With Apologies To Edward Elgar
Sorry, old chap, for traducing your 'Pomp And Circumstance' in order to make a headline title for BOOJUM! To make up for it, here's a clip towards the end of 'Nimrod' from the 'Enigma Variations', which will make sense later, as we go round in a Moebius loop and return to the subject of music. Art!
Space rock, Edwardian style
Edward Elgar - Nimrod - YouTube
Lest you be confused, by 'Pompey' we do not mean the fair city of Portsmouth, for yes, that is it's nickname, the origins of which seem obscure, and might be to do with prisons, the Royal Navy or Portsmouth Point being mispronounced thanks to an over-indulgence in alcohol. Art!
Surgeon-lieutenant Harold Sullivan, RN, whom domiciled in Pompey barracks
Nor yet do we mean the Roman general Pompey, more formally known as Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, although his background does add a bit of savour to what we are going to be getting down to shortly. Art!
Behold, the Roman city of Pompei, which I will admit is cheating a bit, but only a bit and whose blog is it? Also, yes, it's a set of ruins, well spotted, no pulling the wool over your eyes. Why is it a set of ruins? The clue lies in that big mountain in the background, which is a masquerade, because it's actually Vesuvius the volcano. Art!
You may be aware of how Vesuvius had one of it's periodic eruptions in 79 AD, which completely buried Pompei in ash and pyroclastic flows. This acted as a giant preservative, keeping it untouched and intact until Italian archaeologists began to poke around the ruins in the eighteenth century. Art!
The amphitheatre. Stick a pin in this, we'll return to it. So, the circumstances of Pompei are rather unfortunate for the locals, yet wonderful for archaeologists.
Enter Adrian Maben. Adrian was a film-maker, based in France, who had the unusual conception of filming a band playing live, in an auditorium, to exactly no audience. Who were the band? O I thought you'd never ask! Art?
Pink Floyd. At first they had negative interest in performing at Pompei, until Adrian explained that there would be no fans in attendance and they could concentrate on playing live. Thus was born 'Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii*'. Art!
The band insisted on doing it right, and brought their full touring equipment, leading to a problem in that the local electricity supply wasn't up to the job and they needed to run a power cable from the town hall. O the perils of live music!
Getting permission to play in the amphitheatre might have never been given if this had been a conventional gig, thanks to the risk of deliberate or accidental damage by fans. No fans, no problem, apart from having to pay for the entire venue to be closed for six days whilst recording took place.
Conrad has seen a couple of the songs they perform, 'Echoes' and 'One Of These Days', and might indeed have them on a bootleg DVD somewhere. Other songs were recorded in Paris and the whole spliced-together film released in 1972. Art!
The film has now been restored by one Lana Topham, whose OCD has borne fruit in her converting everything from 35mm film stock to 4K digital medium. The sound has been remixed by Steven Wilson, whom is the frontman for noughties prog-rockers Porcupine Tree. Art!
That's Nick of the band, looking a lot less hirsute; Lana, and Steven. Ol' Steve, a major fan of the band, commented thus on the restored version: "The absolute zenith of Pink Floyd as an experimental rock band, the definitive statement of that era."
Wise words indeed. He is spot on, this gig marks the period of transition for Pink Floyd, moving from space rock (see! told you Ol' Elgie was relevant) and pushing the boundaries of musical structure to more conventional songs. These are showcased in the later part of the film, where work on 'Dark Side Of The Moon' is in progress.
Despite being 50 years old, there are enough prog fans still out there to manage the following: "A recording of Pink Floyd’s eerie and evocative 1972 gig in the ruins of Pompeii, entitled Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII, has become the band’s seventh UK chart-topping album.".
Art!
Conrad is tempted
Being Quantitative
Conrad suspected he'd already mentioned the following volume, and indeed I did, way back in January. All I did then was post a picture, allowing you to imagine Your Humble Scribe lolling in his Sekrit Layr, slavering over the potential purchase.
Said purchase may have to wait a while. Art!
£60 for the work itself, and another £7 for postage and packing. This is only Volume One. For whatever reason, there are no subsequent volumes listed on Abebooks, which makes me wonder if they never printed a follow-up to the first one. Let me dig a little - aha. Art!
So, there is a second volume. Sit down and get a glass of water before I post how much this is going for on Amazon - Art!
Gosh, is this the result of a short print run that was immediately snapped up, and is now being sold at exorbitant prices by chiselling weasels? Art!
Yup, I thought I recognised Gerry Haylock's artwork
Shoot Self In Both Feet, Insert Bleeding Appendages Into Mouth
Interestingly enough, AI Art Generator will NOT generate any art from that prompt, I don't think it likes anything that has either 'Shoot' or 'Bleeding' as a prompt.
ANYWAY this is a reprise to yesteryon's story about Bus Factors. Art!
SIDE's brother used to work at Signetics as a senior engineer (hereafter Signetics Senior Supervisor), the company being a major manufacturer of chips that had lost it's leading place in the market, and he was part of a team working on a new microprocessor that would get them back up in lights again.
Except not. He was fired on a Friday, as part of a tranche of staff cutbacks, presumably to save money thanks to falling profits. Not a wise business strategy.
SSS, being a chap with a skillset in mad demand, had a new job at Motorola by Monday, literally walking from one job to another. Art!
That's a Monday morning surprise. Apparently.
The next Monday SSS got another surprise: a call from Signetics asking him to come back. It seems whomever had done the firing didn't know or care about the new semiconductor project, which was suddenly dead in the water.
SSS very wisely declined, as he was getting paid more at Motorola, and they weren't subject to jobs being cut at the whim of HR.
Three months later Signetics were gone.
Ooops.
"The War Illustrated Edition 208 June 8 1945"
I got the Volume out and confirmed that the date is correct this time, and you're welcome. Art!
Here the good burghers of Copenhagen have turned out along a six-mile route to cheer on Monty, and his escorts. Note the enormous Union Jack hanging across the street, making one wonder where it came from and if it was hidden in some official's attic for five long years. Also of note is the chap in a flat cap who looks like an armed irregular - Art!
Alan Moorehead, in his account of the war in NW Europe, 'Eclipse', mentions that the neutral Swedes had been kind of playing both sides, by funding, training and arming a Danish underground movement all the while they were trading with Germany. This has to be one of them, because a random armed civilian wandering about behind a liberating Field Marshal is a complete non-starter. Art!
These are Danish soldiers, wearing proper uniforms and helmets and all, just so we're clear.
Dear Mister Fox, Here Are The Keys To The Hen Coop
Conrad's jaundiced and roving eye noticed this sidebar story. Art!
Finally -
Thankyewandgoodnight!
* Yes yes yes, I have used only one 'i'. Sue me.
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