I enjoy a challenge. Persuading a computer to do what you want is always challenging, but it can be immensely rewarding, too. That's why I chose a career in programming. When I retired after nearly 40 years of writing software I assumed I'd continue to do a bit of coding for fun to fill the…Read more Another Language
Indie Interlude
Now that the humans are all stuck indoors some of the shyer animals have come out to saunter through our gardens and streets. While they take over outside I have been drawn to those easy-to-listen-to songs that the Indie bands do so well. And, with time on our hands, I thought the Crotchety readership deserved…Read more Indie Interlude
Noise In Your Eye
Some people, it seems, can hear their eyes move. Whether this is a terrible affliction or simply a benign curiosity I can not say. What is certain, though, is that Noise In Your Eye is a very appropriate title for a music project by a pair of musicians steeped in the visual arts. Daniel Pennie’s…Read more Noise In Your Eye
The Bees Are Buzzing
So, RF does have a sense of humour! https://www.facebook.com/robert.fripp.96/videos/3429444193738253/
Winter Is Never
This video appeared on the Proglodytes blog last week. It pleased Crotchety Man greatly and impelled him to pursue Gazpacho across previously uncharted regions of online musicland. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okjo3tRZnNY For English speakers 'Gazpacho' is a strange word. It's a Spanish word for a cold vegetable soup. Not the most promising name for a band, you would…Read more Winter Is Never
Soften the Glare
A Couple of Unrelated Things Before We Start ... Robert Fripp posted a very moving tribute to Bill Rieflin on his Facebook page this week. Bill was a drummer and keyboard player who became part of the wider King Crimson family. He succumbed to cancer on Tuesday. Burning Shed is offering a free download of…Read more Soften the Glare
Midnight Commander
Has there ever been a better time for tales of heroes? Here's a story to lift our spirits from the latest album by modern-day minstrel, Kray van Kirk. Kray has appeared in these pages twice before; the last time was in October 2015 when Shiloh was my track-of-the-week. Back then the song was about a…Read more Midnight Commander
In a Lifetime
I write this piece with a mixture of profound joy and heart-wrenching sadness. Five days ago the Crotchety Couple enjoyed another Clannad concert. We saw them perhaps 20 years ago and they were a delight, although the sound then was a little muddy where we sat in the wings. This time we had just about…Read more In a Lifetime
Artificial
artificial /ɑːtɪˈfɪʃ(ə)l/ adjective made or produced by human beings rather than occurring naturally, especially as a copy of something natural. "her skin glowed in the artificial light" (of a person or their behaviour) insincere or affected. "she gave an artificial smile" It always puzzles me why 'artificial' has negative connotations. I suppose it's because mankind's…Read more Artificial
Pavlov’s Dog
Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist. He was born in 1849 and in 1904 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Pavlov was studying the digestive system in dogs when he noticed that his test subjects would salivate as soon as the research assistant who normally fed them entered the lab. In…Read more Pavlov’s Dog
Crotchety Man 