White Knuckle Ride

Well here we are again at the business end of another football season. At the time of writing Wolves are in seventh place; one point behind Crystal Palace and two behind Watford with just one game left to play. Our destiny is not totally in our own hands but it is still all to play for at home to Plymouth on Sunday.

Whilst we're on the subject of Wolves there have been a number of Wolves fans who have been calling for Mick McCarthy to be sacked at the end of this season and be replaced by...well, Paul Ince seems to be the name that crops up most often, but the names Sam Allardyce, Sammy Lee and even Richard Money have also been mentioned.

True, Paul Ince has been a roaring success at Milton Keynes Dons but it doesn't follow that he would automatically be successful two divisions higher up, where the stakes - and the expectations levels - are much higher.

Those who advocate managerial change would do well to consider the recent fortunes of Hereford United, (promoted last weekend with long-serving ex-Wolves manager Graham Turner at the helm) or the precarious position that Leicester City and Southampton now find themselves in after chopping and changing managers.

We should also learn from our recent mistakes. Dave Jones was an excellent manager for Wolves who built a good squad and got us up through the playoffs in 2003. What did sacking him solve exactly? Did we get promoted under his replacement? Did we play better football under Hoddle? Did Glen leave us with a better squad than the one his predecessor built?

Mick McCarthy has built a hardworking, committed Wolves team that have been in and around the playoffs two seasons running and he should be allowed to continue what he has started.

For years Wolves fans have been crying out for a young, hungry Wolves team. Well guess what guys we've got one! Hennessey, Elokobi, Foley, Kightly, Jarvis, Keogh, Ebanks-Blake, Eastwood , D.Edwards and Henry are all 25 or under. However, as Charles Ross pointed out in his recent editorial for the Wolves fanzine 'A Load Of Bull' if you pay £125,000 for a player in his early twenties from Stoke City (Karl Henry) then you are not going to get Claude Makele. Quite so. These players are not the finished articles and we shouldn't expect them to be.

Macca has been in charge for 21 months and , taken as a whole, we've seen real progress in that time. Even McCarthy's fiercest critics have to acknowledge that had we had Matt Murray and Michael Kightly fit all season - to say nothing of Ebanks-Blake from the start of it - then we might just have a few more points on the board.

Wolves are building something here. I just hope Mick McCarthy is given the chance to continue with it. Whatever happens on Sunday the club is still moving in the right direction.

OK then. Strap yourself in and sit tight for Sunday's white knuckle ride...!

Another Life

It has been a year of upheavals for Mostly Autumn. Of the seven group members that took to the stage at the Robin 2 last year only four remain; the creative driving force of Bryan Josh & Heather Findlay, bass guitarist Andy Smith and backing vocalist Livvy Sparnann. Perhaps the biggest loss was that of long-serving member Angela Gordon on keyboards and flute, who was such an integral member of the band.

Therefore, the return to the band of original members Liam Davison (guitar) and Iain Jennings (keyboards) for the "Glass Shadows" tour which kicked off at the Robin2 on Friday 18th was a masterstroke; likewise the introduction of the talented Anne Marie Helder (ex-Karnataka, now of Panic Room) on flute, keyboards and guitar.

The opening song of the first set ('Fading Colours') was marred by technical problems and feedback from Bryan's guitar which necessitated performing the song without lead guitar and then stopping the show for a couple of minutes whilst the problem was rectified.

Once these were resolved the band tore into "Caught In A Fold" and never looked back, delivering a superb energetic performance. Material from the forthcoming album held up well, especially "Unoriginal Sin" and "Flowers For Guns" and the tradition of drawing on life experiences lyrically was continued with "Tearing At The Faerytale".

Bryan Josh was on imperious form throughout. Heather Findlay was in fine voice and looked happy and radiant. She announced from stage that she and her partner were expectng their first child in September and appropriately the song "Another Life" went straight into a truly majestic version of "Evergreen".

The second half even saw an improvised version of "Pocket Watch", which was a pleasant suprise as I didn't think we'd see that one.

By the way, former band member Angela Gordon is now my friend on myspace, so if you're curious to know why she left the band and what she's doing now then visit her site here:

http://www.myspace.com/angelagordon

Finally the picture at the top of this entry is by Tim Ellis, who has uploaded pictures from the 2007 Mostly Autumn gig I went to here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tim_ellis/sets/72157600423104354/

Cosmic!

Queen + Paul Rogers - Release an album entitled "The Cosmos Rocks" in the Autumn followed by a European Tour which reaches Birmingham NIA in October. By the way the picture above is taken from a Fan Club only warm up gig at a rather sweaty Brixton Academy in April 2005 - which I went to along with my friend Dave!

Extreme - Talking of reforming bands, nineties metal-funksters Extreme are recording a new album with a tour to follow. Further details at http://www.myspace.com/extreme

Stone Gods - Ever wondered what the rest of The Darkness did when Justin Hawkins quit? Well they formed a new band called Stone Gods and they're currently on tour supporting Velvet Revolver http://www.myspace.com/thestonegods

Natasha England - Eighties pop "vixen" of 'Iko Iko' fame has a 2 CD set released this summer called 'Back From The Mists Of Time 1979-1985'. After a lengthy time away from the music business devoting herself to animal rights and more recently battling breast cancer, its nice to see her back again. A biography, track listing and pictures old and new can be found here:

http://www.natashaengland.me.uk/

Music Videos

Duran Duran - Planet Earth (Promotional Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-recskrzunI

"Now that 'Ashes To Ashes' has finished, here's a video that epitomises that era. One of Duran's best methinks..."

Kylie Minogue - In My Arms (Promotional Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE8EAqneUbM

"In the UK Her Divine Kylieness released "Wow" as the second single from her new album, but in some countries it was this track. So here it is complete with its official video"

Martina McBride - Safe In The Arms Of Love (Promotional Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MArBhOZDvTM

"In the early nineties I got into 'New Country' music for a while. Why that was is a long and interesting story that I'm not getting into now! This is a lovely song and the video features Cirque Du Soleil - who I saw at the NIA recently. Read what you want to into the lyrics of this song..."

Dollar - Give Me Some Kinda Magic (TOTP 1982)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGb6SQRiico

"I never knew this clip even existed! Took me right back to being 15 again. Fab!"

And Introducing...

Client - Zeox Machine (Promotional Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5Bhu1KnynQ

"All girl band with a cover - or should that be copy - of the old Adam & The Ants track"

Glad It's All Over

Some months you enjoy, you savour, you relish. Other months you just have to get your head down and grind your way through. March 2008 was the latter for me.

At home our house was turned upside down by the installation of radiators in five rooms; the installation of a new boiler in a sixth, the ripping out of the old system in a seventh and pulling up the floorboards on the landing to lay the new pipes down. There was literally no room unaffected.

Health wise I had three trips to the dentist and my recurring stomach pains made an unwelcome return, which in turn meant I only had two uninterrupted (i.e pain free) nights sleep during the whole month.

My computer developed 14 viruses which resulted in a number of problems which fortunately Norton Internet Security 2008 was able to fully resolve.

At work I had an Employee Performance Review. I've always felt that these things should inspire and motivate you but now that we're all measured by points, percentages and targets I always find them a demoralising experience. Meanwhile the deeply inequitable Single Status process rumbles on with no resolution (fair or otherwise) in sight. We also now have a "tranformation program" in place in conjunction with a newly appointed private partner, Axon, which all adds to the uncertainty.

Add to that a couple of exchanges, both online and in person, that were a bit upsetting and you have month that, frankly, I'll be glad to see the back of!

OK - whinge over! Onwards and upwards...