ADBS Crash and Burn

OK, the central heating boiler packed in at the weekend, and, as my home computer is in a peripheral part of my house away from fires, I missed the breaking news of the Danny Baker and Wippit fall-out.

Turmoil indeed. "... and you're standing, crushed, on the sweaty Northern Line every day"

I've followed the genesis, initial euphoria, and stumbling first footsteps, then through delay and return, and then subscription and meltdown...

"Knowing my luck, it'll all go tits up in the New Year and I'll have paid a year's subs for nowt..."

Several problems:

1. Wippit is rubbish. Dreadful user interface, patronising tone, 'shiny new servers' dropping out regularly, useless support,

2. Danny was unaware that Wippit subscribers could get the ADBS for nowt,

3. Very poor feedback during the whole Autumn hiatus coupled with ridiculous comments from Paul Wippit on the Treehouse board. Danny's not above blame on this one, either,

4. The lack of the 'live' element definitely affected the ADBS and B/K, the latter more than the former, and the fact that DB was continuing the BBC London led to odd overlaps.

Fundamentally, though, it seems to me that the vast majority of the blame lies with Wippit.
It's all a bit late for this analysis, I know, and this blog isn't supposed to be about the ADBS at all - it just kind of happened...

I've blown £50 on a crappy service; Paul Wippit will become even more of an internet millionaire; DB will, in the short term at least, become increasingly bitter; and I'll have nothing to accompany my commute other than my fabulous music collection.

Disappointment Can Wear You Thin

I was away from my computer all weekend, so missed the 'All Day Breakfast Show' announcement HERE. And HERE.

FWIW, I'll add my thoughts in a later post, and just get the tracklist for this morning out of the way:

Telegraph Road - Dire Straits,
Got A Suitcase, Got Regrets - Tom McRae,
Let's Split - Syd Barrett,
Paperback Writer - The Beatles,
Sunny Goodge Street - Donovan,
Ring Out Solstice Bells - Jethro Tull,
Cry From The Street - David Gilmour,
Only Time Will Tell - Asia,
Jack Of Speed - Steely Dan, the best track from a pretty formulaic return album,
Hounds Of Love - Kate Bush,
Birth From Earth - Epsilon Indi,
Photos of Ghosts - Premiata Forneria Marconi. I'd forgotten just how great this is...
Trio And Group Dancers - Charles Mingus. I'd forgotten just how mad this is...

T - 3; M - 4; D - 3

How It Hits You

I feel absolutely dreadful. This blog has taken a rather self-pitying tone lately, I appreciate, but I really do feel awful - cold, tired and generally 'ill'.

Some Christmas music to cheer me up and, whilst it went better than last year, it didn't really alter my mood.

Winter - Paul O'Reilly,
Once In Royal David's City - Gauntlett, from a Classic FM freebie CD,
A Christmas Song - Jethro Tull,
I Wish it Could Be Christmas Every Day - Wizzard,
2000 Years - Jon Anderson,
Gaudette - Steeleye Span,
As With Gladness Men of Old - Kocher,
How It Hits You - Jon Anderson,
Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen (A Spotless Rose is growing) - Praetorius,
Concerto grosso in G Minor: Op. 6/8, 'Christmas Concerto' - Vivace/Grave; Allegro; Adagio/Allegro/Adagio; Vivace; Allegro; Pastorale - Corelli,
The Holly And The Ivy - Jon Anderson,
The Nutcracker - Waltz of the Snowflakes - Tchaikovsky,
Jack Frost And The Hooded Crow - Jethro Tull.

I need a week of sleeping, and less Southern Comfort...

T - 2; M -3.5; D - 3

High Vibration Go On

Well, back to 'work'.

I spent most of yesterday recording old cassettes to WAV files using Hi-Q and Nero, including old tapes of various bands I was in in my youth, and a couple of treasured BBC recordings.

1 - Pink Floyd, live at the time of Atom Heart Mother, including the rare-ish 'Embryo' as well as 'Careful With that Axe, Eugene', 'If' and 'Fat Old Sun'. One of my favourite PF albums, AHM.

2 - Yes live in 1978. There's a 'Big Medley' of Time and a Word, The Fish, Perpetual Change and Soon which seems to have been used in the 'Word Is Live' boxset. Definitely my favourite tape.

The commute was filled with the Yes concert. I think I know every note by now...

Circus of Heaven,
The Big Medley,
Don't Kill The Whale,
Clap,
Starship Troopers,
On the Silent Wings of Freedom,
Awaken,
Your Move,
Roundabout.

T - 4; M - 5; D - 4

Am I Still Ill?

Seemingly, yes.

Still, there's more chance to catch up with the ADBS and rip the latest Count Arthur Strong Show. That and copy a few of the ancient cassette tapes I re-found in the garage yesterday.

Ho hum. Or should that be ho-ho-ho hum?

Normal (grumpy) service to be resumed tomorrow, I hope.

Decrepitude

More illness. I can't remember the last time I 'worked' a full week, what with sickness and long weekends away.

Time to catch up on some All Day Breakfast Shows...

Plague

Friday again, and nothing to do. I did listen to the Count Arthur Strong episode (No.3) from earlier this week, which wasn't quite up to the majesty of previous episodes, but still passed the time nicely.

Recent acquisitions:

Rag And Bone - The White Stripes,
Can Of Ghost - Loop Guru,
Highways 2 - Tyrannosaurus Rex,
New Paths To Helicon Pt I - Mogwai,
Billie Jean - Michael Jackson, in celebration of its 25th anniversary, or something,
Red Light Ahead - Conspiracy,
Sploosh! (Youth & Simon's Hydrophonic Decimation) - Ozric Tentacles,
Pteranodon (Hallucinogen mix) - Ozric Tentacles,
Hope - Bjork,
The Fifth Plague - Laurie Anderson,
Holiday - Scorpions.

T - 3; M -3.5; D - 2

Wippit Out

Well, as the end of days approaches, the Northern pulls out all the stops to make me late for a Very Important Meeting.

Some Jaco Pastorius-themed music today, but focusing on his work with Joni Mitchell (and, since my auto-playlist is not that clever, some of the early non-Jaco JM albums):

Cucumber Slumber - Weather Report,
Edith And The Kingpin - Joni Mitchell,
The Hissing Of Summer Lawns - Joni Mitchell,
Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell,
Twisted - Joni Mitchell,
Amelia - Joni Mitchell,
A Case Of You - Joni Mitchell,
Lucky (Rap) - Joni Mitchell,
Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire - Joni Mitchell,
Black Crow - Joni Mitchell,
Paprika Plains - Joni Mitchell.

On the back of my subscription to Wippit for the All Day Breakfast Show, I've been looking through the database. There's not an awful lot there I'm interested in, to be honest, and I have to say that the download process is one of the least user-friendly and most confusing and time-consuming one I have ever come across. It's taken me the best part of 2 workig days to download about 150 tracks on the toppest speed connection possible.

How Paul Wippit ever became an internet millionare on the back of this is completely beyond me.

T - 2; M - 4; D - 3

"Why, if they had one neck, you'd hack it through.."

Which is exactly what my mood was like yesterday.

Despite the downpour of rain, I'm in a much better mood today.

I'm currently working my way through the backlog of Dnny Baker's ADBS (sorry to keep going on, but Podcasts (ADBS, Thinking Allowed, Baker&Kelly, Now Show) and old 'I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue' MP3s are the only things keeping me going these days). New 'Count Arthur Strong' available today, so that'll be ripped...

Some 'Folk and guitarists' today:

Helping Hand - Pentangle,
Cracking - Suzanne Vega,
Pearl (2) - Judee Sill,
Donor (2) - Judee Sill,
Three Hours (Alternate Version) - Nick Drake,
Straight Lines - Suzanne Vega,
Crazy Face - Van Morrison,
Hallelujah - Rufus Wainwright - strangely soul-less version of the classic - maybe I'm too used to the Jeff Buckley version,
Milky Way - Syd Barrett,
Winning A Battle, Losing The War (Andy Votel) - Kings Of Convenience,
Chorale - Richard & Danny Thompson,
I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain - Tim Buckley,
Baby Blue - Emiliana Torrini,
Tuulilta Tuleva - Värttinä,
Rainy Night House - Joni Mitchell,

T - 4; D - 3; M - 4

Descent into Hell

Where do I begin?

My wife crashed the car,
My weekend out of the country was marred by RyanAir's refusal to treat us as anything other than cattle,
My commute today was marred by incompetence and violence,
My boss has decided to work from home, despite the exhortation for the rest of us to come in in this crucial week.

I need to get out of this soon.

Music?

Well, Mono's 'Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky', plus a 'Not Classical or Spoken' mix of Bob Marley, Rush and Captain Beefheart, among others.

I did download a whole load of Danny Baker's 'All Day Breakfast Show', having taken the plunge to subscribe to Wippit. I must admit that the iTunes connection worked fine, although the retrieval of the first few (early Sep) issues turned into the usual Wippit-related madness. I got there eventually, but only after a lot of trouble.

T - 1; M - 3; D - 0.5