The fifth season overview of The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit, that we published last year, wasn’t a great deal, and we duly apologise for that. But this blog post, listing the highlights of season six, starting in August 2013, is packed with remarkable entries. Some years are betters than others, we guess. So let’s start immediately. What did the Church do 10 years ago?

Rich Hall

For our fifth anniversary, we had a wild party with a soundtrack that was specially created for this celebration, sort of. Multi-instrumentalist Rich Hall recorded the album Birdie Hop and the Sydiots, and it’s still an interesting record a decade later. 

Article: Reverends and Sydiots 

Birdie Hop and the Sydiots
July 2013
Instruments & vocals by Rich Hall.
Mixed by Rich Hall and Ron Bay.
Mastered by Ron Bay.

Streaming & digital download (name your own price system, 0.00 is an option as well).

Jonathan Charles

Did Roger Keith Barrett send a Canadian fan a handwritten message, somewhere in 2003? It might be true, or not, depending on your point of view. Probably no one longer remembers this, especially not the truckloads of new Syd Barrett fans who have surfaced in the last years. That’s why the Church still exists, to archive these awkward little bits and pieces that otherwise would disappear in the fog of time.

Article (that also has a bit about the legendary Radharani Krishna, if someone remembers her): Making it clear... 

Jean-Marie Deschamps

A question that pop-ups from time to time is, who is standing behind the boys, at the Sausalito Casa Madrona hotel? The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit already answered this question a decade ago. No need to thank us, just another world exclusive from the Church.

Article: If you're going to Sausalito 

Didier 'spAce' Marouani

Does anyone remember how Pink Floyd bragged in 1988 that they were, and we quote David Gilmour, ‘the first rock band to be played in space’? This was not the case as astronaut Al Worden had taken some mixtapes with him on the Apollo 15 mission (1971) containing The Beatles, George Harrison, Simon & Garfunkel and The Moody Blues.

Perhaps Pink Floyd was the first ‘rock band’ to be played on a Russian space vehicle? Not true either, as cosmonaut Aleksandr Pavlovich Aleksandrov took a CD player and two small boxes to the MIR Space Station in July 1987. The first (and perhaps only) CD played on it was Space Opera by French composer Didier Marouani from a band, appropriately named, spAce. It is in the ambient synth-pop genre, so not really ‘rock’, but we wanted to tell the story anyway.

When the batteries gave up, the MIR sound system was tossed outside and if it didn’t enter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up, it is still floating somewhere in outer space.

Andrew Rawlinson

Fart Enjoy is a handmade arty-farty booklet, created by Syd Barrett, in March or April 1966. It was believed it dated from 1964 or 1965 until the Holy Church looked into the matter. We also identified the ‘anonymous’ pin-up, glued on page 13 and a testimony of Barrett’s juvenile misogynous humour. It’s hard being a Barrett investigator.

Article (NSFW): Smart Enjoy 

Peter Jenner

In November 2013 Rich Hall, then a Birdie Hop administrator, got in contact with Peter Jenner and wanted to know if Syd Barrett fans could ask him some questions. A message was put on two Facebook groups and in less than a week over one hundred different questions were harvested. Jenner was 'struck by the quantity' and kindly asked to slim it down a bit. About a dozen questions were withheld and Felix Atagong, another Birdie Hop administrator, interviewed Peter.

Several in-group earthquakes and tsunamis happened after that, but the interview still stands on its own.

Article: An innerview with Peter Jenner 

Mohammed Abdullah John ‘Twink’ Alder

If the Peter Jenner interview was season six’s number one highlight, the next topic surely was number two. 2014 saw the release of a 1972 live album of the short-lived Last Minute Put Together Boogie Band. Nothing extraordinary, you might say, but tracks 5 to 7 have a special guest star jamming. His name: Syd Barrett.

The album stayed in copyright purgatory for a decade. The master tape was confiscated, in real Men In Black style, by suits belonging to the Pink Floyd management or their record company. Fansites and official pages pretend it has never existed and so does the official Syd Barrett website. Reason enough for the Holy Church to investigate with a 5 part series, including interviews with Carlton Sandercock (from Easy Action record company), Mohammed Abdullah John ‘Twink’ Alder and Fred Frith. 

Articles:
The Last Minute Put Together Reel Story 
Syd's Last Stand 
An innerview with Carlton Sandercock (Easy Action) 
An innerview with Mohammed Abdullah John Alder, better known as Twink 
An innerview with Fred Frith 

So far for our overview of what happened a decade ago at the Church. Keep on rolling!

The Church is a one-man project that relies a lot on the wisdom of others. For the sixth season, we had help from the following people, websites and organisations, and perhaps we have even forgotten a few. 

Anonymous, A Fleeting Glimpse, Al Baker, Alexander P. Hoffmann, Allen Lancer, Andre Borgdorff, Andrew Charles Potts, Anita Buckett, Anni Paisley, Anthony Stern, Antonio Jesus, b_squared, Baron Wolman, Beechwoods, Birdie Hop, Bruno Barbato Jacobovitz, Cambridge News, Casa Madrona Hotel & Spa, Cathy Peek Collier, Cheesecake Joe Perry, Chris Farmer, Clay Jordan, Col Turner, Cyberspace, Demamo, the Deschamps family, Didier Marouani, Dion Johnson, Easy Action, Ebronte, Ewgeni Reingold, FraKcman (Mark Graham), Fred Frith, Gary Lucas, Gaz Hunter, Gian Palacios-Świątkowski, ‎Giulio Bonfissuto, Göran Nyström, Hallucalation, HYGIY, Ian Barrett, James Vandervest, Jane Harris, Jenny Spires, Jim Gillespie, Joanne 'Charley' Milne, Jon Felix, Jonathan Charles, Keith Jordan, Kiloh Smith, Late Night, Laughing Madcaps, Lisa Newman, Mark Blake, Mark Sturdy, Matthew Horsley, Memo Hernandez, Michael Ramshaw, Michael Rawding, Mick Brown, Mike Baess, Mike Kemp, Mohammed Abdullah John 'Twink' Alder, Mr. Pinky, MvB, Neptune Pink Floyd, Orgone Accumulator, Paul Newlove, Paul Piper, Peter 'Felix' Jansens, Phil Etheridge, Psych62, Radharani Krishna, Raymond John Nebbitt, Rich Hall, Richard Mason Né Withnell, Rick Barnes, Saygeddylee, Spaceward Studios, Stanislav V. Grigorev, Stefan Mühle, Steve Czapla, Steve Francombe, Supervehicle, Syd Wonder, Sydzappa, Tim Doyle, USA National Register off Historic Places, Vintage Erotica Forum, Viper, Warren Dosanjh, Wolfpack, Yeeshkul, Younglight, Yves Leclerc...
♥ Iggy ♥ Libby ♥