SubSonic Gets More Cowbell

This is completely mind-blowing - I've just today added a new contributor to the SubSonic project, and I can't believe I'm writing this... I'm giggling pretty damn hard. He's a good friend of the family - I've known him since I was about 13 - and my friends would always come over whenever he was dropping by to say hi to my sister (he was her friend mainly).

I haven't talked to him in a long time and a few years back he sent me an email telling me that he was getting into technology for a side project he was running with his flight school. You know how it goes - friend asks for help, you lend friend books, friend asks questions to no end and BAM another developer is born.

The strange things is - this person really kept to himself (and he kept my damn books). I didn't hear from him for a while and was meaning to head over Burton on Trent to get my books back when all of a sudden, just two days ago, the guy reappears - sending me an email telling me he loved my blog and can he help with SubSonic for a side project of his.

Knowing who this guy is - how can I say no?

My late sister Candy used to work in the movie industry doing hair styles for a lot of really famous people. Susan Dey (Laurie Partridge/Grace Van Owen) used to come to our house for thanksgiving; I hung out with Don Johnson on my birthday and he told me stupid jokes. I also got to meet Jennifer Anniston and Courtney Cox on the set of Friends (among other things) and hang out with Nicholas Cage on the set of The Rock.

Candy has her own IMDB page (which is quite the honor) and it has a whole list of film credits - many of which I got to see in the making.

One of the most memorable films she made (for me) was Ladies And Gentlemen The Fabulous Stains. A horrible B movie from 1981 that had many of the members of the Clash and the Sex Pistols (among others). My sister, the party girl, got to hang out with all of those guys during the making of that movie (lucky her) - and loved to call me and tell me how many bars her and Mick Jones got kicked out of.

One of the people she met was Bruce Dickinson, our new Core Team Member.

Yah, I know. It's ridiculous. I've been giggling constantly for the last few days just DYING to write this post!

Freakin Me and My Friends Out
I met Bruce when I was 13 and at the time I was really scared of him. Iron Maiden was a really cool band, but I was more into New Wave at the time and thought all those guys were complete freaks and ate babies.

My sister brought him by (with his brother and cousins who'd never been to the US) and I was shocked at how nice they all were. I don't know what I expected - but it wasn't the nice guy with the pony tail.

He and my mom (an English teacher at the time) started talking about literature - specifically debating if Shakespeare was more than one person or if it was all Francis Bacon (I remember the way used to say "Sir Francis Baaayyycn" with his deep, northern England accent - very gentle and disarming).

Anyway - I remember at one point he looked at me, winked, and asked me what kind of music I liked.... that was weird. I remember muttering "Tainted Love" and he smiled and said

"Cooooo BLIMEY! I love that song! Bom Bom! Tainted Looooove"

And then, right there in front of my mom he belts out the the next few lines in full Bruce style (he was wearing jeans unfortunately - no leather).

My sister was peeing her pants and I remember my mom just smiling nicely... going along with the whole thing. What a memory.

I always thought he and my sister had "a thing" but she always denied it - and he still won't tell me. But they've stayed fast friends through the years and every now and again I'd tell my friends to "Run to the Hills!!!!" cause Bruce was coming by and they would crap themselves.

It's cool having a sister that works in Hollywood :).

Singer, Pilot, Geek?
Bruce has had many passions over the years, but mostly it's all been about flying. I've always wanted to go flying with him but have never had the chance - hopefully if I make it to TechEd Europe this year I can ask Bruce to come along and fly me there.

Hey maybe I can get Iron Maiden to help out with the keynote? If I ask Scott Guthrie (I have to use his whole name here so he gets the Technorati ping) maybe he can fit him in... hmmm. I don't know - Bruce doesn't like to be outdone by people and I'm thinking that Scott's cooler than Iron Maiden these days (at least at TechEd). I'll work on this idea and let you know...

Flippin The Horns On SubSonic
Bruce is going to be working mainly on Migrations for his side project which he won't tell me much about. All I know is that it has something to do with Silverlight and Ed Force One - Bruce's plane. He's particularly interested in Migrations because, as he says (with a sly wink):

"This'n international tour idn't it!"

I think he gets the idea about Migrations... but I didn't want to press him too hard. He's Bruce you know.

He really likes the idea of how NASA has started using SubSonic and is working at trying to use the work we're doing for them in the Ed Force One stuff. All I know for sure is that it involves rockets.

I mainly want him to help with screencasts. I haven't been able to find someone with that... cool, radical edge to their voice (like mine) and I think Bruce may fit the bill here. I've told him he can wear leather when he does it :).

So take a moment to say hello to Bruce and flip him The Horns. This really legitimizes a thought I've had for a long time, and that is that

Programming and Rock N Roll really are one in the same.

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