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When one thinks of engineers, especially engineers on standards bodies, the last thing that comes to mind is legendary glam and punk rockers.
James Williamson is a member of the Standards Association Board of Governors at IEEE and was also until recently a vice president of Technology Standards at Sony.
Williamson was also the lead guitarist for Iggy and the Stooges and played guitar on Raw Power, one of the most legendary rock and punk albums of all time (and a personal favorite).
And now Williamson is once again picking up the guitar and reuniting with Iggy Pop and the remaining Stooges to perform live. Iggy and the Stooges will be playing those old “standards” from Raw Power in a series of shows starting next year at London’s All Tomorrow’s Parties festival.
I was lucky enough a few years ago to see the Stooges live in Boston with original guitarist Ron Asheton and was saddened at his passing earlier this year.
At that show the Stooges didn’t do any tracks from Raw Power so it will be good to see those songs performed live again.
And as a geek who also played guitar in an old punk band and is playing once again, I of course love pretty much everything about this story.
So remember, just because someone in your office looks like a traditional conservative geek, you never know what the real story is.
That standards geek just might turn out to be a rock and roll guitarist.