Thursday, February 28, 2008

The Clash Live: Revolution Rock On OPB

Looks like the first air date on PBS/OPB for selections from the upcoming DVD collection of rare live Clash performances will be on March the 8th, at 10:30 p.m., with the DVD release set for the middle of April. The tracklisting includes such great cuts as Complete Control, (White Man In) Hammersmith Palais, and Safe European Home from various stages of the bands career. Sadly though, one of my favourite Clash tunes, Bankrobber is not on the set; while the lyrics may not be the best that Joe Strummer ever came up with, the deep reggae groove in the music is undeniable. Even the dub version doesn't go on nearly long enough.




CLASH NEWS



PBS NOTES

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Chelsea 1 Tottenham 2 Carling Cup Winners!

The new Wembley Stadium was the scene for a nerve-wracking Carling Cup finals match as Tottenham came from behind to defeat Chelsea 2-1 to secure their first trophy since 1999.



Spurs came out strong from the start as if to show their determination to claim the cup, with Robbie Keane narrowly missing a shot in the first minute and Pascal Chimbonda hitting the bar in the ninth as Spurs get four shots on goal in the first ten minutes or so.



After Chelsea weathered the opening Spurs volley, they continued to test the new backline for Spurs (with Paul Robinson back in goal as well) for awhile, until Didier Drogba drills a free kick into the net in the 39th minute. If the goal of starting Robinson was to boost his confidence, it was not returned in kind from Robbo as the hapless goalie just stood still as the ball curled around the wall into the net to his left. All of the anxieties that Spurs fans have with Robbo came flooding back into our minds, wondering if Spurs would have to score three or four to get the result, given the outcome of their bright start to the match as Chelsea goalie Petr Cech was in fine form handling those shots.



Spurs equalized in the second half in the 70th minute, as a hand ball call on Wayne Bridge led to a penalty kick from Dimitar Berbatov, who cooly knocked the ball to the left at Cech went right. The rest of the half was basically both teams squandering goal opportunites, so it was on to extra time to sort this match out.



Just after the start of extra time, Jermaine Jenas, on a free kick, blasts the ball goal-ward and Cech knocks the ball away............right to Spurs defender Jonathan Woodgate's face, and the ball heads back toward the untended part of the goal. Some excellent Spurs defense in addition to a return to form from Robbo in stopping shots filled the remainder of the match, and Spurs lay claim to their first bit of silverware since manager Juande Ramos took over last October.



Battling back against a team like Chelsea is a great accomplishment that Spurs fans will relish in for a long, long time, here's to hoping that this is the first step toward better things. COME ON YOU SPURS!!!!





SPURS MATCH REPORT

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Joe Gibbs, R.I.P.

Reading the excellent ROOTS ARCHIVES site tonight, I came across the notice that legendary reggae producer Joe Gibbs had passed away on Thursday from a heart attack. Thanks for your work on many classic records from the likes of Culture and Dennis Brown, along with one of my favourite singles of all-time, Althea and Donna's Uptown Top Ranking, it will never be forgotten.





RADIOJAMAICA NEWS






Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Sympathy To My Parents

.....for still faithfully attending games of the train wreck known as Oregon State men's basketball. Can't imagine exactly what Ralph Miller would think of incidents such as what happened with the University Of Washington over the past weekend, other than he wouldn't have put up with such tomfoolery at all, but this must certainly be the absolute bottom of the barrel for a once-proud basketball program.


The upcoming Civil War does bother me a bit now, I'll be there at Gill in early March to cheer the Ducks on, cause when a team is truly as desperate as Oregon State is now, who better to take it out on than their rivals? I'm sure that the Beavs will remember how they played competitively with the Ducks earlier this month at the Pit, at least until the Ducks hammered them down the stretch. The Beavers must certainly know this is probably their best chance to secure a Pac-10 victory for this season, so the Ducks need to match their intensity.


At any rate, it was nice to see Jim Rome hit on the ill-timed adventures of the Beavers on his television show today, somewhere in the middle of this segment. Have to admit that hearing Rome say "Back in the shallow end Beavers!" made me chuckle loudly. Nicely done Jim.




Monday, February 18, 2008

Gone To The Dogs







Newsworthy day for man's best friend. MUSIC FOR DOGS TOPPING THE CHARTS IN NEW ZEALAND and THEY'RE BLOCKING THE AIRPORT RUNWAYS IN MUMBAI. Model Katie (right) remains keen to hear her music here in the States. Or maybe just have some KFC.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Liverpool 1 Barnsley 2: Stats Are For Losers (Sometimes)

With apologies to the fine gentlemen who run Eugene's SOCCER IS REAL FUTBOL club and website, dedicated Reds fans through and through, but Barnsley's shock 5th round 2-1 victory at Anfield today was an exciting match, one of the best I've seen in awhile.



The stats referred to in the title have to do with Liverpool's time of possession, shots on goal and on target, corners, etc. However, a superb performance by fill-in goalie Luke Steele, on loan to the Tykes from West Brom, was the difference to neutralize those stats until Barnsley's offense could capitalize on their attacking chances. In, addition,the defensive line for Barnsley was always in the right place at the right time as Liverpool continually pushed foward for much of the match in an attempt to quell the confidence of the Championship side (31 shots on goal, 20 on target!)



As one could surmise from the stats, Liverpool obviously continued their run of being unable to finish their multiple chances, which they created continually all day, I don't recall one instance of poor passes or clearances being the start of a Liverpool attack.



Dirk Kuyt was able to put the Reds ahead in the 32nd minute on a beautiful pass from Ryan Babel, and the home side was able to take advantage of some poor defensive positioning from the visitors, and the half ended 1-0 with Liverpool in the lead and somewhat in control.



Stephen Foster knocked in an amazing cross from Martin Devaney to level the score in the 57th minute, with both Tykes being well covered by Liverpool defenders, and the game was certainly back on.



The Reds responded immediately with some more offensive barrage on goal, and the next 25 minutes or so was an anxious time for Barnsley supporters waiting to see if their FA Cup dream would be rudely interrupted at any second. Once they got past that patch, I certainly got the sense that everybody on the pitch and in the stands was expecting a replay at Oakwell in the near future, given that the infrequent Barnsley shots were being turned away fairly easily.




It was the FA Cup dreams of Liverpool that were rudely interrupted in injury time as appeals for a handball, I think on Sami Hyypia, were ignored in the final minute, but play continued on and Brian Howard put a shot in the goal between three (!!!) Liverpool defenders as well as goalie Charles Itandje to give the Tykes a stunning victory, one that will surely be remembered for years and years.




GUARDIAN REPORT



SOCCERNET REPORT




Oh yeah, it was made a better day by Manchester United thumping an amazingly inept Arsenal team at Old Trafford 4-0 in their FA Cup match. ONE SHOT ON GOAL FOR THE ARSE............ONE!!!!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Making Elbow Room At The Eugene Record Convention: One Man's Trash...

Various factors had kept me from ever attending any record convention in the past, ranging from time considerations, family concerns, location of the event as well as being extremely satisfied finding missing musical curios in one of the excellent shops that used to exist in the valley (and to the continued existence to those brave souls still flying the independent flag in this confused world).



Somehow all of the previous factors that worked against me were not present today, so I made it down to the Eugene Hilton this morning to check out what was available, for a three dollar admittance.


Being of the mind that what I don't see I won't be bothered if somebody else buys, I strolled in a few minutes after the 10 a.m. opening to find a large number of people already flipping through the stacks, and it took a few minutes of wandering around to see what kind of merchandise and who was selling it. After getting my bearings, I was proceeded to seek out the vendors with stock of "post-punk music" :rolleyes at labels:.



There were a few sellers who had sections devoted to "new wave/indie, etc", and some of them really knew what their rarer records were worth, I recall seeing a U.S. copy of the Pop Group's For How Much Longer.... with a $ 50 price tag on it, as well as an Orange Juice six song EP for $ 22.



While I may have a slight completest tendency when it comes to my favourite artists, I have never been bothered as one man was with things like "matrix numbers on original pressings, etc" in those attempts; if the record was there in front of me, in good shape and at a good price, I will buy the damn thing and forget most of the small details. The most conversation I would engage with the sellers is to ask questions about their product and to thank them for their selection that they did offer, not to reminisce about things that had occurred 20+ years in the past and of which they may not be remotely interested ( I did hear more than a couple of brusque "Uh-huhs" from some sellers as I made my rounds).



Sadly, yet predictably, I did not come across any Mekons or Triffids stuff that I did not already have, but amongst other things, I finally did get a 12" copy of Scritti Politti's The Word Girl which featured a version of the song with toasting from Ranking Ann, a fantastic take only available on that single. Only three bucks, and in great shape. Also, the 1987 disc from Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, haven't played it to see if the ABBA samples are on this one. (EDIT AT 8 P.M. they are....:) ) There were quite a few other purchases, including a Rusty Warren album, but it was all rounded off nicely with a couple of fan DVD compilations for both the Stranglers and the Gang Of Four.


I left as a happy camper after a couple of hours shopping, it was nice to see some other records that I'd known in various ways in the past and the memories that they brought. About the only slight regret was that I didn't find anything by the Kinks that I deemed absolutely crucial, but hey, there's always next year, right?



Oh yeah, a local television station, KVAL, was there, there's a STORY on their site now.

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Derby 0 Tottenham 3: Rescuing One From The Bins

Considering that the first match between the teams, back in August at the beginning of the season, favoured Spurs by a 4-0 margin, then today's 3-0 victory over the Rams at Pride Park may be considered "normal". However, given the fact that for the first 60 minutes the relegation bound cellar dwellers had outplayed the visitors, then the scoreboard will show a slightly flattering account of how the match actually went second half goals from Robbie Keane, Younes Kaboul and Dimitar Berbatov sealed Spurs second away win of the season.



It was a goal-less affair for the first half, a half in which both teams were able to get the ball up the pitch somewhat effectively but either side had a different reason for being unable to complete their efforts. The tries by Spurs seemed to bog down on the outside with any attempt to knock the ball being rather easily deflected away; once in a while they would get a corner kick but there wasn't much success on that front. In one of the only times Spurs would get a shot on goal, it was a bit messy in that regard as Kaboul took a chance on a ball that would have suited the charging Keane better, the result being a easy stop by goalie Roy Carroll.


Derby's offensive accounts, often down the middle of the pitch, were turned away with some ordinary defensive effort for the most part and sheer luck on one occasion. That one would be when the shot by Giles Barnes halfway through the half veered wide left of the goal, lucky when considering that his shot was fairly uncontested.



Things got rolling for Spurs just after the hour mark, a couple of minutes after Berbatov had replace the ineffective Darren Bent. I'm supposing that coach Juande Ramos would have preferred to have given the Bulgarian the whole day off just a couple of days after international duties, but circumstances dictated otherwise.


Keane broke through in the 68th minute with an easy carom shot that Carroll hadn't knocked away cleanly, and Kaboul got his goal in the 81st with a great shot that Carroll had no shot in stopping. Berbatov rounded out the scoring with a late penalty kick awarded for a handball by Alan Stubbs in front of the goal, perhaps a harsh fate for the man who had played well all day but the rules are the rules after all.



Even if it wasn't clinically perfect football on exhibition, it was still great to see Pride Park full of singing fans all afternoon, even if the visiting fans did get in a song of of We'll never play you again at various points of the match.


Up next in the coming two weeks for Spurs is a UEFA match-up with Slavia Prague, with the first match away on the 14th and the return date the following Thursday at White Hart Lane. Come on you Spurs!




BBC REPORT


SOCCERNET REPORT

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

U.S 2 Mexico 2: Could Be Better, Could Be Worse

As always, it was an entertaining and chippy affair between the two border rivals, a match that wound up in a draw, with both sides feeling that they may have been justified in hoping for a win.


Early on, Mexico were clearly the better team in the first half in terms of actually having an offensive attack that would result in shots on goal, but the U.S. had a good effort on the back, notably from defender Carlos Bocanega and goalie Tim Howard, who put themselves in the correct position to turn back passes inside or to block the actual attempts on goal. I can't say that any of Howard's saves were spectacular, involving extremely quick reflexes, but they certainly showed that he was able to make the play when called upon.



Good news arrived in the 29th minute when Oguchi Onyewu, after throwing the ball in, headed toward the goal and placed a beautiful shot to the far side of the goal beyond the reach of the Mexican goalie Guillermo Ochoa. I do believe that was the first shot on goal by the U.S team up to that point, as to continue the results of the U.S. maximizing their opportunities against their southern neighbours.



Jonny Magallon tied the score a few minutes later by being shockingly open on a corner kick (being a Spurs fan as well, I've grown accustomed to such slackness on set pieces).


However, Jozy Altidore, at 18 making his first start for the U.S. Men's National team, blasted a brilliant header past Ochoa at the 40th minute mark, and after the tentativeness of the opening half to the first half, the sudden wealth of goals was a bit surprising.


This excitement was compounded a couple of minutes later when it at first appeared that Clint Dempsey had quickly made it 3-1, but replays showed that he was indeed offsides when he took the shot.



Just after the half time break, Magallon struck again on a corner kick, leaving Howard with no chance for a save as Mexico once again tied the match, and for the next 25 minutes or so, it seemed that Mexico were repeatedly able to create enough space to get off decent shots on goal, though once again Howard was up to the task in cleanly turning them away.



Very nice to see some congratulatory handshakes after the match for once, both teams certainly gave it their all, though there was a first half dive by Mexico's Rafael Marquez, which negated a scoring opportunity for the U.S., that had me rolling my eyes, as well as a fierce entanglement between Howard and Mexico's Antonio De Nigris. Both players were seemingly antagonizing the other, and De Nigris wound up briefly in a headlock before common sense on both sides prevailed.



The bottom line is that it was just a friendly after all, Mexico has still not won on U.S. soil in the last 10 matches here, and the real final score in a match that truly matters says something like U.S. 2 MEXICO 0.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Idiot Of The Day Award

(actually, for a lot longer than that probably!) That would be the clueless a-hole driving north on Main Steet in Springfield today, about 1 p.m., by the light/crosswalk just south of the Safeway store.


A disabled man in a scooter was crossing the street legally (all of the lights were red, and weren't about to turn green; I could see the east/west lights from my company vehicle). He'd made it to the first of the northbound lanes, just past the turning lanes, and was a second or two from reaching the farthest of those lanes, when said idiot blows past the red light without slowing down at all, missing that poor gentlemen by just a couple of feet. Doesn't really matter that he was doing the speed limit, I can speak for the cars in front of me that the vision of that soul being splattered by some careless asshole was something we were going to have to quickly deal with. I was in the left lane going north, ready to reach my next stop just past the 126 interchange. Fortuntely, the guy in the scooter stopped just in time and everyone breathed huge sigh of relief.



To compound the stupidity of the situation, this idiot turned into the Safeway parking lot and calmly got out of his car, going about his business (he wasn't going to the grocery store, but rather one of the other businesses sidling the lot next to Main Street); unfortunately, the traffic was moving by this point and I could not get over to the right hand lane to ask this guy what in the world he was thinking about, all I can sincerely hope is that karma soon teaches this young man to think about more than himself at all times.

Saturday, February 02, 2008

Tottenham 1 Manchester United 1: Sisyphus Renewed

More aggravation from White Hart Lane today as Spurs somehow let a last second ball in stoppage time find its way into the net, and Manchester United were fortunate to salvage a point and deny the home side their first victory over them in over seven years. However, coupled with Arsenal's win at Manchester City, the Red Devils have now slipped into second place two points behind.



The number of dropped points this season has certainly by now reached well into double digits, so just when one thinks they've gotten used to the drill, something new comes along to remind us of our masochistic side as to why we follow Spurs.



Dimitar Berbatov knocked the ball in at the 20 minute mark, and after the infamous Pedro Mendes non-goal from 2005, I don't really want to hear any complaints if the ball which Aaron Lennon delivered to Berbatov might've touched the hand of Jermaine Jenas.



It's still kind of hard to digest how this match ended considering how poor Man United were in comparison for large stretches of the game, but we can certainly hope that a corner has been turned with Spurs in relation to winning a match against the "big four". Where's the alcohol at, then?




SPURS REPORT: DRAWING THE POSITIVES



SOCCERNET REPORT


THE INSIDER AT WHITE HART LANE