Artscare Gig At The Junction

I went to the party for the launch of Artscare Records (www.myspace.com/artscarerecords) CD #2 last night at the new look Junction and what a really terrific gig it was. I knew it was going to be good as the line up included some of the very best that the Bristol music scene has to offer. The full line up was We Are Strangers Minds, The Dagger Brothers, Los Conios, Kid Carpet and headliners The Moles. Plus The Hysterical Injury left their guitar and drums at home and took up DJing duties between the bands. As the great Marc Riley might say, jobs a good ‘un.

I managed to get in on the guest list thanks to Mr Artscare himself, Dave Thomas. Dave is what is known as a top bloke. He runs this DIY label which promotes some of the best underground bands in and around Bristol, he also plays in a fine band called The Broken Arm Of Love (www.myspace.com/thebrokenarmoflove), does some DJing, occasionally goes over to the States and plays over there and has a day job which I think involves him working with prisoners. On top of all that he is one of the nicest guys you could meet and is genuinely enthusiastic about the music we have here in Bristol. And when I arrived he gave me a big hug and called me a legend. It’s hard not to like Dave.

I’m also greeted warmly by all the members of The Moles (above - the greatest band on the planet) with bassist Billy Fuller (who actually is a legend, he also plays with Robert Plant, Beak and Fuzz Against Junk) telling me he misses my voice being on the air waves. In case you don’t know I used to do a show on the radio that promoted local bands and alternative music generally, so I’m fortunate to know a lot of really lovely and hugely talented people involved in the Bristol music scene. After a quick chat with The Moles I spot Annie Gardiner and Lee Stone from The Hysterical Injury (www.myspace.com/thehystericalinjury) behind the decks so go and have a word with them.

Annie (above) is great, she has a brilliant band in which she is an axe wielding rock heroine, she used to drum with the awesome Venus Bogardus (www.myspace.com/venusbogardus) and was fantastic at that too, she writes about music as well and again is just such a lovely, genuine person. That was always the best thing about working in radio was meeting all these wonderful and amazingly talented people. In fact it is the only thing I miss about not being on radio, as I just don’t get out to gigs as much as I used to.

First on is someone called Giles from the band We Are Strangers Minds (www.myspace.com/wearestrangersminds). I don’t think I’ve seen him play before, it’s difficult to keep track and the band used to be called something else. Anyway, his breathless vocals and haunting guitar drift over the noisy crowd who greet the end of each number enthusiastically. They should do, this guy is brilliant. If my broadcasting buddy Richard (www.myspace.com/bristolintroducing) hasn’t already had Giles in on the show to do a session then I recommend he does so.

I haven’t mentioned the comperes yet and I should do as I was always a little frustrated when I didn’t get a mention in gig reviews when I was introducing bands. It’s two blokes who seem to be called Mr Tits (www.myspace.com/mrtitsband). I recognise Ant the drummer from Langur (www.myspace.com/langurmusic) despite him being in drag. They’re doing a nice job of getting the audience worked up and have obviously gone to a lot of effort giving each of the bands a questionnaire to fill out. They pick out some of the bands responses in their introductions, a great idea but not carried out to its best effect as the one who isn’t Ant is reading the answers and having a lot of trouble doing it. The trouble is revealed later in the night when he admits defeat and gets his reading glasses out. But what they lack in style they make up for in exuberance.

Next up it’s the Dagger Brothers (www.myspace.com/thedaggerbrothers) who have style in abundance. You really have to see this duo in action to really appreciate just how good they are and what they are doing. They’re dressed in sleeveless blue jump suits and while one sings and dances, going into the audience, the other interprets the songs through the medium of expressive dance, all to an electro backing track. There’s a whole homo-erotic 80’s thing going on here, they even have a song called “Do You Remember the 80’s?”. It’s very funny and as someone said to me, they have no shame. Good for them. More power to the Dagger Brothers.

Halfway through their act my good friend Mike Territo appears. I haven’t seen Mike for a few months and it’s a nice surprise to see him here. He’s in the music business now himself, working with new bands, acting as tour manager, taking bands round the country, dealing with press that kind of thing. He’s working with a band called Wilder (www.myspace.com/wearewilder) who are being touted as the next big thing from Bristol. He’s just done a session for Hew Stevens with them in London and Steve Lamacq was there too. It turns out that Mike knows The Moles via Andy who is with him tonight. Andy drums with The Ouija Birds (do check them out as well, they’re really something special www.myspace.com/theouijabirds) who it also turns out deps on drums for The Moles. It’s a small world (but I wouldn’t want to paint it, as Steven Wright said).

A word about the venue. The Junction is a very small pub on Stokes Croft that used to be run by a guy called Bob who was a really good chap who put on some terrific nights of music over the years but he never had the money to make the most of the place. He gave it his all but in the end the money just ran out. I lost count how many benefit nights we had there for him. I don’t know what he’s up to now but I do hope his life is less stressful.

Now The Junction is under new ownership and they’re making some big changes, opening the place up so that it now looks twice as big as it used to. There’s still a long way to go but it’s a step in the right direction. The sound was a bit off last night but again that’s something they’re still working on but it’s still a great place to see bands.

The next band on is Los Conios (www.myspace.com/losconios) who are excellent as ever. They played a lot of fine new songs and with new haircuts and suits they look very different to the last time I saw them. They still kick out the jams though.

It’s all running very late now but the night is a long way from done. Kid Carpet (www.myspace.com/kidcarpet) is our penultimate act and he does a lot of new material too. You have to love Kid Carpet (below). I love what he does so much I asked him to play at my 40th birthday party ahum years ago. He uses second hand synths and equipment plus a lot of kid’s toys to make his music and he’s a frenetic mover on stage too. On one level that is entertainment enough but his lyrics are insightful and full of social commentary. There’s a lot going on here and his new material is amongst his best including some “adverts” which are funny and full of meaning at the same time. Top stuff.

Which leaves the headline act, The Moles (www.myspace.com/themolesuk). If you like the psyched out rock of the late ‘60s then you will love The Moles because that’s what they do but not covers, it’s all original. It sounds fresh and new and at the same time could have been made 40 years ago. It’s the real deal and the songs never fail to give me a lift but seeing them live just blows my mind man.

The songs are quite brilliant, I think it's Brin Davies (below) who writes them. He says he's written a rock opera about a ginger tom cat. There must be someone somewhere who can put this on? Anyone from The Who want to help here? The Moles rock my world and I want them to rock yours too, so please check them out. They're playing at The Louisiana in Bristol on 28th April with The Ouija Birds and The Transpersonals - blimey another killer line up. I'll see you there.

So, a top night of music at The Junction was had by all and it's hats off to Dave from Artscare and all the bands.

Suggested listening: Artscare CD #2 compilation

The Last Man On The Moon

When Apollo 17’s Gene Cernan got an itchy nose while wearing his space helmet he could scratch it by moving his head toward a little piece of velcro specially placed inside the helmet for just such an occasion. I didn’t know they did that. I learn something new with every astronaut autobiography I read and by the time I finished reading Gene Cernan’s autobiography last night I’d learnt quite a bit more than the little bit of space trivia about scratching your nose.

“The Last Man On The Moon” is just excellent, a thoroughly enjoyable read and if you haven’t read any astronaut autobiographies before I’d recommend this one as a good place to start, despite it being the last in the series, so to speak. Although for a really detailed look at Gemini and Apollo you can do no better than Michael Collins autobiography “Carrying The Fire”.

Cernan’s book follows the story of the space race as seen through the eyes of a Navy aviator watching the unfolding events of Sputnik, Gargarin and Mercury right through to his own considerable involvement in Gemini and Apollo. It captures the competitiveness of astronaut life including the revelation that Cernan had a serious leg injury that he and one of the NASA doctors played down to avoid him losing the historic Apollo 17 flight. Cernan speaks about the result on family life of large egos, a massive work load, extreme pressure and the worry over whether a spouse would actually come home at the end of the day, not just from space flight but from all the other flying undertaken during an astronaut’s working day on earth. Astronaut wives were taken for granted by NASA and let’s be honest by the astronauts themselves. It was expected that they put on a show for the press for ever telling them they were “proud, thrilled, and happy” while they almost certainly felt stressed out, under pressure and scared and Cernan acknowledges this in his book. Although he survived his time as an astronaut, his marriage did not and he takes the blame for it.

Gene Cernan may well be the last man on the moon for many years to come. I suspect the next person on the moon will either be Chinese, and good luck to them I hope they make it, an extremely wealthy individual with as much courage and skill as money, or maybe a very fortunate person with those abilities who has the financial backing of an extremely wealthy individual or corporation. Whoever it is though could do worse than to read a few astronaut autobiographies before they go because nothing about being in space is easy or safe, something highlighted in Cernan’s book.

Working within the confines of a space suit makes the simplest task a huge undertaking and while space suits have improved and developed since Apollo that is a fact that cannot be altered. Working or even just manoeuvring in the totally weightless environment of space brings about problems of leverage and action/reaction. Even on the lunar surface with its low gravity, forcing a drill bit into the solid moon rock found under all the surface dust is still very strenuous work.

On the moon, even something as simple as holding on to a rock or a tool involves using a very tight grip through the many layers of a protective glove. Both Cernan and his fellow Apollo 17 moon walker Harrison Schmitt had blisters and cuts all over their hands as well as aching arms and legs that would stop most of us in our tracks. They had to work through the pain for three days on the lunar surface. When things broke or didn’t work properly it was tough, exhausting and time consuming to persevere or make repairs, if repairs could be made at all.

Living and working on the moon is never going to be easy and it’s tragic that we aren’t able to take advantage of the experience of those who have already worked in those conditions while they’re still with us. The giant leap and those few first steps should have lead us on to a running pace by now but the next time the moon has visitors from earth, they too will have to make small steps.

I don’t expect that Gene Cernan will remain the last man on the moon. Almost certainly one day, and it may be 50 years from now or 500, but one day people will again walk on the lunar surface. However, Cernan will always be the last Apollo astronaut and the last man in the twentieth century to kick up the dust of that magnificent desolation that is the surface of the moon and you can share in that experience by reading his book.

As for me, my next astronaut book is Deke Slayton’s autobiography. He was one of the Original 7 Mercury astronauts but who was grounded by health concerns. Although he missed the opportunity to fly as part of the Mercury, Gemini or Apollo moon missions he was in charge of all the other astronauts at NASA and he finally got to earn his astronaut wings as the docking module pilot of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. We have lift off, again.

Suggested reading: “The Last Man On The Moon” by Eugene Cernan

The Story Of Man's Greatest Adventure

Well that was a worthwhile trip to the shops. Not only did I manage to get a mother’s day card and something for my friend’s birthday this weekend but I picked up some rather splendid Apollo related merch as well. While checking out the Amnesty International book shop on Gloucester Road (sorry Auntie Christine, no sign yet of “Defence Until Dawn”) I saw this little treasure...

...and it was just £1.50, bargain! And as it says on the cover, the book does have some excellent photos “in exciting colour”. Then a couple of charity shops later I came across a number of National Geographics, including a few with space themes; two on the Space Shuttle and one on Skylab.

Now I’m not as much a fan of the space shuttle, not in the way I am obsessed with Apollo. Somehow it just doesn’t have the romance of the earlier space race days. However, some of the Apollo astronauts flew the early shuttles and they’re in these editions of the NG. But Skylab, fantastic, that was part of the Apollo Applications Programme and had moonwalkers aboard. Three for a pound, result!

Unfortunately the Apollo Applications Programme didn’t get much further than Skylab and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP). Ah, the plans they had but then as now the people with the power and the money to make things happen simply didn’t have the vision or the inclination to push things forward. Such a shame.

Then my final acquisition was the latest edition of “Spaceflight”. I don’t get this every time it’s an odd magazine and aimed at the really nerdy space geek. OK that is me to an extent but in this magazine they list every space flight that takes place and report on the latest in space activity. It’s great that there is somewhere that documents all this stuff but I only usually get it when there’s an article that’s moon or Apollo related. There’s an article in this edition titled “Goodbye Moon” about the decision by the US President to cancel the Constellation Programme.

So mission accomplished, I got everything I went out for, I didn’t have to pay for parking and I got myself some top space literature into the bargain. Nice one.

Suggested listening: “Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks” by Brian Eno (containing my favourite piece of music "An Ending (Ascent)"

Jim Al-Khalili

Honestly, I’ve got the whole Horizon thing out of my system now but this morning I remembered the excellent programmes by Prof. Jim Al-Khalili on quantum physics, another on chemistry and the best one of all on chaos theory that all had me glued to the telly. This guy knows how to explain science in such a way that even I am able to get a handle on most of what it’s about. I don’t think any of his BBC documentaries are available on DVD yet but they will be at some point and will be worth getting and watching. Meantime, they may be on the BBC i-Player (?). He has written a number of books although I haven’t read them myself (so many books, so little time). Anyway, if you want to watch a decent science programme, then do check out anything by the good professor.

Over The Horizon

Oh my stars, what was I thinking? I was about to switch off the TV when I saw that the BBC programme Horizon was about to start with an edition called “Is Everything We Know About The Universe Wrong?” I should have known better, the title itself was a giveaway but no, not me, I was suckered in.

Now it used to be that back in the day, Horizon was an informative and essential part of my education on things scientific. However, for at least the last 5 years if not longer, it’s just been plain rubbish and I deliberately stopped watching it about a year or so ago, however tantalising the subject.

Like so many other documentaries made today, it’s full of repetitive, annoying and pointless picture distortions and deliberately unsteady camera work, repetitive, annoying and useless graphics that don’t illuminate the point being made and narrations that are often inaccurate or simply plain wrong and pitted with exaggerated claims and statements along the lines of “all the history/physics/astronomy books will have to be re-written” or “everything we’ve ever thought about x/y/z is wrong”. AAAGGGHHH!!!

Anyway, that’s why I had stopped watching Horizon. However, on this occasion I was intrigued enough by the introduction to keep it on. Sure enough, it didn’t take long for all the regulars to put in an appearance, dodgy camera work, silly graphics, pointless and repetitive imagery, over blown statements in the narration...all the usual suspects present and incorrect. But I stuck with it because of the one small snippet of new scientific info they let slip right at the start (the so called “dark flow” and the apparent movement of a large number of galaxies in the same direction, off to a single point in the universe). Any time now they’ll get to it, I thought, and I’ll be just that little bit better informed about one of my favourite subjects. Oh no, not Horizon, not these days, that would be too much to ask for. No, they kept me waiting to the last 5 minutes of the programme before referring to it again, with me shouting at the telly every few minutes.

And guess what, when they actually got there, when they finally got to the whole point of the programme, they completely failed to tackle the subject with any degree of substance. I’ve just looked “dark flow” up on the interweb and in the space of about 5 minutes of reading an article on the New Scientist website, I feel I have a pretty good grasp on the idea. So I’ve wasted another hour of my life watching that useless excuse for a science programme. The one thing I can take away from it is that I shan’t be wasting any more of my time watching it in future. Lesson learnt.

As a point of balance, I watched a very good documentary on BBC 4 the other night called “Women” about feminism and the women’s movement. It was exactly how a documentary ought to be made and I’m looking forward to seeing the other 2 editions of the programme. You see BBC, you can do it when you try.

Suggested viewing; "Earth Story" by Aubrey Manning

Science Question - Additional

I had a thought earlier today. If you can have absolute zero, is there a maximum for how hot something can be?

Defence Until Dawn

In response to my blog about my love of books and particularly my love of shopping for books, my lovely auntie Christine has asked me to keep an eye out for a book for her. It's called "Defence Until Dawn" by Leslie Hunt, and is the story of 488 NZ Squadron, who were night-fighters during World War II. She has an uncle who served in that very squadron. So the hunt is on. If you know anything more about this book or where I can get hold of a copy, then please do let me know.

Suggested reading: "Defence Until Dawn" by Leslie Hunt

Sick Of Goodbyes

So poor Mark Linkous has died. We lost Jay Reatard recently too. And yet Simon bloody Cowell still lives and they want to take 6 Music from us too. There is nothing else to say.
Suggested listening: "Good Morning Spider" by Sparklehorse

Lovely Lovely Books

So today has been World Book Day, a celebration of books and reading. I love books, lovely, lovely books. I’d like to read more than I do but most of my reading is done in bed before I go to sleep. Unless it’s totally engrossing (like my current read Gene Cernan’s “The Last Man On The Moon” which is an enthralling read) I usually only manage a few pages before I get sleepy. So things like “Moby Dick”, “Homer’s Odyssey” and “On The Origin Of Species” although they were great books, they were a bit weighty and heavy going in places. Still, I persevered with all three of them and I’m glad I did.

But when you get a real meaty page turner it’s one of life’s great delights. “Carter Beats The Devil” by Glen David Gold was one of those. A total joy to read, I finished it in no time. Again, I was reading in bed but as each chapter came to an end it just prompted me to continue into the next one. I was reading till 3am some nights. Jonathan Coe’s “What A Carve Up” was also another favourite that I devoured. Anyway, I won’t list all my favourites but you get the idea, I love books.

I really love a trawl through a bookshop too, particularly since the demise of the independent record shop, the bookshop has become my favourite waste of time. I believe that if you’re going to read a book you should have a lovely copy of it to hold in your hands. Turning a page ought to be a pleasurable experience. Small, hard back books are a joy in themselves. I’ve bought a few over the years and I get pleasure just from looking at them on the shelf as well as picking them up and reading them. Here’s a few of mine.




















New, books like those above can be expensive which is where the second hand bookshop comes in. Ah, the second hand bookshop, a treasure trove of “wonderful things”. Like a dogs home for the printed word, each lost book awaits a new owner to love and take care of them.

Have you noticed that second hand bookshops or market stalls are often run by misanthropic, grey haired old men, as dusty and musky as the books they sell? There used to be one like that in St Nick’s market in Bristol. He’s gone now and there’s a much nicer person there with a good range of books. I once worked at a very strange place called the Book Barn. It was like entering the twilight zone. The bloke that ran that wasn’t the most pleasant person I’ve ever worked for. I think they lose themselves in their books somehow, maybe because books are easier to deal with that real live people. Let’s be honest, they do have a point but you can’t cut yourself off from the entire world just because of the idiots out there.

Anyway, I digress. Lovely, lovely books. If there’s one thing better than an aimless wonder through a bookshop, it’s going into one with a purpose; the thrill of the chase! It’s something I used to get with music but these days its books. I’m currently on the lookout for a nice copy of “The Letters of Pliny the Younger”. Don’t ask why, it’s just something I want to read. I’m in no hurry either. It’s a great excuse for going into every charity shop and bookshop in the area, or better still a new area, a day out in a strange town. Having that particular thing to keep an eye out for adds extra spice to the experience. I know you are out there somewhere Pliny and I will track you down, but I hope it’s not for a while yet.

I’m also constantly on the lookout for space books. Look, you’ve got your thing I’m sure, this is my thing, so stop judging me. I found this quite brilliant space book in an Oxfam bookshop (second hand books and the money goes to charity, its win win).

It’s by a guy called Alan Lawrie and it’s everything there is to know about the Saturn 1 and 1B rockets. Not the Saturn Vs you understand, not the ones that got men to the moon, no this is the precursor to that rocket. It’s “The Complete Manufacturing and Test Records” and comes with a DVD of documents and movies, presumably of the rockets blasting off. It lists every engine made, its manufacturing number, dates, tables, summaries, photos...frankly if there is anything you want to know about the Saturn 1 or 1B rocket it will be in this book. I may never read it all the way through but just having it on the shelf with the other space books is a delight. And Mr Lawrie has written other books about Apollo including one about the Saturn Vs, so that gives me something else to keep an eye out for. Wonderful!

I’m looking for a job right now and working in a second hand bookshop would be ideal. I’m not grey haired (well not totally) and am not completely misanthropic just yet but there’s still time. Any offers?

Suggested reading: “Carter Beats the Devil” by Glen David Gold

Science Questions

One of the great things about science is that the more you find out, the more questions you have. Sure it would be nice to have all the answers but that would be pretty boring now wouldn’t it?

So, at the risk of embarrassing myself, here are some questions I have after a lifetime of interest in science. If you do have the answers then please fill in the blanks for me. Ta very much. Here we go...

Light
What is light? OK, I know it's a particle and a wave at the same time but really, that's just a cop-out isn't it? It's Schrödinger's cat sitting on the fence, surely? Why is it that nothing can travel faster than light? What is it about light that makes it the fastest thing there is? Could it be that there is something that travels faster than light, so fast we can’t detect it? Obviously, if we can't detect it we wont know, but in theory perhaps? And if so, could that be the mysterious dark energy? And what propels it, why does it travel at all?

Calculating Matter
I understand that the amount of matter in the universe has been calculated and that it’s not enough to account for how galaxies maintain their individual shapes or to stop them flying away from each other. How do we know this? How is it possible to calculate the amount of matter in the universe and what is the margin of error? Excluding dark matter and dark energy, how do we know that all we can see or detect using earth or space based equipment, is all that is detectable in the universe? Could there be more matter out there that is so far away that we can’t detect it (yet)? Could it simply be hidden by some of the material we can see?

Big Bang #1
If the universe is radiating out from the big bang, where is the central point where the big bang took place? What shape is the universe?

The Big Bang #2
Could it be that the cause of the big bang is that the four fundamental forces of the universe cannot exist together in one dense body and that when they are combined, as matter was at the big bang, they simply repel one another, leading to the formation of the universe? So not so much an explosion more just matter flying away from itself.

The Big Bang #3
As I understand it, at the time of the big bang all the matter in the universe was combined into one extremely small but incredibly dense body. Was the cause of the big bang that all this matter, in clumping together, became so hot that its gravity failed? I ask this knowing that I'm confusing what can happen to magnets when they get heated, and gravity. Magnetism and gravity aren't the same thing, right?

Dark Matter/Energy #1
What is a dark matter halo surrounding a galaxy? Has it been detected yet or is it only a theory at this stage? If it has been detected how was this done and what does it tell us about dark matter/energy generally?

Dark Matter/Energy #2
If we can assume that the universe will continue to expand and cool till all that is left is cold, dark rock, over a vast distance, then assume that universes are coming into being every now and again over a huge time period (assuming I understand the term “multiverse” correctly and that is what is happening) then could it be that this left over material from a dead universe could have a gravitational, or indeed any kind of, effect on the new universe? If our universe is not the first, then could this be happening now? Is this what dark matter and dark energy is? Are galaxies not so much speeding away from one another, more that they are being drawn to matter outside our universe, matter that was left over from a previous universe?

Dark Matter/Energy #3
If we see distant galaxies as they were (close to the age of the universe at 13.7 billion years) then could it be that how they actually are now is affecting things in the universe? Could how they are now (not what they looked like then) account for dark energy, for example?

Black Holes #1
I’m told that the laws of physics breakdown inside a black hole and that basically all bets are off and anything could happen. Surely, black holes obey the physical laws of black holes? Is it not that, rather than the laws of physics breaking down, laws which work under such immense gravitational pressures take over? Does all the matter consumed by a black hole get condensed into a very small but very dense body? Is there a very dense rock at the centre of a black hole?

Black Holes #2
When a black hole consumes a body, does the black hole’s gravity then become even stronger? Is the combined gravity of the black hole and let’s say a star it consumes, equal to the two separate bodies, or does something happen to a body in a black hole that reduces or expands that gravity?

Black Holes #3
Is it possible that a super-massive black hole at the centre of a galaxy will eventually consume the entire galaxy that surrounds it? If this happens will the gravity of this black hole be enough to attract another galaxy to it? What I have in mind is that once all the super-massive black holes have consumed their galaxies that they then consume each other (big crunch) and form a super-super-massive black hole, that then explodes into a new universe. Could that happen?

Black Holes #4
If a black hole consumed a galaxy what would the effect on the rest of the universe? Might it, for example, be exerting a gravitational pull on very distant objects? Is this what dark matter/energy could be?

Right, that’s all the questions I have for the moment. No doubt I have massively misunderstood a lot of what I have read or watched on TV about these subjects meaning that the questions posed are actually meaningless. If that’s the case, then put me straight please.

If I am asking the right questions, and if you think you know the right answers then please leave me a comment, I’d really like to know. I’m not so hot on maths so if you can leave the answers in a form I stand a chance of grasping, I’d really appreciate it.

If you are Professor Kathy Sykes you have an open invitation to dinner at my place. I’ll cook (I’m a pretty good cook) and you can try and explain the answers to me over a bottle of wine. No funny business, my partner will be there too. This is a genuine offer, we live in Bristol.

Suggested reading: New Scientist Magazine http://www.newscientist.com/