I bloody love Skype I do. How can it be that I can chat to my wife and kids through a webcam for nothing, not have to shout to make myself heard and understand everything that's said to me? Forget pausing live TV - this is the future, I'm telling you! Makes it much easier to be a long way from home when you can almost BE home when talking to the fam.
Well we made it! It’s been a hectic 36 hours or so via planes trains and automobiles, but myself and a few colleagues met up with those who’d already flown out to our Johannesburg base first thing this morning. Despite the BA strike still being in effect, out plane left Heathrow pretty much on schedule, and with a full compliment of crew – even though some of the lads were gutted that we had male stewards in our section in the absence of any working trolley dollies.
**I've already had questions sent to me about the origins of some of the tunes you can hear on the musician page, which is currently under construction and being tweaked to make it the best it can be. So meantime, the blurb below gives you both an idea of how I came to record this stuff, as well as who it was recorded with and when. Read on....**
ORIGINAL MATERIAL & TRIBUTE BANDS
Since around 1985 I’ve been playing drums or guitar in one band or another.
How I love shuffle mode on the ipod. It doubtless knackers your hard drive over time, but what it gives you in return is the chance of being instantly transported back to a place & time you didn’t expect to revisit when you stuck the earphones in.
Tonight was a classic case in point, as the first track up as I came home on the train from London was an obscure track called “Unchain The Night” from the equally obscure 80’s metal band Dokken.
I’m a bit surprised I’m able to type this morning as I travel down to talkSPORT towers on the train – I should be more hungover than this considering I don’t drink often and yet I had about 6 or 7 pints last night…and a sambuca (thankfully not flaming).
So Ollie and Blackpool DID make it after all!! Deservedly so? Possibly, but Cardiff contributed so much to that gripping play-off final - it’d be scandalous for Dave Jones to be overlooked by the club’s new board and not be allowed to continue as manager.
The Play-Offs. Scourge of fans who suffer in them, or the best way to gain promotion depending on your point of view. I’ve suffered 2 penalty shoot-out heartaches as a Bluenose in play-off semi-finals, but also seen young Darren Carter score from 12 yards at Cardiff’s Millenium to send Blues into the Premiership at Norwich’s expense in 2002. They’re batty, unpredictable and a right old tinder-box of emotions. So going to report on play-off games as a neutral is just fabulous.
On the train down to London on my way to Upton Park for West Ham/Man City on talkSPORT later. But KISS have dominated this week rather than football for a change. After all, the boys are over here on their first FULL UK tour since 1996. I saw their last indoor show in this country, which was in March 1999 at Wembley Arena, and it was a poor show with poor performances from at least 2 original band members (who didn’t last much longer in the make-up reunited version of the band) and I pronounced to my mates as we left the Arena that we’d never see KISS tour here again.
One of the great advantages in working as a freelance sports journalist is that it affords you the opportunity to work for a number of different organisations and develop new contacts and associates that can prove vital in years to come.
When is a penalty not a penalty? Or, more accurately, when is a non-penalty a penalty? Answer – when it’s at Villa Park against the Blues. That’s all I’m saying on the matter.
