Farewell John Martyn

Just noticed on the BBC website that legendary musician John Martyn passed away this morning. Discovering his seminal album 'Solid Air' was an important moment in my own musical education. The title track was dedicated to Nick Drake and is a sublime piece of music. A lifestyle that must have put great strain on his health was also attributed with helping him produce exciting innovative music. With songs such as 'May you never' and 'Sweet Little Mystery' he has left a wonderful legacy.

Check out YouTube for clips of him in action. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LOi_wxypeGc

Have a look on Amazon for a copy. http://www.amazon.co.uk/

EMC 250 Motocross Memories

A new year and a bit of reminiscing with a work colleague about motorbikes led to memories of an old motocross racing bike I once owned. It was an EMC and was designed and built by a brilliant engineer call Mike Eatough. It had the longest suspension travel of any ‘twin shock’ bike of its generation. (assuming my memory is correct!) After some legal issues, subsequent bikes were produced under the Cotton EMX name.
A bit of googling produced a YouTube clip showing some examples of the bike being built. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gQbZiiGGTi4 Just the same as my one, well, apart from being nice and new. The earlier frame was chromed and a real work of art. Unfortunately this stiffened the frame and it tended to crack due to the forces exerted by competition. The later ones were painted and worked extremely well.
It’s nice to see engineers hand making exhausts etc, although the factory looks more ‘traditional’ than the gleaming production facilities of the big manufactures nowadays.