Author: Seb Palmer

This is a terrific book. And I’m really enjoying reading it.

I started this review whilst still in the first third of the text. I did so because I don’t want to forget to mention some of the key concepts Ian Morris uses: eg ‘caging’ and ‘lucky latitudes’. These two are actually deeply interwoven: the caging occurs within (roughly) the lucky latitudes.

I have to be frank, and admit I don’t actually like either term (rather as I dislike Ian Kershaw’s very University-thesis sounding ‘working towards the Führer’, in his huge Hitler biog). But these descriptors do fit. So that’s got to remain a very minor (almost aesthetic?) quibble.

The broad arcs – makes one think of a sword being swiug, very apt! – of his arguments seem to me, eminently reasonable. Indeed, I remember starting to think along these lines myself, years before encountering them explicitly stated, thanks to my ongoing exposure to and interest in evolutionary theory and military history.

There’s also a prescience to what he’s talking about, as modern ‘democracies’ currently struggle with resurgent fascist tendencies, etc… [took a break, at this point]

I’m coming back to writing this review at about 70% of the way through the main body of text. It seems appropriate to resume at this point, as I want to note that the book’s subtitle ‘from primates to robots’ seemed rather odd at first. As the book starts (after the intro) in Ancient Roman times.

It’s only at this 70% point that Morris zips back, 3.8 billion years, to pre-cellular ‘blobs’, quickly sketching an entire evolutionary arc, whilst considering the balance between cooperation and conflict. This chapter – Red in Tooth Claw – introduces some mathematical ideas, inc. game theory, and is fascinating.

After a book that’s over two-thirds chronological, from Rome to post WWII, the sudden and massive jump back in time is followed by a sudden jump forward, to the Cold War, nuclear deterrence, the ‘pacifist’s dilemma’ (more game theory) and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

I have to confess that this is where – particularly in the chapter Last Best Hope – certain strands of Morris’ thinking start to trouble me more than just a little… particularly in relation to the idea of America as the new and liberal/democratic ’Globocop’.

His flights of fortune-telling fantasy – as he summarises likely Sino-American conflict outcomes – strike me as scarily akin to the solemn celebrations of one of the authors and experts he quotes (I forget exactly who), prior to WWI, and Chamberlain, pre WWII, with his ‘peace in our time’! Predictions of this sort can be embarrassingly wide of the mark.

This book was written before Trump’s second disastrous destabilising term as POTUS. Someone needs to bring home to Trump that ‘Globocops… pay huge reputational costs for brutalising the innocent’, as Morris puts it.

A fascinating and thought-provoking book. Well worth reading.

A book has been published recently… pictured above. I first saw this on Amazon UK’s website. And I was intrigued.

I subsequently discovered that some of the content, or something remarkably similar, is available, free, online.

If you’re interested in seeing more, check this link out.

Here are a few samples:

It would appear that the above are night time fireworks, whilst some others (some of which are shown below) are for daytime use!

Are they not wonderful!? I find them exquisite and charming. I’d quite like the book. But with the imagery freely available… hmmm!?

Phew!

I took both (old) hoops off, sanded and polished them (180/400 grit; Brasso), and reinstalled them (& the snare wires, obvs).

I also swapped out the temporary cheapo heads I had on their thus far, replacing the batter side with a coated CS Dot, by Remo, and a clear 300 Snare Side, from Evans. I’ll need to spend some time exploring tension/tuning.

A quick first tap, with sticks, suggests – as expected – that I’ll need to ‘cut’ some snare beds, to get a tighter more focused snare-on sound.

Well… I need to cut the snare beds, ASAP (prob tomorrow?), and dig out a few snare stands (I’ve got three or more DIY snare projects on the go!), and get this baby set up, and start wailing on her.

Wow? I can’t quite believe it. But this drum is now very near completion.

I cut slots in an old hoop, for the snare straps to pass through. That was nerve wracking! But I appear to have done alright.

The snare – a 20-strand Puresound ‘Blaster’ – is fitted, and works.

At present there are: no snare beds; the shellac finish needs re-doing (after damage during hardware installation); the old hoops need sanding/cleaning & buffing; better quality drum heads need fitting.

I’ll be playing her, with sticks, for the first time today. Seeing how she tunes up/sounds. Determining if I need to cut snare beds or not. I’m expecting I will.

But she’s now a functioning snare drum. That I built, from scratch. Can’t quite believe it!

These parts arrived today. A Trick style throw and butt-plate combo. Cheap (aka affordable!) Chinese version.

I just couldn’t wait, and had to fit them.

The snare side hoop has no slots for the snare wires. I could either cut some, or buy dedicated snare side hoops (I’ll need another for snare #1, as well). Hmmm!?

I’ve got several sets of snare wires. Hopefully I’ll have something that will fit this drum? It’s exciting, getting nearer to completion!

One very important little job will be removing all the hardware – now that all the mounting holes have been drilled and sanded – and re-shellacking/polishing the wood.

For which I need to buy some more of this:

… as our previous bottle ran out. Fab stuff.

Progress on the larger slab of herringbone went well today. All I did was put both sides through the drum-sander, at S&F.

With the smaller herringbone that I did earlier, I matched the strips. With this larger slab, I’ve randomised them. I like both results.

After that I worked on Snare #2. Now that I’ve got some hardware to attach, I was hoping for some satisfying progress. Instead, I made a very slow-mo pig’s ear of it all!

It seems I’m destined to make every conceivable mistake possible. Often repeatedly, and that’s really annoying!

Today’s litany of frustrations included: repeatedly measuring for marking out, with the results never stacking up to a neat/accurate outcome; drilling the first two holes in the wrong place, despite constant measuring and re-measuring; finding out the supplied screws aren’t long enough to actually attack the hardware (or put another way, the shells I’ve made are too thick, for the hardware as supplied).

That was all at S&F. Then, once home, I attempted to make Keruing dowels, to patch the inaccurately drilled holes. This – trying to make the dowels – was a nightmare! My dowel-making tool doesn’t work very well. Guess I should make a newer better one?

And then I went and put the dowels in the two holes that were accurately drilled, as opposed to the misplaced ones. Gaah!!!

Knocking the dowels out and putting them into the correct holes? That more or less split the drum, for the umpteenth time! I guess tomorrow I’ll have to address that. Superglue, of wood glue? Hmmm…

Roy Jenkins concludes his epic biography by deciding Churchill trumps Gladstone as ‘the greatest human being ever to occupy 10 Downing Street.’

I loved reading this superbly written and fascinating account of the man voted (in a 2002 BBC poll) the ‘Greatest Briton’.

Churchill’s energy and zest for life were amazing. And what a life he lived. From war correspondent to Boer War prisoner, from MP to author of articles and history books, from the front benches to PM, via periods of acclaim to times in the wilderness…

Written with balance, wit and verve by a fellow MP/politician. This is essential reading.

I came to Beefheart via a compilation cassette, or mixtape, in modern parlance, that a pal made for me, when we were both at secondary school. Thanks Edwin Wright, wherever you are (last spotted in Ely!).

Edwin put just one Beefheart track on said tape: ‘Pachuco Cadaver’, from TMR. I loved it, right from the get go. But for quite a long time I had no idea who it was.

At the time – early/mid teens – I was starting to go into Cambridge on my own. My favourite destinations were record shops: Andy’s Records, Parrot Records, Garon. It was at a branch of Andy’s that I finally bought this:

And, lo and behold, within the labyrinth of musical madness herein, I found ‘Pachuco Cadaver’. Hallelujah!

I’ll always be chuffed that, for me, my route into the heart of Beefheart‘s musical genius was – like the music itself – immediate, and visceral. I knew it was unusual. But far from finding it grating, I adored it. Right from the outset.

For years after discovering this stuff, I’d hear about folk ‘finally getting it’, along with the oft-repeated – and ludicrously wide of the mark – myth that Beefheart taught the entire band how to play, and so on.

Many years later I saw John ‘Drumbo’ French, fronting a band keeping Beefheart’s musical legacy alive, at The Junction, in Cambridge (UK). I also interviewed him, whilst I was working for Drummer magazine. The gig was pretty poorly attended. And Drummer chose not to run the Drumbo piece. A sad reflection that Beefheart remains firmly on the outside.

This has been a lot of work. But it’s coming out pretty nicely. Far from perfect. But a massive learning process. I’ve discovered numerous things I would do better next time. But that’s part of the fun; learning on the job.

I made a little support, from off-cuts, and put a coat of teak oil on. These oils and go shed really make the good ‘pop’, as they say across the pond.

Should I shellac this? The shellac I currently have will darken it. Not sure I want that?

I decided to make a case for playing cards with this herringbone veneer. Here it is, above and below, at the end of the day, today.

I did a bit of filling and sanding, where there were gaps. Cutting 45° angles, or bevels, into the panels, was very tricky. If I could’ve done that better, I’d not have needed to do so much filling. I’ll try and do better if I do the same sort of thing again.

There’s an inner sleeve – the thinner, darker, smaller part – and the thicker outer case.

Adding the filler…

These leftovers might make an interesting box?

I’ll do more herringbone veneer soon. On a much larger scale; for guitars/drums. Meanwhile, this wee experimental project has been both frustrating and fun. And a very valuable learning experience.