As part of a recent re-organisation I was running through my addresses, to find that John M. Crymes Jr. died in May 2009. Jack provided technical assistance to Rush on the Canadian leg of their ‘Exit Stage Left’ tour. Here’s an updated obituary from his university alumni site:

“John M. Crymes, Jr. (EE ’68) of Marin County, Calif., died in May 2009. He studied electrical engineering at the University of Virginia, qualifying in 1968. A pioneer of professional remote audio recordings, he designed and built the world’s first mobile audio recording truck in 1974. He worked with, among others, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Natalie Cole and the Grammy Awards.”

One day I’d love to write the book about all the engineers who quietly went about their own jobs, supporting the superstars without need or expectation of any part of that fame. So many stories.

Just handed over a piece of pottery to the Corinium museum – not quite roman treasure but it still brighened up a dog walk!

According to Alison, the curator, “It appears to be a post-medieval rim sherd from a large vessel. It could even be fragment of Ashton Keynes ware dating to the 18th century. A later 17th-century assemblage of Ashton Keynes ware from Somerfield Keynes, Gloucestershire.”

Alison also provided the following background from Ed McSloy:

“Archaeological work ahead of housing development at Somerford Keynes,
Gloucestershire found a pit containing an assemblage of late
17th-century pottery, almost exclusively products of the Ashton Keynes
kilns. The site lies in the adjoining parish to Ashton Keynes,
Wiltshire, well-known as a producer of glazed earthenware pottery, and
particularly important in the supply of utilitarian vessels to
Cirencester and Gloucester between the 16th and 18th centuries. The
composition of the group mirrors closely that of the urban markets and,
with the addition of a ‘chicken feeder’ form is a likely representative
of the kiln repertoire from/in this period. The dominance of Ashton
Keynes products in this group, which includes a number of seconds,
suggests that local domestic requirements for ceramic could be met
almost entirely by the nearby kilns.”

Et que faudrait-il faire ?
Chercher un protecteur puissant, prendre un patron,
Et comme un lierre obscur qui circonvient un tronc
Et s’en fait un tuteur en lui léchant l’écorce,
Grimper par ruse au lieu de s’élever par force ?

Non, merci. Dédier, comme tous ils le font,
Des vers aux financiers ? se changer en bouffon
Dans l’espoir vil de voir, aux lèvres d’un ministre,
Naître un sourire, enfin, qui ne soit pas sinistre ?
Non, merci. Déjeuner, chaque jour, d’un crapaud ?
Avoir un ventre usé par la marche ? une peau
Qui plus vite, à l’endroit des genoux, devient sale ?
Exécuter des tours de souplesse dorsale ?…

Non, merci. D’une main flatter la chèvre au cou
Cependant que, de l’autre, on arrose le chou,
Et donneur de séné par désir de rhubarbe,
Avoir son encensoir, toujours, dans quelque barbe ?
Non, merci ! Se pousser de giron en giron,
Devenir un petit grand homme dans un rond,
Et naviguer, avec des madrigaux pour rames,
Et dans ses voiles des soupirs de vieilles dames ?

Non, merci ! Chez le bon éditeur de Sercy
Faire éditer ses vers en payant ? Non, merci !
S’aller faire nommer pape par les conciles
Que dans les cabarets tiennent des imbéciles ?
Non, merci ! Travailler à se construire un nom
Sur un sonnet, au lieu d’en faire d’autres ? Non,
Merci ! Ne découvrir du talent qu’aux mazettes ?
Être terrorisé par de vagues gazettes,
Et se dire sans cesse : « Oh, pourvu que je sois
Dans les petits papiers du Mercure François » ?…

Non, merci ! Calculer, avoir peur, être blême,
Préférer faire une visite qu’un poème,
Rédiger des placets, se faire présenter ?
Non, merci ! non, merci ! non, merci !

Mais… chanter, rêver, rire, passer, être seul, être libre,
Avoir l’oeil qui regarde bien, la voix qui vibre,
Mettre, quand il vous plaît, son feutre de travers,
Pour un oui, pour un non, se battre, – ou faire un vers !
Travailler sans souci de gloire ou de fortune,
À tel voyage, auquel on pense, dans la lune !
N’écrire jamais rien qui de soi ne sortît,
Et modeste d’ailleurs, se dire : mon petit,
Sois satisfait des fleurs, des fruits, même des feuilles,
Si c’est dans ton jardin à toi que tu les cueilles !
Puis, s’il advient d’un peu triompher, par hasard,
Ne pas être obligé d’en rien rendre à César,
Vis-à-vis de soi-même en garder le mérite,
Bref, dédaignant d’être le lierre parasite,
Lors même qu’on n’est pas le chêne ou le tilleul,
Ne pas monter bien haut, peut-être, mais tout seul !

Well that worked! Experiments and a bit of homework with various electronic book mechanisms led me to Smashwords. As an experiment, I’ve uploaded the text from a short story I wrote a few years ago, and it’s been converted into a variety of formats which is pretty cool. While I’ve made it a paid item, you can read the whole thing here.

I’ve also recorded the audiobook version, for future experimentation – notably with Podiocast.com. Watch this space – and click here to listen!

As mentioned previously, I’m delighted to announce that Rush-Chemistry is now available in paperback. This book first came out in hardback in 2005, but is only just becoming available as a soft-cover due to the sad death of my friend and mentor Sean Body, who ran the publishing company Helter Skelter. The book has been re-proofed and all of the typos, inaccuracies etc. (as listed in the addendum) have been fixed.

UPDATE: If anyone wants buy directly from me (signed or otherwise), I have ordered a number of copies from the publisher so let me know by comment below or by emailing/Paypal to jon-at-joncollins-dot-net. I will send the books out as soon as they arrive!

Prices including P&P for are as follows:

• UK – £11
• Western Europe – £15
• US/Rest-of-World – £18

Rush – Chemistry is the complete history of the world’s favourite Canadian rock band. The book follows Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart from their schoolboy days right up to the global success of their thirty-year anniversary tour.

Here’s the official text:

Against a background of disinterest from the media and a refusal to compromise their music, Rush’s success was by no means guaranteed. Since the beginning, only the determined efforts and downright stamina of the band members and those around them were sufficient to counter the wall of silence. Sharing a single-minded determination to take on the system and win, Geddy, Alex and Neil have never rested on their laurels. Pushing themselves to achieve technical excellence, never avoiding the challenge of taking on new musical influences, through huge changes of fashion and major personal tragedy, the entity we know as Rush has endured. Thirty years on, the band is still creating new music and packing arenas and stadiums around the globe.

Meticulously researched over three years, Chemistry draws on over 50 new interviews with those closest to the band. As the most detailed biography of Rush ever written, this book pulls together the threads and investigates the reasons that have enabled this band to succeed against the odds.

I hope that you enjoy the dime

I hope you enjoy the dime.

Well, well. Today I ran a marathon. Who would have thought it – and like so many things in my life, once again I have discovered just how much is possible if you set your mind to it. I’d love to say that it was a breeze, that it was tough but fair, that it was anything other than what it was – possibly the most physical thing I’ve ever done in my life. But that’s the reality. If childbirth is worse, I’m surprised the human race has survived as long as it has.

So many memories…

- the marvellous sticky toffee pudding the night before – thanks Bola and Chris!
- the hack into Hove to pick up Mark at 7AM
- the serendipitous arrival at the train station, to find a taxi siting there like it had been specially laid on
- the chance meeting of one of Mark’s mates Jake, a total gent who gave me my own personal tour of the sights for the first 15 miles
- the genuine pleasure of running on a beautiful day until about mile 17
- the delight at seeing Liz and Mum along the way
- the uneasy feeling that all those small pains were joining into one big pain
- the absolute agony of the final 8 miles, and my gratefulness to all those who called out the name I had printed on my shirt
- the complete inability to climb the steps back up to the front, after the finish
- the taxi, shower, tea and cake

As for times, Mark came in at 4.19, and me at 4.45. It’ll do – while I was hoping for a better time, I had underestimated how much pleasure I would get from just finishing.

Above all, the whole thing raised £3,000 for Water Aid, which is just fantastic. Thanks so much to all who contributed, friends, work colleagues, Marillion fans, you kept me going on more than one occasion. Thanks (really) to Mark for the whole idea, and the biggest thanks to Liz for all her help and support, not to mention driving home two folks who probably should have known better!

You can only imagine my surprise when… OK, that’s a lie. Here’s a little something I was writing last summer, based on the few snippets suggested by the liner notes to what was to become Porcupine Tree’s earliest releases Tarquin’s Seaweed Farm and The Nostalgia Factory.

It’s also given me the opportunity to have a first foray into e-books. This one is in ePub format.

If you missed the link, here’s Beyond the Seaweed Farm.

The full http is http://www.joncollins.net/wordpress/wp-content/BTSF.epub

And you can also read it online here.

Enjoy!

The cover is William Hogarth’s The Cockpit. It seemed appropriate.

Well I never. In a moment of spring madness, I agreed to join Marillion’s Mark Kelly to run the Brighton Marathon in April. The chosen charity is Water Aid, which has a pretty straightforward remit – access to clean, safe water should be a right, not a privilege. If you feel like sponsoring us pop over to our Justgiving page.

It’s also worth highlighting a Marillion song, the last line is “A tap with clean water”… Full lyrics here (selection below)

And here’s the song.

Common cold. Dirty water. HIV.
Common apathy. Common crime.
Perfect nonsense to the next generation

Have we caught up yet?
Is it time? Well I say it is. I say it is.
Deaf and dumbed-down
Enough is enough

Gimme a smile. Hold out your hand.
I don’t want your money
I don’t want your land
I want you to wake up and do
something strange
I want you to listen
I want you to feel someone else’s pain

A tap with clean water

Hurrah for Green and Blacks to announce that all of their chocolate was going to be fair trade by the end of the year, I thought to myself as I munched a bar of Maya Gold and read the Guardian article to find out it was the first chocolate bar to be certified Fair Trade. Perhaps is was the cocoa but I couldn’t help wondering about the timing – G&B’s is owned by Cadburys, that has announced a similar move (Dairy Milk already, others to follow) – and the latter has of course just been betrothed to Kraft foods.

Now, I’m no politician but I can almost imagine the board room conversation where either or both brands decided it was now or never to go fair trade, given that the big nasty conglomerate would be unlikely to take such a bold step. It would also be difficult to unravel without adverse PR and loss of sales. So, we have the public announcement, whether Kraft likes it or not.

A little bit of browsing later and it seems that the nasty conglomerate has already made a start. Suchard hot chocolate and Kenco coffee already boast rainforest certification. Now, all we need is for Toblerone, Terry’s, Cote D’Or and Daim to do the same, and we’d really be cooking.