Yesterday I drove into Suffolk to meet with PR guru Bill Gray and thereafter together on to the ancient market town of Saxmundham.

As we drove we spoke. I told of my aquisition the previous day of Gary Lucas's Spaceward tape archive (liberated from his loft after 20+ years - see previous entry). Bill remembered Gary and Spaceward well and was curious to know what tapes I'd found. I mentioned a few names and then said something along the lines of: "But of course what I'm really looking for is the lost Syd Barrett tape - Spaceward's first recording and Syd's last gig with Fred Frith as the Last Minute Put-Together Boogie Band at the Cambridge Corn Exchange."

"O, I remember that!" said Bill, "I was there. I played drums."

Well, to say that my jaw hit the floor would be putting it mildly. This is a very significant arising and a staggeringly improbable coinicidence. I immediately asked Bill to write a short account of his involvement for http://www.spacewardstudios.ukf.net/stories.htm and he indicated that he'd be happy to identify tracks if I do find it and urged me to play each and every unlabelled tape just in case.

But finding it would present a terrible dilemma.