AudioBoo - 9/11 and all that.

My memories and thoughts on where we are now.

It Was 25 Years Ago Today.....

....that Bob Geldof got the bands to play.

I know that this has come as a bit of a shock to a lot of people. But, 25 years ago today, the Live Aid concerts took place across the world. But, most famously in London and Philadelphia.
Yes. it really is 25 years ago. Now, that makes me feel very old.
Judging from the comments i received when i posted this "news" on Twitter and Facebook yesterday, it makes a lot of other people old as well. Those 25 years seem to have flown by.

I did wonder if the reason why Live Aid seems far more recent, is because it was one of those major events where we can remember where we were and what we were doing when it happened? I could be wrong? But, i do know that i can still remember that hot sunny Saturday in July, very well indeed.
It could also be because of all of the events that led up to those concerts taking place across the globe.

I vivdly remember seeing those original BBC images of the dreadful famine taking place in Ethiopia, in late 1984. I bought the Band Aid single, on both 7 and 12", that came out at Christmas 1984, as did just about everybody else i knew at the time. I also bought the Feed The World t.shirts and i still have a photo of my (now) wife proudly wearing one at the time (And yes, that is me on the left!)

So, all of that could well have a bearing on my memories and why i took so much notice of Live Aid. But, another huge reason is that, at that time, nothing like this had ever happened before. Yes, there had been big benefit concerts before. But, nothing on this scale & certainly nothing that was broadcast live on worldwide TV. The BBC more, or less, abandoned their normal schedule for the day and broadcast the whole event, including the concert in Philadelphia. That type of scheduling had only ever been given to royal weddings, state funerals and moon landings before. So, this was a big deal.

There was also the small matter of the fact that the gigs featured just about anyone who was anyone in the field of rock and pop music, at the time.
So, when the words "It's twelve noon in London, seven AM in Philadelphia, and around the world it's time for; Live Aid ...." were spoken by Richard Skinner. Myself, my friends & countless millions of people around the world, were primed & ready.

I watched as much of the concerts as i could. Although i did miss some of the later performances. Well, it was a hot day and the pub was close to home! Having said that, i did have one of those old fashioned video recorders and taped as much as i could.

So, what do i remember about the music?
The performance i was most looking forward to was by U2. Who at that time were not that well known globally. I remember being very disappointed by their performance & thinking that they had blown a really good opportunity to show what they were capable of. Ironically, the rest of the world didn't agree with me & it has become generally accepted, that it was this Live Aid performance that catapulted U2 onto the world stage. What do i know eh?
Apart from that, i vividly remember:
In London:
Status Quo starting it all off with "Rocking all over the world". Very appropriate,
Paul McCartney effectively singing to himself, because his microphone had broken,
George Michaels yellow shirt (I have no idea why, but i bought one afterwards!)
David Bowie giving up one of his songs, so that they could show "That" video ("Drive" by The Cars) & the effect that that had on everybody.
Bob Geldof stopping the Boontown Rats song, "I don't like Mondays", after the words "And the lesson today is how to die..." And the effect that that had on the crowd.
Queen - Their whole set was amazing,
Phil Collins using Concorde to fly betweem London & Philadelphia, so that he could play at both venues.
In Philadelphia:
Madonna, who wasn't very well known then.
"Led Zeppelin", who weren't very good at all. but, at least they were better than,
Bob Dylan (with Ronnie Wood) who was awful & upset many people for suggesting that some of the money raised should go to American farmers instead!

It wasn't the best gig in the world. But, then that wasn't really the point, was it?
Live Aid raised a huge amount of money, for a very good cause & it changed the future of rock gigs forever. Just think of how many more big campaigning gigs have taken place since Saturday, 13th July 1985..


So, yes, i do remember where i was & what i was doing that day & i think i always will.
Do you?

A Digital Memory Bank

I recently watched a video by one of my favourite video makers. The basic idea behind the video was that, if something isn't documented, then it never really happened. I guess the argument being, that you have no real proof, if the documentation doesn't exist?
Now, i don't want to go into any big philosophical arguments about this topic & whether this idea is correct, or not. But, it certainly got me thinking. As Margarets videos usually do.
My initital thoughts, which i included in a comment on the video, were that sometimes we do need that documentation & for various reasons.
Our memories can often be selective & that's just the memories that we can recall. We often put things out of our mind, because we want to forget them. How many times have you been reminded of something you'd rather forget, or had put out of your mind? Quite a few i'd guess. We have all cringed at the sight of an old photograph, video clip, or even the verbal memory of a friend, or relative.
But, this can of course work in a positive way as well. Documentation, in whatever form, can help us to remember things that we'd like to remember, but had forgotten. Basically the opposite of what i mentioned above. That cringe could well be a smile, under different circumstances.
Documentation can also be used to correct a persons memory of an event.
Our memories can often play tricks on us, for many reasons. Causing us to remember things differently to how they actually happened. There is also a criminal, or deceitful angle to this as well, of course.

But, my main thought was about whether this worry about documentation will shortly become a thing of the past.
I have been, intentionally or not, documenting aspects of my life for the past 3+ years. Whether that be on YouTube, via blog posts, or just generally on the many Internet & social networking sites that i use.
I have made several YouTube videos about just this topic. We are creating a Digital Memory Bank. Everything that we do online, is stored somewhere. That is something that many people fail to realise. Until, that is, their boss finds that inappropriate photo of them on Facebook & decides that that isn't the sort of behaviour we expect & then sacks the unsuspecting person.
That is the negative side to this online documentation. But, there are many positive sides to this as well. Especially, if you control what you put "out there", as i try to do with my videos & blogs.
I am also leaving behind a record of my recent past for anyone to see, myself included.
I am very pleased that i started making my YouTube video over 3 years ago. It's great to be able to look back on them, just as it is an old photograph. For as many times as i might think, "did i really look like that, actually say that, or think that way", there are many more times when i'm just so pleased that i took the time & trouble to record it all in the first place.
Samual Pepys had his diary. I have my computer, video camera & an Internet connection. My own personal diary might not include the Great Fire Of London, as Pepys' did. But, it's still history.
We are all making history & now we all have a way to record it for the future. I, for one, intend to make full use of that opportunity.
All of this will help to prove that i did indeed exist & i now have the documentation to prove it.

Size Matters.

Today, i ordered a new USB memory stick. Partly because of a trip i am taking soon. But, also because in these memory hungry days you just seem to have to upgrade every so often, don't you?
Now, this new memory stick is a 16GB version. Which i suppose this is pretty large? But, it suddenly dawned on me that at 16GB, this actually makes the USB stick bigger than the first computer i ever owned!

Ok, so i did own a Sinclair ZX Spectrum back in the 1980's. But, i'm not sure that that really counts. Maybe it was a sign of things to come though?

What gets me about all of this, is just how quickly this has all happened.
I really can't remember when i bought my first "proper" computer. But, the fact that it had a 13GB hard drive should date it pretty well & that was considered big back then, honest!
I do remember though that my father-in-laws first PC had a 2.5GB hard drive.

Now, my present computer has a 250GB hard drive & i also have three external hard drives. the biggest of which is 1 Terrabyte in size.

Boy, we really have a long way in such a seemingly short time. I didn't really expect to get to the point where i had to start thinking about updating my USB memory sticks. Well, not this soon anyway.

I wonder if we will now start to look back with affection to those "pioneer" days of personal computing when the only external hard drive available was a 1.44MB floppy disk. I used to have boxes of those & only threw the last of them away fairly recently.  I doubt that you can even buy floppy disks today.

Yes, i know that there were personal computers around before even floppy disks arrived. But, i'm thinking more of when PC's became far more widely available & their use more widespread.

All of this suggests to me that maybe Moores Law, where the number of transistors that can be placed on an integrated circuit board doubles approximately every two years, works for computer hard drives as well?

Where will this all end? Who knows?
But, if Moores Law does hold true for hard drive space, we have a long way to go yet.
I wonder what the name is for 1,000 Terrabytes?

Re: The Day The Music Died

A video made in response to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e3iPkimQl8



The death of John Lennon - 8th December 1980.