Interconnections

I was listening to Dave Raven’s blues radio show this morning and while I was listening to a new Sean Taylor track I had a mooch around Dave’s website and found a link to a bit of history of Taggs Island. Turns out that close by there is a houseboat moored on the Middlesex bank called ‘Astoria’.

Turns out Astoria was once owned by Fred Karno, entertainment impresario of the early 20th century who gave a number of entertainers their break. These include Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, Will Hay, Flannegan and Allen and my Grandfather, Gus McNaughton.

This comes back to the modern era because Astoria is now owned by Pink Floyd guitar legend Dave Gilmour who uses her as a recording studio. Where do the connections come in? Well all these connect my recent preoccupations with the Blues with one of my favourite guitarists – Gilmour – my family – tenuously and Sean Taylor, who played a gig at Shakedown in 2012. An example of Douglas Adams’ interconnectedness of all things.