Craig Sawyers

Baker looks like the crazy guy he was. He and Bruce hated each other, to the extent that Baker attacked him with a knife at one point. When, post Cream, Baker went to set up a recording studio and live in Lagos (in Nigeria), Bruce said that the best place for Baker was on another continent to him, but Africa was not far enough. But they were often off their heads on dope. Clapton disappeared for several years into his house and got lost on a cocktail of Class A drugs. Then he got off drugs and turned to alcohol. To the extent he couldn't play and sing, and often just staggered off stage after one mumbled number. It is a wonder he is still alive. Unlike the bass player they brought in for Blind Faith, Ric Grech. After playing bass with a wide selection of bands, he retired at 31 and died at 43 from kidney failure as a result of alcohol abuse. Was lucky enough to see Clapton and Winwood with my son maybe five years ago in Birmingham. They did pretty much everything on Blind Faith's single album, and then some Cream stuff. Factoid - Crosby, Stills and Nash approached Winwood to join the band. But because of other band commitments he turned them down. So instead they approached Neil Young....

Did my first gym session since lockdown today. I have lost a shit load of condition in the five months they were closed. Lot of hard work to do for sure in the coming weeks. Of course you have to book in advance using their app, every other machine is off line to keep distances, and you wipe the machine down before and after with a spray bottle and a handful of paper off a roll. And there is a one-way system. But the good news is because the number is limited to 15 at any one time, you no longer have to queue for a machine!

The Chinese gizmo finally arrived after I extracted it from UK customs. Interesting so far. Measuring in my office, which has the computer, UPS and monitor I get 350mV In the kitchen with none of the LED lights on, 100mV and with all the LED ceiling lights on, 145mV. So the switched mode supplies inject a decent amount of extra garbage into the mains. Plugged in to a Russ Andrews Signature Powerblock, 40mV. So the good news is that the power block - which among other things contains a bank of mains X rated capacitors between live and neutral - seems to be doing what it says on the tin. More playing around is going to happen....

I like the listening lounger

When your life is under threat, you'd better be careful what you grab

113 confirmed dead, looks to increase. 4000 injured, looks to increase. Estimated to be around 1/3 the explosive power of Hiroshima. Ammonium nitrate storage facility, three thousand tons of the stuff. I'm almost shaking having watched that on the BBC news. RIP everyone in Beirut It has destroyed whole swathes of the city.

Just as Nate said! Happy birthday chief - have a truly great one!!

Cream's first gig in 1966. In some poky club in Manchester. Bruce on left, Baker of course on drums, and an impossibly young looking Clapton on right. And in 2011, Baker in full flight in Toad

Happy birthday!

That, Nate, is some fancy pedalling.

Or The Beast with a thousand FET's. A 50W amplifier comprising J74/k170 cells. 2352 of them. Pass is nothing short of a nutter. http://www.firstwatt.com/pdf/art_beast.pdf

And then there is El-Pipo. Which he combined with the above KleinHorns (small [!!] horns). http://www.firstwatt.com/pdf/art_elpipeo.pdf The best sentence in that article is "Funny things happen when your speakers are flat to 13Hz. You have to be careful about your tone arm, your windows, your neighbors, and your bowels"

Happy birthday!!

Wow - a Hollywood legend eventually goes. RIP Olivia de Havilland. 104 is not an unreasonable age to go; born half way through the First World War.

Because Nelson Pass is a bit of a nutter with building stuff. He apparently has a big house.

That is way too young. RIP Grant.

That is a thing of beauty. My only concern is - is it stiff enough? It would seem to be prone to lateral bending if pedaled hard.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday baker headphone man!

Alternatively, Sigourney Weaver in the UK comedy series Doc Martin. There are no aliens...

I think you could get away with that sort of shenanigans to automatically shoot an intruder in the 1880's. I was amused, though, to read in the link above that "The Brineys and Katko then joined together in a lawsuit against the neighbor..."