Good title for a blog about the Sheffield Speedway forum over the past few weeks, other than a bit of a spat between myself and Sparky over the merits of finishing 5th in the league debate and conversation on the board seems to have died almost completely. The subject was taken up on the British Speedway Forum by Spin King and Third Man where it was given a much more thorough airing. I did get a "welcome to the forum" pm after a very brief contribution to this board, but I'm not that comfortable with posting too much on it, it's a bit like doing your dirty washing in public, at least on the Sheffield forum you used to be able to argue with contributors of a like mind. A bit like a family argument against a pub brawl I suppose.
That in mind my recent suggestion that it would be for the good of the team if Ricky Ashworth and Paul Cooper move on in 2010 did at least draw some response - some of it even positive! I'll admit that the Ricky Ashworth suggestion is a little tongue in cheek - I really do think he'd benefit but I'm not sure Sheffield Speedway would. He really does appear to be in a comfort zone at the moment, big scores at home, good scores away from home but certainly not the scores of a star rider even by Premier League standards. I doubt that any person goes to their local track to see him ride when Sheffield visit in the way that they did for the likes of Shawn & Kelly Moran, or Sean Wilson, in my mind he punches the same weight as such as James Grieves, Jason Bunyan or Josef Franc - good riders all, but not box office. Sadly his average this year doesn't match up to any of those three, but he's not far off, it is always his away form that seems to let him down, as I said good at home not as good away. Despite this I got taken to task by Leapy Lee on the Sheffield forum when it was pointed out to me that he scored 9 from 4 whilst guesting for the Workington Comets last saturday. My reaction was "Whoop-di-doo, 5th highest scorer in a PL match!", Leapy went to some length to justify the fact that if we used the mathematical formula that works out the calculated match average (CMA) of a rider he was actually 3rd highest scorer! Again, "Whoop-i-doo, 3rd highest average scorer in a PL match", I stopped arguing when Leapy did the forum equivalent of sticking out his bottom lip, folding his arms and looking away. That's the level of debate on the board now.
Paul Cooper is a different kettle of fish altogether, the sooner Sheffield off-load this liability the better as far as I'm concerned. This is a deeply unpopular opinion, probably one I've forged because I'm not a pre-pubescent teenager who thinks he's lovely and goes all gooey at the mention of his name and I'm not one of those fans who wants to be best mates with the riders and count them as buddies. I want my speedway riders to score points for my team, to do the job they have been employed to do, if having done that they turn out to be very sociable likeable guys then that's great, but it shouldn't be a rider's main feature. This season he has carried on where the last couple of seasons left off, meeting after meeting of frustration, low points returns, engine failures and calls from all and sundry to get him sponsorship. If anything he has gone backwards, but then he will hit a purple patch where he rides like a world champion (well almost - he always manages to let us down in a at least one race in every meeting). This can go on for 2 or 3 weeks then pop! The wonder engine explodes and we're back to square one. Discussions over the formulation of next years team all tend to mention what a steal he'd be on such a low average - all I can say is we said that last year and it didn't work out, there is no sign whatsoever that any consistency has been achieved and the instant a decent return started coming in he managed to get injured!
Anyway, not long left in the season now, yet again it looks like we aren't having a rider of the season vote on the forum seeing as how I can't be arsed to organise one - at least that'll save me the cost of a trophy!
The season fading means (unfortunately) that football begins to take over, I say unfortunately because my two teams are fighting with each other to see who can be the worst this season, at least Barnsley have had the good sense to get rid of Simon Davey, hopefully Mark Robins can salvage something from this season - it is only September after all. The other bunch are perhaps worse, King's Lynn FC is a club in turmoil at the moment, relegated last season due to ground requirements, loss of a major backer, manager and the entire team means that Carl Heggs has taken over, signed a shitload of journeymen and mates and now looks intent on kicking every team in the NPL to bits. The second half of last Saturday's match against Bury Town in the FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round will go down as one of the most dire 45 minutes football I have ever witnessed, contrast this with the England match at Wembley last Wednesday when Fabio's men took Croatia apart 5-1 and it's hard to believe both events had any common link at all (other than my presence).
That's it for now, Edinburgh at home on Thursday will be my first Sheffield meeting for 4 weeks, the really sad thing is I haven't missed it, next week is a busy one, down to the flat in London to see Elvis Perkins on Tuesday, Ed Byrne Wednesday, then back oop north for a board meeting before dashing home for Marcus Brigstocke in Norwich on Thursday. Up early on Friday and off to Terenzano for the Italian Grand Prix - my first, and last, Grand Prix of this season!
Here's Elvis Perkins at Bonnaroo earlier this year, filmed by my good self!
Mayday
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Sunday, 6 September 2009
David Ford
Went to see David at the Bloomsbury Theatre last night where he enthralled and delighted a very near capacity audience with his performance, culminating in him sat on the edge of the stage singing and playing an acoustic guitar while the stage was packed up behind him.
Surely this man is the best kept secret in music?
If you don't know him have a look here
Then buy one of his albums from Amazon - it won't be the only one you buy!
Surely this man is the best kept secret in music?
If you don't know him have a look here
Then buy one of his albums from Amazon - it won't be the only one you buy!
Monday, 31 August 2009
Busy week
That was a busy week that was:
Tuesday - Wilco at the Troxy in London,
Thursday - Wilco at Vicar Street, Dublin,
Friday - Barnsley to pick up my Dad,
Saturday - Wembley, Rugby League Challenge Cup final,
Sunday - Lincolnshire, International Poacher grasstrack meeting.
Glad of the rest now even though it's Norwich on Thursday to see Arthur Smith, Wembley again on Saturday for the Slovenia match followed by David Ford at the Bloomsbury Theatre. Sunday down to Farnham for Weyfest and John Otway & Wild Willy Barratt and the Beat finally back to Wembley on Wednesday for the World Cup qualifier against Croatia.
So no speedway for two weeks (part-timer) and there's no sign of much of a let-up.
Not that I'd have it any other way!
So in the absence of any interesting stuff here's Nel Cline's guitar solo at the end of impossible Germany last Tuesday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl9QoL4rylY
Tuesday - Wilco at the Troxy in London,
Thursday - Wilco at Vicar Street, Dublin,
Friday - Barnsley to pick up my Dad,
Saturday - Wembley, Rugby League Challenge Cup final,
Sunday - Lincolnshire, International Poacher grasstrack meeting.
Glad of the rest now even though it's Norwich on Thursday to see Arthur Smith, Wembley again on Saturday for the Slovenia match followed by David Ford at the Bloomsbury Theatre. Sunday down to Farnham for Weyfest and John Otway & Wild Willy Barratt and the Beat finally back to Wembley on Wednesday for the World Cup qualifier against Croatia.
So no speedway for two weeks (part-timer) and there's no sign of much of a let-up.
Not that I'd have it any other way!
So in the absence of any interesting stuff here's Nel Cline's guitar solo at the end of impossible Germany last Tuesday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl9QoL4rylY
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Can a white man sing reggae?
Just back from the Rhythm festival in deepest Bedfordshire, it's one of those smaller music festivals that actually seems to care about the music and the punters rather than being solely for the purpose of advertising. The first band that our little party elected to see were a ska/reggae/rocksteady band called Rebelation. They were a little late starting due to the lack of microphone stands so we watched them flitting about the stage setting gear up. One guy looked familiar, a slim white fella with dreadlocks down to his waist and a very smart blue tonic suit, I was pretty sure I'd never seen the band before so I started racking my brains to see where I remembered him from, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't place him into any band or from any gig I'd ever been to.
He turns out to be the singer of the band, their first number is a pleasant up-tempo ska song that presses the right buttons with the crowd, it comes to me just as the song is coming to an end, I don't know him via music, he goes to watch King's Lynn FC, I've seen him at the Walks!
I've never spoken to him but let's face it King's Lynn is hardly Camden and people of such individuality are pretty thin on the ground, in a place where flares are still in fashion from the first time around anyone who looks slightly different stands out - the only reason I didn't realise immediately was that this situation is so far out of context with a Unibond League fixture against Worksop Town.
One thing I do find a little unnerving however is when the music style becomes a little more reggae orientated and this white guy from Norfolk suddenly starts referencing "Jah", "Babylon" and "Zion". I get suspicious at the best of times even with black singers who sing in patois then talk to the crowd in-between songs in a Birmingham accent (as Ranking Roger did later the same night during the Beat set), but a white guy from Norfolk? Then I started thinking about some of my musical heroes - take Elvis Costello for example, over a career now well into it's 30's I've seen him many times and I own every album he has officially released in the UK along with quite a few which are, as they put it, of indeterminate origin. Now Elvis sings with a definite American accent, there is no getting away from it, as with 99% of all British rock singers (think Jagger, Bowie, Rod Stewart, etc.) virtually all of his hundreds of songs have the lazy American drawl. It's not surprising when you trace the source of all rock music back through rock 'n' roll, jazz and the blues it all starts with black American gospel singing so with all the influences being American it's hardly surprising that an American affectation is evident. Indeed it is much easier to name the artists who don't sing with an American accent than those who do, that'll be Billy Bragg, The Proclaimers, Lily Allen and er.... oh yes, Chas and bloody Dave!
So why shouldn't a white man sing reggae? It's no different from Brits singing in American and let's face it, it's hardly new, think UB40, Mishka, Sting. A lot of it is whether it is done well and I have to admit that on this occasion the quality of the performance, the level of energy and the sheer catchiness of their tunes far overshadowed any thoughts of incongruity.
At the end of the day I have seen Elvis Costello (born and raised in London) sing in American then announce the next song in a scouce accent when he is anywhere near Liverpool yet anyone who has seen his TV show ("Spectacle") would be hard placed to judge the mid Atlantic drawl he speaks in on that. So the next time I see Tony Devenish (for that appears to be his name according to their website) at the Walks I'll say hello and tell him how much I enjoyed the Rebelation set at Rhythm Festival, it'll be interesting to hear his accent when he replies.
He turns out to be the singer of the band, their first number is a pleasant up-tempo ska song that presses the right buttons with the crowd, it comes to me just as the song is coming to an end, I don't know him via music, he goes to watch King's Lynn FC, I've seen him at the Walks!
I've never spoken to him but let's face it King's Lynn is hardly Camden and people of such individuality are pretty thin on the ground, in a place where flares are still in fashion from the first time around anyone who looks slightly different stands out - the only reason I didn't realise immediately was that this situation is so far out of context with a Unibond League fixture against Worksop Town.
One thing I do find a little unnerving however is when the music style becomes a little more reggae orientated and this white guy from Norfolk suddenly starts referencing "Jah", "Babylon" and "Zion". I get suspicious at the best of times even with black singers who sing in patois then talk to the crowd in-between songs in a Birmingham accent (as Ranking Roger did later the same night during the Beat set), but a white guy from Norfolk? Then I started thinking about some of my musical heroes - take Elvis Costello for example, over a career now well into it's 30's I've seen him many times and I own every album he has officially released in the UK along with quite a few which are, as they put it, of indeterminate origin. Now Elvis sings with a definite American accent, there is no getting away from it, as with 99% of all British rock singers (think Jagger, Bowie, Rod Stewart, etc.) virtually all of his hundreds of songs have the lazy American drawl. It's not surprising when you trace the source of all rock music back through rock 'n' roll, jazz and the blues it all starts with black American gospel singing so with all the influences being American it's hardly surprising that an American affectation is evident. Indeed it is much easier to name the artists who don't sing with an American accent than those who do, that'll be Billy Bragg, The Proclaimers, Lily Allen and er.... oh yes, Chas and bloody Dave!
So why shouldn't a white man sing reggae? It's no different from Brits singing in American and let's face it, it's hardly new, think UB40, Mishka, Sting. A lot of it is whether it is done well and I have to admit that on this occasion the quality of the performance, the level of energy and the sheer catchiness of their tunes far overshadowed any thoughts of incongruity.
At the end of the day I have seen Elvis Costello (born and raised in London) sing in American then announce the next song in a scouce accent when he is anywhere near Liverpool yet anyone who has seen his TV show ("Spectacle") would be hard placed to judge the mid Atlantic drawl he speaks in on that. So the next time I see Tony Devenish (for that appears to be his name according to their website) at the Walks I'll say hello and tell him how much I enjoyed the Rebelation set at Rhythm Festival, it'll be interesting to hear his accent when he replies.
Thursday, 20 August 2009
Pot Kettle Black
Quote from Eric Boocock: Speedway Star Aug 22, 2009
"I know Neil Machin has been upset over what some people have been writing on the internet, but I'm not worried by that. I can understand Neil's anger, but I've been in this sport for over 50 years and I don't care what those people have to say. Why should I? They have no idea, absolutely no idea, what goes on behind the scenes so they're not even in a position to comment!"
Estimated readership 62,000 people - I presume for and on behalf of the Sheffield Promotion.
Once again I applaud the fantastic customer care and the respect for the people who provide your revenue, is there any wonder you are alienating some of the most commited and loyal fans you have? If you don't care why the threats to pull the forum?
When was the last time you paid to see a speedway meeting Eric? You have no idea what it's like to witness debacles like Stoke (or in my case the 2007 King's Lynn whitewash) and realise you have invested time, money and emotion into a team that just doesn't seem to care, so you are in no position to comment.
"I know Neil Machin has been upset over what some people have been writing on the internet, but I'm not worried by that. I can understand Neil's anger, but I've been in this sport for over 50 years and I don't care what those people have to say. Why should I? They have no idea, absolutely no idea, what goes on behind the scenes so they're not even in a position to comment!"
Estimated readership 62,000 people - I presume for and on behalf of the Sheffield Promotion.
Once again I applaud the fantastic customer care and the respect for the people who provide your revenue, is there any wonder you are alienating some of the most commited and loyal fans you have? If you don't care why the threats to pull the forum?
When was the last time you paid to see a speedway meeting Eric? You have no idea what it's like to witness debacles like Stoke (or in my case the 2007 King's Lynn whitewash) and realise you have invested time, money and emotion into a team that just doesn't seem to care, so you are in no position to comment.
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Sheffield Speedway Forum and the "Unofficial" site
I went away on holiday recently for two weeks (I had a lovely time, thanks for asking, birding in California) and on my return was shocked to see the Sheffield Speedway forum in turmoil. Usually after such a break it is a real pain in the behind to read up over two weeks posts to find out what has been going off but a quick look at the recent results showed a 45-44 defeat at Stoke, a little more digging and I realised that the last 3 heats of the meeting scored 14-4 in favour of the Stoke Potters - a sure case of the Tigers snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
The extraordinary thing however was not that some people were angry about the result but that it had got to the point where insults were flying on the forum, a Johnny come lately whose name was not familiar was lambasting some of the board regulars who seem to have been around since the creation of the site. This culminated in declarations from 3 of the most regular, and vociferous past contributors that they were no longer posting on the board. The ding dong can be viewed here www.sheffieldspeedway.com/extras/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?1318.40 with the subsequent "resignations here www.sheffieldspeedway.com/extras/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?1480.0
Congratulations therefore to "Sprocket" who appeared from nowhere, caused the resignation from the site of 3 of the most entertaining long-term posters, then disappeared just as quickly. Now Sprocket's member profile states that his real name is Michael Jackson, somehow I'd question this but if it his his real name well done. It seems that at a time when almost everybody who cares about Sheffield Speedway felt humiliation and hurt, he believed that the fault lay with the fans who felt that the management should take some of the blame for the quite extraordinary decisions on the night, rather than with the management themselves. Shortly afterwards there were comments in the local press from Neil Machin where he expressed frustration about "opinionated riders" and how no-one was more frustrated than he, David Hoggart and Eric Boocock, he did however fail to take any responsibility for the decisions made on the night - a significant point. Indeed in the article he berates the keyboards warriors who know nothing about team management and threatens to close the forum down if it doesn't become more positive.
This is followed up a week later by a broadside in the Sheffield racecard along much the same lines. Or was it? I didn't notice it immediately but it was pointed out to me by Sparky (board moderator on the Sheffield official forum) that the programme diatribe focused on the fact that the management team had been accused of being "inept". A quick search through the official forum shows that the word has only actually appeared twice there, once in the aforementioned post where Sparky points this out, and once way back in May, well before this current bout of handbags started. One place where the word inept was levelled at the Sheffield management was on the unofficial site, a site that has been in existence for much longer than the official site and is run by a very dedicated long-time fan who occasionally posts on the forum but interestingly not on the topic in question.
So let's step back and look at this, a fan on a totally independent site says "Our team management appeared inept" (note the word "appeared"), Neil Machin makes a threat in the local newspaper to close down the official forum because of the negativity and because the management had been called inept. The official forum loses 3 key players because of the sudden appearance and disappearance of the Peter Pan of pop (perhaps it was his second coming) and we are now left with a sterile, humourless and unimaginative board where the number of posts and posters has fallen over the past week.
Somewhere along the line there has been a massive over-reaction, several in fact, time to own up to it from all the players in this mini-drama and get on with the job in hand. Neil, if your spat is with Geoff sort it out the adult way even if it means agreeing to differ, tell him why your collective decisions at Stoke which appeared inept were not so, Santa, Third Man and Neil Down get posting again on the forum otherwise I'll be the lone voice of criticism, foolishness and pedantry. Above all let's learn some lessons from this, opinions are like ass****s, everyone has one but also opinions are based on information and observations. With the information they had at the time and with their own observations certain fans formed an opinion and expressed it in probably the only public outlet they had - an obscure website forum visited by like-minded people who will understand their frustrations. In retaliation one of those being criticised publishes his views in the main local newspaper (circulation as at 01/01/08 = 47,216) and then in the official racecard of Sheffield Speedway (estimated circulation 1,000),and threatens to close the fans' only official outlet, a reaction totally out of proportion with the circumstances. An attempt at understanding why the negatives comments were placed in the first instance may have been more appropriate, and the realisation that most of these comments were knee-jerk reactions, not something that has been brooded on and published to near on 50,000 people in a potentially damaging manner.
Yes some fans could do with thinking before they type sometimes, there have been occasions where opinions have gone over the top, but equally there are more professional ways of dealing with this than the ones currently employed. Sheffield Speedway is rightly known throughout British Speedway as one of, if not the most professional outfits around, let's not spoil that over hurt feelings.
The extraordinary thing however was not that some people were angry about the result but that it had got to the point where insults were flying on the forum, a Johnny come lately whose name was not familiar was lambasting some of the board regulars who seem to have been around since the creation of the site. This culminated in declarations from 3 of the most regular, and vociferous past contributors that they were no longer posting on the board. The ding dong can be viewed here www.sheffieldspeedway.com/extras/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?1318.40 with the subsequent "resignations here www.sheffieldspeedway.com/extras/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?1480.0
Congratulations therefore to "Sprocket" who appeared from nowhere, caused the resignation from the site of 3 of the most entertaining long-term posters, then disappeared just as quickly. Now Sprocket's member profile states that his real name is Michael Jackson, somehow I'd question this but if it his his real name well done. It seems that at a time when almost everybody who cares about Sheffield Speedway felt humiliation and hurt, he believed that the fault lay with the fans who felt that the management should take some of the blame for the quite extraordinary decisions on the night, rather than with the management themselves. Shortly afterwards there were comments in the local press from Neil Machin where he expressed frustration about "opinionated riders" and how no-one was more frustrated than he, David Hoggart and Eric Boocock, he did however fail to take any responsibility for the decisions made on the night - a significant point. Indeed in the article he berates the keyboards warriors who know nothing about team management and threatens to close the forum down if it doesn't become more positive.
This is followed up a week later by a broadside in the Sheffield racecard along much the same lines. Or was it? I didn't notice it immediately but it was pointed out to me by Sparky (board moderator on the Sheffield official forum) that the programme diatribe focused on the fact that the management team had been accused of being "inept". A quick search through the official forum shows that the word has only actually appeared twice there, once in the aforementioned post where Sparky points this out, and once way back in May, well before this current bout of handbags started. One place where the word inept was levelled at the Sheffield management was on the unofficial site, a site that has been in existence for much longer than the official site and is run by a very dedicated long-time fan who occasionally posts on the forum but interestingly not on the topic in question.
So let's step back and look at this, a fan on a totally independent site says "Our team management appeared inept" (note the word "appeared"), Neil Machin makes a threat in the local newspaper to close down the official forum because of the negativity and because the management had been called inept. The official forum loses 3 key players because of the sudden appearance and disappearance of the Peter Pan of pop (perhaps it was his second coming) and we are now left with a sterile, humourless and unimaginative board where the number of posts and posters has fallen over the past week.
Somewhere along the line there has been a massive over-reaction, several in fact, time to own up to it from all the players in this mini-drama and get on with the job in hand. Neil, if your spat is with Geoff sort it out the adult way even if it means agreeing to differ, tell him why your collective decisions at Stoke which appeared inept were not so, Santa, Third Man and Neil Down get posting again on the forum otherwise I'll be the lone voice of criticism, foolishness and pedantry. Above all let's learn some lessons from this, opinions are like ass****s, everyone has one but also opinions are based on information and observations. With the information they had at the time and with their own observations certain fans formed an opinion and expressed it in probably the only public outlet they had - an obscure website forum visited by like-minded people who will understand their frustrations. In retaliation one of those being criticised publishes his views in the main local newspaper (circulation as at 01/01/08 = 47,216) and then in the official racecard of Sheffield Speedway (estimated circulation 1,000),and threatens to close the fans' only official outlet, a reaction totally out of proportion with the circumstances. An attempt at understanding why the negatives comments were placed in the first instance may have been more appropriate, and the realisation that most of these comments were knee-jerk reactions, not something that has been brooded on and published to near on 50,000 people in a potentially damaging manner.
Yes some fans could do with thinking before they type sometimes, there have been occasions where opinions have gone over the top, but equally there are more professional ways of dealing with this than the ones currently employed. Sheffield Speedway is rightly known throughout British Speedway as one of, if not the most professional outfits around, let's not spoil that over hurt feelings.
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