Another day in the fast moving life of the new site. We realised long ago that we would be forced to make our mistakes in public, as much of the work could not be finalized until the old site was switched off and the new one replaced it. I can only admire and say thank you for the ongoing heroics of the developers - Mike, Ajay and Rob. In many cases (such as the current issue with some downloads saying "server unavailable") they are curing problems that none of us can replicate. The site works perfectly for us, on all the browsers, and yet we know (because you are patiently telling us) that some of you are having issues. This last one may now be cured. However, just as it is difficult to diagnose a problem you cannot yourself see, it is difficult to know if your cure has worked. We are emailing those who have reported the issue asking them to try again. Watch this space!
I can also report that old orders are now successfully showing up in your order history. We have added some additional downloads to anything from the last month, so that no-one should lose any music in the transition.
Over the coming weeks the nature of the problems will improve - moving from these urgent functional matters, to the various "soft issues" which will ultimately mae all the difference. We have a house, we are attending to the plumbing, then the paintwork and finally the furnishings which make a home.
But you don't want to now all this...now that the diary is live, I am working through the tour of Italy. Next up, Florence. And a hotel half way between the Duomo...
and the Ponte Vecchio...
less than five minutes walk to both. Or any of the Art Galleries. Simply astonishing. I was lucky enough to have time to visit both the Uffizi Gallery and then the Galleria Dell'Accademia to see the statue of David.
Amidst such splendours, my morning jog was hardly the hardship it sometimes feels.
With the concerts, the biggest change was the lighting. After Milan, Robert complained that he felt he was performing in a belljar. He could see or hear no-one. Both Mel Collins and Gavin Harrison separately mentioned to me that it would be good to see some of these appreciative audiences that I kept telling them were out there (beyond the end of the show when the lights go up). "This problem cannot be beyond the wit of man", the manager bravely suggested. So we took the lighting of the front rows of the crowd as seriously as the lighting of the band. This proved particularly difficult in Florence due to the placement of the lightlng rig. So the lady near the front with her hands across her eyes now knows who to blame. In my defence, I can tell her that it immeasurably improved the concert for the musicians - so the view of a few may been slightly impaired, the music for all was transformed. And as we moved forward, with this issue was on our agenda, the lighting team got better at achieving the aim of a soft light on the front rows with minimal or no intrusion.
(and yes these photos are from the end of the concert when all the lights came up - no photos until then, remember?)
"Life is often desperate, but never hopeless."
