Soul of a black man, Maceo Parker
The greatest music ever put down on record. I first heard this late at night in the carpark at Blockbuster Video, Camberley. It was John Peel’s show, Hade was dropping off the video, so I sat there in the dark, transfixed. At the end of the record Peel said something about James Brown (who’s on the record too), and I spend about ten years looking under “James Brown” in record shops for this song. No luck. Eventually the internet came along and, eventually I was able to work out what I was really looking for. Well worth the wait. The rest of the album it’s on I can take or leave but this… wow.
Today Barra suggested that we’re in for Marlon Harewood, then we got word that Harewood’s committing himself to Villa. So that’s probably not happening, assuming it ever was. Sounds like a Roy smokescreen while he hoovers up some Norwegian wunderkinds on the sly. Barra also mentioned Simic of Croatia, but I suspect he meant Simunic, who is big, tough, and left footed. Ideal partner for Hangeland.
Not much else happening. Roy still on holiday watching football, everyone else sitting at home waiting for his next signing. And come to think of it, nobody’s been sold yet, either.
I wonder what Roy’s reading on his hols. I’ve just ordered a used copy of Schultz by JP Donleavy, which Roy mentioned during The Great Escape. The Ginger Man (by the same author) is excellent fun, and still in print (unlike Schultz). Crockatt & Powell have copies in stock.
I read that as Macedo Parker which would have been an interesting combination of a former Fulham goalkeeper and right-back.
Glorious piece of music - thanks for posting it.
Further transfer tittle-tattle. It hasn’t been mentioned on TIFF but we were linked with Andy Johnson of Everton in the Guardian’s Rumour Mill today.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/jun/23/rumours.arshavinchelsea
Chopper
23 Jun 08 at 3:06 pm
Some of the guardian rumour writers seem more interested in amusing themselves than writing anything worthwhile - the rumours bit seems typical of that somehow.
weltmeisterclaude
23 Jun 08 at 3:12 pm
I don’t recall Roy mentioning Irish literature during The Great Escape.. how sophisticated of him. What did he say?
JamieR
23 Jun 08 at 3:56 pm
he randomly mentioned in a press/conference guardian interview that he was reading Schultz by Donleavy. This was in the paper before the Reading match I think. We were in the car and suggested to Matt that he have a Roy Hodgson table in teh new shop selling piles of Schultz. Then we found out that it had last been printed in 1981. So not only is Roy reading very cool Irish authors, he’s digging around to do so. Unless he’s had it that long, of course. Still, it made me even more of a Roy fan.
weltmeisterclaude
23 Jun 08 at 4:11 pm
Harewood fact: I was at his Ipswich debut:
http://www.tmwmtt.com/sql/match_report.phtml?day=30&month=1&year=1999&sequence=0
30th January 1999 - two days after my 23rd birthday. Hade and I stayed in Kings Lynn that weekend and drove down for the match.
weltmeisterclaude
23 Jun 08 at 4:20 pm
I like Roy. I like Marlon too, even if he is a bit crap.
JamieR
23 Jun 08 at 4:42 pm
Anyone read Foul Play by Joe Humphries? This is what the publisher says about it:
Shows how our belief in the value of sport is misplaced. Tracing the history of organised game-playing, this book argues that sport is a last refuge for sexism, racism, homophobia and animal cruelty. It cites neglected research in psychology, showing how playing sport tends to impinge negatively on your morals.
Its full of good facts - such as the only member of the IOC ever to be dismissed was someone who wanted the 1936 Olympics not to be for the glory of Nazi Germany. How Golf and Tennis are bastions of class hate and how sport is generally verys rarely a force for progress, but simply reinforces sexism, race, profits and hate. Amazingly written by a West Ham fan, so it ain’t moralistically against sport, but it conclusions are weak in that he wishes things were better. Surely sport simply reflects lots of rotten stuff in society and until society changes ….. as Marx said about religion it could also be applied to sport : religion is the heart of the heartless world, the opium of the proletariate.
Red S
23 Jun 08 at 5:05 pm
Harewood was really good in 05/06, really bad in 06/07, and really good again in 07/08 (in a small sample). West Ham was also terrible in much of 06/07, which I’m sure had something to do with it. He’s probably good enough to start for somebody, but he’s still a risk at £4m (admittedly with higher reward potential than most at that price).
Colin
23 Jun 08 at 5:55 pm
That’s how I see it, Colin. He has pace, strength, half an eye for goal and he amuses Jamie. That’s a start. Then if we consider that the rest of the side is going to be made up of people like Gera (made millions of chances at WBA), Bullard (serves up chances too) and Davies (made a load last year) it could be that he’ll score a few.
weltmeisterclaude
23 Jun 08 at 5:57 pm
Red S - that sounds interesting indeed. When I’m a little further into my ‘to read’ pile I may investigate.
weltmeisterclaude
23 Jun 08 at 5:59 pm
Sounds very interesting, I’d like to read that. I suppose one point is, the ‘rotten stuff’ in society is always going to be there, so sport is just as good an outlet for it as anything else - perhaps better in many cases.
The cricketer Ed Smith recently had a book out called ‘What Sport Tells Us About Life’ or similar, which was well reviewed.. been meaning to give that a look too. After all, we all have quite a large emotional investment in and spend a lot of time obsessing over something which, if you step back and think rationally for a moment, doesn’t actually matter. Or, er, perhaps when you think about it even more, it does..? Who knows.
I still maintain the best football book I’ve read is ‘Brilliant Orange’ by David Winner. A few years old now, but a fantastically well written socio-footballo-cultural examination of the Dutch psyche and footballing philosophy.
JamieR
23 Jun 08 at 6:03 pm
“he amuses Jamie” :D
Always the sign of a good player…
JamieR
23 Jun 08 at 6:08 pm
I’ve read Ed Smith’s other books, Jamie, very good writer. Funnily enough I was put off his latest by the cover, which looked like Where’s Wally or something. Not that you should judge books by covers, but on this occasion I did.
Brilliant Orange is really good - if you like that, try Calcio by John Foot, which I liked even more.
weltmeisterclaude
23 Jun 08 at 6:22 pm
Funnily enough I’ve always found judging books by their covers to be remarkably successful!
Chopper
23 Jun 08 at 6:46 pm
Is it too “previous generation” to suggest the Gamesmanship and Lifesmanship series? It taught me a lot about Britain in the mid-1950s — a good 10 years before I actually got across the water.
My response to Red’s quote concerning the Humphrey book — “Tracing the history of organised game-playing, this book argues that sport is a last refuge for sexism, racism, homophobia and animal cruelty” — went through three attempted-clever drafts and then finally succumbed to the delete key. We’ve heard all this before, and will continue to hear it as long as there are such things as cultural critics and doctoral theses, but something must be said about the absolute NECESSITY for otherwise rational, evolved, socially ept individuals to care so deeply about how 11 total strangers perform on each Saturday from August to May — especially when those 11 strangers are playing on another continent.
Love of football, and pledging your fealty to your side is as illogical and infantile as is patriotism, friendliness to strangers, dropping a check in the mail after seeing a starving child in Africa, going to church, and romantic love. I submit, however, that it is each of those things that make us something more than computer work units.
HatterDon
23 Jun 08 at 6:59 pm
Any early Donleavy stuff is hilarious. The Ginger Man, The Destinies of Darcy Dancer, the Onion Eaters - all of them a hoot and beautifully written, and every chapter
Finishes
With a small piece
of blank
verse
Mike h
24 Jun 08 at 12:58 am
I finally managed to locate Crockatt & Powell the other day (from the top of a number 14), and will visit soon on your recommendation.
However, I noticed this morning that the former Pan Books shop is re-opening as a branch of Daunt Books - so it looks like they’ll be facing some stiff competition soon from not far up the road.
SM15
smfifteen
24 Jun 08 at 9:53 am
excellent.
Daunt may well be moving in - Matt said the other day that they’re not too worried; Daunt’s interested for the same reason they were - it’s bookseller’s dream round there. Or somesuch.
C&P are bloody good at what they do, and have already impressed the locals, I’m sure they’ll continue to thrive.
Remember folks, Matt Crockatt’s a Fulham season ticket holder, so spend your book money there if you’re in the area.
weltmeisterclaude
24 Jun 08 at 10:02 am
Remember also that Daunt’s views itself as being a travel bookshop: their USP is that they organise their stock by country with guides, histories, novels etc. about a country/city all shelved next to each other. I admit that Daunt’s hold a decent stock of contemporary and classic literature as well, but the two shops need not be in *direct* competition. Have to say that James Daunt has done very well; what is this shop no 7?
Kemosabe
25 Jun 08 at 8:29 am
True enough, but the whole thing works because they sell interesting books, have staff who know what they’re doing, and make the shop feel like a nice place to be for a while. Which is what C&P do. I love the Marylebone store, it’s ideal for people like me who suddenly decide to read books from a certain part of the world.
Also, I think Adam (Powell) used to work there. Or Matthew, I can’t remember which. One of them did though.
weltmeisterclaude
25 Jun 08 at 8:42 am