Himself

W is for World Wide Web

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Who does not love browsing the web? I know I do and frequently do so. In a little over twenty years the world wide web has grown to become as integral a part of our lives as the water and electricity supplies. In that time it has also lost its clunky name and is often now referred to as the web or the Internet as it is the most familiar face of the Internet.

This week we have checked bank accounts, done shopping (groceries, fabrics and yarns, baking equipment, books), checked when the courier will be delivering goods, applied for jobs, watched TV, listened to radio programming, played games, applied to audition to appear on TV, listened to music, watched film trailers, checked news, weather and travel details, written and read blogs, video chatted with friends and answered questions from strangers, checked library book status, and all the incidental daily diversions one may encounter. All thanks to the ubiquitous web. How did we ever manage before?

The future is not what it used to be….

V is for Vinyl

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Who does not love reminiscing about old gramophone records? I know I do and having once owned several thousand records I can understand the appeal of vinyl. But there is some weird stuff going on with the current so called vinyl revival. Firstly it hardly registers as a revival – more a slight blip…

And then there is the strange case of people buying vinyl records although they do not own any means to actually play them. Conversely many years ago (early to mid 1970’s) I purchased a secondhand Garrard 301 from someone locally and he had an impressively large and expensive HiFi system but only owned three records.

garrard301

Where as once one could spend a lot of time and money finding the obscure records of choice today we can access most music for very little money and hardly any effort. As wonderful as such streaming services are it can be a little disconcerting to have Apple Music stream a pristine digital version of an old record when you are anticipating the old snap crackle and pop dubbed from vinyl one in your library.

S is for Erik Satie

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Who does not love brief eccentric piano works? I know I do and have done for most of my life.

When I was very young I would Listen With Mother and on a good day the not very exciting story and inane song would not be of sufficient length to fill the space before the news headlines and so a short piece of music would be played. On a very good day the short piece of music would be by Erik Satie. As he composed numerous short pieces it was often a very good day.

One exceptionally short piece was Bonjour Biqui, Bonjour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqmNAYUayZs

Biqui was his affectionate name for the one love of his life during their brief relationship.

Another short piece was never published/performed during his life but includes a suggestion that it be played repeatedly 840 times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBhjGIdL5cM

In the 1960s John Cage and a relay team of pianists decided to give it a try. It took over 18 hours to complete (it can take longer). At the completion a member of the much diminished audience shouted “Encore!”.

391 Cover
Satie contributed to the Dada magazine 391 with his eccentric sense of humour fitting well with the Dada spirit. Anyone arriving at a theatre to see the ballet Relâche may wonder if the performance is cancelled. The performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream featuring the Fratellini family clowns, and supervised by Edgard Varèse never opened and as Varèse soon departed for America they did not collaborate again.

Things to do before I die: Learn to play the piano and play Satie’s piano pieces.