Miles Hunt & Erica Nockalls at St Helens Citadel Saturday 12th May 2012.
The first time in the 25 years Miles Hunt has been touring that he's played in St Helens. He may not be back again after an incident with the sound. Luckily it was towards the end of the show which had up to that point been brilliant.
As with the previous gig they worked their way through the Never Loved Elvis track list swerving Sleep Alone and Size of a Cow. I'd be willing to bet my house (if i had one) that they've never had to play the Cow song on this tour - everyone is going to cheer for Golden Green given the option which I'm sure they know already. I'd also be willing to bet my life savings that if they did somehow have to play the cow song they'd still probably play Golden Green anyway because it's one of those songs that just has to be played!
During the show Miles talked about their old local pub where there was no mobile phone reception. People go there to be together not sit together communicating with the rest of the world... while I was sat up in the balcony on facebook...
For a very good reason - I was having a facebook conversation with Henry Priestman (ex Christians, writer of "Ideal World", solo artist and all round Legend) because we are doing an event together tomorrow to celebrate Adult Learners' Week in Merseyside and because he was asking me to pass on a message to Miles.
I'm contracted by the national charity NIACE to coordinate Adult Learners Week on Merseyside. This is an annual, national celebration of adult learning, the achievements learners have made and to demonstrate the impact learning has on people's lives and try to encourage more adults to get involved with learning opportunities. NIACE do a lot of work all year round to ensure that adult education stays on the government's agenda and continues to be funded at a local level.
So Sunday 13th May sees us holding a lecture at the Museum of Liverpool delivered by Henry Priestman about the music industry and an insight into songwriting and all that kinda stuff. It's going to be amazing!
14 months ago I was planning an event for the 20th Adult Learners Week and NIACE wanted us to make it BIG. Try and get some celebrities, they said... getting celebrities isn't easy. I know they're sort of ten a penny these days thanks to Big Brother and so called reality TV, but would we really want any of those types of celebrities endorsing adult learning when all most of them can do is get boob jobs and walk around town with curlers in their hair?
Then one day Miles Hunt posted a link on Facebook to Henry Priestman's album on spotify saying he was going to see him that night and 2 things occurred to me 1) The Chronicles of Modern life had been played constantly for about 6 months in our house and 2) a friend of ours had messaged Henry through Facebook and got him to play at his community centre. So inspired, I sent Henry a message and a few weeks later Henry Priestman opened the launch event for us in St George's Hall.
So naturally I asked him back again this year. Although it's slightly daunting working with someone you're a fan of, Henry is a lot of fun to be around and makes it easy to forget that you're working with someone you happen to have a signed picture of on your wall at home.
So I'm sat in the Citadel cyber-chatting to Henry about whether we've got enough XLR leads and such like and he admits he's working on his lecture notes. I told him I was dealing with my nerves by coming to see Miles and Erica in St Helens and he said "Oh if you see them afterwards please send my apologies for not making it and tell them I will definitely catch them next time they're playing locally"
Now of course you may recall from my last post about the Wonder Stuff that I believe there's a sizeable chance that speaking to Miles Hunt will unleash my 14 year old self and result in me skipping on the spot excitedly and no self respecting 34 year old wants that. So I decided that it would be for the best if I got straight in the car after the show, came home and blogged about it!
Anyway it wasn't far into the set before I switched off the phone and enjoyed the show. If you haven't had the chance to catch Miles & Erica I would certainly recommend it, I really enjoyed seeing them on a larger stage than the one in Liverpool where they had more space to move around. I also must confess that I really liked seeing Erica in sensible shoes... I don't know how she stays upright in those sparkly high heeled boots! Really enjoyed hearing Save it For Later too. We are off to see the Beat next month also at the Citadel - which is where I saw them for the first time and fell in love with them...Let's hope the sound holds up!
Incidentally there's a few places left for Henry's lecture - it's called "Long Player...surviving 33 1/3 years in the Music Biz" if you're in the area and want to come, please pop in.
There's also loads of other stuff happening across Merseyside for Adult Learners Week - visit www.alwmerseyside.co.uk for more info.
Saturday, 12 May 2012
Sunday, 26 February 2012
Give a woman the right pair of shoes and she could rule the world....but never give her a microphone...
On Friday night I went to a charity quiz night to raise funds for a particular local charity not far from my studio. They run the quiz this time every year and it gets great support from my previous employer, a company set up to support the local area charity and voluntary sector.
I went to the quiz 2 years ago with some friends from work and our team won. The format was fun with a booklet of dingbats and baby photos to guess at throughout the evening along with several rounds of questions read out over a microphone.
This year however the quiz was not as much fun as it had been previously. For a start, the quiz mistress seemed to think she belonged on television. She was loud and brash and as the night wore on and more wine entered her blood stream she became frankly, offensive.
It's often the case that in the community sector people tend to get to know each other and voluntary organisations often attend networking events and everyone tries to support each other so perhaps she unwittingly believed she knew everyone in the room and could be offensive without anyone taking her seriously. However I've worked in this sector, in this area, for 6 years and I've never seen her before in my life. My boyfriend works in a different area and the majority of our team also work and live in a different borough entirely.
When approaching the organisers to verify an instruction one of my team mates was rudely subjected to an impatient sigh and the words "like I already explained" from the quiz mistress.
Debates came up about the answers to some questions... How many fingers does Homer Simpson have? Well as he is well capable of holding a beer can we have to assume he has thumbs so that would be 6 fingers and 2 thumbs... No? No apparently he has 8 fingers (and presumably no thumbs.) "That's what it says on my answer sheet so that is the answer."
In the audio music round we had to guess the song title and artist from the intro. The answer to song number 2 was "the first cut is the deepest" by Rod Stewart.... Except we all know what Rod Stewart sounds like right? Gravelly distinctive voice? Yeah what she played to us was Cat Stevens. And Cat Stevens naturally was the answer we put down. We lost half a point. Naturally when we got home we went straight on to YouTube to compare all recorded versions of the song and were in no doubt whatsoever that we were right....furthermore the intro to the Rod Stewart version was completely different to the intro of both the Cat Stevens and PP Arnold versions.
Try this dingbat:
Ton
4
Head legs arms
You get "wait for nobody" right? Coz ton is a weight and there's arms legs and head but no body...yeah? Right?
No apparently the correct answer was "wait for no man" because only men have heads arms and legs while women have...I don't know what!
The whole room erupted shouting "body" she shouted "man" we shouted "body she shouted "man" we shouted "body" she shouted "I'm not going to argue about it the answer is man" we boo-ed, we shouted, we rose to our feet like an angry crowd at a football match and she threatened to have us all thrown out. Someone in our team shouted "burn her"... It descended into chaos. My boyfriend stood up and put his coat on intent on walking out in disgust but was stuck in the corner of the booth and couldn't get out.
A poor end to what could've been an otherwise fun night.
Give people a microphone and they think they rule the world! The shame of it is that as a result of the rudeness of the host and the use of questions that clearly whoever wrote the quiz didn't know the answers to, I've lost all desire to, not only attend future quizzes but, offer any support otherwise to the charity. People have made an effort to come out on a Friday night for a fun evening in an attempt to raise money for a good cause but have been subjected to rudeness and ridicule by the staff of the very charity looking for their support...talk about biting the hand that feeds them.
I should've stayed in on my sofa.
I went to the quiz 2 years ago with some friends from work and our team won. The format was fun with a booklet of dingbats and baby photos to guess at throughout the evening along with several rounds of questions read out over a microphone.
This year however the quiz was not as much fun as it had been previously. For a start, the quiz mistress seemed to think she belonged on television. She was loud and brash and as the night wore on and more wine entered her blood stream she became frankly, offensive.
It's often the case that in the community sector people tend to get to know each other and voluntary organisations often attend networking events and everyone tries to support each other so perhaps she unwittingly believed she knew everyone in the room and could be offensive without anyone taking her seriously. However I've worked in this sector, in this area, for 6 years and I've never seen her before in my life. My boyfriend works in a different area and the majority of our team also work and live in a different borough entirely.
When approaching the organisers to verify an instruction one of my team mates was rudely subjected to an impatient sigh and the words "like I already explained" from the quiz mistress.
Debates came up about the answers to some questions... How many fingers does Homer Simpson have? Well as he is well capable of holding a beer can we have to assume he has thumbs so that would be 6 fingers and 2 thumbs... No? No apparently he has 8 fingers (and presumably no thumbs.) "That's what it says on my answer sheet so that is the answer."
In the audio music round we had to guess the song title and artist from the intro. The answer to song number 2 was "the first cut is the deepest" by Rod Stewart.... Except we all know what Rod Stewart sounds like right? Gravelly distinctive voice? Yeah what she played to us was Cat Stevens. And Cat Stevens naturally was the answer we put down. We lost half a point. Naturally when we got home we went straight on to YouTube to compare all recorded versions of the song and were in no doubt whatsoever that we were right....furthermore the intro to the Rod Stewart version was completely different to the intro of both the Cat Stevens and PP Arnold versions.
Try this dingbat:
Ton
4
Head legs arms
You get "wait for nobody" right? Coz ton is a weight and there's arms legs and head but no body...yeah? Right?
No apparently the correct answer was "wait for no man" because only men have heads arms and legs while women have...I don't know what!
The whole room erupted shouting "body" she shouted "man" we shouted "body she shouted "man" we shouted "body" she shouted "I'm not going to argue about it the answer is man" we boo-ed, we shouted, we rose to our feet like an angry crowd at a football match and she threatened to have us all thrown out. Someone in our team shouted "burn her"... It descended into chaos. My boyfriend stood up and put his coat on intent on walking out in disgust but was stuck in the corner of the booth and couldn't get out.
A poor end to what could've been an otherwise fun night.
Give people a microphone and they think they rule the world! The shame of it is that as a result of the rudeness of the host and the use of questions that clearly whoever wrote the quiz didn't know the answers to, I've lost all desire to, not only attend future quizzes but, offer any support otherwise to the charity. People have made an effort to come out on a Friday night for a fun evening in an attempt to raise money for a good cause but have been subjected to rudeness and ridicule by the staff of the very charity looking for their support...talk about biting the hand that feeds them.
I should've stayed in on my sofa.
Saturday, 25 February 2012
I have been there, for a very long time.
Liverpool, 22nd February 2012. The Rodewauld Suite at the Philharmonic. Miles Hunt and Erica Nockalls. Moment of revelation.
This was only the second time I'd been to see Miles and Erica, saw them here 12 months ago and it was a strange experience having never heard any Wonder Stuff songs acoustically except on the documentary video Welcome to the Cheap Seats.
At that point, The last time I'd even seen Miles Hunt he'd had short hair. Last year he was sporting the shoulder length mid way point of hair growth and I remember laughing at myself when he got up on stage because he'd been stood at the bar for ages watching Ian Prowse and I'd been looking right at him assuming he was a girl. Now is that anyway to treat your long time teenage hero?
This year there was no mistaking Miles Hunt when he appeared at the bar. The longer tresses of the 90s poster pin up that had adorned my walls and ok maybe 20 years older but with the same boyish face and dimples. It's been a long time since Miles Hunt looked, to me, like Miles Hunt. But there he was. And there in that small room, 20 years of growth and maturity peeled away and revealed a 15 year old girl agonising over whether to go over and ask for a photo.
During the show Miles and Erika worked their way through the Never Loved Elvis track list. Brilliant. I thought optimistically I might, for only the second time ever, hear Inertia performed live. But alas we didn't make it that far. The cow song was, of course, swerved in favour of Golden Green.
What I enjoy most about these shows is hearing the stories about how the songs were written, I especially enjoyed the Room 512 story because as a kid I'd worn out that segment of the Welcome to the Cheap Seats video listening to it, tried all kinds of methods of recording it onto a tape so I could listen to it on my Walkman, slightly muffled with the occasional interruption by a Hoover or my mum telling me to tidy my room.
Miles referred to the split of Wonder Stuff audiences - balding 40 something men who used to be hipsters and those that get excited when they hear size of a cow on come dine with me. I'm neither of those things. I was never in anyway cool and I don't watch come dine with me. But I will always have a soft spot for the cow song and the song with the comedian. I know it's uncool to admit in the world of Wonder Stuff fans but after 20 years of loving the Wonder Stuff I hope that old snobbery had gone...yes that's right 20 years. I was too young for Eight Legged Groove Machine and Hup...
The Wonder Stuff changed my life, maybe shaped my life in fact. As a kid I'd grown up with siblings spanning a 16 year age difference. I can still picture my sisters 7" vinyl case containing Culture Club, Yazoo, Wham, King, Matthew Wilder and my dads 3 long boxes of 7" records that he'd collected since he decided to buy every single record that went to number one from the date my oldest sister was born (I believe that was 'when my little girl is smiling' by The Drifters)
I was massively influenced by my brother, partly because I hoped that by copying my brother he would stop tormenting me and think I was kinda cool...7 years age difference and as the older and wiser sibling he saw right through my scheme and picked on me anyway. But he did get me into bands like Level 42 and Squeeze. Music was handed down in our family the way most families hand down clothes, my sisters would be into something and get my brother in to it who passed it to me. I had no knowledge as a kid of finding music, never listened to the radio, music was just what my family played me, and it was all awesome, spanning decades from the 50s up to present day.
What I was personally into was TV, specifically comedy. I gobbled up comedy, it was my passion. Harry Enfield, French and Saunders, The Young Ones. My first real cross over with music was when The Young Ones released Living Doll, I discovered this show on the radio where they counted down to the number one single of the week and me and my brother listened to see if it would be the young ones.
So I became vaguely aware of modern music but it mostly sounded a bit rubbish, I liked Michael Jackson but I mostly preferred the Jackson 5...you get the point.
So there I am, 13 years old and I've developed my newest obsession...Vic Reeves Big Night Out... I watched it so much that I could quote the entire episode of each show. When he started releasing records I started going into my local record shop to buy them and then Dizzy came out. Vic Reeves and the what? Never heard of them. But then why would I? They're a modern music group and I'm stuck firmly in a music time warp. I loved the song of course, already being a fan of the original by Tommy Roe, but secretly preferring the Vic Reeves version because Vic was my hero. The first "gig" I went to was around that time, it was at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool which probably already tells you all you need to know about my first gig....it was Gerry and the Pacemakers supported by Tommy Roe and Bobby Vee. Yeah that's right in the same year I got to see both versions of Dizzy performed live...although Vic Reeves was singing along to a backing track only bringing out the Wonder Stuff for the show that was being filmed.
I was quite taken with Miles Hunts tartan suit though. The Wonder Stuff were immediately ok by me. A few months later I was babysitting for my nephew one Saturday morning watching Going live or whatever Saturday morning kids show was on 20 years ago, and they were having some kind of phone vote for the best single and right at the end of the list was Size of a Cow. I heard The Wonder Stuff and recognised the long hair and dimply face of the singer and picked up the phone to vote...I was a tv child I did whatever it told me... All I knew of the cow song was a 10 second snippet but they got my vote because they were linked to Vic Reeves.
Around that time my school friend (also a Vic Reeves fan) and I started teaming up during drama class and developed comedy routines for all the tasks we were set. I was convinced we would grow up to become a comedy duo like French and Saunders. I kept saying this to her and she kept looking at me like I was insane. Thing is of course, she was the funny one so without her my career in comedy was a non starter. Then I got talked out of doing drama for GCSE and my future seemed foggy.
One night during a sleepover my friend happened to be playing the latest NOW compilation which had size of a cow on it, having never heard the full song she played it for me and I thought it was the greatest thing I'd ever heard. I saved up my pocket money and ventured into the local record shop and bought Never Loved Elvis and it was a revelation. Every track on it was awesome. I had a look through my Dads Guinness book of Hit Singles and identified all the singles the Wonder Stuff had released and made it my mission to track them down. I bought Eight Legged Groove Machine and Hup and immediately recognised that they were even better than the cow song. I visited the ex jukebox stand in the market and picked up sleep alone and caught in my shadow. I remember buying a waistcoat and don't let me down gently on 7" at a car boot sale. At a record fair I picked up an older single on cd - I remember paying an extortionate amount of money but wanting it anyway, despite my entire collection being on vinyl to that point. Of course that then meant I had to start buying everything else I owned already on CD to match. I was visiting my local record shop so often that they eventually offered me a Saturday job.
The Wonder Stuff lead me to other bands...naturally PWEI, EMF, Neds, New Model Army, that lead me onto Nirvana, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Pearl Jam... But the Wonder Stuff were still the best of them all. One day in work I met the rep for Polydor who happened to have the new Wonder Stuff single. She gave me a copy for free. She told me she too was a fan and had actually been at the promotion launch thing with the band and had just been in awe. I was so jealous but excited to realise there was a whole industry surrounding this music stuff and I knew immediately that I had a career aim for the future...
Idiot came out and they toured. I met Miles Hunt outside the royal court, I got a couple of CDs signed and I remember asking for a photo, I couldn't believe it when he agreed...I realise that's what celebrities do but at the time I just couldn't believe my luck, I skipped around the little group surrounding him, I stopped opposite to get a better look at him and then carried on hopping on the spot, I was so excited I couldn't contain it. I caught the eye of the woman stood in the door way waiting for him and pointed at him and said "that's Miles Hunt" and carried on skipping.
I was definitely NOT a hipster.
But then when I was 16 they split up. I was devastated.
I was in the Krazy House when I heard they were splitting up after the Phoenix festival and I cried. I was drunk and there's no drunk like underage drunk, and I cried all night and all the way home.
I replaced them with The Lemonheads...again I discovered them through Mrs Robinson but much preferred their back catalogue and that lead me into American punk. I stepped even further away from current chart music and delved into otherwise unheard of bands.
I saw We Know Where You Live at the Lomax and told Malcolm Treece he was a legend, apologised to Paul Clifford for asking for an autograph (coz of his comment on the documentary about not really liking people coming up to him all the time or whatever) and met Martin Gilks. A few months later Vent played and I met Miles again under slightly less excitable circumstances, amazing what 2 years can do to your maturity - perhaps being allowed to drink legally zaps the fun out of it? I had a really good conversation with him about music. I told him I sang in a punk band and he told me to send him a demo...didn't tell me where to send it mind you...and it was all round a far more dignified display on my part than our previous meeting. Maybe it was simply because he had short hair and I didn't fancy him anymore. Who knows?
I did a Degree in Music Industry Management and lived in London for 6 years working for a collection of music companies, the PRS, EMI and Sanctuary Records. I was at PRS at the same time as Paul Clifford and my friend actually worked for him. I met him and confessed my love of the Wonder Stuff and he kindly invited me to have lunch with him and ask him anything I wanted to know...wow. I was ecstatic but terrified. He told me some fantastic stories and I really appreciated that he did that. I appreciated even more that he copied some single tracks for me because all mine had been stolen when our house was broken into (including all the ones Miles had signed) and some of my favourite tracks were b'sides.
When they reformed and did those gigs at the Forum I had a ticket booked for the first night. Then EMI announced it was the Christmas party and I felt obliged to go. I sold my ticket and as more dates had been added I left a message on the Wonder Stuff website forum and a kind hearted soul sold me a spare ticket for the last night. There's actually a photo taken from the back of the stage and I'm there clearly at the front of the crowd. My boyfriend bought me a live DVD last year and I put it on to get myself in the mood prior to seeing Miles and Erica and there in the first few minutes is me singing along at the front of the crowd in the Forum clear as day. I recall that I couldn't walk the next day as my knees, ribs and stomach were black and blue from being constantly battered against the barrier.
I saw a few gigs courtesy of that kind soul. The Charlie and the Chocolate Factory style golden ticket for buying the Love Bites and Bruises album in HMV was a particularly memorable gig (HMV had forgotten to give them out so he was given 2 and invited me along.)
Then thanks to the daily drudge of working for a living, music was my job and I lost all interest in it. Eventually I moved back to Liverpool where I started rediscovering a passion for music. For all the bands I like now none of them have ever caught me the way The Wonder Stuff did. I may not listen to them all that much but I still know all the words and I still rank them as my all time favourite band.
Without the Wonder Stuff I wouldn't have got that job in the record shop, gone to university, moved to London, worked in music (which provided its own adventures) I wouldn't have the friends that I have and I wouldn't be where I am now.
Now I run my own business. I'm an artist and designer. I produce beautiful hand painted silk scarves, I design websites and publicity materials and I paint portraits. I create animations, and I deliver art classes. Bit of a mixed bag of skills and tricks. I learned design in my role at Sanctuary Records and the art is a long hidden talent from school days when I used to draw portraits of - you guessed it - Vic Reeves and Miles Hunt (worryingly, my school friends always thought my Miles Hunt portraits were self portraits.)
So I am not ashamed of my late discovery of the Wonder Stuff, and I don't think it lessens my credibility as a fan. The Wonder Stuff were the first band I got myself into, they weren't handed down to me by my much cooler brother and they influenced my life from that moment on. And they lasted far longer in my heart than Vic Reeves did.
I didn't go ask for a photo by the way. I decided to lock away that teenager. Maybe when he's next had a hair cut I could approach him with out my teenage self rearing her ugly head.
This was only the second time I'd been to see Miles and Erica, saw them here 12 months ago and it was a strange experience having never heard any Wonder Stuff songs acoustically except on the documentary video Welcome to the Cheap Seats.
At that point, The last time I'd even seen Miles Hunt he'd had short hair. Last year he was sporting the shoulder length mid way point of hair growth and I remember laughing at myself when he got up on stage because he'd been stood at the bar for ages watching Ian Prowse and I'd been looking right at him assuming he was a girl. Now is that anyway to treat your long time teenage hero?
This year there was no mistaking Miles Hunt when he appeared at the bar. The longer tresses of the 90s poster pin up that had adorned my walls and ok maybe 20 years older but with the same boyish face and dimples. It's been a long time since Miles Hunt looked, to me, like Miles Hunt. But there he was. And there in that small room, 20 years of growth and maturity peeled away and revealed a 15 year old girl agonising over whether to go over and ask for a photo.
During the show Miles and Erika worked their way through the Never Loved Elvis track list. Brilliant. I thought optimistically I might, for only the second time ever, hear Inertia performed live. But alas we didn't make it that far. The cow song was, of course, swerved in favour of Golden Green.
What I enjoy most about these shows is hearing the stories about how the songs were written, I especially enjoyed the Room 512 story because as a kid I'd worn out that segment of the Welcome to the Cheap Seats video listening to it, tried all kinds of methods of recording it onto a tape so I could listen to it on my Walkman, slightly muffled with the occasional interruption by a Hoover or my mum telling me to tidy my room.
Miles referred to the split of Wonder Stuff audiences - balding 40 something men who used to be hipsters and those that get excited when they hear size of a cow on come dine with me. I'm neither of those things. I was never in anyway cool and I don't watch come dine with me. But I will always have a soft spot for the cow song and the song with the comedian. I know it's uncool to admit in the world of Wonder Stuff fans but after 20 years of loving the Wonder Stuff I hope that old snobbery had gone...yes that's right 20 years. I was too young for Eight Legged Groove Machine and Hup...
The Wonder Stuff changed my life, maybe shaped my life in fact. As a kid I'd grown up with siblings spanning a 16 year age difference. I can still picture my sisters 7" vinyl case containing Culture Club, Yazoo, Wham, King, Matthew Wilder and my dads 3 long boxes of 7" records that he'd collected since he decided to buy every single record that went to number one from the date my oldest sister was born (I believe that was 'when my little girl is smiling' by The Drifters)
I was massively influenced by my brother, partly because I hoped that by copying my brother he would stop tormenting me and think I was kinda cool...7 years age difference and as the older and wiser sibling he saw right through my scheme and picked on me anyway. But he did get me into bands like Level 42 and Squeeze. Music was handed down in our family the way most families hand down clothes, my sisters would be into something and get my brother in to it who passed it to me. I had no knowledge as a kid of finding music, never listened to the radio, music was just what my family played me, and it was all awesome, spanning decades from the 50s up to present day.
What I was personally into was TV, specifically comedy. I gobbled up comedy, it was my passion. Harry Enfield, French and Saunders, The Young Ones. My first real cross over with music was when The Young Ones released Living Doll, I discovered this show on the radio where they counted down to the number one single of the week and me and my brother listened to see if it would be the young ones.
So I became vaguely aware of modern music but it mostly sounded a bit rubbish, I liked Michael Jackson but I mostly preferred the Jackson 5...you get the point.
So there I am, 13 years old and I've developed my newest obsession...Vic Reeves Big Night Out... I watched it so much that I could quote the entire episode of each show. When he started releasing records I started going into my local record shop to buy them and then Dizzy came out. Vic Reeves and the what? Never heard of them. But then why would I? They're a modern music group and I'm stuck firmly in a music time warp. I loved the song of course, already being a fan of the original by Tommy Roe, but secretly preferring the Vic Reeves version because Vic was my hero. The first "gig" I went to was around that time, it was at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool which probably already tells you all you need to know about my first gig....it was Gerry and the Pacemakers supported by Tommy Roe and Bobby Vee. Yeah that's right in the same year I got to see both versions of Dizzy performed live...although Vic Reeves was singing along to a backing track only bringing out the Wonder Stuff for the show that was being filmed.
I was quite taken with Miles Hunts tartan suit though. The Wonder Stuff were immediately ok by me. A few months later I was babysitting for my nephew one Saturday morning watching Going live or whatever Saturday morning kids show was on 20 years ago, and they were having some kind of phone vote for the best single and right at the end of the list was Size of a Cow. I heard The Wonder Stuff and recognised the long hair and dimply face of the singer and picked up the phone to vote...I was a tv child I did whatever it told me... All I knew of the cow song was a 10 second snippet but they got my vote because they were linked to Vic Reeves.
Around that time my school friend (also a Vic Reeves fan) and I started teaming up during drama class and developed comedy routines for all the tasks we were set. I was convinced we would grow up to become a comedy duo like French and Saunders. I kept saying this to her and she kept looking at me like I was insane. Thing is of course, she was the funny one so without her my career in comedy was a non starter. Then I got talked out of doing drama for GCSE and my future seemed foggy.
One night during a sleepover my friend happened to be playing the latest NOW compilation which had size of a cow on it, having never heard the full song she played it for me and I thought it was the greatest thing I'd ever heard. I saved up my pocket money and ventured into the local record shop and bought Never Loved Elvis and it was a revelation. Every track on it was awesome. I had a look through my Dads Guinness book of Hit Singles and identified all the singles the Wonder Stuff had released and made it my mission to track them down. I bought Eight Legged Groove Machine and Hup and immediately recognised that they were even better than the cow song. I visited the ex jukebox stand in the market and picked up sleep alone and caught in my shadow. I remember buying a waistcoat and don't let me down gently on 7" at a car boot sale. At a record fair I picked up an older single on cd - I remember paying an extortionate amount of money but wanting it anyway, despite my entire collection being on vinyl to that point. Of course that then meant I had to start buying everything else I owned already on CD to match. I was visiting my local record shop so often that they eventually offered me a Saturday job.
The Wonder Stuff lead me to other bands...naturally PWEI, EMF, Neds, New Model Army, that lead me onto Nirvana, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Pearl Jam... But the Wonder Stuff were still the best of them all. One day in work I met the rep for Polydor who happened to have the new Wonder Stuff single. She gave me a copy for free. She told me she too was a fan and had actually been at the promotion launch thing with the band and had just been in awe. I was so jealous but excited to realise there was a whole industry surrounding this music stuff and I knew immediately that I had a career aim for the future...
Idiot came out and they toured. I met Miles Hunt outside the royal court, I got a couple of CDs signed and I remember asking for a photo, I couldn't believe it when he agreed...I realise that's what celebrities do but at the time I just couldn't believe my luck, I skipped around the little group surrounding him, I stopped opposite to get a better look at him and then carried on hopping on the spot, I was so excited I couldn't contain it. I caught the eye of the woman stood in the door way waiting for him and pointed at him and said "that's Miles Hunt" and carried on skipping.
I was definitely NOT a hipster.
But then when I was 16 they split up. I was devastated.
I was in the Krazy House when I heard they were splitting up after the Phoenix festival and I cried. I was drunk and there's no drunk like underage drunk, and I cried all night and all the way home.
I replaced them with The Lemonheads...again I discovered them through Mrs Robinson but much preferred their back catalogue and that lead me into American punk. I stepped even further away from current chart music and delved into otherwise unheard of bands.
I saw We Know Where You Live at the Lomax and told Malcolm Treece he was a legend, apologised to Paul Clifford for asking for an autograph (coz of his comment on the documentary about not really liking people coming up to him all the time or whatever) and met Martin Gilks. A few months later Vent played and I met Miles again under slightly less excitable circumstances, amazing what 2 years can do to your maturity - perhaps being allowed to drink legally zaps the fun out of it? I had a really good conversation with him about music. I told him I sang in a punk band and he told me to send him a demo...didn't tell me where to send it mind you...and it was all round a far more dignified display on my part than our previous meeting. Maybe it was simply because he had short hair and I didn't fancy him anymore. Who knows?
I did a Degree in Music Industry Management and lived in London for 6 years working for a collection of music companies, the PRS, EMI and Sanctuary Records. I was at PRS at the same time as Paul Clifford and my friend actually worked for him. I met him and confessed my love of the Wonder Stuff and he kindly invited me to have lunch with him and ask him anything I wanted to know...wow. I was ecstatic but terrified. He told me some fantastic stories and I really appreciated that he did that. I appreciated even more that he copied some single tracks for me because all mine had been stolen when our house was broken into (including all the ones Miles had signed) and some of my favourite tracks were b'sides.
When they reformed and did those gigs at the Forum I had a ticket booked for the first night. Then EMI announced it was the Christmas party and I felt obliged to go. I sold my ticket and as more dates had been added I left a message on the Wonder Stuff website forum and a kind hearted soul sold me a spare ticket for the last night. There's actually a photo taken from the back of the stage and I'm there clearly at the front of the crowd. My boyfriend bought me a live DVD last year and I put it on to get myself in the mood prior to seeing Miles and Erica and there in the first few minutes is me singing along at the front of the crowd in the Forum clear as day. I recall that I couldn't walk the next day as my knees, ribs and stomach were black and blue from being constantly battered against the barrier.
I saw a few gigs courtesy of that kind soul. The Charlie and the Chocolate Factory style golden ticket for buying the Love Bites and Bruises album in HMV was a particularly memorable gig (HMV had forgotten to give them out so he was given 2 and invited me along.)
Then thanks to the daily drudge of working for a living, music was my job and I lost all interest in it. Eventually I moved back to Liverpool where I started rediscovering a passion for music. For all the bands I like now none of them have ever caught me the way The Wonder Stuff did. I may not listen to them all that much but I still know all the words and I still rank them as my all time favourite band.
Without the Wonder Stuff I wouldn't have got that job in the record shop, gone to university, moved to London, worked in music (which provided its own adventures) I wouldn't have the friends that I have and I wouldn't be where I am now.
Now I run my own business. I'm an artist and designer. I produce beautiful hand painted silk scarves, I design websites and publicity materials and I paint portraits. I create animations, and I deliver art classes. Bit of a mixed bag of skills and tricks. I learned design in my role at Sanctuary Records and the art is a long hidden talent from school days when I used to draw portraits of - you guessed it - Vic Reeves and Miles Hunt (worryingly, my school friends always thought my Miles Hunt portraits were self portraits.)
So I am not ashamed of my late discovery of the Wonder Stuff, and I don't think it lessens my credibility as a fan. The Wonder Stuff were the first band I got myself into, they weren't handed down to me by my much cooler brother and they influenced my life from that moment on. And they lasted far longer in my heart than Vic Reeves did.
I didn't go ask for a photo by the way. I decided to lock away that teenager. Maybe when he's next had a hair cut I could approach him with out my teenage self rearing her ugly head.
Sunday, 27 November 2011
Been a while
It's been a while - time passes so fast lately. What a stupid statement that is time passes at a set rate however my notion of the passing of time has changed since I was made redundant in June and started running my own business fulltime. Suddenly I'm constantly working and time seems to pass me by more quickly than when I was employed and clock watching! However that is no excuse as my last blog post was in February. I do have another blog however which related to my business at www.geni-i.co.uk so i have been active in blogging in a sense.
In April a good friend of mine introduced me to a book called "Change Your Genetic Destiny" Also known as The genotype Diet. I assumed it would be a load of nonsense, but the book made sense to me in a way, it wasn't a diet aimed at losing weight but a way of looking at the food you eat and recognising whether the food is right for your body type. I followed a few pages of tests and answered medical and family history questions and eventually I discovered that I am a HUNTER!!
Grrr!
So then I was presented with 2 food lists. One a list a food that I should emphasise in my diet and the other a list of foods I should avoid.
Unfortunately for me the list of foods to avoid included most of the food I ate on a daily basis - it included all but 5 types of cheese, wheat, gluten, corn, barley, rye - so almost any kind of pastry or bread was out and Mushrooms - and I love mushrooms!
But I decded to give it a try. I immedietly started reading labels for everything... i bought free from foods at the local supermarket, became an expert on which gluten free bread tastes the best and started enjoying foods that I'd never considering eating before purely because they were on my good list and so I wanted to try them just to expand my diet!
I also had to give up tea which for me what really hard. It wasn't the caffiene - I as allowed coffee but the tea itself. So i started drinking various green teas until i discovered vanilla flavour red bush.
Almost immedietly I noticed a difference in my energy, i was more alert i felt more confident and able to face challenges. I was constantly doing something, where i had spent my recent years horizontal in front of the TV I found i couldn't sit still, i wanted to be doing something even if it was just cleaning the house.
I noticed that whenever I ate something I shouldn't It gave me bad stomach pains and I also found I was eating less, naturally as if my body was getting the right foods and didn;t need more, I was snacking less and smaller portions filled me up longer.
Over the course a couple of months I lost a stone in weight and went back down to the dress size I'd been throughout my 20s and had recently left 12 months ago for a bigger size.
In the last couple of months however the great effect has worn off. I spend plenty of time horizontal on the sofa and when I eat a bit of real bread or indulge in a pizza it doesn't make me feel bad anymore, perhaps because my body is better able to cope with it. Or perhaps that long list of foods is actually a lot shorter and i just need to test which are the actual foods that I should avoid.
Yesterday I went out to the supermarket to get some weekend supplies, it was payday weekend (which means the checque i paid myself for my wages had cleared) and I intended to do a big monthly Asda online shop (hate going shopping) so I needed a few bits to get us through the weekend. I stood in front of the free from section and looked at the bread rolls and i looked in the basket at the white bread, the bacon and sausages and thought to myself, "I'm sick of this diet" and I went home and savoured eating real bread with my bacon. It was the best thing I've tasted in months!
Having just completed my Asda online shop and spent about £40 less on food than usual as a result of not buying anything gluten free I'm pleased with my decision. Starting a business and taking a massive drop in regular income has made the last few months really hard and an over expensive diet hasn't helped. I do think however that there are people with genuine health issues that have to eat this food, does it really have to be so expensive?
So I will be monitoring myself over the coming weeks to see if going back to the old ways will cause me to gain weight. Since my birthday I've been less than strict and have not put on a single pound in those 3 weeks, so I hope that if I eat sensibly without limiting myself to a small selection of foods (because cutting out wheat and gluten is like trying avoid chemicals - everything is chemicals!) I might be able to avoid putting all that weight back on...and if I don't I'll just have to learn to love the rounder me because our lives are dominated by work and sleep and we should enjoy the free time we have as much as possible. And I love food, so to spend the rest of my life eating bread that tastes like cardboard would be a waste!
In April a good friend of mine introduced me to a book called "Change Your Genetic Destiny" Also known as The genotype Diet. I assumed it would be a load of nonsense, but the book made sense to me in a way, it wasn't a diet aimed at losing weight but a way of looking at the food you eat and recognising whether the food is right for your body type. I followed a few pages of tests and answered medical and family history questions and eventually I discovered that I am a HUNTER!!
Grrr!
So then I was presented with 2 food lists. One a list a food that I should emphasise in my diet and the other a list of foods I should avoid.
Unfortunately for me the list of foods to avoid included most of the food I ate on a daily basis - it included all but 5 types of cheese, wheat, gluten, corn, barley, rye - so almost any kind of pastry or bread was out and Mushrooms - and I love mushrooms!
But I decded to give it a try. I immedietly started reading labels for everything... i bought free from foods at the local supermarket, became an expert on which gluten free bread tastes the best and started enjoying foods that I'd never considering eating before purely because they were on my good list and so I wanted to try them just to expand my diet!
I also had to give up tea which for me what really hard. It wasn't the caffiene - I as allowed coffee but the tea itself. So i started drinking various green teas until i discovered vanilla flavour red bush.
Almost immedietly I noticed a difference in my energy, i was more alert i felt more confident and able to face challenges. I was constantly doing something, where i had spent my recent years horizontal in front of the TV I found i couldn't sit still, i wanted to be doing something even if it was just cleaning the house.
I noticed that whenever I ate something I shouldn't It gave me bad stomach pains and I also found I was eating less, naturally as if my body was getting the right foods and didn;t need more, I was snacking less and smaller portions filled me up longer.
Over the course a couple of months I lost a stone in weight and went back down to the dress size I'd been throughout my 20s and had recently left 12 months ago for a bigger size.
In the last couple of months however the great effect has worn off. I spend plenty of time horizontal on the sofa and when I eat a bit of real bread or indulge in a pizza it doesn't make me feel bad anymore, perhaps because my body is better able to cope with it. Or perhaps that long list of foods is actually a lot shorter and i just need to test which are the actual foods that I should avoid.
Yesterday I went out to the supermarket to get some weekend supplies, it was payday weekend (which means the checque i paid myself for my wages had cleared) and I intended to do a big monthly Asda online shop (hate going shopping) so I needed a few bits to get us through the weekend. I stood in front of the free from section and looked at the bread rolls and i looked in the basket at the white bread, the bacon and sausages and thought to myself, "I'm sick of this diet" and I went home and savoured eating real bread with my bacon. It was the best thing I've tasted in months!
Having just completed my Asda online shop and spent about £40 less on food than usual as a result of not buying anything gluten free I'm pleased with my decision. Starting a business and taking a massive drop in regular income has made the last few months really hard and an over expensive diet hasn't helped. I do think however that there are people with genuine health issues that have to eat this food, does it really have to be so expensive?
So I will be monitoring myself over the coming weeks to see if going back to the old ways will cause me to gain weight. Since my birthday I've been less than strict and have not put on a single pound in those 3 weeks, so I hope that if I eat sensibly without limiting myself to a small selection of foods (because cutting out wheat and gluten is like trying avoid chemicals - everything is chemicals!) I might be able to avoid putting all that weight back on...and if I don't I'll just have to learn to love the rounder me because our lives are dominated by work and sleep and we should enjoy the free time we have as much as possible. And I love food, so to spend the rest of my life eating bread that tastes like cardboard would be a waste!
Friday, 4 February 2011
Get outta here you goddam skier!
get outta here you goddam skier!
Skier has become my new buzz word for anyone who is rude or arrogant following many incidents of close shaves on the slopes.
Today for example we went for lunch in the restaurant at the top of the "gondola" ski lift and had a play in the snow. It's our last day if holiday, my boyfriend's birthday and I can see again thanks to the eyedrops and optrex doing a speedy job on my eye.
So apart from the arrogance of dropping skis in our path and skiing as closely as possible to us and flicking snow in our face we had one skier stare at us as we were getting the gondola back down. Actually stopped and stared at us. Yes pedestrians getting the lift down what a scandal!
I dunno what they've got to be so arrogant about - they use 2 bits of wood and sticks. snowboarders do it sideways with nothing to hold on to. Probably just annoyed because boarders look way cooler!
So I just went the spa again. It wasn't as good today because I went later and it was busy. I waited ages for a jacuzzi to half clear so I could get in there for a bubbly watery massage. I snuck in opposite 2 guys and an older woman who all eventually got out leaving me alone for at least 1 second before a couple got in sitting across from each other talking. Not in English but the tone was suggestive. after a while the guy rests his head back and raises his feet for his girlfriend to rub.
Apart from the loud talking ruining my calm I now feel like I've inadvertently wandered onto the set of a porno. As if to emphasise the point the guy sits up and floats over to his girlfriend who he starts kissing.
I fought back the urge to raise my hand and say "erm excuse me - not sure if you noticed me here... might want to get a room?" because I get the feeling their conversation was probably something along the lines of "let's start getting romantic so she gets uncomfortable and leaves". I assume they are skiers.
Damn them - their plan worked... but not before 2 more girls got in! still my quiet was broken and I decided it was time to leave.
Next year though I am getting me a 5 day pass and hitting the spa as soon as it opens each day!
Skier has become my new buzz word for anyone who is rude or arrogant following many incidents of close shaves on the slopes.
Today for example we went for lunch in the restaurant at the top of the "gondola" ski lift and had a play in the snow. It's our last day if holiday, my boyfriend's birthday and I can see again thanks to the eyedrops and optrex doing a speedy job on my eye.
So apart from the arrogance of dropping skis in our path and skiing as closely as possible to us and flicking snow in our face we had one skier stare at us as we were getting the gondola back down. Actually stopped and stared at us. Yes pedestrians getting the lift down what a scandal!
I dunno what they've got to be so arrogant about - they use 2 bits of wood and sticks. snowboarders do it sideways with nothing to hold on to. Probably just annoyed because boarders look way cooler!
So I just went the spa again. It wasn't as good today because I went later and it was busy. I waited ages for a jacuzzi to half clear so I could get in there for a bubbly watery massage. I snuck in opposite 2 guys and an older woman who all eventually got out leaving me alone for at least 1 second before a couple got in sitting across from each other talking. Not in English but the tone was suggestive. after a while the guy rests his head back and raises his feet for his girlfriend to rub.
Apart from the loud talking ruining my calm I now feel like I've inadvertently wandered onto the set of a porno. As if to emphasise the point the guy sits up and floats over to his girlfriend who he starts kissing.
I fought back the urge to raise my hand and say "erm excuse me - not sure if you noticed me here... might want to get a room?" because I get the feeling their conversation was probably something along the lines of "let's start getting romantic so she gets uncomfortable and leaves". I assume they are skiers.
Damn them - their plan worked... but not before 2 more girls got in! still my quiet was broken and I decided it was time to leave.
Next year though I am getting me a 5 day pass and hitting the spa as soon as it opens each day!
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
Eye ruined my holiday...
eye ruined my holiday!
Well it was bad enough spraining my wrist on day 1 of a snowboarding holiday but I managed to make the trip even worse by getting an eye infection.
Yes that's right I'm now making everyone feel a bit awkward by sitting around with a constant stream of tears running down one side of my face.
It actually started on day 1 when I woke up with something in my eye. It watered for an hour and then felt fine and was soon forgotten when I fell on my wrist. The next morning however, I awoke with the same irritation which again seemed to heal after an hour or so although I did spend most of day 2 crying in frustration at not being able to play out in the snow with everyone, lift my own brew or even cut my own food up.
Yesterday - day 3 I was really surprised to wake up with the same thing except on this day it didn't get better. I came to the conclusion that I must have a spot or something on the inside of my eyelid which causes irritation particularly when I close my eyes. Well that's just brilliant isn't it?
We had a lovely day. My boyfriend and I took a ride up towards the top if the mountain and played in the snow. It was lots of fun. Brilliant thick snow that came up to my knees in parts and the sun was bright and warm. except that the sun was really hurting my eye and I could barely open it.
Eventually I decided to find the pharmacy and the lady serving me took one look at my face and said "oh you've got a problem" in a delightful French accent while reaching for a bottle of optrex and some antiseptic eye drops.
Now might be a good time to mention how squeamish I am when it comes to eyes. Having a problem with my eye is the worst possible thing that could happen. I get into a state over the glaucoma test at the opticians!
But I returned and washed my eye as best I could with optrex and my boyfriend put the drops in my eye.
Today however I can barely keep my eye open. It waters constantly until I have to close it but closing it hurts more. My eye is red and swollen and the light hurts it. I have turned into a vampire!
So I spent all day wearing sunglasses in a dark room apparently crying from 1 eye but trying really hard not to be miserable and hoping that the constant stream of "tears" is flushing some kind of badness away.
Now I'm sat wearing sunglasses in a bar with wifi trying to watch the Liverpool game on a laptop. I feel like a goddam jackass wearing shades at night and indoors.
On the plus side I can cut up my own food again!
Well it was bad enough spraining my wrist on day 1 of a snowboarding holiday but I managed to make the trip even worse by getting an eye infection.
Yes that's right I'm now making everyone feel a bit awkward by sitting around with a constant stream of tears running down one side of my face.
It actually started on day 1 when I woke up with something in my eye. It watered for an hour and then felt fine and was soon forgotten when I fell on my wrist. The next morning however, I awoke with the same irritation which again seemed to heal after an hour or so although I did spend most of day 2 crying in frustration at not being able to play out in the snow with everyone, lift my own brew or even cut my own food up.
Yesterday - day 3 I was really surprised to wake up with the same thing except on this day it didn't get better. I came to the conclusion that I must have a spot or something on the inside of my eyelid which causes irritation particularly when I close my eyes. Well that's just brilliant isn't it?
We had a lovely day. My boyfriend and I took a ride up towards the top if the mountain and played in the snow. It was lots of fun. Brilliant thick snow that came up to my knees in parts and the sun was bright and warm. except that the sun was really hurting my eye and I could barely open it.
Eventually I decided to find the pharmacy and the lady serving me took one look at my face and said "oh you've got a problem" in a delightful French accent while reaching for a bottle of optrex and some antiseptic eye drops.
Now might be a good time to mention how squeamish I am when it comes to eyes. Having a problem with my eye is the worst possible thing that could happen. I get into a state over the glaucoma test at the opticians!
But I returned and washed my eye as best I could with optrex and my boyfriend put the drops in my eye.
Today however I can barely keep my eye open. It waters constantly until I have to close it but closing it hurts more. My eye is red and swollen and the light hurts it. I have turned into a vampire!
So I spent all day wearing sunglasses in a dark room apparently crying from 1 eye but trying really hard not to be miserable and hoping that the constant stream of "tears" is flushing some kind of badness away.
Now I'm sat wearing sunglasses in a bar with wifi trying to watch the Liverpool game on a laptop. I feel like a goddam jackass wearing shades at night and indoors.
On the plus side I can cut up my own food again!
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
From hero to villain
from hero to villain.
His arm band said he was a red but his conduct approaching the transfer deadline said he was a spiteful selfish fraud.
Fernando Torres joined Liverpool as a self confessed Liverpool fan. he worked hard and won the hearts of the fans.
Following a fantastic season which saw Liverpool finish 2nd in the league we had a disastrous season which some may blame on losing our star player through injury.
After that Torres was a different player. Moody and frustrated he looked unhappy and out of sorts on the pitch. Made of glass we again played many games without him.
We allowed him to miss the end of the season to get knee surgery in time for the world cup. Spain won but Torres pulled up injured during the final.
The upheaval of owners and managers had an unsettling effect and no one played to their best ability but the return to the helm of King Kenny had a dramatic effect on the whole team - with Torres seeming to have benefitted the most.
But then 2 days before the transfer window closed Torres handed in a transfer request. Not only choosing not to honour his commitment to the club and fans but forcing us to spend record amounts on new players as we desperately needed to fill his boots.
The ultimate betrayal, Torres was pictured with the Chelsea shirt saying "he's always wanted to play for a big club"
Torres says he left because we weren't spending any money. although he submitted his request after we agreed terms for Suarez.
Torres had the makings of an Anfield legend, looked up to by children and adults alike. A hero. He could've been remembered throughout the annals of history alongside Dalglish and Rush, but his conduct this week will see his future memory as just another player.
I dread to think what will happen when we visit Stamford bridge next week but I hope that the betrayal of a hero and the devastation of the fans will spur the players to go out there and win... and then go on to beat Chelsea to a champions league place and become Champions league winners 2012...
Torres can go lament his mistake with former Liverpool player Michael Owen - he also left us to win stuff in Europe didn't he?
His arm band said he was a red but his conduct approaching the transfer deadline said he was a spiteful selfish fraud.
Fernando Torres joined Liverpool as a self confessed Liverpool fan. he worked hard and won the hearts of the fans.
Following a fantastic season which saw Liverpool finish 2nd in the league we had a disastrous season which some may blame on losing our star player through injury.
After that Torres was a different player. Moody and frustrated he looked unhappy and out of sorts on the pitch. Made of glass we again played many games without him.
We allowed him to miss the end of the season to get knee surgery in time for the world cup. Spain won but Torres pulled up injured during the final.
The upheaval of owners and managers had an unsettling effect and no one played to their best ability but the return to the helm of King Kenny had a dramatic effect on the whole team - with Torres seeming to have benefitted the most.
But then 2 days before the transfer window closed Torres handed in a transfer request. Not only choosing not to honour his commitment to the club and fans but forcing us to spend record amounts on new players as we desperately needed to fill his boots.
The ultimate betrayal, Torres was pictured with the Chelsea shirt saying "he's always wanted to play for a big club"
Torres says he left because we weren't spending any money. although he submitted his request after we agreed terms for Suarez.
Torres had the makings of an Anfield legend, looked up to by children and adults alike. A hero. He could've been remembered throughout the annals of history alongside Dalglish and Rush, but his conduct this week will see his future memory as just another player.
I dread to think what will happen when we visit Stamford bridge next week but I hope that the betrayal of a hero and the devastation of the fans will spur the players to go out there and win... and then go on to beat Chelsea to a champions league place and become Champions league winners 2012...
Torres can go lament his mistake with former Liverpool player Michael Owen - he also left us to win stuff in Europe didn't he?
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