Is It Just Me...?

Brent Spiner [Lt. Commander Data in Star Trek]


Tory Boy

No time for serious blogging just now; post-vacation "real life" has hit me with a vengeance. However I can't resist this bit of snark. With all the talk of a General Election (or not) in the UK, I've been paying more attention than usual to the characters involved. Now I'm sure this may have been said before but is Tory leader, David Cameron, the doppelgänger of Brent Spiner (the actor who played the sentient synthetic lifeform, Lieutenant Commander Data, in Star Trek: The Next Generation)? Having said that, I'm not sure if an android at the reins of power would be a bad thing.

Friday Music Blogging: Rhassan Roland Kirk

Since my return to reality at the beginning of the week I've been overwhelmed with urgent stuff to do as well as cope with the idiosyncracies of a new computer at work and the usual post-longhaul flight rhinovirus infection. Thus proper blogging will have to take a back seat. In the meantime here's a clip of one of my all time favourite jazz musicians (Rhassan) Roland Kirk playing a signature piece, Serenade to a Cuckoo, on the flute and making use of the overblowing technique which he largely pioneered.


P.S. I should add that I saw Mr. Kirk at Ronnie Scott's Club, London in 1970 and was simply astonished by his technique. Apart from his flute pyrotechniques he also demonstrated how to play three saxophones simultaneously and how to do circular breathing. Jethro Tull do a pretty good tribute to RK here.

Got It (the Grant Not the Disease)!

Well the email inpile was not quite as bad as I'd imagined. One of the messages was a notice for a grant award to study typhus. This seems like a little bit of compensation for spending last year's Thanksgiving holiday slaving over a hot laptop preparing an application that was subsequently rejected like a piece of discarded chewing gum. Devotees of this site may recall (don't feel bad if you didn't: I had to search for the post) that I submitted a modified re-application in June. Well the pain was worth it. Apparently funds will be released in about two weeks so now I'll have to get my arse rear end in gear to get the work done. There's absolutely no breathing space here. Oh well, it's better to be busy...

Hooray!

I'm Back

Sunrise at Aghios Stephanos last week.

Sadly I'm no longer in Greece. Normal service will be resumed as soon as I've dealt with my email inbox (urgh, shudder) found my mobile phone, and adjusted to the inevitable Seattle drizzle....