Have You Heard? – (28) Grand Drive

Posted on November 20, 2012 by John S

Grand Drive are one of my favourite bands of the 2000s. You could call them Americana, country rock, a combination of the Byrds, Neil Young, Crowded House and Teenage Fanclub with a hint of Bruce Springsteen. Or you could just say that they made some damn’ fine records! You’d think they were from America, but in fact they were from South London, with their singer Danny George Williams and brother Julian originally hailing from Australia.

I was first put on to their debut album, “Road Music”, released in 1998, by a friend, Keith,  who made a tape for me – yes a cassette tape! On the other side was a compilation which included the wonderful Jayhawks, another band with similar roots to Grand Drive. More of them another day. I remember listening to “Road Music” in the car, thinking, what a voice.  So fragile, so perfect for the music. Those lovely melodies, tender and uplifting. Full of hurt, but also the love of rock’n’roll.

The opening tune was “Tell It Like It Is”. A great piece of road music.

There were some other great tracks on that first album, not least “Falling Out”.

The second album, “True Love and High Adventure” came out in 2000, and had even more wistful melodies and lush arrangements. The first track, “Wheels” is a real favourite of mine.

And “Nobody’s Song In Particular” is heart-rending and has some searing guitar.

 

The third album, “See The Morning In”, from 2002, kept up the standard. “Firefly” was one of the loveliest tunes.

I saw the band play at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, in May 2003. They were brilliant.  The harmonies, the guitars and the sheer joyousness of the music, shone through. There was a real humility about the band too.  After the gig they circulated, just delighted to be there, having people enjoy their music. We talked to Danny, who came across as a really humble, decent guy.

It was one of those weeks. I had one of those concert surges.  Like the proverbial buses. Three in close succession after none for ages.  Bruce at Crystal Palace. Neil Young at Hammersmith Apollo, playing “Greendale”. And Grand Drive.  All three were brilliant, but, you know, I think Grand Drive gave me the warmest glow. It was the intimacy of the small venue, the fact that I was still discovering the music and, just meeting the band, I guess. But they were that good.

Two more albums followed. In 2004, “The Lights In This Town Are Too many To Count”. The best track was the opener, “Love and the Truth”.

And truth be told, it wasn’t as consistently good as the first three albums. “Everyone” in 2007 dipped a little further… except it had possibly my favourite Grand Drive track ever, “Talking In Your Sleep”. I remember a period, walking to work from Green Park station, when I just couldn’t take the track off my iPod. Just a beautiful, simple, moving tune.

The band broke up after that.  Danny has a new band, Danny and the Champions of the World. They are good, and have more than a touch of Springsteen.  But there’s not quite the majesty of Grand Drive’s best songs. Not yet.

If this post interests you, I’d say start with the first two albums.  There is so much to enjoy on them.  If you agree, then move on to the rest. You won’t regret it!

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Have you Heard? – (27) “Dead & Born & Grown” by The Staves

Posted on November 16, 2012 by John S

The Staves are three sisters from Watford (which is just outside London) who sing the most beautiful harmonies. Jessica, Emily and Camilla. Their music is kind of folk, kind of pop. It’s a music that highlights the voices: most of their musical arrangements are simple, supporting the melodies rather than driving them. My iTunes play count tells me the reality: I have played The Staves more than any other band this year. I discovered them via a retweet from the DJ Bob Harris, which linked to a video of their song “Mexico”. I liked that a lot, so checked what else they had done. At the time it was just a couple of EPs in terms of recorded output. But everything I heard, I loved. Why? Well, the music was just… beautiful, soothing, uplifting. Music to retreat to after a difficult day.

I’ve written about the band in a few blogs before. See the end of this review for references.

The important thing now is that they have released their first album, “Dead & Born & Grown”. Guess what? I love it!

That said, part of the impact of the release, for me, was lessened because I already have quite a few of the tracks, from earlier EPs. But if you haven’t heard the band before, the album is a wonderful introduction.

It starts with “Wisely and Slow”, which is a song in two parts – a lovely acappella followed by a burst of African-style drums, which reminds me a bit of Fleetwood Mac’s “Tusk”, from many years ago. Live, they just do the acappella, around the one mic. It’s fantastic. Here’s an example.

The next three songs are all old favourites: “Gone Tomorrow” is one of the first I heard, and I still love it. You might notice my dishonesty, well I’m only 23. (Is that an excuse?). “The Motherlode” and “Pay Us No Mind” were both on the “Motherlode” EP with “Wisely and Slow”. The title track is a sparkling song and quite lush in its arrangements, by the Staves’ minimalist standards. “Pay Us No Mind” has a drifting electric guitar in the background and surprises us with a random use of the F-word. Getting across the message I think, that the beauty of the songs doesn’t mean this is all a bit too nice.

We then get into the newly recorded songs – or should I say the songs I haven’t downloaded before?  One of my favourites so far is “Facing West”, with a lovely lilting melody, those harmonies, and a little bit of mandolin and accordion in the background. The whistling isn’t necessary, but, hey, I don’t mind. And then “In The Long Run”, which gives me a shot of that wistful soul, which moves me every time. “Winter Trees” has a folky drone at the beginning and end which reminds me a bit of another band I really like, Espers.  “Eagle Song”, the last track, suggests new directions and greater complexity in the future. More layers, more changes of pace and tone within a song. I’m intrigued by that, as long as they preserve those harmonies…

The song I first fell for is slipped in between the new ones. “Mexico”. It sounds as good as ever. And there’s no harm in posting the video here, again. The minimal backing, the sweet vocals, and the serenity. The essence of The Staves.

All three of the sisters take their turns with the solo singing through the album and they all have great voices, but it is always with the harmonies that the music really takes me in. It is then that it is truly music to soothe the soul.

Look, I know that there are probably loads of other singers and bands with similar talents and sounds. It’s not music that is going to change the world. But it is music that makes the world feel like a better place. And I love The Staves for that.

If you can catch them live, do. The simple power of their singing comes across in a way that is always difficult to replicate on record, even if “Dead & Born & Grown” does a pretty good job.

Here are my previous blogs that mentioned The Staves;

The Staves at the Tabernacle. Great concert.

Latitude festival – the detail. The Staves were there.

Two gigs and three discoveries. When I first came upon the band.

The latter post includes the band singing an old folk song called “Silver Dagger”, which I first heard being sung by Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. I like The Staves version better, and it may still be my favourite Staves song. The one where their harmonies are at their most glorious. As a bonus, if you’ve read to the end, here is that tune…

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Skyfall !

Posted on November 13, 2012 by John S

I’ve just got back from seeing the latest Bond movie, “Skyfall”, at Leicester Square Odeon. Wow! I’m still reeling. An awesome film.

I’ve always enjoyed the Bond movies – they never fail to be entertaining. The sixties films with Sean Connery were truly iconic. As much part of the era as the Beatles and mini skirts. Roger Moore turned the series into wry comedy thrillers and I can’t remember a lot about the Dalton and Brosnan eras. May even have missed a couple. Daniel Craig restored a hard and darker edge, as new technology rubbed up against the classic glamour and style of the early films. Both “Casino Royale” and “Quantum of Solace” were up there, for me, with the best.

But “Skyfall” is on another level. I expected a good film, having read a few reviews, but not this good. I found the whole film riveting and the denouement in spooky, misty Scotland incredibly gripping. I was buzzing at the end!

You never get too much character development in a Bond movie, but there was a journey into the dark past of M (Judi Dench), Bond and the malevolent villain Silva, played with grotesque elan by Javier Bardem. It added an intensity to the film, a deeper interaction than usual between the central characters. Intensity was the word for me.  There were relatively few scenes, but as a result there was time in each to build a genuine tension.

And of course there was great imagery.  The opening chase scene through the alleys, up the steps and along the rooftops of Istanbul was thrillingly spectacular. The pursuit of the assassin through the glassy tower in Shanghai, all looming structures and confusing reflections, was reminiscent of “Blade Runner” (my favourite film).

The confrontation on the devastated island, somewhere off China, was brutal. And London played a big part, much of it subterranean.  The dark heart, the underbelly of the city.

And then that final confrontation in Scotland. Explosive, destructive, like so many Bond movie final scenes.  But focused, intense, claustrophopic.  Dare I venture that I felt a Harry Potter moment about it all? Silva as Voldemort? I wonder…

“Skyfall” is reputedly heading towards being the biggest grossing Bond film of all time, so I’m not exactly preaching to uninitiated here. But if you haven’t seen it, and like Bond movies even a little bit, go and see this one.

It might leave you, like me, shaken and stirred…

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Sportsthoughts (53) – Battle of the Exes

Posted on November 10, 2012 by John S

Tomorrow afternoon West Ham are away to Newcastle. West Ham’s manager, Sam Allardyce, was sacked by Newcastle in 2008, after a rather unhappy period in charge. Newcastle’s manager, Alan Pardew, was sacked by West Ham in 2006 after quite a successful period in charge. But things went wrong behind the scenes. I think there were some personal reasons, but there were footballing reasons too.

Around 2006-7 was the brief period when we Hammer’s fans thought we might be getting a benefactor who would buy the players to take us to the top. Unfortunately he was an Icelandic biscuit magnate who was wiped out in the collapse of the Icelandic economy in 2008. Classic West Ham – no oil-rich sheikh or oligarch for us! Instead the club was brought to its knees after all the reckless commitments it made – notably the hiring of the two Argentinians, Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano, through some “third party” arrangements, which turned out to be against the rules. And paying gargantuan salaries to all sorts of players, including the ex Newcastle badboy Kieron Dyer, who hardly ever played because of injury.

Pardew took West Ham to the FA Cup final in 2006, where we were very unlucky to lose to Liverpool on penalties. Things looked promising. But on the football side, the hiring of Tevez and Mascherano seemed to be his undoing. Both were established internationals, high quality players.  Tevez struggled to score at first, but always gave 100% and the fans loved him. Especially when he discovered his shooting boots and help save us from relegation. By then Pardew had gone and Alan Curbishley was manager.  Mascherano, though, just couldn’t get in the team. One of the world’s finest holding midfield players kept out of the West Ham team by no less a player than… Hayden Mullins.  “Who he?” I hear you cry.  Exactly. What was Pardew’s problem? I don’t know, but I suspect the players were imposed on him and he didn’t like the loss of control.  Mascherano was the casualty.

Of course Mascherano went on to play with distinction for Liverpool before moving to Barcelona. Yes, Barcelona. Good enough for Barca, but not the happy Hammers. Bizarrely, he is now playing centre back  for Barca, presumably on the basis that he is one of the shortest players in the team!

So Sunday is the battle of the exes, but not just on the managerial side.  Our centre forward is Andy Carroll.  Ex Newcastle. A true Geordie favourite, sold to Liverpool for a crazy £35m, moderately successful in his first season, but not deemed suitable for the style of play under new manager Brendan Rodgers. So now he is on loan at the Hammers, where his heading ability and muscular bustle is perfect for Big Sam’s direct style of play. And I must say it’s exciting to have him at Upton Park, even though he hasn’t actually scored yet.

And Newcastle’s in-form striker? The Senegalese, Demba Ba. Ex West Ham.  He shone in our relegated side of two years ago. Scored a few, excited the fans.  Moved on when we went down. Fair play: he was too good for the Championship.

And we musn’t forget the Hammer’s captain, wily goalscoring midfielder, Kevin Nolan. Naturally, bought from Newcastle! In fact he is a Big Sam man: played under him at Bolton as well as Newcastle.

I feel West Ham and Newcastle have a fair bit in common, despite the Geordie/Cockney antagonism. Both sides have a tradition of good football, but with a soft centre, which has prevented them winning very much. Both have passionate, loyal fans, with, perhaps, unrealistic expectations. Both have been hideously mismanaged at board level in the not too-distant-past, but both now seem to be stabilising under regimes which were seriously questioned initially.

I like to see Newcastle doing well, and I’m pleased to see Alan Pardew succeeding at a pretty big club.  It took him a while to recover from the West Ham experience. But he has Newcastle playing some very good possession-based football, with a strong French influence in the team. If the team continue to thrive, he’ll probably be a candidate for the England job, when Roy Hodgson gets the chop (after our next failure).

But tomorrow, my good wishes are suspended! The Guardian tells me that West Ham haven’t won in Geordieland since 1998, so it’s about time we did. How about 2-1 with Carroll and Nolan for the Irons and Ba for the Magpies?

The immutable law of the exes.

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Have You Heard? – (26) “Walk Away Renee” by Billy Bragg

Posted on November 8, 2012 by John S

You’ll probably know this song, if you do at all, through the Four Tops version.  A grand, rather desperate plea. There should be a “Just” in the title.

But I want to share with you a version that you may not have heard. More a poem, or just a monologue. By the Essex punk-folk bard, Billy Bragg. A simple tale of ordinary love lost.

This is what I’ve just written about the song for my book on my musical journey.

” My favourite Billy Bragg moment is on a single from 1986, “Levi Stubbs’Tears”. Levi Stubbs was the singer from the great Motown soul band, the Four Tops. They had a hit single in 1968 called “Walk Away Renee”. It was originally recorded by a band called the Left Banke in 1966. The second song on the B Side of the Billy Bragg single was a version of “Walk Away Renee”.  Not the lyrics, but just the melody eked out on a lovely acoustic guitar while Billy tells a story of falling in love, and then being jilted . The tale of a gauche lad, who can’t get his words right, delivered with touching humour.

I said “I’m the most illegible bachelor in  town”, and she said, “Yeah, that’s why I could never understand any of those silly letters you sent me.”                                                                         

The break up hurts:

I went home and thought about the two of them together, 

Until the bathwater went cold around me…

What a powerful image of everyday love and hurt that is!

And…then one day it happened…

She cut her hair and I stopped loving her.

Comes out of the blue…

I love that line so much. Is it trivial, superficial, sexist, or just incredibly profound? Why should cutting her hair make any difference to a real love? And yet…

Especially when you are trying to escape the hurt. A simple lad. A simple love. But no different to the rest of us.  A universal love. A universal hurt. And a universal escape.

With that classic, rather grandiose melody, gently strummed in the background.

A piece of simple genius by yer man, Billy Bragg.”

 

What do you think?

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Some summer sun – a Costa Brava walk

Posted on November 5, 2012 by John S

In these cold, wet and and gloomy November days, with the darkness setting in by 5 o’clock, it’s good to remember the days of summer. Here are a few photos from a lovely walk I’ve done many times when on holiday on the Costa Brava, Spain’s northern Mediterranean coast. We stay at a site called Cala Gogo, which is situated in between two towns, Platja D’Aro and Palamos.  The former is a lively tourist town, mainly for the Spanish themselves, although there are quite a few French and Dutch too. It has a really nice feel to it, especially along the beach promenade. Palamos is more of a working town, still a fishing port and also a stop off for some pretty huge yachts. Between Palamos and Platja D’Aro there are a string of settlements and every bit of available beach is heavily populated. But there’s a relaxed feel to the area. It hasn’t been invaded by the lager louts. The photos here are a few from the coastal walk from Cala Gogo’s beach to a place called St Antoni, on the way to Palamos. It’s a rocky path, with lots of ups and downs.  In the summer sun you can work up quite a sweat. The majority of people lounge on the big beaches, but if you like rocks and coves and snorkelling, there are plenty of opportunities to indulge. (My family prefer the lounging!)

Starting with a few of the rocks and coves.

Glancing back into the sun, “our” beach. On the far left the Cala Gogo strip.

More rocks. Great to linger on, these ones.

I can’t remember the name of this tower, but it’s a distinctive feature of the coastline.

I love this flat, dancing  tree.

Looks like a cool time is being had on this yacht.

The beach at St Antoni. Some lovely cafes, serving the best baby squid…

Close ups.

Blurry.

Palamos in the distance.

Sparkling sun, azure seas, the rocks and trees.

Love it!

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Sportsthoughts (52) – Quins keep winning!

Posted on November 3, 2012 by John S

Tonight I was at at the Stoop to see Quins beating Gloucester 28-25, the second week in a row that they’ve won by the nervous margin of three points.  But wins are wins and they stay top of the Premier League as a result.

Last week was a bit lucky.  They were away to London Irish, in Reading (which may sound like a contradiction in terms, but right now Quins are the only London side who actually play somewhere that is recognisably London). It was a scrappy sort of game and the teams were evenly matched.

Quins fell behind in the battle of the penalties and it looked like a loss was on the cards until a five minute phase of possession right at the end led to a try in the last moment of the game. To the naked eye it looked like the try scorer, Tom Casson had knocked the ball on. Even Tom Casson thought he had, judging by the look on his face. But the ref called for a TV replay and that showed the ball had gone backwards when Casson dropped it (which is OK) and then he and the ball had both slid over the line when he touched it down with his chest. So, rather unorthodox, but all legitimate.  A try was awarded and Quins sneaked the win. I can understand Irish fans being aggrieved though.  Luck tends to favour the successful.

Doesn’t look like the boys thought it was a try!

This weekend was different. Gloucester have been playing well this season and whoever won this game would go top, at least for the evening. It was the first of a series of games where teams lose players to international call ups. Quins, now that they are one of the best teams – hell, no, the best! –  have lost six players to the England squad, something that Leicester, in particular, have grown used to over the years. Two – Mike Brown and George Robson – were allowed back for this game, but we were missing Robshaw, Monye, Care and Marler. Gloucester had Charlie Sharples missing, while Ben Morgan, their No8, had been allowed back for the game.

But, for Quins, fly half Nick Evans was back from injury, as was hooker Joe Gray, so things didn’t look too bad. There is real depth in the Quins squad these days. With Chris Robshaw away, there was a first chance this season for flanker Luke Wallace, who had looked like a real star for the future last season.

It was a funny sort of game.  It was all a bit frantic.  Both sides showing attacking intent, but there were lots of dropped balls and misplaced passes, and a super-fussy referee: step forward Mr Wayne Barnes. Quins looked stronger and scored three tries in the first half – all quite opportunistic – against none for Gloucester.  But they kept on giving away penalties and Freddie Burns – one of England’s most promising fly halves, didn’t miss a thing. So it was 22-12 at half time, when maybe Quins should have been out of sight.  The second half was bitty, but Quins had so much possession that this should have been a big win.  But it felt like the wrong decisions were taken too often.  Lots of quick breaks or choosing scrums when penalties were awarded, rather than playing for more control with kicks to touch for the line outs, or taking the three points on offer. Easy for me to say so sitting in the stands of course, but you did wonder whether Chris Robshaw’s calming influence as captain was missed. Even though the mighty Nick Easter, with a wealth of experience, was standing in.

So, while they really never looked like losing, Quins did manage to let Gloucester back in at the end and only win by three points. Which meant that “Glaws” got a bonus point that they didn’t really deserve.

But, hey, as they always say in football, the mark of a good team is when they keep winning when they aren’t playing that well. The last two weeks have shown Quins in that light. And there were some superb individual performances. For me, the centre, Matt Hopper, was the best of the bunch. Amazing speed and daring, and some excellent tackles too. And a great try. Not long before he gets an England call too, I suspect.

So it all feels good.  The team are building on the success of last season. And still trying to play the kind of running rugby that makes the game so exciting.

Come on you Quins! …. #COYQ 

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Have You heard? – (25) “Hearts of Stone” by Johnny, Bruce and Danny

Posted on November 1, 2012 by John S

This is the last dance, the last chance, for hearts of stone…

Johnny… Southside Johnny of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.

Bruce… The Boss, Springsteen.

Danny… Wilson, main man behind Grand Drive, a great Americana band, based in South London!

The song, “Hearts of Stone”, written by Bruce, played by them all.

The first version I heard was way back in 1978, when Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes released their album of the same name.  I don’t recall how I came across the album, although it would have been a connection with Bruce somewhere, and I do recall buying it from the record store on Oxford High Street. It was a wonderful album, full of those New Jersey soul and R’n’B sounds that were at the heart of Bruce Springsteen’s music in the early days.

The title track was my favourite tune on the album. As well as a rousing soul sound, it had some soaring guitar. It was a song to send a shiver down the spine.

(Can’t get the song to upload from my iTunes, so here’s a Youtube cut.)

While the track listing showed it was a Springsteen song, I hardly noticed that. Looking back it’s amazing, some of the songs that Bruce gave away.  Others included “Because The Night”, of Patti Smith fame, and “Fire”, sung by the Pointer Sisters. Given away! Bruce recorded them all at different times and featured them in his live shows. “Hearts Of Stone” found its way on to “Tracks”, the 4 CD box set of unreleased songs and outtakes which came out in 1998.

“Tracks” is a brilliant selection of songs, and “Hearts of Stone” is really quite different to Southside’s version. It has less guitar, more sax, and Bruce rambles through the tune. It’s a demo, essentially. But an entrancing one, which reveals the emotional power of the song.

And then, a bit of an afterthought, the Grand Drive version.

It’s on a double CD compilation put together by Uncut magazine in 2003 , with loads of artists doing their takes of Springsteen songs. It’s a simple, tender version of the song, with Danny’s fragile vocals to the fore. I saw Grand Drive in concert around the time the compilation came out, at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith.  It was a wonderful concert – Grand Drive are a fantastic band and I’ll be writing more about them in the future.  They did “Hearts of Stone” and it was one of the highlights. Truly moving on the night.

Three versions of a great song – a song that Bruce knocked off and gave away. Because he had so many more.  The genius of the man…

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King Lear at the Almeida Theatre, Islington

Posted on October 29, 2012 by John S

On Friday I went with my son, Kieran, to see “King Lear” at the Almeida in Islington, North London. It features Jonathan Pryce as Lear and a strong cast, who really bring the play to life. The Almeida is an intimate theatre, holding three hundred or so. The stage is set against a simple brick background and the props for the play were kept simple too. The mood was altered by the lights and sound rather than elaborate settings. Doors and windows slammed shut to give a sense of urgency and foreboding. The actors, with the exception of the three daughters, were clad in mediaeval greys and browns. The drama, the colour, was in the acting.

There was a bit of nostalgia in the visit for me. I studied “King Lear” for my A Level English exams back in 1977. And Kieran is doing the same, now, in 2012. Back in ’77 I found Lear inspirational. We had a great teacher who was steeped in the Shakespearean tragedies, and was only too willing to share his knowledge with those of us who took an interest in the subject. We studied “Othello” too and immersed ourselves in the theories of tragedy as comedy and the inevitability of the descent into disaster, no matter what action the characters took. As Gloucester says in Lear:

As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods, they kill us for their sport…                    

I’ve seen a number of performances of Lear over the years, but being so close to the actors in the Almeida brought home all those lines I’d  absorbed in the past: O reason not the need… I am a man more sinned against than sinning… blow winds, crack your cheeks! I found myself smiling at the recognition of my past. It was like meeting old friends for the first time in thirty years.

More important though, was the power of the performance here in 2012. Jonathan Pryce’s Lear was striking in its portrayal of the descent into madness, and the instability that presaged it. The expectation that his daughters would fall into line as he divided his kingdom, the outrageous reaction to Cordelia’s honesty, the child-like behaviour in the company of his acolytes. A mind corrupted by kingship. The flaws that led to his downfall were brilliantly portrayed by Pryce from the very start.

There’s a moment when Lear’s weakness in the face of his daughters is fully exposed. I always loved those impotent lines, and Pryce articulated them superbly, as if barely able to utter the idle threats:

I will have such revenges on you both, that all the world shall – I will do such things – what they are, yet I know not; but they shall be the terrors of the earth…

There were other powerful performances. I was particularly taken with Richard Goulding’s Edgar – and the vagabond Poor Tom that he becomes in exile – and with Trevor Fox’s Geordie Fool. The Fool is always a great role, because he is the one person who can tell Lear the truth about his appalling misjudgement through his comic utterances:

Lear: Dost thou call me fool, boy?

Fool: All thy other titles thou hast given away…

Clive Wood exuded a quiet and bewildered dignity as Gloucester. His reunion with Edgar, at first unknowing then revealed, I found very moving.  Zoe Waites as Goneril and Jenny Jules as Regan played the sisters with the right mix of exasperation, growing into betrayal and then lust and rivalry, for Edmund, the bastard son of Gloucester, whose scheming brings everything to its disastrous conclusion.

There were scenes of tremendous power.  The storm, when Lear and his cronies have been booted out of Gloucester’s castle by Cornwall and Regan, with the help of darkness, dry ice and some noise, had a real sense of chaos and vulnerability. No-one knew what to do. The gouging of Gloucester’s eyes by Cornwall was suitably gruesome. There was a splendid sword fight between Edmund and Edgar near the end – this was one of Kieran’s favourite moments. And then, the conclusion, when Lear is reunited with Cordelia and then loses her, to a botched death, was incredibly moving.  As Lear holds the limp body of Cordelia close to him and grieves, you feel all the anger and despair and regret. It is a transfixing moment, a brilliant piece of acting by Jonathan Pryce.  I, for one, shed a tear in the darkness…

I think, for Kieran, this was a fantastic way of gaining insight into the depth and power of the play as he studies it for A level. To get a sense of the narrative and the interaction of the characters. And to understand why, even in the 21st century, there is a playwright from four hundred years ago who still portrays the human condition better than anyone else.

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Sportsthoughts (51) – Problems, problems… doping, racism

Posted on October 25, 2012 by John S

If you read my blogs regularly, you’ll know my focus is on the feelgood factor. My music pieces are totally that way, same with the photos. And sport, well I indulge in a bit of football criticism, but it’s mostly about the love.

But two things are lurking in the dark background at the moment, and I feel the urge to say something about them. They were crystallised by BBC Radio 5 Live tonight. If you live in the UK you can hear the broadcast on BBC iPlayer if you are so inclined. Mark Chapman’s show.

The first is doping and drugs in cycling. We have had such a brilliant summer of racing.  Bradley Wiggins winning the Tour de France, Mark Cavendish sweeping up the stages. Then the tremendous performances in the Olympics and Paralympics. And then, to cap it all, Jonathan Tiernan-Locke winning the Tour of Britain.  The best time ever for cycling.

But then all the news about Lance Armstrong and the doping and drugs, and intimidation and general wrong-doing. No longer deniable, a whole era of road racing completely discredited. With suspicions lingering, no doubt, about today’s riders.

I must admit that I used to feel rather ambivalent about the situation.  A bit of me wanted Lance Armstrong to be found innocent because he was just such a brilliant cyclist. Another bit said anyone must need a bit of help cycling up and down Alp d’Huez, it’s just a challenge beyond normal human capability. So maybe too much is banned. But I knew that was probably wrong, and the revelations of the last few weeks pretty much prove that.

The bottom line on drugs in sport is that, notwithstanding the fact that at the elite level you could just about make a case for saying that it’s all about maximising performance (like technology in Formula 1 racing), it’s how it then filters down to sport in general. Allow the drugs and you’ll have kids being forced into taking things that could cause them long term harm. Clearly not acceptable.

So Radio 5 Live had an interview tonight with Dave Brailsford, the man in charge of the Team Sky road racers, as well as the team GB Olympic cyclists. He was outlining the Team Sky policy of asking every member of the team – cyclists, coaches, other staff – making a declaration that they have never been involved in any doping or drugs. As a result, a coach, Bobby Julich, resigned today. It’s a brave policy, based on trust. No investigations are planned. I guess that means the press will be probing, trying to find someone who should have confessed but didn’t.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that all our heroes of the last few months pass the test. I have no reason to doubt them.  But even so, I’m nervous. I don’t want the dream to be shattered…

And then football. What a tangle it is in. Sticking to the single issue of racism now. It’s in a mess in so many other respects too, though we can’t also ignore that fact that the Premier League is hugely entertaining. And I am delighted that West Ham are back in it and doing well.

I could be could be complacent and say “Racism ain’t what it used to be”. Thank God. In the early eighties I used to go to just about every West Ham home game. Bananas were frequently thrown on the pitch at black players. Really. It’s just astonishing to think of that now, but it was almost accepted then as an unfortunate but immovable part of the live experience. Shocking, looking back.

I’m so glad that that behaviour is no longer prevalent at English games, but there is no denying that some appalling chanting remains. It may not be racist, but it’s every other -ist.

The focus on racism in this country is not currently about the fans, but the players. We had the Luis Suarez/Patrick Evra incident, which inflamed the already atrocious Man Utd/ Liverpool relations.  Suarez eventually got an eight game ban. Then the John Terry/ Anton Ferdinand incident. Terry was found innocent by a magistrates court, but the Football Association (FA) held their own inquiry, under civil justice rules.  They found him guilty of racial abuse of Anton Ferdinand, but only suspended him for four games, versus Suarez’s eight.

That more lenient ban (though arguably Terry has suffered in other ways like having no choice but to retire from international football) has caused outrage, amongst black footballers in particular. That is entirely understandable. There have been boycotts by black players of the FA-sponsored ‘Kick It Out” campaign T-shirts, and a sense that things are now going to get uglier.

Again, Radio 5 Live tonight had an interview tonight which summed up the issues perfectly. Les Ferdinand, ex England centre forward, QPR, Newcastle, Spurs player, amongst others, spoke passionately about the issues. His message was that the time for compromise and secrecy was over. You just couldn’t argue with his logic. Why should any player in our country have to take any crap about his (or her) race in 2012?

So Terry’s four match ban and retention of the Chelsea captain’s arm band seems wrong from the wider perspective, even if the club’s support for their captain is understandable.

It means that anger is growing and might just lead to some kind of confrontation between black players and the FA, or clubs, or individual players. The irony is that England has probably made more progress than most countries in eradicating racism from sport, but the expectations are (rightly) higher as a result.

I do hope that the different parties can find a way forward because a positive legacy needs to be left to future generations. I have been struck by how race just isn’t an issue for my childrens’ generations (17 and 13 years old at the moment). They have NEVER mentioned a persons’s skin colour to me. It just isn’t relevant to them. This is how it needs to be throughout society. It’s incumbent therefore, on the generations now in charge of things not to dump their own prejudices on the younger generations.

We can only hope and pray…

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