Nuggets 347 – Asleep on the Moon

In July 1969 I was 7. I pressed my nose up to our black and white Thorn TV to watch Apollo 11 land on the moon. After bouncing around in their bright white moon suits they retreated to the lunar lander, tidied things away, then slept. I remember thinking how odd it must have been to sleep so far away from home in that bleak place.

11 July 1969

12:54 a.m.– After checking with Mission Control to make sure all chores have been completed, experiments set up, and photographs taken, Aldrin starts back up the ladder to re-enter the LM.

1:09 a.m.– Armstrong joins Aldrin in the landing craft.

1:11 a.m.– The hatch is closed. The astronauts begin removing the portable life support systems on which they have depended for two hours and 47 minutes.

5 a.m.– Astronauts are told to go to sleep, after attending to final housekeeping details and answering a number of questions concerning the geology of the Moon.

https://history.nasa.gov/ap11ann/apollo11_log/log.htm

On the 50th anniversary of that expedition I again thought about the astronauts sleeping on the moon. Here is my soundtrack to their uneasy slumber.

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#arthur-russell, #bitchin-bajas, #brian-eno, #claps, #grouper, #james-yates, #johanna-billing, #low, #lust-for-youth, #malibu-wands, #mark-mcguire, #mark-peters, #midday-veil, #panabrite, #scntfc, #sumsun, #ulrich-schnauss, #white-fold, #wolfgang-riechmann

Nuggets 184 – Ambient

Ambient music = music that is "actively listened to with attention or as easily ignored, depending on the choice of the listener", and that exists on the "cusp between melody and texture" sez Brian Eno. Not sure if all these tracks fit the bill. They do what I wanted however, which is to provide a backdrop for when I am working at my desk. I have included Grouper, some rinky tink tink keyboards, mellower krautrock from Wolfgang Reichmann, Cluster and others with some kompakt goodness at the end from Gui Boratto

PS, visit this interweb gem for definitions of slang from the past, i.e. rinky-dink (now worn out, cheap) and feisty (now  lively, determined, and courageous)

No cover yet. Here’s some Len Lye in the meantime with Free Radicals.

 

More Len – The Colour Box. Used by the BPO to sell stamps.