This request is only vaguely music-related, but I've been scratching my head all afternoon trying to find a solution to this problem and so I thought I'd ask the Massive.

I'm running a training exercise where I want to play a number of computer-stored sounds concurrently and be able to start and stop each on the click of a mouse. For example, I want to initiate the sound of a fire alarm and leave that playing until I tell it to stop. While the fire alarm is playing I may want to play the noise of a fire engine siren for a minute or two, then stop it and start another sound. Any suggestions will be gratefully received.

I posted last week, asking for 'New Prog' recommendations from my chums in the Massive, and was given plenty of things to listen to. As I have been off work for the past week with time on my hands, I have been following up on these recommendations with repeated listenings of bands like Porcupine Tree, Mars Volta and Spock's Beard. I can now say that whilst these bands are 'alright' none of them really excite me. In many cases they are trying a bit too hard to be like the 'Old Prog' and I don't think it works.

My iTunes on shuffle has this morning thrown up electronica selections from Biosphere and the Joris Voorn Balance 014 album (previous recommendations from the Massive), and I realised that, for me, what attracted me to prog in the 70s is replicated in some of the electronica stuff. It includes the Prog complexity whilst sounding modern and fresh. So, I think I'll give New Prog a miss, thank you and stick with the Old Prog. I'm listening to the recent reissue of Caravan's In The Land Of Grey And Pink as we speak. Once that's finished, I'll be investigating other offerings in the Balance series.

I've been hearing the occasional mention of 'New Prog'. Now, I'm very much an 'Old Prog' sort of guy, but the idea that the music I was brought up on is being given an update for the noughties intrigues me. Any suggestions on where I should start will be gratefully received.

As part of the recent Garden Festival in our village, we had BBC Radio Leicester in the church to record Down To Earth, their equivalent of Gardeners’ Question Time. Initially we were short of questions, so I was asked to come up with something to fill the gaps. As a complete gardening novice, my question to the panel was to recommend a gardening book to get me started. For my own amusement, and for my chums on the blog and Twitter, I decided to include as many band/artist names in my question as I could manage.

If you want to hear the whole programme it’s on the BBC Radio Leicester web site until the weekend (my contribution is around 50 minutes in). Alternatively, if you just want my bit, drakeygirl has kindly captured it over here . There are 9 band/artist names in my question. In addition, millymollymandy has come up with a tenth which she discovered after a heavy session of googling.

There’s no prize for getting them all, just the smug self-satisfaction that you’re better than everyone else on this blog.

I'm talking, of course, about the Osgathorpe Garden Festival, North West Leicestershire's premier village show. If you're close to Ashby de la Zouch or Loughborough this weekend and fancy visiting some top-notch gardens, I guarantee you'll have a great time. And if you visiting Garden Number 3, just mention the code words "nice penstemon, sir" to the rather attractive shaven-headed fellow with glasses to receive a welcoming handshake and a cool/hot beverage of your choice.

I know that the Osgathorpe Garden Festival is not the biggest festival this weekend, but I really can't be doing with all the Glastonbury hype. I've been a couple of times when it rained all weekend and I think I've been permanently scarred by my experiences. The BBC's coverage of the weekend also seems a bit over the top. I'm half expecting Radio 3's lunchtime concert to be coming live from Pilton. So, if you're also underwhelmed by what's going on at Worthy Farm and you're unable to get to North West Leicestershire's premier village show, how will you be enjoying the weekend?

If you’ve just received the new issue of the Word and look on page 37, you will see that a few of us have got together to create some videos sending our best wishes to everyone at the magazine.

We wanted to keep this secret from Word HQ, so I wasn’t able to let everyone know on the blog or risk using the ‘Contact’ facility to send an e-mail via the Word webpage. All communication has therefore been through Twitter or by word of mouth at the London and North West Massive Mingles. If you weren’t aware that this was going on, I’m really sorry, but we tried our best. However, now that it’s all out in the open I can put the details on the blog.

If you would like to contribute, the site is over at Winkball.com and the details are in this post’s Comments.

Best wishes to all.

HPW

Yes vs. Pink Floyd? Led Zep vs Deep Purple? Don't make me laugh.

How about a real battle of the bands? Einstürzende Neubauten or Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft? There's only one way to find out...

Today's Guardian gave a link to a free download of 2010's best mashup's. It's rather good, and it's at http://www.bootiemashup.com/bestofbootie2010/ . I think you might enjoy it.

I work from home most of the time. I sit at a PC and write reports or develop presentations, and to get me through the day, I listen to music. I find the music that makes me most productive is gentle classical music (particularly choral music) and jazz. In addition, I find a lot of ambient electronic stuff does the trick.

A thread about electronic music some months back provided a rich source of electronic music I hadn't previously heard. Albums from Joris Voorn and Scanner were ideal to write a difficult report to. With another week stretching ahead of me where I will be staring at a computer screen most of the time, would any of you care to share what gets you through the working day and recommend anything that might make my week a bit more bearable and productive?

I thank you.

I was talking with a friend the other day about some of the memorable gigs we had been to, and it occurred to me that there is only one of my heroes that is currently alive and gigging that I have yet to see. I've done all my favourite artists (Bowie, PSB, Kraftwerk), apart from Randy Newman.

He doesn't tour much, and when he does, he doesn't normally venture out of London, but the next time he's in the UK I'll be there. Care to share who is on your 'To Do' list?

Now that Christmas is done and dusted, my thoughts are turning to my wife's 'significant' birthday at the end of February. We have friends and family who are scattered throughout the world and it's unlikely that everyone will be able to make it for the big day.

As a surprise, I thought it would be good if I could make a short video with all my wife's friends and family wishing her a happy birthday. My thinking is that I will ask each of friend and family member to record a short (no more than 90 second) video clip of themselves. They can then send it to me by e-mail and I will put them together onto a DVD.

Now, as I don't have a video camera, I have a number of questions which you my be able to help me with.

1. Is there a standard file type for video which I should be asking people to send me?
2. How big would 90 second video file be (i.e. is it going to be too big to send by e-mail)?
3. What software should I use to edit the clips together (I've got a PC)?

Any help you can give would be gratefully received.

Listen to this wonderful track from Solomon Burke and tell me you're not moved.

http://redkelly2.blogspot.com/2010/12/solomon-burke-silent-night-savoy-s...

My thanks to Lucas Hare for giving me this link (as he is out and about today, he asked me to post it on his behalf).

I've just been listening to the new Antony & the Johnsons album on Spotify and it occurs to me that I don't need to listen to AATJ ever again, because I've already got one of their (his) albums. The same applies to Björk, Badly Drawn Boy, Ron Sexsmith and Gorillaz. I have one album of each of these artists and I really don't feel any more of their music would make my life significantly better.

When I was little, my mum would take me to the barber for a haircut and I had absolutely no say in what the style was. There came a day, however, when I was at an age where I could choose my own style. That style was the Bowie feather cut as seen on the cover of Ziggy Stardust. I took a black and white picture of the great man to Bren's in Nuneaton and asked Bren to do his best. When he'd finished I'm not sure I looked too much like Ziggy, but I do remember a heightened respect from my chums when I returned to school. I have since had a 'Brian Ferry', a 'Johnny Rotten', a 'Terry Hall', before settling on my current Number 1 crop.

Any particularly significant Rock 'n' Roll haircuts you'd care to admit to?

David Wright's post earlier in the week (http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/albums-under-40-mins) confirmed my long held view that short albums are better. The new Arcade Fire album, The Suburbs, is very fine indeed, but I can't help thinking it would have been an even better album if they'd cut out four or five tracks.

This started me thinking. Are there any double or triple albums that wouldn't have benefited from a bit of Quality Control? As a big Prog fan, I have a particular fondness for Tales From Topographic Oceans, but I accept that this view is not widely shared. Stevie Wonder's Songs In The Key Of Life is an absolute classic, but it still includes a few duffers. And, as good as London Calling is, it's not perfect. Any nominations for the perfect double or triple album?