Day 147: And so it begins again...

Today's soundtrack: Tindersticks - Trouble Every Day

The footy season, that's what. It's been a long summer (summer? What summer?) but here we are, back at Wembley for the 'traditional curtain-raiser' that I shall always refer to as the Charity Shield. Manyoo vs Chelsea (oh, it could have been us), and a tasty fixture even though it is, nominally at least, a friendly.

Should be an interesting pointer to the new season's title challenge as well - how will the Ronaldo-less United fare, compared to the Hiddinck-less Chelsea? Will either be as strong as they were last season, and what does that mean for the likes of Big Red and Arsenal?

Anyway, some observations:

1. Nani is no Ronaldo. Excellent goal notwithstanding (helped by Cech and Terry getting in each others way) he still flatters to deceive and was totally culpable for leaving the hugely underrated Carvalho unmarked for Chelsea's equaliser. Also helped by being up against The World's Worst Right Back in the first half.

2. Ben Foster is no more England's next goalkeeper than I am. And I'm rubbish. Expect The Other One to be in goal for United next week.

3. Notwithstanding the inconsistency of refereeing surrounding the second Chelsea goal, play to the whistle!
4. At last United are playing The Boy in his natural position. The (offside) goal was reward for an excellent all round performance.

5. I've hit pass-backs more firmly than Evra's penalty.

6. I fancy Chelsea more than United this season.

Other than that, it was a quiet day, really. Got out into the sun in the morning, baked some bread, ate some bread (with some air-dried back bacon and pork, chilli and fresh coriander sausages), made a few phone calls and ploughed our way through a couple more episodes of The Shield (now approaching the end of Season 4).

Tindersticks were last on the soundtrack way back on Day 24, when the magnificent 'Hungry Saw' came up on shuffle. Trouble Every Day is actually a soundtrack album, to a French film of the same name that I have never seen, nor am I likely to given Mrs W's not unreasonable aversion to anything involving subtitles.

Most of Tindersticks' music seems to have cinematic overtones that make it appropriate for soundtrack work and the mood of the album does match the film's rather downbeat themes of lost libido and imprisonment. That said, it still works well as an album in its own right.

Here's the title track, played over the opening credits of the film.

Day 146: Beatles and Changelings

Today's soundtrack: The Beatles - Past Masters, Volume 1

Looking back, I find it hard to believe I've gone through 146 days of this tosh and this is the first time that The Beatles have come up (in their own right) on the soundtrack. About time too, I say. There was an interesting feature in The Word last month, asking "Are The Beatles Underrated?". On the face of it, it's a ridiculous idea. How can the band that is, by common consent, the "best band ever", possibly be underrated?

But I think it's less about being underrated, more about being taken for granted. The Beatles are just 'there', and I think their genius is just taken as a given. For me, they've just always been there. Growing up in the '60s, on Merseyside, as a left-handed Paul, there was only ever going to be one band for me - and so it was, at least until they got a bit scary for an eight year old, around the time of the White Album.

My first ever musical memory (and, probably, my first moment of sheer abject terror) also centres around The Beatles. Picture the scene. It must have been early 1964, so I would have been four years old. Ebenezer Street, Rock Ferry, my parents' first house. Old terrace, outside loo, coal fires. I'm stood with my mum, watching as the chimney sweep goes about his work. The Beatles are on the radio. As the chorus plays, the sweep turns to me, white eyes prominent in his coal-dusted face, reaches out towards me and sings "I Wanna Hold Your Hand".

Cue screams and tears.

The other reason I'm surprised we've not had The Beatles on the soundtrack before is the sheer volume of Beatles stuff I own. All the studio albums, the BBC sessions, singles collections (including the one playing now), the Anthologies and a wide selection of bootlegs. 31 albums in total, before starting on the cover versions and the solo stuff.

Past Masters Volume 1 (of two) collects all the non-album singles, EP tracks and b-sides from Love Me Do through to I'm Down, the b-side of Help!, including the German language versions of I Wanna Hold Your Hand and She Loves You. The consistently high quality of the material just goes to demonstrate that The Beatles' cast-offs were generally better than most other bands' best material. Early Beatles - so the 'teenybop' years, straightforward pop songs before the experimentation really kicked in.

The Beatles. Simply the best - then, now and always.

Oh, and the joys of YouTube. Where do people find this stuff? Here are the boys in 1963, in Sweden, performing She Loves You. Possibly the best pure pop song ever written. And the harmonies on that final 'Yeah' still send a shiver down my spine.



So anyway, a quiet Saturday today. Mrs W was out in Chester meeting up with an old friend so I was left to my own devices for most of the day. After an early morning shop for the weekend's provisions, it was largely spent sat in the garden reading the paper, something I should do more of, I think.

Tea comprised enchiladas, eaten whilst watching Changeling, a very good film that is probably Angelina Jolie's finest screen moment (excluding the nude scenes in Gia, obviously). The 'true' story of a mother who lost her son to a serial killer, the crux of the story is the LAPD's insistence that they have found the boy alive - a child the insist she accept as her own despite the boy manifestly not being her son. A long film, but one that never outstays its welcome and one that is well worthy of a lend from Blockbuster or your video rental outlet of choice.

Oh sod it, let's have some more Beatles.

Day 145: RIP Willy

Today's soundtrack: Mink Deville - Cabretta


I learnt today that Willy DeVille, the driving force behind Mink DeVille, had died yesterday of pancreatic cancer. Willy who? I suspect many of you are saying. Who indeed. Mink DeVille were one of the original New York CBGBs bands, but a more different band to The Ramones and the like you would struggle to find. They played bittersweet tunes with a latin flavour, more soul than rock. Doc Pomus said of him:

“Mink DeVille knows the truth of a city street and the courage in a ghetto love song. And the harsh reality in his voice and phrasing is yesterday, today, and tomorrow — timeless in the same way that loneliness, no money, and troubles find each other and never quit for a minute.”

So nothing random about today's soundtrack - Cabretta was their first album, containing Spanish Stroll, their 'hit' - along with nine other sweet songs. Here they are performing Spanish Stroll on Top of the Pops back in '77.

Think you're so slick? Well all right...



A busy day today, with one thing and another. Had to take Pedders to the vet today for his boosters and a general health check. In the past, with our other cats, the big problem has been getting them in the cat basket in the first place - always involved a fight, scratches and yowling. Pedro? I opened the door of the basket and he just walked straight in. Bless him.

Because of his bowel problems (already discussed on here in far too much detail) he's a bit of a celebrity in the vets, and they all seemed pleased to see him fit and well. Got a bit of Pedro's history from the vet as well - don't think we really realised just how poorly he'd been, that it was touch and go as to whether his bowel operation would work at all - happily it did, and his checkup confirmed he's fine, although we do need to watch his diet carefully.

Then in the afternoon it was off to the Job Centre for my 13 week 'interview', which was with a nice lady who went through my 'Jobseekers Agreement' with me. This is the point where I am supposed to face facts, and recognise that I'm not going to get the highly paid job I've been looking for on my doorstep and reassess my job-searching parameters. Basically, reduce your salary expectations, widen the type of job you'll consider and the distance you'll travel to get there.

Fine in theory, but in practice is likely to lead to lots of pointless applications for jobs I'm overqualified for, or for which there will be far better candidates out there. Yes, in theory I am perfectly qualified to apply for financial controller roles paying £25k a year, but no-one in their right minds is going to actually employ me to do that! Luckily the lady I was interviewed by was sensible enough to understand that so we did what we had to do for the 'system' and that was that. We discussed the need for a further meeting in a couple of weeks time and agreed there was no point in having such a meeting - very sensible.

In better news, I had a call from the agency regarding one of the jobs I've applied for recently, and I've been selected for interview in a couple of weeks' time. Still a long way to go, but definite progress!

Everton's final pre-season friendly this evening, home to Malaga. Couldn't raise the enthusiasm to actually go, but apparently they performed very creditably in winning 2-1. Joleon Lescott played, and it now begins to look like he'll be staying, which would be good news. Goals below - look out for Malaga's consolation goal - a cracking free kick!

Day 144: To the 'hood in Hudd!

Today's soundtrack: Various Artists - The All Time Greatest Movie Songs

Off to Huddersfield today, to drop off some stuff for Son No 2, in advance of his trip back down south. As I mentioned the other day, he's found himself a ticket to Reading Festival, which he is well pleased about. I had a quick look at the website and felt a slight twinge, but I suspect Reading will be a bit lairy for a man of my advanced years. Anyway, I am SO grounded at present!

Nice relaxing drive over the Pennines, sun shining and all relatively fine in the world. I picked up Son No 2 at the student house (which still looks in pretty good order) then we drove into town, via the snooker club, where he dropped off his CV in respect of a bar job that had been advertised there. We then headed into the town centre for a spot of lunch, which had us pitch up at what was obviously a Weatherspoon's, although it was not advertised as such outside! No matter, a couple of pints and a chicken burger-type thingy slipped down nice and easy!

We then had a bit of a browse in the main shopping centre, inevitably ending up at HMV, which disappointingly seems to have turned into a DVD store with a few CDs lurking down one side. Temptation thus averted, I dropped The Boy back at home then headed back to Cheshire.

And despite my tasty and filling lunch, looking forward to my tea!

In the knowledge that I'd be 'dining out' at lunchtime, Mrs W had suggested light bites for tea tonight and had raised the idea of a steak and onion baguette each. Excellent idea, but gave me the idea to push the boundaries a little.

One of the staple festival repasts is the 'Aussie Steak Combo'. Simon, Matt, you know what I'm talking about here.

The Aussie Steak Combo comprises the following:

Freshly baked baguette.
Fried onions.
Bacon.
Steak.
Cheese.
And as much ketchup/mustard as you can squeeze on top.

Top scran indeed!

So that's what we had. And very nice it was too, although the baguettes that Mrs W pitched up with were too big, even for us. Suitably downsized, they just about had the capacity for the various ingredients listed above. The only change I made to the standard festival approach was to stick the things under the grill to melt the cheese - definitely an improvement our festival caterers should consider.

Not really the healthiest days' intake of food - I suspect my 'five a day' quota was missed by some distance - but my, it all hit the spot!

Today's soundtrack is definitely from Mrs W's collection, but it's still worthy of a listen from time to time. It does what it says on the tin - collects together a raft of songs over two CDs that are lifted from various movie soundtracks. Some better than others, obviously, but still some gems in there. Yes, there's some Boyzone and Celine for the ladies, but there's also stuff by The Doobie Brothers, Van Morrison, Al Green and Edwyn Collins as well.

This song is on the CD in its Boy George incarnation, but here's the actual film version. Great film, with a fairly well-known twist that I'm not going to give away here. Great song as well.

Day 143: Genius - it's official!

Today's soundtrack: Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (remixed)

So yes, it's official - I am a genius! It must be so, because someone said so!

Well ok, no-one actually said 'Paul Waring is a genius' - what they said was that something I'd written on another blog was 'genius'. Which is almost the same thing.

What are you talking about, Paul? Will you please get to the point?

Ok then. Regular readers will know of my contributions to The Word - magazine, website, podcast. Not in any remuneratory capacity, I hasten to add - there is a blog on their website that I contribute to, and occasionally those contributions get transferred by the editorial team to the magazine (via the letters page) or, as in this case, get a mention on the podcast.

The blog had had a very entertaining thread relating to 'things that happen in The Beano that you never see in real life' it's here, if you want to read the whole thread. My contribution, describing how someone bitten on the toe by a crab would be depicted in the comic, appears somewhere in the middle of the thread. And it got read out in the following week's podcast (which you can listen to in its entirety below) by Andrew Collins, music journalist, broadcaster and fellow blogger.



Andrew, clearly a man of taste and discernment, chose to describe my post as 'genius', bless him. You should really listen to the whole podcast, but my moment of glory commences at around the 32:50 mark if you wish to skip right there!

Anyway, enough with the self-congratulation already! Did you do anything constructive today, Paul? Well I tidied the garden up, got the lawnmower out and applied the (not so) green fingers to the soil. Happily, our lawn (which has suffered for years from squirrel/badger assaults and shade from surrounding vegetation) seems to have flourished this summer - largely due, I think, to our neighbours cutting down a tree that blocked out a lot of light rather than anything I've done. Although I have re-seeded a few patches and applied the 'Weed and Feed' liberally on occasion.

Other than that, it was a bit of a quiet one, really. Quiet on the job front as well - no news from the current 'live' opportunities although as always these things move slower than you would like them to.

We've had Bloc Party on the soundtrack before, I think, but no reason not to have them again. Today's album is a complete remix of their debut album and includes some tasty versions of their early songs. Not something I listen to on a regular basis, but it's a nice touch from the group and sets them ever so slightly apart from their fellow indie contemporaries. It harks back to the days when reggae albums were often accompanied by 'dub' versions of the album, which I always enjoyed, often preferring the dub versions to the originals!

Here's the band performing 'Banquet' from their debut. Lots of spiky guitars and tension!

Day 142: Fish and Cats

Today's soundtrack: Various Artists - Doo Wop Dynamite

Got some cooking for you today! Mrs W came home from work with a couple of pieces of salmon that needed turning into a tasty yet nutritious tea - my mission, if I chose to accept it!

So what to do? Mrs W reminded me of a rather nice 'teriyaki' glaze that we have used before, based upon treacle and soy sauce - but unfortunately the jar of treacle had long since been pitched (sell-by date was probably 1993 or some such). So I improvised, devising a glaze that combined soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce and maple syrup with some crushed garlic and a touch of sesame oil. Poured onto the salmon fillets (which were by now sat in a pair of tinfoil parcels) and baked in a hot oven for about twenty minutes, they were very tasty indeed. The salmon was accompanied by some potato croquettes and some stirfried vegetables (mushrooms, sweetcorn, sugar snaps, spring onions and bean sprouts) and a crisp young sauvignon blanc.

Very nice too, and a pleasant end to a rather busy and productive day.

Took an early call from a recruitment agency - remember the conversation with my ex-boss a couple of days ago? The agency got in touch with me and after talking through the situation with them, they now have a copy of my CV for consideration - basically they will only submit my CV to the company if it does not reach them by any other means, so hopefully I have avoided compromising any exclusivities or confidences. It's a minefield, this recruitment thing!

Spent all afternoon on one of my allocated chores - a long time ago, I bought a couple of 'multi-frame' picture frames with the intention of identifying, and printing and framing, a few pictures of cats past and present for Mrs W. Naturally, the picture frames have sat on top of the stereo (do we still call them stereos?) for about three months and I have finally been shamed into actually doing the picture thing with them. Once I started, it was actually quite an enjoyable (if long-winded) task and Mrs W was suitably appreciative of the end product. As she should be.

Oh, and I'll get onto the shower and the garden later this week, I promise. The ironing's piling up, as well...

Had a long chat with Son No 2 as well today - he's landed a ticket for the Reading Festival over the bank holiday (to which he's welcome - wild horses wouldn't drag me to Reading) which he's naturally delighted about. However I've got his tent here, and he wants to borrow my (voluminous) rucksack - and he needs the sunglasses he managed to leave here last weekend, so I've got a trip to Huddersfield to do a bit of dropping off in the next couple of days. Be nice though - get a spot of lunch in while I'm over there I feel! I've also got a visit from Son No 1 next week, en route to a holiday in Skye with his girlfriend's family - be good to spend some time with the lads in the coming week. Special request for home-made pizza from Son No 1 as well - news of my prowess is spreading!

We've not had any Doo Wop before on the soundtrack, but I'm right partial to a bit of doobeedoobeedoo from time to time. 'Doo Wop Dynamite' is a cheapo compilation on an obscure reissue label but it's got some lovely stuff on it, from the likes of The Dells, The Orioles, The Platters and The Moonglows. Songs from a more innocent time, when the suits were sharp, the shoes were polished, the hair was processed - and the harmonies were tight!

Doo Wop was, primarily, a black art form but as with so many elements of black culture, it got purloined and 'cleaned up' by white artists for the (primarily white) mainstream American marketplace. For 'cleaned up' most often you could read 'watered down' but occasionally the copyists got it right. I have to say this, because The Skyliners 'Since I Don't Have You' is one of my favourite tracks on the album - and it's only when I searched for the track on YouTube that I found out they are/were a white band. Preconceptions eh? Sounds obvious to me listening now, but what a great song. Love the bit where he breaks into falsetto at around 1:40 into the song...

And just how sharp are those haircuts? The less said about the jackets the better though...



Oh, and did you know that Guns 'n' Roses covered this? Oh yes they did...



Not sure they'd have got away with the video in 1958 though!

Day 141: Old friends and new opportunities?

Today's soundtrack: Garbage - Beautiful Garbage

Got myself out of the house today, and into Manchester City Centre...I had a meeting with a recruitment consultant, and had arranged to meet up with one of my ex-colleagues for a coffee beforehand. Plus Mrs W had tasked me with getting a couple of her posh watches re-batteried.

Before that though, I had a good half hour on the phone with my Birmingham mate, on the wind-down before heading off to Malta for a week or two. All seems to be ok in Brum at the moment, but it was good to spend a while putting the world to rights!

Off into Manchester then, and after dropping the watches off at Debenham's I headed down to Spinningfields to meet up with Ann-Marie. Got a sneaky peek at the inner part of the new offices, which was nice, before heading off to Cafe Nero for a quick cappuccino and a catch-up on the gossip. Again, all seems well enough at the old place despite the ongoing upheavals that I've alluded to in previous blogs. Oh, and Ann-Marie thinks I should jack it all in and move into catering full-time. And she might be right!

After coffee, it was off to meet with the recruitment consultant. This is an agency I've been registered with for a while, so they know enough of me to be comfortable of my suitability for the advertised role, and they feel pretty confident that I will get a chance to speak to them directly in the not too distant. The meeting was less about me, and more about the detail of the role, which again is encouraging. It does look like an interesting role, and one I know I could fulfill, but as we know there's a lot of competition out there and it would be dangerous to take anything for granted.

That said, I came out of the meeting feeling pretty good about things and felt I ought to engage in a bit of retail therapy. So I did. Nothing silly, but I needed a replacement case for my iPhone, the existing case having split at the headphone socket. The perfect excuse to indulge in a bit of gadget fetishism in the Apple Store! Naturally a quick trip to Fopp was also called for, resulting in a few CDs (none costing more than a fiver) to add to the collection - including some Depeche, Kev! Then it was back to Debenham's to pick up the two watches - both now working (although the back of one of the watches detached itself when I got it home - I'll need to drop it off again next time I'm in town).

Back home then, to let Pedro out for a run, and to catch up on my housework(!) Mrs W wanted a loaf for sandwiches, so the breadmaker got yet another runout, and the kitchen needed a bit of a tidy-up generally, which it got. Mrs W has given me a list of chores for the rest of the week, so I'll need to show some progress there, in between my drive to get Everton up the league table (brutal pre-season by the way, flogged lots of underperforming prima donnas, and bought in a load of kids who might actually want to play for me...that's the theory anyway).

Garbage on the soundtrack today - not literally, the group of the same name. They seem to have gone a bit quiet of late - have they split up? But their first few albums are full of choons with a bit of bite to them and although they are never at the top of the playlist, they are always worth a listen.

So have a listen to this - it's 'Shut your Mouth' performed live at the Electric Ballroom back in 2002. Oh, by the way Ann-Marie tells me she stops reading these thing when it gets to the 'music bit' so I can say what I like about her now........



........but I'm far too much of a gentleman to do that!

Day 140: Boiled bread?

Today's soundtrack: Al Green - Anthology

My baking moved into the realm of the adventurous today as I took on the challenge of cooking that perfect accompaniment to cream cheese - the bagel!

What could be so difficult? You've got a breadmaker and an oven - roll your dough into doughnut shapes and Bob's your uncle, surely? Well no, it's not that simple. Firstly I had to leave the safety zone of the recipe book supplied with the breadmaker and go 'off-piste' with the recipe. Secondly, however, one of the critical elements of bagel cooking is that the raw bagels have to be 'boiled' before they are baked in the oven.

How can this possibly work?

So making the dough was as straightforward as ever - unusually there is no fat (in the form of butter or oil) in the bagel recipe - just yeast, flour, salt, sugar and water, but the breadmaker took it in its stride and delivered a firm dough that I divided into eight balls. Making the hole in the bagel essentially involves sticking your finger through the middle of the ball and twirling the thing round your finger until the hole is an inch or two in diameter - that worked ok, as well.

Leaving the bagels to rise in the airing cupboard for 15 minutes, I turned the oven on and boiled up a big pan of water. This was going to be interesting! The recipe called for the bagels to be boiled in batches - sixty seconds each, turning the bagels half way through the cooking time. I fully expected the things to dissolve when I put them in the pan, but no - they held their shape, actually puffed up a bit, and suffered the mid-cook flip without mishap.

What came out of the pan were eight slightly sticky, but essentially firm, misshapen rings of dough that I then brushed with egg and stuck in the oven for fifteen minutes.

And what came out of the oven were - recognisably - bagels! Bagels that the supermarkets would have to sell off cheap as mis-shapes, but nevertheless bagels. After a short time cooling, they were sliced, toasted and covered in Philly.

And damn fine they were too! More to the point, they were definitely bagels - in taste, texture and (just about) shape - but far, far tastier than your average shop-bought bagel.

Yummy! Mark that one down as another success!

On a roll, we had home made pizzas for tea as well - a double whammy of success today on the baking front. Not sure its doing the waistline much good though...

In between all this baking activity, my eMusic credits had clicked up another batch of downloads, so I took the opportunity to get hold of some of the stuff introduced to me by Latitude last month. Albums by the Duckworth-Lewis Method, Broken Records, The Broken Family Band and The Phenomenal Handclap Band now await listening and appraisal.

And the football season beckons, with Everton playing Coventry in a friendly (and drawing 2-2). Tellingly, Joleon Lescott was 'injured' and didn't play - this, coupled with rumours about Philippe Senderos joining from Arsenal, suggests that Joleon is off to City - sadly, but hopefully for shedloads of money. And in my alternative universe, Everton finished a disappointing eighth in the league - some great results offset by sloppy defeats to weaker teams and some appalling away form. Grudgingly, the board have given me a contract for the next two seasons on the back of this. So far in the close season, I've offloaded that troublemaker Cahill to Chelsea for silly money, and accepted an equally silly bid from Barcelona for Tim Howard, leaving me without a goalkeeper of any quality at the moment. Carlo Cudicini is, I think, coming in as backup, but priority is a decent keeper as soon as possible!

If you recall, I mentioned reading 'Man on Wire' a while back - the documentary was on TV last night so we watched that, fascinating stuff and really interesting to see some of the characters referred to in the book itself. Definitely worth watching.

I saw Al Green in Manchester last year and very good he was too, although I would have preferred more of his own material rather than the crowdpleasing Motown covers he thought he had to perform. One of the great soul voices, the good Reverend combines pure soul with gospel to great effect. The Anthology is a four-disc compilation that combines the obvious stuff with a range of live tracks, some interview snippets and other curiosities. Not the best starting point for Al - the two 'Greatest Hits' collections are far better in this regard - but still some interesting stuff in there for those overfamiliar with the regular stuff.

I may have given you this track before, but if so, I don't care. My favourite Al Green song, and one of my favourite songs ever, Belle describes his struggle to combine his love for a woman (Belle) with his God ("It's you I want, but it's him that I need"). Not sure why he can't have both, but there you go. In any event, a more beautiful melody and vocal performance you'll be hard pushed to find.

Day 139: Cholesterol? What Cholesterol?

Today's soundtrack: Suicide - Suicide

There are times when only a fry-up will do. Today was one of those times.

What did we have? We had thick-cut back bacon and pork sausages from the farm shop, double fried egg, mushrooms fried in olive oil, hash browns and fried bread. Lightly dressed with red (Mrs W) and brown (me) sauce. And washed down with big mugs of coffee and tea.

Absolutely delightful. Eaten early, so as not to reduce the impact of the curry planned for the evening - provided courtesy of Sainsbury's, who have a very tasty line of ready meals. In particular, they have started doing side dishes in little square(ish) pots that really go down a treat - we had some Bombay Potato and some Tarka Daal that were very acceptable.

Other than eat (and drink), there was little to do today other than sit in ad watch the rain fall. It's been a bit of a washout this summer, certainly up here in the grim North, and I'm just thankful that festival season was - by and large - a dry one this year.

So how to fill the day?

Well - inevitably - a bit of football management took place this afternoon. I'm still hanging in there as the season draws to a close, with a top ten position reasonably secure. Not sure that will be enough for the Board, despite my 'Manager of the Month' award for March, to secure my place for next season, but who knows?

Other than that, I spent some time chucking out a load of covermount discs from computer magazines stretching back years, and sorting out the various discs relating to computer programs that I've acquired over the years. I started doing this while I was looking for the software that came with my printer/scanner combo - I needed to install the scanner software on the new computer. Failed miserably in my search for said disc - why is it that the disc you want is always the one you can't find? - but in any event was able to download what I needed from the internet, in new, improved Vista-compatible flavour, so all was well eventually.

As you can tell, it was rather quiet chez Waring today - which is no bad thing on occasion!

Today ended with a better than average DVD watched while we ate our curry - called 'Passengers', it followed the recuperation of a number of airline passengers in the aftermath of a plane crash. Needless to say, not all was what it seemed at first, although the twist, when it came, wasn't too much of a surprise. A couple of second division actors, no big stars, but a nice way to waste an hour or two.

Today's soundtrack is hardly 'easy' listening - Suicide were one of the original NY Punk bands that came out of the CBGB's explosion of the mid-'70s. They stood apart from the pack by being a duo and by being synthesiser-led. An incredibly confrontational band live, it was not unknown for their performances to end in mayhem either caused by, or visited upon, the band.

Still, a hugely influential band in their own way, on the likes of Cabaret Voltaire, early Human League and Soft Cell for instance. You wouldn't play them to your mother, though. This, their first album, was re-released last year with a second disk including '23 Minutes over Brussels', a concert (in Brussels) that, indeed, lasted 23 minutes before degenerating into a full-scale riot.

I was a bit loath to search for 'Suicide' on YouTube - who knows what you will find? Anyway, I did find this - Suicide performing 'Ghost Rider', the album's lead-off track, some time in 1977-78. Will you make it all the way to the end?

Day 138: A public service announcement

Today's soundtrack: Graham Parker and the Rumour - Live at Hammersmith Odeon

Remember the Eccles Cake thing? Remember I suggested that the microwave might be an appropriate way of warming the things up?

Well don't. Or if you do, warm your Eccles Cake on the lowest heat setting for the shortest possible time. I warmed my Eccles Cake on full power and went off for a few seconds to, ahem, powder my nose - and came back to a kitchen full of smoke, and a comestible that was hissing and spitting in a most alarming way indeed.

I'm not a huge expert in these matters - but I believe that in theory, microwaves cook from the inside out? Whatever, once the raisin molecules got set to shakin', they decided to go nuclear in very short order indeed - I'm talking within the first twenty seconds or so!

So think on - and warm your Eccles Cakes elsewhere!

(Luckily I had another one in reserve that went under the grill - with the obligatory slice of Stilton on top. And very good it was too.)

Applied for a job advertised in Cheshire this morning online - and had the agency call me within ten minutes of the application being submitted. Meeting with the recruitment consultant now arranged for Monday - let's see if this gets us anywhere. Looks like an interesting role, and one that I feel well suited for, but there's a lot of people out there who could probably say the same thing. Salary could be more attractive, but I'm not in a position to quibble too much about that at the moment - it's more than £60 a week, for starters!

Sad to hear of the death of Bobby Robson today - a real gentleman and a man who clearly loved his sport dearly. He will be missed, and I hope those who treated him so shabbily at times in his life - I'm looking at you, tabloid editors and Newcastle directors - have the grace to recognise this and apologise to his family. I'm not holding my breath though. I recall him being routinely ridiculed and rubbished by the tabloids during his time as England manager - the same tabloids who I am sure are falling over themselves to print the most gushing obituaries as I type. I understand he nearly became Everton manager at one stage - the deal was done, with the proviso that Bobby would break the news personally to his directors at Ipswich before completion. Unfortunately the deal was 'leaked' to the directors by persons unknown, and Robson, on principle, then chose to stay with Ipswich. A bit more principle in professional football today would not go amiss.

Oh - in passing - Everton have now clawed their way into the top seven, although are out of both domestic cups (at the hands of Chelsea each time - in the FA cup on penalties following a replay). Still in Europe after topping our UEFA group with a tough match against Napoli to come. Not bad for a rookie manager, I feel - yet the bleeding ingrates making up half the team are all angling for moves to 'bigger' clubs. No chance - they can rot in the reserves before I'll sell them. And yes, that includes you, Tim Cahill.

Graham Parker is one of the great 'lost' voices that came out of the punk era. Often lumped in with other 'angry young men' of the time, like Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson, Parker had the advantage of a really tight band (made up of members of Brinsley Schwarz and other remnants of the pub-rock era) that was probably bettered only by the Blockheads at the time. More soul than punk, his early albums (Heat Treatment, Howlin' Wind) were tight, focused gems packed with great songs. His masterpiece is probably 'Squeezing Out Sparks' released in 1979 to great critical acclaim.

Today's soundtrack comes from the same year, a bootleg of a show at London's Hammersmith Odeon promoting the Squeezing Out Sparks Album. And mighty fine it is too. Well recorded (I assume a soundboard or a radio broadcast) and including tracks from the new album with a smattering of earlier hits, it was deserving of an official release. He was a great live performer - both on the small stage (I saw him at Sheffield University in 1978) and on the big (he was the 'token' new wave performer at Dylan's Blackbushe show in the same year).

To give you a flavour, here's GP performing 'Passion is no Ordinary Word' a few years later. Tune!

Day 137: This football management lark...

Today's soundtrack: Fleetwood Mac - Live in Boston (Volume 1)

This football management lark is in severe danger of taking over my life. I knew it would - it's happened before (and no doubt it will happen again). The problem is that you need a good deal of time to get into a routine - something I've plenty of at the moment. It just doesn't work in fifteen minute spells, you need to be able to devote hours, nay days, of your time to the damn thing.

Which is what I did today, primarily. Still hanging in there, as we move into December, but half the team are now attracting the attention of bigger teams. Not sure why, as by and large they are playing like dogs, but somehow I'm in the quarter finals of the League Cup, where I'm about to be knocked out by Chelsea, it looks like I'll get through the group stages of the UEFA Cup (or whatever its called now) - following an excellent away draw at AC Milan (battered them for most of the game, took the lead, then conceded a raggy equaliser at the death). In fact, if it wasn't for some very ropey league form (languishing in 13th place at the moment) all would be fine. Perhaps I'll just let all these overpaid primadonnas go, and spend the money on a bunch of keen kids who actually want to play for me. Or not.

So that was my day, how was yours?

Actually, that's not quite true, I did do a couple of other things in and around my footballing activities. I finally caught up with my ex-boss regarding this job opportunity - as is often the case, we seem to have a number of agencies each claiming some degree of 'exclusivity' with the company offering the job, which kind of makes it difficult to know who you should really be dealing with. Probably best to have some contact with them all, making it clear who you have spoken to, and letting them deal with the conflicts. Anyway, details are going to be passed on - let's see where this one gets to!

Baked myself a seeded spelt loaf this week for lunchtime sandwiches, so headed off to the local farm shop for something nice to stick on top. Picked up some tasty pastrami, posh coleslaw, posh cheeses - and bacon and sausage for the weekend fry-up.

I also picked up some Eccles Cakes. And now I'm going to let you into a little secret. A secret recipe that will initially appal you, but which will delight and amaze you if you have the courage to try it out.

It is this.

Take your Eccles Cakes (I would assume more than one would be necessary) and warm up using your favoured approach to warming said cakes. Probably the oven, but maybe under the grill or even in the microwave.

Nice.

Then do this.

Cut yourself a big slice of Stilton Cheese and stick it on top of the Eccles Cake. Stick under a grill so the cheese melts.

Eat with gusto.

Trust me - it's a taste sensation. How do I know this? Well there used to be (and for all I know, still is) a pub in Liverpool City Centre that served this on its lunchtime menu. I was in there with some fellow accountants, oh, probably twenty years ago now, and was persuaded to try the Eccles Cake/Cheese combo against, it has to be said, my better judgement. But I did, and it was lovely.

Try it and tell me I'm wrong.

The Fleetwood Mac on the soundtrack today is not the stega-rich, cocaine-hoovering supergroup of the late '70s and early '80s - rather, it is the original band, fronted at the time by Peter Green, wonderful guitarist but eventual drug casualty. This is volume one of three CDs, recorded live in Boston in 1970. I think they are bootlegs, but may actually have had a semi-official release at some stage. Whatever, the sound quality is fantastic, as is the music and the guitar playing. This version of Fleetwood Mac is the one that released such wonderful tracks as Man of the World, Albatross and Black Magic Woman, and shows up the more contemporary version of the band for the easy listening borefest that they are. Extremely rich and self-satisfied borefest, but there you go.

Happily Peter Green, although still somewhat fragile, is a lot healthier than he has been, and does now perform on stage on an intermittent basis. Worth catching if you can.

This is Peter and the Mac in happier days - Man of the World, recorded live (vocals anyway, backing sounds like the original) for the BBC. Quite possibly the most beautiful, saddest song ever recorded.

Day 136: Football's a cruel mistress...

Today's soundtrack: LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem

I could resist the siren call no longer. Was it the impending start of the new football season that dragged me back, or the potential for a new computer to handle the 3D graphics without st-st-stuttering? Or the box, sat enticingly next to the computer, Mourinho-alike on the cover giving me the come-on?

Or, most likely, the long day stretching ahead of me, jobbing and blogging out of the way by early morning?

Whatever. I slid the silver disc into the drive, waited for the game to load, and once more I was no longer Paul Waring, unemployed mild-mannered accountant, but Paul Waring, unknown football manager blithely promising my chairman that qualification for European competition through my eventual league placing was not only possible, but practically guaranteed.

And it all started so well. An unbeaten pre-season performance, including wins over Benfica, Anderlecht and Ajax suggested we would hit the ground running come the real thing. Sadly it was not to be. A tight (and undeserved) 3-4 reverse at Middlesborough was followed by a succession of 0-0 draws home and away as Jo and Saha flattered to deceive upfront and my team of expensive mercenaries decided they couldn't motivate themselves sufficiently under my management. Luckily, wins in Europe and in the League Cup (against, admittedly, far inferior opposition) is keeping the team together and goals from, of all people, Victor Anichibe, mean we enter October improving steadily from a poor start. Although 14th position needs to be improved upon rapidly if I am to make it to the next transfer window still in a job!

In other news, the real Everton continued this season's preparations with a win (on penalties) against an MLS select eleven - not a bad achievement, as the first team from England to beat the MLS in pre-season in the last seven years. And at the time of writing, Joleon Lescott is still an Everton player, despite continuing overtures from Man City. Which can only be a good thing.

Dragged myself away from the computer screen to have a long chat with Simon in Southampton, who seems to be getting some positive noises from the local job market - here's hoping! I also managed - by virtue of leaving my mobile on 'mute' after my trip to the job centre on Tuesday - to miss a succession of calls from my old boss about one of the opportunities I mentioned earlier this week. So maybe - just maybe - there are some hints of movement in the job market for us poor souls!

Oh, and I should point out - in relation to yesterday's comments - that it would appear that my recollection of the Pretty Woman affair is (probably) correct - I did buy the disc for my lovely wife, purely to obtain one song she wanted on her iPod. This must have been before the advent of the iTunes Music Store though - my usual source for the odd (in both senses of the word!) songs Mrs W asks me to track down from time to time...

I would also add (Mr Day) that I proudly own the greatest hits of Wham! - on both vinyl and CD, and also confess to more than a couple of Girls Aloud tracks lurking in the collection somewhere. Nowt wrong with a a bit of pure pop from time to time - especially when sung by hot young totty (ahem). Which also gives me the excuse to post one of my favourite t-shirt slogans of the summer, spotted at Glastonbury once or twice this year...

Harsh indeed, but fair, I feel!

Mrs W came to her senses this evening, realising that a bowl of soup and a chunk of Italian bread, no matter how lovingly prepared and tasty it might be, does not a decent evening meal make. So tonight it is haddock fillets, baked in a citrus sauce, accompanied by potato croquettes and stir-fried vegetables. And a cheeky bottle of white. So normal order is restored once again, happily!

Despite owning a couple of their albums, LCD Soundsystem mean very little to me. Loosely dumped in my 'Electronica/Dance' genre in iTunes, they actually transcend this classification by covering a range of styles, aided by a series of collaborations with other artists. More than a touch of Talking Heads in this one, the snappily-entitled "Daft Punk is Playing at My House"



Right, off now to get the team ready for the next game, home to ManYoo (gulp...)

Day 135: Pane Italiano!

Today's soundtrack: Various Artists - Pretty Woman Soundtrack

Oh dear. Before you say anything, it's not mine. Honest. There are nearly four and a half thousand albums in my iTunes collection. Around 4,400 of these are mine. Probably less than 100 belong to Mrs W. This is one of those albums. But, in the spirit of taking things as they come, the soundtrack to Pretty Woman is what I have to listen to today whilst typing this blog.

It will be a short one today, I promise you.

To be fair, as I peruse the tracklist, I can see Roy Orbison, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, David Bowie and Robert Palmer. But then I can also see Roxette, Go West, Peter Cetera and Lauren Wood. And the unsettling image of Julia Roberts is hovering eerily at the back of my mind. What is it about Julia Roberts? I have severe doubts about her acting ability and find her singularly unattractive, yet she can apparently command higher fees per film than just about anyone out there. Is it all down to a big mouth and a set of shiny, even teeth? What am I missing?

Anyway.

Signing on day today, so off to Warrington for the fortnightly reminder of why I have to get a job sooner rather than later. Bit of a trial today, no fights to avoid, but for some reason they were heavily understaffed and those staff who were signing on us 'customers' also appeared to be training other staff - and taking twice as long as they normally would as a result. But after about a half hour wait, and being mildly patronised by a fourteen year old (possibly) member of the Job Centre team, I made good my escape.

At least things seem to be progressing with yesterday's headhunter - although holidays are holding back one of the opportunities, it looks like I might be getting an interview with the firm of accountants I mentioned yesterday. Will keep you all posted.

Took the opportunity today to clog up the new computer with all manner of games I had lying around today, so prepare to be regaled with stories of my attempts to manage Everton to a respectable position in the league soon. Whilst doing so, I found an old version of Microsoft Office that I managed to register and install. Spent a frustrating hour or two trying (and failing) to import my calendar details from Thunderbird into Outlook until I gave up and re-entered everything manually. I only bothered because my iPhone will only recognise, and sync with, the Outlook calendar. Still, I now have all my appointments (such as they are) in my iPhone, which should be convenient.

Mrs W is currently enjoying the renewed vigour that comes with recent gym membership, and translating that into a desire for healthy food in the evening rather than a plate of stodge and a bottle of wine. As a result, we had one of my Carrot and Coriander soups for tea tonight (recipe here) - but accompanied by some home-made Foccacia. This basically uses the pizza dough recipe I've been using for the home made pizzas I've been raving about here, but this time rolled and shaped into a rectangle, and sprinkled with garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, olive oil, and rock salt and crushed peppercorns.

I'd show you a picture but it didn't last long enough. Very yummy, but the rock salt did give us both a raging thirst which, to our credit, was not slaked with a liter of sauvignon.

Right, I might have to listen to some old squit today, but I'm not going to impose the same rubbish on you. Instead, have some of this - it's the video for 'Just a Day' by Feeder and is possibly the most joyous thing on YouTube. Pulled together using footage of fans miming in their bedroom to the track, it cracks me up every time. Check out the two Japanese lads about thirty seconds in!

Day 134: The Hunter!

Today's soundtrack: The Kane Gang - The Miracle of The Kane Gang

Dragged early from my bed this morning to deal with The Hunter, (otherwise known as Pedro, Pedders or Pedderoni Pepperoni) who had decided to bring in a little vole (or was it a shrew?) to play with. Luckily, Mrs W had managed to cover the vole with the Tupperware box that doubles as a critter rescuer. This seemed to excite Pedro still further - he probably thought we'd helped him trap his new playmate for his entertainment...a notion that was summarily put to rest when he was thrown and locked in the living room while I took Mr Vole into the garden to be released into the wild, where he could take his chances. Unfortunately I was dressed only in a dressing gown to perform this delicate operation - a dressing gown that was not particularly securely fastened at the front, and which threatened to fly open at the slightest provocation. This was a touch difficult to deal with, both hands being engaged in keeping the vole under wraps until I got to the edge of the garden. Luckily I managed to preserve both my dignity and the vole's existence (in the short term at least) without further incident.

Pedro's getting a touch too good at this hunting lark - this is two voles, one mouse and a bird that have found their way into the house in the last week or two. Admittedly one of the two voles had been dead for some time when it found its way into the downstairs loo, but all the other critters were alive and kicking on their introduction to Waring Towers (and hopefully remained so for sometime after their release).

I think a bell is in order if things don't improve! At least he is finding all the entertainment he needs at the back of the house and has not been tempted further afield...yet!

Took a call from a headhunter this morning - something I though had gone away back in March appears to be back on the agenda again, and another opportunity with a national firm of accountants also appears to be imminent. So my CV is back out there and - hopefully - will get the attention it needs for one or both of these vacancies.

Oh, the postman knocked on the door as well today. Remember the poncho and shemagh I ordered a while ago, in plenty of time for Glastonbury and Latitude? Well they arrived today. A week after the end of Paul's festival season. They will do the job though. Next year.

After lunch, which comprised yesterday's leftover tacos (very nice too!) it was up to Preston, to drop Son No 2 off at his girlfriend's house. No need for the satnav, he insisted, I know the way!

Which he did. Kind of.

Back home then, to a quiet house to catch up on some blogging and some reading. I'm now reading 'Crosstown Traffic' by the great rock journalist Charles Shaar Murray. Ostensibly a biography of Jimi Hendrix, it gets the 'life story' over very quickly, before moving on to the far more interesting discussion of Hendrix's place in '60s culture, as a black man working in an essentially 'white' oeuvre, as an ex-paratrooper during the Vietnam war, and of course as the greatest guitarist who ever lived.

The Kane Gang were, briefly, on the verge of success and recognition in the mid '80s - success and recognition that ultimately passed them by despite a couple of cracking singles and a strong (if patchy) first album. They were on the Kitchenware label, home of a number of similarly melodic and intelligent bands, including Prefab Sprout, The Daintees and Hurrah! amongst others. Essentially a white soul band, the lack of a charismatic front man (or, you could argue, any charisma at all) ultimately stood against them at a time when image was all.

Despite the quality of their material.

'The Miracle of' is a two-cd collection released recently on CD, that brings together their first album (called, simply, 'Miracle', and which I have lurking on vinyl somewhere) with various singles and b-sides.

Their biggest non-hit was 'Closest Thing To Heaven' which was released to general indifference on more than a couple of occasions - but it is still a great example of mid-'80s blue-eyed soul.

Day 133: Family Ties

Today's soundtrack: Various Artists - Pocket Jukebox

Family Stuff today, what with Son No 2 spending the day with us after last night's concert. While Mrs W headed off to the gym to help preserve her curves, The Boy and I headed across to Rock Ferry to see the ageing grandparents. As always, nice to spend some time with my Mum and Dad, listening to the banter and bickering that has sustained their marriage over the last fifty-odd years. And, of course, to get fed and to pick up on the family gossip. One of my aunts has been spending the last few days in hospital with breathing difficulties, possibly brought about by living an an old, damp, smoky house surrounded by an ever-changing menagerie of cats and dogs. No surprise, perhaps, that her difficulties have eased significantly while she has been in hospital - the only concern is that the difficulties will return when she goes back home...in the full knowledge that if the above factors are indeed relevant to her breathlessness, she'd prefer to be breathless than to remove the source(s) of the problem! I'd probably do exactly the same in her situation though, so who am I to talk?

Read through some schoolbook and reports produced by my nephew and niece while we were there...my, they are good! In particular, my nephew (currently 10) had produced a piece of work (describing an Indian wedding) that I could never have produced at his age (or, to be honest, when I was much older). There's a lot of talk about declining educational standards compared to 'my day' - well, I'm not seeing it on the evidence of the two younger Warings!

Back home, via Tesco's, as we needed to pick up a few 'essentials' for the evening - with The Boy stopping over, our original planned tea was never going to be sufficient so we needed some tacos to bulk out the night's offering - eaten in front of a typically average weekend DVD (Vacancy 2, if you must. Motel room used for peeping-tommery and general slaughter and mayhem. Characters 'offed' in routine order and the bad man lives to justify the sequel).

Early night, leaving Son No 2 in charge of ransacking my music collection and utilising my downloading capacity to his heart's content.

Pocket Jukebox was one of a number of cassettes released by the NME back in the '80s. Long before the days when free CDs were attached to music magazines as a matter of course (long before CDs, come to that) the NME used to have occasional offers for the readership to buy compilation cassettes. I seem to recall vouchers needed to be collected as well. Most were collections of contemporary recordings, but Pocket Jukebox was issued in conjunction with - I think - the Charly record label and included a raft of old soul and blues classics from the likes of Nina Simone, Robert Parker, Lee Dorsey and others. Unlike most of the NME cassettes, Pocket Jukebox was later released in extended form on CD, which is what I am listening to at the moment. The quality o material is consistently high and introduced me to a lot of stuff I'd have struggled to come across ordinarily. As such, if you can find a copy, it's well worth the investment...although you might struggle - I can't find a copy available on either Amazon or eBay at the moment.

And you're not having mine!

One of the less well known songs on the album is George Perkins' 'Cryin' in the Streets'. Here is the inevitable YouTube clip, with some especially poignant images that sit perfectly with the song. Enjoy.

Day 132: Fireworks!

Today's soundtrack: Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady

Kept myself to myself this morning, as the girls slowly recovered from their night out last night.

My turn tonight!

Drove over to Huddersfield to pick up Son No 2 from his student house - we were off to see the temporarily-reformed Pele in Liverpool tonight at the Academy. I managed to find my way to his house without getting lost or caught out by one of Huddersfield's millions of speed cameras, and was pleased to see the house looking reasonably neat and tidy. For a student house, anyway. Naturally the sink was stacked with dirty dishes, but worksurfaces were still largely visible and there were only one or two old pans on the stove! Let's see what it looks like in a term or two's time!

We headed off to Liverpool in plenty of time, intending to have a bite to eat when we got there. After parking up by the academy, we wandered down to the food outlets in Liverpool One, where there was plenty to choose from - amongst hundreds of people with the same idea. What credit crunch?

After perusing the various menus, we settled upon the 'Gourmet Burger Kitchen', which was a new one on both of us. The restaurant works on the same principle as Nando's - ie you choose your food and order (and pay for) it yourself at the counter, after which it is served at your table. We had some little nibbly chicken bites to start, followed by a Cajun burger for The Boy and a Bacon/Avocado burger for yours truly, with portions of the nicest chips I've had in a restaurant for a goodly while. All very tasty, quick and relatively cheap - worth checking out if you can find one.

I did turn into my dad for a while though - when our drinks were served I had a real 'is that a boy or a girl?' moment with the server. Initially convinced it was a boy (hence my 'thanks mate' when my beer landed in front of me) I got flustered when I realised it just might be a girl....to be fair, I don't think Matt was sure either...

Suitably fuelled, we took the time to visit 'Everton 2' for just long enough to confirm that the new home kit is hopelessly, irredeemably, naff, before heading up to the Academy for doors at seven. We were just a touch too early, so stood outside the front cracking on to the roadie and saying hello to Ian Prowse, as he came up looking for the Chilean reporter who was there to interview him. Were Pele massive in Chile back in the day? Who knows?

First in when the doors opened (pathological fear of missing support acts instilled when staying too long in the pub in 1980, thus managing to miss my one and only chance of seeing Joy Division), we had a beer and sat, essentially, by ourselves in the bar until the first support came on - by which time there were probably about 16 of us in the club. So if this band make it big in years to come and everyone claims to have been at the early Liverpool gig - trust me, they weren't.

Not that that's likely to happen, although they were pretty good. Called The Verdict (a great name for a Liverpool band, if only for the way it sounds with a strong accent) they were a punchy three-piece with some tight songs that never outstayed their welcome. The inclusion of a few bars of 'Eton Rifles' mid-set gives some indication of their influences, although in fairness they were more punky than modish. Give them a listen here.

Next up were The Bo Weevils, another local band with a pretty good local following. It seems that tonight was originally meant to be 'their' gig, until the gig was combined with the Pele reunion, hence a fair few tickets had been sold directly to their fan base. So a good reception for the band, who delivered a shortish set notable for some remarkable guitar playing, harmonica and harmonised vocals. And for being bloody loud. I'd definitely give them another go, see what you think here.

And so to the main event. This is, loosely, a twenty year reunion for Pele, comprising just two shows in Liverpool and London. Although dimly aware of the band at the time, they really came into focus through my obsession with Amsterdam, the band formed by Ian Prowse some years after Pele split up and who still incorporate a few Pele numbers in their set. But this was the real deal, the original five piece reunited and on stage together for the first time in years.

We'd taken up our usual speck in the Academy, on the barrier to the left of the stage, a great spot (although the bass speakers we are essentially leaning on can ripple your flares at times) to view the action.

So could the group roll the years back and deliver? Oh yes, most definitely! Once used to seeing Prowsey on stage without his usual crew (and without the usual 'Intro'), it was a blast. Opening with 'Don't Worship Me, it was a ninety minute blast through the Pele songbook with all the hits (including South African number one, Megalomania) and a few less obvious selections. Highlights included a passionate Fat Black Heart, the audience participation through 'Fair Blows The Wind For France' and 'Fireworks', a gentle 'Policeman', and the explosion of joy and passion that is 'Raid The Palace'.

Tired and exhausted, we drove home (via Mackenzie's final resting place on Maryland). Great gig, great night.

Here's the original video for 'Raid The Palace'. Happier, simpler times! Oh, and get your haircut, Prowsey!



Buzzcocks on the soundtrack to all this, another band that fit joy and passion into their songs with aplomb. Singles Going Steady is just that - a collection of all their early 'A' and 'B' sides on one disc. Quality control is stupendous, with not a bad song on the album. Here's a quick taster - punk really did not get any better than this:

Day 131: Is This England?

Today's soundtrack: Mighty Diamonds - Deeper Roots

Started the day with a raft of housework today, changing beds and cleaning floors in anticipation of our houseguest, a colleague of Mrs W's. The girls are out on a 'works do' tonight, so I get control of the remote (for once!)

I also had to stay around the house today, following a letter from the water company regarding our water meter - a water meter I had no idea we had, nor where such a thing might be located if we did, indeed, have one. As is the norm, there was no set appointment time - 'sometime between one and five', the letter said. The letter stressed it was very important that I was around to give the water man access, so I positioned myself in the lounge with a view of the street, ready to answer the door when needed (we've a fickle doorbell, and I didn't want to miss the man when he turned up).

Sure enough, at two thirty, a big white van pulled up outside. The water man got out, went straight to an inspection hatch on the pavement outside our house, lifted the cover, unscrewed a metal cylinder about the size of my fist, replaced said cylinder with a new cylinder, got back into his van, filled in a few forms and drove off. Never got as far as the drive, let alone the front door.

At least I know where the water meter is now.

Dropped the ladies off in town, then back home to settle down in front of the telly with a Sainsbury's curry (lamb rogan josh, since you ask - very nice too, with some chick pea curry on the side and a plate of chapatis), a nice bottle of Cabernet and Shane Meadow's 'This Is England' in the DVD player.

I've had This Is England for a while now, but never got round to watching it. It always promised to be a touch depressing and unsympathetic - back in the day, probably like everyone of my age, I'd had one or two run ins with gangs of skinheads...let's just say they were never my youth tribe of choice! That said, I'd heard lots of good stuff about the film so thought, in the absence of a better alternative, to give it a go.

And I was so glad I did. The recreation of post-Falklands Thatcherite England was spot on, and the film was a lot more sympathetic and heartwarming than I expected - albeit with a simmering violence not far below the surface - that exploded dramatically at the film's climax. Plenty of strong performances, not least from Stephen Graham, in the role of Combo, the racist, violent skin recently released from prison. Watching the film, he looked strikingly familiar from other films, but I couldn't place him at all and it was only after consulting the IMDB that I realised he had played 'Tommy' in 'Snatch'. I'd never have made that connection - not least because, although clearly a scouser in This Is England (and real life, born in Kirkby), he produced a faultless (to my ears anyway) cockney accent in Snatch. Having a full head of hair probably helped, as well!

All in all an excellent film and I'm glad I got round to watching it. If you can get past the grim subject matter, I'd recommend it to you all as well. Although set in 1983, are their parallels for today's situation? No skins, but economic decline, the rise of the racist right, the aftermath of a distant war? Is this still our England?

Let's hope not.

With synchronicity at work, a touch of reggae on the soundtrack today from The Mighty Diamonds. Not the most famous of reggae bands in this country, although their 'Right Time' is one of the classics of the genre. Deeper Roots was released in 1979, and in my version comes with a separate album containing dub versions of the main album. And mighty fine it is too. My copy is a snide internet download - but I'm not sure how readily available the disc is in the shops anyway.

And through the magic of YouTube, here they are in Channel One Studios performing Long Time. Ridim!

Day 130: What's wrong with Thursday?

Today's soundtrack: The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland

So I'm dicking around on the internet, when a message pops up from Son No.2, asking me to come up with - no cheating, now - song titles for each day of the week. Piece of piss, I thought.

Manic Monday;
Ruby Tuesday;
Wednesday Week,
Thursday.....err...let's come back to that one;
Friday On My Mind;
Saturday's Kids;
Gloomy Sunday.

Eventually I had to cheat. The only two songs I've got in my collection with 'Thursday' in the title are amongst the most obscure - 'Thursday' by The Fatima Mansions, and 'Thursday Night Drinking Song' by Alun Parry. All the other days of the week - no problem, although to be fair, Tuesday and Wednesday aren't particularly well served.

It's all to do with the weekly cycle, I suppose. Friday and Saturday - all about anticipation, or enjoyment, of the weekend. Sunday - weekend's over, back to work. Monday - bugger, I'm back at work (or school) and I don't like it. In that context, what is there to write about regarding the midweek period? Precious little, I suppose. Unless you're Craig David, of course, who had a more interesting weekly pattern than most of us.

So....any good Thursday songs out there? Answers on a postcard, please. Or put them in the 'comments' section below. Less faffing about.

Given that my current weekly cycle doesn't follow the norm at the moment, what did I get up to on this (not so) fine Thursday then? Well, reader, I did handyman stuff! One of those jobs I've been putting off for ages, but which had to be done as we have a house guest this evening. One of the pieces of coving in the spare bedroom had fallen down a while ago and has been sitting, accusingly, on top of the curtains (well, that boxy thing that sits over the top of the curtains, anyway - what are they called? Answers on a postcard etc) waiting for me to do something about it. Like stick the thing back up.

What's the point of coving anyway? Why do we need curvy bits of...wood? plaster? MDF? snaking round the wall/ceiling interface? It's fine if it just sits there, minding its own business, but when it falls off, it gives me work to do that I wouldn't otherwise have!

Anyway. A while ago, my dad had given me a bag of grey powder which, when mixed with water, turns into a sloppy paste designed especially for the sticking of coving to the wall/ceiling. So we mixed it up, allowed it to 'settle', slapped globs onto the edge of the coving and held the (heavier than it looks) coving into place. And, wonder of wonders, it stayed there! (and is still there, at the time of writing).

Some of the other pieces look to be on the verge of making a bid for freedom, however.

I can't recall whether Jimi has appeared on the soundtrack before, but I'm glad he has. Genius is a much abused word when it comes to 'rock' musicians, but Jimi deserved the title more than most. Dying at the ridiculously young age of 27, he could do things with an electric guitar that defied belief, using distortion, feedback and effects to extend the capabilities of the instrument to a level that has not been attained by anyone since. Electric Ladyland may well be his masterpiece, a sprawling double album that incorporates blues, rock, psychedelia and soul. I really liked the original cover (ahem) when I was a young impressionable lad as well, although that seems to have been replaced by a more innocuous design in the re-release programme!

Here's Jimi in Atlanta, playing Voodoo Chile from Electric Ladyland. Bear in mind there's only one guitarist on show here - no backing tracks, no studio effects - one man and his guitar. Jaw-dropping stuff!