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DECEMBER 2007 |
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**Sun 30 Dec 07**
Brian was on German TV in Bavaria Sunday 23rd 17:15h at RTL Bayernjournal at Highlights der Woche (Highlights of the week) about BANG! You can see it at the internet via: www.d-stream.de. The interview was made at last year's BANG! signing at Waterstones in London. Thanks to Gösta Oelstrom --- Audio extract HERE Quote from the German newsreel (kindly translated by Alison) COMMENTARY: Queen guitarist Brian May is now a Doctor of Astrophysics, Chancellor of Liverpool University and co-author of a book called 'Bang - The Complete History of the Universe'. In 1970 he was a student of astrophysics at Imperial College when he met Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor and with them formed the band Queen. BRIAN MAY: It is the complete history of the universe, but written in a way that everyone can understand. There's no mathematics in it - it's just about the concept of the Big Bang and everything that followed. The reactions have been very positive. People say "Yes, that's clear to me, I can understand that - it's not too difficult. © brianmay.com |
**Sat 29 Dec 07** Brian put in a surprise visit to the Dominion at this afternoon and this evening's performances, doing a little bit of playing. © brianmay.com |
**Thu 27 Dec 07**
Brian May features on the Guardian Unlimited 'Science Weekly Christmas Special' (audio podcast), along with interviews with other prominent scientists, a roundup of the main science stories of the year, and dark matter explained in song. GUARDIAN UNLIMITED Is it that time of year already? Clearly the answer's yes, so why not spend half an hour in the company of Alok Jhan and the Science Weekly team as we look back on our highlights of 2007. We've got exclusive interviews with Richard Dawkins, Robert Winston, Craig Venter, and, er, Brian May. Plus, we round-up some of the most important science stories of the last year - and all right, some of the least important ones too. We also hear from the gerentologist who thinks he can cure the aging process. And finally, you'll hear the Science Weekly troubadour give his take on dark matter. Featuring the assembled talents of Alok Jhan, James Randerson, Ian Sample, Bobbie Johnson, Nell Boase, Jonny Berliner (and producer Ben) - this is your non-christmassy Christmas Special. --- LISTEN TO BRIAN'S INTERVIEW HERE INTERVIEW WITH BRIAN MAY BRIAN MAY: Hi Folks. This is Brian May and you're listening to Science Weekly on Guardian Unlimited. ALOK JHAN: He's right you know. This is Science Weekly. I'm Alok Jhan and we're over half way through this special edition of our almost award-winning show. Now you may be wondering what Brian May's doing on a Science broadcast. and you'd be right sort of. Brian's of course best known for his epic guitar solos with Queen, not to his mention luxurious locks, but this summer, Brian put down his guitar for long enough to hand in his PhD thesis to Imperial College in London. They had the snappy title 'Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud', and producer, Ben, went along to see him in his gown to find out more. BRIAN MAY: In the Solar System there are planets and there are asteroids and there are comets and there's also a lot of dust. We call it the zodiacal dust cloud because it mainly lies in the plain of the zodiac, which is the perceived line which the Sun travels along, as we travel around the Sun. So what I did in the 1970s was look at the dust with a spectrometer and look for Doppler shifts in its spectrum. Its spectrum is just reflected sunlight. So if you compare the spectrum of the piece of dust you're looking at with the spectrum of the Sun, you ought to be able to see shifts, and that's what we did. So, the more the shift, the more the radial velocity, the relative velocity, between us and the piece of dust. So the idea was to try and map the motions of this dust. Ben: Now you mention there that you began this back in the 70s, so this really has been a labour of love over 30 years. BM: Yeah. I had a long gap year. [laughs] I was away for quite a while, but yes, it is a labour of love. I really had a strong call to go back to this, having left if almost finished, tantalisingly almost finished in 1974 when we started off going round the world as Queen. It's been a thrill to get back to it. It's also been very tough. There's been moments where I wanted to give up, I have to tell you honestly, because it is tough writing any kind of dissertation, thesis or whatever. You get to points where you think, "Oh, why did I do this? Why did I commit to this awful bit of work", you know. There are points when you can see no light at the end of the tunnel, and I had a couple of those, but in the end I'm thrilled that I got there. I had some great help, some great inspiration, and I had the Head of Astrophysics of Imperial College as my personal supervisor, who's been monumentally tough on me, but that was what I needed. I needed it to be Gold standard. I needed it to be. You know, I don't want any favours done to me. This is not an honorary thesis - an honorary PhD. This is the real thing. Ben: Would you say that your Science, and your interest in that, has influenced your music in any way? I would say that 'Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud' sounds like an absolutely great song title, particularly for a death metal. BM: Yeah, it has a certain ring to it, doesn't it. (laughs) Not directly very much is the answer. I don't know if you know, but I did write a song about - a song called ''39', which chronicles the adventures of an explorer in space, and because of the general relativistic time dilation effect, he returns to Earth a year older, but his family are all gone, because it's been a hundred years on the Earth, and I was very touched by that sort of scenario and wrote this song about it. That's the closest that I've come, I suppose, to an astronomical theme for a song. Mainly my songs are about feelings and people and relationships, but there is a great relationship, I think, between Astronomy and Music, which has always been there. A lot of the great astronomers have also been musicians, and vice versa. I don't know why that should be exactly, but there does seem to be a similar kind of harmony that you seek in both. I don't know if I can put it any more succinctly than that, but Astronomy and Music definitely go together, just as Patrick Moore's introduction to his 'Sky At Night' always moves you to contemplate the heavens. There is something inside us gets triggered, I think, by Music and Astronomy, sort of contemplating the infinite, I suppose. Ben: If you were given the choice of a guitar or your telescope, what would it be? BM: Oh!! A choice of one? That would be very difficult. That would be too hard. Ben: I guess what I'm essentially saying is, Music or Science? BM: I hope I never have to make the choice again. I think it's, you know, we're sitting - I'm avoiding the question here you notice - but we're sitting in the Imperial College of Science and Technology, which a huge campus here and it was all laid out by Prince Albert for Arts and Sciences. The Royal College of Music sits right in the middle - still - and there's Engineering here, there's Biology, there's Science and there's Music, and originally there was quite a bit of Art as well. I think that schools in general tend to make us specialise too much, you know. I feel like I'm holding a banner for the fact that you can be broad and you can be passionate about more than one part of the pursuit of knowledge, or the pursuit of Art or whatever you may be in. I like the fact that, perhaps I seemed to have chosen Music over Science, but it was never gone from my insides. It was always there, I was very very keen, so I'm very lucky that I can do both now. ALOK JHAN: Brian May there. Believe me when I tell you we've been trying to get him on the show ever since we launched in 2006, so we were very very pleased with that interview. If there's anyone you want to hear on the show in the forthcoming year, email science@guardian.co.uk and tell us your darkest desires. © brianmay.com |
**Sat 22 Dec 07**
GUITAR & BASS MAGAZINE - January 2008 Cover story - p 24-30 GUITAR LIVING LEGENDS JEWEL IN THE CROWN Affable, funny and knowledgeable, Brian May always gives - as our American cousins say - 'good interview'. With his much-publicised degree finally done and dusted, he agreed to meet Guitar & Bass for an exclusive chat. We decided to steer him towards explaining the inside secrets of that famous guitar sound, but we took in some diversions along the way - including just what it felt like to play the biggest rooftop gig of all time... --- WORKSHOPS: PLAY LIKE With a style (and a guitar) all of his own, the Queen guitarist has delivered some of the classiest classic rock of all time. Douglas Noble sacrifices his mahogany fireplace, dusts down his sixpence and provides an invaluable Brian May style sheet. - Guitar Techniques PLAY LIKE While Freddie and Brian busied themselves putting on a show, John Deacon stood stage right and concentrated on delivering some of he best classic rock basslines of all time. Gareth Morgan divulges the Tan of Queen's quiet man - Bass Techniques © brianmay.com |
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You can also read the article online at: www.guitarplayer.com/article/renaissance-man/nov-07/32483 The interview and associated, illustrated features cover a lot of ground. Brian talks at great length about his guitar set, also Queen Rock Montreal DVD release, songwriting, We Will Rock You and working with Paul Rodgers. Worth getting your hands on a copy! (This magazine is an Import from USA.) © brianmay.com |
**Tue 18 Dec 07**
If you could tell as many people as you can about this website, that would be a great help... PLAY THE GAME / SIGN THE PETITION Target: International Whaling Commission Whales Revenge is an ambitious campaign to gather 1 million signatures for a petition to stop whaling. Every year thousands of precious mammals are slaughtered in the name of so-called 'scientific research'. Add your voice by signing this campaign then forwarding it everyone you know. Please help us stop the killing. This is the statement that will accompany the petition: We the undersigned wish to show our support for an end We believe that the slaughter of whales for so-called 'scientific We wish to add our voices to the global campaign to protect these This petition will be sent to Greenpeace, The International Whaling Commission and the Australian Federal Government. --- Whales Revenge site also gives links to other whale conservation sites, some of which may be useful. NOTE: Brianmay.com takes no responsibility for the content of external sites. © brianmay.com |
