I guess most of my friends already know how much I love Syd Barrett (born Roger Keith Barrett – 6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006). He would have been 64 today, so I thought I’d write a little about him, and why I like him so much.
It’s not just his music, which is awesome, or his innocent whimsical lyrics (which became much darker after the onset of his mental illness), but it’s also the fact that he started one of the greatest bands of all time: Pink Floyd (and then they kicked him out of his own band WTF). Here’s a line drawing I made of Syd:
Syd Barrett
I think the thing that bothers me most about the whole Syd Barrett-acid casualty story is how everyone says, “oh yeah Syd blew his mind by taking too much acid” when possibly he was (unknown by him) being dosed with huge amounts of acid by 2 fuckers named Mad Jock and Mad Sue on a 2 month vacation (they deny this now, of course) – but there is no denying that when he came back from that vacation Dave Gilmour said he was “changed” and “didn’t seem to recognize me”.
It’s just a sad story, whatever the truth – but some of the music like Arnold Layne and See Emily Play will endure, it’s truly great and showcase his magnificent talent far better than his solo efforts (which nevertheless still show flashes of brilliance, but are an acquired taste to be sure).
First of all, do I think Gary McKinnon was wrong for doing what he did? Yes. But extradition is wrong for these reasons:
At the time of his offense, the maximum penalty he could have received in the UK was 6 months jail time, a far cry from the life term sought by U.S. prosecutors. He thought he was performing a public service (apparently he thought free energy cover-ups were allowing old people to freeze to death, and was trying to expose this), and was willing to risk 6 months for it – NOT his entire life
How in the hell did a self-admitted bumbling computer nerd autistic who was high on cannabis even hack into critical U.S. data systems?! If the U.S. security is so poor as to allow this, we are in big trouble. This type of security breach should not have been possible, and heads should roll at the pentagon for this to have even been allowed to happen.
He was trying to find evidence of UFOs, antigravity technology, and the suppression of “free energy”, all of which he claims to have proven through his actions. I would say he is a conspiracy “nut”, but considering his medical history a nut diagnosis or classification is actually probably just a manifestation of his condition.
These medical conditions consist of autistic spectrum disorders (Asperger’s Syndrome). He also suffers from depression and is suicidal over the thought of be forced to serve a life imprisonment in the U.S.
Anyway here is an interview with Gary and Chrissie Hind on ITN:
Among many of Gary’s supporters are David Gilmour, Sir Bob Geldoff and Chrissie Hind, who collaborated on this Graham Nash cover “Chicago – We Can Change The World” for the ‘Keep Gary Mckinnon Free‘ campaign:
Jan 3 is an important day. John Paul Jones was born 1-3-1946, and besides being bassist el supremo for the mighty Led Zeppelin, his new band with Dave Grohl (Foos) and Josh Homme is indescribably good. They’re called Them Crooked Vultures, go check ‘em out, all I can say is WOW. Here’s a pic of JPJ jammin with TCV (Wonker took the pic):
It’s also the birthday of J.R.R.Tolkien, so don’t be surprised to see someone raise a glass and toast, “The Professor”. I know I will.
Also at nine minutes after midnight (UT) tonight, January 2/3, the Earth will be at perihelion, when we are closest to the sun. Seems funny that it’s also our coldest time of year for us in the states, but that’s the way it works. Look at it this way: the precession of the equinoxes takes 22,000 years, so in 11,000 years perihelion will be in July – The people of Earth will have something to complain about THEN, let me tell you – the winters will be really cold and the summers just unbearable:
It’s also Stephen Stills birthday, but I’m saving that for next year
On Nov. 4 Google celebrated Wallace and Gromit’s 20 year anniversary with this custom google image:
Didn’t see it? Neither did anybody else in the states, Google decided to only put it up on it’s UK site (I think we got Big Bird or Cookie Monster – some kind of sesame street shit anyway)
Apparently when you clicked the link it took you to a wonderous, magical site featuring all kinds of cool Wallace and Gromit stuff, but now I’ll never know….bah
At the time of his offense, the maximum penalty he could have received in the UK was 6 months jail time, a far cry from the life term sought by U.S. prosecutors. He thought he was performing a public service (apparently he thought free energy cover-ups were allowing old people to freeze to death, and was trying to expose this), and was willing to risk 6 months for it – NOT his entire life
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