Following on from last week's Vinyl Motion story, I was in Brick Lane, just before Christmas, and wandered into The Tea Rooms, beneath the Truman Tower. In the distance I could here a piece of music I recognised, so walked off in search of the source. 'B-SIDE' Brick Lane's oldest Vinyl seller had just began playing Santana's 'Abraxus' album, side two track one 'Se A Cabo"….. on vinyl, exactly as I'd have heard it back in 1970. Immediately I was back there amongst the smell of incense burning and head nodding, as the unique sound of Latin, blues and rock fusion that was Santana blared from the speakers.

This video is just a still of the LP cover - a 1961 painting by Mati Klarwein. The whole of the album, including 'Black Magic Woman', 'Oye Como Va' and 'Samba Pa Ti' is available on YouTube click Abraxus

In the latest Star Wars movie the final scene has Rey landing on an island and then climbing pathways and steps surrounded by ancient stone dwellings. Film set ? Nope !
The monastery on the island of Skellig Michael off the coast of Kerry, Southern Ireland is long abandoned and the islands are now an UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to nesting Puffins.

Some bright spark in the tourist centre of nearby Killarney saw a marketing opportunity in all this and when we were in Ireland last July we saw a display selling t-shirts re-naming it 'Skellig Wars'. 

He'd created a great logo showing the puffin birds, one clearly wearing a Darth Vader helmet.

So Rey goes to find 'you know who', not on the planet 'Ahch-to', but off the coast of Ireland, Earth.

All about the Money, Money, Money

Last week Deloitte's updated the Football Money League* and the richest clubs in World Football were revealed. It contained a record number of Premiership teams - due in the main to a current three-year TV deal worth around £5.2 billion. With a new deal, estimated to be worth £8 billion, set to boost their income further.
Real Madrid remain top, with Barcelona second, followed by Manchester United in third. Man City are 6th, Arsenal 7th, Chelsea 8th and Liverpool 9th.
Tottenham lie in 12th, Newcastle 17th, Everton 18th and West Ham make the top 20. With Southampton, Aston Villa, Leicester, Sunderland, Swansea, Stoke, Crystal Palace and West Brom all in the top 30. That's every current Premiership club, bar the three teams promoted last season - Bournemouth, Norwich and Watford. No wonder teams are desperate to stay in the division.
Incredible ! The likes of Swansea and Crystal Palace as one of the top richest clubs in the world.
*The list only looks at revenues accrued and does not take into account club debts.

As we get to 15 matches remaining in the Premiership and the month of February - next games are on Feb 2nd - Leicester are still top. They don't look like they are going away and are currently 10 points clear of Man Utd, the best placed team to deny them a Champions League spot. Incredible !
Leicester's final game of the season, away to Chelsea…!

Finally today, no mention of sending offs, penalties, fouls or off-sides. Just a team shirt (right).

Look what Santa brought us.

Margaret masquerading as Santa Claus brought us a gift at Christmas. A Vinyl Record player.

My initial response was a mild concern relating to the cost and whether the product was up to speed and up to scratch. Puns intentional !
I need not have worried, the three speed turntable not only played LPs, 45s and 78 rpm records it played my records. The sound quality was very good and despite the condition of some discs they played perfectly well. No snap, crackle, pop or audible static background accompaniment, I'm glad to say.
It opened up a whole past life and enabled me to listen once again to the 350+ albums I have and 200 odd singles. This was amazingly liberating and I can also record and digitise them on my computer. Brilliant. 
So if anyone has any old records they want converting, just let me know. We have the technology. 

The whole point of this preamble is by way of an introduction to today's :

Anyone who knows me well would realise it wasn't going to be to long before Fairport Convention turned up as a  Star Track . A few days ago I had dug out one their LPs from 1986 called "Expletive Delighted" and a particular track called 'Sigh Beg Sigh Mor'. This transported me back, as music does. So I searched for it on YouTube and luckily found a version that had a connection to the Fairports and their re-recording. 
A few years before Dave Swarbrick and Simon Nicol on their album "Close To The Wind" had recorded 'Si Bheag Si Mhor' (meaning 'Small fairy, big fairy' in gaelic). Same piece of music, composed by Irish harpist Turlough O'Carolan, just a different spelling. As this track also features Dave's Pegg and Mattacks from Fairport Convention it seems as close as I'd get. 
Mellow mood this week, but hooray, almost the end of January.

New Pint on the block

Recently spotted in a pub near me and then pictured on draft at the Rose & Crown in Wimbledon Village (and probably other places I've yet to find) Common Pale Ale from the Wimbledon Brewery.
More info at: http://www.wimbledonbrewery.com 

Another music legend checks out.

More sad news this morning of the death of Eagles founder member Glenn Frey. 
No point in waiting for my Friday Music Spot to recognise the passing of another rock music legend. And of all the great songs he left us, for me, there's just one that'll do.
One of the Eagles finest songs and one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that shaped Rock and Roll. And anyone who's driven America will know why. Written with Jackson Browne and released in 1972 - "Take It Easy"

To paraphrase and put another way the lines from 'Hotel California' - You can check-out anytime you like, but you will never leave US !  Glenn Frey.

This YouTube video is a live performance from 1977, with a kick-arse guitar solo from Joe Walsh.

It was a crazy 2nd half at the Bridge on Saturday and there's no denying it Chelsea were fortunate to come away with a draw.
Manager Guus Hiddink said "I cannot deny it, I saw it, to be honest it was off-side. Sometimes decisions go in your favour, sometimes it's damaging." This of course refers to John Terry's, 8th minute of time added on, equaliser in a 3-3 match verses Everton. On the other talking point of why so much added time, the facts were the additional minutes were because Everton had celebrated their 3rd goal for something like 1 minute and 30 seconds. So the extra extra-time was their own fault.
In fact the whole game would have had a sense of deja vu for Everton and their fans, as going 2 goals up, drawing back to 2-2, then over celebrating a goal before conceding in the very last minute, was exactly what happened against Bournemouth in another 3-3 scoreline back in November. 

No real prizes then for the 'Lucky Strike' award of the weekend, except that all three Chelsea goals had something about them to qualify. Jagielka and Howard confusing each other to allow Diego Costa to score the first goal, Cesc Fabregas' shot deflected off a defender for the 2nd and finally John Terry's late late off-side back heel, for the lucky hat-trick. 
There were many other deflected shots this weekend that ended up in the net, but I think a clean sweep at the Bridge is only fair.

David Bowie - remembered

Original RCA single, 1974

Genius, chameleon, a unique artist with a vision that changed the face of popular music, a one-off pushing the boundaries of music, art, fashion and society, a true original, a hero! 
Just a few of the tributes paid to David Bowie, who died earlier this week. 
His ever changing music meant there was an entry point for virtually everyone's taste. No doubt we all have our own favourite track. 
Mine is off the album 'Hunky Dory' a track that later showed up on the 'B' side of the UK 'Rebel, Rebel' single. 'Queen Bitch' sounds very like Velvet Underground. 
STARMAN: "Let all the children boogie". My humble tribute is this week's music spot. 

There are also a couple of 'live' versions on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljv8xCt4Bq8 (with Mick Ronson, who died in 1993) and with Lou Reed (who died just over a year ago in 2013) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbxp1hC8vts

R.I.P. – but turn the volume UP !

Sports Desk

Ballon d'Or Winner

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has won the World's best player award for the 5th time.
Remember when the Premier League had the world's best players? Not any more.
Five players from the English league were eligible for votes. Eden Hazard scored 59 points, Alexis Sanchez (53), Yaya Toure (40), Sergio Aguero (39) and Kevin de Bruyne (21).
To put into context, Messi received 1,666 points.

2015 Africa Nations Cup

Player of the Tournament was Ghana's Christian Atsu. He also took the Goal of the Tournament award too. Yet last week, Africa's Finest XI of 2015 was announced and he was nowhere to be seen. Not even on the subs bench!
He started this season on loan at Bournemouth, only played twice, got injured, recovered and has now returned to Chelsea. 
We await his next move… to see if he can forfil his potential?

Finally, the long wait… out of 32 balls, Chelsea were the last ball out in yesterday's FA Cup draw !!!

An FA Cup Story

I grew up on the FA Cup. The excitement seemed far greater than the 40+ games slog of the League programme. Your chances of actually getting to Wembley for the final, the season's show piece and even winning the Cup, a real chance to dream for all fans.
The first Saturday in January (bad weather potential at its peak) was always 3rd Round Day. The so-called 'Big Boys' joining the competition and the possibility of an upset epitomised the romance of the FA Cup.
A team from a lower division of even a non-league club looking to put one over their more famous opponents. The nothing to lose attitude and one-off opportunity of the underdog to cause an upset. A small ground full of local supporters sensing the upset and a playing surface (like it use to be) that levelled the obvious difference between the teams, effecting those players not use to performing on a mud-patch, was further potential to upset the outcome of the game. The anticipation was fantastic and providing it wasn't your team on the end of any giant-killing act, then the excitement of the FA Cup was unrivalled. 
Other European countries have cup competitions, but nothing like the FA Cup, we're constantly told.

Unfortunately the last 15 years or so some of that tradition has gone. Due partly to a Premier league full of clubs desperate to remain in that division at all costs, which has seen many teams not to bother about 'having a cup run'. Their financial priorities considered rather than dreams of Wembley glory. While the top teams, with Champions League aspirations or involvement in this competition, has also seen the FA Cup become a distraction with bigger prizes up for grabs. Even the guarantee of winning the trophy and qualifying for the Europa League not an attraction to warrant clubs taking the FA Cup as serious as they once did.
To play at Wembley was once a huge factor in the romance of the Cup, but nowadays the semi-finals are played at Wembley which appears to devalue even this importance moment. In various attempts by the FA to bring back the glamour of days gone by we've had TV coverage spread out over an entire weekend, kick-off times changed as often as the sponsors and replays that end in penalty shoot-outs, all of which I find confusing. Even messing around with the expectation of the draw, by waiting a few days, hasn't been successful.
This weekend we had lots of possibilities of lower teams on dodgy pitches to provide mud caked heroes, but we only had one upset. (Oxford United, step forward). We had lots of draws and last gasp goals and plenty of celebrating as if they'd won instead of only living to fight another day. Perhaps they were simply rejoicing in a financial pay-day replay? 
It's not easy to see a time when the FA Cup will be taken as seriously as it once was. Which is a shame. Maybe I need to start following an underdog to rekindle that excitement. "Up for t'cup"

Picture from Friday on Sky News.

Suddenly there's (Sir) Ian Botham being interviewed in Cape Town for Sky Sports and right there in the background is Hout Bay.

Hootenanny 
In the wee small hours of 2016, with the sound of London's extraordinary firework display still popping in our ears, we switched TV channels to Jools Holland's 'Hootenanny' show. It was the usual eclectic mix of old and new artists with the stand-out act for me being Beth Hart. Her performance was amazing, accompanied on guitar by Jeff Beck.
The next day I found various YouTube videos, any of which I could have picked to be the first music spot of the New Year. This live recording of "I'd Rather Go Blind" has Joe Bonamassa supplying some very tasty guitar - and Beth Hart, what a voice ! 

Want more?  Click: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdNKR3GaOtc&list=PL22UxN1a4to7tyEzlW33aTr_etND_OtxT&index=5

New item for you – about 'Odds On' something or other…

Currently in the News 'The National Lottery'.
The record jackpot of £50.4m went unclaimed last night and will roll-over to £57.8m this Saturday. Time to buy a ticket or is it a mugs game ?
Your chances of winning are about one in 45 million - they are worse now than before, since they increased the balls from 49 to 59, the odds then were roughly a 1-in-14 million chance.

Fact: the odds are you're more likely to be struck by lightning !

Plan your Summer 2016

Plans for June ?

You have now !

A quick guide to the home nations matches during Euro2016 in France. For a more complete view of the tournament see : http://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2015/dec/12/euro-2016-interactive-wallchart-groups-fixtures-venues-and-more

Sports Desk 2016

A New Year arrives and the first football fixtures of the year brought some great goals, questionable red cards and last minute excitement or heartache. Pretty much usual fare for the Premiership this season.
But while yesterday it rained cats and dogs in London in sunny Cape Town world records came tumbling down.
The Cricket headlines read "Ben Stokes hits the fastest double century for England, the second fastest in history, on day two of the second Test with South Africa in Cape Town".
He took just 163 balls to score 200 runs, 10 more than the record by New Zealand's Nathan Astle.

World Darts

Congratulations also to Scotland's Gary Anderson who won the World Darts Championship in a match that contained the most maximum scores of 180 (34), than in any other match.
Quote of the day was from Anderson, who miscounted three times during the final, told BBC Radio 5 live: "I need to get my eyes tested - I am seeing numbers that aren't there".

Following Hogmanay in Scotland, for New Year's Day I thought let's have some Scottish music. Not bagpipes though, you maybe glad to hear, but with so many favourite Scottish bands - Average White Band, Big Country, Biffy Clyro, Del Amitri, Glasvegas, Mogwai, Runrig, Travis, The View plus various folk groups, new and old: Lau, Battlefield Band, Tannahill Weavers to name just a few, I was somewhat spoilt for choice.

But I've plumped for Teenage Fanclub and 'Sparky's Dream'.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE