tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-108715872024-03-08T16:54:08.526+01:00FaynightsThe weblog of Chris and Laura BrownChris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1171407313425636602007-02-13T23:51:00.000+01:002007-02-13T23:55:13.446+01:00Pssst...It's been a while since I've been able to focus on anything in time to post on this blog, but as it's the <a href="http://www.brits.co.uk">Brit Awards</a> tomorrow I've snuck in some of my own personal awards for last year's recordings over on the Hit Parade blog. Enjoy!Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1165163486085278642006-12-03T16:28:00.000+01:002006-12-03T17:33:40.183+01:00You've been sleighedIt seems like a date that ought to be marked somehow - last night, the Second of December 2006, in an act of desperation I tuned the kitchen radio to Virgin. And for the first time this year I heard 'Merry Xmas Everybody' by Slade. It's almost like an annual rite of passage isn't it?Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1160169340699415082006-10-06T22:11:00.000+01:002006-10-06T22:46:33.640+01:00Every minute of every hour, I love a sunflower<span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);font-family:arial;" >Hi folks, sorry it's been a bit quiet lately. So there's something new this month, I thought I'd experiment with photoblogging: here are a couple of snaps I took near work a couple of weeks ago. I've attempted to crop them so as to protect the privacy of the people who live in the houses.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7677/860/1600/000_0183.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7677/860/400/000_0183.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7677/860/1600/000_0179.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7677/860/320/000_0179.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);font-family:arial;" ><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);font-family:arial;" >Ideally, I suppose I should have started taking photos in the summer when the flowers are in fuller bloom; but then I suppose ideally I should have known what I was doing.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);font-family:arial;" >And here's a picture of a calf we saw in the New Forest. Aaah.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7677/860/1600/calfdrinkcropped.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7677/860/400/calfdrinkcropped.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1157062380374276882006-08-31T22:56:00.000+01:002006-08-31T23:17:18.406+01:00There will be no white flag above my door<span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">I meant to mention a while ago something I'd seen recently as part of the bloom of St. George's Crosses during the World Cup. One, probably intended for a car but seen sitting on a garage, bore the name of a well-known manufacturer of glue products in one of the white squares. You know, in a lot of countries people would find it offensive to do that to their flag.<br /><br />The other morning I saw it in the gutter. It had probably been blown there by high winds, but it caught my eye precisely because it hadn't occured to anyone to remove it from there. Myself included actually; and for all that "English" isn't the first word I think of to describe myself, it's odd that it had no effect on me. It only struck me as something I could mention to Laura as a counterpoint to her experiences in the US and as an amusing point to make on the blog. Strange nation, we are. </span>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1154558031206585862006-08-02T23:16:00.000+01:002006-08-02T23:44:25.206+01:00But there's no reason to cry<span style="color:#000099;">In recent years there haven't been a lot of reasons to praise the world's record companies. So I thought it was only fair to give some public recognition to </span><a href="http://www.lomaxrecords.com"><span style="color:#000099;">Lo-Max Records</span></a><span style="color:#000099;">, the label that released the final Go-Betweens album I mentioned in a </span><a href="http://faynights.blogspot.com/2006/06/watching-wheels-go-round-and-round.html"><span style="color:#000099;">previous post</span></a><span style="color:#000099;">. After complaints about the sound quality on the original CD, they not only remastered the album but kindly offered to exchange the discs for those of us who bought the original version at no charge. I got mine by return of post too. How many other labels would do that for you?<br /><br />One good turn deserves another, so here's a plug: if you haven't got the album at all, you can obtain it in the usual places, or </span><a href="http://www.simbioticstore.com/lomaxrecords/index.html?s=home&m=&c=viewitem&item_id=9583"><span style="color:#000099;">Lo-Max's online shop</span></a><span style="color:#000099;">.</span>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1152458207533603682006-07-09T16:14:00.000+01:002006-07-09T21:19:43.253+01:00How should I feel?<span style="color:#000099;">You know, it's not really my place to fuss about the withdrawl of Top Of The Pops, especially not several weeks too late. But it is my place to be a pedant, so let's have a quick look at </span><a href="http://www.economist.com/world/britain/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7089050"><span style="color:#000099;">this response</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> from the usually trustworthy <i>Economist</i>. It's not that I always agree with their position on an issue, but the level of research is impressive. So how did some of this slip through?</span><br /><br /><blockquote><br />FOR a comparatively young genre, pop music is suspiciously full of “historic” moments. But the announcement on June 20th that the BBC was to cancel Top of the Pops (ToTP), a weekly tour of the singles chart that has been broadcast since 1964, surely qualifies. The programme itself was embarrassingly naff: presenters often seemed bemused by the bands; many acts refused to perform, objecting to the requirement to mime along to a pre-recorded track; and skimpily clad dancers were a main attraction. Nevertheless, at the height of its popularity in the 1970s, 15m people tuned in each week. </blockquote><span style="color:#000099;">A fair start, there, although I'm not sure how many acts really did refuse to show up - the Clash are the obvious ones, and New Order refused until they were finally permitted to attempt a live </span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/totp/artists/n/new_order/video/new_order_blue_monday2.ram"><span style="color:#000099;">'Blue Monday'</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> - and over the years the programme did have dalliances with a no-miming policy which proved less than succesful. There's no question that the naffest incarnation of the show was also the most popular. There follows a reasonable reference to the alternative outlets for musis in the multi-channel world, but then it goes a bit wrong:</span><br /><blockquote>More recent is the rise of the internet, which has made finding new music even easier. In March Britain made musical history when an American band named Gnarls Barkley reached the top of the singles chart before its song was available in shops. For the first time anywhere, a song had been propelled to the top spot entirely by internet downloads.</blockquote><br /><span style="color:#000099;">Anywhere?<br />But let's overlook that question and get to the actual point here. It's true that Gnarls Barkley (actually a duo, but that's fair enough) reached the top of the singles chart on download sales alone before the single was released in the UK - but the fact that they were the first is not necessarily unconnected to the fact that a change in chart rules a few weeks previously had allowed download sales to be counted the week before physical release; had they sold as many downloads three weeks earlier it would have made no difference. In fact, sales of the record increased when the CD single appeared, with even its download sales more than doubling (presumably as a result of the publicity). What really matters though is why people were downloading it - they may have had a slightly novel way of purchasing it but the reasons were the same as always: it was a huge radio hit. Furthermore:</span><br /><blockquote>Sandi Thom, a Scottish singer, recently signed a £1m contract with Sony after tens of thousands of internet users watched her play live “concerts” from the basement of her Tooting flat. (Some think her success was masterminded by Sony from the start.)</blockquote><span style="color:#000099;">Actually, more of us think her manager orchestrated it. But again, that doesn't really matter because for the bulk of its history, <em>TotP</em> refused to feature a record until it had entered the chart, and they wouldn't repeat it unless it was Number One or had increased its sales by a certain amount. Under modern industry conditions that would be more difficult, which may well be why the rules were abandoned some years ago, but the fact remains that it's never been the job of the programme to find the hits, even though it was a valuable promotional tool once upon a time. It was supposed to report the hits that were already happening, by whatever means. Personally, breaking that link was one of the things that put me off the programme around the turn of the century (that and age of course) because it began to lack a real raison d'etre when the big stars could waltz straight on to it with a performance they'd taped months in advance. By the time they were desperate enough to combine it with <em>TOTP2</em>, thus interspersing new and old performances to avoid satisfying anybody, it seemed to become a waste of time and the writing was really on the wall. I'm still a little grudging in admitting this, but if it really couldn't survive in its original form it's better off being put out of its misery.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#000099;">The better news is that, for the time being at least, the </span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/totp/news/news/2006/06/20/33082.shtml"><span style="color:#000099;">website is staying up</span></a><span style="color:#000099;">. I've been enjoying their </span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/totp/news/blog/2006/06/27/33257.shtml"><span style="color:#000099;">Blog Party</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> archives, and there are a few brief clips of performances through the ages. New Order? They ended up miming 'Regret' on a beach.</span>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1150649187828171482006-06-18T17:43:00.000+01:002006-06-18T18:34:17.133+01:00Watching the wheels go round and round...<span style="color:#000099;">Somehow, it seems like I've been too busy reading other people's blogs to add anything to my own lately. I'm still around though, so maybe it's time for a few little updates on what's happened in the last couple of months. In no particular order:<br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/voiceofthemirror/tm_objectid=17208078&method=full&siteid=94762-name_page.html):"><span style="color:#000099;">The Perishers ends</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> six months after the </span><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4574092.stm"><span style="color:#000099;">demise</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> of Maurice Dodd. It seems only right not to continue the strip without him, especially as it wasn't at its best towards the end, but it's a pity that it faded away like this, with all the books long out of print.<br /><br />Grant McLennan, co-founder of </span><a href="http://www.go-betweens.net"><span style="color:#000099;">The Go-Betweens</span></a><span style="color:#000099;">, </span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/news/20060511_mclennan.shtml"><span style="color:#000099;">died</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> in early May. It was barely a year since the release of the </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00083G3PK/sr=1-4/qid=1150650379/ref=sr_1_4/202-1171281-4821442?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=music&v=glance"><span style="color:#000099;">album <i>Oceans Apart</i></span></a><span style="color:#000099;">, one of their finest. You can read an </span><a href="http://xrrf.blogspot.com/2006/05/indieobit-grant-mclennan.html"><span style="color:#000099;">obituary at No Rock & Roll Fun</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> or check out </span><a href="http://sweepingthenation.blogspot.com/2006/05/illustrated-guide-to-go-betweens.html"><span style="color:#000099;">Sweeping The Nation's guide</span></a><span style="color:#000099;">.<br /><br />George Bush did something stupid. I didn't actually need to check that bit.<br /><br />England have managed to score some goals.<br /><br />And on a self-promoting note, the </span><a href="http://thehitparade.blogspot.com"><span style="color:#000099;">Hit Parade Blog</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> has now entered the Top 30.</span>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1143983732337955772006-04-02T14:01:00.000+01:002006-04-02T15:21:58.516+01:00Strawberries everywhere!<span style="font-family:arial;color:#6600cc;">I thought it unwise to post yesterday (who'd believe me?), but there's room for a little Dentists update. Last Thursday I finally managed to buy myself the Rev-Ola CD of <em>Some People Are On the Pitch...</em> from </span><a href="http://www.sisterray.co.uk"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#6600cc;">Sister Ray</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#6600cc;"> in London. You can look at my </span><a href="http://faynights.blogspot.com/2005/08/im-in-love-with-paisley-ties-again-let.html"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#6600cc;">original post</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#6600cc;">, but when I went back to the website I discovered that it had moved to a new location with its </span><a href="http://www.thedentistsweb.com"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#6600cc;">own domain</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#6600cc;">. Also, Mark Matthews has created the inevitable </span><a href="http://www.myspace.com/thedentists"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#6600cc;">Dentists MySpace</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#6600cc;">, where you too can hear a slightly random selection of their tracks.<br /><br />It's a long time since I heard 'Strawberries Are Growing In My Garden (And It's Wintertime)' actually played at the correct speed. I've also been able to add the complete album to the <a href="http://music.uk.launch.yahoo.com/launchcast/station.asp?u=1660137983">Faynights station</a> over at Yahoo for anyone that curious about our musical tastes. <br /></span>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1142692614602570362006-03-18T15:33:00.000+01:002006-03-18T17:06:23.536+01:00Culture shock<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7677/860/1600/Carolus-Duran.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7677/860/320/Carolus-Duran.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color:#000099;">Well, I did promise I was going to report back on my slightly cultured week off didn't I?<br /><br />Among other things, we visited the National Gallery's </span><a href="http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/americans_paris/default.htm"><span style="color:#000099;">Americans In Paris</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> exhibition, a major examination of the many artists who moved from the USA to France in the late nineteenth century. Those familiar with my level of expertise in art history may not be surprised to learn that I entered the first room thinking "Who's that guy who looks like Dave Lee Travis?"<br /><br />It proves to have been </span><a href="http://www.augustins.org/sp/exposition/cd/fortune/accueil.htm"><span style="color:#000099;">Carolus-Duran</span></a><span style="color:#000099;">, painted by his pupil John Singer Sargeant (whose notorious Madame X is the centrepiece of the exhibition). He does rather have the look of a man who's a bit fed up with people saying they used to watch him presenting Top of the Pops.<br /><br />You be the judge:<br /><br /></span><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7677/860/1600/DLT.jpg"><span style="color:#000099;"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7677/860/320/DLT.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="color:#000099;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><br /><p><span style="color:#000099;"></span> </p><p><span style="color:#000099;"><br />This illustration is one of many shots from Radio 1's 25th Anniversary brochure helpfully archived at </span><a href="http://www.geocities.com/thehotw/aircheck_museumR112.htm"><span style="color:#000099;">Aircheck Museum</span></a><span style="color:#000099;">. Why not check out the selection of </span><a href="http://www.geocities.com/thehotw/aircheck_museumR115.htm"><span style="color:#000099;">gorgeous pouting DJ publicity photos from the early 1990s</span></a><span style="color:#000099;">, and wonder why we were laughing at 70s design back then?<br /><br />The exhibition was very good by the way.<br />The Royal Academy's </span><a href="hhtp://www.threeemperors.org.uk"><span style="color:#000099;">China: The Three Emperors</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> doesn't come cheap but does contain some impressive works not often seen in Europe; there are some especially impressive scrolls, and a cute picture of some rabbits (sadly not on the website, but it made for a very welcome birthday card).<br />Also getting the Faynights seal of approval was the </span><a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/gallery/main.jsp"><span style="color:#000099;">Wildlife Photographer Of The Year</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> display at the Natural History Museum. We took the opportunity to revisit the </span><a href="http://faynights.blogspot.com/2005/11/lawrence-of-arabia.html"><span style="color:#000099;">Lawrence Of Arabia</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> exhibit at the Imperial War Museum too, which still has a few weeks to run.</span></p>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1142543890989419372006-03-16T22:12:00.000+01:002006-03-16T22:24:12.396+01:00A penny from Heaven?<span style="color:#000066;">Hello everyone. We're back from our week off (of which more later, perhaps) but while it's on my mind I had another enjoyable Radio 4 moment this morning. </span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/pip/kezh1/"><em><span style="color:#000066;">The Man Who Made Frank Swing</span></em></a><span style="color:#000066;"> is possibly not the best title in broadcasting history; but the programme itself, an examination of the collaboaration between a certain Mr Sinatra and the arranger Nelson Riddle was a little gem, all the better for my having had no idea it was going to be on.<br /><br />Worth a Listen Again, even if only for the musical excerpts (although you really should have a copy of Songs For Swingin' Lovers anyway) and best of all if I put this on the blog, I don't have to remember to tell Laura it was on.</span>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1136153547488553452006-01-01T23:11:00.000+01:002006-01-12T23:00:00.646+01:00Honey be good<span style="color:#000099;">One small pleasure I've discovered over the last couple of years is honeybush tea. I've not had much truck with herbal teas on the whole, finding that they flatter to deceive with their aromas, but this is something different; it lacks the caffeine and much of the tannin so I can drink it late in the evening, but still resembles conventional tea closely enough for a refusenik like me - in fact we even served it to some removal men once and they didn't spit on the carpet (sorry guys if you're reading this). Best of all, it doesn't smell of anything that it doesn't also taste of.<br /><br />Recently I haven't been seeing any on the shelves though. I've done a little research online which suggests that it may simply be out of season, but what's been more interesting has been the story of its </span><a href="http://www.arc.agric.za/institutes/infruit/main/divisions/resourcepoor/research.htm#01"><span style="color:#000099;">use to help the poor in the new South Africa</span></a><span style="color:#000099;">.<br /><br />The tea's apparently </span><a href="http://honeybush.net"><span style="color:#000099;">official site</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> is not very detailed, but you can learn all you want to know (if not more) </span><a href="http://www.itmonline.org/arts/honeybush.htm"><span style="color:#000099;">here</span></a><span style="color:#000099;">. There are also some </span><a href="http://www.capehoneybushtea.co.za/recipes.htm"><span style="color:#000099;">recipes</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> (although the first one is just the recipe for tea, which seems too much like cheating) and even some </span><a href="http://www.doh.gov.za/docs/regulations/1997/reg0692c.pdf"><span style="color:#000099;">South African Government regulations</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> if you're truly curious. I think I'm supposed to end this post by saying something like "Cheers!". </span>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1136153430754689212006-01-01T23:02:00.000+01:002006-01-12T23:01:07.796+01:00Happy new year<span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">I almost downloaded 'New Year's Day' by U2 this morning. Instead, I've sort of resolved to celebrate 2006 by blogging more, and to this end I've started a whole side-blog, </span><a href="http://thehitparade.blogspot.com"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">The Hit Parade</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">, a sort of shadow Top 40 that hopes to highlight some overlooked hit singles. I've started at Number 40 with David McAlmont and will gradually work up (or down?) to a Number One single of my choice. All the tracks are drawn from my own collection, which also makes this a substitute for the currently-in-stasis Random Single Project. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">I'll be posting on here more too, so there really is no escape. I hope everyone's enjoying the year so far.</span>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1130017972324865072005-10-25T22:20:00.000+01:002005-11-17T09:35:06.140+01:00He knows I'm gonna stay<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/documentaries/"><span style="color:#000099;">Radio 2 documentaries</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"><span style="color:#000099;"> -</span> you've gotta love them haven't you? Well, OK you don't have to, but if you cook on Saturday nights, you have to listen to something.<br />This weekend just gone, in their continuing mission to narrate the history of every band ever to exist, they reached the </span><a href="http://www.angelfire.com/ma2/mamasandpapas/index.html"><span style="color:#000099;">Mamas & Papas</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> - certainly not a bad act, and one with a dramatic enough history, but with </span><a href="http://www.casselliot.com"><span style="color:#000099;">Mama Cass</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> and John Phillips having gone to the great free festival in the sky, so to speak, there was no way we'd get the complete inside story, and instead there was plenty of room for the usual filler : music writers. Now I think music journalism is a more derided profession than it always deserves, but the written word is its natural home. And if, as in this case, they weren't there at the time, it seems a little presumptuous of them to tell us what Lou Adler felt. Of course they've researched this, but I could have done that too, and frankly they might as well have added the information to the presenter's script.<br />Worse still, the presence of the microphone seems to turn critics who are no doubt perfectly fine in print or in person into showboaters, desperate to get themselves into the trailer by suggesting that Mama Cass "let it all hang out - literally" [because she was a bit overweight - geddit!!??!!] or that she had a voice like "liquid honey".<br /><br />Best of all was this assessment of their first hit, </span><a href="http://users.cis.net/sammy/califdr.htm"><span style="color:#000099;">'California Dreamin''</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> from a scribe I've never heard of before. Apparently it's "like the Beach Boys but without </span><a href="http://www.brianwilson.com"><span style="color:#000099;">Brian Wilson</span></a><span style="color:#000099;">'s angst." We'll leave aside the fact that the reference to angst is hardly the most accurate depiction of Wilson's music circa 1965 (there's sadness to be sure, but it's not that sort). He seems to have missed the point of the song altogether - you know and I know that they were in California when they recorded it, but the viewpoint is that of someone pining for the Sunshine State; hence "I'd be safe and warm <strong>if</strong> I was in LA". The brilliance is in the line "If I didn't tell her I could leave today" - you know the protagonist never is going to go, and she (or he) probably knows it too: the preacher certainly does. And yet having the dream there is a comfort and it's valuable for that alone; I've always thought that the myth of California was more exciting than the real thing.<br />Perhaps this is part of the reason why the version that the Beach Boys eventually did release fails so spectacularly - they're just so deeply and irrefutable Californian that the imagery falls flat. Admittedly, the biggest problem is that they recorded it in 1986 (and for a Greatest Hits collection to boot)by which time they were a spent force in the studio, and the ugly production values of the time do it no favours. Still, the version that I remember the </span><a href="http://www.banglesdiscography.co.uk/rivercitypeople/rcp.html"><span style="color:#000099;">River City People</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> performing on </span><a href="http://www.offthetelly.co.uk/reviews/gold/pebblemillatone.htm"><span style="color:#000099;">Pebble Mill At One</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> seemed to count for more.</span>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1125322821706914522005-08-29T14:32:00.000+01:002005-09-12T18:21:09.290+01:00Face to face<span style="font-family:arial;color:#000066;">With a bit of spare time on a Sunday before </span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/2808.shtml#prom58"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000066;">the Prom</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000066;"> last night, we slipped into the Natural History Musuem down the road, in order to enjoy the current </span><a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/face-to-face/"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000066;">Face To Face exhibition</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000066;">. I didn't know much about it - I'd only observed from the posters outside the building and gleaned that there were pictures of apes in it, which looked like a good idea to me.<br />It proved to be a fascinating experience, some thirty large close-up photos of gorillas, chimpanzees, Orang-Utans and bonobos. Movingly, they were united by suffering; most of them had seen their parents killed for the bushmeat and pet trades. As the photographer </span><a href="http://www.jamesmollison.com/"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000066;">James Mollison</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000066;"> explains on the </span><a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/face-to-face/artist-qanda.html"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000066;">website</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000066;">, it was a major part of his intent to draw attention to the mistreatment of apes, but he also wanted to emphasise the individuality of the animals.<br /><br />For all that you're only standing in a darkened room looking at photographs, it's a remarkably moving experience. The scale and close range of the pictures (Mollison calls them "passport photos" but that certainly isn't a reference to their size) compels us to look at their faces and see all the details; it may be a coincidence that the faces of bonobos look wrinkled and weathered, but it suits the themes extremely well. It's saddening to get such a sense of how people can treat their close biological relatives, but then considering how we treat our closer relatives (ie other humans) maybe we shouldn't be surprised.<br /><br />The exhibition runs until the 18th of September and entry is free. It's recommended to anyone passing through South Kensington before then.</span>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1124919004938540242005-08-24T22:23:00.000+01:002005-09-07T19:07:17.620+01:00I'm in love with paisley ties again, let me look into those eyes again...<span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">You'll have to forgive the nepotism here, but I was very pleased to discover today that the debut album by </span><a href="http://www.swerquin.net/dentists.htm"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">The Dentists</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">, catchily entitled <em>Some People Are On The Pitch They Think It's All Over It Is Now</em>, celebrates its twentieth anniversary with a </span><a href="http://www.cherryred.co.uk/revola/artists/dentists.htm"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">CD reissue</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;"> on the Rev-Ola label.<br />Thanks to the fact that one member of the band was my uncle (well, he still is, but he's not in the band any more) I have a copy of the original LP, as given to my mum when it originally came out. I was inspired to play it tonight and - whilst I can hardly claim to be unbiased - I think it stands up very well. And there's none of the big thudding drums you get on other records from 1985 either.<br /><br />The new remastered edition - now including the single 'Strawberries Are Growing In My Garden (And It's Wintertime)' - is available from </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000A6AB9E/qid=1124920254/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_11_1/202-7674473-8722225"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">Amazon UK</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;"> for pre-order.</span>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1124830255510854102005-08-23T21:41:00.000+01:002005-09-06T17:34:09.976+01:00Wot no Peter Andre?<span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">Our <a href="http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/weeksearch/weekshowdetails.asp?vartitle=Harrow+Observer">local paper </a>has announced an exciting new poll: you can vote for the greatest ever person to live in Harrow.<br /><br />There's a 25p per minute phone line, which I shan't encourage, but you can also vote by text on 84080.<br /><br /></span><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">If you'd like to vote for </span><a href="http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/ban0bio-1"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">Roger Bannister</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">, text "HOVOTE 01"</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">If you'd like to vote for </span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/profiles/ronnie_barker.shtml"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">Ronnie Barker</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">, text "HOVOTE 02" </span></div><div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">If you'd like to vote for </span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/beeton_isabella.shtml"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">Mrs Beeton</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">, text "HOVOTE 03"</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">If you'd like to vote for </span><a href="http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ajcrowth/wsglife.htm"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">WS Gilbert</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">, text "HOVOTE 04"</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">If you'd like to vote for </span><a href="http://www.ukgameshows.com/index.php/Bob_Holness"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">Bob Holness</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">, text "HOVOTE 05"</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">If you'd like to vote for </span><a href="http://www.davidwalliams.com/MattLucas.htm"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">Matt Lucas</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">, text "HOVOTE 07"</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">If you'd like to vote for </span><a href="http://www.virago.co.uk/virago/meet/rayner_interview.asp?TAG=&CID=virago"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">Claire Rayner</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">, text "HOVOTE 08"</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">If you'd like to vote for </span><a href="http://www.trollope.org/"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">Anthony Trollope</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">, text "HOVOTE 09"</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">If you'd like to vote for </span><a href="http://www.viviennewestwood.co.uk/flash.php"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">Vivienne Westwood</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">, text "HOVOTE 10"</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000099;">If you'd like to vote for Elton John, you should go and stand in a corner and think about what you've done.</span> </div><div></div></div>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1122728789692443212005-07-30T14:03:00.000+01:002005-08-15T22:03:44.156+01:00And we're back<span style="color:#000099;">Hi </span><span style="color:#000099;">everybody, we arrived back in the UK yesterday morning.<br />We had a great time, but I don't think we'll be flying Continental Airlines again.</span>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1120593521125195222005-07-05T20:46:00.000+01:002005-08-02T22:07:17.186+01:00Baby let your hair grow long<span style="color:#000066;">It's always good to know that our elected representatives are concentrating on what really matters. Earlier today, </span><a href="http://www.anthonysteen.org.uk"><span style="color:#000066;">Anthony Steen MP</span></a><span style="color:#000066;"> stood up in the House Of Commons to </span><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4648937.stm"><span style="color:#000066;">complain that insufficient combs were provided</span></a><span style="color:#000066;"> in the cloakroom.<br /><br />The Speaker intervened to suggest that Members could bring in their own combs, but we all know the real answer to the problem. All human MPs should be replaced by pottos, who already have their own </span><a href="http://www.loris-conservation.org/database/captive_care/manual/html/Taxonomy.html"><span style="color:#000066;">grooming claw</span></a><span style="color:#000066;"> and need not bring in any extra equipment. You know it makes sense!</span>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1118947545583756932005-06-16T19:27:00.000+01:002005-07-01T20:55:52.880+01:00I Predict A Riot - and I'm wrong<span style="color:#000099;">Once in a while, Radio 4 comes up with something fascinating that I didn't know about before. In the throwaway 11:30am slot today we had a nice hidden gem, </span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/the_riot_that_never_was.shtml"><span style="color:#000099;"><em>The Riot That Never Was</em>,</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> a documentary about a 1926 spoof newscast by Ronald Knox that led to mass panic among listeners to the young medium, some twelve years before the more celebrated </span><a href="http://members.aol.com/jeff1070/wotw.html"><span style="color:#000099;"><em>War Of The Worlds</em> drama</span></a><span style="color:#000099;">.<br />At the website you can, at present, hear both the documentary and a reconstruction of the original broadcast. And lest you fear the documentary itself to be a spoof, the incident is also mentioned in his biography at<br /></span><a href="http://www.catholicauthors.com/knox.html"><span style="color:#000099;">Catholicauthors.com</span></a><span style="color:#000099;">. Knox himself, as well as being a priest and theologian, also invented Sherlockian studies with a tongue-in-cheek </span><a href="http://www.diogenes-club.com/studies.htm"><span style="color:#000099;">lecture</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> analysing Sherlock Holmes stories in obsessive detail. Not everybody got the joke there either.</span>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1117474493598678832005-05-30T18:22:00.000+01:002005-06-14T23:05:46.540+01:00Omitting the past's darker chapters<span style="color:#000099;">From Alex Rodriguez in the </span><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0505290230may29,1,7622830.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=2&cset=true"><span style="color:#000099;">Chicago Tribune</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"><br /><br /></span><blockquote><p><br /><span style="color:#000099;">MOSCOW -- Russians remember the Siege of Leningrad--a brutal, 872-day blockade of Russia's second-largest city by Nazi troops that killed 1.7 million people--as a dark, crucial moment in their history. Yet one of the most popular history textbooks in Russian classrooms casually distills the event into a mere four words."German troops blockaded Leningrad."Glaring omissions abound in Nikita Zagladin's textbook, "History of Russia and the World in the 20th Century." The Holocaust is never mentioned. The book barely acknowledges the Gulag labor camps.And it flits past Russia's 10-year conflict with separatists in Chechnya, reducing a pivotal episode in modern Russian history to seven paragraphs.<br />In recent years, authorities have increasingly sought to whip up patriotic fervor among Russians, often at the expense of illuminating Russian history's darker chapters.<br /><br />Josef Stalin oversaw a murderous regime that killed millions of Russians. But with the country's celebration of the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Georgian-born ruler has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. The Siberian city of Mirny erected a statue of Stalin earlier this month, calling him "a great son of Russia who gave the people everything he had." The city of Orel recently asked the federal government for permission to change street names to honor Stalin.It is in Russian classrooms, however, where authorities particularly want a renewed sense of national pride to take root.When President Vladimir Putin met with historians at the Russian State Library in late 2003, he stressed that history textbooks should "cultivate in young people a feeling of pride for one's history and one's country."<br />At the time, one of the most widely used history texts was Igor Dolutsky's "National History: 20th Century." For years, the book had been favored by teachers for its upfront discussion of sensitive topics, including Stalin's purges, Chechnya and anti-Semitism in Russia.Dolutsky's textbook also did not shy away from talking about Putin, challenging students to discuss whether the former KGB colonel should be considered an authoritarian leader.The Kremlin leader's comments were heeded by Education Ministry officials, who suddenly pulled Dolutsky's book from classrooms after having given it their endorsement for seven straight years.<br />Later, Dolutsky's publisher told him which historical references in the book irked authorities: Stalin's non-aggression pact with Hitler in 1939; Soviet occupation of the Baltic states; the execution of thousands of Polish officers by Russian intelligence agents at Katyn in 1940; Stalin's deportation of legions of Chechens to Kazakhstan in 1944."Basically, they were dissatisfied with chapters devoted to Stalin's regime and Putin's leadership," said Dolutsky, 51. "Sections that dealt with [Nikita] Khrushchev and [Mikhail] Gorbachev, they ignored."<br />Dolutsky, who teaches at a private school in Moscow, says his students have little appetite for lectures on human-rights abuses or Stalin's repressions. Recently, when he tried to rouse students into a discussion about the human toll that World War II took on the Soviet Union--26 million Soviet citizens died in the war--they appeared bored. "Their reaction was, `Let it be 100 million--we don't care about that,'" Dolutsky said. When he explained the war's impact in terms of the number of tanks and fighter planes destroyed, his students sat up in their seats."That's what really impressed them," Dolutsky said. "They didn't care about human life, but they cared about equipment."<br /><br />Author Zagladin's view of history in the classroom differs radically from Dolutsky's. He agrees with Putin--a history textbook should make a pupil feel proud about Russia. It shouldn't depress, and it shouldn't shame."If a young person finishes school and feels everything that happened in this country was bad, he'll get ready to emigrate," Zagladin said during a recent phone interview. "A textbook should provide a patriotic education."It's necessary to show Russian youths," Zagladin continued, "that industrial development during the Stalin era was successful, and that the repressions and terror during that era did not touch all of the population."<br />He said he barely mentioned the Siege of Leningrad because he believed he didn't have enough space. In hindsight, he said, "that's my mistake."He added he should have included material about the Holocaust: "I decided to delete it because, if I mentioned it, I would have had to mention other repressions, also in detail," Zagladin said. "And I didn't have enough space in this book."Despite such omissions, Zagladin's book has fans. Irina Safanova, a teacher at School 818 in Moscow, called the textbook "a very calm book, which tries to avoid shocking or extreme remarks. It's a strong point of the book.<br />"According to polls, the majority of the population still considers Stalin to have played a positive role in Russian history," said Yuri Samodurov, director of the Andrei Sakharov Museum. "And the problem here is, our schools don't do anything to change this attitude."</span> </p><p></span></p></blockquote><br /><span style="color:#000099;">Is it not a bit late to worry about people being shocked by Stalin?<br /></span><span style="color:#000099;"></span>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1114815506593998552005-04-29T23:56:00.000+01:002005-05-08T14:03:46.503+01:00New random single post<span style="color:#000099;">The record I never intended to buy: </span><a href="http://faynights.users.btopenworld.com/Chris/11Apr05.html"><span style="color:#000099;">Seven Days In The Sun</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> by Feeder.</span>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1114807982022813282005-04-29T21:39:00.000+01:002005-05-08T14:04:38.836+01:00A monkey mystery<span style="font-family:arial;color:#000066;">We had a day off work today, so we decided to visit Regent's Park and the zoo again. We saw all the usual suspects (the pottos were having their meal - aaaah) and enjoyed the new squirrel monkey exhibit, but the most remarkable moment came when we were looking at the </span><a href="http://www.animalinfo.org/species/primate/leonchrm.htm#picture"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000066;">golden-headed lion tamarin</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000066;">. As we passed the window of their indoor enclosure, they seemed to be watching me and we gradually realised that their attention was fixed on my cheap </span><a href="http://www.debenhams.com/jv/product_details_jv.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=7881917&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=7391757&bmUID=1114807882234"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000066;">panama hat</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000066;">. I could see their little eyes move as I moved the hat around (I was holding, rather than wearing, it at this point) and when I hid it behind my back. At first they seemed merely curious about it, but when I brought it back into their line of sight the poor little creatures seemed to be shrinking away from it. Laura even observed at one point that two of them were unable to see it, but the third seemed to be warning them it was still there.<br />Obviously, I had to do the decent thing and take my hat out of the way rather than torment them. But it was strange to see them so transfixed by what is for us a simple object, and one that surely isn't an uncommon sight in a place frequented by tourists</span>.</span></span>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1114729598827691942005-04-29T00:01:00.000+01:002005-05-08T14:05:47.043+01:00Forever amber?<span style="color:#000099;">I know I'm about three days late with this story, but a well-known supermarket has </span><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4484195.stm"><span style="color:#000099;">abandoned</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> its "traffic-light" labelling scheme because customers don't understand what an amber light means. It must be them I see when I'm trying to cross the road every morning, then.</span>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1112740664342420742005-04-27T23:27:00.000+01:002005-05-07T14:23:56.503+01:00Listening: The Wedding Present<span style="color:#000099;">I tried not to make this a strictly musical blog because I'm not enough of an authority to confine myself to a single subject. In fact, I tried not to write about it at all for a while, but unfortunately it dominates my thought processes so much I don't have a lot else to say that Laura can't say better. So here goes:<br />Probably the new record I've listened to most of late is <em>Take Fountain</em> by indie legends<br /></span><a href="http://www.theweddingpresent.net"><span style="color:#000099;">The Wedding Present</span></a><span style="color:#000099;">. Of course, they're noted for their deeply loyal and longstanding fanbase, but I can't claim to be among them. Although I bought<br /><em>Mini</em> in 1996, mainly because I liked all the car-related song titles, I really got into the works of David Gedge through his other band, Cinerama (thanks Laura). And until a few minutes ago I felt like the only person in the world who'd never heard their supposedly most famous single, 'Kennedy'.<br />After splitting from his partner (in Cinerama as well his personal life), Gedge reverted to using the old band name and recorded a Peel Session, broadcast in September 2004. Sadly this proved to be their last for obvious reasons (you can view their performance at the tribute night on the </span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/alt/johnpeel/keepitpeel/video.shtml"><span style="color:#000099;">BBC site</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> ) but I heard the lead single 'Interstate 5' and was so captivated by it that I even went to the effort of ordering it off the net. It was a staggering piece of work, an epic six minutes in length but tense all the way through, Gedge picking through the detritus of a failed relationship with palpable (and possibly not simulated) hurt, the pill of his misery sugared only by the harmonies of (female) bassist Terry de Castro. On paper it's not necessarily the sort of thing I like but it's so powerful I couldn't help loving it; just as well, because the version on the album is even longer, with an extended spaghetti-western outro, and the opening title 'On Ramp' is effectively two minutes of build-up to it [the US version omits this in favour of two CD-ROM tracks].<br />The remainder of the album probably couldn't retain that level of sonic intensity and wisely doesn't try. What it does, though, is reveal some of Gedge's most personal songwriting - not that girlfriend trouble is new territory for him, of course, but there's a clever narrative arc from this point onwards as our protagonist tries to put his life back together, meets someone on the rebound (on 'I'm From Further North Than You', their 18th hit single to date), moves to America to start a new life, attempts further relationships but has to deal with his own emotions. Look away now if you don't want to know the ending, but the final two songs show him finally finding new love, inspiring some superbly fumbling romanticism (always better than the cliched kind): "It's as if you've just appeared out of one of my dreams - I don't care if that sounds weird" as he puts it on 'Queen Anne'. Perhaps the second-best track of all is 'Mars Sparkles Down On Me', which details our man's meeting with his ex's new partner - the central lyric "How can I just shake his hand when it's been all over you" not only sums up the song but also recalls a line in seminal early TWP single 'My Favourite Dress'.<br />With all this in mind, it was probably only fair of Gedge to make a point of playing this to Murrell before it came out. The music, meanwhile, is a development of the later Cinerama records, combining the delicate chamber-pop arrangements of their first works with traces of the harsh attack of vintage Wedding Present.<br /><br />I've since bought the album that's usually cited as the band's masterpiece, <em>Saturnalia</em> and though I agree that it's a fine slice of noise (and very useful when your neighbours start playing Sade too loud) I prefer <em>Take Fountain</em>. I recommend it to any fans of either band who haven't already snapped it up, and if you're a novice like I am, then why not start here?<br />The disc is available at </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0006BE6VM/qid=1114639582/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_11_4/026-8554399-7196413"><span style="color:#000099;">amazon.co.uk</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> and at </span><a href="http://www1.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=281;1;-1;-1&sku=352939"><span style="color:#000099;">hmv.co.uk</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> or at </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0007IO6XC/qid=1114639873/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/002-5778171-9931218?v=glance&s=music"><span style="color:#000099;">amazon.com</span></a><span style="color:#000099;"> , where one customer has helpfully reviewed it in Spanish. I have no personal connection with these retailers except that I've used them myself, possibly a little too often. </span><br /><span style="color:#000099;"></span><br /><span style="color:#000099;">You're not going to hear much of this on the radio, alas, but that's another rant altogether. I wouldn't have heard this without the Internet, so I've assembled a couple of links:<br />Their American record company made them set up a </span><a href="http://www.myspace.com/theweddingpresent"><span style="color:#000099;">blog</span></a><span style="color:#000099;">, where you can hear excerpts.<br />You can see streamed videos for the singles and a live film of 'Perfect Blue' (all taken from the DVD single) at </span><a href="http://www.spex.de/web/bild.php?id=413&srt=t&type=8"><span style="color:#000099;">the website of the German magazine <i>Spex</i></span></a><span style="color:#000099;">.</span><br /><span style="color:#000099;">And if you want a real mine of Gedge info, head for </span><a href="http://www.somethingandnothing.net"><span style="color:#000099;">www.somethingandnothing.net</span></a><span style="color:#000099;">.</span>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10871587.post-1112991249013432502005-04-08T21:10:00.000+01:002005-04-15T07:13:14.726+01:00Did I really hear that? Rides Again<span style="color:#3333ff;">Apparently, somebody called Ginger McCain </span><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/horse_racing/4406351.stm#mccain"><span style="color:#3333ff;">said</span></a><span style="color:#3333ff;"> "Women don't win Grand Nationals". He's right you know - it's usually a horse.</span>Chris Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07062680121301021165noreply@blogger.com0