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I have been tagged by Bettina (double tagged in fact inworld SL and out in web 2.0 – thanks Bett!) So I am compelled on fear of being ‘something/shamed’ to post eight random factoids about me. Well that is easy – he ponders. Wonders doing the sums how many blog posts will there be as 8*8*8 (8 factorial?) and so on spreads like a pyramid scheme, factoid virus around the web. Anyway lets get it out of the way…thinks…not that easy…ok will start at the bottom first with the next 8 victims!
These are the 8 tagged to do likewise below:
Tony Walsh
Peter Giles
Imogen Heap
Jackie Turnure
Dan Taylor
Keren Flavell
Frank Boyd
Laurel Papworth
1- Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2 – People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
3 – At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
4 – Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
Now to my random things…
1 Have been a vegetarian since age of 12.
So thats like 10 years ago 😉 Well I eat fish so one of those fish eating slightly hypocritical veges…
2 Am a multi-instrumentalist.
Yay! This gives me the opportunity to show off, or it shows others what a show off I am ?!. So here is a list of my instruments I can play well (eg: impro and/or read and/or pro-record with) – Harps (3 at the moment!), saxophones, clarinet, guitars (elec through to classical), voice/singing, piano/keyboards, flute, cello, bass, various (loads of) world instruments including komuz, tar, saz, digeridoo, and all that music tech stuff. As a performer – tons of stuff including supporting many of the famous manchester bands in the 80s, through to taking leads in operas and as Music Producer tutor (such as at the BRIT School) starting folk like Imogen Heap off! Back to multi-instrumentalist this image shows how sad this can get – here is one wall of my house 😉
3 I ran away from home at 5am when I was 3 years old! Yes it was in all the papers, discovered later in the evening wandering around a busy shopping centre in Gloucester UK (where I was born – awww), more than 6 miles from the house!
4 Fav spaces, I Love desert/canyon-type environs – especially California, New Mex, Utah and Arizona. So Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Monument Valley, Canyonlands, Bryce, Taos surrounds etc etc: Still fav area on the planet is Yosemite – but often found wandering these areas when I am in them, at sunrise and sunset, wondering why I am wandering 😉
5 Collect old analog photographic stuff – but it will all have to go soon ;-( So large format cameras (yes 7*5 inches and above) through to micro spy cams etc:. Still have a great medium format enlarger and all the poison’ess chemicals – but sadly digital has now fully taken over…well not sadly, it is sooo much more dynamic and fun!
6 Long distance cyclist – used to be silly distances, and still am when I can. Regularly used to do 120-150 miles in one go! Often did cycle camping tours which turned into 700-800 mile trips, Across Uzbekistan, Bilbao to Barcelona, Prague to Budapest, New York to DC and back, San Fran to Diego via Lone Pine! Venice to Zurich, Firenze to Rome and of various long loops including Marrakech/Atlas mountains and Swiss/Italian alps – phew tired just thinking about it again!
7 Set silly goals then try to achieve them. Such as roller-blading in the Registan in Samarkand or recording the Morroccon Oboe, in costume up in the Atlas mountains!
8 Fav project I conceived and produced still has to be the BBC Musical Nomad, still live. 40 days across the ‘stans (Uzbek, Krygyz, Kazakh) – meeting musicians, shaman and great people then sending daily video, audio, images and great stories live onto the web, world service radio and doing a TV/radio capture (just 4 of us) – still have memory of setting up a satellite one dark evening on a mountainside in Kazakstan, with a generator whiring in the distance, horsemen coming in an out of the trees, to upload our daily experience and then logging onto the BBC site and hearing the national anthem in memory of Princess Diana killed a few moments earlier…
dear gary, your weblog is amazing! i learned lot of things reading it. thanks a lot for your writings, they all are very interesting and it\\\’s a very good thing to know that there\\\’re people like you, in the world.