Mellotronists

<< They're Dacias..... Well you DID ask!...... >>

exactly the kind of self-delusional reasoning that has resulted in romanians 
putting up with a dodgy french motor for the thick end of thirty years. they 
may *say* dacia on them, and they may even have been revisited by the stylist 
once or twice (which itself beggars belief- why stop at the tail-lights? 
redesign the whole thing! like, yesterday!) but they are still plainly 
renault 12s. I saw pickups, minivans, estates (station wagons), saloons.... 
we saw two car dealerships in the whole of bucharest, though I'm sure there 
were more somewhere. one was for Dacia (yep, they still *make* the damn 
things. I know. new renault 12's. you couldn't make it up, could you?) and 
one with big cobwebs in the window was for chrysler jeeps. 
BUT in a twisted sort of way, I was kind of pleased that the locals have got 
better things to worry about than the state of their roads and what they put 
on them. tribute also to this shitty-looking little car that they 
(apparently) thrive on being driven through craters that would (and probably 
did) stop tanks. fair play to 'em. I've started liking the dacia a bit. did 
you say there's a 4x4?
there's probably an owners' e-mail group... then again, the electronic 
infrastructure there isn't up to a group that big just yet..... fascinating. 
ahem. back to business.

>>>So Duncan did you order M300A Violins/McD Flute/Russian Choir?<<<

not necessarily in that order. um.... it doesn't say on tape 1 or the spool 
what order they're in. and I can't remember (martin tends to do business with 
me on the 'phone, before I'm properly awake) what strings there'll be. but 
the choir and flute are the "new" ones. there's a cryptic note on the first 
tape, where the client's name usually goes, or the list of sounds, that will 
baffle the 'tron archeologists in a few dozen years.
so... shit.... it's past 1am here now, so I can't fire up the 'tron and get 
cracking. it's past neighbourly-awareness curfew; the sound of the motor 
carries too much even though it's thoroughly well maintained. so y's'll all 
have to wait until I get 'em laced up. I'll try to make a little video of 
this process while I'm about it, in case anyone's interested in how I go 
about replacing an existing set. my record is 65 minutes. (525 vhs no 
problemo, though I think martin's embarking on a similar video-tutorial 
anyway).
I'm also hoping to contribute a track to the collection, which won't be an 
r.m.i. effort but rather a brisk musical trawl through the r.m.i. 'tron 
library. I mention this now because I want to lay claim to the title in 
advance; it'll be called "mello hum". well, someone had to use it.

now, where's that herb trumpet I was working on....?

d/400nr1098 (ah c'mon, there's no-one in downstairs!)

p.s. 
as some of you may know, my 400 is quite heavily be-stickered; by way of 
compensating for an indifferent cosmetic state when it was acquired, I 
started covering it with anything readable and sticky. it has a collection of 
stickers naming defunct indie bands, tv shows, magazines, websites.... and, 
most recently, an itv-digital sticker. the one organisation that has escaped 
(so far) the duncan's-'tron-curse is the science centre at jodrell bank. 
oops.....