Category: Personal

In memory of Alan…

Posted on by chris

I found out tonight a friend of mine died today. His name was Alan, he and his wife Mary have been friends of my wife for many years, and I have got to know then quite well over the last couple of years. Alan was diabetic, and although his health has not been good for a long time this has been an upsetting piece of news.

I have to say I didn’t know him as well as I would have liked to. I knew he had a love of music, in fact he taught several children I know to play the piano, and last Christmas he invited me to play in a brass band with him, which was fun. But it was only during a conversation last week I discovered he had a particular love for jazz, especially jazz piano. I’d just popped round to drop off their card and presents and we got chatting about Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck and a few others. He wanted to find a recording of Art Tatum playing “Tiger Rag” which I’m sure either my dad or I have got somewhere. We were going to arrange a session listening to jazz music, and probably drinking whisky. That will never happen now.

I’m glad I knew Alan even for a short time, and can only pray that he is finally at peace. However I’d appreciate your prayers for Mary who is going to have to learn to cope with life alone after more than half a century with Alan by her side.

==

I’m going to be off-line for at least a week, so I hope you all have an enjoyable, relaxing and fulfilling Christmas and New Year.

Moving on…

Posted on by chris

Right, the time has come to go official. In January I will be starting a new job at an exciting new software company. I can’t give details, partly because there aren’t any, and partly because it’s all Under Wraps for the time being. But suffice to say we’ll be changing the world :0)

So because of that I’ve had to come to a difficult decision with regard to the Wiblogs. No, I’m not going to stop writing (you don’t get rid of my inane ramblings that easily) but I have had to scrap development of the new Wiblog system. I’m sure you’ll understand when I say that the paying stuff has to come first, and there are only so many hours in a day. I’ve explained more over on the Wiblog Newsroom along with details of some plans we’re discussing for the future. So don’t worry, we’re not even close to closing anything down. Long may the Wiblog reign :0)

Iona live in Leeds…

Posted on by chris

Lat night I accompanied my good friend Dave to see the Celtic prog-rock band Iona live at St Georges Church in Leeds. The church turned out to be a large city-centre building with a warm atmosphere and extremely well-equipped interior. In fact I think it was one of the best modernisations of a traditional worship space I’ve ever seen.

Anyway, the gig. Wow. It’s been a long while since I last saw Iona in concert, but they’ve not lost any of their passion, skill or touch. At times rocking, at times deeply moving, this was an evening where a group of consummate professional musicians showed us what being a band was really all about. From the jigs and reels where they expertly mix traditional Celtic music with modern grooves, to ethereal soundscapes, to blisteringly fast virtuoso guitar solos, to haunting and compelling melodies, they are pretty darn fantastic. To be honest, words fail me; this is music that got into my soul a long time ago and will remain there for a long time to come.

I first got into Iona back in about 1992 or 1993, I remember having their Beyond These Shores album on continuous repeat in my Walkman until the tape snapped. In fact that was such a traumatic event for me I remember exactly where it happened, and that sad day comes to mind whenever I walk past that spot (by the allotments just off Willans Road). A couple of years later I saw them live at the Irish Centre in Leeds where they were recording their live album Heaven’s Bright Sun, and I remember standing right at the front of the crowd with my hands against the speakers, lost in rapture of this sound I was hearing.

In fact the recording of Inside My Heart from that album still brings me to tears every time I hear it. As I said to my wife earlier today, sometimes you experience something that, to you at least, is so close to perfection that it shows you a glimpse of a world which is to come. Something you can’t touch or fathom yet, but you know it will eventually be within reach. That’s what Iona’s music does for me.

Visit the site, listen to the samples. Then buy every album you can, because this is a band who (in my opinion) are one of the finest groups to ever come from these small islands. Heck, I think they are one of the greatest bands in the world.

So, thanks Dave, Troy, Joanne, Phil and Frank (and all the others who have played with them over the years). I owe to you no small part of my love for music, and, by extension, my love for life.

Musn’t look down……

Posted on by chris

Far, far below me is the bottom of my to-do list. It’s so far off that I can’t see the en, in fact I’m not even sure it has an end. Of course, it’s so far off that people could be adding to it all the time and I wouldn’t evn know until I got to that point. And by then, of course, the new end would be out of sight and the whole rigmarole would start all over again.

However, I have made some technological breakthroughs this week which I’m rather happy with. Some of them involve code that I’ve written, some of them involve entire systems I’ve built, and one of them involves scrapping something I’ve been working on for over 18 months to use something else entirely.

More news on that soon. But now; bed calleth.

Thuperhero…

Posted on by chris

My very good friend m@ has a really cool way of spelling his name. See, I did it there: “m@”. Frankly I’m jealous.

So I started to think about what I could be called that would reduce to a pithy few characters. “Chris” doesn’t really shrink all that well. “Crz”? No, I sound like half a dodgy Czecholovakian wine. “Chris 2.0”? No, that’s been done. “Chris 2007”? No, I’ll be obselete in less than a year.

And then it hit me like a Volvo through the frontal cortex: Th_ – Thunderscore!. M@ liked it, and the ensuing conversation went like this.

m@

Wow, that’s a goodun. It even rolls off the fingers nicely.

So that’s it then. You’re Th_ from now on.

Th_

Excellent. I feel like a character from an obscure 80s kids cartoon series.

m@

Get yourself a nice lycra jumpsuit with external underpants, and whenever you see a sign high in the night sky, code, code like you’ve never coded, code to Save the World!

Th_

I can see it now:

“What’th that up there, Mummy?” (he has a lithp)

“Why that, little Jimmy, is Thunderscore.”

“Who ith he mummy?”

“He’s the man who saved us from Microsoft.”

“What a hero. When I grow up I with I could be jutht like him.”

“Maybe you will, little Jimmy, if you learn your regular expressions.”

m@

Which is exactly why I’ll never be a thuperhero. Goddamned regular expressions.

And yes, before you ask, that is pretty typical of our conversations.