Where were you? What were you doing?
It was 4 days before my 26th birthday. I heard the terrible news from New York when I walked out of the London Transport offices at Manor House and jumped on a 253 towards the West End and turned on my portable radio. With my staff freedom to travel I stayed on the bus. It was one of those days that change my life. I had just been sacked after a years probation working as a bus conductor, but one night I partied too long and missed my shift. The year before I'd 'given up music' and decided to do something totally different because

a working class hero is something to be

As the news came in the disbelief was suspended by more and more details, "outside the Dakota building", "between takes on a new album". A wave a grief swept the planet and the West End fell into silence that evening. I can't remember how I got home and I returned to music.

> London Transport - RMC December 12th 1980
> John Lennon - Wikipedia

As a boy in Adelaide, I had the opportunity to play and explore a Modular Moog Synthesizer, which resembled a telephone exchange, which the owner Philip Jolly had assembled in a restaurant in Melbourne St, North Adelaide then again at the Elder Conservatorium. It was these experiences which fired an enthusiam for electronic music which continues to this day.

On returning to England in 1971, I visited Peter Zinovieff at the EMS Studios in Putney and had the use of a VCS3, photo right: VCS3 - The Putney, and an AKS during the summer of 1973.

Since then I have played and programmed many different synthesizers in performance and recording sessions since then, e.g. the ARP Odyssey on John Foxx's first solo album Metamatic, when we 're-recorded' the single Underpass for Top Of The Pops, we nearly had to book a string section because an MU representative saw 'strings' written on the track sheet of the tape box, but this was simply a name John & Gareth had given that sound.

On May 23rd 1982, the Central London Branch of the Musicians' Union proposed a motion to ban the use of synthesizers and drum machines, as they feared it would threaten their employment. There were many of us 'synthesists' who turned up to oppose the motion. I was booking orchestral musicians at the time for my arranging work with the 'synth band' Heaven 17's album The Luxury Gap. The proposers were orchestral session players. Many of us 'synthesists' opposed the motion with reasonable evidence and good argument, the motion failed... just. Extraordinary to think that now. This motion was not sustainable, of course, although it did lead to the founding of a 'splinter' Independant Association of British Synthesists, (I think that's what it was called). If you attended that meeting, or can add more information, perhaps you could e-mail me, as I would like to create a webpage about it. More on this soon... I hope.

> 120 Years Of Electronic Music
> Moog Music
> Musician's Union
> EMS Synthi Range 1969-1979 by Graham Hinton
> The Year In Music - 1982
> Daily Bleed: On this day | WorkingForChange contain reference to MU meeting
> Brooklyn Musicians Fight Virtual Orchestras 2005!
> NLRB Action RMS Takes Legal Action, March 2004
> Le Synthé V3 an emulation by Pierre Couprie for Apple OS X of the AKS, the suitcase version of EMS VCS3.

While on my break up North, I had the opportunity to practice on a recently purchased Aulos AF-2 baroque flute. The challenges in playing this instrument for the first time included intonation and fingerings, f natural is a particularly troublesome note. However, it's wonderful to be able to play baroque music on this instrument.

I also bought some music (JS Bach - Partita in A minor BWV 1013, JJ Quantz - Caprices, Various - Aria di Camera) from The Early Music Shop in Bradford. While I was there I played some other more expensive examples of traverso, this plastic Aulos turned out to be the best entry level instrument and very reasonably priced.

> chomsky.info : The Official Noam Chomsky Website

> 11th December 1982 - strings & harp
> 12th December 1982 - woodwind, brass and harp
> e-mail me for more information.

Arranger and Conductor, John Wesley Barker

> also see Pied Piper's Swan Song
> Sam Hunt website

Found 'Vexations and its Performers' by Gavin Bryars. Originally published in Contact no. 26 (Spring 1983) and made available from JEMS: Online Journal of Experimental Music Studies. I participated in Performance no. [38] in May 1974 organised by Simon Thorne at the Holywell Music Rooms in Oxford. A couple of years ago in Edinburgh I nearly did Vexations on my own, and I'm still up for it if the opportunity arises, until then, listen to Vexations scorch page here.

> Experimental Music Catalog - links to JEMS and Catalogue.
> Satie-Vexations: entire recording and performance analysis
> Furniture Music -- The Erik Satie Internet MIDI Archive.

> Vexations - Scorch page to play 840 times.
> Vexations - MIDI file.

I'd been to the Cambridge Summer Music School in the North Island of New Zealand and decided to go further north to check out Auckland. I had quite an adventure meeting new people and visiting new places. Then I had to travel home to Dunedin, it's quite a way, and I can't remember how I ended up with no money, but in order to raise some cash, I went to Vulcan Lane, where there was a little shopping arcade, I sat my self down on the corner and started playing Ian Anderson tunes and others on my flute. Quite a large crowd assembled and money was being thrown in the hat. After 15 minutes, several plain police cars pulled up and bundled me into the back of a grey car. One policeman asked me something like, "what do you think you're doing?". I said, "Busking". I thought he was going to hit me, clearly he had not heard the term 'busking' before. On arriving at Police Headquarters, several furtive detectives who it turns out they were part of the Vice Squad, were looking through case history books from NZ and Australia for a charge to charge me with. They found a case in 1958 in Queensland, of a woman playing an accordian on a street corner, she had been successfully charged with being Idle And Disorderly, in that she was 'begging' for alms.

Within an hour I was in court facing up to a hearing. There were loads of people in the court, seems I had generated a popular following from playing my flute for 15 minutes! The judge heard my side of the story and I was referred to a local charity who would see that I got back to Dundedin. I was bought a train ticket for an adventure on The Highlander, a Japanese built train that looked very modern but couldn't do anything but a snails pace due to the state of the tracks. I was bound over by the court to report to a police station in Dunedin and the case was referred to the Dunedin Courts for a later hearing.

My solicitor in Dunedin offered that I play the flute in court to demonstrate my skill and prove that I was not 'begging' but 'busking', that my playing was worthy of payment.

I can only assume, people now busk in Auckland without a problem.

> Full article click here
> also see Interview with ... by Sam Hunt
> World Buskers Festival