On the day that Perth saw the 2010/11/12 Roger Waters The Wall Live tour resume with what was clearly a cracking show, the winner of the Tour Sound Production category at the 27th Annual TEC Awards was announced. The Technical Excellence & Creativity Awards recognise the achievements of audio professionals and is presented annually by the TEC Foundation for Excellence in Audio.

Despite coming up against the likes of Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney, and Robert Plant, Roger's sound production by Clair on The Wall tour triumphed, and the relevant clip from the awards ceremony can be seen here:

All of us at Brain Damage offer our heartiest best wishes to Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, who celebrates his 68th birthday today.

The cornerstone of the band, he had his first drum kit at the tender age of 13. A member of Pink Floyd since the earliest iterations, he is the only one to have appeared on every one of their albums. Thanks to his father Bill, he has been a "petrol head" from a young boy, and cars have been - and remain - one of his major passions in life. His latest book, Passion for Speed, was recently published, as was the first of a series of DVDs focusing on his cars (with Nick heavily involved).

Nick has contributed to a number of magazines on motoring issues over the years (including a fascinating monthly column in Octane Magazine), and indeed three years ago became president of the Guild of Motoring Writers. He is a trustee of the Beaulieu National Motor Museum, and a life member and Guardian of the BRDC (British Racing Drivers Club). He has been involved in motor racing since the early 1970s and has entered Le Mans five times.

Currently, Nick is in New Zealand as we recently reported, taking part in a motoring event there. As part of his time there, Radio New Zealand have interviewed him - follow the link to hear it.

Congratulations on your birthday Nick - and many happy returns!

On January 12th, Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother had another live airing, with a performance in Paris. Taking place at the Théåtre du Chåtelet, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, conducted by Jean-Jacques Justafré, was joined by Ron Geesin, who composed the piece in collaboration with Pink Floyd.

The concert was organized in partnership with the Ministry of Education and dedicated exclusively to high school students. It was recorded by France Musique and will be aired on Wednesday, March 7th 2012, at 2pm ET as part of Anne-Charlotte Rémond's Concert In The Afternoon show. More information can be found here on the show, the radio station, and how to tune in.

The two pictures here [click the thumbnails] are copyright and courtesy of Frances Geesin, with additional thanks to Joe Geesin, and to Ron too, of course.

On Friday night, Dark Side Of The Moon - A Photographic Exhibition opened at the Brighton Dome. It's a special celebration of Pink Floyd's first (and quite troubled) attempt at a performance of their best-known album, which took place on January 20th 1972 at the venue.

To start the exhibition in style, photographer Jill Furmanovsky, who took many of the pictures on display, underwent a 30 minute Q&A with an interviewer, taking questions and comments from the audience as well. Some of the attendees were at the original 1972 shows, adding their own thoughts on them. Jill's own story proved quite fascinating, taking pictures at a tender age and falling into professional concert photography almost by chance, by the sound of it.

Choice examples of her pictures of Pink Floyd adorn the various walls in the Founders Room, and the adjacent main bar of the venue - 11 in the bar, and 28 in the Founders Room. Alongside her shots are ones taken by Storm Thorgerson at various points, Tony Collins' wonderful shot of David Gilmour at London's Hyde Park in 1970, Colin Prime's 1967 Ruskin Park group shot, and one of Mick Rock's pictures of Syd outside his Earls Court flat. Particular favourites for me included a pair of 1972 Brighton shots with Roger hammering away at his gong, some of the 1974 backstage/soundcheck shots, and the terrific picture of all the band at the Live 8 rehearsals (a tantalising single glimpse of this historic practice session). The pictures below show Jill during the Q&A, along with some of the opening evening's attendees studying the walls...

The exhibition runs until March 20th, at the Founders Room at the Dome, and is open between 10am - 5pm on Tuesday through to Sunday, each week. Admission is free.

Yesterday morning, with no advance notice save for a throw-away comment at the end of the previous day's show that he might be appearing, Roger Waters turned up for US "shock-jock" Howard Stern's daily radio show on SiriusXM, and spent around an hour talking about a vast range of subjects, and also confirmed the Yankee Stadium show on July 6th. Presale tickets for this go on sale on Monday, with general sale starting one week later.

With Roger in a clearly relaxed and happy mood (and as he said, wired due to the coffee he'd downed far earlier than he normally would!) the interview proved a fascinating affair. You can read a summary of the chat here; Roger talked about everything from his childhood days, learning the guitar, his marriage on Saturday (January 14th) to Laurie (congrats to you both!), through to entensive discussion on his music - both as part of the Floyd, and his solo career. "We were a cracking team when we were younger...from '68 to 'Dark Side of the Moon' we were a tightly-knit group. [Dark Side of the Moon] was the first time we started making any cash." He even mentions the long running saga of The Wall On Broadway, noting that it is now on draft number five but clearly still hopeful that it would happen.

Our thanks to everyone who helped out with information on this interview, which you can hear through this Youtube video:

At Dreweatt's Clifton auction room on January 24th, a collection of rare music photographs is being sold on behalf of Amnesty International.

The pictures all come from the collection of renouned photographer David Redfern, many of which are signed by him. Included in the sale is the famous shot of Mick Jagger wearing that 'white dress' costume at the now legendary 1969 Hyde Park concert, two pictures of the first Pink Floyd line-up (with Syd Barrett) along with one later shot of the band, rare photos of David Bowie and an unusual picture of Count Basie lighting Princess Margaret's cigarette. In total, there are around 30 lots, with estimates ranging from £40-150 each lot.

Colin Richardson from Books for Amnesty Bristol, who knew David back in the 60s, said: "As the bookshop runs entirely on donations, it was particularly exciting to receive such a magnanimous one from David. This is a rare opportunity to buy some very sought after photographs by one of the most important music photographers of our time. We are hopeful that most, if not all, of the lots will sell, as the estimates are a fraction of their true value."

The auction takes place at 10.30am on Tuesday, January 24th at the Apsley Road, Clifton saleroom room. Viewing days are Saturday 21st, Monday 23rd and the morning of the sale. More details at DNFA.com, and the direct link to the catalogue itself is here.

UPDATE: We now know that it is FIVE rare Pink Floyd images up for auction, which you can see below: