A Very Belated Update

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So where has the last six months gone??

It seems like only yesterday I was packing my gear in Aberystwyth. Since then, I’ve moved back to Essex, packed in a fair few We Will Rock You shows, redesigned this website, played bass in a variety show concert started a new job and and built a brand new desktop PC – so it’s been “all go”!

The new desktop PC has been about a month in progress but it’s finally completed and I couldn’t be more pleased with how it’s turned out. More details are on the Computers section of this site, so I won’t bore people with techncial specifications here, but it’s safe to say that it was definitely worth the effort!

September 20th saw a parial change of cast for We Will Rock You at the Dominion. Among those to leave were Julian Littman, Lain Gray and Lucy Sinclar who play Pop, Vic and Meat respectively. I have yet to see the new cast, but I’m sure they will be brilliant.

I’m now working at Colchester Sixth Form College as an IT Technician as part of my degree course’s Year in Industry. It started pretty slowly, then sped up quite a bit as staff and students were off for the summer, freeing up the servers and network for maintenance. Hopefully it’s calming down slightly now!

The aforementioned variety show was the brainchild of Hans Montanana, the former head of music at Rickstones School who I’ve kept in contact with over the years. I actually came out of semi-retirement as a bassist to play the concert, not having played seriously for over three or four years! It was definitely a challenge going back to basics and reading from chord charts again but hopefully I’m now back into the swing of it and the next one (if there actually is a “next” one) will be a bit easier!

Last of all, I’ve given this website a bit of a revamp and redesign, and added a new section dedicated to the building of my new desktop PC. The theme of the redesign was partially inspired by the recent events at CERN and the Large Hadron Collider, I’m still not 100% happy with the design so there may be a few further tweaks in the next few weeks!

Anyway, that’s your lot, apologies for not updating over the last 5 months but it has been pretty action-packed!

Up the ‘kin Irons!
Craig

April 2008 Update

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After a nice relaxing Easter break at home, I’m now back in Aberystwyth for the final two months of this term, before returning to Essex for a year and a half in May.

I’ve been offered a position at Colchester Sixth Form College as an IT technician (the official job title is “IT Support Officer”) – I was originally a student at the College between 2003 and 2005 studying the International Baccalaureate and I’m really looking forward both to being back there and being in a normal job.

Even though I’ll be coming back to Aberystwyth in September 2009, an awful lot of the friends that I’ve made in my two years here won’t be, as they will have all completed their final years and graduated – my industrial year is a “sandwich year” between the second and final years of the course – so essentially this is my last term with quite a lot of my friends, which is an extremely sad thought!

OK, so this has been a pretty short entry (by my usual standards), but not a lot else happened in the three weeks I was back in Essex, apart from three We Will Rock You shows at a rate of one per week, taking my show-count to 54 (yes, fifty-four) and concreting my opinion that the newest cast are – quite possibly – one of the best I’ve seen. I finally got to see Sabrina Aloueche as Scaramouche, and I was completely blown away. I’ve got reviews on my WWRY-London.co.uk Forums for the shows on Monday 17th March, Tuesday 25th March and Thursday 3rd April.

I’m also taking on another freelance web design job for a local singer and the obligatory chocolate-scoffing. Even the journey back to Aberystwyth went without a hitch – for once! I was tempted to include my views on Liverpool’s awe-inspiring win in the Champions League into this blog, but I think it deserves its own entry.

Up the ‘kin Irons!
Craig

2008 – The Year So Far

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So, what’s been happening in the last two months?

Linux – Transition Complete

I’ve now finally got Fedora 8 up and running on my desktop PC as well as my laptop so Linux is my main operating system – with Windows being used from time to time for various web design tasks (the recent redesign of my university webspace being one of them) and I have to admit that despite my stance as a self-confessed “Windows user” a year ago, I’m now really enjoying the Linux experience. Everything is so streamlined, but it does take some getting used to and playing around with to get it the way I want it (some of the difficulties and shortcomings being detailed in my transitioning blog) – but I’m generally happy to play around and try different things so maybe this suits me better than others.

SonicaCMS goes live!

SonicaCMS – my plain-text PHP content management system – has now been released as an alpha version (meaning for very early testing and evaluation purposes). It’s been a work-in-progress for quite a while and with a general lull in university work I’ve decided to go public and make the first version available, so if you’d like to download it and try it out, by al means head over to www.sonicadesign.com/scms – I’d be very grateful for any bugs/feedback.

University - New term

As far as university goes, I’m awaiting the results of my first semester exams on Thursday 28th February – some more eagerly than others though. I’ve also actually given a lecture on web development to first years – a somewhat daunting experience but turned out well in the end once I’d gotten over the nerves and into the flow of things. The lecture mainly covered bits and pieces that I’d picked up over the last year and a half of doing websites on a semi-professional freelance basis as well as some search engine optimisation (SEO) material. By the end I actually started enjoying it, so I could be making a return to the lectern at some point in the not-too-distant future…

Along with the new term comes new modules – one of which I’m actually (shock, horror) enjoying: CS35910, aka Internet Services Administration. It generally covers a lot of the things I’ll need to know when I’m out in industry, and it’s material I’m genuinely interested in which always makes a difference. I’ve yet to be given any assignments this semester, but I’m sure they’ll start rolling in soon, as there’s only four weeks left before term ends for Easter.

Liverpool FC - Benitez to go?

Away from computers and all things geek, Liverpool FC are having a bit of a rough period recently, with several high-profile spats between manager Rafael Benitez and the club’s American owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks. After being knocked out of the Carling Cup by Chelsea and the FA Cup today by Barnsley, as well as being effectively ruled out of the Premier League title race by a string of sub-standard performances against sides we should have been beating, we have to yet again concentrate all efforts on the Champions League, which despite all my optimism, isn’t looking too promising either seeing as we’re up against the Italian Serie A champions Inter Milan in the last 16.

I have a feeling that if we don’t progress against Milan, then Benitez’s job will definitely be on the line – more than it ever has done in the past – and, to be honest, I wouldn’t mind seeing him go. Obviously he brought Liverpool the Champions League in Istanbul in 2005 (a night which I will never forget and get goosebumps every time I watch the replays on YouTube) as well as the FA Cup in 2006 in Cardiff and he has secured one of the most important signings in recent LFC history in Fernando Torres, but something tells me that Benitez’s time has come. Maybe I’m being over-critical, but time will tell I think.

We Will Rock You 2008: A New Dawn?

Over Christmas I boosted my show-count to 51, seeing the new cast that took over in September for the first time – and what a cast. You can read detailed reviews about each show on my WWRY website forum, but the shows on 17th December and 10th January certainly gave me the impression that the show is in extremely capable hands, although I haven’t yet seen Sabrina Aloueche in the Scaramouche role – being treated to Sarah French-Ellis on both visits – but I have it on extremely good authority that she is every bit as good as the rest of the cast. My advice – if you’re anywhere near London and are even remotely interested in musical theatre or rock music (or both), book and see this show – you will not regret it.

To go with the new line-up of cast members, an all-new souvenir brochure has bee released, and I have been lucky enough to have been posted a copy by a friend. All fifty-four scans are online on the WWRY-London.co.uk Gallery, I’ve also been busy making my first new banners and wallpapers for over a year, so please check them out! Also in a completely shameless plug, please also feel free to join up on the WWRY-London.co.uk forums.

OK, maybe this entry has been slightly longer than I originally intended, but with two month’s having passed, I thought it was about time for an update.

New University Term

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Evening all,

Well, having been offline for the best part of a month, I figured I’d better fill you lovely people in on what’s been happening in an insanely busy month and a half. The reason for being offline is a combination of BT screwing up royally with getting our phone line up and running (due to a “system glitch” our original order was lost, so we had to do it all again) and Orange springing the surprise that the “upto 8meg for £5 a month” offer was only available to customers starting a new contract. The upshot is that I had to upgrade my phone with an upgrade fee of £100 or keep my current handset for another 15 months. While I do like the Samsung D900 (my current phone) I wasn’t too keen on being tied to it for 15 more months, so I upgraded through gritted teeth, but at least I now have Internet!

As you may have guessed by now, I’m now safely back in Aberystwyth and into the third week of the new university term, the term itself is going pretty well, but I’m sure that will change when the assignments start rolling in. I’ve also started developing my own Content Management System, called (aptly) Sonica CMS in PHP, to try and forward my knowldge of the PHP lanaguage. More on the CMS is at www.sonicadesign.com/scms. I’m hoping to have beta (test) versions of the software available in the next month or two, depending on university workload.

Away from such geekery, my vinyl collection is slowly growing (click on the link for a phot of the collection), just bought Black Sabbath’s Heaven and Hell as well as Iron Maiden’s eponymous album, both are in the post, so they should arrive in the next few days – strikes permitting of course. I’ve just finished a couple of freelance web projects for Colin Charles, who has just left the cast of We Will Rock You after playing the role of Britney for the last few years – AD Agency and Impact International Management (a link to Impact will be coming very soon, the site should be live in the next few days).

We Will Rock You itself has had a few major changes in the past month as well, with five new principal actors and a host of scene and script changes. I haven’t had a chance to see the new cast myself due to the fairly obvious fact that I’m at university in the depths of Wales, but I have it on very good authority that they’re awesome, which is just what the show deserves and needs. These changes are also wrapped in an amount of sadness, because I really do respect the outgoing cast – they’re an amazing bunch of people (and extremely talented vocalists and actors).

Anyway, that’s your lot, cheers for reading.

Up the ‘kin Irons!
Craig

Summer 2007

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Well well well boys and girls. After quite a nice slow, relaxing start to the summer, things have gone slightly crazy. For the past month, I’ve been working as a call centre operator for O2 Insure, taking calls from people who have misplaced, dropped or otherwise broken their mobile phones. While I’m bound by the company’s confidentiality agreement and can’t discuss specific claims I’ve taken, I can say that certain people have provided me with quite an entertaining day.

Apart from that, I’ve managed to squeeze a few more We Will Rock You shows in, bringing my running total up to 49 by the time I leave Essex again for Aberystwyth on Saturday 8th September. I can honestly say that my last show before I go will be quite an emotional one – as I’ll be seeing the present cast for the last time. While this may seem quite sad and geeky, I’d like to take this opportunity to say what this show (and more specifically, this cast) has done for me in the past. They’ve given me an outlet for so much enjoyment, brought me closer to some very good friends who I wouldn’t have met otherwise. I have never in my 49 shows left the theatre not wanting to go back, and that’s certainly a great testament to the effort and energy that the cast (and also the band – these guys are often forgotten up in the wings) put in, night after night and week after week. So, if you’re in the London area before 29th September (or indeed at any point in the future), get down to the Dominion Theatre and see this completely mind-blowing show.

It’s also brought me (indirectly) a bit of web design work. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Tony Bourke, the show’s drummer, to set up his personal website and I’m currently in the process of completing work for another of the show’s cast – further details will be on the way soon!

Away from web design and more We Will Rock You shows, I’ve also taken my first step into the retro world of vinyl (as in the black stuff that was the predecessor of the CD) – snapping up a Dual 505 turntable and Cambridge Audio A1 amp on eBay. While a lot of people will disagree with me, I think that vinyl has a certain resonance and “personality” that a CD just doesn’t have – by definition a CD is digital and will therefore produce the same results every single time. At the moment, I just have a slightly crackly copy of Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells and The Goons’ The Last Goon Show Of All to my name, so if anybody has some vinyl that they would like to get rid of- please drop me an email – you can find out a bit more about my music tastes on the about me page of this website.

So, with all that said, I’m now looking forward to getting back to Aberystwyth, seeing people who I haven’t seen in 4 months and actually having to work for a change. It’s hard life…..

Up the ‘kin Irons!
Craig

Christmas, New Year & Exams

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Time to catch up with happenings over the last month. Christmas settled down to become quite nice and relaxing after the Music Marathon. Was really nice to be back at home and not have to do my own washing or cooking for three whole weeks! Apologies for not updating for over a month, but exams and the start of the new term has left me with quite a lot to do.

I’m now fully back into the swing of things in Aberystwyth, and I’ve actually managed to cook myself Spaghetti Bolognaise for the first time – and also managed not to give myself food poisoning in the process! Aside from that, things have been going pretty smoothly, I’m just starting to prepare for the one-off web design lecture I’ll be giving in a couple of weeks. To be completely honest, I’m nervous already.

I’ve now got another We Will Rock You trip booked for mid-February. Another “flying” visit, into London on the Friday afternoon (train this time, I don’t particularly want to spend 7 hours inside a coach), see the show on Friday evening and out of London by 2pm on Saturday.

The 2006 Music Marathon

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Well well well, boys and girls. Time for me to reflect on what has been a mind-blowing few days of awesome live music. This will more than likely turn into a long entry, so grab yourself a coffee, sit back and read on.

The start of the Marathon was We Will Rock You on Thursday evening. It was my 36th show overall, and my second that week (I had already done one show on Monday on my way home from Aberystwyth). What a show. The entire cast and band were on top form and the sound was amazing. I managed to give Jenna a few bits and pieces which I’d done for the cast for Christmas (a WWRY image edit I had printed, a tin of Quality Street and a card), I don’t actually know if the rest of the cast actually saw any of the Quality Street or not! It was a full principal cast, and everything was nigh-on perfect for the whole show. I’m not going to go into great depth with the review but I think I’ve already said most of it. Jenna and Peter were brilliant, you could see the great chemistry between them in Hammer To Fall and Who Wants To Live Forever. Mazz and Alex had a storming show, as did Rachael and Colin. All-in-all: one of the best performances I think I have ever seen.

My first of two Iron Maiden gigs in two days comes next. Got to the Earl’s Court Arena at about 7:30, just missing Lauren Harris’ set (Maiden bassist Steve Harris’ daughter). I went into the Arena with an open mind towards Trivium (the main support act on the tour), as I hadn’t really heard anything from them before. It was mediocre at best. The vocals were a bad Metallica-copy and the drummer was just playing the same pattern over and over again. I was glad to hear the end of their set, as it was only just bearable. They were annoyingly American and commercial, and it I think that it was Trivium who caused the majority of the crowd trouble later on, with massive surges and stupid, pointless pushing.

Iron Maiden was – predictably – awe-inspiring. They played the full A Matter of Life and Death album from start to finish, and although it did start to drag towards the end of the set, the classics at the end more than made up for it. One slight hiccup was the fact that the main power cable into the building caught fire and melted halfway through and rendered the band instrument-less and reduced Bruce Dickinson to a mega-phone and the crowd singing Christmas carols for a full 20 minutes. Two Minutes to Midnight, Fear of The Dark, Iron Maiden, The Evil That Men Do and Hallowed Be Thy Name was a class end to a class set.

The Maiden madness continued into yesterday (Saturday 23rd) when I went into Earl’s Court again for another round of ear-bashing from Trivium and comparative harmonic bliss from Maiden. This time I went into the venue about 10 minutes before the doors officially opened at 6pm, thanks to the First To The Barrier wristbands I won in a raffle from the Iron Maiden Fan Club. Lauren Harris’ set was solid and definitely deserved to be higher up on the bill than Trivium, who were just as bland and unimanginative as before. Again, I endured their set and Maiden were brilliant. The highlight of the Album set was Benjamin Breeg. Atmospheric and downright headbanging. Again, the classics during the encore were just draw-dropping. I actually got a nod of the head from Steve Harris at one point during the set, that was enough to make my night.

Anyway, I think I’ve rambled on for long enough, so merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all :)

We Will Rock You – 18th November

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Well, it’s taken me a while to get around to writing this, but here it is. My first We Will Rock You performance in two months! It was my first Saturday evening show as well – which sounds quite weird seeing as it was my 34th show overall. I’m not going to go into massive detail with this entry as I would normally do with my show reviews, but just give a short(ish) overview.

As I’m living on the coast of Wales at the moment, it’s been near-impossible to get into London. The only chance I have is if I get the train (or bus) on the Saturday morning, see the show in the evening and go back on the Sunday. Unfortunately I left it too late to book a cheap train ticket, so I had to go for the bus instead.

The bus left at 8.30am. Seven hours on a coach later, I get into London. On the Sunday, I left Victoria at 3pm and got into Aberystwyth at 8pm. Next time I’ll be booking earlier and taking the train.

At the Stage Door before the show, I was shouted at across the car-park by none other than Rachael, saying “You’re back!”. Peter also said a quick “hello” and asked how things were going. Jenna commented on the fact I took the bus by calling me “mad”. It’s certainly nice to be missed!

Until next time….

Up the Irons!