iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

36) The Daimler Car Hire Garage, now a fashionable art deco style office for a fintech company - always a wonderful sight when you find yourself wandering in the back streets of Bloomsbury en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimler... #jawiki

en.wikipedia.org

Daimler Car Hire Garage - Wikipedia

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The TLS (despite the efforts of Paul Griffiths) doesn't cover music enough in my opinion. So great to see this article by Ysenda Maxtone Graham on the 100th anniversary of the BBC's Choral Evensong broadcasts www.the-tls.com/arts/music/1...

the-tls.com

A still point at three o’clock

100 years of evensong, the longest-running outside broadcast

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

35) Eric Crozier, theatre director, founder of English Opera Group, librettist for Bliss, Britten and Lennox Berkeley. First director of Peter Grimes in 1945, and a fierce defender of the opera, but there was a later falling out with Britten that was never repaired. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Cr...

en.wikipedia.org

Eric Crozier - Wikipedia

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

34) William Crotch: "a child prodigy without parallel in the history of music" (and rather spoiled). Organist at the age of 3½, first oratorio aged 14. He may have composed Big Ben's Westminster Chimes. First principal of the Royal Academy of Music in 1822 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William... #jawiki

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Enjoyable Ealing ramble yesterday took in the Grimson family home (with contemporary lamp post outside), and an excellent afternoon concert at St Mary's Perivale (with lots more coming up, including Peter Donohoe on Friday 2nd October) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimson... www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASUU...

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

32) David Cox, only remembered for his 18 second arrangement of Lillibullero, which introduced hourly World Service news broadcasts for 30 years. He eventually extended Lillibullero into a full concert overture, London Calling en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_C... #jawiki www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGn1...

en.wikipedia.org

David Cox (composer) - Wikipedia

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

31) Norman Cocker, organ scholar at Merton College Oxford, sent down for not doing enough work. Learned to play every instrument in the orchestra. Composed the popular "Tuba Tune" in 1922. Also an amateur magician and a cook. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_... #jawiki www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4e3...

en.wikipedia.org

Norman Cocker - Wikipedia

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

30) VC Clinton-Baddeley was a playwright, actor, elocutionist and writer, an early radio broadcaster in the 1920s reading Dickens and others. He provided texts for operettas, wrote plays, pantomimes, detective novels, non-fiction and produced early audiobooks en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V.C._Cl... #jawiki

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Excellent to see this newly unearthed live recording of a Royal Festival Hall concert on 14 November 1959 - one of Beecham's last - featuring four scenes and dances from Leonard Salzedo's once very popular ballet score The Witch Boy somm-recordings.com/recording/th...

somm-recordings.com

The Beecham Collection – Salzedo: The Witch Boy; Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 3; Delius: By the River; Grieg: Symphonic Dance No. 2 | SOMM Recordings

SOMM’s Ralph Vaughan Williams’ 150th celebrations continue with Vaughan Williams Live, Volume 3 featuring signature works conducted by the composer himself.

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

29) Hubert Clifford, Australian born British composer, surveyed the ruins of Queen's Hall beside John Gough and Henry Wood in May 1941. Became Musical Director for Alexander Korda films after the war and commissioned some classic scores from Alwyn and others en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_... #jawiki

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Have renewed one of my favourite reference books. My old copy was falling apart, so replaced it with revised 3rd edition (2008, rather than 1983), still with most of the original text intact. Like all reference books these days, it was cheap: £4.95, free postage, 2nd hand but never been read

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Wrote a report yesterday and used AI (various models) as the primary research tool - not to generate text. Approximately one third of the time it provided wrong answers, some easy to spot, others much more feasible and subtle. Had to ask the same question, multiple time, and then check elsewhere.

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Holding Court, by Clive James - first printed it the Times Literary Supplement on 1 March, 2013

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

I missed Arcadia at the Old Vic, will now see it at the Duke of York. I still vividly remember its premiere in 1993, which I went to multiple times. Just as long as they don't use The End by the Doors as the final music (as in a touring version I saw). Apart from anything else it's not even in 3/4!

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

10) John Banting, left wing English Surrealist artist and writer associated with the Bloomsbury Group. Book jackets for Hogarth Press, set designer for Constant Lambert's ballet Pomona, and of the front cover to the score of The Rio Grande. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ba... #jawiki

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

4) The Apollonicon, a self-acting barrel organ, supposedly the largest ever built with 1,900 pipes, 45 stops and five keyboards, was presented for the first time at 101 St Martin's Lane in 1817, played by blind organist John Purkis and drawing massive crowds en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollon... #jawiki

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Restarting a thread of my Wikipedia contributions, this time not new entries from scratch but some that I've added to significantly. 1) Gerald Abraham (1904-1988), musicologist, editor and music critic, Oxford New History of Music, New Grove etc. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_... #jawiki

en.wikipedia.org

Gerald Abraham - Wikipedia

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

It's odd when you've spent 50 years as a music fan of one-man Beach Boy Chris Rainbow only to find him suddenly popular on Tik-Tok and (for the first time) in the charts. Here's one favourite of mine highlighting his signature multi-layer vocals. There are many others www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKrd...

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

AI progress marches on. Alexa Plus (or whatever it's called these days), has a more convincing voice. But it now pronounces "The Chi-Lites" as "The Chee Lights" www.youtube.com/watch?v=le0w...

youtube.com

Chi Lites - It's Time For Love

YouTube video by emadex

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Simple, but melodic and witty, Jonah-man Jazz grabbed me at school, a step change up from most school music then. Michael Hurd's music was more accessible than Herbert Chappell's in his earlier "Daniel Jazz". David Chandler has a piece on "Pop Cantatas" in the latest British Music magazine, Vol. 47

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

"I Am the Walrus" ("ho ho ho, hee hee hee, ha ha ha, oompah, oompah, stick it up your jumper” etc.) was an untypical Swingles-style career high point for the Mike Sammes Singers, but in his 1994 book Sammes mentions the Beatles only in passing, when they cancelled a recording date at the last minute

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

National Open Youth Orchestra at the Proms in August.....

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

I have mixed feelings about the TLS as a fortnightly, but on the whole I think it was probably necessary and am generally positive. This article by Norma Clarke on a curious biography of Ballard by Christopher Priest, with Nina Allan adding a dissenting perspective on both writers, is excellent

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

I'm both fascinated and horrified by Burt Bacharach's biography. Love the stories behind the songs & revisiting the music, but his personal life, especially his relationship to his daughter Nikki, hard to take. Sophie Elmhirst's 2013 Guardian review is devastating www.theguardian.com/books/2013/j...

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Smooth jazz is often disparaged, but I find it good background for writing - and as I remember Rod Lucas from his innovative Radio Kent days in the 1980s I have a soft spot for his home broadcasts. But this time drama: tape machine blows up, neighbour mowing the lawn! www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwn9...

youtube.com

Best Smooth Jazz (11th April 2026) - Host Rod Lucas | Live from London, England

YouTube video by BestSmoothJazz

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Reposted by John Abbott

Another Cinna @anothercinna.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

So very, very saddened by this. A great age, an amazing legacy, but never really given his due, especially in the UK. RIP #MikeWestbrook www.theguardian.com/music/2026/a...

theguardian.com

Mike Westbrook obituary

Acclaimed musician, composer and bandleader who was one of the most significant figures in the history of British jazz

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

The Piper of Windy Ha’, James Ross and the Maxwell Quartet - buy the CD (as I have) direct from the composer. I love this. www.musicglue.com/james-ross/p... www.thestrad.com/video/the-pi...

thestrad.com

The Piper of Windy Ha’ - James Ross and the Maxwell Quartet

The folk-infused composition features on a new album of works inspired by Scottish landscapes and heritage

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Two forthcoming releases (15 May) from the excellent SOMM Recordings: Charles Wood string quartets Nos. 2 and 4, and two 1940s clarinet concertos by Freda Swain and Denis ApIvor - can't wait musicwebinternational.com/new-upcoming...

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Splendid performances by the Clarion Trio at the CoMA Festival in Whitechapel, London yesterday with the composers introducing their new pieces

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Looking forward to getting to know these songs by Madeleine Dring musicwebinternational.com/2026/03/drin...

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Sad to hear of the death of Tracy Kidder. The Soul of a New Machine is by far the best technology history book I've read. I once interviewed Tom West, who hated how he'd been portrayed, but it's human and powerful, while clearly explaining the inner workings of a 1970s Data General Eclipse computer

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Anthony Lane in the New Yorker on AI "humanizers", such as StealthWriter, HIX AI and QuillBot - tools that turn AI slop into something a human might have written. The piece turns into a list of better alternatives to the recently published book "Strikingly Similar" www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Landscape to Light by James Ross and the Maxwell Quartet. Thanks to Mark Forrest for playing it on @BBCRadio3 yesterday. Bought the album directly from the composer www.musicglue.com/james-ross/p... www.youtube.com/watch?v=j53d...

musicglue.com

James Ross - Landscape to Light

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

I finally read Lost Horizon this month. It was a pleasure to find a 2018 Backlisted episode discussing it afterwards. I was aware of some of the Bacharach songs from the maligned 1973 musical film version, but now exploring the rest. Also reading other Hilton books www.backlisted.fm/episodes/58-...

backlisted.fm

58. JAMES HILTON - Lost Horizon — Backlisted

Music producer, gallery owner and now novelist Tot Taylor joins John and Andy on the Backlisted podcast to discuss James Hilton 's 1933 novel about an earthly paradise in the far Himalayas. And the...

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

I've always been a sucker for book lists, and now find I missed a whole series of "Introduction to Fifty" volumes published by Pan in the early 1980s. There are at least eight in the series, including three on poets - American, British and European. Very cheap to acquire second hand

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

The Clarion Trio will be premiering two new pieces - The Preservation of Fire by Richard Peat and TRIANGLING by Louis Palfrey, at the London CoMA Festival's Finishing Line concert on 29 March, at the Brady Arts & Community Centre www.coma.org/whats-on/eve... clariontrio.co.uk

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Born in Sheffield, Bernard Rands (who died an Wednesday, aged 92) studied in Europe with no less than Pierre Boulez, Bruno Maderna, Luigi Dallapiccola and (especially to my ears) Luciano Berio. He taught at the University of York before departing for the US in 1975. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O-b...

youtube.com

Rands : Canti d'amor : "This heart that flutters near my heart"

YouTube video by Chanticleer - Topic

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Currently listening to the 1974 radio serial Breaking Point by Dick Francis (from his second novel, Nerve). The signature tune is Herbert Chappell's Driving Force from 1967. Can it be a coincidence that Francis much later (1992) also wrote a novel called Driving Force? www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

bbc.co.uk

Dick Francis - Breaking Point - 1. Death of a Jockey - BBC Sounds

When tragedy strikes horse racing, a steeplechase jockey unearths a world of fear.

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Next on the reading list. I only came across the poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt because I momentarily mistook him for Bruce Blunt, the poet whose words were set to music by Peter Warlock. This book looks to be in the tradition of group biographies established by one of my favourites, A Sultry Month

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

This arrived yesterday, looking forward to reading it....

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

Hugh Edwards, author of All Night at Mr Stanyhurst’s, who survived both the eruption of Mount Pelée in 1902 and burial alive under the ruins of the barracks in the Kingston earthquake in 1907, now has his own Wikipedia page en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Ed...

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Advice to younger self: keep a reading diary. I've listed the books I've been reading for the past 10 years, but before then it's mostly a blank. I'm currently exploring the non-Poldark novels of Winston Graham. A completely unexceptional phrase on p.58 reminded me I'd read it before, 30+ years ago?

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Intriguing to see how Grokipedia is evolving. Many entries are now double or triple the length of the Wikipedia equivalents, sourced from Wikipedia itself and random screen scrapes. Here's my take on Darnton's You & Music from Wikipedia, compared with Grokipedia, derived mostly from publisher blurbs

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Don Paterson's anthology "100 Sonnets" (2012) has been one of my most frequently read books since it came out. Now comes another anthology, selected by Paul Muldoon. 14 duplicated sonnets. Paterson includes a Muldoon and vice versa. But the Muldoon doesn't include Paterson's pithy and witty notes

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Good to see that it's not just AI companies that indulge in the circular economy

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

The National Portrait Gallery Character Sketches series of compact hardbacks are great to collect, many of them very cheap (under £3 each), though a complete list is hard to find

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

I'm really enjoying the directness, economy and underlying humour of Winston Graham's The Walking Stick (1967), even as the tension very gradually mounts

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Picked these two up at Oxfam in Poole yesterday - 1960 and 1963 editions in good condition

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

Into the Woods at the Bridge was particularly strong for its solo and duo numbers, and Act 2 (very bleak alongside the humour) built up magnificently. But I did have a few issues with the ensembles (esp. the first 10 minutes), and for me the voices were over amplified - still loved it, will go again

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John Abbott @sfjohna.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

With all the AI image jiggery-pokery so evident nowadays, how come the Time "AI architects" cover looks like it was produced by cutting out pictures from old magazines and sticking them on with gloy gum?

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