Peter Burton's daily log, covering Peter's personal interests, e.g. jazz, travel and general grumpiness plus (occasionally) the business of Isomatic and its associate companies.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Gatsby Jazz Band in Kingston
On Saturday evening we went to
The Wych Elm in Elm Road, Kingston Upon Thames, for the monthly performance by the Gatsby Jazz Band. This is a fun band featuring comedians Mike on banjo and Alan Jenkins on trumpet and vocals. On this occasion they were joined by the fine trombone and vocals of Bob Dwyer (included in the picture this time). The band has a wide repertoire of standard songs and usually copes with any request. Therefore it was a surprise to hear them make such a mess of 'That's my Home'. Alan sang it perfectly in his Satchmo voice but played it as if it was completely strange to him. Clarinet, trumpet and trombone seemed to be playing different melodies with no harmony. Every other number was played perfectly well.
Mike resisted insulting Selina directly this time, despite her wearing her shortest skirt with new jacket and 'polo', both bought that morning. Instead he insulted a woman who could not be identified. Legs were involved so perhaps he meant Selina but was afraid to make it obvious.
Labels: Jazz
Saturday, December 30, 2006
MacOS 10.4.8, Norton Antivirus, TurboCAD, Skype
Following the purchase of TurboCAD I was obliged to upgrade my MacOS to 10.4.6 'Tiger' since when I have upgraded to 10.4.8. Apart from the cost of the OS, I have now been obliged to upgrade Norton AntiVirus, which does now work. Skype continues to malfunction despite upgrading yet again. At least turboCAD is now working.
The moral is: do not buy software that requires OS upgrade unless you have much time and money available.
Labels: Computing
Friday, December 29, 2006
Foursome for Thursday night dinner and jazz
On Thursday evening Selina, Marian, Leon and I went to the
Berrylands Hotel in Surbiton for dinner, followed by an evening with
Brian White's Magna jazz band. Marian sat in the lucky seat and won a prize in the raffle again. Leon's request from the last time he was at the Berrylands for 'East of the Sun, West of the Moon' had not been forgotten and was played as a trombone and keyboard feature. My favourite ensemble piece was '100 years from today' but easily the best number of all was Alan Dandy's solo 'Willow Weep for Me'. In the '60s we saw the Alex Welsh band regularly at the Hermitage in Hitchin and Fred Hunt always played this number as his solo, having stripped the grand piano until everything was exposed. Since then we have bought a record with Mary Lou Williams playing it but Alan's version beats them all.
Labels: Jazz
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Orchestral Concert at the Barbican, another parking fine
On Wednesday evening we went to
The Barbican concert hall for a performance by
The London Phiharmonic Orchestra. The programme comprised Rossini's 'Overture to the Barber of Seville', Handel's 'Music for the Royal Fireworks', the Grieg Piano Concerto and Beethoven's 'Pastoral Symphony'. All good music, i.e. "Nothing you can't hum there" to quote Victoria Wood.
As we had time to spare, we preceded the concert with a visit to
Stanfords the world's greatest map shop. Parking in Long Acre can be tricky so I was pleased to find a space only a few yards from the ticket machine. I put a 2 pound ticket behind the windscreen, bought a map of Andalucia in about 10 minutes and emerged to find a fixed penalty notice on the car. I had inadvertently parked in a 'residents only' bay, in a street that is not residential. This is another example of how evil local authorities like Westminster trick the innocent into providing them with money. There is no clear division between one sort of parking bay and another.
Labels: Concerts, Parking
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
The Ardennes
On boring Boxing Day we planned and booked our August holiday in Belgium and Luxembourg (pictured).
Day 1; fly to Brussels, staying overnight near the Grand Place
Day 2; visit Waterloo, drive to Dinant, staying overnight
Day 3; drive to Luxembourg, staying two nights
Day 4; explore Luxembourg, visit Bastogne (Battle of the Bulge museum)
Day 5; drive through The Ardennes, visiting WW2 sights, to Spa for one night stay
Day 6; Drive to Namur, staying one night
Day 7; back to Brussels airport and home.
Much has been written about the best time to book the cheapest flights. This was the last opportunity; we watched tinyBMI prices increase on the
BMI web site before our very eyes.
We booked all the hotels via
Expedia and car hire via
Argus Rentals.
Labels: Travel
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Andalucia
As there was nothing to do on Christmas day we planned and booked our May holiday in Andalucia. We will fly from Gatwick to Malaga by
EasyJet and tour the region, spending two nights each in
Jerez de la Frontera,
Sevilla,
Cordoba and
Granada. We booked all the hotels through
Expedia.
Labels: Travel
Monday, December 25, 2006
Henry Trezise at The Europa
On Christmas Eve we went to the
Europa in East Molesey where
Henry Trezise was singing and playing keyboard. He is a very versatile performer, covering a wide range of styles, but it was the '60s numbers that the audience all wanted. There were only two requests that he felt unable to satisfy and our two brought an instant response. They were
If I fell (The Beatles) and
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow (Carole King, The Shirelles). They don't write songs like those any more !
Labels: Pop Music
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Flags of Our Fathers
On Saturday evening we asw
Flags of Our Fathers at Guildford's Odeon cinema. A different approach to the horrors of war with excellent direction by Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg.
Labels: Film
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Water power generation
Ampair has been overwhelmed with enquiries and orders for the
Ampair UW100 underwater power generator. Everyone with a stream nearby seems to be waking up to the possibilities. The special cable used for connection to the world of the dry is now exhausted and the supplier's minimum order quantity is now up to 5km. Therefore I undertook an exercise over the previous two days to find a replacement. I found a better cable for the purpose, available in 250m langths from several suppliers, with a BS number for future reference.
Labels: Water power
Friday, December 22, 2006
Brian White's Magna Jazz Band at the Berrylands
On Thursday evening we went to the
Berrylands Hotel in Surbiton, for
Brian White's Magna jazz band's Christmas special. The band was back to the normal line up but dressed in festive gear (see picture). Jazz highlights were 'Pleading for the Blues', 'Christopher Columbus' and 'Tuxedo Junction'. We were also treated to a sing-a-long session of old songs unrelated to jazz.
Labels: Jazz
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Single to three phase converters
We have changed our
3 phase converter manufacturing policy. We now build the Booster E4 (4kW) and the Booster E6 (6kW) at Boost Energy's Park Farm workshop. This moves production of these two models from Bulgaria to the UK. Isomatic Lab in Bulgaria still builds Booster E8 and above (the largest type in the picture) for the present.
Labels: Phase converters
Monday, December 18, 2006
Urban Gin House Band with Eddie Kettle
On Sunday evening we went to The Europa in East Molesey to see the Urban Gin House jazz band. It comprised leader Richard Wilcox (valve trombone), Alan Brock (trumpet), Alan Dandy (keyboard), Mike Bennett (string bass) and Eddie Kettle (drums). Guests were John Shepherd (pocket trumpet), John Reader (Alto Sax), Mike Byrne, Peter Talent and Roy Stokes (slide trombones). Colin Lewry (pictured) played keyboard during the interval. It is sad that he usually plays against a babble of background noise.
Labels: Jazz
Sunday, December 17, 2006
The Holiday at Guildford's cinema
On Saturday evening we finally got to see
The Holiday. This chick-flick rom-com received a poor review from Cosmo Landesman in the Sunday Times but Selina and I both enjoyed it. Moral; ignore film critics (and car reviewers), their taste is not that of the punters. wikipedia.org states that Cosmo Landesman was once married to Julie Burchill, who left him for a female intern. What does this say about his taste in women ?
Labels: Film
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Ampair 600 at Park Farm
On Friday we were finally able to spare one of the new
Ampair 600 wind turbines to mount on top of a telegraph pole at Park Farm, where they are built. Overnight it had already supplied 1.5 kW-hours, most of which was given away to the electricity supply company !
Labels: Wind power
Friday, December 15, 2006
Magna Jazz Band with Maurice Cockerill
On Thursday evening we went to the
Berrylands Hotel in Surbiton, where
Brian White's Magna jazz band performs every week. Maurice Cockerill (pictured) replaced Alan Dandy on keyboard, the remainder of the band being the normal line up. Highlights were Maurice's keyboard playing and vocal on his feature number 'I'm gonna sit right down and write myself a letter' and the whole band playing 'The Texas moaner', with another fine solo from Maurice.
Labels: Jazz
Thursday, December 14, 2006
TurboCAD and Mac OS 10.4.6 Tiger
Following the purchase of TurboCAD I was obliged to upgrade my OS to 10.4.6 'Tiger'. I wish I had never started this exercise. The installation threw away the contents of my address book and my back-up was not that recent. It is bad enough re-entering the newer contacts but, more seriously, I could accidentally use an out-of-date address. TurboCAD now throws up an error message and the help line does not answer. Why do software suppliers insist in fostering hate from their customers ? Do they not understand our problems or just not care ?
Labels: Computing
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Goff Dubber Band at the Epsom Jazz Club
On Tuesday evening we saw the
Goff Dubber Dixieland jazz band at the
Epsom Playhouse Myers Theatre. The line-up comprised Goff Dubber (clarinet, tenor sax and soprano sax), Ken Reece (cornet), Mike Hogh (trombone), Alan Dandy (real piano), Andy Lawrence (string bass) and Rex Bennett (drums). They played Dixieland plus some New Orleans trad, some blues and two swing numbers. I would single out Goff for his ability on 3 reed instruments plus wonderful jazz singing voice. Our favourite numbers were 'Emmeline' featuring Ken, 'Poor Butterfly' featuring Goff, 'Heliotrope Bouquet' (Alan's solo) and the ensemble piece 'Kansas City Man Blues' with Goff on soprano sax.
Labels: Jazz
Monday, December 11, 2006
Urban Gin House Band with Ken Ames
On Sunday evening we went to The Europa in East Molesey to see the Urban Gin House jazz band. It comprised leader Richard Wilcox (valve trombone), Alan Brock (trumpet), Ken Ames (guitar), Mike Bennett (string bass) and Mike Knipe (drums). Guests were Peter Talent and Peter Clancy (slide trombones) and John Shepherd (pocket trumpet). Our favourite number was Hoagy Carmichael's 'Stardust' beautifully played by Alan. Ken's guitar style seems even better with this band than with Phil Brown; we must ask him why.
Labels: Jazz
Sunday, December 10, 2006
The Spy who came in from the cold
On Saturday evening we went to Guildford Odeon cinema to see 'The Holiday' to be told that the next performance was fully booked. It must be very popular !
We left it for next week, went home and watched a video recording of
The Spy who came in from the cold. Excellent film with a great cast of actors, showing the less glamourous side of spying.
Labels: Film
Friday, December 08, 2006
Magna Jazz Band with Chez Chesterman
On Thursday evening we went to the
Berrylands Hotel in Surbiton, where
Brian White's Magna jazz band performs every week. Chez Chesterman (pictured) replaced Pete Towndrow on Cornet, the remainder of the band being back to normal. Highlights for sheer pleasure were the vocal duet between Chez and Brian for 'The Old Grey Mare' and Chez's great blues vocal on 'I Can't Sleep' with Alan Dandy providing a superb improvised keyboard interval.
For nostalgia there was Brian playing 'The Old Rugged cross'. In my early teens I heard the Monty Sunshine version on the radio request programme 'Family Favourites'. This started a brief orgy of buying and taping jazz clarinet records, including the LP 'Clarinet jamboree' featuring Acker Bilk, Terry Lightfoot, Sandy Brown and Archie Semple. Listening to Acker's "A' Roving" made me feel that Monty's playing was one-dimensional by comparison. In later years I saw both perform live and my feelings were confirmed. Later still I bought my first Sidney Bechet record and forgot the clarinet.
Labels: Jazz
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Wind turbine installation
Here is a photograph of the
Ampair 600 that I helped install in November, complete with grid tie inverter. It is a pity that the weather was so bad because
a) the photograph is poor even after computer enhancement
b) our feet became very wet !
Labels: Wind power
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Phil Brown Swingtet with Gerry Smith
On Monday evening we saw the Phil Brown Swingtet at
the Cricketers in Horsell Birch, Woking. It was the full band with just one dep., the front line comprising Phil Brown (trombone), Lester Brown (trumpet, flugelhorn) and Gerry Smith (tenor sax, clarinet) with the rhythm section of Andrew Clancy (keyboard), Ken Ames (guitar), Mike Bennett (bass) and David Clancy (drums). The programme comprised a wide range of Jazz from the twenties through to Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. There is no doubt that this is one of the best bands we see regularly, particularly the rhythm section. I guess that our 'fantasy rhythm section' would be Ken Ames playing with Alan Dandy, Peter Morgan and Rod Brown !
Labels: Jazz
Monday, December 04, 2006
Urban Gin House Band with Ken Ames
On Sunday evening we went to The Europa in East Molesey to see the Urban Gin House jazz band. It comprised leader Richard Wilcox (valve trombone), Alan Brock (trumpet), Ken Ames (guitar), Mike Bennett (string bass) and Mike Knipe (drums). Guests were Roy Stokes, Peter Talent and Peter Clancy (slide trombones) and John Shepherd (pocket trumpet). Ken Ames' guitar playing is a delight.
The new landlord, Terry, was behind the bar. He is said to dislike jazz so I hope he heard the irregular customer who said how much he was enjoying it.
Labels: Jazz
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Brighton on a windy day
Today we went to Brighton and walked along the top of the colonnade in Madeira Drive. It was very windy with rough seas. The photograph shows waves breaking over the harbour wall at the Marina end.
Labels: Travel
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Stranger than Fiction at the Guildford Odeon
On Saturday evening we saw
Stranger than Fiction at the Guildford Odeon cinema. Unusual story, fine acting performances, well worth watching.
Labels: Film
TurboCAD for Macintosh
I have just bought TurboCAD V2.0 for my iMac G5 at a specially reduced price for November. It was disappointing to say the least to find that I have to upgrade my OS from 10.3.9 to 10.4 to make it work. Black mark to TurboCAD.
Labels: Computing
Friday, December 01, 2006
Magna Jazz Band with Goff Dubber
On Thursday evening we went to the
Berrylands Hotel in Surbiton, where
Brian White's Magna jazz band performs every week. On this occasion Brian was joined by Goff Dubber, playing Clarinet plus Soprano and Tenor Saxophones. The photograph shows them with Pete Towndrow on cornet, and Alan Dandy on keyboard. Richard Lyons (string bass) and Rex Bennett (drums) are hidden from view. We find it hard to choose a favourite number from 'Perdido Street Stomp', Alan's keyboard solo 'Heliotrope Bouquet', Goff's 'Indian Summer' on soprano or his vocal on 'Back o' Town Blues. A great evening of jazz.
Our thanks go to Valerie for passing her previous raffle prizes to us; she seems to win items she does not like very much. Selina thanks Peter Wynn for comparing her legs with those of Betty Grable.
Labels: Jazz
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