India Launches Moon Probe

Since I was a small child, I have been fascinated with flight, but more than that with the idea of space travel. Nothing else quite has the power to awe and inspire me so much as reading about or discovering things about space. Therefore today I had a very moving experience of watching the launch of India’s Chandrayaan 1 Spacecraft. Sadly I did not see it live, although some of my friends did go – the launch site is about 100km from here – but watching it on the TV brought a tear to my eye.

There is something so majestic about the idea of discovery, journeying into the unknown. Although this is an unmanned mission, manned missions are planned in coming years. While there are many things India needs in terms of basic infrastructure and so on, it is a modern country with the potential to be a world leader, so I believe that this sort of program can only serve the interests of the country in the long term. Those who say the money could be better spent have perhaps missed what the space program is bringing to India in terms of partnerships with the rest of the world – including showcasing India’s extraordinary potential for technological partnerships that comes from a highly educated workforce and an inventiveness brought about through necessity.

One of the things I love most about India is the feeling of progression, that something is being built (it’s not hard to get that feeling, there is construction everywhere and nothing ever seems to quite get finished!), and it’s hard not to feel proud to be a small part of that progression.

Watching India launch herself towards the wider universe I can only stand in awe at what humankind has achieved in the 105 years since we first took flight.

The BBC has an article about the launch of the Chandrayaan 1 rocket at

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7679818.stm

R.I.P Rick Wright

Sadly, another founding member of Pink Floyd, Rick Wright, passed away today from cancer.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7617363.stm

I’m still totally awed by the sound of the Dark Side of the Moon album, one that Wright was instrumental (excuse the rather inappropriate pun) in creating. Incredibly groundbreaking for its time, it stands as a monumental achievment in an amazing career. Sadly, there’s no ‘Great gig in the sky’ to go to.

Onam Festival

Onam Festival Flower of flowers
Onam Festival Pookalam, a mat made of fresh flowers

I recently started working in India. I’m really loving the place, so much contrast and colour!

Today is the festival of Onam celebrated by the Malayali people in the next state (Kerala), and also here in Tamil Nadu, as many Malayali people live here. The women wear special white sarees trimmed with gold threads, and special food is served.

Contemplating the divine

I am not a believer in the divine, however, there are at times some cracks in that belief (to quote Leonard Cohen – “there is a crack, a crack in everything – it’s how the light gets in”). Certain things seem to connect on a deeply primal, emotional level. The songs and works of Leonard Cohen being some of them. He is one of the very, very few artists whose works I have listened to almost constantly for the last 20 years of my life. I simply cannot hear these songs too many times. In fact, very often, when I listen to an album of them, and it is finished, I can think of nothing else to play, but the same thing again. For this reason, I am incredibly happy that he is touring again (one last time?) and that I have managed to get tickets to see him perform (ok, so they cost me several limbs, but it was worth it).

I’m not usually a big fan of cover versions (despite having produced a cover of a Johnny Cash song with my band My Silent Wake – which of course is the best cover version ever), but in some cases, there are versions which somehow transcend the originals. For instance, the Hendrix version of Dylan’s “All along the Watchtower”, or James Taylor’s version of Carole King’s “You’ve got a Friend”. Particularly, I’m not a big fan of cover versions of Leonard Cohen’s songs, especially those covered by Rufus Wainright. However, there is a notable exception, performed by one of the most exceptionally talented maverick artists for a generation. I highly recommend watching John Cale perform a truly divine version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” embedded below. (And then go listen to some Velvet Underground).

Surely, this is how the light gets in

Drone on forever

Recently, I’ve become fascinated by the potential of pure ‘noise’, and the beauty of the single ‘note’. The concept of music is largely based around the interplay, juxtaposition and sequencing of frequencies of noise. Sometimes in combination, which we experience as either pleasant or unpleasant (discordant) and sometimes separately, as single notes. However, here I’m talking about the idea of a single extended tone – the idea that a basic building block of music taken alone can be as fascinating as a whole symphony. It’s a bit like repeating a word over and over again, until it becomes meaningless, it becomes pure sound, and something else entirely than it was.

This is hardly an original idea, there are many traditions of this, not only in western music with the (so called) minimalist movement, and composers like Ligeti (one of my heroes), but in other traditions – such as buddhist chanting and with ‘singing bowls. Some instruments (particularly celtic instruments such as bagpipes) utilize a drone (a single constant note) over which the rest of the notes occur – however, I am particularly interested in the possibilites of that single note. A single plucked note on, say, a guitar is not actually a single thing, it has many harmonics and so on combined with it. The strength or softness with which you pluck the note affects its sound. If you amplify the note or distort it (which adds further harmonics) and then feed it back on itself you can create incredibly interesting sounds – the best example of music created by this method is a group called Sunn-O))) (pronounced sun), where the feedback from the note and the manipulation of the note becomes the music.

In time, I suspect I will do something with this, although it’s a fairly nihilistic thing – to remove all structure and form – I think it’s worth it. We’re obsessed in this modern age with music and sound as entertainment. I don’t have any strong objection to being entertained, there are some good songs and some great music without a lot of depth, but I’m interested in knowning what ‘sound’ itself sounds like. It may not entertain too many people, but there’s a deeper resonance when I listen to bands such as Sunn-O))) or EARTH, and composers such as Ligeti or Philip Glass, which goes to something more primal than mere entertainment.

Why is it that when someone scratches on glass or rubs a balloon or polystyrene does the sound have such a strange physical effect? Certain sounds manipulate our deepest primal fears and invoke physical responses. I think that’s really interesting, because I wonder what in our history has caused us to respond that way.

Body modification

I’m convinced that constant travel (and the consequent jetlag) is a form of extreme body modification. If a normal person’s circadian rythmn is 4/4 time, then mine is 11/32 compound time, with a few dropped beats here and there for effect. I seem though, to have developed from that an ability to sleep anywhere, at pretty much any time. I’ve heard that military personnel and the like often develop such mechanisms, though whether or not it’s healthy I’m not sure. (I don’t get colds or flu much though – so it’s not all bad).

While we’re on the theme of body modification, I recently had my 5th tattoo – although only 4 are visible, as one is a cover up. The more time (and money) I spend getting tattooed, the more I feel like doing it, the acres of untouched skin look more and more like blank canvas every day, crying out to be filled. There’s no doubt it’s addictive. My advice though, to anyone, is still not to do it, unless you can deal with the fact that you will spend the rest of your life having to look at them. With increasing lifespans, that could be a really long time. Tattoos can be very beautiful, and if done well, are truly art, but they can also be things you come to regret. 15 years after my second tattoo, I just wanted it covered, it was embarrassing, the choice of a late teen rebel. Although, I still have the first, that has faded, blurred and looks less than wonderful (I will leave it alone, for sentimental reasons). The new inks available, not to mention going to skilled artists, will last better and look good for longer if cared for, but still, you have to accept that in 50 years time, you will still have to get up in the morning, sagging skin and all, and see them there. I’m just really glad I didn’t have any religiously themed, or ‘band’ type tattoos. People inevitably change, bands break up (as, sadly, do relationships), and things that once seemed cool, aren’t when you look down back down the years.

Newark Airport

There’s a woman in the President’s Club lounge, (the one in terminal C opposite gate 74) who has talked, loudly, and without ceasing for more than 3 hours. In a strange mix of Italian, Spanish and English she has berated, greeted, beguiled, wittered on to and generally talked at not only her two companions (who seem to be silent), but I imagine most of the contacts on her cellphone. I’m surrounded by other familes, and other fellow travellers, all, I imagine, hardly interested in the fact that our protagonist has three small suitcases, or that she wants her daughter to pick up a dress tonight, how much she loves her dog/child/boyfriend/carpet/etc, nor any other of the inane drivel that has spewed forth from her in a constant stream for the duration of my stay in the lounge. A billion years of evolution brings us to a place where we have nothing better to do than babble vacuously into the ether. (Or, indeed, sit and self-righteously blog about it).

Just thought you ought to know, and if by some infinitesimally small chance you’re in here with me, and read this…you have my sympathy.

LOVE YOU>>>> LOUD KISSES MI AMORE GRATZIE

Airlines are dumb

Well, really, it’s computers that are dumb. Actually, it’s not even that, it’s the people who program the computers that are operated by the airlines. They’re probably smart people, but they just don’t think about how people are going to use their systems. Specifically, they don’t think about how people want to book flights on line. I logged on to the website of a company which shall remain nameless, but in my opinion are the worst of the European airlines (don’t even start me on the US ones), on the off chance that they might (for once) be able to help me out.
I wanted to book a (fairly) simple schedule. I just wanted to do was to go from London – San Francisco – San Diego – London. Pretty straight forward. A couple of US airlines managed to give me that option on their websites, at fairly eyewatering prices (which is why I was looking elsewhere).
The airline in question has a code share with a US based airline, so there shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, there wasn’t a problem, unless that is you actually didn’t want to have to fly through London Heathrow and back via Chicago O’Hare to get from San Francisco to San Diego, which cities, while admittedly worlds apart culturally, are approximately 8 hours drive apart – in the same state.

Not surprisingly, I won’t be taking that option, but it just reinforces how dumb some airlines are (or how little they care about their customers).
In a similar vein, I received a mail tonight from an ailing US based airline (aren’t they all) begging me to sign a petition promoting its remaining independence against a hostile takeover from a rival. It’s not an airline I particularly dislike, and the airline doing the hostile takeover bid is one I frequently use (though I’m sure I don’t know why). But, it seems to me, that if you’re bankrupt, there’s not much point in bleating about how you can turn it around by spending more money and being independent. Why not do that before you spent all your cash? Quite frankly customers will be better served by a slimmer, leaner US airline market, the days of the independents are fast fading.

On the subject of travel, and more specifically airline travel, and the often surreal aspects thereof, interested parties are invited to visit the blog of my friend and colleague Randy at http://randyab.blogspot.com/ as I’m sure you’ll enjoy his commentary.