham Concerto by Jon Lord, or Lord Jon of Deep Purple. In my post I was somewhat disparaging of what I remembered of his Concerto for Group and Orchestra. Well, it's humble pie time (not Humble Pie, that was a different band) because back in October Jon Lord put the concerto on in Edinburgh. It seems he does this a lot: he travels around arranging performances in various places with local musicians. In our case the orchestra comprised RSAMD freshers (and it will have done them no harm to play to a packed Usher Hall in the first few weeks of their courses) , The band was supplied by Stevenson College, where my wife Hilary is a senior music lecturer. She teaches on the classical course rather than the pop one, but knows all the students and was involved in some of the organistion. She met Jon Lord on some of his preparatory visits and was very impressed by his musicianship, his enthusiasm, and his general attitude.

Not only was it a tremendous experience for the students to be working with Jon Lord (and for those who haven't noticed, prog rock is having something of a resurgence so they were all rather in awe of him) but it was a great night for the audience as well. The piece itself actually bears up very well considering it's nearly forty years old. My guess is that it sounds much less dated than much of the straight classical music being written at the same time.

Here's what I wrote about the evening on my blog back on 15 October.

A week of prog part 1 - Concerto For Group and Orchestra

Last week was rather interesting. On Monday (5th October) I went to see Jon Lord (formerly of Deep Purple) performing his Concerto for Group and Orchestra at the Usher Hall. JL was on his Hammond organ, the orchestra was made up of students from the RSAMD (almost all first-years), and the band was Concertium, who are from Stevenson College where my wife teaches. Hilary was involved in some of the organising and met Jon Lord on one of his earlier planning visits to Edinburgh. The conductor was Paul Mann, who apparently does this piece with Jon Lord a lot.

The performance was outstanding. Concertium betrayed no hint of "student band" nerves or noodling: special praise goes to their singer Grant Barclay, guitarists Grant Kilpatrick and especially Thomas Temple whose solos were unfussy and inventive, and most of all to their drummer Oscar Mannoni. During his solo I saw violinists in the orchestra sitting in open-mouthed wonder, and they weren't alone. Even Jon Lord looked impressed. The majority of the orchestra were taking part in their first performance as music students, but no inexperience showed there either. As Jon Lord said at the end, listening to the guys on stage you know the future of British music is in safe hands.

JL himself looks older but sounds much the same as in Deep Purple's heyday. To hear the opening of the encore "Child In Time" - surely the second-best-known organ intro in rock history* - was to be transported back to my schooldays, lying stoned at a party listening to "Deep Purple In Rock". His Hammond organ is massive by comparison with modern keyboards, but makes a great sound so I can see why he still uses it. It has a minder who not only tends it but fends off finger-poking passers-by, and who never leaves its side. He was even sitting quietly behind Jon Lord in the concert. Someone described him as Jon Lord's monkey, but surely he has to be the organ-minder?

Support was by a combined folk group of accordions and fiddles from Stevenson College and the RSAMD, led by the ubiquitous Phil Cunningham. All in all, a terrific gig, and a fantastic experience for all the students involved.

* After "A White Shade Of Pale", obv.

Hi. I'm back - and Happy New Year

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 01:40:56 GMT

I must say I was rather horrified to see quite how long it had been since I last posted here. Facebook has a lot to answer for, I can tell you.

Anyway, Happy New Year to one and all. In Scotland the habit is to wish people HNY the first time you see them in the new year rather than as you leave them in the old one, so not only will there be much hand-shaking when I get back to work on Tuesday (4th is a holiday here) but this will continue intermittently throughout the month as I meet people again. It took some adjusting to when I first moved up here.

I shall try to be a better LiveJournalist this year. But as it says in Manhood Perfectly Restored, We Hold Out No False Hopes.

Someone's playing my tune....

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 04:35:20 GMT

This seems appropriate to the title of my LJ:

(From this strip.)

Curiosity killed the cat - a meme

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 12:34:13 GMT

Describe me in one word- just one single word. Positive or negative.

Leave your word in a comment, before looking at what words others have used.

Copy and paste the meme to your journal to find out how people describe you when limited to one word.

Thanks to gauroth for this one.

New Horizons in Bodice-Ripping

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 02:01:24 GMT

As she hasn't mentioned it on LJ (and for that matter I haven't heard the delicate steam-whistle sound of Othen Affrontata) I'm prepared to bet that Gillian O has not yet read of this planned film.

But what would you call the sequel? "Fear Of The Darcy"? "Never Say Netherfield Again"? Or perhaps a sideways move to "Concussion" (tagline 'All the privilege I claim for my own sex...is that of screaming loudest, when stomach or when head is gone" ).

I think I'm going to enjoy this......

Sunday Book-meme: Genres

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 02:42:32 GMT

Genre fiction book meme (gakked from intertext)

1) Look at the list, copy and paste it into your own journal.
2) Mark those you have read however you want.
3) Feel free to tell your friends what you thought of them.

I've bolded the ones I've read, put a star beside particular favourites, and put in italics ones I've started but never finished or have only read one of.

1. *The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien Well, duh,
2. The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
3. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien Got bored and abandoned it.
4. Foundation series, Isaac Asimov
5. *Robot series, Isaac Asimov For all their "Three Laws" cleverness these stories are as much about Susan Calvin as about the robots. Asimov at the top of his game.
6. Dune, Frank Herbert
7. *Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein
8. *The Earthsea series, Ursula le Guin
9. Neuromancer, William Gibson
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
11. The Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham Like Intertext, I liked Chocky better (and not just because my copy was a Christmas present from one of my LJ readers[g])
12. A Book of the New Sun series, Gene Wolfe
13. Discworld series, Terry Pratchett Yes, but I've never gone overboard for them like some of my friends.
14. Sandman series, Neil Gaiman
15. *The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams Loved the books but loved the radio series even more.
16. Dragonriders of Pern series, Anne McCaffrey
17. Interview with the Vampire series, Anne Rice .
18. The Shining, Stephen King
19. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula le Guin
20. The Chronicles of Amber, Roger Zelazny . Read three of them and keep meaning to finish the set. My favourite RZ is Lord of Light though.
21. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke
22. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke Found it rather disappointing.
23. *Ringworld, Larry Niven. I liked the sequels as well.
24. Elric of Melnibone series, Michael Moorcock
25. The Dying Earth series, Jack Vance
26. Lyonesse series, Jack Vance
27. *The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever, Stephen Donaldson. I really liked the first series though they are over-written, I thought the way the second series was linked to the first via the Staff of Law was very clever, though I didn't much care for Linden Avery. Second series good in parts. Best Donaldson by a mile is the Mordant's Need series, though I keep waiting for someone to make a film of Animal Lover (short from Daughter of Regals)
28. A Song of Ice and Fire series, George R.R. Martin
29. The Worm Ourobouros, E.R. Eddison
30. Conan series, Robert E. Howard
31. Lankhmar series, Fritz Leiber
32. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick. Great film though.
33. The Time Machine, H.G. Wells
34. The Invisible Man, H.G. Wells
35. The War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells
36. Eon, Greg Bear
37. Book of the First Law series, Joe Abercrombie
38. Miss Marple stories, Agatha Christie
39. Hercule Poirot stories, Agatha Christie
40. Lord Peter Wimsey stories, Dorothy L. Sayers . I've read one and can't remember which it was. Saw quite a fw on TV though.
41. The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett
42. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
43. Sherlock Holmes stories, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Valley Of Fear is best.
44. *Cthulhu Mythos, H.P. Lovecraft. Best horror ever.
45. Inspector Wexford stories, Ruth Rendell
46. Adam Dalgliesh stories, P.D. James
47. Philip Marlowe stories, Raymond Chandler
48. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
49. The Day of the Jackal, Frederick Forsyth. Good fun, though the famous method of obtaining a false passport had been done years earlier in Adam Diment's The Great Spy Race
50. The Fourth Protocol, Frederick Forsyth
51. Smiley series, John le Carre The first one was OK though the plot wasn't as confusing as I''d been led to expect. The Spy Who Came In From The Cold: now that's a complicated plot.
52. Gentleman Bastard series, Scott Lynch
53. The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Steven Erikson
54. Watchmen series, Alan Moore
55. Maus, Art Spiegelman
56. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Alan Miller
57. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
58. *Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling. I didn't actually cry during the last one but it was a close thing. And I'm prepared to forgive any number of infelicities from the author of Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow/Turn this stupid fat rat yellow.
59. Chrestomanci series, Diana Wynne-Jones
60. Ryhope Wood series, Robert Holdstock
61. Wilt series, Tom Sharpe. Funny-ish. Couldn't read his Porterhouse Blue without thinking of my old Durham college (and college bedder!)
62. Riftwar Cycle, Raymond E. Feist
63. Temeraire series, Naomi Novik .
64. *Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis. Duh, again.
65. His Dark Materials series, Phillip Pullman
66. Dragonlance series, Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
67. Twilight saga, Stephanie Meyer
68. The Night's Dawn trilogy, Peter F. Hamilton
69. Artemis Fowl series, Eoin Colfer. I like the idea of the high-tech fairies.
70. Honor Harrington series, David Weber
71. Hannibal Lecter series, Thomas Harris The first one especially chills the blood more by what he leaves unsaid than by the words on the page.
72. The Dark Tower series, Stephen King
73. It, Stephen King
74. The Rats series, James Herbert
75. Dirk Gently series, Douglas Adams Liked the first much more than the second, though Catastrophic Structural Exasperation Syndrome is a great coinage.
76. Jeeves and Wooster stories, P.G. Wodehouse Read What Ho, Jeeves! Loved the Fry & Laurie TV versions..
77. The da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
78. The Culture Series, Iain M. Banks
79. The Duncton series, William Horwood
80. *The Illuminatus! trilogy, Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson Utter genius.
81. The Aberystwyth series, Malcom Pryce. A new word for surreal, and irrestistible.
82. Morse stories, Colin Dexter
83. Navajo Tribal Police stories, Tony Hillerman
84. The Ipcress File, Len Deighton
85. Enigma, Robert Harris
86. Fatherland, Robert Harris
87. The Constant Gardener, John le Carre
88. The House of Cards trilogy, Michael Dobbs
89. The Dark is Rising saga, Susan Cooper
90. Psychotechnic League and Polesotechnic League series, Poul Anderson
91. Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton
92. Star Wars: Thrawn trilogy, Timothy Zahn
93. Ender's Game series, Orson Scott Card
94. *Gormenghast series, Meryvn Peake I did cry when reading Gormenghast, twice. (Fuchsia's death and Flay hearing the Twins' cries but not being able to find them.) Never got into Titus Alone though.
95. Miles Vorkosigan saga, Lois McMaster Bujold
96. The Once and Future King, T.H. White . Odd-numbered books great, even-numbered, meh. Lancelot fighting his way out of Guinevere's bedroom is still vivid after more than 30 years.
97. Fighting Fantasy books, Ian Livingston & Steve Jackson . Who needs computer games?
98. The Stainless Steel Rat series, Harry Harrison . Hilarious. Moreover, I have a Fighting Fantasy-type book based on these! And Harrison's Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers is simply the funniest SF ever: even better then HHGG.
99. The Lensman series, E.E. 'Doc' Smith
100. The Cadfael stories, Ellis Peters

Some I haven't read stare accusingly at me from the bookshelves.

Ten which were not included but should be:

101. *The Falco series, Lindsey Davis. Best historical detective stories by far, with wonderful detail and characterisation.
102. *Flying Dutch, Tom Holt. A hilarious exploration of the myth of the Flying Dutchman. All his books are great fun though.
103. *The Tarot trilogy, Piers Anthony. Thank heavens for the SF abbreviation: are these fantasy or science fiction? Very clever and unusually for PA, not funny (though there's a caricature of Aleister Crowley in one that had me howling with mirth).
104. *The Brentford trilogy, Robert Rankin. Rankin is a genius in general, but these first efforts are his best.
105. *The Mma Ramotswe stories, Alexander McCall Smith. Laid-back and humorous detective stories written wih real affection. His other (Edinburgh-based) books are great too.
106.*The Restoration trilogy, Neal Stephenson. Best big historical fiction series since Dorothy Dunnett, and just as exciting.
107. *Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson, Probably my favourite SF novel of all time. A writer who can have you on the edge of your seat wih suspense over a pizza delivery: what's not to like?
108. *The Max Curfew novels, John Brunner. Thrillers where the hero is a KGB-trained black man, which makes for some interesting perspectives.
109. *Stand On Zanzibar, John Brunner Cleverly structured dystopia.
110. *The Jerry Cornelius books, Michael Moorcock Indescribable. No, really.

I should think so too

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 23:49:45 GMT

Have Yourselves A Merry Little Christmas

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 01:42:41 GMT

and a happy Dr Who special. (Not to mention Stanley Baxter's emergence from retirement on ITV!)

May you have a happy issue, as they say, out of all your afflictions, whether creditable or crunchy.

Love and kisses to any of you who would appreciate them.

Six characters in search of a photographer

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 02:58:23 GMT

Various people have requested this, so as it's Christmas...

....cast your mind back 34 years.......(yes, really).....

....to a time when Chris and Nel were not yet an item, Dave and Gill were on a break (as they say on "Friends") and I had facial hair only on my upper lip......

...a college ball in Durham Castle, themed around Schloss Colditz....

...oh all, right, here you are:

From left to right, Gill Wilkes (now Othen), me, Nel Wheldon (now Eyre), Steve Osborne, Mary Pude (now Partridge), Dave Partridge.

I have to say, from that picture, you would never guess the memorable (not to say mammary) characteristics of the famous yellow dress. I suppose it was all in the motion. (Like Jello on springs, as Jack Lemmon said of Marilyn Monroe in "Some Like It Hot".)

Enjoy the nostalgia trip.

Bryan Adams, SECC Glasgow 27 October

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:28:31 GMT

I don't often cross-post to my main blog, but I thought some of my LiveJournal friends might enjoy my enthusiastic review of Monday night's Bryan Adams concert in Glasgow. And I even managed to get in a couple of video clips of BA duetting with Jean-Jacques Goldman in 1996 (Back in the Summer of '96?) Now there's value for you.

Which Lymond character are you?

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:49:18 GMT

Can't get the code to work properly here for some reason, despite having found it initially on a LiveJournal page, but I eventually got it to display in my blog so here's a link.

And honestly, I didn't cheat, so the answer was rather a surprise. Now I'll have to go back and tweak my answers to come out as Gabriel......

A very Happy Christmas to all my readers, and especially my LJ Friends

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 18:05:53 GMT

They call her Mello Gillo (if they don't know her very well...)

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 23:20:35 GMT

Happy birthday, Gillian!

Happy Birthday Eleanor!

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 01:19:45 GMT

Stupid f***ing LiveJournal isn't letting me upload a picture of a birthday cake. Well, that''s what you get for using these useless blogalikes.

It was a nice cake. I enjoyed it. I'll upload it to my blog and you can see it there.

Have a great birthday anyway.

Rob

At least it reckoned I had some kind of intelligence

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 12:04:49 GMT

No surprises here:

Your Dominant Intelligence is Musical Intelligence

Every part of your life has a beat, and you're often tapping your fingers or toes.

You enjoy sounds of all types, but you also find sound can distract you at the wrong time.

You are probably a gifted musician of some sort - even if you haven't realized it.

Also a music lover, you tend to appreciate artists of all kinds.

You would make a great musician, disc jockey, singer, or composer.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Taking a First Line for a walk

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 00:54:03 GMT

Cross-posted at Eine Kleine Nichtmusik

1. Well you must be a girl with shoes like that

The Fratellis: Chelsea Dagger

2. ~~I know you've deceived me, now here's a surprise~~ The Who: I Can See For Miles (title guessed by Joe, fully guessed by Phil)

3. Shadows are falling and I've been here all day

Bob Dylan: Not Dark Yet

4. ~~On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair~~ The Eagles: Hotel California (guessed by Joe)

5. ~~Daddy, Daddy, come and look, see what I have found~~ Tim Rose: Come Away Melinda (guessed by Phil)

6. I didn't say a word, though I am really hurt

Inge & Anete Humpe: Careless Love

7. When the stone is grown too cold to kneel

Fairport Convention: Now Be Thankful

8. The mob's in town and the guns are out, and Louie knows what it's all about

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: There's No Lights On The Christmas Tree Mother, They're Burning Big Louie Tonight

9. The saints are crippled on this sinners' night

Lordi: Hard Rock Hallelujah

10. ~~Laid here with the advertising sliding past my eyes~~ Pulp: I'm A Man (guessed by George)

11. We are standing here exposing ourselves

Kraftwerk: Showroom Dummies

12. ~~I am a toreador, I am for sure, I kill bulls by the score, and sometimes more~~ Mike Oldfield (with vocals by David Bedford): Don Alfonso (guessed by Phil)

13. Ever since I was a little boy, dressing up has always been my greatest joy

Richard O'Brien (from Shock Treatment OST): Little Black Dress

14. ~~It was a slow day, and the sun was beating on the soldiers by the side of the road~~ Paul Simon: The Boy In The Bubble (guessed by Udge)

15. If we stand here together and we see the world as one

Kula Shaker: The Great Hosanna

16. ~~Lime and limpid green, a second scene, a fight between the blue you once knew~~ Pink Floyd: Astronomy Domine (guessed by Phil)

17. ~~I look at you all, see the love there that's sleeping~~ The Beatles: While My Guitar Gently Weeps (guessed by Udge)

18. Fell in the street in a drunken heap, there's dark water all around me

The Watersons: Red Wine and Promises

19. ~~And so once again, my dear Johnny, my dear friend~~ Joni Mitchell: The Fiddle And The Drum (guessed by Z)

20. He came in the ballroom, just a crazy old man; his eyes seemed to glaze in the light

Linda Thompson: No Telling

Voldy Voldy Voldy Voldemort

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 02:48:45 GMT

The Harry Potter fans among you have probably already seen this. If not, have fun. I enjoyed it, anyway.

Dianolaters look away now

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:23:12 GMT

Following on from various threads on LJ regarding DPOW (aka the PP), here are a couple of posts you might have missed at the Daily Mash site:

first this

then this.

After which what more is there to be said?

New Horizons In Sound

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 02:13:16 GMT

The other day I was listening to my CD of Mahler's Fifth Symphony through headphones. It must have been the first time I'd done so, because I was highly amused to discover that the conductor (the late Giuseppe Sinopoli) sings along with the orchestra in loud passages (though not, to my relief, during the Adagietto!)

The incident reminded me of another only-through-headphones gaffe, namely the unmistakeable sound of a pencil being knocked off a music stand during the second movemnent of the Tartini-Jacob Concertino on this recording.

And finally, a different kind of headphone anecdote. I once listened to this recording of the 1812 Overture (replete with real 19th century cannon, and terrific fun) through headphones, imagining (correctly) that it wouldn't be nearly as impressive as through decent speakers. However, from the reaction of other people in the room, I realised that the cannon fire sounded absolutely hilarous to those on the outside. Swapping places, I found it sounded like pop guns.

Does anyone else have interesting headphone anecdotes (especially things that only show up when you listen through phones)? Could be rustling, singing, anything really.

(Cross-posted at Eine Kleine Nichtmusik.)

Twenty First Lines

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 00:27:13 GMT

(Cross-posted with slight modification from Eine Kleine Nichtmusik.)

Here are the first lines from 20 randomly-picked tracks from my collection, where the first line does not itself contain the song title. Your guesses are solicited as to the song titles and artists. I shall score the lines out as they're guessed. (You might want to check the comments over on the EKN post to see what's already been guessed there.)

1. Well you must be a girl with shoes like that

2. ~~I know you've deceived me, now here's a surprise~~ The Who: I Can See For Miles (title guessed by Joe, fully guessed by Phil)

3. Shadows are falling and I've been here all day

4. ~~On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair~~ The Eagles: Hotel California (guessed by Joe)

5. ~~Daddy, Daddy, come and look, see what I have found~~ Tim Rose: Come Away Melinda (guessed by Phil)

6. I didn't say a word, though I am really hurt

7. When the stone is grown too cold to kneel

8. The mob's in town and the guns are out, and Louie knows what it's all about

9. The saints are crippled on this sinners' night

10. ~~Laid here with the advertising sliding past my eyes~~ Pulp: I'm A Man (guessed by George)

11. We are standing here exposing ourselves

12. ~~I am a toreador, I am for sure, I kill bulls by the score, and sometimes more~~ Mike Oldfield (with vocals by David Bedford): Don Alfonso (guessed by Phil)

13. Ever since I was a little boy, dressing up has always been my greatest joy

14. ~~It was a slow day, and the sun was beating on the soldiers by the side of the road~~ Paul Simon: The Boy In The Bubble (guessed by Udge)

15. If we stand here together and we see the world as one

16. ~~Lime and limpid green, a second scene, a fight between the blue you once knew~~ Pink Floyd: Astronomy Domine (guessed by Phil)

17. ~~I look at you all, see the love there that's sleeping~~ The Beatles: While My Guitar Gently Weeps (guessed by Udge)

18. Fell in the street in a drunken heap, there's dark water all around me

19. ~~And so once again, my dear Johnny, my dear friend~~ Joni Mitchell: The Fiddle And The Drum (guessed by Z)

20. He came in the ballroom, just a crazy old man; his eyes seemed to glaze in the light

Where do I go to, my lovelies?

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 01:18:11 GMT

Just to make it plain: if I don't post here very often it isn't that I'm being rude or neglecting you guys on LJ, it's simply that I already have a well-established blog over in the terra incognita (from whose Bourne no Jason is returned, with or without golden fleece) that is Blogger. The puns are no better there, I assure you, but should you wish to drop in you'll be very welcome, and even more so if you comment.

By way of a taster, back on June 13th I published a link to this. Some of you may find it funny.....

Dragon Drop: Spreadsheet of Pern

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 21:40:18 GMT

The title of this journal (Head On A Stick) was inspired by discussion on the Feedback page of this week's New Scientist about misprints inspired by copy taken down over the telephone. For example, a software product was described as having a "dragon drop interface". Apparently back in 1999 Feedback reported on a Sheffield newspaper's personal ad which read "Professional man, 45, head on a stick, seeks similar woman."

Which made me think that perhaps the pleasure-seeking miscreants - such as highwaymen - whose crania ended up decorating London Bridge back in Olden Times had been pursuing a head on a stick lifestyle. And who better to exemplify that than Barbara Windsor in Carry On Dick?

Anyway, I've always enjoyed mondegreens, to which the New Scientist examples above are clearly related.