Month: July 2010

First day of the festival, Tuesday.

Great fun, great reggae/rap/dnb (peuple de l’herb, n.e.r.d, NTM), some hard Rock with motorhead and others.
Only marred by the confiscation of Raj’s flagpole by unpleasant security heavies who were aggressive and threatening. Apparently the flagpole is a dangerous item even though the pointy end is more than 10 foot in the air. The real issue was probably people complaining about it obscuring the view, we had already acknowledged this and were not putting it up in the grand scene or anywhere where it would be obscuring the view. It seemed like security were enjoying exerting their power for little overall benefit to anyone. It just means people will get lost and we will have trouble staying together with friends and family.
rant over. Very excited about seeing the foals and laurent garnier tonight.

We are in Switzerland, the outward journey was very smooth and comfortable thanks to the new vehicle. We only drove for about nine hours which is less than previous journeys. We had an excitement when an air tube was dislodged from the rear underneath of the vehicle after scraping over a bump in the road. The hydraulics were unresponsive but fortunately this was easy to fix. We travelled by Channel Tunnel this time which reduced the length of the journey, passing over the jura into Switzerland was beautiful as always.
We are all anticipating the start of paleo tomorrow with big acts like NERD and NTM. Still try to get backstage passes for Foals from my school colleague who is a member of the band.
In our party is Jess and Rachel the two quality PAs, Raj Ellen and myself. My good friend Mehdi is arriving Wednesday and obviously all the Switzerland friends and family. Dad’s house is such a pleasure to be in with Josephine, Lucas and Gillian being very hospital and making it feel like home. Looking forward to seeing the Ernst family and having a barbecue next to the lake at their house.
Very pleasantly surprised to hear that Laurent Garnier will be playing (a talented club DJ).
The demonstration of the project research and my presentation of research went well at the conference in Edinburgh, we had dinner in the Scottish National Gallery with Opera interludes as entertainment, that was fantastic.
Best wishes to all

my grandad is 90, I wrote him a poem:

Michael

the 10th decade
From when a true gentleman was made
a lifetime of philosophy, mathematics and more
Time, space and a religious core

a receptive teacher
by example and grace
an effective imprint left
On occasion lacking an obvious trace

We are all bettered
from the recounting of an old fable
hidden but not forgotten
in a developed mind still able

A unique situation
opportunity born from a tragic event
cohabiting young and old
learning loving and both physically spent

Enjoys thoughtful melodies, not acoustic mess
and still
in the 10th decade
beats me at chess

some more photos on the flickr stream

Edinburgh next week for a conference, and then to Switzerland for three weeks. Festival fun.

Following is a little playlist of songs that Ellen and I really like.

”
Songs that mean a lot to us both

find these on spotifly/blip.fm or any other free music
service.
My blip.FM link: www.blip.fm/1trak (just put into your browser),
probably best play from the bottom up, some of the below
will be in there.

electronic:

gamesmaster – lost tribe (signum remix)
nyana – tiesto
saltwater – chicane
flaming June – BT
Heaven – Dj Sammy & yanou
Café Del Mar (Three N One remix) – Energy 52

mainstream:

Grace – Jeff Buckley
last kiss – Pearl Jam
Mister Jones – counting crows
Mister Brightside – killers
God is a DJ – faithless
colour and the shape – foo fighters
Nick Drake
Riders of the storm – the doors
the shins
Van Morrison-dweller on the threshold
the who-baba O’Reilly

hip-hop:

rjd2 – what’s left
witness the fitness – roots manuva (and anything on the
brand-new second-hand album)
Street dreams – nas (and anything on the illMatic album)
Black on both sides – mos def
mathematics – mos def
“