Groovy! - The Organist Entertains

Busy week last week doing the 2pm-10pm late shift at work.

Driving home on Thursday night I rediscovered this little gem when I tuned "the wireless" to Radio 2. The Organist Entertains

The last time I listened to this broadcast they were playing recordings of large cinema/theatre organs - mighty Wurlitzer's and the like rising from the orchestra pit to do impressions of marching bands and steam trains. Different, but not really my scene.

This time Nigel Ogden was covering Hammond Organ recordings from the 50's and 60's.
I soon found myself grooving along to the mellow tones of the Hammond C3, H100, X77, A100, M100 etc, some sounds being channelled through rotating Lesley speakers.

Jerry Allen's version of "A Hard Days Night", with saxophone and guitar carrying the melody is a great piece of easy listening. Googling his name, I find that his vocalists were called "The Allentones" - was this the inspiration for "Murph and the Mellotones" in the Blues Brothers?

I noticed that Klaus Wunderlich's "Scarborough Fair/Spinning" wheel has the same tones as Jon Lord playing on Deep Purples "Child in Time" on the Scarborough Fair section.

Perhaps I'm getting older, or maybe it's just the right sort of thing for the late hours after a stressful evening's work, but I did enjoy the show.
Hit that Hammond - Groovy Baby!

Dasher

I've been using the Dvorak Keyboard for typing both at work and at home for over 12 years, therefore I'm interested in alternative methods of typing, or entering text.

The latest one that I've come across is called Dasher.

This is the weirdest alternative that I've come across for a long time. I've downloaded the free software and have given it a try or two.

It does appear to work, but looks like it'll take a little bit of practice. I don't think that this will ever be as fast as typing, but does provide an acceptable speed rate for the sci-fi like method of entering information using no hands e.g. eye movements, or breath control.

Could come in handy when we've all evolved into giant couch potatoes, with a couple of huge eyes, and a single button pressing digit :-)