was, at first glace,
assumed to be a scribbled “Roderick”.
Most of the content of my website is visual consisting of photographs taken of the places I've visited and the things that have caught my eye. I have not provided descriptions for the visually impaired and I make no apology for that. However there is some textual content, but in the main site it is likely to prove difficult to navigate to hence I've provided this sub-site to pull together such texts in easily accessible pages. I've also put in a page of descriptions of some of the top views I've photographed.
If you benefit from this sub-site I'll be keen to hear from you and also if you have other ideas for improving its accessibility. You can email me at mailto:rhoff10350@aol.com
My main website interface is at http://www.rhoff.org.uk
My name is Roderick Hoffman and I was born in Birmingham in 1960. I’ve used Aardvark as my personal signature since about 1978:
was, at first glace,
assumed to be a scribbled “Roderick”.
Dictionary definition; Aardvark : a nocturnal mammal of southern Africa, Orycteropus afer, with a tubular snout and a long extensible tongue, that feeds on termites. Also called ant-bear, earth-pig. [Afrikaans from aarde ‘earth’ + vark ‘pig’]
My web address doesn’t feature “Aardvark” as a consequence of its popularity amongst companies and individuals who want to be placed first in alphabetical listings. Interestingly the double A comes from the Danish language where it is represented by a single character Å (an A topped with a circle). In Danish listings the double A character is listed last; after Z. This includes for the town of Aalburg which prefers to spell its name with the double A. There might be some interesting repercussions with company names if the EU adopted the Danish rule for all European telephone directories.
Judie Tzuke is an English singer songwriter who rose to prominence at the very end of the 70's. She received attention, and chart success, with the ballad "Stay with me till dawn" which still gets regular airplays. Other ballads such as "For You" and "Understanding" maintained her presence through the early 80's. Heavier material, performed live with a band of high quality musicians, enabled her to build up a strong following.
Through the late 80's and early 90's she found it increasingly difficult to get the record industry to invest in her talent; although she continued to produce new material and perform live. In the late 90's things have improved - thanks to a large part in the rise of the Internet. She now has her own record label "Big Moon" and new material, and re-releases, are marketed through the web without the need for, and overheads of, record company executives, distribution AOR men and record shops.
I first experienced Judie Tzuke on the 12th October 1979 in the Union Hall of Birmingham University on what was about her third ever solo gig. I became a strong fan in those early days. I didn't buy her first two albums since one of the flat mates I'd first seen her with had both (we were students after all). Consequently my first Judie Tzuke Album was "I am the Phoenix" bought in June 1981. I remember it well because it turned out to be badly warped and unplayable so I had to go back into the centre of Birmingham the next day to get it replaced. I joined her fan club, saw her twice more in concert and bought most of her subsequent albums soon after they came out. But after the late eighties, like many of her fans, I drifted away.
Then in 1997 I got connected to the Internet. Trying to find some use to make of it I searched for "Tzuke" and was amazed to discover an account of a recent concert in Dublin and mention of a recent album "Under the Angels" which wasn't to be found in the record shops. I kept searching and found details of a future tour and saw Judie perform again in High Wycombe in December 1997. Since then I've seen her dozens of times and I've become active in her group of fans At the High Wycombe concert I was handed a slip of paper suggesting I join an Internet group of fans. I'm now one of the moderators of the successor to that group. Ahead of the 1999 Secret Agent Tour a couple of Fans said they wanted to produce a Tour Programme. I was cynical about their prospects but they proved me so wrong that I contributed several pages to the second such programme for the Phoenix 2000 Tour and have produced the most recent two, details of which follow below.
The 2002 Queen Secret Keeper Tour Programme Text
The 2003 Beauty of Hindsight Tour Programme Text
The 2004 The End Of The Beginning Tour Programme Text
The following link leads to a page that tells a story featuring all of the song titles from Judie's first twelve studio albums - just for a bit of fun.
Judie Tzuke Song Title Story Book
The following link leads to a page of photographs taken of geographical features that for one reason or another have impressed me - with full text descriptions.
The full website contains content, mainly photographs, of the following: