http://morrisorchids.bandcamp.com/
Ok, this city isn't always as exciting as I would like, but maybe that's a good thing? It might be better for those who do strive to be heard to have the ability to be heard over the din in,say,Austin. Here, one might actually be able to find someone new who doesn't have to leave town to get a break. I saw these fellows, or part of the band anyway under a different name, and am now sorry I didn't buy a tee-shirt or something to support their efforts. This is by far the best thing to come out of the city in a long time- new that is. My regs are still there, and I remain a fan, but it is always nice to hear something new be given space.
I've been mostly busy being a photographer, not the writer, but will endeavour to bring some more of what's being going on around here to the light. namaste!
Sunday, August 08, 2010
Sunday, May 02, 2010
In Pace Requisact
I haven't had the words. I don't know that I ever will. He's not here anymore, and I am. Life really sucks sometimes.
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Somethings One Cannot Predict
I am headed shortly to Hamburg Germany, and intend to tour some of the more famous places (or what's left of them)that had to do with the very early Beatles. Before they became a household name, they had to pay their dues- unlike too many "idols" trying to get around the lessons to be learned on that path.
As I was studying the info online and in books about what and where, I came across this, ironically in an article about computer tomography. I recently started a new job in that business- it is better known in the world as Catscan, or CT scan. What a wild connection to make in the same brief timespan!
******************************************************
The Beatles greatest gift... is to science
As the penultimate activity for Highgate Science Week, on Friday 18 March Dr Ben Timmis, Consultant Radiologist at the Whittington Hospital, gave a lecture about the invention, development and future of the CT scanner – and what the chart-topping band The Beatles did to help its production.
Many people have had their lives saved by the pioneering scanning device, which enables doctors to view the internal structures of patients’ bodies by taking very thin (often a fraction of a centimetre) x-ray ‘slices’ across the body. Dr Timmis hailed the scanner as having had “a profound impact on modern medicine” and claimed it as one of the top five medical developments of the twentieth century.
Using the CT scanner radiologists are able to view the soft tissues in the body, which cannot easily be seen by conventional x-ray techniques, so any abnormalities can more easily be detected, lessening the need for diagnostic operations.
As a direct result of The Beatles’ success, Dr Timmis claimed, the scanner’s inventor, Sir Godfrey Hounsfield, was able to devote about four years developing the scanner from its 1968 prototype, to something that could be used in a clinical setting. His work was done in the Central Research Laboratory, a facility near Heathrow airport that was part of the EMI Group. Having sold 200 million of the Fab Four’s singles, (at seven inches, almost enough vinyl to stretch the length of the equator) the Beatles’ record company, EMI, was able to fund Hounsfield to do his research and the scanner was ready be used in hospitals in the 1970’s.
Dr Timmis said that EMI’s research had initially estimated a worldwide need for only 25 of the machines, but thanks to their decision to invest in the pioneering technology, now there are thousands of the scanners worldwide being used in hospitals every day.
http://www.whittington.nhs.uk/default.asp?c=2804&t=1
As I was studying the info online and in books about what and where, I came across this, ironically in an article about computer tomography. I recently started a new job in that business- it is better known in the world as Catscan, or CT scan. What a wild connection to make in the same brief timespan!
******************************************************
The Beatles greatest gift... is to science
As the penultimate activity for Highgate Science Week, on Friday 18 March Dr Ben Timmis, Consultant Radiologist at the Whittington Hospital, gave a lecture about the invention, development and future of the CT scanner – and what the chart-topping band The Beatles did to help its production.
Many people have had their lives saved by the pioneering scanning device, which enables doctors to view the internal structures of patients’ bodies by taking very thin (often a fraction of a centimetre) x-ray ‘slices’ across the body. Dr Timmis hailed the scanner as having had “a profound impact on modern medicine” and claimed it as one of the top five medical developments of the twentieth century.
Using the CT scanner radiologists are able to view the soft tissues in the body, which cannot easily be seen by conventional x-ray techniques, so any abnormalities can more easily be detected, lessening the need for diagnostic operations.
As a direct result of The Beatles’ success, Dr Timmis claimed, the scanner’s inventor, Sir Godfrey Hounsfield, was able to devote about four years developing the scanner from its 1968 prototype, to something that could be used in a clinical setting. His work was done in the Central Research Laboratory, a facility near Heathrow airport that was part of the EMI Group. Having sold 200 million of the Fab Four’s singles, (at seven inches, almost enough vinyl to stretch the length of the equator) the Beatles’ record company, EMI, was able to fund Hounsfield to do his research and the scanner was ready be used in hospitals in the 1970’s.
Dr Timmis said that EMI’s research had initially estimated a worldwide need for only 25 of the machines, but thanks to their decision to invest in the pioneering technology, now there are thousands of the scanners worldwide being used in hospitals every day.
http://www.whittington.nhs.uk/default.asp?c=2804&t=1
Monday, February 15, 2010
lessons
Listening to Chick Corea's Children's Songs. I am struck by something....music is , at its best, like a forgotten dream, a resonance of something just on the outskirts of our collective memory.
The resonant quality of string- piano, viola, guitar, or whatever- remind me still of the sounds created by planets and stars thru out the known universe. Something sings still, deep down inside, and demands to be let out, reproduced n response to what we unconsciously hear, or mayhaps, remember. No matter what musical form from the earliest days of man, there is a demand for harmony and melody, patterning to the sounds created. It is only since we have become cut off from the natural world, so overwhelmed by sound, such as the highway that dirtys up the peace of my backyard, that the sounds have started to be so discordant as to be offensive to the ear. Most metal music is not produced in small villages. It comes from the loud, obnoxious big cities around the world, born of the rats-in-a-cage syndrome.
Ah, I rant, the scientist, the poet, and the philosopher battling for supramacy. I am just glad for the music that passes into my life. It is balm to my troubled soul.
With heavy heart, I also note the passing of yet another musician from my own past, as well as a lot of the world. Doug Feiger of The Knack lost the battle with cancer recently. He is fondly remembered by the world for bright perky pop that could make a heavy world seem lighter, if only for 3 and a half minutes at a time! RIP, Doug.
The resonant quality of string- piano, viola, guitar, or whatever- remind me still of the sounds created by planets and stars thru out the known universe. Something sings still, deep down inside, and demands to be let out, reproduced n response to what we unconsciously hear, or mayhaps, remember. No matter what musical form from the earliest days of man, there is a demand for harmony and melody, patterning to the sounds created. It is only since we have become cut off from the natural world, so overwhelmed by sound, such as the highway that dirtys up the peace of my backyard, that the sounds have started to be so discordant as to be offensive to the ear. Most metal music is not produced in small villages. It comes from the loud, obnoxious big cities around the world, born of the rats-in-a-cage syndrome.
Ah, I rant, the scientist, the poet, and the philosopher battling for supramacy. I am just glad for the music that passes into my life. It is balm to my troubled soul.
With heavy heart, I also note the passing of yet another musician from my own past, as well as a lot of the world. Doug Feiger of The Knack lost the battle with cancer recently. He is fondly remembered by the world for bright perky pop that could make a heavy world seem lighter, if only for 3 and a half minutes at a time! RIP, Doug.
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Michael Martin and the Infidels
It is amazing how one can miss what is directly in front of one’s self, when living in a huge city. Most who visit don’t realize how big a place San Antonio is or how much it has to offer,to the local or the visitour. Take me for example- I know this city, but was just pleasantly surprised last night to find a “new’ band to go out to see now and then. Michael Martin apparently has been playing for a long time, and while I’ve heard the name the Infidels, I paid little heed. I was usually busy with whomever I was working with at the time and my vision of the city as a whole was limited as a result. Often is the time I have heard people complain about there being nothing to do in this city, and I know they are wrong. It may not all be YOUR cup of tea, but there is music everywhere here. I have come to think that even if Austin has more venues with live music on a daily basis, San Antonio offers a cultural diversity Austin can’t touch. I also think that SA offers the artists a more lively, interested crowd in general. I watch people up north of here pay to get into see a band and then act incredibly bored by the whole thing. Does make me wonder why the heck they didn’t just stay home and listen to some CDs instead.
The foursome I had the pleasure of listening to last night were not playing under the best circumstances.I hate being in restaurants where people are eating, clanking dishes, and talking over the music being played. It speaks volumes of a group when they can make those same people stop all that commotion and play attention! That happened quite a few times last night. There were quite a few covers in the sets they played, but frankly, I’ve not heard “Tangled Up In Blues” done as well. I might get hit for saying it, but while Bob Dylan is an incredible songwriter, the man’s singing voice and vocal style leaves much for my ears to desire. Michael handled the vocals beautifully, and the harmonies were next to flawless. (One must always give the artists room to expand, and according to one I call genius, perfection is limiting. Mistakes bring growth.) I also think I may have been one of the few in the room to recognize the Waterboys tune they covered, smoking thru Mike Scott’s classic about a WW II Russian soldier being sent off to a gulag because of Stalin’s paranoia."Red Army Blues" always moved me, and Mr. Scott was done proud last night, in a cramped venue short on lighting and proper acoustics. It was also one of the songs that due to the band’s intense approach to the story, stopped the audience in its collective tracks.
They group goes electric later in the month at a venue I have come to like a lot, Casbeers at the Church, and I eagerly await to hear the difference in attack on the songs they did last evening. I am hoping to help them out by flyering the city for the gig , maybe to fill the seats of this unique place. The stained glass windows, old wooden pews, full dual level stage, and sufficient levels of lighting can be inspiring to both band and audience. In the meantime, my photography is getting behind again, and I have about 1000 pictures to get edited. More on Michael and co. when I get a chance.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
