As a student at his Sydney high school, Bruce built a radio transmitter in his folks basement and at night broadcast music for his mates in the district. But it was powerful enough to be picked up in other parts of Sydney and the feds picked it up, called his folks and made him stop. He dropped out of Uni to start JANDS with a mate, it was the first outfit to stage big Australian concerts for rock groups with Bruce’s designed amps and concert speakers.

I remember this like it was yesterday …

In 1974 the day before Bruce Jackson drove out to Mascot airport to fly to the U.S.A. to join Elvis he came into the ATA back studio and says to me, “Would you like to buy my 2 JBL 4311B speakers?” I says “Ok how much are you selling them for?” Bruce says “$400” “Ok! sold!”

Bruce says, “Tomorrow morning I’ll stop by with the speakers in the back of my friend’s car, can you have the 400 ready in cash?” I says “Sure!”

And that’s what happened, I gave him the cash and helped him carry them in.

At the time they were worth at least $1500 and in 2002 I sold them together with my studio.

Then Bruce flew off to fame and fortune with Elvis, Bruce Springsteen and others. I once read where Barbara Streisand wouldn’t move without him.

It’s now exactly 15 years since BJ was lost in his plane crash on 29 Jan 2011.

Here’s part of the NTSB report …

Bruce Jackson accident NTSB narrative …
WPR11FA114 HISTORY OF FLIGHT On January 29, 2011, at an undetermined time, a Mooney M20J, N50BJ, impacted terrain near Furnace Creek, California. The owner/pilot was operating the airplane under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91. The certificated private pilot was fatally injured; the airplane sustained substantial damage by impact forces.

The report also contains the following findings for tested drugs: Rosuvastatin was detected in liver and urine. I know Rosuvastatin is a medical drug with some very bad side effects, so maybe that was the cause of his crash.

Bruce was 61.

WOW! So, you're not dead!!!
Excellent!
Ty Ford

Lol Hi Ty yep still plugging along, born in 1940, I’m exactly the same age as John Lennon would have been today.

A couple of Bruce Jacksons friends here, have said I’ve only posted half of Bruces story, so I’ll look to doing an updated version.

Talking about ages, we’re watching the Australian Open tennis on TV. Tonight Sunday 1st Feb. local, in the 2026 men’s final, 38yr old Novak Djokovic is trying for his 25th major, a world record. If he manages to get it, I doubt if it’ll ever be topped.

But he’s up against the 22yr old world’s No. 1, Carlos Alcaraz. He was only 4yrs old when Novak won his first major. Carlos’s age has significantly influenced his tennis career, as he became the youngest player ever, to reach world No. 1 at just 19 years old and has quickly accumulated six Grand Slam titles by age 22.

Eagle-eyed Djokovic fans were quick to spot one new detail on the world No. 1’s blue Asics shoes: the number “24” is printed on the side of the heel. It’s a reference to the staggering amount of Grand Slam singles titles Djokovic has amassed in his career—a figure ties the all-time record owned by Australia’s Margaret Court, and surpasses the previous men’s Open era records held by rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Allan,

Thanks for the back story. I'm a 1948-er so, somewhat close behind you. Here in Maryland we got about 10 inches of winter last week and 4 of them were Ice on top of the snow. Four inches of ice will take a while to melt and it's been uncharacteristically cold here. Below freezing for about a week.

That left me plenty of time to play with my relatively new Mac and do some transfers from clients. Mostly VHS video and 1/4" reel to reel.

Ah, tennis. I used to play. As a very young man, I grew up across the street from the US Naval Academy. Lots of tennis courts there. I worked the backboards a lot and got really used to hitting shots at my feet. As you may know, that's a thing people try to do to get you to screw up. Hit the ball to your feet. Well, for me, due to my backboard work, it was very easy to pop those balls right back across the net. Over and over again. The midshipmen were banging away and I was just popping the ball back over. Big fun!!

Regards,

Ty

Hi Ty. We’re watching your terrible weather on TV, Phew! Never experienced below zero temps before. In the last few weeks we’ve had 100F+. Today we’re a nice 24C > 75.2F.

Last Sunday night Novak Djokovic lost the 2026 AO men’s tennis final. His losing speech included some doubts about whether he’d continue in his quest to get his illusive 25th. I think he will to the point where his pride won’t let him to take any more criticism, then he’ll quit for good.

Two weeks ago on the first AO Friday night, when the famous old tennis stars all played doubles together all wearing head mics so the world could hear their very funny comments, was a definite master stroke by the AO. All the other world tournaments are saying “Damn it! It’s to late now but why didn’t we think of doing that.”
Cheers.

100+ degrees. Wow!!!

I've lived in this area all my life. I have never seen it like this. We got six to eight inches of snow and four inches of ice, then two weeks of temps below freezing. I think it may hit 34 degrees today. It's 33 degrees right now AT 11:40AM.

I bought a pair of JBL L100 back in the 1970s. They were the consumer version of the 4311.

The guy was moving to Colorado from the East Coast. They were my mains until I heard the first Event Opals. I got a pair of them and moved the 4311 to be the rear speakers in my TV room. Still using the Opals. I have another workstation with two ElectroVoice Sentry 100 driven by an old Crown D60. That and a pair of Realistic Minimus 7, oh and I did put a 12" powered sub on that station as well.

up here, there seems to be a trend away from using shooters and location audio people. I'm not sure why. Maybe everyone is shooting with iphones. I don't care cause I'm too old. How's business down there?

I had a pair of (Radio Shack) Realistic Minimus 7s.as well as Auratones. I still have and use the Auratone 5Cs anin d power them with a Crown D45. I do not have much production sound mixer work lately but got pulled back in to music work in 2014... "just when you thought you were out of it,.. they pull you back in".
We are having a tough winter here in New York. 15+ inches of snow two weeks or so ago and constant sub-freezing temperatures so it is not not melting.. Many cars are still blocked in by piles of snow from plowing. I tolerate high heat and humility well but not the cold.

Hi Rick,

HNY and all that stuff!

We got 6-8 inches of snow here in Baltimore. Then sub-freezing temps for the last two weeks.

Ty

100+ degrees. Wow!!!

Up here, there seems to be a trend away from using shooters and location audio people. I'm not sure why. Maybe everyone is shooting with iphones. I don't care cause I'm too old. How's business down there?

Hi Ty and Rick. Yep today is hot here, 30C > 86F. While we watch the freezing cold Winter Olympics in Italy on TV.

Business Ty? In Australia we’ve just had a rate rise, the first in 2 years. Doesn’t really worry me now, except my 2 married daughters and their husbands will pay more on their house mortgages.

Cheers guys, stay warm up there.

Up here, in addition to an ass-hole, crazy president, we've been ignoring or dealing with "forever chemicals"; PFAS/PFOA and the thousand other chemicals. I have five in my blood. The same five that are in my Baltimore CIty water. Tested my water, tested my blood, put in a filter, re-tested the water. It's OK now.

Doing a lot of analog to digital transfers, music production and a little music sessions here.... Also, AI music production, more recently with video.

Here's one: My sweetie Kathy wrote the words. We put them in SUNO. SUNO created the vocals and music. I pulled that into FCP and added pictures.

Matilda Swanson @ Horizons on the Bay -- 2025 - YouTube

Regards,

Ty