FRIDAY MUSIC: André Rieu, by JD

André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu is a Dutch violinist and conductor best known as the founder of the waltz-playing Johann Strauss Orchestra. Rieu and his orchestra tour worldwide, often playing in stadiums. He resides in his native Maastricht, where he also regularly performs at the Vrijthof.

As the founder of the Johann Strauss Orchestra, he has succeeded in making classical music accessible to a wide audience and has inspired millions of people with waltzes and music from opera, film, musicals, operettas and traditional melodies and he does it with a touch of humour talking with his audiences and sometimes playing unusual choices as can be seen below.
https://www.andrerieu.com/en

Andre Rieu - An der schönen blauen Donau 1999

André Rieu - The Second Waltz (official video 2020)

André Rieu - Boléro (Ravel)

ANDRE RIEU - Old MacDonald [HQ]

André Rieu - Mestreechs Volksleed en Mestreech is neet breid

Scotland the Brave & Highland Cathedral – André Rieu live in Bahrain

FRIDAY MUSIC: Clinton Ford

Clinton Ford (born Ian George Stopford Harrison; 1931–2009) was a popular English singer and entertainer known for his versatile style spanning skiffle, trad jazz, country and western, and traditional music-hall comedy. He scored several UK chart hits during the late 1950s and 1960s, most notably his 1962 smash cover of George Formby’s “Fanlight Fanny”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Ford_(singer)

Fanlight Fanny

Wolverton Mountain

Clinton Ford and George Chisolm-The Old Bazaar In Cairo

Clinton Ford ‘Old Shep’ 45 RPM Original Version

El Paso

Clinton Ford sings “ MUSTAPHA” as Sheik Ali Bendhown
A very popular song from the 50s / 60s sung by Clinton Ford.
Clinton recorded this song as he said he fancied singing something in Arabic, so he asked a egyptian friend to translate a verse for him. It was played on Two- way - family favourites and Jean Metcalf had no idea it was him.
He recorded this number under the name of “ Ali Bendhown”.
As Clinton used to say It seemed a good idea at the time.

FRIDAY MUSIC: Bruce Springsteen (2), by JD

This is the second post for Bruce Springsteen. The previous post featured music which was “a blend(?) of New Orleans style jazz with folk music playing very old melodies which form the bulk of what can be loosely decribed as ‘Americana.”

https://theylaughedatnoah.blogspot.com/2022/07/friday-music-bruce-springsteen-and.html

This time we feature his more familiar style of rock’n’roll(sometimes with and sometimes without the E Street Band)

His concerts certainly provide value for money, they usually last three hours or more!

“Tougher Than The Rest” (MULTI-CAM) - Bruce Springsteen LA 3/19/2016

Bruce Springsteen - Human Touch (Official HD Video)

Bruce Springsteen - Dancing In the Dark (from Born In The U.S.A. Live: London 2013)

Bruce Springsteen - You Never Can Tell (Leipzig 7/7/13)

“Hungry Heart” (MULTI-CAM) - Bruce Springsteen LA 3/19/2016

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - Glory Days (London Calling: Live In Hyde Park, 2009) believe it or not this was the final number after a three hour show!

Don’t know where he gets the energy from. Must be because music makes you young!

FRIDAY MUSIC: Dave Brubeck, by JD

This week’s music comes from the Dave Brubeck Quartet.

David Warren Brubeck was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck’s work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasting rhythms, meters, and tonalities, and combining different styles and genres, such as classical, jazz, and blues.

In the early Sixties Brubeck ‘invaded’ the pop charts with his single “Take Five” which became the best selling jazz record of all time. In the late fifties Brubeck was experimenting with unusual time signatures in two albums; Time Out and Time Further Out.

The following selection is not all by his Quartet but helps to illustrate the influence he has had on subsequent musicians.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Brubeck

https://www.davebrubeck.com/

Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five (Live In Germany, 1966)

Jon Lord - Unsquare Dance (Dave Brubeck)

Jon Lord was keyboard player with Deep Purple and left the band because of the touring which was too tiring. He then concentrated on writing and recording new music. He also adapted existing music and recorded his own variations on themes including Unsquare Dance and I think it is better than the various Brubeck versions available on YouTube.

Brubeck: Koto Song | The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Live in Belgium 1964

Dave Brubeck - Golden Brown

Of course that was not Dave Brubeck playing Golden Brown by The Stranglers and it was not put together with AI. It was assembled before AI by Laurence Mason using tape editing etc as explained here -

A couple of people have asked how I made this video so here we go -
I took a clip from a 1964 live version of Take Five ( • Dave Brubeck - Take Five ) and made the drum loop by chopping up the intro and turning it from 5/4 into the 3/4 - 4/4 groove that Golden Brown has. The upright bass sound is sequenced from Logic, and the piano part was played in using one of the piano sounds from a Nord Electro 5D. Then I played the sax part over the top (I play a King Zephyr alto and for this I used a hard rubber Yanigasawa mouthpiece rather than my usual bright Guardala).
The video was then edited using the clip I’d taken the drum loop from.

Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take the “A” Train (Live In Germany, 1966)

That should set your feet tapping!

FRIDAY MUSIC: Jelly Roll Morton, by JD

Last week Mr Sackerson asked me how many musicians adopted the name Jelly Roll. I don’t know and I don’t suppose anyone else does. But I do know the most well known one was Jelly Roll Morton who famously claimed to have invented jazz. That is probably an exaggeration but he was certainly one of its first ‘superstars’ to come out of New Orleans which is certainly the home of jazz in the late 19th and early 20th centuries combining African rhythms with European folk music.

“Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American blues and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer of Louisiana Creole descent. Morton was jazz’s first arranger, proving that a genre rooted in improvisation could retain its essential characteristics when notated.

“Jelly Roll Morton got his famous stage name from a combination of an adopted family surname and a risqué musical moniker. Born Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, he took the last name Morton as an anglicized version of his stepfather’s surname (Mouton) while playing piano in his teens. He adopted the nickname “Jelly Roll”—which was common early 20th-century sexual slang—while performing piano in the brothels and red-light districts of New Orleans.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelly_Roll_Morton

Doctor Jazz - Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers - 1926

The Crave - Jelly Roll Morton

Original Jelly Roll Blues - Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers - 1926

Jelly Roll Morton - Tiger Rag

Pearls

Tank Town Bump

FRIDAY MUSIC: Jason “Jelly Roll” DeFord, by JD

Singer-songwriter Jelly Roll is known for hit songs like “Need a Favor,” “Save Me,” and “I Am Not Okay.” Unafraid to embrace an underdog persona, he overcame a tumultuous adolescence and early adulthood that included several stints in prison and drug addiction before achieving his music dreams. This turbulent past has helped inspire some of his most famous songs. Although he started in rap and hip-hop, the Tennessee native has emerged as a country music star. In November 2023, he was named the CMA’s New Artist of the Year and was nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards.

https://www.biography.com/musicians/a45530830/jelly-roll
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelly_Roll_(singer)

Jelly Roll - Liar (Official Music Video)

Jelly Roll – God Never Let Me Stay Down | New Country Gospel Song 2026

Jelly Roll ‘How Do I Say Goodbye’ | Lyrics Video

Jelly Roll - Thorns (Official Music Video)

Jelly Roll -God, I’m Sorry | Draw back to God with this song|

I think it is Channel4 which shows The Grand Ole Opry on sunday nights and I saw him on there a few months ago and liked his style more or less immediately.

FRIDAY MUSIC: Henry Hall and the BBC Dance Orchestra, by JD

This is what my parents’ generation listened to on the radio; Henry Hall and the BBC Dance Orchestra. I’m not sure but I think Hall might have been the man who introduced an element of whimsy into the music of the dance bands of that era which makes it easy to see why he occasionally provided music for the Goons or for Ted Ray as well as Kenneth Horne’s Much Binding in the Marsh.

Hope you enjoy his bit of time travel and leave behind the cares of this mad modern world!

***************

Every generation has its ‘own’ music which is usually incomprehensible to previous and/or subsequent generations. My own musical generation lived at the time of the ‘beat boom’ of the sixties. My parents did not criticise ‘my’ music, in fact they liked some of it. Their generation would listen to the music played on the BBC’s Light Programme. They never claimed that it was better than our modern ‘rubbish’ just that it was different. One of the names that cropped up in conversations was Henry Hall and I just listened and nodded and thought that’s probably what I may have listened to had I been born in that era. But curiosity led me to look for and listen to a selection of the music of Henry Hall.

“The BBC Dance Orchestra, led by Jack Payne, made its first official broadcast on 12 March 1928. The band had proved its popularity as The Cecilians, occasionally broadcasting from the Hotel Cecil. Given the title Director of the BBC Dance Orchestra, Payne moved his 10-piece band to the studio at Savoy Hill. His regular radio performances ensured his success, and made his signature tune, “Say it with Music”, a hit.

The BBC Handbook of 1929 acknowledged the importance of dance music on the radio and called it “the voice of something very typical of ourselves and of this post-war age”. Radio dancing lessons were all the rage, and the listeners’ appetite for dance music was huge. The BBC Dance Orchestra was soon receiving 10 thousand letters a week.

Jack Payne left the BBC in 1932 and was replaced by Henry Hall, who continued the success with another line-up of the BBC Dance Orchestra. Hall was followed by Billy Ternent and then Stanley Black, until 1952. The orchestra provided the music for many hit programmes, including The Goons, Ray’s a Laugh and Much Binding in the Marsh.”

https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/anniversaries/march/first-broadcast-by-the-bbc-dance-orchestra

1934 Vintage - The BBC Dance Orchestra dir. by Henry Hall

I Like Bananas Because They Have No Bones - Henry Hall Lyrics

Henry Hall with the BBC Dance Orchestra ‘The Sun Has Got His Hat On’ Original 1932 78 rpm

The Teddy Bears’ Picnic - Henry Hall

Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf?

1936 Vintage - The BBC Dance Orchestra directed by Henry Hall

FRIDAY MUSIC: Eric Shi (Chinese bluegrass), by JD

Eric Shi hails from what one might consider the least likely place to find bluegrass music. He was raised in China’s Zhejiang Province, and he currently calls Dali in Yunnan Province home. After beginning his study of traditional three-finger bluegrass banjo in 2010 under the tutelage of Sab Watanabe, an accomplished Japanese musician, he had opportunity to meet Bill Keith three years later while Keith was on tour in Japan. His study of banjo methodology was further nurtured after that meeting. It was only two years after that — in 2015 to be exact — when he wrote his first Chinese banjo instructional book, which was published in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China. In 2021, his second book was published and distributed in mainland China exclusively.

https://bluegrasstoday.com/bluegrass-beyond-borders-eric-shi-brings-bluegrass-to-china/

jambalaya-Chinese bluegrass band Erhu and banjo

Amarillo By morning - Bluegrass Cover

Hard Times Come Again No More|Bluegrass Arrangement by Eric Shi

Turkey in the Straw Breakdown-Top 1 Chinese Favorite Bluegrass Song

Chinese Bluegrass band-Can Can dance ,Filmed in Dali, China

Alan Jackson-Chattahoochee Bluegrass Cover(by Eric Shi)

FRIDAY MUSIC: Randy Newman, by JD

I had almost forgotten what day it was with the World Cup altering the timings of everything. But luckily today is also ‘bin day’ so I was reminded.

So here is Randy Newman who I see is 92 and still going strong. Music obviously keeps you young!

Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, pianist, composer, and arranger. Born in Los Angeles to an extended family of Hollywood film composers, he is known for his Americana-inspired songs, non-rhotic Southern-accented singing, and lyrics that are often mordant or satirical and delivered by an unreliable narrator. Since the 1990s, he has worked mainly in film scoring, most popularly for Disney and Pixar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Newman
https://www.randynewman.com/

Randy Newman - It’s Money That Matters (Official Video)

Randy Newman - Falling in Love (Official Video)

Randy Newman - Short People (Official Video)

Randy Newman - I Love L.A. (Official Video) [HD]

Randy Newman - “I’m Dead (But I Don’t Know It)”

FRIDAY MUSIC: Professor Longhair, by JD

Henry Roeland “Roy” Byrd (December 19, 1918 – January 30, 1980), better known as Professor Longhair or “Fess” for short, was an American singer and pianist who performed New Orleans blues. He was active in two distinct periods, first in the heyday of early rhythm and blues and later in the resurgence of interest in traditional jazz after the founding of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1970. His piano style has been described as “instantly recognizable, combining rumba, mambo, and calypso”.

Professor Longhair had only one national commercial hit, “Bald Head”, in 1950, under the name Roy Byrd and His Blues Jumpers. He also recorded his favorites, “Tipitina” and “Go to the Mardi Gras”. He lacked crossover appeal among white and wide audiences. Yet, he is regarded (and was acknowledged) as being a musician who was highly influential for other prominent musicians, such as Fats Domino, Allen Toussaint and Dr. John.

After a few years during which he disappeared from the music scene, Professor Longhair’s musical career finally received “a well deserved renaissance” and wide recognition. He was invited to perform at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1971 and at the Newport Jazz Festival and the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1973. His album The London Concert showcases work he did on a visit to the United Kingdom. That significant career resurrection saw the recording of the album “Professor Longhair - Live On The Queen Mary”, which was recorded on March 24, 1975, during a private party hosted by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney on board the retired RMS Queen Mary.

Walk Right In/Shake,Rattle,& Roll” Professor Longhair & The Meters 1974

Professor Longhair - Go To The Mardi Gras

Tipitina (Album Version)

Professor Longhair --- Stag O’ Lee

Professor Longhair - Mess Around

That should set your feet tapping!

FRIDAY MUSIC: Martha Reich, by JD

Award-winning Santa Fe-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Martha Reich has performed at venues around the world. Her music transcends tradition and language in a way that is moving, honest, and rare. Each song feels as though she’s written it just for you--to tell you something important about life.

Reich has released five albums. Her most recent multi-instrumental CD, ‘BRAVE BIRD’ won a Gold Medal for Female Vocalist in the 2018 Global Music Awards and LA Critics Award for Best Folk Artist.

www.marthareich.com

Song For Tessa ~ Martha Reich ~ Official Music Video

Martha Reich ~ WOODY’S LULLABY ~ A love song to those forever in our hearts

Martha Reich ~ ‘FADE AWAY’ ~ 2019 New Mexico Music Awards Winner ~ Best Singer Songwriter Song

Martha Reich Braden - If you Only Knew (Live and Amplified)

BUDDHA BLUE ~ Official Lyric Video; Feat. Gregg Braden ~ Guitar & Flute and Michael Kott ~ Cello

FRIDAY MUSIC: World Cup!

A selection of music in celebration of football’s World Cup, 2026...

Barrett Strong - Money (That’s What I Want) (Lyric Video)

Pink Floyd - Money (Official Music Video)

Rosanne Cash - There Ain’t No Money

Bruce Springsteen - Pay me my money down

Dolly Parton - 9 To 5 (Official Video)

ABBA - Money, Money, Money (Official Music Video)

... Yes, the ‘beautiful game’ has been tainted by the curse of avarice!

FRIDAY MUSIC: Hamilton Camp, by JD

Hamilton Camp was a British-born actor and singer, who relocated to the United States with his family when he was a young child. He is known for his work as a folk singer during the 1960s, and eventually branched out into acting in films and television.

Hamilton Camp served as one of the links between the Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger folk music of the ‘40s and the singer/songwriter school of Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton, and Phil Ochs in the ‘60s. [Apple Music]

Camp is probably best known as the author of the song “Pride of Man”, which was recorded by a number of artists, notably Quicksilver Messenger Service, Gram Parsons, and Gordon Lightfoot, who included it as one of three songs by other songwriters on his first record. Camp died of a heart attack on October 2, 2005, four weeks before his 71st birthday. He was survived by his six children and thirteen grandchildren. [Wiki]

Hamilton Camp :: Pride Of Man

Girl of the North County

Celts (the lyrics are from the poem The Stolen Child by W.B.Yeats)

Hamilton Camp : Here’s To You

Hamilton Camp - Get Together

Gibson & Camp - “Sing For The Song” 5/21/87
Hamilton Camp And Bob Gibson, two renowned folksingers, singing together on Art Fein’s Poker Party in Los Angeles. Gibson died in the 1990s, Camp in 2006. Gibson started in folk music in 1955 and maintained a successful career. In 1961 the two teamed up for a world-famous recording “Gibson & Camp at The Gate Of Horn,” then they returned to their solo careers. The duo resumed performances in the late 70s.

FRIDAY MUSIC: Sixties Beat Boom, by JD

And some more golden oldies from this ageing baby boomer reminiscing about the good old days when life made more sense and there was such a burst of creativity and a sparkling variety of good music. I do hope I am not boring the youngsters of generation X or Y or Z or whatever/whoever they are. But have patience, we will not be here much longer: all of the artists featured this week and last week will now be in their late 70s or early 80s and more than a few are no longer alive.

Status Quo - Pictures Of Matchstick Men (Official Top Of The Pops Video)

Chris Farlowe with Out Of Time
This song was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and Farlowe’s version was number one in the pop charts in 1966 on the day England won the World Cup!

Ride My See Saw - Moody Blues {Stereo} 1968

Fleetwood Mac Albatross 1969
This is the real Fleetwood Mac which featured Peter Green, Danny Kirwan and Jeremy Spencer; probably the only rock group with three lead guitarists.

The Box Tops - The Letter (Upbeat 1967)

Rolling Stones - Paint It Black LIVE (1966)

FRIDAY MUSIC: From the Sixties, by JD

I see we have been here before when I did a post of music ‘The Likely Lads’ would have been listening to in their younger days - https://theylaughedatnoah.blogspot.com/2025/08/friday-music-classic-hits-of-50s60s-by.html

The reference to the Golden Oldies channel on Freeview still applies and, if anything, it is worse than last year. Freeview used to have three channels devoted to ‘golden oldies’ but now there is just one and this is how they describe their ‘best of the sixties’:

“A selection of live performances from TV music shows in the 1960s for a genuine taste of the best of the ‘60s!

‘From TV music shows’ ought to have been a clue because a good proportion of the videos are from American TV variety shows and a lot of them feature unknown singers who are definitely not giving us a genuine taste of the Sixties.

This is what they ought to be playing but you will never hear them on golden oldies channels either on TV or on radio. And it is a very eclectic and always melodic mix.

Cream - Badge

Mary Wells - My Guy

The Drifters - Under The Boardwalk (Official Video) Re-Mastered

The Scaffold - Lily The Pink

The Doors - Love Street

Martha & the Vandellas - Heatwave

Ben E. King / All Star Band - Stand By Me (The Prince’s Trust Rock Gala 1987)

Plenty more where that came from. The problem was what to leave out!

And yes George Harrison did play on that Cream song but for copyright reasons he was listed on the album cover as l’angelo Misterioso.

Ben E King’s song has been covered by 400 artists and is a timeless classic. It was inspired by a gospel song By Sam Cooke called ‘Stand By Me, Father’

Hope you enjoy that selection as much as I do.

Labour's corporate bullshit

A front page article in The Times says a study from Cornell University shows that people who are taken in by ‘corporate bullshit’ tend to be stupider and more likely to find their leaders inspirational.

Coincidentally or not, the front page also features a piece in which Tony Blair offers his statesmanlike advice to the Labour Party. Apparently a change of leadership is not helpful if there is no change in policies. A longer summary on page 10 says that compared with the big boys - the USA, China and soon India - we are in danger of being ‘marooned on an island of irrrelevance.’

That ship has sailed, you may say. Though when the real ‘Robinson Crusoe’ was marooned it was for predicting his ship would sink - which it did shortly afterwards. He was ‘better off out’ then and so are we now, if only we seize the chances Brexit gave us.

More bullshit on page 5 where Home Office Minister Mike Tapp tells us that while Reform are squabbling ‘the Government is actually bringing down immigration.’ The official gross figure for y/end 2025 is c. 813,000 compared with 948,000 in 2024. But that’s assuming the Government actually knows the numbers. For over a decade MigrationWatch has predicted our total population will eventually hit 70 million; last October Ed West guessed that we’re already past that point; some think that given data on shopping and utilities it could be millions more than that.

Blair’s rich fantasy life pitches his Party the idea of representing a ‘Radical Centre.’ Hardly a new notion: the 1997 manifesto said ‘New Labour is the political arm of none other than the British people as a whole.’ Now his Institute is recommending ditching various 2024 manifesto commitments so we don’t go under.

I would suggest that the average Briton 1) is not a radical and 2) does not know what is in the various Party manifestoes, 3) would be a fool to think they are binding and 4) votes partly tribally and partly in an emotional spasm when disappointed.

Apparently, according to ‘The Master’, Labour won the 2024 General Election by being ‘an acceptable… default option to a Conservative government.’ If he is implying that voters switched from Tory to Labour he must be hard put to explain why Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership got more ballots in 2017 and 2019 than Starmer’s.

Corporate bullshit.

FRIDAY MUSIC: Benny Goodman and Swing, by JD

 “Creativity grows out of two things; curiosity and imagination”

- Benny Goodman.

Benjamin David Goodman was an American jazz clarinetist and bandleader, known as the “King of Swing”. His orchestra did well commercially. From 1935 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Benny-Goodman
https://www.bennygoodman.com/

Lionel Hampton and Benny Goodman - Stealing Apples (high quality)

Benny Goodman Quartet - Moonglow

King Porter Stomp - Benny Goodman 1985

Benny Goodman Trio (China Boy and Sheik of Araby)

12-min version of “Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)” live @ Carnegie Hall, 1938

FRIDAY MUSIC: Arvo Pärt, by JD

This is the music of the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. It may not be to everyone’s liking but when I first heard it about 30 years ago it ‘grabbed’ me immediately and it gets better as I get older. It is certainly different, I’m sure you will agree.

Pärt was born in Estonia in 1935. He has composed music since the 1950’s, music which in Soviet-controlled country was alternately praised or banned, but was completely unknown in the West until the 1980’s.

In 1977, he wrote a trio of works that were to define his own style, and set his future course of composition. In that year he wrote the three works that made him famous in the West, the three works that are still regarded as his best are Fratres, Cantus for Benjamin Britten and Tabula Rasa.

“I have discovered that it is enough when a single note is beautifully played. This one note, or a silent beat, or a moment of silence, comforts me. I work with very few elements - with one voice, two voices. I build with primitive materials - with the triad, with one specific tonality. The three notes of a triad are like bells and that is why I call it tintinnabulation”- Arvo Pärt
https://www.good-music-guide.com/reviews/071_arvo_part.htm

Pärt​ – Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten – Norwegian Chamber Orchestra

Spiegel im Spiegel for Cello and Piano (Arvo Pärt)

VOCES8: The Deer’s Cry - Arvo Pärt

Arvo Pärt De Profundis

Tabula Rasa Part 1 “Ludus”

FRIDAY MUSIC: Duke Ellington, by JD

 “Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American pianist who was the greatest jazz composer and bandleader of his time. One of the originators of big-band jazz, Ellington led his band for more than half a century, composed thousands of scores, and created one of the most distinctive ensemble sounds in all of Western music.”

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Duke-Ellington

Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn - Take the “A” Train

Duke Ellington - Caravan

Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington “It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)”

Rockin In Rhythm

Duke Ellington Diminuendo And Crescendo In Blue

With those last two numbers you could almost say he helped to invent -rock and roll.

Will AI take over? by JD

 In this post JD argues that the threat of AI is overstated - but we wonder whether it may narrow the gap between the blue collar and the white?

“Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”
- from The Rock by T.S.Eliot
https://www.wisdomportal.com/Technology/TSEliot-TheRock.html

Where indeed? Were he alive today Eliot might have continued “and where is the information swallowed up by AI; Artificial Intelligence?”

AI is all over the news media. Huge amounts of money being invested (gambled?) on its potential.

We have been here before of course. In the 1930s Alan Turing was working on what he called Machine Intelligence. Continuing with that work he eventually came up with what became the Enigma machine. We have all heard of that because it was able to decipher the German secret communication codes and helped to bring an end to the second world war.
https://www.vectra.ai/blog/alan-turing-and-the-birth-of-machine-intelligence

AI consists of pure information which it is able to transfer between machines/computers. What it cannot do is perform physical tasks. All the speculation about AI taking over everybody’s job is just that, speculation or scaremongering.
As an example, let us suppose you are driving along and get a puncture in one of your tyres. How is AI going to help you get the spare wheel out of the boot and replace the wheel with the puncture? It can’t. Or when your car needs its annual service, is AI going to change the oil or the spark plugs? No of course not. So the motor mechanic’s job is safe, he will never be replaced by AI.

Another example is my garden fence which is leaning at a perilous angle after some high winds. What will AI’s contribution be to restoring my fence to the vertical? None whatsoever. So the fencing contractor’s job is not going to disappear any time soon.
I’m sure you can readily think of many examples of your own.

Iain McGilchrist FRSA is a British psychiatrist, philosopher and neuroscientist who wrote the 2009 book The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World. In this video he explains how and why AI cannot become conscious because it is entirely parasitic. In other words it is dependent on information created by others. It has access to all of that information. AI will search and retrieve information according to what it is asked to retrieve. It will then display such information in the way it is asked to display or use it. But it will always require people to make use of the information. The machine that is AI cannot do anything without instructions from whoever is operating the machine; it cannot carry out any physical function. It is humans and only humans who are able to do that. Iain McGilchrist explains it much better than I can in this video.

Iain McGilchrist - Can AI Become Conscious?

There is another aspect to AI which is usually ignored by commentaters and that is the idea of computer chips being implanted into the brain in order to ‘enhance’ the brain’s capacity. I have already read about people who have done just that but I have seen no ‘progress reports’ telling us whether these implants have been successful or not.

The following video comes from Gregg Braden who was for a number of years a software designer working for the US government as well as for Cisco Systems and others. He explains the current situation and the pitfalls which lie ahead.

Artificial Intelligence vs Human Awareness | Gregg Braden