Music – One man and his desk

Mad rush and madness at MacFest 09

lee — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:48:20 +0000

The Ravenstonedale Music Festival, officially titled MacFest 09 (MAC = Mostly Acoustic Cumbria) was blessed with beautiful weather, great music and a brilliant atmosphere, but for yours truly it got a bit chaotic what with the craft stall, photography and recording for CNI radio slot.
You can see photos of the event and listen to a bit of narrative (follow the link from the main page to omahd#10 and then ‘play again’).

John Cage; non-intention in the afterlife

lee — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:12:12 +0000

As an ex-scholar of John Cage’s work I was pleased to discover a piece which I’d previously not heard of or read about called “As slow as possible” and dubbed ‘The slowest and longest piece of music in the world’. Quite an accurate epithet, since it will last 639 years.
Anyway, I’d made some notes about 6 months ago and mislaid the paper I’d written them on.
Last Monday evening when I was emptying a bag, the note fell out and I put it on my desk. Shortly afterwards I went to bed. I sleep with the radio on and if I am having a ‘bad night’ I switch to the BBC’s World Service rather than music.
At about 4:30am the very next day (could have been 4:33 ! – see ‘the silent piece’) I woke up and switched channels and precisely that moment an announcer introduced an article about John Cage and the piece. It included a short recording of one of the note changes (roughly one per year); a time of great interest by all accounts.

Cumbrian Summer (aka rain)

lee — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 13:24:05 +0000

I am beginning to think there’s something in this ‘European monsoon’ notion and I think the epicentre lies directly over Cumbria. Apart from a week of sunshine in July (ironically when we we out of the country), summer appears to have been in May, just as it was last year.

At least I have an excuse to stay indoors and immerse myself in music as I get the most of my Napster seven day trial. For fans of jazz and Joni Mitchell I can recommend Herbie Hancock’s “River: The Joni Letters”.

Three in a row

lee — Mon, 19 May 2008 22:47:20 +0000

Great music from Rachael Sage “Mexico”, Terry Reid “5th July” and Thea Gilmore “The Lower Road” on Bob Harris’ Saturday Show (17th May) – Do listen again.

Here’s the full playlist

Internet vanity

lee — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 18:02:00 +0000

Having looked in the ‘web mirror’ by googling myself (I was surprised I hadn’t done it before given the number of years I’ve been surgically attached to the net) I was amused to find on the second page of results this reference in Wikipedia, relating to the magazine .net :

/inbox

Letters from magazine readers.. A Mail of the Month is chosen by the editorial staff that wins a £50 book voucher for books by technology publisher O’Reilly. ^[1] This section also includes Penny Forum which publishes a joke or surreal thread from the magazines forums.

The footnote reads:

This has been subject of controversy. In issue 154 (October 2006), a letter was published from Lee Crampton poining out that the image of a pile of O’reilly books used to advertise the prize could not actually be bought for £50. He said: It is akin to the car adverts that which say ‘only £6,995’ but the small text underneath states ‘model shown £10,995.

Following the letter (and from issue 154) .net now prints a disclaimer underneath the image noting: All these for £50? You must be joking! Books don’t grow on trees, you know.

I was also pleased with the coincidence that there is another guitarist called Lee Crampton of the band pilfa confession box though I’m not sure I’d share my namesake’s taste in music.

So you can close the lid on Pandora’s box

lee — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 13:10:53 +0000

The closure of pandora.com is hard to take for those of us who have been keen users.
More details all over the place including the register.

Drop Kick Me Jesus

lee — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 23:33:02 +0000

Yes there really is a country song called “Drop Kick Me Jesus Through The Goalposts Of Life”.

Those wee hours

lee — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 00:53:00 +0000

Whilst putting together a collection for my Missy Hong Kong (no mp3 police please) I was transported back twenty seven years to University in Norwich by John Martyn’s “Hurt in your heart” which is such a great recording (on ‘Grace And Danger’). When he played at UEA the roadies had to lift him onto the stage. He was sublime.

I met him by accident at a rehearsal when I was at Keele University a couple of years later. He bought me a pint as well

Smells and sounds (music) can transport us back to specific moments with such instant clarity. That continues to fascinate me.

Something for the weekend

lee — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 01:21:38 +0000

Johann Johannsson’s “Ibm 1401, A User’s Manual” is one example of the sort of non-mainstream music juxtaposed with classical greats in the excellent “chill with chill” radio programme on Classic FM. The show runs from midnight until four am on … Continue reading →

Opening Pandora’s box

lee — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 21:43:24 +0000

I came across www.pandora.com and didn’t really get going with it until I was reminded of it about 6 weeks ago by someone else. I have been plugging it by phone and email and pub conversation ever since and it deserves a mention here.

It is dubbed the ‘music genome project’ and allows you to create music based around a song or artist. Each of these (song or artist) constitutes a ‘radio station’ and you can create as many as you like.

Having recently seen the excellent Texan singer/songwriter Darden Smith at the best small venue in the North of England (www.acoustictearoom.co.uk) I am plugging him. So, get over to pandora and after (free) registration, try Darden’s music and similar…