tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60953102024-03-07T08:34:31.646+00:00WESTWAYChurning out the minutiae on my life. Since 2003. Now with added sobriety, and cycling.Iain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.comBlogger1021125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-71143476957598210852024-02-20T06:31:00.004+00:002024-02-20T06:31:18.068+00:00Thoughts on AI Here's my issue with AI. We developed the internet, which was fine, but we expected too much of it. We thought it would expand our consciousness - and turn us into better versions of ourselves. But it didn't; it just let us look further into our hearts. Look at what's on display now, the angry, bitter, venal behaviour that floods social media. The internet wasn't a gateway; it was a Iain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-35394535381594480382024-02-14T16:43:00.002+00:002024-02-14T16:43:55.325+00:00The tyranny of expectation... ..Is hanging over my head again. I need to find a way to escape its clutches: to wriggle free of the idea that other people's happiness depends solely on my actions.I'm always like this, on the eve of a concerted period of activity from the band. Really, I ought to have learned my lesson, by now - but it doesn't seem to have happened yet. Perhaps realisation is the first step towards Iain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-7182847448347922712024-02-01T21:04:00.000+00:002024-02-01T21:04:05.223+00:00Blast from the past Every time I listen to The Flys, I'm in awe of exactly how perfect they were: a seamless mix of new-wave optimism and power-pop dynamics. Hooks and melodies for days. This is the opening track from their (totally forgotten) second album "Own". But, it's a Peel Session version, which I'm pretty sure has never been released. It's very odd - there has been an otherwise comprehensive 2CD Iain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-77944791305137759282024-01-18T20:57:00.002+00:002024-01-18T20:57:46.536+00:00Every now and again You want something.Something that'll make you want to destroy planets, spit in the eye of God. This totally fits the bill.Turn it up, people.In other news, life is hard, getting harder. Iain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-21216227198550127072024-01-07T20:29:00.007+00:002024-01-07T20:29:55.696+00:00A lazy Sunday. Is there really any other kind?But I managed to get back on the turbo trainer today, so my Strava stats for the week look vaguely respectable. I'm definitely down, as far as fitness goes - but it does feel like the power is still there. I do need to work on my cadence a bit - I suspect that's a lack of endurance riding. I've been busy keeping a diary for this year, as well. It's nice Iain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-16116306873149892322024-01-05T22:01:00.001+00:002024-01-05T22:01:08.003+00:00I'm really not a musician.I mean - I'm totally not. But there are certain things that just make me think I know what I'm on about. Case in point: the absolute guitar genius of Robert Quine. My favourite guitarist by some distance. Primarily for his work with the Voidoids, but more than that - for his absolute, single-minded focus. He took that left-field skronk-jazz madness, and made it his own, all the while Iain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-13452659617371339072024-01-02T16:40:00.004+00:002024-01-02T16:43:19.768+00:00Aw, c'mon now Sometimes you hear things which just totally blow you away. Here's a case in point. On this absolute banger, The New Pornographers are not just going into math-rock, they've emerged out the other side, into some rarified atmosphere where normal humans can't comprehend what they've just done."The Jessica Numbers" has always confused me, as I tried to work out that time-signature. Was itIain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-76630005482308477932024-01-01T21:16:00.001+00:002024-01-01T21:16:54.101+00:00First of the year. 2023 can get in the bin. What a truly terrible year. On the plus side, at least I managed to get blogging again. More than 40 entries was my best performance for a while, which made me smile. Precious little else did, to be honest.So, we're kicking off another year. Another year of my little blog. Howling into the void, yet again. I'm actually kind of pleased nobody gets to read it - IIain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-40766252465552410752023-11-30T22:14:00.003+00:002023-11-30T22:14:20.673+00:00What's music about? At first, I thought music was important, and power was inherent within it - but after all these years, I think that might be nonsense. My understanding of chaos theory played a huge role in this - how everything dissolves into fractal chaos, yet there's a beauty and a grace within that disorder. Above all, I think music is utterly hollow until it attaches itself to us. Once that happens, itIain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-27041817679153911272023-11-20T19:30:00.009+00:002023-11-20T19:30:34.294+00:00I can still feel the pavement under my feetI can still feel the same way I did in 1990, walking these Akasaka streets for the first time. The sense of optimism, of hope and possibility. It's all there, in the air, buildings, and skies over East Tokyo. I'm older now, but I've not lost anything over all these years. Tokyo still feels like home to me - or like a home, perhaps. The streets seem to envelop me, and the noise of the city Iain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-31769256775604766652023-11-18T20:02:00.003+00:002023-11-18T20:02:22.912+00:00I really, really needed that. The past few weeks have been vindication for the worst of years: a cavalcade of sensory overload, an embarrassment of riches after the paucity of grief and confusion.Japan for a week? How could it be anything other than extraordinary? In truth, it was almost overwhelming. A chance to revisit old haunts with friends old and new. So much memory and happiness. The sensation of a life that Iain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-80054556818074149042023-09-28T22:21:00.006+01:002023-09-28T22:21:50.085+01:00Chasing I've been thinking about the music I loved when I was a kid. Why it still has the most powerful hold on me. Why the deep sense of melancholy haunts even the sunniest of songs. I think it's because the music was a window to a bright world - one which I wasn't sure I could even belong in. Those songs, for me, were like the piece of paper that the wind blows out of your hand; you reach out to Iain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-8217182725916240532023-09-04T21:43:00.006+01:002023-09-04T21:43:58.127+01:00It bears repeating So, I will.I've said on here before that I've been assailed by the sensation that time is a circular construct, that I'm buffeted by memories and all that has been and will be. That's come into even sharper focus over the past two weeks. I'm living everything at the same time. It's exhausting in a psychedelically brilliant way. I'm grateful for everything I've done, even if there are aIain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-87821217691528044732023-09-03T21:13:00.001+01:002023-09-03T21:13:19.585+01:00I think I should post this. Though my father was a huge Jazz buff, and that music defined and shaped his entire life, there are other things that I associate with him, too.Dylan, Simon &Garfunkel, Pentangle, Steeleye Span, Dan Fogelberg. But above all (and rather oddly) Gladys Knight & The Pips. I know there's another post in the archives about GK&TP (a tale from a US tour, IIRC), but this one is just...Iain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-4414746585237629302023-09-03T08:05:00.004+01:002023-09-03T08:05:29.616+01:00Well, this terrible year got a lot worse. My father passed away on August the 25th. I held his hand as he took his last breath. It's been a year of frustration, pain and anguish: but nothing has come close to this. I keep thinking he's just gone on some sort of temporary journey and will be back. He won't. I think it'll hit me later.It has focused my mind on so many things - an almost constant churn of ideas, memories and emotions.Iain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-42312989845564897762023-08-14T21:58:00.002+01:002023-08-14T21:58:53.850+01:00Having a moment Whilst listening to Stars Of The Lid. Bloody hell, it doesn't get much better than that, does it? Lots of cycling over the weekend, with a ride that saw myself and Phil (ex-JJ road crew) tooling around the Surrey Hills. There was a glorious moment where we got passed by an over-enthusiastic young bloke, only to sail past him on the third ramp up Coldharbour. Pacing is everything, in Iain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-61931095350954078002023-08-03T19:44:00.001+01:002023-08-03T19:44:35.017+01:00A month drifts by. And, I'll be honest: I needed that.I'll get back to everything, but I had to withdraw, a little. TO regroup and breathe. I was completely unprepared for how much the saga with the tour hollowed me out. It was a voyage into myself, into the heart of what makes me tick. And, of course, you find out some good things, but plenty of bad stuff too. That's life.I've enjoyed getting back out on theIain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-24809741405858788262023-07-07T20:33:00.002+01:002023-07-07T20:33:03.913+01:00Life On the Road A lot of people always want to know what it's like? Well, it's dull. Lots of gazing out of the window of a van. But, having said that, there's a lot to be said for that sort of drift: the glorious knowledge that you don't have much to do, except wend your way to the next town on the list. One of the things that can help is something to while away the hours. On the last couple of tours,Iain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-9304655508770759232023-06-21T22:47:00.004+01:002023-06-21T22:47:41.132+01:00A recommendation We've not had one of those for a while, have we? Anyway - Hands On Bike is a wonderful cycling blog, it's going straight into my links. Iain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-92153595782646251252023-06-19T06:13:00.002+01:002023-06-19T06:13:16.624+01:00Internal Jukebox The jukebox is now playing....Rachmaninov. I'm such a fanboy - that intricate yet romantically direct style is just perfect for me. His music has complexity, but the purity of intention allows it to move you without your brain constantly having to analyse the content. Of all the varying musical genres, classical has suffered the most, I think, from algorithmic laziness. You can ask Iain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-71954052657461591882023-06-13T06:55:00.001+01:002023-06-13T06:55:10.762+01:00Old, old, school. I ventured back into the archives of this blog yesterday. Just wanted to get a sense of what still exists in the long cavalcade of descriptions, links, and more.Well, a lot of it certainly now suffered from "link rot". So much pop culture detritus, so much merely fallen by the wayside. It's odd, looking back on those sorts of posts; sometimes there will just be something like "Oh wow, THIS Iain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-82478875527085016382023-06-11T19:24:00.003+01:002023-06-11T19:24:12.140+01:00Well, it's certainly been a ride Hasn't it?Remind me to not do this for a while. I plan on riding my bike when this is over, to forget about the responsibility and the pressure. All the time I'm heading up those hills, this will be playing on a loop in my mind.I love being obsessed with things that everyone else seems to have overlooked. A few hundred views, in three years? What the hell is that all about, then?I was goingIain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-17959057455506626902023-05-06T07:42:00.001+01:002023-05-06T07:42:13.626+01:00Trying to find solace And it isn't easy. I've been lucky enough to be back outside on the bike, so that's helped. Overall, the past week or so has been fraught with many issues, but above all it's been a case of one issue just creating another. Logistics is like an ever-evolving fractal: it just keeps sub-dividing and expanding. One issue makes two more. Then those two make four. Sometimes the biggest Iain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-59358202492216177152023-04-24T21:50:00.002+01:002023-04-24T21:50:17.693+01:00When all of the mania dies downI'd like to do one thing, and one thing only. I'd give almost anything to be able to cycle up this road just after sunrise. To reach the Lighthouse and look back at the sinking ribbon of Tarmac. To see where I'd been, to know where I was going to go next. Cycling's like life, isn't it?But seriously, must look at trying to get back. I can't describe the pure joy I felt, heading up that road. DoingIain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6095310.post-53312430634079219222023-04-23T12:27:00.006+01:002023-04-23T12:27:42.031+01:00Back to reality And back to the organisation, planning and plotting. Who knew that tours would be this draining - before they'd even started?My soundtrack for today has been this:Originally heard on Peel's show in 1981, I'm fairly sure I had to rely on Small Wonder to find a copy. It's an odd single in that it was reworked by Martin Hannett at one point - so that version should be the one which held my Iain Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12133650347270991005noreply@blogger.com0