Iain Cameron's Diary
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2002-11-08 - 9:18 a.m.

Woke up and worked on the third of Gilbert�s short stories which made me a bit late and so I rushed to work listening to Takemitsu played by John Williams � a beautiful morning. The north flowing river that I cross just before the A45 had flooded and there were signs that Kenilworth Castle moat might begin to ford the main road � as seems to be part of the plan. I am getting more and more interested in all the nooks and crannies of Kenilworth � its like four towns rolled into one. Its like a lesson in English architecture over the last 900 years.

Peter Chatterton and I exchanged emails on the technical setup for Saturday and Cleveland�s recital. He has a soundcard on his computer which has a SPDIF optical out and he runs that to his Minidisc. He had forgotten that the optical in on the MD will switch to an analog line in � it�s a neat feature and life would be a lot simpler of more machines would handle digital and audio so neatly. He showed me some more great A3 posters that he has made for the wall display.

I have got hold of a PC projector from the firm. I am not at all good at digital video. The plan is to use my work portable and the PC projector to show the Michael Parkinson film of Kwase-kwaza during the interval. I am sure the projector and portable work together eg on Powerpoint. But the question is whether the PC has enough power to handle digital video and whether it has got the software to run the format that Peter has got the programme in � Windows Media.

Anyway to test the power issue I got the cover CD off the latest issue of Jazzwise which is actually the first ever jazz DVD cover disc. I dropped it into the portable and found some software and in two seconds I was looking at John Lee Hooker performing live circa 1986. To my delight I noticed his second guitarist was using a classic 60s white Tele with rosewood finger board. The DVD opens with the Art Blakey band when both the Marsalis Bros were on the front line and there�s a nice moment where the leader gets up and tells the audience to buy a jazz record every month �No jazz � no America�. Other highlights include the Duke, Clark Terry, Stan Getz , Gary Burton and an acoustic duo with John Maclaughlin.

I mentioned this in an email to Gilbert which included a first cut mix at the third short story. He mailed back later with some reactions to the first set of three. He gives some pretty positive feedback to the two noise pieces � but he finds the third one less fresh. I think its less direct � more ambient � but I will look at it more. Maybe I need a more precise grasp of the original guitar part. The who think is kind of Satie elliptical. Its impossible for me to tell whether any of it is any good as it call is utterly left field from my point of view � not much conscious reasoning.

My CD to him has arrived but his CD has gone on the blink � I will think about something else. I mailed Robin a couple of pieces off that CD that use her dream hexachord to see what she makes of them.

I am listening to Volcano Songs by Meredith Monk � it sounds really good tonight.

I wrote some stuff about Key Skills in the Modern Apprenticeship and started drafting out a longer piece comparing the UK�s Engineering Competence Standards with new Global Automotive Quality standard TS 16949. I have a meeting tomorrow very early indeed on this subject with the expert in the company on it. He is really in demand at the moment.

I went out to the nearby garden centre for lunch � its very relaxing considering its less than a mile from the junction of the M42 and the M6. There was a remaindered book about the Avro Vulcan � and I remembered that Peter Dallaway had worked on this aircraft when he was in the RAF. It was used with a stand-off weapon called Blue Steel. This weapon used a rocket technology based on hydrogen peroxide and kerosene. This was the last technological maifestation of a propulsive system which was most impressively employed in the V2 German rockets which bombed London in the last year of World War 2. I read all about this in , of all places, The London Review of Books last year.

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