Pitch & Putt

JohnnyCeed

I, like the rest of the nation watched in awe and admiration as England went on to fulfil their potential and win the Rugby World Cup in Australia.
It was also with a certain amount of amazement and wonder that I followed the whole tournament, because even though I had been schooled at a normal comprehensive in a working class part of the North West of England I had never played rugby. So the intricacies of the game were a mystery to me.
I have friends that have played and love the game but to me it was always jumpers over shoulders, having baths together and egg chasing. Football was my game.

It therefore came as a surprise after the World Cup final when I climbed down from the ceiling and settled down to a much more normal hour and a half to watch Manchester United vs. Blackburn. The scary thing was that I was to be honest bored. Football just didn't cut it anymore, I know this wasn't a great match and there wasn't that much at stake but still I was bored. There seemed to be a lack of commitment, where was the huge bloke pummelling anyone into the ground for starters? Maybe all those childhood taunts from the rugby players were right; maybe football was a game for wimps.

The same thing happened in the mid week, watching the Champions League. Bored. The real test will be this w/e when I am actively looking forward to watching some club rugby. I know even less about club rugby, I know nothing. I know there are teams called Saracens and Wasps - who surely don't do too well in the winter, but I have no idea where they are from. That's how little I know. But I am looking forward to it with some excitement.

The other thing that rugby has managed is to make me proud of being English. Or to be more accurate, to give me a chance to show it. I have always been very proud of being English, there is nowhere I would rather be from. However being a football fan I am normally disgraced to be associated with English fans. As a Manchester United fan born and bred ( I come from equidistance between Manchester and Liverpool so it's one or the other and growing up in the 80's it's not a lot of fun being a Utd fan, before you all really hate me) we are a rather unpatriotic bunch. We don't really like England, well what we don't like are the typical England fans.

Utd fans sing 'are you England in disguise?' and chanted 'Argentina' after the 98 World Cup to fans from places such as Leicester and West Ham, as these are to us on a whole, the narrow minded bigots that support England and give it a bad name, and that's what we really hate. They are the ones that recently baited Alpay and screamed for him to be deported from the country, a little harsh perhaps, it is only Football. They are also the same people with their pseudo- Beckham haircuts and Burberry caps and copies of The Sun that were screaming for their hero and captain - Beckham to be lynched after the 98 World Cup. Oh how quickly we forget…What I have always been proud of at United is the lack of racism and the understanding and appreciation of the fans. At the recent Rangers match the Rangers fans were singing 'Rule Britannia, and God Save the Queen' I was moved and pleased that the Utd fans responded with boos and a stirring rendition of the old communist Spanish war song 'the red flag'. It's not that we aren't proud of our country, we aren't proud of this type of support(er).

This is what I liked and admired about Rugby, there was good natured, friendly banter, based on racial stereotypes and generalisation, but in no way meant to harm. The fans sat together, there was no trouble. These are still people from the same country and age group as the football fans so why was there no need for riot police? This point has been covered quite a lot, in the press and I hope that something is done about it, some conclusions are reached. As Rugby as well as being a very exciting sport, that we are actually world champion in, is also obviously an example on how to behave and support your country properly like a civilised person. As my flat mate pointed out to me
"Rugby is a thug's game played by gentlemen, where as football is a gentlemen's game played by thugs' maybe the same can be said of the support at national level. Me I'm off to try it as a gentleman. Now where's my jumper, I need to tie it round my shoulders.

Patrick Kagoul

JohnnyCeed

Hi all, sorry it has been so long since I last wrote. believe it or not, lots has happened in the intermission......first, the band Death Valley Murmurs It is no more, folded, funnily enough after I decided I wanted no more to do with it. There were a few occurrences that brought me to this conclusion.

1), our last gig. We promoted the living holy shit out of it, T-shirts, flyers, posters, tried to get out local media interested. About 15 people showed up. This was probably a good thing as I was as paggered as I can be by the time I hit the stage (literally). Half a bottle of Black velvet is not conducive to a good show. The singer was royally trousered also.
Now, how irresponsible and unprofessional, you may say - normally I would agree. However, you have to figure in the unprofessionalism of the Des Moines scene assholes also. First, the club owner. it was supposed to be a night just for us. We had 1 hour 30 of originals, we wanted to get up there, do our thing - we had tried to get a support act but I think there were Beverly Hills 90210 reruns on that night or something so we had no luck with that.

However......Jeremy and I turn up at the club at about 9:15 or so and another band are setting up. What's this? The Albino Spiders, kind of like Marilyn Manson, only more like a stars in their eyes version. So I asked, in my dulcet Fleetwood tones "who the fuck are you? are you opening or something?" they replied that they had no idea. So anyway, turns out, that the club owner had, that night, decided to get an opener that fit with us about as well as a pork pie fits with Osama bin Laden. Great. Then, the - I'm sorry, this is the only way to describe this person - fucking nonce of a sound-man turns up at 11!!!!! to set his gear up.

So, Albino Spiders go on at 11:30, play an hour of screeching car-crash horrific cock-sauce and then we go on, mashed as Lemmy at 12:45. Yes, 12:45. It was completely shit yet vaguely rawk and roll.

2) the singer. yes, he has been likened to a gay pirate. yes, he wears see through skirts. yes, his lyrics are utter mumbo jumbo and his melodies are - well, there aren't any......i can overlook all that. what I can't stand is ATTITUDE. dealing with Brad is like dealing with Axl Rose without the talent. A number of times he has just chewed me out and bitched at me over stuff i have no control over, like gig times, how we sell tix etc. he did NOTHING in the band esp if it cost money.

So, it comes to the point of - why was i bothering? and really, this was the main reason DVM folded - I couldn't be bothered dealing with his shit any more. I wrote some great rock songs that maybe will see the light of day, but it just isn't worth it. It's like endless fighting for nothing.

So I retired. For December anyway..........

January sees me get a Fender Strat. A change of pace and style. My aim is to write the best roots rock alt/country I can and blow some minds in Des Moines with it. I'm also helping an incredibly hot chick out with some Depeche Mode-ish stuff also. She's coming over Sunday 11th to let me hear what she's about.

What I am listening too?

Free - Live
Lynard Skynrd - One More From the Road
Ryan Adams- Gold
Johnny Cash - American IV
Zakk Wylde - Book of Shadows
Jimi Hendrix - Live at Berkley CD2
Led Zeppelin - How The West Was Won

Pitch & Putt

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