Black Box Recorders
Check out the new playlist with John’s top January picks:
One of the trick questions in pub quizzes is, ‘What colour is a black box recorder’? I think the answer is yellow or orange, but certainly not black. Given that the device should reveal the truth of an air accident, it’s ironic that its name is a contradictory one. This could be a relevant metaphor for the current state of our politics and media.
Having just recorded a collection of songs for an upcoming theatre project, mostly dealing with the difficulty of communicating emotional truths, it’s clear that it’s absolutely impossible to ignore the overbearing pressures of the online world and the ever greater influence of Artificial Intelligence on our personal and professional lives.
Against this backdrop, I’ve been examining the idea that one of our functions is to be a human black box recorder. I recently realised that I probably know more stories about my family history than anybody else and I should probably write them down before any of them get forgotten. 
For all of you who are fans of the ‘Red Skies Over Paradise’ album, you will be amused to know I have been thinking about the characters, situations and issues dealt with in that album and wondering how they would have changed in the 40 years since we made that record!  Marliese may well now be in an old peoples’ home and Brian in charge of the social services in North London!
I hope 2020 is treating all of you well. J
W.