this is one of the saddest birthdays i have ever had… 8(

Pink Floyd’s Barrett dies aged 60
Syd Barrett, one of the original members of legendary rock group Pink Floyd, has died at the age of 60 from complications arising from diabetes.

The guitarist was the band’s first creative force and an influential songwriter, penning their early hits.

He joined Pink Floyd in 1965 but left three years later after one album. He went on to live as a recluse, with his mental deterioration blamed on drugs.

“He died very peacefully a couple of days ago,” the band’s spokeswoman said.

“There will be a private family funeral.”

A statement from Pink Floyd said: “The band are naturally very upset and sad to learn of Syd Barrett’s death.

“Syd was the guiding light of the early band line-up and leaves a legacy which continues to inspire.”

David Bowie described Barrett as a “major inspiration”, saying: “I can’t tell you how sad I feel.

“The few times I saw him perform in London at UFO and the Marquee clubs during the ’60s will forever be etched in my mind.

“He was so charismatic and such a startlingly original songwriter. Also, along with Anthony Newley, he was the first guy I’d heard to sing pop or rock with a British accent.

“His impact on my thinking was enormous. A major regret is that I never got to know him. A diamond indeed.”

Born Roger Barrett in Cambridge, he composed songs including See Emily Play and Arnold Layne, both from 1967.

He also wrote most of their album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. But he struggled to cope with fame and drugs.

Dave Gilmour was brought in to the band in February 1968 and Barrett left that April, releasing two solo albums soon after.

The band’s biggest-selling releases, Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall, emerged in the post-Barrett era, with the band selling an estimated 200 million albums worldwide.

Just as Pink Floyd were about to achieve global success, Barrett retreated from public life and returned to Cambridge.

Little was known about his whereabouts for 20 years until he was tracked down living with his mother.

But his influence remained, with younger fans and artists discovering his music.

Former Blur guitarist Graham Coxon released a statement saying: “Lost him again… for bang on 20 years Syd led me to better places.”

“From my agape 17-year-old first listen to Bike to, just the other day, Jugband Blues.

“Languished in his noise… dreamt in his night… stared at his eyes for answers…”

Barrett’s biographer Tim Willis said the guitarist’s music left a lasting legacy.

“I don’t think we would have the David Bowie we have today if it wasn’t for Syd,” he told BBC Radio Five Live.

“Bowie was very much a kind of clone of Syd in the early years. His influence is still going.

“New bands discover him all the time. There’s always a Syd revival going on – if it wasn’t the punks, it was REM, and I’m sure that Arnold Layne and Emily Play as pop songs will live forever.”

whoo… another weekend of OCF come and gone, but it was almost 5 days, so calling it a weekend is a bit of a misnomer. i left on wednesday. i had originally planned on leaving tuesday and attending moe’s family’s “traditional” fourth of july, but moe wasn’t feeling well and didn’t want to make the drive by herself back, while i went on to veneta, so i got up early wednesday morning and made the 5 hour drive. i was on the outskirts of eugene on the way to veneta when i went over 166,666 miles in ganesha the car. i’m not sure if that’s a good sign, but the fair went well, so i’ll take it as one even if it’s not.

i worked on the backstage area for the remainder of wednesday and all of thursday, helping larry the carpenter build the band box, helping create the lower part of the stage where the band sat, and making a sign for our “recruitment mirror” (Dwarves Needed – Apply Here), which was a carnival-style mirror that was convex, so that everyone who walked by it looked like a dwarf. the three dwarves (dwarfs, dorfs) were a play on the three stooges, among other things, but there was a lot of fun to be had with unsuspecting hippies who wanted to know why we only had three dwarves. we would tell them all kinds of weird stuff, usually that we made up on the spot, including that the four other dwarves were in jail in california, and we were at the fair to raise money for their legal defense. we made up several ruses to give unsuspecting hippies who wanted to know how to audition for the part of dwarves. one was that the guy to talk to was named “ruben” and he was wearing tie-dye and was around “somewhere”… of course, there was no “ruben”, or if there was, he certainly didn’t know about anything having to do with us or dwarf auditions.

i was introduced to the concept of “tribes” at the fair, for example: the flamingo tribe is responsible for the ritz. so we created a new tribe, the bacon tribe, which is the people surrounding the big boys with poise performances. BBWP, once again, played to rave reviews, both for the friday night fire show and the sunday night comedie/varieté show (for which we used practice poi so that we wouldn’t set the stage on fire). the friday night show was spectacular. it was easily 2000 people in the audience, and possibly more. all of the other artists were talented, and graceful, and flashy, and innovative, and they danced and breathed and spun fire with alacrity that is extremely difficult to match anywhere, but BBWP, all of whom are over the age of 45, weigh more than 180 pounds, and have absolutely no talent, grace or artistry, is the show that everyone will remember for years to come. we chanted “WE’RE BIG, WE’RE BOYS, WE’RE BIG BOYS WITH POISE, COME ON NOW AND MAKE SOME NOISE, WE’RE BIG BOYS…” and the crowd literally roared “WITH POISE!!!”

i talked with beau, who made the cute little skull that is my icon. it turns out he made me three skulls that have the craniotomy in the correct place. one is just the upper part of the skull, with no lower jaw, and it either has multiple craniotomies, or a place to put a leather strap through to make it into something that you wear around your neck, one is a complete skull with a lower jaw and only one craniotomy, and one is my skull, with a beard and moustache, and a sikha. i also saw jeff and gary, who i know from drunk puppet night. gary is also a tuba player, and it turns out that he’s buying a “new” sousaphone, so he said he would sell me his old one for $250 or so, which is the upper limit of what i can afford, but he also said that, since it is in the family, he probably wouldn’t need all the money right away.

saturday and sunday there was a workshop put on by people from gamelan-x on performing the balinese ramayana monkey chant (which is actually called “kecak”). it’s another one of those things that, if i were to learn all about it, i would probably have to give up any preconceived ideas about music as we know of it in the west, and start from scratch. it’s simple enough that it’s fairly easy to learn, especially if you have experience performing pretty much anything with a group of people, but it’s deep and powerful enough that it’s easy to understand how, when it’s performed correctly, it actually has the power to transform the guy in the middle of the group from an ordinary human being into the monkey god Hanuman.

there’s probably more of this post, but it probably won’t be posted until at least tomorrow. meanwhile, go look at a whole pile of pictures and wonder why you weren’t there enjoying yourself.