The not so secret diary of Andy Gillespie

Recycling my arse.

2012-01-14T12:57:00.001-08:00

Yeah I recycle, so what?
I'm not any kind of tree hugger or environmentalist, I just recycle our bottles and cans because Kellie makes me.
Let me tell you though, it's a tedious task.
After weeks of storing bottles and cans in the garage, constantly tripping over bagfuls of them in a quest to do laundry or find tools, I take them to the local recycling centre in Simi Valley.
I suppose this is looked upon as a noble thing, but let me tell you, it's a pain in the arse.
I (not Kellie) has to lug them in the car, drive over there, carry them to the check out and have to stand for what seems like hours and often in the blazing sun and wait my turn in line.
If you thought you run into the dregs of society at the DMV or social security office, then you clearly do not recycle. You might imagine that you would meet like minded hipster people as you try to save the planet. Beautiful, young and "green" types who drive Prius' and listen to great music. How wrong you are, it's full of immigrants (I'm one, so I can say that) and often smelly homeless types who root through the trash cans at the park in order to get money to buy whatever shit alcohol they drink.

So you stand in line, sweating and bored out of your skull, so you can put your bottles and cans into the machine one by one in order to save the planet and get your "refund" back, it's sooooo fucking mundane. This takes forever and the most annoying thing is when the machine rejects certain bottles and brands. I don't know what it is, but my local recycling centre hates any Fresh and Easy store brand bottles and just refuses to accept Fosters bitter cans. Fucking recycling fascist!!!!!

Bottles and cans, the bane of my fucking life.

And for all my troubles today I received the princely sum of $15.74.
It's always pay outs like this:
$17.22.....
$19.07.....
$12.48.....
$14.85..... or other such random totals.
It pretty much amounts to piracy, they make you pay a deposit when you buy a soda, beer or water. Then it's up to you if you get it back or not. To top things off, if you choose to put your bottles and cans in your recycling bin at home for the trash company to collect, you even have to pay a monthly fee for your city to haul this shit away on something they'd actually make money off. It feels like it should be illegal, but it's not.

In some recently made mafia movies or TV shows such as The Sopranos, the mob boss is often listed as employed in "waste management" in order to fool the feds. Coincidence? I think not.

It's not even like they even hand you the cash at the recycling centre, they give you a coupon and then I have to make the walk of shame to Ralph's next door in order to get the money.
So is it worth it? Is it fuck, I'd actually pay somebody $20 (or more) to come and take this "trash" out of the garage every month or so and bury them at the local landfill.
Like I said, Kellie makes me do it, I'd refuse but that would be a bigger hassle than the recycling chore.
In short, I'm not really arsed about saving the planet or the small change I get back. I do it for a peaceful life and for harmony in the bedroom.
Other than that, tree huggers can give my arse and environmentalists can go and get fucked.

Footy art: PETE McKEE

2011-12-22T15:20:00.000-08:00

I am big a fan of Sheffield artist Pete McKee.
His cartoons are quite simple and colourful, but beautifully capture the England I know with his depictions of life in a Northern town in England during the 70's and 80's.
He pretty much covers all aspects of life including music, growing up, holidays, parents, pets and much more. I have decided to concentrate on his football pictures for this blog, he is a massive Sheffield Wednesday supporter, but even so does doff his cap to their bitter rivals United, which suggests to me that he is a proper fan.
Enjoy.

Lane Legends.
McKee pays his respects to Blades foursome Tony Currie, Keith Edwards, Jimmy Hagan and 90's goals machine Brian Deane.

Wednesday Legends, Class of 93.
Captured here are SWFC Hirst, Sheridan, Nilsson and Waddle. I love the attention paid to detail, like giving Geordie Chris Waddle a pint of Brown Ale.

Full Time.
A scene familiar to any football fan up and down the UK, the pint after the match, where you would celebrate or drown your sorrows depending upon whether your team was any good or not. I usually drowned my sorrows as Man City tended to be pretty shit back then.

The Lads.
An alternative version of the painting "Full Time" only this time depicting Newcastle United fans instead of Sheff Weds.

Yorkshire Mix.
Simple picture of a dad and his lad, early doors at the match, waiting for the ground to fill up. A common sight.

Wembely.
An intentional miss-spelling of Wembley (As in the stadium) We would play Wembely up north with a group of lads playing against each other in one goal, knocking each other out F.A Cup style until there was only two men standing for the final. Good times.

The Casuals.

Saturday Lads.
A couple of pictures with a nod to the casual culture. Obviously it was big with me, I still fancy myself as a bit of a casual and still wear Adidas, LaCoste and other gear, only now I sport a slaphead instead of a Perry flicker.

Sunday Moaning Football.
As a Sunday league footballer anyone devoted enough to cheer their mates, kids, husband, boyfriend or other loved ones gets my seal of approval, but doing this back home was on another level as the weather was usually awful and made your dedication even more admirable.

Sound of the Crowd.
Captures the exit from your local footy ground in the 80's perfectly. A bit of a crush, all male domain, kid on his dad's shoulders and a geezer smoking a ciggie as he sells the local "Pink Final". I can almost smell dodgy burgers and salt and vinegar coming from the nearby chippy.

Pre-match warm up
Looks like a young lad left sitting at the table in the pub alone while his dad and his mates empty their bladders in the bogs, just before the short walk to the ground.

More Yorkshire Mix
Same as Yorkshire mix only this time featuring Sheffield United instead of Wednesday.

Half Time
Halftime break during a probably epic game on a northern council estate. Jumpers for goalposts, the only thing missing is the bottle of Vimto we would take with us and drink during the middle of the match, Don't remember seeing many 0-0 draws and they were usually settled by a "Next goal wins" shout as we played until it went dark.

Football Highlights.
Possibly boy at the match with his grandad sharing a flask of hot tea or soup before the game. It usually was freezing and it looks like one of those Aladdin flasks that shattered into oblivion is you even glanced at them wrong.

Early Doors.
This was the norm for me and my mates when we first started going to watch City. We'd get into Maine Road as soon as the gates opened and would wander around the Kippax bored out of our heads waiting two or three hours until the ground filled up and the match started.
Just the various sounds and smells you encountered during that time and the sights, which were often violent were fucking magical to my 9 or 10 year old eyes. I can't imagine letting Owen going to the match with a few of his mates these days with a chaperone no older than 12 escorting us, but that's what we did back then.

9-0
Says it all really, I was and still am shit at foosball, and I hate the game as a result. What's the point of playing if you're rubbish?
Exactly.

Oasis - Heaton Park.
A poster McKee did for an Oasis concert in Heaton Park, Manchester.
A couple of kids hanging out in the park (One in a City shirt) waiting for others to show up just so they could start a game.
We'd do this as kids as there was a school at the bottom of our street with football goals. We'd start off with maybe 4 a side and people would see the game from their living room or bedroom windows and come out and join in. Even grown men staggering home quite drunk from the pub were known to join in and sometimes our little game would end up 18 a side. It was beautiful really.
Fights, rain, snow, hail, thunder and lightning or even a rare glimpse of sunshine never stopped play, only a ball popping could do that. And it did happen a couple of time, we hardly ever had a spare with us.
Sigh, life was a lot better and simpler before video games came along.

So City finally lost today.

2011-12-12T14:42:00.000-08:00

It had to happen sooner or later.
We have played 15 in the EPL so far, won 12, drew 2 and lost 1.
If you would have offered me that at the start of the season I would have snatched your hand off.
Of course there was a bit of bitterness attached, we should have had a pk and Meireles could and should have been sent off for a nasty looking foul on Zabaleta, but it wasn't to be, we're still two points clear at the top of the league.
No complaints about their pk or the stupid Clichy sending off though, both acts of stupidity that cost us dearly.
And a special message to all those ManUre fans getting excited by tonight's result, I seriously doubt anyone will beat us 6-1 at home this season.

GALAXIAN CHRISTMAS PARTY.

2011-12-05T15:28:00.000-08:00

So we Galaxians after much debate on Facebook, settled on December 3rd for our Xmas party.
We held it at El Pescador in Carson (Right by the HDC) and were lucky to have Nicole and Emily from the Miss LA Galaxy court attend along with Aaron who brought the Supporters Shield and the MLS Cup with him.
Let's be honest if it weren't for Aaron bringing the silverware with him the night would have just consisted of dinner.
One of the ladies let it slip that one of the players took the trophy home with him on the night of the final and his dad dropped it and put a small dent in it. She wouldn't say which player it was, but based on Galaxy player's twitter posts I have my theories, but I am obviously too polite to spill the beans.

**cough** Chris **cough** Birchall **cough**

Anyway, we had a great night, it is always nice to see fellow Galaxians.
It was just a shame that some people couldn't make it.
Oh well, me, Kellie, Owen and Mark had a fine time.
It was great to lift the MLS Cup, dinner was lovely and the company was as good as ever.
Owen had a blast as usual hanging out with Marcelo and Mia and I enjoyed chatting with familiar faces. It was just a shame that the band was so loud later on, killing off all hopes of a proper conversation in the process.
A big thank you to all who attended especially the Miss LA Galaxy girls, Aaron, Carlisa for organizing things and to Linda for providing photographs.
Already looking forward to next season.

BLACK FRIDAY.

2011-11-26T07:18:00.000-08:00

I went out shopping on "Black Friday", why do they call it that?
Went up to the Camarillo outlet malls and most of the people I saw were Latino or Asian.
Time for a rethink for the guy responsible for naming landmark days in the USA.

LA GALAXY 2011 FULL SEASON REVIEW. Or at least the games Mark and me went to.

2011-11-24T09:45:00.001-08:00

We started off the season with a 1-0 win at Seattle Sounders, but seeing me and Mark didn't go to that one we won't bother with it as this blog entry is to concentrate on only the games we attended.

Sun March 20 vs NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION @HDC 1-1 T
We kicked off the home season opener with a monsoon, it rained heavily and steadily all day, we were drenched and watched the G's contest a 1-1 draw. We did have a perfectly good goal disallowed when the Rev's keeper dropped the ball and Juninho poked the ball home. He did score the goal that counted as well, it was definitely a case of 2 points dropped though.
Season opener in the monsoon.

Sat March 26 vs REAL SALT LAKE @Rio Tinto 1-4 L
I did a blog about this trip earlier on in the season, it was a great weekend apart from the game. We got our butt's kicked and the season at this point didn't look too promising. We also froze our arse off up in the top of the stands in mormonland, the best decision was bringing a cooler full of proper beer as the stuff they sell up there is like gnat's piss.
Galaxians in Mormonland

Rio Tinto stadium in Utah, quite nice actually.

Sat April 2 vs PHILADELPHIA UNION @HDC 1-0 W
We brought our friends David, Jessica and Carrie to the game. I made my famous pasties and they were probably better than the match. We won 1-0 though, which is the main thing, with a rare Leonardo goal.
Before the Philadelphia game.

Sat April 23 vs PORTLAND TIMBERS @HDC 3-0 W
This was obviously one of our better performances of the season, we won 3-0 thanks to two Landon Donovan goals and Chad Barrett's first of the season. We pretty much did turn Portland over and it could have been much worse for them, but I'll take a 3-0 win any day of the week.

Fellow Galaxians.

Sat May 7 vs NEW YORK RED BULLS @HDC 1-1 T
To be honest this was probably the right result, it could have gone either way, but I was happy with a draw in the end as NY pressured us right up until the final whistle.
The Galaxy had hardly set the league alight at this point in the season, but we were still top of the Western Conference and only lost one game so far.
Fellow Galaxians

Sat May 14 vs SPORTING KANSAS CITY @HDC 4-1 W
Another one of those rare occasions this season when the Galaxy actually looked likea proper team. Landon grabbed another brace, Beckham scored a cracking free kick and even the normally useless Juan Pablo Angel got one.

Galaxians before the game.

Sat May 21 vs CHIVAS USA @HDC (Away) 1-0 W
It wasn't the best game, but it's always nice to win the derby or the Super Clasico as the natives call it. I love the away game at our home, they stick us in the corner and it is a good laugh taunting Shitvas fans all day.

Before the Shitvas match

After the Shitvas match.

Wed May 25 vs HOUSTON DYNAMO @HDC 1-0 W
Not really much to write about, Landon scored his 8th goal in the last seven games and I made the first leg of the journey via trian as I met Mark in Burbank.

Fri June 3 vs D.C. UNITED @HDC 0-0 T
Another shocker, oh well at least we didn't lose.

Sat June 11 vs TORONTO FC @HDC 2-2 T
We were cruising in this thanks to Birchall's only goal for the Galaxy and an Angel effort, but useless Galaxy reject Alan Gordon picks the wrong time to grab a brace at the HDC and sends us home gutted especially with the one in injury time. This game will be forever remembered for the one I dragged Kellie to on her birthday, she still hasn't forgiven me.

Sat June 25 vs SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES @Buck Shaw "Stadium" 0-0 T
A crap game really, decent piss up for the weekend though. Most notable because we used 3 goalkeepers during the game. Ricketts went off with a broken arm, then Saunders got sent off for a run in with that curly headed twat Leinhart, up steps Mike Magee and keeps the smurfs at bay for over half of the game. Legend!!!
LOL @ San Jose, you'll never beat Magee.

Tues June 28 vs LA BLUES @Cal State Fullerton 2-1 W
It was the open cup, they scored first but goals from Omar and Mike Magee got us the "come from behind" win.

Face in the crowd against the LA Blues in the Open Cup game.

Mon July 4 vs SEATTLE SOUNDERS @HDC 0-0 T
The highlights of this day was the curry I made and brought to the Galaxian pot luck, meeting up with crazy Middlesbrough man Eric Goodall again for a chat and the pk save Brian Perk made on his MLS debut.
Junior Galaxians

Sat July 9 vs CHICAGO FIRE @HDC 2-1 W
After what seemed like an eternity the Galaxy finally recorded a home win in the MLS. It wasn't pretty but goals from Beckham and Donavon were enough for the three points.

Owen drumming up some support.

Sat July 16 vs REAL MADRID @LA Coliseum 1-4 L
I wasn't here thank God, we went up to San Francisco to watch Man City beat Club America instead.
Wed July 20 vs COLUMBUS CREW @HDC 1-0 W
A Sean Franklin goal saw us take the points in yet another 1-0 win. Can't remember much else about the game to be honest.

Sun July 24 vs MANCHESTER CITY @HDC 1-1 T (MCFC win 5-4 on pk's)
Blogged about it earlier, Owen's first City game. A great day out in the blazing sun.

Galaxy v Man City

Sat July 30 vs VANCOUVER WHITECAPS @Vancouver 4-0 W
A great win and well worth the trip up to Canada (See full blog in August archives)

Us with Chris Birchall in Vancouver.

Wed August 3 vs PORTLAND TIMBERS @Portland 0-3 L
If the Vancouver game was an example of the highs of following your team away, then the Portland game was the perfect example of the lows of following your team away. We were terrible and it could have been a hell of a lot worse had it not been for Josh Saunders. Still nice to visit another stadium though.
Outside Jeld Wen stadium in Portland, never let a bad result get in the way of a great week.

Sat August 6 vs FC DALLAS @HDC 3-1 W
The G's put that dreadful Portland game behind them with another decent performance with goals from Omar, Juninho and Magee. We appear to be playing a lot better now with Franklin giving us an extra attacking option on the right of midfield.
Owen and friends

Tues August 16 vs CLUB MOTAGUA @HDC 2-0 W
A good start to our CCL campaign against the Hondurans with goals from Cristman and Landon. The Yanks don't seem to take these games seriously though as the HDC was just about two thirds empty. In other news, we have just signed Robbie Keane and got rid of the useless Juan Pablo Angel in the process, not in time to make his debut tonight though.

Sat August 30 vs SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES @HDC 2-0 W
The hype surrounding this game was all about Robbie Keane's MLS debut, he scored along with Magee to send the smurfs home complaining that they actually deserved to win and that the MLS refs are biased towards the Galaxy and their superstars. I read that on the Big Soccer forum. Refs weren't biased up in San Jose were they? Plus I have lost count of how many times we get dodgy decisions against us at the HDC, certainly more than go in our favour anyway.

The other G's mob.

Thurs August 25 vs LD ALAJUELENSE @HDC 2-0 W
Another win in the CCL, can't remember where this lot are from so I'll say Costa Rico for the sake of arguing. Goal from Omar and Magee again (He's on fire don't you know?)
Errrr......

Fri September 9 vs COLORADO RAPIDS @HDC 1-0 W
Another 1-0 win thanks to a Landon Donovan goal.
It's getting like Chelsea under Mourinho's first season with all these 1-0 victories, not complaining though, still top of the West.
Owen and friends again

Sat September 17 vs VANCOUVER WHITECAPS @HDC 3-0 W
Another great game against the worst team in the west. 7-0 on aggregate for the season, can we play you every week?
Two Magee goals (I told you he was on fire) and and Robbie Keane effort are enough for the 3 points.

With Eric and Mike (Thor)

Wed September 28 vs MONARCAS MORELIA @HDC 2-1 W
After losing our 2 away games in the CCL this was a must win against the Mexicans to stay alive, we gave up a dodgy goals but came back through Magee and Juninho in stoppage time to send the noisy visiting fans home empty handed.

Even the Miss Galaxy court are Galaxians

Sat October 1 vs REAL SALT LAKE @HDC 2-1 W
This was a close one, but the win was enough to give us the supporter shield for the second year in a row. For all my English friends, the supporters shield basically means that you finish with the best record in the league, but it counts for fuck all. You still have to compete in the play offs and win the MLS Cup in order to be crowned champions which means technically the team that is the 10th best on the last day of the season can still go on to be MLS champions. Crazy huh?

Mark and me with the Supporters Shield.

Sun October 16 vs CHIVAS USA @HDC (Home) 1-0 W
Chad Barrett the "goatbuster" struck again as we did the double against our hated rivals and renters and paraded the supporters shield in front of them and Juan Pablo Angel.
I had high hopes for Angel at the start of the season, his goal scoring record in the MLS spoke for itself, but he came to us and didn't fit in. He seemed lazy, slower than me and useless in the air. Don't get me wrong, I bear him no ill will, I was just glad to see the back of him.
Bring on the play offs!!!!!!

Me and Owen with a Miss Galaxy court member.

Western Conference Semi Final:
Thurs November 3 vs NEW YORK RED BULLS @HDC 2-1 W (3-1 on aggregate)
After a ill tempered 1-0 win up in NYC (Magee again), the stage was set for a nervous 90 minutes. We were missing Juninho who was red carded after that dick Marquez threw the ball at Landon after the final whistle in the first leg.
NY scored first when Luke (Mini me) Rogers leveled the tie after 15 minutes.
It was nearly all Galaxy after that and when Magee headed to ball home from a Beckham corner you could see the stuffing knocked out of the Red Bulls.
Beckham was brought down in the NY box late in the second half, Landon converted the pk and we were into the Western Conference Final.

Western Conference Final
Sun November 6 vs REAL SALT LAKE @HDC 3-1 W
I brought along my mate David and fellow Wedding Present guitarist Graeme visiting from Scotland along for this game. I remarked to David that he has probably been to more Galaxy games than Man United matches by now (his third so far), that raised a good chuckle from Graeme.

During the game.

We had a bit of rain, ate chicken curried pasties, drank quite a bit and watched tha Galaxy trounced the normally awkward RSL, to almost make up for losing the final to them 2 years ago. It was nice to avenge our defeat in Utah early in the season though. The Galaxy were pretty rampant in this one and could easily have scored more if it weren't for Nick Rimando making a few good saves and us finishing poorly.
On to the final, the entire season hangs on one game and Houston awaits us.
After the RSL game

MLS CUP 2011:
Sun November 20 vs HOUSTON DYNAMO @HDC 1-0 W
We ended the season as we started it at the Home Depot Center, in the middle of an all day down pour. It was another truly miserable day, only saved by my awesome free Volkswagon poncho and the free flowing beer that we consumed.
Before the final in the Monsoon part deux.

The game itself wasn't much of a spectacle, we were pretty poor and Houston were even worse. I think they only managed one shot on target all day which is pathetic for a cup final. We did have most of the possession and were the better team. Robbie Keane had the ball in the net, but it was harshly ruled offside as TV replays proved he was level when Landon passed him the ball.
10 minutes later though Beckham flicked on a Franklin pass and Keane held off a defender before threading the ball through to Landon who slotted in past Hall and just inside the far post. We went mental and the HDC was rocking at the final whistle as we were crowned champions.
A 1-0 win was a fitting end to our 1-0 win riddled season, we had a great time following the Galaxy home and away this year, roll on next season.
With or without Beckham, I can't help feeling that we'll be a better team next year.

Owen with the "Cup"

Landon Donovan and David Beckham with the MLS Cup.

Coach Bruce Arena with the MLS Cup.

I LOVE YOU DAVID SILVA!!!!!!

2011-11-06T10:22:00.000-08:00

Just saying.

LA Galaxy Fans Q&A Number Ten. SCOTT MITCHELL

2011-11-01T14:27:00.000-07:00

The latest victim, who was a complete straggler in completing his Q&A (But not the worst) is Scott Mitchell. Scott is another of the many fine people we have met on our travels supporting the LA Galaxy, he is a mellow chap, a great sport and him and his lovely wife Michelle are two of the nicest people you could ever meet. They even named their first born son after me.
(That last sentence "might" not be true)

Q1. How did you first get into the Galaxy and what was the first game you attended?
I’ve played soccer since I was 6. I’ve always been interested in going to professional games, but never quite made it out to a game. The first Galaxy game (and first pro soccer match) I ever went to was Galaxy v. Chelsea in 2008 (Beckham’s first game). Getting the tickets was kind of a fluke.

At work, they were auctioning off tickets to 2 Galaxy games, one on a Saturday and one on a Tuesday. The Beckham move had been announced, but no info about when he would start playing. My gut told me he would make his debut at the Tuesday game vs. Chelsea, so I bought $20 worth of tickets and shoved them in the box. About 15 minutes later they pulled my ticket and I was the proud owner of 4 tickets in Section 112 Row H (yes, those are the premium seats) right behind the Chelsea bench. They were later selling on Stub Hub for at least $250 per ticket. It was a great game and my brother even caught a ball one of the players kicked into the crowd as a free giveaway (he basically snatched it right before an 8 year old in the row behind us caught it and paid the price with a nasty cut on his shin from one of the armrests).

Q2. Name your favourite five Galaxy players of all time?
1. Donovan Ricketts – I’m partial to goalkeepers….we stick together.
2. Landon Donovan – Mr. Reliable…always there with a good touch and able to get the team fired up when things aren’t going right.
3. Josh Saunders – the best backup goalie around. We’re lucky no other team has tried to pick him up.
4. Mike Magee – always seems to come up with amazing plays right when they are needed. Plus, he stepped into goal without hesitation during that awful game in San Jose…and kept the shutout alive down a man.
5. Bryan Jordan – often overlooked with so much talent on the team, Jordan is a great all around player. Definitely not a superstar, but he can play any position well and has contributed quite a bit lately despite his limited playing time.

I know there have been many other greats in the past, but I like to focus on the here and now. Many other current players could be named here (especially Juninho), but I’ll leave it here.

Q3. What is your normal preparation/routine when attending a Galaxy game?
Leave home in Brea 2 to 2.5 hours before game time. Beers in the parking lot with Michelle, Nada, Carlos, Fredy, Dexter, Amilkar, Andy, and whoever else happens to be coming with any of us. Occasionally throw a BBQ or hooka into the mix. Start walking into the stadium at game time.

Q4. Do you follow any other footy teams?
Newcastle United – Sorry, Andy

Q5. Name five footy teams that you hate the most?
Just added to the top of the list – NY Red Bulls
Chivas USA
Real Salt Lake
Arsenal
San Jose Earthquakes

Q6. Describe the best Galaxy performance you attended?
May 8, 2010 away game at Seattle. It was slated to be a fairly even game, but we ended up on top with a 4-0 pounding. The Sounders’ performance was so bad that management refunded all the season ticket holders for that day’s ticket price. It also happened to be the day I met my wife Michelle, and her friends Fredy, Dexter, and Kat, so it has a special place in my heart.

Q7. Describe the worst?
Our 2010 Playoff 3-0 loss to Dallas. I remember a feeling of overwhelming hopelessness watching that game. It just seemed like nothing was going right; they scored early, our passes were off, most of our shots were off target, Hartman did a great job handling the ones that were on target, and our guys were frustrated. Not a good way to finish up a Supporter Shield season.

Q8. Has the Beckham signing been better for Beckham, the Galaxy or the MLS?
I think it’s been good for the Galaxy, MLS, and Beckham, in that order.
The Galaxy have gotten tons of publicity from day 1 which has definitely helped with revenue generation from ticket sales, merchandise, and better TV coverage (it’s nice that nearly all of their games, including home games, are televised nationally…definitely was not the case a few years ago). The team’s game has definitely improved with Beckham present in the middle (I notice a marked difference in games where he’s absent), and it seems that he has shared a lot of knowledge from his many years in top level competition with the younger players. Always good to have that kind of experience on board when it doesn’t come with a hugely inflated ego (i.e. Henry).

MLS has also received a great deal of publicity that was not necessarily present before Beckham’s arrival. Since that time, the league seems to be taking off with new expansion teams, bigger and better TV deals, and the ability to bring more big names to the league since then (Henry, Angel, Marquez, Keane, etc.). It also seems like many of the very talented younger players are a bit more hesitant to leave the MLS to go play in Europe. It’s not totally clear whether these changes are a direct result of Beckham’s presence or a general increase in the number of fans and followers of soccer in general, but I think both play in to it.

Beckham has also benefitted financially from his initial deal with the Galaxy and all of the marketing deals that came along with it. And, let’s face it, he was getting toward the end of his European playing career. It was a great move to come over here and potentially extend his career by a couple of years and highly increase the potential for some kind of show biz career after his playing days are over. The whole controversy with the England national team was a bit of a hubbub over nothing. I wasn’t too upset about him playing for AC Milan in the off season, because representing his country obviously meant a lot to him. That is, until he decided to stay past Galaxy opening day. It kinda sucks that he got injured…I would have liked to see him play in the World Cup.

Q9. Do you follow any other sports and if so, what teams?
Soccer is king! I occasionally watch American football and like the Steelers, but wouldn’t say I go out of my way to watch games or follow everything that’s going on with the team.

Q10. Do you play footy, what position and are you any good?
I’ve played since I was 6 years old. As a youngster I played everything but ended up settling in defense as I got older. Around 12 years old I started playing goalie and have played it exclusively ever since. For the past few years its been predominantly indoor soccer, though I occasionally fill in for outdoor teams. I like indoor much better because of the constant action.

Q11. What's with the rivalry between Galaxy supporters groups?
I don’t get it, but don’t really care. I know people in all of them and they all seem like decent people wanting the same thing. Let’s just get along already. Actually, I’d like start a new group on the south end (our tix are in 142). Trying to think of a good name…..

Q12. Have you ever been involved in any aggro at the match? Galaxy or otherwise?
No, seen plenty though. Nada and some lady got into a pretty heated argument over the PUTO chant because the lady thought it was disrespectful.

Q13. How do you think the MLS compares with other leagues around the world?
MLS is still trying to find its place and figure out what works. Its tough to compete against leagues that have 100+ years of history, but I think we’re catching up very quickly. The talent has improved greatly over the past few years, but I think consistency is still lacking. There have been recent (non-Galaxy) games that I stumbled across on TV and thought, “Holy crap! Is that a bunch of 10 year olds kicking the ball around?” There are certain teams this applies to more than others, but again, I think it will phase out over time.

Q14. Club before country?
YES, though I do like watching the US and support them as much as possible.

Q15. Almost every Galaxy fan I speak to wishes that Chivas USA were gone from the HDC, where would you like to see them end up?
San Diego sounds good. They could probably build up a better more reliable fan base down there.

Q16. Favourite away stadium? (MLS or otherwise)
Seattle. The fans (everybody in the city seems to be a fan) are so into it, but all very nice to visiting fans.

Q17. Least favourite away stadium? (MLS or otherwise)
San Jose. Feels like the crappy wooden bleachers are going to collapse with the ACB/Riot Squad/Galaxians/unaffiliated jumping around. And the cops give you a bunch of crap for wearing the other jersey. Hopefully, they get their new stadium built soon.

Q18. If you could change anything about the Galaxy organisation what would it/they be?
They’ve been doing much better lately, but better enticements/treatment of season ticketholders would be nice. We’ve been invited to several player signing events in the past couple years and Bryan Jordan has been there at least 3 times. I love the guy, but how about getting some variety, and maybe even Beckham or Donovan once in a while.

Also, they need to do more to alter the agreement between HDC and CSUDH. The limited capacity for a playoff game is a joke (couldn’t they do some kind of offsite parking and bus fans in if needed) and the recent crackdown on tailgating is ridiculous. There are always groups that cause problems at these things, but the majority of the people are just there having a good time.

Q19. What changes would you make to the MLS?
The whole playoff scheme is something the league needs to work on. If they’re going to do it, they need to do it right so that it’s truly the best teams from the whole season competing for the title. And they need to make sure there’s enough of a break in between ALL of the playoff games. It seems ridiculous to have 2 days off between the conference finals and semifinals, then 2 weeks off until the Cup game. In the long run, it would be nice to get enough teams participating to put a relegation scheme into place.

Q20. What's the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you at the match?
I’m sure there have been a couple moments when I had a few too many, but this one sticks out in my mind (and I hadn’t even had a beer yet). I had bought tickets and food to make carne asada for a group of 25 or 30 before a game. I spent an hour packing everything up, remembering every detail down to the plates, plastic ware, and BBQ tools. We show up, start unloading the bountiful feast, I fire up the BBQ and start searching for the meat. It was nowhere to be found….8 lbs of carne asada was sitting at home in the fridge. Luckily, some folks were still on the way and stopped at the store, but could only find unmarinated meat. We ended up with Corona and lime marinated beef tacos…not too bad. On the bright side, my family and I got to eat carne asada for the next week.

Q21. Funniest thing you has seen at the match?
Magee playing goal in San Jose. He did a great job, but it was very entertaining to watch somebody with no GK training wearing a shirt 3 sizes too big. It was something out of a pee wee soccer match. And it was at San Jose, so the setting could very easily have fooled anybody.

Q22. Finally, how do you see the season ending for the LA Galaxy this year?
Supporters Shield, destroy everyone in the playoffs to win the trophy at home. (Andy, This was written a month ago)

***Sure Scott***

Great job Scott, it was well worth waiting for.
Also, I know I do tease you quite a lot about being a Newcastle fan, but to your credit at least you chose to support a proper team and didn't jump on the ManU/Chelsea/Liverpool/Arsenal bandwagon.

The Demolition Derby

2011-10-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

It's nearly been a week since we stuffed the Scum at the Swamp.
I watched the game at 5.30am last Sunday and despite a bit of a shaky start from City, the fire starter himself, Mario Balotelli put us 1-0 up against the run of play with an exquisite finish from the edge of the box.
True to form he then got booked for displaying his "Why always me?" t-shirt, those are the rules so no argument from me.

Still, it is a rubbish rule though, football is a game of passion and as long as players aren't inciting the opposition, they need to abolish this one.
The goal rattled U****d and we started to dominate, I think they were glad to see the half time whistle.
A minute into the second Balotelli was played through by the magnificent David Silva and hauled down by the always terrible Johnny Evans on the edge of the box, he was sent off for his sins which really was the turning point.
Some might argue that the ref ruined a potentially great game by sending Evans off and a yellow might have been more appropriate, but those red cunts can fuck right off, he deserved to go, end of story.
The one man advantage suited City down to the ground, Silva and Milner ran the show, their link up play for Balotelli's second goal was as good as you'll see all season.
Micah Richards was marauding up and down the right like nobody's business and soon overlapped, setting up Aguero for the third.
Darren Fletcher scored a corker (He always seems to score against us) to give U****d fans a bit of a false dawn on the 81st minute.
We then subbed Super Mario for Dzeko and he could have had a hat trick until he finally scuffed the 4th in off his knee via a Lescott knock back.
Vincent Kompany's four fingered salute to the blues in the corner as they celebrated the goal was a classic.
Silva and Edin took over in time added on with Dzeko putting Silva through to nutmeg the doughnut thief and then Silva repaid him with the pass of the season to make it 6-1.

Six fucking one against those twats at the swamp, needless to say, I screamed the house down.
Before the game I was kind of hoping for a draw and even thought that being just one point behind them at this point of the season if we lost wouldn't be so bad.
But typical City, we stuffed them and sit five points clear.
Could it be our year? Who knows? But that result whatever happens, will be the highlight of the season, unless we do them 10-0 at ours.
And with 45 goals in 15 games, you never know.

***Click on photo for better view***

Robbie Keane??? You're 'aving a laugh.

2011-08-20T07:09:00.000-07:00

Robbie goes to Hollywood.

So Robbie Keane signed for the Galaxy this week.
Very exciting news for all Galaxy fans especially me as the bugger always seemed to score against City.
Can't wait for the game against SJ Earthquakes tonight, as we haven't beaten them in our last five attempts.
I'm predicting he will at least double Angel's pathetic return of three goals before the season is up.
I was quite happy when we signed Angel, but he turned out to be uninterested and absolutely dreadful.
We are so much better off with Robbie, this puts us in a good position to win the supporters shield and hopefully the MLS Cup.
I'll keep you posted.

***EDIT***
Robbie did score on his debut against the Smurfs from San Jose. He looked tired in the second half though, but it was a decent first game. Looks a bit rusty and not 100% fit, but he can only improve as the season goes on.

Robbie Keane on his Galaxy debut versus SJ Earthquakes.

Fucking Hell... it's Mark E. Smith!!!!!

2011-08-09T19:14:00.000-07:00

They say that you should never meet your heroes, well I don't know who 'they' are but I've met a few of mine and they were for the most part, pretty nice.
There is one that I have been a fan of for as long as I can remember, Mr. Mark E. Smith of Mancunian indie legends The Fall. Mark had a reputation of being a bit a of a miserable twat and a typical no nonsense Manc who will speak his mind and not care for the consequences. A bit like me really.
Anyway I have seen The Fall in concert quite a lot, I remember seeing them play The Roxy in L.A. and Courtney Love (of Hole) tried to get onto their tour bus.
She was making a bit of a big deal of it, trying to get past one of the Fall's crew members.
"What's going on?" came a distinctly Mancunian voice from the back of the bus.
"It's Courtney Love Mark, she wants to get onto the bus to chat to you" said the roadie.
"Tell her to fuck off" replied Mark, clearly not in the mood for the Queen of grunge.
With that, a speechless (for once) Courtney Love turned around and skulked back down Sunset Blvd, obviously gobsmacked and humiliated. It made my fucking night.

The first time I actually 'met' MES was at the Echo in L.A. Just as I walked into the tiny venue, I needed a piss and walked straight into him coming out of the bogs. "Fucking hell, it's Mark E Smith" I said semi-quoting Halfman Halfbiscuit.
"How are you doing Mark?" I said all star struck and thrusting my hand out in his direction.
"Alright cocker" he replied while shaking my hand and walking back to the dressing room.
It was over in two seconds, I recounted this to Kellie and said "I won't wash my hand for a week"
"But what if he hadn't washed his hands after using the bathroom?" she asked.
"Even better" I replied.

A couple of years later The Fall returned to Southern California and I purchased tickets for two gigs in L.A. and one in Pomona which I was to attend with my old friend Chris Zych who after years of me harassing him into listening to The Fall had finally relented and got into them. I think this was to be his first Fall gig, but I might be wrong.

So I drove to Pomona and met Chris, we had a few hours to kill so decided to find somewhere to eat and have a couple of beers. While exploring Pomona we passed a music shop and saw MES and his lovely wife Eleni buying some musical equipment. We knocked gently on the window and gave a nonchalant wave. He returned the favour.

On a side note, I must point out that during this tour there had been a mutiny between the Fall band members and MES. According to music press reports, during drunken exchanges, threats were dished out, a knife 'might' have been pulled, punches thrown and the band quit, leaving Mark and Eleni alone in Arizona.
Mark recruited the members of L.A. band Darker my Love to fill in for the rest of the tour. A certain recipe for disaster and to be honest typical Fall and MES.

Chris and I settled on a Mexican restaurant, it was a bit of a dive, but we were hungry. After eating we moved over to the bar and decided to have a couple of games of pool in order to pass some more time.
After about 10 minutes, MES and Eleni walked into the restaurant and sat down to eat.
We clearly noticed, but left them in peace.
After a while Mark went outside for a smoke, then I noticed him staring at us through the window. I didn't really think anything of it, but seconds later he walked back into the restaurant and made a beeline for me and Chris.
"Have you got a light lads?" he asked sheepishly
"Sorry Mark" I replied, "neither of us smokes"
He seemed a bit taken aback, either by the recognition or my Mancunian accent or both.
"Fucking hell, where are you from?"
"Manchester Mark, Middleton, just the other side of Heaton
Park from you"
"Oh yeah" he said "We just played at the Civic"
We pointed him in the direction of the free matches on the bar and he went back outside to finish his cigarette.
After they finished eating they came over to the pool tables.
"Can I buy you two a drink Mark?"
"Sure, what do they have?"
"Mexican beer" I think I probably got them Bohemia as it is my beer of choice with Mexican food.
"Do you fancy a game of pool?" I asked.
"Oh go on then" came the reply.
"How about doubles Mark? Me and Chris against you and Eleni?"
"Okay"

On another side note, since this incident I have read MES' autobiography in which he claims that during his early 20's him and a friend would go to various pubs and working men's clubs in Manchester and hustle punters playing pool, claiming this would boost his paycheck.

Well let me say that I was always a very average pool player, I've had my moments where I've hit some great shots, but on the whole I am a pretty poor player. Well compared to MES I am Paul Newman in 'The Color of Money' he was pretty dire. Me and Chris beat them 2-0 and things got so bad that MES asked if we could switch partners.
"What, me and Eleni against you and Chris?" I asked.
"No, me and you against your mate and the wife"
I had to chuckle at that one.
We never did take Mark up on his kind offer of partner swapping. It sounded seedy and very 1970's. Orange formica, brown shag rugs, car keys in the ashtray, spangles, chipboard,Smith's crisps salt n' shake, Vimto and all that.

This kind of sounds like I am having a go at MES a bit, but nothing could be further from the truth. Mark and Eleni were absolutely charming, both really friendly and chatty and great company. They made you feel like you had known them forever, which is kind of the opposite you'd expect given his reputation.
We had a good chat about football as Mark is a fellow Manchester City fan. We spoke about how dire City were as they usually were (and then some) back then. And this was just prior to the World Cup in France when future MCFC manager Sven Goran Eriksson was at the helm. He had just picked Theo Walcott and left Jermaine Defoe and other fowards back in England.
"I don't trust the cunt, he's up to something Andy" opinioned Mark wisely.
I nodded in agreement, what else can you do when you are in the presence of a true Mancunian genius?

Anyone for Svennis?

We also talked about Mick Middles who had just written a bio on Mark and The Fall.
"He's just a cunt from Stockport Andy" he said, then added.
"Me Mam gave him loads of pictures to use in the book. Pictures of me Dad in the army and all that. The fucker never gave her them back, she's dead upset. He's just a cunt from Stockport Andy"
Again I found myself nodding in agreement, I had no way of validating MES' claims, but he's in my top 3 idols, possibly my favourite. I did rather enjoy the Mick Middles book, but Mark's statement soured me on it a little.
Mark and Eleni stayed and chatted with us for about an hour, then they excused themselves politely in order to get ready for the gig.
He did seem a little drunk, but that's rock and roll and Mark E Smith for you.
The show was brilliant despite being the new line up's second gig. We watched them again a couple of nights later and they were already better, then they finished the tour back in L.A. a couple of weeks later and the band was really tight. It was like they had played together for years. MES must have agreed as he kept the line up together for at least a couple of years.
As far as meeting my idols this one ranks up there with the best of them. Mark and Eleni were lovely and genuine people, I seem to remember them giving us a hug when they left us, maybe I made that bit up, I was a bit giddy.
When we saw them play at the Knitting factory two nights later Eleni spotted us and gave us a big grin of recognition, Mark was last on stage, looked down, saw us......nothing. I was a bit gutted, still don't know if he didn't remember us or was just playing it cool. Either way, I wouldn't expect anything less from MES or even want it.
MES over Morrissey any day of the week.

MES, a Mancunian legend and true gent, just don't tell anyone as he has a reputation to uphold.

LA Galaxy away days: Vancouver WhiteCaps and Portland Timbers.

2011-08-05T20:03:00.000-07:00

Mark had earned a couple of free flights with South West Airlines earlier in the year and said we should use them for a Galaxy away game. After plenty of deliberating and changing our minds a couple of times, our final choice came down to Vancouver and Portland. The games were only a few days apart and it would be do-able if our friend in Seattle could accommodate us for a few days. We asked and naturally Fergal was only too happy to put us up and come to the games with us.
I've said it before, but Wedding Present fans tend to be among some of the nicest people in the world.
Obviously this was great and exciting news and pretty much gave me something to look forward to for the past few months in my usually mundane life.

The trip finally came around, I literally felt like a kid waiting for Christmas. After a long and tedious journey we were met by Fergal at Seatac.
It was pretty late, but seeing Mark and I were famished, Fergal took us for a kebab and devoured it at his place and them washed down with several bottles of lager.
We got up pretty early the next morning, drove up to the Canadian border, stopping for a photo op after being interrogated by the border gestapo.
Thankfully I had remembered to bring my passport and green card with me this time and so avoided the 5 hour lecture and anal probe.
Fergal found our hotel without getting lost despite the handicap of having me as a co-pilot. The hotel was actually quite nice and managed by possibly the nicest and most helpful bloke in the world, it didn't hurt that his receptionist was as fit as a butcher's dog either.

After downing a few beers from our cooler (We always travel with one, just in case) we decided to get "oot" and "aboot" and have a bite to eat and while wandering around aimlessly we found ourselves outside a pub called Oscar's. We were stood there waiting to cross the road when some of the occupants had noticed our Galaxy shirts and pounded on the window in order to get our attention. They were Whitecaps fans and one of them came outside and invited us in.
"Will we be alright? Nobody will give us any shit?" I asked
"You'll be fine" he replied.
This guy turned out to be called Matt and he was right, nobody really paid us much attention and those that did either thanked us for coming in or just wished us luck (but not too much) for the game.
This place was the hang out of one of the Whitecaps supporters groups, the Southsiders, who were very gracious except for when they tried to sell me a t-shirt for $25.
WTF??? $25????
ACB shirts cost $10 and the Galaxian shirts were only five bucks.

We had a few pints and ate lunch, Mark and me had the fish and chips and Fergal had the veggie burger. The food was good, the beer was reasonably priced for Vancouver and our bar mates were very friendly.

We finally got to the stadium after a brief stop off at the hotel for another beer and found our seats. There was a total of about 25 to 30 Galaxy fans sat in our vicinity. Quite a few of them I recognized from home games, mainly Riot Squad, a couple of ACB, some "regular" Galaxy fans and Landon Donovan's sister.

The stadium filled to capacity and they announced that it was their record crowd for an MLS game. Quite strange that as already this season Mark and I have been in record crowds at Real Salt Lake and San Jose Earthquakes. Most sensible MLS fans would put this down to extra tickets being sold because of Beckham and Donovan, but I'd like to think it was the fact that they somehow knew the Simi Valley Galaxians (Me and Mark) were coming.
Anyway the game kicked off and for the first 20 or so minutes it was all one way traffic with the Whitecaps in control. Luckily they didn't have much in the way of forwards and squandered a few chances and slowly the Galaxy gained the upper hand forcing ex-G's keeper Joe Cannon into making a couple of great saves to stop us being 2-0 up at half time.
Juan Pablo Angel was as shit as ever, I don't like to bad mouth Galaxy players these days, but he really is fucking garbage.
After we went 1-0 up thanks to a world class finish by Landon, Arena finally saw sense and brought Cristman on for JPA. Cristman is a bit of a lumbering, built like a brick shithouse type, but he was instantly involved, mixing things up and making life awkward for the Whitecaps back four.
We were soon awarded a pk when a Vancouver defender handled the ball under hardly any pressure, Landon tucked it away to put us 2-0 up.
We put the points in the bag when Landon raced onto a through ball and drilled a low pass to Franklin on the back post for the third. Cue dozens and dozens of Canadians heading for the exits. In the last minute Cristman was rewarded for his hard work when Cannon and his defenders couldn't clear the ball and he headed in a looping effort.
We took a bit of abuse from the natives and one dick asked Mark why he supported the Galaxy if he was English.
"Because I live in Los Angeles you twat" replied Mark.
"Well you should move here, to British Columbia, you'd like it better"
Jesus fucking wept!!!!!
Yeah, you can keep Vancouver and your $9 pints my friend.
We were held back and given an escort out of the stadium, where upon we were informed by the locals that the Galaxy sucked, we sucked and our shirt sponsors Herbal Life sucked.
Canadian wit in its highest form, eh!!!!

The next day we got up, packed our gear, loaded up the car and strolled back to the stadium in order to watch the reserve match.
We found seats behind the galaxy bench and were greeted by the Galaxy reserve coaching staff and players, goalkeeping coach Ian Feuer upon seeing our 'Simi Valley Galaxian' banner came over and asked if we were really from Simi Valley. We told him we were and he informed us that he lived in nearby Agoura Hills and chatted to us for a while, which was really nice of him.

Bruce Arena and Dave Sarachan sat directly behind us a few rows back, we didn't bother them as they were there in a working capacity.
Straight from the kick off with Chris Birchall as captain, the Galaxy reserves kind of dominated their Canadian opponents. We were 2-0 up midway through the second half and should have added a couple more, then Paolo Cardoza played a couple of one twos and was chopped down in the 18 yard box. The referee waved play on and of course the Whitecaps took the ball down the field and instantly pulled one back.
This gave them a bit of a lift and they really started pushing for another which came 10 minutes before the end.
The game ended 2-2 which was probably a bit disappointing from the Galaxy stand point, but it was a decent game anyway, played before about 50 spectators in the same stadium that had 27,000 watching less than 24 hours before.
I was going to ask Bruce Arena for a picture after the game but he had snook off round the back, which I thought was a bit piss poor to be honest. You think he'd have the good grace to at least walk by the 3 Galaxy fans in attendance and at least say "Hi" or just nod in our direction.
Oh well, I got a picture with assistant coach Dave Sarachan, then we chatted with Chris Birchall and took a few snaps with him. He was actually cool as fuck and pretty candid when we asked him about a certain team mate of his. We gave him a bit of stick about his mate Robbie Williams (As you do) and with that we headed back to the car and set off on our drive back to the USA to get the fuck out of The People's Republic of Canadia.

The journey wasn't really up to much, we stopped and did some shopping and then nearly died crossing the bridge out of Vancouver.
Seriously, we nearly died when some Frank Black look-alike driving an 18 wheeler truck decided to change lanes right into the side of poor Fergal's Audi, thankfully we survived. We were very shaken up and Fergal's car despite suffering $7000 worth of damage was drive-able so we made it home without much of a delay.
Anything could have happened, we could have died, the tires could have all blown out, the airbags could have all gone off. Either one of those would have made our drive home virtually impossible, especially the former.
Like I said, this fucker was the double of Frank Black of the Pixies and spent the entire time giggling like a schoolgirl while exchanging insurance information with Fergal. I know some people tend do giggle or laugh when they are nervous but this inbred Canadian redneck was a little too much for me and I had to walk away a couple of times for fear of throttling the cunt.
In my opinion he was probably stoned, I don't want to sound bitter but hopefully his bosses fired him as the next lot could be a family of five with small kids who might not get lucky and walk away without a scratch.

"Sorry guys, that was totally my fault ha,ha, ha...... are you all ha, ha, ha... okay??? You're up here to watch soccer?? Ha, ha, ha...... I stopped watching when Vinnie Jones retired ha, ha, ha..... I wanna live in Los Angeles, ha, ha, ha..... I am the son of a mother fucker, ha, ha, ha.... Have a safe journey back to California, PMSL"

WANKER!!!

In between our footy trips our stay in Seattle was fairly low key. We visited the kebab house again as it was ace. Visited the local dive bar (The Reservoir Bar) where we stayed for 10 hours, went for a wander in downtown Seattle and I also made my 'famous' veggie pasties in Fergal's non-meat eating honour.

The day of the Portland game, we booked into the hotel and Fergal and I went for a wander around town while Mark rested due to an upset stomach (Blame the beer, not the pasties). I haven't been to Portland to explore for over 15 years and I must say it really has changed for the better. It was a bit of a dump before, but now it is a thriving city with bars and restaurants everywhere and interesting little shops on every street. We checked out the Dr Marten store and then did a lap of the Timbers stadium.

When we returned for the game I was even more impressed, the streets were full of their fans, it was a sea of green and white. Just like in Vancouver, the home fans were very friendly and welcoming. The stadium was rocking and while our seats were nosebleeds, it still was a decent view.
We were joined at the game by my old friend and ex-Casuals FC legend Andy Rolland and his girlfriend Stacy, unfortunately some miserable bastards moved them from next to us so they could sit in "their" seats. (Wankers!!!!)
The less said about the game the better. Juan Pablo Angel was horrible again, we were 2-0 when he was subbed, too little, too late. We had a couple of good chances early in the second half and for a brief time you thought "We might just make a go of it" of course it never happened and to their credit Portland never let us settle on the ball and were well deserving of the 3-0 final score.
Obviously I was upset about the manner we lost that game, but the Portland Timbers, their fans, stadium and fantastic surrounding area are a very welcome addition to the MLS.
To cut a long story short, we went back to the hotel, had a couple of pizzas, a few more beers, then to bed and back up at 5am. We drove back to Seattle and after a couple of flights via Sacramento and Burbank finally got back in Simi Valley exhausted at 5pm.
It was a great week and my thanks go out to Fergal and Mark for making it happen and all the lovely people we met along the way.

Manchester City F.C. West Coast Tour of the USA 2011.

2011-07-27T19:18:00.000-07:00

Last season Man City came out and played a friendly against the Portland Timbers during the summer, of course I wanted to go but I was skint. The game was a one off and tickets were limited to Timbers season ticket holders in a stadium that held about 5000, so tickets would be scarce and expensive. Plus it was just after the World Cup so all of City's international players would not have played either. I looked into flights and they were about $450.00 which seemed a bit pricey for a weekend, so I gave it a miss telling myself that "They'd be back next year anyway"
I like to think that I'm usually right (I'm not) but this time I was.
City announced a 3 game tour to play on the west coast, where they would take on Club America (MEX), Vancouver Whitecaps (CAN) and my second team the LA Galaxy (USA).
I was pretty fucking excited to say the least.
Seeing I would be going to watch the Galaxy play in Vancouver in late July I decided to give the Whitecaps game a miss and got tickets to the Club America and Galaxy games.

The tour kicked off in San Francisco against Club America at AT&T Park home of the SF Giants baseball team. It was strange venue to see a football match, but in fairness it was a lovely stadium. City won quite convincingly 2-0 with goals from McGivern and SWP, I met Mike Summerbee, SWP and Edin Dzeko. Had a great time with my son Liam and friends Mark and Kia. Also met up with the San Francisco MCFC supporters club who seemed very enthusiastic to say the least. Nice to see City getting a bit more global. It was great weekend and made the 12 hour round trip drive certainly seem worthwhile.

Next up was the Whitecaps up in Vancouver. City fell behind early but came back hard in the second half with goals from Guidetti and SWP (again). The most notable thing about this game was the atrocious pitch and the injury to Ya Ya Toure.

Then came the game I never thought I would see, Man City versus LA Galaxy at the Home Depot Center. As you know despite being a lifelong blue, I have also adopted the Galaxy as my second team. I know some of my English friends can be dismissive of this, but the Galaxy have become a big part of my life. I love live football, my kids love going to go to Galaxy games as well, we are a Man City and Galaxy loving family.
City are my first love and I wanted them to win, but I didn't want to see them humiliate the Galaxy like United did to Seattle Sounders a couple of days earlier.
I asked the Galaxian group that we sit with during every game if they'd have a problem with me wearing my City colours during the game and they all said "Go for it"
So the day of the game came and we set off at 9am due to the 1pm kick off, we hit some major traffic on the 110 freeway and it made for a nervous half hour or so, plenty of sweating and swearing. During this time mark got a call from the Galaxy and they had given us two passes to go underground and meet players in the tunnel. This meant that our tailgating was cut short, so we went in early, had a quick picture done with the FA Cup (again) and then went to the tunnel.

It was a bit lame to be honest, saw various players, met Roberto Mancini and Vincent Kompany, then had a chat with Brian Kidd. My mum and dad always told me that when my younger sister was born, Brian Kidd's wife was in the same maternity ward and had the bed next to my mum. Apparently he visited at the same time, chatted with us, but I was only six at the time so couldn't remember. Anyway I recounted this tale to Brian on Sunday, blurted it out like a rambling star struck idiot, gave him the date "December 1972" and he replied "Oh yeah, that's right. nice one"
A family mystery finally cleared up, why I doubted my parents on this I never know, but there you go.

The game was quite entertaining, Mario Balotelli put us 1-0 with a pk after Brian Jordan fouled Micah Richards. Later he was subbed for a bit of showboating when he claimed he thought he was offside. Of course the media blew it out of proportion, if you can't showboat in an exhibition game then when can you showboat?
The Galaxy had a bit of a go in the second half, Magee scored a decent enough goal, even though 99 times out of 100 that shot would have gone 30 feet over the bar. It finished 1-1 and was decided with a pk shoot out which was put to bed by Joe Hart.
Everyone in the Galaxians seemed happy enough with the game, the main downside was the heat, I was a bit burnt.

In all it was a good day, took Kellie and Owen to their first City match (Liam didn't go to this one because he picked the wrong weekend to act up)
I got interview by the City website, saw Will Ferrell, City fan Timothy Dalton (James Bond) and generally had a great time.
I spoke to City's Garry Cook who said they were probably coming back out to the west coast next summer. My guess is they might be the next All Star game opponents.

Anyway, it was a fantastic couple of weeks, always great to see City play and the bonus was meeting so many new City fans. A big shout out to the San Francisco group and Tony Steenson and family from Santa Monica.
CTID.

LA Galaxy Fans Q&A Number Nine. FREDY MONGE.

2011-05-23T19:05:00.000-07:00

Next up is my Galaxy going buddy Fredy. Our paths first crossed in San Jose last season when Fredy and his friends booked into the same hotel as me and Mark and were immediately impressed by our drinking prowess. Drinking and supporting the Galaxy is all we need in common to be friends with Fredy and his crew, that's the beauty of following the G's, you meet a hell of a lot of nice people.

Q1. How did you first get into the Galaxy and what was the first game you attended?
I got into the Galaxy after the 1994 World Cup. My dad, uncles and friends used to go to a lot of international friendly game when they were in town. I wasn’t such a big fan of dodging cups full of piss (Urine not booze) at the coliseum when Mexico played El Salvador or Guatemala but I loved hanging out watching football with the family. Some of the best Galaxy games were the ones where Dexter’s dad hooked it up with free suite tickets at the Rose Bowl. We were too young to drink their free booze but it was still fun.

Q2. Name your favourite five Galaxy players of all time?
Cienfuegos
Donovan
Buddle
Ruiz
Jones

Q3. What is your normal preparation/routine when attending a Galaxy game?
I usually half ass my day and leave everything I have to do until last minute, consequently making me late to pick Dexter up on the way to HDC. Pick up some beer at the Ralphs by the HDC and head over to see all the great friends we’ve made.

Q4. Do you follow any other footy teams?
Not really. I enjoy following leagues. I can’t say that I’ve grown up following one team.

Q5. Name five footy teams that you hate the most?
No one specifically to hate on.

Q6. Describe the best Galaxy performance you attended?
In Seattle May, 2010. Galaxy whooped the Sounders in front of their massive, sold-out crowd. Traveling games are all amazing, especially when won.

Q7. Describe the worst?
RSL 2011. Great trip, great snow, great people, worst Galaxy performance.

Q8. Has the Beckham signing been better for Beckham, the Galaxy or the MLS?
I think it has been good all around. Games sell out in places you wouldn’t think they’d sell out. The Galaxy played in Australia because of him so it got some global exposure. Beckham also attracts “talent” to the games (aka hot chicks that wouldn’t otherwise come to a match).

Q9. Do you follow any other sports and if so, what teams?
I don’t follow any other team like I do the Galaxy. I like going to baseball games and root for the Dodgers and Angels. Going to Spring training in Arizona is always a good time. LA Kings all the way!

Q10. Do you play footy, what position and are you any good?
I haven’t played in a looooooong time! Stuck to school first and foremost because I wasn’t good. I loved playing and played in the high school team but c’mon, I knew I didn’t have a future in footy so it was always secondary to school.

Q11. What's with the rivalry between Galaxy supporters groups?
Who knows? Same as any other group organization trying to best the other I guess. Everyone is pretty cool in all the supporter groups.

Q12. Have you ever been involved in any aggro at the match? Galaxy or otherwise?
If I have I don’t remember. It wasn’t me. I once took out some bushes in San Jose, does that count?

Q13. How do you think the MLS compares with other leagues around the world?
Who cares! It’s ours to enjoy! People spend too much time comparing apples to oranges. Shut up and support your team.

Q14. Club before country?
Club

Q15. Almost every Galaxy fan I speak to wishes that Chivas USA were gone from the HDC, where would you like to see them end up?

Las Vegas, NV. San Diego, CA. Tempe, AZ. Send them to Arizona! That would be an awesome road trip. Tempe would be a better trip than Vegas or San Diego.

Q16. Favourite away stadium? (MLS or otherwise)
There are so many to discover still. So far the Sounders stadium was a pretty fun one.

Q17. Least favourite away stadium? (MLS or otherwise)
San Jose sucks.

Q18. Finally, how do you see the season ending for the LA Galaxy this year?
This is a tough one. I do not like the results so far. I hope the team grows to play better as we go. They better keep in mind the cup will be played at home.

00 years and we're still here.

2011-05-14T13:32:00.000-07:00

So after 35 years my Manchester City finally win some major silverware, the FA Cup.
It was a cracking performance against a pretty poor Stoke City who should thank their keeper Sorensen for keeping the score respectable.
Is this the start of the "Blue Moon Rising" or just another false dawn?
I don't care at this moment as I'm still pretty chuffed, but for the past couple of decades I've been saying how I hoped I got to see City win a trophy before I died.
Must admit, I'm feeling pretty nervous right now.

Los Angeles Galaxy Fans Q&A Number Eight. ME aka ANDY GILLESPIE

2011-04-21T17:12:00.001-07:00

I have a few Q&A's out there in e-mail-land but so far I am still waiting for responses. In the meantime, I think I'll have a crack at it myself, so here goes.......

Q1. How did you first get into the Galaxy and what was the first game you attended?
Pretty much like a lot of Galaxy fans did, they started up the MLS and we were granted a team called the Galaxy. I went to the first game, it was pretty mental off the field with all the 1000's of extra fans that showed up. The football wasn't so great and I gave up after a few seasons, but now I'm back with a vengeance and I'm Galaxy till I die...

Q2. Name your favourite five Galaxy players of all time?
Mauricio Cienfuegos - Still my all time favourite G's player, what I'd give to have him in his prime in the current squad.
Kevin Hartman - One of the best MLS keepers of all time for me. Could and probably should have moved to Europe years ago and made a name for himself, not to mention a lot more money.
Cobi Jones - Longest serving G ever, breaks my heart that he's now with the NY Cosmos and they're not even a proper team.
Landon Donovan - Mr Consistant and has carried this team single handedly unlike a certain Mr Beckham.
Edson Buddle - Had a couple of great years and a couple of crap years with us. I wanted him gone after his lack of performance in the MLS Cup Final, but he came back the next year and proved his critics wrong. It was close between him and Hurtado, but I went for Buddle as he was an idol to my kids as well.

Q3. What is your normal preparation/routine when attending a Galaxy game?
Load up the ice cooler with Bitburger.
Get the kids ready, pick out which Galaxy shirt and trainers to wear.
Mark picks us up, we pick up Alex, get food from Carls Jr, meet up with the Galaxians, drink until kick off and then scream, jump around and clap on the Galaxy for 90 minutes.

Q4. Do you follow any other footy teams?
First and foremost Manchester City, God's own team.

Q5. Name five footy teams that you hate the most?
In England: Man U*****d, L**ds U****d, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs.
Rest of the World: San Jose Earthquakes, RSL, Chivas, Seattle Flounders, Real Madrid.

Q6. Describe the best Galaxy performance you attended?
My memory is a bit shit, so I'll say most recently, it would be beating Seattle Sounders last year on July 4th. Kellie and the kids were with us and they loved it as well, a great day all round.
Plus any other time we beat the Flounders and any time we beat Chivas, which thankfully is quite often on both scores.

Q7. Describe the worst?
RSL the other week instantly springs to mind, it was awful. Losing to those fuckers in the MLS Cup Final was shit as well.

Q8. Has the Beckham signing been better for Beckham, the Galaxy or the MLS?
A bit of all three really. I have defended his behaviour a few times, but he fucked the Galaxy and our fans over once too often, the sooner he is gone the better.

Q9. Do you follow any other sports and if so, what teams?
No, there really is no other sport for me.
I do actually want all other L.A. teams to do well as a local, but I really don't give a toss either when they lose.

Q10. Do you play footy, what position and are you any good?
I was quite decent in my youth, played on the wing and also right back. Used to be quite fast and could knock a great cross in. I was also known for being deadly with a slide tackle and when I first came to the USA as youngster, much older players genuinely feared me.
I was also known to have scored a few screamers in my time, which I am quite proud of and once scored two goals from the halfway line in a minute. I banged one in and took abuse off the opposition saying it was a fluke. Then they fucked up the kick off so I ploughed into them and banged the ball into the top corner, they were shell shocked.
Now I don't really play that much anymore, I just tend to stand/jog about but can still knock a great cross in and have a decent shot, a bit like Beckham only older, fatter and a lot sexier.

Q11. What's with the rivalry between Galaxy supporters groups?
I don't get it, we're all Galaxy fans. I just mainly hear rumblings from knobs from each supporters groups bitching about each other and who has the best supporters group, laughable really.

Q12. Have you ever seen or been involved in any aggro at the match? Galaxy or otherwise?
Many, many times.
Been beaten, beaten people and seen tons of stuff go down.
I used to revel in it and think it was cool as fuck. Now I look back and realise it was all pretty pointless and a bit sad really.

Q13. How do you think the MLS compares with other leagues around the world?
We shouldn't really worry about that sort of stuff, we have our own market and our own unique fans to cater to. The league is getting better each year though.
I remember Eric Wynalda bragging when the league first started that within 10 years the MLS would compete with the best leagues around the world. He was way wide of the mark, but I'd be shocked if we can't reach that within the next 20 years.

Q14. Club before country?
Always been club for me, don't really care that much for the England national team, I'd watch City or the Galaxy over them any day of the week.

Q15. Almost every Galaxy fan I speak to wishes that Chivas USA were gone from the HDC, where would you like to see them end up?

Vegas or San Diego would make for a great away trip.

Q16. Favourite away stadium? (MLS or otherwise)
Seattle was awesome, but I don't count it because it's a NFL stadium. I was very impressed with Rio Tinto and in the EPL I always enjoyed visiting Anfield with City.

Q17. Least favourite away stadium? (MLS or otherwise)
San Jose is a joke. In the EPL I'd have to say Old Trafford. Nice enough stadium, but heavily populated by cunts.

Q18. If you could change anything about the Galaxy organisation what would it/they be?
Get rid of Beckham.
Have designated away end/section.
Hang the DJ, the music at home games is seriously shit. I don't need to hear the Black Eyed fucking Peas ever again.
Get some half time entertainment other than 46 AYSO kids chasing a ball around for 10 minutes.
Cheaper concessions and more choices

Q19. What changes would you make to the MLS?
Not a fan of play offs, I know it's an American thing, but they could get rid of them and I'd be happy.
Sort out the situation with major international tournaments clashing with our season, you can't exactly move the World Cup so we should have an extended break during it.
Have weekends off for WC qualifiers and friendlies, we always lose Donovan, it's a joke.

Q20. What's the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you at the match?
One year at Watford, I hitch hiked down there as I was on the dole and broke, paid into the cheapest part of the ground and was instantly rumbled by a steward who shouted at me from the bottom of the stand "Oi, you're a Man City fan, you're not supposed to be in there"
"Fuck me" I thought, "how did he know?" Then I looked around to see that everyone stood around me only came up to my chest and I had paid to get into the kids stand for under twelves. Even eight year old girls were pointing and laughing at me.

Q21. Funniest thing you has seen at the match?
Probably when we thought our mate Colin Wilson had been stabbed at Blackburn away with City after we saw it kick off in their end and him being carried away, doubled up on a stretcher. Turned out he just had an extreme case of the shits from a bad curry the night before.
There's a blog about it somewhere on here.

Q22. Finally, how do you see the season ending for the LA Galaxy this year?
We obviously haven't started off too good this year, but I think we'll turn it around. Every season there is a team that gets "hot" just before the end of the season, rolls into the play offs and destroys all before them. I'm hoping we're going to be that team this year. It's only a matter of time before our forwards, especially Angel click and start banging the goals in for fun.

Great answers, thanks Me.

British Sea Power at the Troubadour April 7th 2011

2011-04-21T14:20:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of friends back in the UK who have raved about this band, "You'll like them" said one, "they sound a bit like Echo and the Bunnymen"
Well I own three albums by them, Open Season, The Decline of BSP and Do You Like Rock Music?
I think I've only ever listened to each CD maybe once, they didn't exactly grab me and drag me in with them, but given the chance to see the band live I jumped at it, hoping things would be different in the flesh.

I'll tell you this about British Sea Power, they are great musicians, put on a great show and their fans are rabid about them and were really into the gig.
But I found myself getting a bit bored at the show, maybe it was because they came on late and I had to be up the next day at 5am? I don't know, but I gave it a try, it wasn't horrible or remotely bad. Like I said, they were very good, just wasn't my thing.
It's almost like meeting a really beautiful girl, you get along, everything looks rosy, then you get her into bed and it's just MEH!!! Nothing wrong with that, just no connection.
So I tip my cap to you BSP, but it was never meant to be.

Liam Spencer.

2011-04-16T14:14:00.000-07:00

And now ladies and gentlemen, my loyal followers (all 8 of you) I give you a bit of culture as I delve into the world of the arts.
I am a big fan of England's North West artist Liam Spencer, I first saw his work a few years back in a gallery back home in Manchester.
He's a modern day L.S. Lowry and paints scenes from the NW of England using oils on board, canvass or whatever he can get his hands on.
As a fellow northerner, his work, subject matter and methods really appeal to me.

Here's a handful of Manchester City related pieces he did (just like Lowry), they are my personal favourites, so good in fact that I'll even forgive him for the one he did of Old Trafford.

More amazing stuff can be found at:

http://www.liamspencer.co.uk/

Bluemoon Chippy.

Maine Road at Twilight.

Eastlands.

Eastlands Ariel View.

A few football related pictures by LS Lowry.
Lowry was known to be a keen Manchester City fan and the first two paintings here were of Maine Road.

LS Lowry. Going to the match

LS Lowry. The football match.

LS Lowry. Also known as "The match"

I will be posting more football related artwork over the next few weeks, so keep your eyes peeled.

FA Cup Semi Final: Manchester City v Manchester U****d

2011-04-16T11:49:00.001-07:00

Great win today.
Ya Ya Toure, I think I love you!!!!!

Congratulations to Roberto Mancini and the entire Manchester City squad.
In typical City fashion, after beating U****d I fully expect expect us to choke against Stoke or Bolton.
Already had a few Bitburgers, now I'm off to mow the lawn in my 1976 retro City shirt.

If you see this man wearing this shirt and coming at you with a lawnmower, get out of the way, he's drunk.

LA Galaxy Fans Q&A Number Seven. SANDRO SOLER.

2011-04-15T16:39:00.001-07:00

Lucky number seven and it's the turn of Sandro Soler. Sandro was instrumental in making us Simi Valley types feel welcome in the Galaxians.
Even when we were in denial that we weren't officially Galaxians, he insisted that we were and that was that. I remember seeing Sandro around the HDC for a while and always had a bit of a chuckle at their antics. I recall one game where fans of some rival team (it might have been Dallas) sat behind the Galaxians and unfurled their team flag. Sandro and Co were having none of it and within minutes had the away fans moved "for their own safety".
Always good for a laugh, a beer, a conversation about music, UCSB and of course the Galaxy.
Sandro also flew up to Toronto last year for the MPS Cup Final and to collect the Supporters Shield with a few other Galaxy fans on all of our behalf, thanks for that Sandro.

Q1. How did you first get into the Galaxy and what was the first game you attended?
I moved here from Peru in 1990. I was unable to attend a live football match on a regular basis until MLS came in 1996. When the league was announced, I decided to be a fan of whatever team LA would get.

Q2. Name your favourite five Galaxy players of all time?
Cienfuegos, Hartman, Hendrickson, Ruiz, Jones.

Q3. What is your normal preparation/routine when attending a Galaxy game?
I go to the supermarket to pick up beer and meat for the grill.

Q4. Do you follow any other footy teams?
Universitario

Q5. Name five footy teams that you hate the most?
Chivas, San Jose, Alianza Lima, Sporting Cristal, Sport Boys

Q6. Describe the best Galaxy performance you attended?
Galaxy 5, Kansas 2, 2002 MLS Play Offs

Q7. Describe the worst?
SJ 5, Galaxy 2, 2003 MLS Play Offs

Q8. Has the Beckham signing been better for Beckham, the Galaxy or the MLS?
Beckham, by far. In terms of marketing and exposure, it was one of the best things for the MLS and the Galaxy. In terms of football results and fans getting screwed over because of money, Beckham is the worst thing ever.

Q9. Do you follow any other sports and if so, what teams?
Rugby, hockey - LA Kings and any UCSB team

Q10. Do you play footy, what position and are you any good?
I play all positions, my favorites are striker and goalie. I can hold my own.

Q11. What's with the rivalry between Galaxy supporters groups?
Never understood the Riot Squad's need to wage war on the Galaxians, since we both support the same team and would be on the same side. We never did anything to them. They just needed a target to make themselves feel better. When we decided to ignore them, they started fighting each other.

Q12. Have you ever seen or been involved in any aggro at the match? Galaxy or otherwise?
No, thank God.

Q13. How do you think the MLS compares with other leagues around the world?
We have grown light years in 15 years, but we are still far behind.

Q14. Club before country?
Both

Q15. Almost every Galaxy fan I speak to wishes that Chivas USA were gone from the HDC, where would you like to see them end up?
Actually, let them stay in the HDC, and move us back to the Rose Bowl.

Q16. Favourite away stadium? (MLS or otherwise)
Qwest Field, Seattle

Q17. Least favourite away stadium? (MLS or otherwise)
Spartan, Oakland Coliseum, Buckshaw Stadium

Q18. If you could change anything about the Galaxy organisation what would it/they be?
Better treatment of the supporter's groups, and going back to football over greed.

Q19. What changes would you make to the MLS?
The end of Play-Offs and have us be an actual league. League wide rule on travelling fans, such as setting aside a mandatory away fans section like in the rest of the world.

Q20. What's the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you at the match?
Not embarassing, but I got thrown out of Spartan for doing nothing.

Q21. Funniest thing you has seen at the match?
Beckham yelling back to the crowd.

Q22. Finally, how do you see the season ending for the LA Galaxy this year?
From what I saw on our last match vs. Toronto, we are a very Donovan-dependant team. If he is out for a long period of time, it'll be a very difficult season. It's too early to tell. But this league is notorious for the regular season killer team to fall flat on it's face during the play-offs.

Thanks mate, I think your answer in Q21 might be referring to the home opener this season when you screamed at Beckham to cross the ball and he got his panties in a twist and started grabbing the LA badge on his jersey. You're trouble maker Sandro and that's a fact.

LA Galaxy Fans Q&A Number Six. KAREN EDWARDS.

2011-04-15T16:10:00.000-07:00

Q&A "victim" number six is my friend Karen Edwards. She is a member of the Riot Squad, married to Steve (another friend) and also supports the blue half of Liverpool (Blame Steve). She is also a huge fan of one of my favourite bands The Wedding Present and that alone is a big plus for me.
I usually try to stop by them at the LARS picnic area on the way into the HDC as they always have a good stock of Stella Artois, even after I have run out of Bitburger. Cheers for that Karen.... hic!!!!

Q1. How did you first get into the Galaxy and what was the first game you attended?
Heard Beckham was coming and told Steve we should get season tickets.

Q2. Name your favourite five Galaxy players of all time?
Landon Donovan

Q3. What is your normal preparation/routine when attending a Galaxy game?
Leave early enough to tailgate with LARS and get a drink or two in, as I'll have to stop early and drive home.

Q4. Do you follow any other footy teams?
Everton - by marriage

Q5. Name five footy teams that you hate the most?
Chivas USA, Seattle, San Jose, Liverpool, Mexico

Q6. Describe the best Galaxy performance you attended?
I honestly don't remember performances. Bad memory.

Q7. Describe the worst?
I honestly don't remember performances. Bad memory.

Q8. Has the Beckham signing been better for Beckham, the Galaxy or the MLS?
I'd say it's been best for the MLS. Brought a lot of focus that wouldn't have been there otherwise.

Q9. Do you follow any other sports and if so, what teams?
Nascar. My driver is Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Q10. Do you play footy, what position and are you any good?
No. I'd suck with my weak ankles.

Q11. What's with the rivalry between Galaxy supporters groups?
It's a school yard battle of the coolest. Lame.

Q12. Have you ever been involved in any aggro at the match? Galaxy or otherwise?
Hellz no.

Q13. How do you think the MLS compares with other leagues around the world?
Only following the EPL really, and we don't compare. *Maybe* we can handle some Championship teams, but not the way we're playing right now.

Q14. Club before country?
Yes.

Q15. Almost every Galaxy fan I speak to wishes that Chivas USA were gone from the HDC, where would you like to see them end up?

I'd like to see them in San Diego. It'd make for a nice little roadtrip.

Q16. Favourite away stadium? (MLS or otherwise)
I haven't been, but I'm gonna guess it would be Red Bull Arena.

Q17. Least favourite away stadium? (MLS or otherwise)
Buck Shaw. What a pit.

Q18. If you could change anything about the Galaxy organisation what would it/they be?
More transparency.

Q19. What changes would you make to the MLS?
Dunno. It seems to be chugging along alright.

Q20. What's the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you at the match?

Nothing. Yet.

Q21. Funniest thing you has seen at the match?
God-loving Chris Klein taking out a pitch invader.

Q22. Finally, how do you see the season ending for the LA Galaxy this year?
Ever the football pessimist, I'd say we squeak into the playoffs only to be out in the first round. Of course I hope we take it all.

Thanks Karen, short but sweet, just like you my dear. ;)

LA Galaxy Fans Q&A Number Five. RODNEY LA ROCQUE

2011-04-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

Next up is Galaxian, ACB and HDC legend Rodney La Rocque.
His love for the L.A. Galaxy is only matched by his hatred of the Chivas USA or "Shitvas" as he is known to refer to them.
Top bloke who showed up at Oscars Bar in Sandy UT with 20 or so pairs of gloves for the traveling G's fans who might have needed then for the game that night. Trust me, they were needed and the gesture was much appreciated by the visiting Los Angelinos.

Q1.How did you first get into the Galaxy and what was the first game you attended?
I have all ways liked watching football and I started going to Galaxy matches in May 1997 just shortly into their second season and attended matches off and on by myself at the Rose Bowl through the 1998 season. At the beginning of 1999 season I bought my first season ticket and have missed about five home matches since then. .

Q2. Name your favorite five Galaxy players of all time?
Cobi Jones
Mauricio Cienfuegos
Kevin Hartman
Carlos Ruiz
Landon Donovan

Q3. What is your normal preparation/routine when attending a Galaxy game?
Starting during the week before a match, I start thinking about what to bring to the picnic (tailgate) and a couple days before the match I gather the food and begin preparing it. When I smoke meat I light the smoker about 5:00 a.m. on the day of the match and smoke it for eight (8) to ten (10) hours. In the event of a Galaxy loss the picnic is the most important part of the match to me, with a win I enjoy being with my fellow Galaxy friends.

Q4. Do you follow any other footy teams?
West Ham United and Chelsea

Q5. Name five footy teams that you hate the most?
Chivas USA , San Jose Earthquakes, Real Salt Lake , Seattle Sounders, and because I HATE them so much- Chivas USA gets named twice.

Q6. Describe the best Galaxy performance you attended?
After attending MLS Cup matches in 1999, 2000, and 2001; on 13 October 2002 in the Foxboro, MA MLS Cup match when Carlos Ruiz scored the match winning goal I was the happiest football fan there could be.

Q7. Describe the worst?
In 2003 the semi-final match for the Western Division Championship at the Galaxy v San Jose match the away leg the Galaxy had a three aggregate goal lead and heading for the Division Championship until the Earthquakes scored four goals and won- Darn it.

Q8. Has the Beckham signing been better for Beckham, the Galaxy or the MLS?
Having a player the world class caliber of David Beckham signing with the Galaxy has been great for the entire league as a whole.

Q9. Do you follow any other sports and if so, what teams?
I only follow football, however once in a year for the past thirty-nine years I have been involved with the Long Beach- Catalina Water Ski Race assisting my family with race communications.

Q10. Do you play footy, what position and are you any good?
Football wasn’t widely played when I went to school in the 1970’s so I have never played in an organized match; I have played in a few pick-up matches with friends.

Q11. What's with the rivalry between Galaxy supporters groups?
Being one of the original six founders of the Angel City Brigade I do not really believe there is any true rivalry between the supporter groups. I do however believe there is some animosity in between our group and the other group in the far corner because of our enormous fast growth and media attention. However, this animosity comes in the form of copying our support of the Galaxy with drumming, throwing confetti and streamers which benefits the support of the team.

Q12. Have you ever been involved in any aggro at the match? Galaxy or otherwise?
No, I have had occasions where Chivas USA fans appeared to want to start something but I ignored them and they went away.
One time in Kansas City this intoxicated fan didn’t appreciate my names for his team and wanted to start something, but I ignored him and he went away.

Q13. How do you think the MLS compares with other leagues around the world?
Being English and other world-wide football has been around for over one hundred years and MLS is in its infancy at a mere fifteen years I would say MLS compares very well. I have attended matches in Europe, Mexico , Central and South America as well as Australia and I would say MLS matches compare pretty well to those world-wide matches.

Q14. Club before country?
I bleed Red, White and Blue for the USMNT first, then Blue, White, and Gold for my Galaxy second.

Q15. Almost every Galaxy fan I speak to wishes that Chivas USA were gone from the HDC, where would you like to see them end up?

I am one of the people that would like to see them go as well. In speaking with several Hispanic people in our area I believe Chivas would be better supported in the San Diego area; therefore I would like to see them move to the San Diego area.

Q16. Favourite away stadium? (MLS or otherwise)
Being a fan of football, I would have to say my favorite stadium to attend a match is Azteca Stadium in Mexico City . Words are hard to describe the passionate fans in Mexico for football.

Q17. Least favourite away stadium? (MLS or otherwise)
Santa Clara College Stadium “Home of the Earthquakes”

Q18. If you could change anything about the Galaxy organization what would it/they be?
Be more truthful to the fans when it comes to injuries of the players including type of injury and anticipated length of recovery. Also be more truthful to fans when it comes to delivery of promised season ticket holder items.

Q19. What changes would you make to the MLS?
Have better television coverage of the matches including real time coverage and no time delay showings. Eliminate or greatly raise the salary cap to keep US players playing on US soil in lieu of going to Europe for better pay.

Q20. What's the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you at the match?
I was celebrating my birthday in 2003 at the HDC with my Galaxian friends and became grossly intoxicated to the point where I had to take a cab from the gate to the parking lot because I couldn’t stand up (a fellow Galaxian drove me and my truck to my motel near the HDC).

Q21. Funniest thing you have seen at the match?
I was attending a Chicago Fire match in 2004 and yelling “Piss on the Fire” and “ Chicago sucks;” their mascot brought over a bar of soap and said “This is for your mouth.”

Q22. Finally, how do you see the season ending for the LA Galaxy this year?

As always I hope we win the Champion’s League, Open Cup, Supporter Shield, and MLS Cup; I will show my support of my team on their quest for those championships.

Good work Rodney, nice answers, although I must admit that I was a bit "upset" that you didn't refer to our lodgers as the Shitvas.
Oh well, just for you mate....... CHINGA SHITVAS!!!!!

Los Angeles Galaxy Fans Q&A Number Four. LINDA PICKLE

2011-04-15T14:41:00.001-07:00

Next up is Linda Pickle who is a long time Galaxian and unofficial Galaxy photographer. A very nice lady one one of four Galaxians to make the trip up to Utah amongst a seas of ACB, which is just as well as she gave us (The Simi Valley lot) a ride back to our hotel when we were stranded at Oscars Bar.
She is also a favourite with the young Galaxian offspring and always willing to have them sit next to her on the front row and explain "stuff" about the game they don't quite understand.

Q1. How did you first get into the Galaxy and what was the first game you attended?
I discovered soccer during WC '94. I followed the LA Salsa until the Galaxy was formed. Went to the combine in Pasadena and San Diego while the West and DC teams were finding out who to keep or let go.

I also remember when we voted for the name of the Galaxy fan club. Galaxians won out in the end. I've been a season ticket holder since '96 though I didn't sit with the Galaxians for the 1st 2 years. Attended the 1st MLS Game in San Jose, the first MLS Cup - we lost in the No Easterner. I learned to love our team, road trips and the players. The comraderie with the group is one of the big pluses for going to the games. I can go to a game by myself because I know my friends will be there to laugh, cheer and sometimes cry if things go wrong.

Q2. Name your favourite five Galaxy players of all time?
First and foremost is Kevin "Gato" Hartman, then Cobi Jones, Landon Donovan, Danny Pena and last but not least Cienfuegos.

Q3. What is your normal preparation/routine when attending a Galaxy game?
Get there early and never wear black underwear (superstition that its bad luck).

Q4. Do you follow any other footy teams?
Just the US Men's and Women's national teams.

Q5. Name five footy teams that you hate the most?
Earthquacks, DC United and Cheap A@@ plus Chicago.

Q6. Describe the best Galaxy performance you attended?
Winning the MLS Cup in 2002 v New England in their own stadium. After so many tries it was a relief and we all wept.

Q7. Describe the worst?
No Comment

Q8. Has the Beckham signing been better for Beckham, the Galaxy or the MLS?
Beckham and the MLS. The Galaxy doesn't think so but for fans I find him a distraction and expense the LAG fans should have had to pay for in the most expensive tixs in the league. What did he bring in 2007 - loss of so many fan favorites like Gato, Marshall, and Dunivant but they were just the beginning. Then he was injured on top of losing our good players we missed the playoffs for the 1st time in our history and the following years wasn't any better. Becks and his people ran the club into the group and made many fans mad.

Q9. Do you follow any other sports and if so, what teams?
I've run an NFL football pool for 20+ years but really don't watch the games except for the Super Bowl.

Q10. Do you play footy, what position and are you any good?
They didn't have soccer when I went to high school but did join a lunch time game at work.

Q11. What's with the rivalry between Galaxy supporters groups?
There's always been one. Many of the groups spin off of others because of diffences. The Galaxians and ACB work well together with little friction.

Q12. Have you ever seen or caught up in any aggro at the match? Galaxy or otherwise?

Yes in SJ with security. I was knocked down some stairs and had a concussion for 6 mos. It made me appreciate when the players get one. I still get some dizziness on occasion.

Q13. How do you think the MLS compares with other leagues around the world?
We're still like children but growing step-by-step.

Q14. Club before country?
Danny Pena always put the Galaxy before the National team but I also appreciate when players need to play for country. It depends on if a VERY important game is in the balance like an All Star Game or Cup one. Of course the WC comes first in priority.

Q15. Almost every Galaxy fan I speak to wishes that Chivas USA were gone from the HDC, where would you like to see them end up?

They were supposed to move to Santa Ana but the economy ended the new stadium plans.

16. Favourite away stadium? (MLS or otherwise)
I enjoyed the layout of these stadiums - Columbus, Denver, Dallas and Salt Lake City.

Q17. Least favourite away stadium? (MLS or otherwise)
San Jose until they build the new one.

Q18. If you could change anything about the Galaxy organisation what would it/they be?
When Becks leaves I hope they go to normal security so the fans can again interact with the players. I really miss those days. Our team has always had more security then any of the other teams.

Q19. What changes would you make to the MLS?
Quit setting up games with big rivals on bad days. SJ away trip same as the final Gold Cup in Pasadena so both SJ and Galaxy fans will miss one or the other game which should have been two highlights of the year.

Q20. What's the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you at the match?
unknown

Q21. Funniest thing you has seen at the match?
It was a charity match and Taylor Twellman was the GK and he was lying on the ground while Landon's ex-wife was trying to score.

Another moment was in a playoff game. One player thought he scored and did a somersault. He injuried himself and missed the rest of the game. Later Bryan Jordan scored. Did a somersault, vaulted the barriers and threw himself into the Galaxian arms.

Other great celebrations was with EZ when we won the Confederations Cup at the Coliseum, Fishy Ruiz also celebrated with us.

Q22. Finally, how do you see the season ending for the LA Galaxy this year?
If we host the MLS Cup, I hope we break the curse and are part of the game culminating in winning it.

Thanks for taking part Linda, good stuff, see you at the HDC.

Los Angeles Galaxy Fans Q&A Number Three. CARLISA PERDOMO

2011-04-14T18:24:00.000-07:00

Victim number three is fellow Galaxian Carlisa Perdomo, a mother of two, wife and all round lovely lady. As the Galaxians President she is often the voice of our group in dealing with the front office and collected the 2010 Supporter's Shield plague on behalf of the Galaxians from none other than Landon Donovan in the rain.
Carlisa also claims that one of her greatest Galaxy moments was when she got her two Galaxy tattoos.

Q1. How did you first get into the Galaxy and what was the first game you attended?
I heard that there was going to be a soccer team in LA so I went to the Galaxy's home opener in 1996.

Q2. Name your favourite five Galaxy players of all time?
1)Mauricio Cienfuegos
2)Kevin "El Gato" Hartman.
3) Landon Donovan.
4) "El Tanque"- Hurtado
5) Cobi Jones

Q3. What is your normal preparation/routine when attending a Galaxy game?
It's going to sound crazy but I make sure I put on my "special underwear." I put on my LAG necklace & bracelets too. I bring the drums, banners, flags to the HDC. Once I go in to the stadium, I go to the bathroom & say a little prayer.

Q4. Do you follow any other footy teams?
Teams from England, Spain, USMNT & USWNT

Q5. Name five footy teams that you hate the most?
1) Chivas 2) San Jose 3) Real Salt Lake 4) Seattle 5)Chicago

Q6. Describe the best Galaxy performance you attended?
The best Galaxy performance that I attended was for the 2005 MLS in Texas. I was able to be part of the celebration of when Pando scored the winning goal.

Q7. Describe the worst?
The worst was the 3 years that the LAG missed the playoffs & was under the fucked up management of Alexi Lalas.

Q8. Has the Beckham signing been better for Beckham, the Galaxy or the MLS?
Beckham has put MLS more on the map, but not as much as I think was intended. Him being injured didn't help or going abroad off season either.

Q9. Do you follow any other sports and if so, what teams?
I ONLY follow futbol!

Q10. Do you play footy, what position and are you any good?
I am a soccer fanatic! I'm the Galaxians president, a soccer mom & previous assistant coach to my daughter's team.

Q11. What's with the rivalry between Galaxy supporters groups?
That response would be a dissertation. All 3 groups support the Galaxy. We just have different ideas/views as how to do it. I can say that the Galaxians are the ORIGINAL Supporters Group. It started in 1996. The LARS started from a former Galaxian wanting a more "hooligan" style. From what I know, the ACB started when some members who were LARS weren't happy with that group so they decided to create their own. Luckily the ACB & Galaxians get along very well.

Q12. Have you ever seen or been involved in any aggro at the match? Galaxy or otherwise?
Thank Goodness I've never personally been involved in one.

Q13. How do you think the MLS compares with other leagues around the world?
There's no comparison. Many other leagues have been around for over 100 years. The MLS has only been around for 15 years. I'm glad to see that it's been improving.

Q14. Club before country?
Equal for me

Q15. Almost every Galaxy fan I speak to wishes that Chivas USA were gone from the HDC, where would you like to see them end up?
Anywhere but the HDC! I don't care where they go as long as they get the hell out of the HDC!

Q16. Favourite away stadium? (MLS or otherwise)
Since I haven't been out of the country to experience other soccer stadiums, I love the HDC!

Q17. Least favourite away stadium? (MLS or otherwise)
I always hated the San Jose stadiums.

Q18. If you could change anything about the Galaxy organisation what would it/they be?
That's a loaded ? The answer again would be a dissertation. Things have improved, but they could be better.

Q19. What changes would you make to the MLS?
Perhaps the season &/or playoffs style. Do it like the rest of the world.

Q20. What's the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you at the match?
I almost was going to puke & have the "runs" at the 2005 MLS Cup in Dallas. I was so nervous. I was more nervous at that game than for my wedding. Also, I never saw a grown man cry like a baby & fall to his knees when the LAG won their 1st MLS Cup in 2002.

Q21. Funniest thing you has seen at the match?
Girls going "gaga" everytime Andrew Shue came onto the pitch. When Becks had to change his shorts & everyone seeing his knickers. Also the 2011 LAG home opener where it literally rained like cats & dogs. That night was crazy!

Q22. Finally, how do you see the season ending for the LA Galaxy this year?
I see the Galaxy being Western Conference Champions, winning the Supporters Shield, & winning the MLS Cup!

Great answers Carlisa, some genuine laugh out loud moments, see you at the Portland Timbers game. XXX

Los Angeles Galaxy Fans Q&A Number Two. JOHN ARIAS

2011-04-13T20:04:00.000-07:00

The second victim in my LA Galaxy fan Q&A is John Arias, a sound lad and one of the prominent members of the ACB. This guy means business and keeps the ACB on their toes, keeping them bouncing around in the stands and singing whether we are winning or getting our arses kicked and that's what being a proper fan is all about really.

Q1. How did you first get into the Galaxy and what was the first game you attended?
Being Hispanic I knew about them as a kid when they first came to be. But I didn't get into the G's until way later as all I knew was Club America and the Mexican league due to my family being fanatics. Really it just happened, going to games with my friend Brian, my (now) wife vanessa and loving L.A. as a city. No, I'm not an opening day fan and they can tell me that they're more of a fan because they supported them since day one, go ahead, it means shit to me. I'm positive that I've shed more blood and sweat (literally) than most of them ever will. Ha, Ha!!!

Q2. Name your favourite five Galaxy players of all time?
Jorge Campos (The reason I heard of the Galaxy as a kid)
Landon Donovan (Everyone will name him, if they don't they're just trying to be different)
Edson Buddle
Mauricio Cienfuegos
Jovan Kirovski (Screw this guy)

Q3. What is your normal preparation/routine when attending a Galaxy game?
Wake up, eat, LOT 13, drink beers, section 121, give 90 minutes of my day to the Galaxy. Rinse and repeat every game day.

Q4. Do you follow any other footy teams?
I used to follow a lot of teams (Barca, Chelsea, etc...) but I figure they have enough fans. The one I still kind of follow though is Marseille.

Q5. Name five footy teams that you hate the most?
I hate anyone not the LA Galaxy.

Q6. Describe the best Galaxy performance you attended?
Beating the Seattle in the play offs last season, it might not have been the best performance, but shutting up the Sounders fans was nice. That or the San Jose trip where we took 4 buses and a convoy of G's fans, PLUS a 3-0 win.

Q7. Describe the worst?
6-2 ASS WHOOPIN' we got from Dallas or this year's RSL away beating.

Q8. Has the Beckham signing been better for Beckham, the Galaxy or the MLS?
A bit of both, he made the league known around the world as well as the Galaxy. While in Europe wearing my G's jersey, people knew who our team was...... nice feeling.

Q9. Do you follow any other sports and if so, what teams?
NFL, although I haven't kept up with it like I did before. I'm a proud RAIDER NATION member.

Q10. Do you play footy, what position and are you any good?
I do, I play whatever position. Am I good? Do baboons have pink asses???

Q11. What's with the rivalry between Galaxy supporters groups?
One sided, none of our group's concern.

Q12. Have you ever been involved in any aggro at the match? Galaxy or otherwise?
No comment.

Q13. How do you think the MLS compares with other leagues around the world?
We're growing fast. Give it some years and I would say we will be competing with the top leagues.

Q14. Club before country?
Yup, corporation before country in our case.

Q15. Almost every Galaxy fan I speak to wishes that Chivas USA were gone from the HDC, where would you like to see them end up?

Move them to the OC and give us a team in San Diego and I'll be happy.

Q16. Favourite away stadium? (MLS or otherwise)
Stade Velodrome for the awesome atmosphere.

Q17. Least favourite away stadium? (MLS or otherwise)
Qwest Field for the stupid PG13 signs and "Mind your language" stewards.

Q18. If you could change anything about the Galaxy organisation what would it/they be?
No comment.

19. What changes would you make to the MLS?
Not much really, but a team in San Diego would be sweet.

Q20. What's the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you at the match?
I drank a whole bottle of Chimay and made a mess of things that ranged from smacking someone with a flag pole to falling on my ass over the bleachers. I don't remember any of this, I was told later on.

@21. Funniest thing you has seen at the match?
"Chicas" USA supporters.

22. Finally, how do you see the season ending for the LA Galaxy this year?
MLS CUP!!!!!

Great answers John, see you at the HDC.

***John requested that I didn't use any solo pictures of him, preferring that I used group shots of the ACB. Most G fans know who he is and what he looks like anyway, so I am more than happy to comply with his wishes.***

Los Angeles Galaxy Fans Q&A Number One. ERIC GOODALL

2011-04-12T16:18:00.000-07:00

Eric Goodall, the man, the myth, the smoggy.

First up is a fellow English chap who I am full of admiration for. He is from Middlesbrough and resides in Newcastle yet is devoted to the Galaxy and flies across the pond a few times a season in order to watch the G's and hang out with the ACB. I usually make a point of tracking him down and having a chat when I know he's in town and his passion to L.A.'s footy team can not be faulted, plus he's a top geezer of the highest order and drinks like a fish.

Q1. How did you first get into the Galaxy and what was the first game you attended?
I was doing Los Angeles and Vegas for my 50th birthday with a pal and said to to him "Hey mate, Beckham has signed for the local team, do you fancy taking a look at the American soccer experience?"
We went along and met some of the friendliest party people God has put on this earth at the tailgate. We discovered that the "Americans aren't big on drinking" myth was just a myth. I kept in touch with my new mates via their messageboards and having obtained a good pre-nup, thought,
"Hell, what's stopping you flying a few times a season and meeting up with your American cousins?"
And that's how I caught the bug.

Q2. Name your favourite five Galaxy players of all time?
Well it's only my 4th season watching, so it's limited. But my five favourites so far are Edson Buddle, Landon Donovan, Omar Gonzalez, Sean Franklin and Juninho. Beckham's not in my list because I feel let down that he hasn't given the Galaxy his full focus.

Q3. What is your normal preparation/routine when attending a Galaxy game?
I fly in from Middlesbrough the night before, I usually stay at the Doubletree in Carson. One of the ACB guys usually picks me up from LAX, we get a slab of Heineken on the way to the game, meet up with the guys in LOT 13, start fuelling up about 5 hours before the game, go into the match usually half pissed and cheer the G's for the next 90 minutes.

Q4. Do you follow any other footy teams?
Followed Boro my home town team for 40 years and I've been to over 50 league grounds and 9 European venues to watch them. I've served my dues and they've now been traded for a newer and sexier version.

Q5. Name five footy teams that you hate the most?
Sunderland, Sunderland reserves, Sunderland U 18s, Sunderland youth team and San Jose Earhquakes

Q6. Describe the best Galaxy performance you attended?
We won 3-0 away at San Jose, the game was played at the Oakland A's baseball stadium due to the high demand for tickets. There was 40,000 at the game and Buddle got a hat trick. The 250+ traveling Galaxy fans in attendance were in raptures and loving it.

Q7. Describe the worst?
Spanked 4-1 at RSL this season. 2 down after 10 minutes and never has the saying "Men against boys" been more fitting.

Q8. Has the Beckham signing been better for Beckham, the Galaxy or the MLS?
The MLS

Q9. Do you follow any other sports and if so, what teams?
England when they play the Aussies at cricket, that's about it really.

Q10. Do you play footy, what position and are you any good?
I had trials for Boro as an 11 year old, my mother went out and bought me a new Leeds United kit as they were the top dogs at the time. She thought her son was going to be a professional footballer.
Ha, ha, ha, It wasn't often she was wrong.

Q11. What's with the rivalry between Galaxy supporters groups?
I don't know, it's fucking daft. It will eventually blow over when the people who like a bit of drama get bored with it.

Q12. Have you ever been involved in any aggro at the match? Galaxy or otherwise?
Not really as my survival instincts were always finely tuned. I didn't swim in shark infested waters and if I was ever caught by surprise the adrenalin kicked in and I could keep pace with Carl Lewis. I've seen all kinds of shit going off, but generally if you don't want it, you can avoid it.

Q13. How do you think the MLS compares with other leagues around the world?
It's rapidly improving, I would put it at English 1st division level in the main. Real Salt lake are lower end Championship level.

Q14. Club before country?
Always been club, you put in more blood, sweat and tears into following them.

Q15. Almost every Galaxy fan I speak to wishes that Chivas USA were gone from the HDC, where would you like to see them end up?
San Diego or Las Vegas.

Q16. Favourite away stadium? (MLS or otherwise)
Stadium of Shite and in the MLS, Red Bull Arena

Q17. Least favourite away stadium? (MLS or otherwise)
Stamford Bridge. It might be in the "posh" end of London, but they had more nutters per head in their fan base than any other club I have ever been to.

Q18. If you could change anything about the Galaxy organisation what would it/they be?
Actually I think that the Galaxy front office is slowly coming around and this confrontational stance between F.O. and fans is fading out, so things are getting better.

Q19. What changes would you make to the MLS?
Stop expansion at 20 for at least a decade, move Chivas USA, it's a failed experiment and if possible get a team in the South east which seems easier said than done.

Q20. What's the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you at the match?
I had to jump back over the turnstiles out of the ground once at at the old Ayresome Park when the stand I usually sat in had been taken over by about 10,000 Geordie nugget fans.

Q21. Funniest thing you have seen at the match?
When my mate told us in a loud voice (he had more than a few beers) while watching the game that his wife had just left him for the Boro goalkeeper. Everyone around stopped watching the match to listen to him, then he said that she hadn't left him for Steven Pears, but the goalkeeper for the Boro ladies team. Everyone just fell about laughing.

Q22. Finally, how do you see the season ending for the LA Galaxy this year?
I think we'll make the play offs as a lower seed and get nailed early doors.

Cheers Eric, good stuff.

LA Galaxy Fans Q & A

2011-04-12T16:07:00.000-07:00

I've been slacking off regarding my blog over the past few months and actually made a New Year's resolution to keep on top of things. Clearly I failed, but I've given myself a kick up the arse and will be putting in the effort to keep busy with it during my spare time.

Anyway, a few months ago I decided to do a Q & A featuring various characters I come across at LA Galaxy games at the Home Depot center and even Galaxy away games.
It is in the early stages yet and I have sent some questions to a couple with more to follow.
The point is to spread the word of the LA Galaxy and let soccer/football supporters around the world (on the off chance they stumble across my blog) that we are just as passionate about the sport and love our team as much as they love theirs.

I hope to get the Q&A to members of the ACB, Galaxians, Riot Squad, soocer moms and possibly even a player or two.
Wishful thinking I know, but read on and hopefully enjoy.

SIMI VALLEY GALAXIANS AWAYDAYS: Real Salt Lake

2011-04-11T09:26:00.000-07:00

Last season the Galaxy played RSL away midweek, Mark and me watched it on TV and vowed if the this season's fixture was on a weekend we would go. So when the MLS schedule came out that was the first one I looked out for. It was on a Saturday so we decided to make a weekend of it and tie it in with a visit to Vegas.
We drafted in Alex our fellow Simi Valley Galaxian and bought our tickets via the ACB.
That weekend arrived and I picked Alex up in the rental car just as Billy Joel singing Piano Man played on the radio.
"I hate Billy Joel, but this is brilliant" I announced to Alex.
Knowing my punk and indie roots, Alex looked at me in shock.
"Look Alex, if that song had been written by Bob Dylan or Tom Waits, it would be hailed as a classic by now"
He vaguely agreed, I guess to humour me, but I have always felt this way about this particular song. I had never heard it until I came to the US, when I saw the video one day on VH1 back in 1988 and was instantly smitten, I guess it's one of my guilty pleasures. We all have them, get over it.

The trip to Vegas was uneventful except for a stop in Barstow. Years ago I would always stop there because there was an English owned pie shop at the Greyhound bus station, I have passed by a few times without stopping, but this time because Mark was there I had to check it out.
I had raved about this place to him and was actually quite excited as we pulled up. Alas, it wasn't there anymore, probably long gone and is now replaced by a Panda fucking Express, dammit!!!!!!!

We checked in at the Gold Coast, debated how to get our cooler of beer upstairs, decided to just take a 12 pack and put it on ice instead.
Next up we realised we were hungry and set off in search of food. On our way we grabbed a couple of casino hot dogs at $1.25 each. A bargain, I had three and Mark and Alex had two each. We found a bar selling $3 Stella Artois, had a few and then Mark and I ordered more food. Burger and chip for me, fish and chips for Mark and nothing for Alex as he is a lot smaller than us.
We moved on to McMullins via the free hotel shuttle with the intent of checking out other places after a couple of drinks, but that never happened. We ended up bladdered on Boddingtons, had a decent chat with a few locals and generally had a very enjoyable night.
A cover band was playing so I stumbled over and made a request. I was the first person to put money in their tip jar and was a bit peeved when my song wasn't played first. With the help of one of our new Vegas native friends, I stumbled back over to the band, offering more money and whispered a few pearls of wisdom drunkenly in the singer's ear.
Within a few minutes an announcement came over the P.A. I can't remember exactly what was said but it was words to the effect of;

"Some drunken English twat in the next bar has informed me that if this song had been written by Bob Dylan or Tom Waits it would now be cherished as a bona fide classic. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Piano Man by Billy Joel"

A loud cheer came us from us lot as we ran back to where the band were swaying back and forth and singing along. It may seem a bit embarrassing now, but it was a great end to a great night.
We boarded the shuttle and got back to the hotel with the intent of drinking more, but it was after midnight and I had said all along that we would be on the road by 5am with me at the wheel as I was used to getting up early, so I went straight to bed.
We got up as promised at 5am, struggled a bit, but were making our way to Utah by 5.30-ish. I must admit that I felt a bit rough and dealt with it while Mark and Alex tried to sleep. We actually made good time with just one pit stop for breakfast at McDonalds and to fill up the car with gas.
We arrived at the hotel in Sandy UT at about noon, met an English RSL outside, checked in and refreshed with a couple of Bitburgers. I did a bit of socialising with fellow Galaxy fans and before we knew it we were off to Oscar's to pick up our tickets and have a couple of drinks that the Galaxy front office had bought for each fan who had made the trip. The bar was actually pretty good, we chatted with ACBers we know and had a pretty awesome and fairly cheap lunch. The only draw back was the beer served was only 3% and pretty much undrinkable to me.
Plus Mexico v Paraguay was being shown on TV and I had to watch that red twat Chicharito score a couple.
Fellow Galaxian Linda showed up and thankfully gave us a ride back to the motel where we had a few more beers.

Then the entire Galaxy away support was summoned down to the hotel lobby an hour before kick off so we could make the march to the stadium together.
It may sound a bit naff, but it was a good laugh. It's not like back in England where some firm marches through some town causing mayhem, smashing shop windows and beating up opposing fans, it was all in good fun and friendly. There was a bit of banter with the locals, but nothing offensive.

Rio Tinto is a fine stadium, not quite as good as the HDC, but still a cracker. The Galaxy contingent were put at the top of the stand as far away from the RSL Ultras (or whatever they call themselves) as possible.
The LA Galaxy were appalling that night and got stuffed 4-1, we did have a few decent chances and hit the woodwork, but in reality 4-1 flattered us. Not that it made any difference to the traveling support, we sang throughout the game and jumped up and down for 90 minutes. Enthusiasm at its best and although I mainly joined in to keep warm, I was quite impressed.

To say it was freezing would be an understatement. I was wearing a thick parka, wore a scarf, had a beanie on and wore fleece lined leather gloves but still felt in danger of getting hypothermia by the end of the night.
Mark and I still couldn't believe that despite this, locals were stood by us with their young kids wearing nothing more than shorts and and a RSL shirt and they looked as is they weren't bothered by the weather. Fuck me, it must be like that all the time up there, how do they cope? I remember when I first came to L.A. it was March in 1988 and I went out in shorts and t-shirt on what I thought was a gloriously sunny day only to be confronted by Los Angelinos wearing sweaters and jackets looking at me like I was mental.

So after being slaughtered by RSL, we were kept in the stadium for half an hour while the police and stewards cleared the locals. I thought to myself that we might have gotten a result if Landon Donovan hadn't been on international duty, but in fairness RSL would have destroyed us even with him, they were quite impressive.
On the way back to the hotel random locals would shout abuse at us as they drove by, not really very brave, just made twats of themselves as far as I'm concerned.
We had a few more drinks in our room, hung out with Dex, Fredy and Dennis and then tried to get some Arby's. Big mistake, they were closed apart from the drive thru and it was even fucking colder than before.
The next morning we woke up to the snow, went back to the stadium for a few photos, threw snowballs at the stadium, had some breakfast and then set off for the uneventful drive home.

In all it was a great weekend, obviously the Galaxy were rubbish, but it was great meeting up with Linda, Eric from Middlesbrough, Fredy, Dex, John and the rest of the ACB we chatted with. Steve Coogan and Rob Bryden and their video "The Trip" made the journey seem a little faster. We saw places called English Fork, Spanish Fork and Beaver. I saw someone with a fucking buffalo in their front garden just off the freeway in Utah, not a farm mind, just a front garden. The mind boggles, I bet that stops people soliciting from knocking on their front door. Does one take a buffalo for walkies?? I must know.
The scenery on the trip was breath taking. I was transported back to my childhood watching old western movies and kept expecting to see a group of Apache on horseback start tailing us at any time firing arrows at the rental car.
"There goes the deposit Mark"
Mind you, they'd be shit out of luck if they wanted to scalp me, that happened naturally years ago.
Driving through four states in one day is some feat in my opinion, but it was well worth it and we all had a great time.
Can't wait for the summer and our Vancouver/Portland jaunt.

The Hitch Hikers Guide to the LA Galaxy

2011-04-11T07:03:00.000-07:00

During the first two seasons of the MLS I attended every home game at the Rose Bowl loyally following the Galaxy and cheering on the likes of my still all time favourite Galaxy player Mauricio Cienfuegos.
I enjoyed watching live football once again, but there were draw backs. The MLS had a running clock where players could idly waste time while watching the clock run down on the scoreboard. It was great if the Galaxy were winning but frustrating if we lost or were drawing. We also had Mexican clown Jorge Campos between the sticks and it was in his contract that he had the option to sub late in MLS games and play up front for 10 minutes or so, it was embarrassing and he never scored, big shocker there then.
There were no draws, so each game ended in a tie-breaking shoot out. It really wasn't football as I knew it. And as much as the Rose Bowl is a beautiful stadium and we did initially get big crowds, the place was clearly too big for the Galaxy, even crowds of 35,000-40,000 made the place look empty and soul less.
After the first two seasons I became a bit bored with the MLS and the Galaxy experience and my visits to the Rose Bowl would be very sporadic, it was like a slow break up with a girl. You get tired of the relationship, it's over the honeymoon period and you just stop calling her without never actually breaking up with her.
I did gain a bit of interest when they moved to the Home Depot Center and went to a few games by myself just just really wasn't that much into it.
Looking back, I can see I was a bit of a Premier League snob, as I was comparing the MLS to my experiences back in England. It was an unfair comparison, I'd travel home and away, with large groups of my friends, drinking and generally having a wild time.
So my MLS days were seemingly over for good.

But a few years back I tracked down my old mate Mark Venton, I had been out of contact with him for years and actually thought he had moved back to England after being told that by one of the local Brit contingient.
Anyway I found him via his ex-sister in law and brother through facebook and e-mails.
We met up and he obviously hadn't moved back to the UK and was still living in the same house in Simi Valley, just five minutes away from where I lived. We met up, chatted and it turned out we had been at many of the same gigs over the years and living so close together, I have no idea how we managed to avoid each other.
Mark told me that he was a season ticket holder at the HDC for the Galaxy and would I fancy going?
I said yes, but as a still stubborn football snob I was a bit sceptical and basically just went along so I could hang out with my old mate once again.
I didn't exactly embrace the Galaxy on my return, I'd show up wearing my Man City shirt, I wasn't too enthusiastic and would just politely applaud when they scored and won. I poured scorn on the supporters groups, harking back again to my English football days and thinking that they behaved in ways I wasn't used to seeing and therefore it was unfitting behaviour.
Clearly I was wrong, the fan groups at HDC are as passionate and loyal as fans back in the UK, but just show it in a different way. Obviously while I loved the buzz at the time, following City in the 80's at the height of hooliganism was dodgy and watching the sport you love without the threat of getting beaten up or a brick thrown at your head is the way to go.
That first season back with the Galaxy and Mark was topped off with a visit to the MLS cup final in Seattle, it was a great weekend (Despite the result) and close up with some of the groups I had previously thought were tossers, I could see their passion and loyalty for the LA Galaxy and learned to appreciate what they were all about.
By my second season back I had ditched the City shirt and went out and bought Galaxy shirts. We started tailgating, it was great, get to the stadium early, eat, have a few beers that we brought in a cooler and then go to the stadium. It worked out quite cheap as the tickets work out at around $20 each.
Then in San Jose we hooked up with the Galaxians and have stayed with them ever since. They are the original Galaxy supporters group, their numbers have dwindled over the years but they are still there very week passionate as ever, banging drums, singing and standing up through out the game. As I often bring the kids with me, the Galaxians are ideal for us as the kids get a great view and everyone is really friendly and more than happy to have a couple of Brits in their ranks.

The kids love it and as a dad, taking your kids to the match is an experience that cannot be beat. Sure they act up sometimes, but I wouldn't miss it.
I also recruited Alex, my step daughter's ex-boyfriend as a Simi Valley Galaxian, he loves going to the games, hanging with Sandro and co at the Galaxians and generally the whole live footy experience. Obviously my step daughter thought it was a bit weird that her ex was hanging out with her mom's boyfriend at first, but I think (and hope) she's over it now.
In July/August Mark and I are flying up to Seattle for a few days to hang out with our friend Fergal and take in the Galaxy away at Vancouver and Portland. We just did the Real Salt Lake, which I will cover in more detail in another post soon and have made it our goal to visit every MLS stadium over the next few seasons with the Galaxy.

So far this season we have survived a monsoon at the home opener against New England at the HDC and freezing conditions up in Utah against RSL, but I am now fully addicted to the Galaxy and wouldn't miss it for the world. I obviously owe Mark big time for getting me back into them. We have met so many great people during our visits to the HDC and made lots of new friends. For about $60 I can take myself and my two kids to the game, with a bit of extra, we buy a cooler full of beers (and soda for the kids) and eat for less money than it would cost me just for a ticket to Eastlands to watch Man City play in the EPL.
Don't get me wrong, Man City will always be my number one team and nobody could ever replace them, it's just that the LA Galaxy are a close second and in reality I crave the games. I look forward to going to the HDC all week if we are playing at home and make arrangements with Mark to watch our away games. Remember it's not like England where you could have 10 or more away games within a 60 mile radius.
Apart from Chivas who we share the HDC with, our closest away game is over 400 miles away in San Jose. RSL was 1500 mile round trip drive and if we drove to Vancouver it would take almost 2 days, so clearly away days are far and few and very expensive.
Of course a big plus of following a MLS team is that our season overlaps the EPL so football never ends for me and every weekend throughout the year I either have a City or Galaxy game to look forward to, right now I have both.
Now I am as passionate about the Galaxy as I ever was about City when I watched them play live. I get annoyed when certain players don't give it their all for the Galaxy shirt, I am gutted when we lose, chuffed when we win and go fucking mental whenever we score.
I know a few of my friends back in England might be sceptical of my love of the Galaxy as I would be of them if the shoe was on the other foot. But I guarantee if they were in my position, they'd probably do the same and that is only something someone who follows their team in the flesh would understand whether they follow the EPL, MLS, Serie A or the Vauxhall Conference league.
Remember footy fans, "It's not where you're from, it's where you're at"

Do you know the way to San Jose??

2010-08-25T18:56:00.000-07:00

ME AND MARK AT THE HOTEL.

A few months ago while following The Wedding Present to San Francisco we stayed overnight in San Jose.
I said to Mark that perhaps we could return when our adopted American footy team the LA Galaxy played the San Jose Earthquakes. It really didn't take much arm twisting and a weekend away was hastily planned.
I use the term "planned" loosely because of course Mark and I are both English. The planning consisted of checking when the weekend was, making sure it wasn't a weekend of me hosting my kids (it wasn't) and buying tickets for the match.
We bought our tickets via the lovely Edwards' (Steve and Karen) through the LA Riot Squad, then two weeks prior to the trip Mark booked a hotel room.
A done deal, if ever there was one.

The day of the trip came, we left Simi Valley at 4am (Yeah I know), and after a fairly uneventful trip, unless you count the hideous bogs at the gas station on the way up, we arrived at our hotel at about 9am.
Once there we discovered we couldn't check in until 1pm which was when the game kicked off.
"Oh well" I said, "we'll just drink our cooler dry and check in after the match"

We found a proper dive of a bar around the corner, but they sold Stella for $3.50 a pint so we decided to stay for a couple. I still needed a poo, but the bogs in here were no better than the one on the way up, so I abstained.

"I THINK WE'RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER COOLER"

Back at the hotel we opened the cooler and were onto our 4th or 5th Bitburger when a cab full of Galaxy fans showed up. We greeted them and shared our beer.
Obviously our stash was meant for just me and Mark and didn't last much longer, so we sent out for more.

OUR NEW GALAXY SUPPORTING FRIENDS.

Stella, Sam Adams and a bottle of Jack Daniels appeared. The hotel manager let us check in early, I took a dump and before we knew it, we were well oiled and ready to leave for the match.

The Buck Shaw "Stadium" was pretty much a high school stadium. Well technically it was a college stadium, but I've been to high school American football games in Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley and they were both bigger than this place.

BUCK SHAW HIGH SCHOOL STADIUM.

Outside the "stadium" we congregated with the other Galaxy fans and engaged in a bit of chanting and banter directed at our opposing numbers. Plus I made the fatal error of high fiveing Galaxy fans as they disembarked from their bus.
The local plod (or at least one of them) took exception to this heinous crime and I was collared by the fattest cop I have ever laid my eyes on who also had the worst grasp of the English language ever.
"Step this way sir" He said "Show me your ID"
I gave him my drivers license.
"Do you know why I am talking to you?"
"No idea" I said
"Because you're the most loudest and most drunkest fan in the crowd"
I thought about asking him how exactly he could prove this, but decided against it.
He looked over my ID and then announced'
"Well Andrew, guess what? If I have to talk to you again I will arrest you"
"Sure" I answered, "but what exactly did I do that was wrong?"
"You have an open container" In fairness I did, but almost every other adult in the car park did.
"You were causing and obstruction and you made me notice you"
I felt like retorting that "It wasn't my fault that I was soooo handsome" but once again decided against it.
Football hooliganism has certainly come a long way since I followed Manchester City home and away in the 80's.

Anyway after having my collar felt, we entered the stadium.
We had been warned about wandering off by ourselves and stick in groups as the San Jose Ultras would be looking to pick us off.
Yeah I know, I nearly split my sides laughing at that one as well. Fuck me I've been to every rough arse shit hole ground in England with City and I'm expected to be on guard in San Jose.
The game was a bit shit, we lost 1-0, but we had a great laugh.

THE AWAY END.

FACE IN THE CROWD.

I chatted with a couple of Latino guys from the Galaxian group who had taken a shine to our "Simi Valley Galaxian on the piss" St George's flag.
"We won't disrespect your flag my friend I will put it on my wall, can we have it please?"
"No problem mate, it's yours. Just don't wash it or the writing will run as I did it with a felt tip"
They were well chuffed.
In the meantime Mark had buggered off with the flag and decided to put it up in the home end.
He got turfed out but somehow made it back with the flag and a San Jose Earthquakes badge.

THOSE LOCO GALAXIANS CHAPS WITH THEIR NEWLY ACQUIRED BANNER.

After the match the security decided to keep the Galaxy fans penned in, it felt like being back at home for an away game.
Of course I was having none of it and decided to leave anyway saying I lived locally.
The security downstairs didn't want me to leave though.
"You can't go out that way sir"
"Why?"
"You don't have the right credentials"
"What credentials do I need? Here's my ticket, it says I came in that gate, which means I'm going out that gate"
"Well the police don't want Galaxy fans going out that way because of the Ultras"
At this point I grabbed the nearest Earthquakes fan to me, hugged him and said,
"Look we lost, they won, I don't care, we all get along and I'm not really arsed by the San Jose Ultras"
"Okay then sir" he said "You can go, but it's at your own risk"
"Cheers" I shook his hand and walked through.

Of course even though the Ultras did sound a bit pathetic, I was alone and noticed a couple of stereotypical American skinhead types with Earthquake scarfs eyeing me up.
I just smiled, waved at them and carried on walking back to the hotel.
I noticed a few solo Galaxy fans looking nervous en route, so I gave them the thumbs up and said "Go LA" or something like that. The type of thing you say and gesture in order to reassure somebody that if it does kick off, you'll be their able and willing back up.
Of course I didn't want it to kick off, I had an enjoyable day and my shady footy past is well behind me, but if it did, I'd certainly be up for it.

Nothing happened, the most trouble I had was trying to decide what to order from the Jack in the Box next to the hotel. I settled for the mini sirloin burgers and the chicken sandwich. The chicken sandwich was shite, but the mini sirloin burgers were surprisingly good. I'll try them again sometime.

Mark and the rest of our group showed up at the hotel with a few extras in tow.
We made plans to go downtown for another piss up, but Mark was pretty wrecked so in the end I stayed in the hotel while he slept it off.
As much as I wanted a few more pints I really couldn't leave Mark on his own as he's a mate and you never know what could happen.
The next morning I woke up early, had a jacuzzi, went for a walk, ate some brekkie and then made Mark put the footy on. Entertaining enough match, United chucked it away by missing an undeserved penalty kick and letting in a late goal.
On the trip home I discovered that my voice had gone, it didn't return until three days later. I guess that was Kellie's reward for allowing me a weekend away.
All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable weekend, can't wait to it again next season with possibly Seattle, Salt Lake and Portland thrown in.

The Wedding Present - Deer Caught in the Headlights (Live on KEXP)

2010-05-10T22:28:00.000-07:00

The Wedding Present - You're Dead (Live on KEXP)

2010-05-10T22:27:00.000-07:00

The Wedding Present - Kennedy (Live on KEXP)

2010-05-10T22:25:00.001-07:00

The Wedding Present - Bewitched (Live on KEXP)

2010-05-10T22:25:00.000-07:00

Kennedy from the Independent. San Francisco 24th April 2010.

2010-04-27T19:29:00.000-07:00

THE BARMY ARMY GOING DAFT IN SAN FRANCISCO

The Wedding Present's Bizarro Barmy Army 2010 US Tour. San Francisco.

2010-04-25T19:04:00.000-07:00

FERGAL'S SIGNED POSTER FROM THE SAN FRANCISCO GIG.

We had originally planned to set off for SF at 6am Saturday morning, but due to last minute notification of a Mark Burgess gig in Eagle Rock in L.A. we hastily rescheduled for 8am instead.
The Mark Burgess gig was awesome, it was at some tiny loft in L.A., full of goths and he performed with his usual gusto and pretty much played a Chameleons greatest hits set.
At the end of the show he asked if the audience could take a couple of more songs, naturally we all screamed "Yeah".
Then he looked at me and said "Unfortunately I'm not as cool as David Gedge, I do encores"
The comment may have been lost on most of his audience, but it certainly gave me, Kellie and Mark a chuckle.

MARK BURGESS @ THE SHOWCAVE IN EAGLE ROCK, LOS ANGELES.

So with our late 8am start we set off up the 101 freeway heading north, we could have taken Interstate 5 but we didn't want to be too cliched.
For the trip the car rental company had given us a VW Beetle (It wasn't green, thankfully) I drove and Mark took the passenger seat while Kellie and Lori squeezed into the back. I still had to move my seat way forward as well so my knees were touching the bottom of the steering wheel.
"F**k" I thought, "this is going to be one hell of a trip"
I wasn't wrong, we finally arrived in Sunnyvale at 1pm after a couple of pit stops for gas, McDonald's and an iced coffee.
We checked in and I had a quick shower then it was off to Frisco in search of the venue so I could drop a bag of merchandise off for the band.
I had my Man City shirt on and intended to wear it for the gig, but like a twat I spilt Thai curry down the front of it at dinner so had to change into my ManU barmy army shirt.
I chatted to David in the dressing room and informed him that I had bumped into three Indian Wedding Present fans outside the venue and one of them was really keen and very, very excited.

GIG FLYER AT THE VENUE.

This chap turned out to be sUKy (That's how he likes it to be written), he was certainly a character, and them some.
He informed us of how he has been a fan since 1987 and seeing he is a bit of a lad, his mum would give him a bit of stick asking him
"Why can't you be more like your friends?"
"Why can't you like proper music?"
"Why do you drink" You should be a good boy like your friends"
I should tell you at this point that sUKy was raised as a Sikh, but obviously a beer swilling, gig going, Derby County loving Sikh is not the norm.
That aside he was certainly a top lad and had us roaring with laughter with his tales of following The Wedding Present over the years and his quest to befriend fellow fans.
His two mates, while happy to be there, weren't quite as enthusiastic, but then again, who was?

THE LADS IN THE NOC NOC BAR. (cool place actually)

We had a few drinks in the Mad Dog in the Fog on Haight Street, before moving on to the Noc Noc bar across the street. This palce could best be described as "cave chic".
I felt like I had just stumbled onto the set of Stig of the Dump.

UGLY SHIRT FROM THE BAR, BUT I LIKE IT.

A great place though, I was so moved that I actually bought a dodgy t-shirt from the bar. Day-glo yellow is making a come back apparently.

TWP ONSTAGE @ THE INDEPENDENT

The gig was brilliant, probably the best I had seen outside of New York. They did make a couple of mistakes, David fluffed a line in Granadaland and actually forgot the words during Bewitched. He eventually remembered and even managed to squeeze an apology into the next verse.
Despite malicious and false rumours circulated among the east coast barmy army by my "beloved" Kellie, I managed to pogo, mosh and generally jump around for every song of the gig.
My calf's are paying for it today mind, but last night was f**king immense.
A great time was had by all up front, with me, Kia, Fergal, Jason, sUKy and his brother in-law setting the tones for the rest of the audience.
There was one couple who got a bit stroppy with us, but we generally ignored the twats. Stick to f**king Coldplay gigs in future people!!!!!
I managed to get sUKy a setlist and he offered for me to "Name my price" for barmy army shirt. I got his e-mail address and said I'd send him one for now't.
After the show, Charlie invited us to stay and have a few drinks with them in the dressing rooms, but the girls were knackered, it was past 2am so Mark and I reluctantly declined. (We were f**king gutted to be honest)
Thanks anyway Charlie.
So we said our goodbyes and "Thanks" to the band, Jessica, Andrew and the lovely Melinda who saved me from a fate on the merch table. As much as I enjoy doing it, I'd rather be down front jumping up and down like a lunatic with like minded individuals.

MARK EARNS HIS FRONT SEAT STATUS.

We got up the next morning, has some brekkie and set off for L.A. at 10.30am.
Thanks to me, speed racer, we made really good time and even made it for a late lunch at Andersen's Pea Soup. I love that place, all you can eat for $8.95.
The girls could only manage 2 bowls while me and Mark only ate 3 each.
I asked the waiter if they knew what the record was and he replied that it
"Was 17 bowls"
"F**k me" I said "was it a really great big fat person then?"
"No" he assured us "a normal sized person, just really tall"
"Hollow legs" quipped Mark.

"NO SOUP FOR YOU"

We got back into Simi Valley at about 4pm, which was bloody good going, so a pat on the back for myself.
Another great weekend only soured by the fact that we have no gigs to look forward to for a while.
Oh well, goodbye April 2010, you were a great month and will be missed.

Bizarro 21 Barmy Army shirts.

2010-04-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

The original idea for this year's Barmy Army shirts came from Ian of Ian and Steph fame.
I spoke to him via transatlantic phone conversations and he came up with the idea of a shirt based on the Man United jersey with a Bizarro splodge for a badge, DLG instead of the AIG United shirt sponsor and the player's name and number GEDGE 50 on the back.
Despite being a staunch Man City fan I am always on board for anything based around football and music as I am obviously obsessed with both.

WP gig poster from the Casbah in San Diego in February 2006.

While I loved Ian's original idea, I offered to improve on it with my expert opinion, nothing too drastic, just a bit of tweaking here and there.
"How about we base the badge on the United/WP logo from the Casbah gig?"
"Sounds good" said Ian

"How about instead of DLG we put TWP for the sponsor logo and add something about the Barmy Army underneath the box?"
"Great"
Easy peasy.
The above conversation may or may not have gone quite down like that word for word and Ian may well have thought I was a cheeky twat for improving on his brilliant idea, but I digress.

Casbah gig inspired badge on Barmy Army shirt.

Two weeks before the tour was about to start I sent Ian a pm on scopitones as I knew he had been out of town of business and I hadn't heard anything from him for a while
"How are the shirts coming along?" I asked
"The design is there (I'll send you the mock ups) but time and cost are prohibitive. Steph is looking to see if there are any options with any of her clients. Unfortunately Alan, who prints the scopi calendars for us, no longer does t-shirts. It's not looking good."
"Oh bugger" I thought.

Front of Barmy Army "ManU" shirt.

I suppose I could have just left it there and nobody would have been any wiser as the shirts were supposed to be a surprise, but I desperately wanted to keep the tradition of the Barmy Army shirts going.
The guy I used last time took ages to make the last batch, so I didn't think he'd be any use to us this time around.
So knowing that Derek was in the media based business I figured that there was a slim chance he'd be able to help.

Front and back of Barmy Army shirt.

So I put in an emergency call and asked if he could do it.
I think we only had 10 days left before the Hoboken gig, so it was real tall order.
"I'll see what I can do" said Derek, "I know a couple of people but there might not be enough time to do it"
Once Derek confirmed it was on, I became a constant thorn in his side regarding the finer details.
Derek said the badge might hold up the process, I then informed instead of just making the shirts in red and black, that we should make more colours specific for the teams the Barmy Army travellers support back home.
So we had maroon for Kirk and Gav (Hearts and Northampton) green for Harry (Celtic), navy blue for Phil and Ian (Everton and Leicester City), sky blue for me (Man City) and despite Swindon Town wearing red Mark declined a red one because it was too ManU.

Other colour choices on Barmy Army shirt.

Derek wisely contacted me and asked if he could change the GEDGE 50 to BIZARRO 21
as it wouldn't be good PR for the band and would probably offend David.
In a split second I agreed with him, David probably wouldn't be too chuffed with his age plastered on the back of the shirt (This was later confirmed by Jessica)
And in fairness I wouldn't be too pleased if someone made a shirt with GILLESPIE 35 on the back of it, would I?

Barmy Army shirt as worn by our four stunning Barmy Army models.

So the details were finalised and it was touch and go as to whether they'd be done on time or not. Derek called me on Thursday and said they'd be done by the end of the business day and he'd be able to pick them up Friday afternoon.
After being designated to carry 3 boxes of Bizarro shirts from Boston to NYC for the band, Mark and I volunteered to get the bus from NJ to meet up and help him carry them back.
Of course the first thing we did was grab a box each, find and Irish bar and open up Derek's bag in order to see the Barmy Army shirts.
The first one out of the bag was a red one.
"F**k me, they're good" I said "too f**king good really"
And they were, it was like looking at a real United shirt.
I was excited to see the new shirts, but a bit gutted that they looked so good and so realistic.
But seeing a lot of the details were my idea I obviously had to swallow my pride and take one for the team.
David even sent me a text taunting me that "It must have killed me to wear those shirts"
Well I wouldn't go that far but after breaking out in a rash after wearing it to the Hoboken gig, I had to wear my City shirt for the Bowery.
Jokes aside, the shirts were brilliant and worthy successors to the original Barmy Army shirts of 2008.
So congratulations to Ian for the original idea, obviously me for improving it and especially Derek for enthusuiastically coming through under extreme pressure and saving the day for the Barmy Army.
Everyone in the gang loved them despite a strong dislike of Man United.
Now we'll really have to come up with something extra special to top them for the Seamonsters tour.

The Wedding Present's Bizarro Barmy Army 2010 Tour (Part Four)

2010-04-16T16:42:00.000-07:00

GETTING READY TO LEAVE NEW JERSEY.

So came the last gig day of our east coast jaunt.
Harry, Kirk, Mark, Derek, Kellie and myself checked out of the hotel, rented the van and then drove back to Hoboken in order to pick up Ian and Steph from Ian and Steph.
I don't normally offer such exclusive services but I'll make an exception for this pair.
We had a quick lunch and then hit the road for the long drive to Boston.
The drive was a bit shit to be honest, we couldn't hook up the i-pod and radio reception was dire. Just how many times does one need to hear Billy f**king Joel over a three day span?
At one point Derek found the Red Sox game on AM Radio.
Now Derek is a lovely fellow and I actually don't mind watching baseball, but a van load of Brit's listening to the Red Sox isn't the ideal combination.
I finally broke down and put my i-pod on for myself (selfish twat) while the others read the "action" on www.scopitones.co.uk via their phones.
Cait said "Tell gk he's a twat"
We finally got to our motel and despite what "certain" people said about it looking like something out of Pulp Fiction, I thought it was actually quite nice.
We went to the liquor store next door, bought some booze and consumed it while we got ready.
Then we then moved on to Boston and sat outside the hotel with the engine running like fugitives while Kirk and Ian and Steph from Ian and Steph checked in.

THE BARMY ARMY EATING AND DRINKING AGAIN, THIS TIME IN BOSTON.

We went to an Irish bar that Derek had recommended and had a couple of drinks and dinner, it was probably the nicest meal we had the entire weekend.
Seeing I only had fish and chips, that tells you a lot about some of the crap we ate on the east coast.
It was good fish and chips though, Mark and Kirk had the same while Harry opted for some posh burger, mind you he is posh, he eats his chips with a knife and fork.

THE FOUR AMIGO'S.

During the meal we were joined by EdA from the forum and Brad a friend of Derek's.
Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to chat as they were at the opposite end of the banquet table.
We finally moved on for the gig, the venue was pretty grungy and rock 'n roll, I liked it but Harry had a run in with the people on the door which tainted the experience a bit.
The security were knobs really, they seemed a bit heavy handed with the punters when it came to booze patrol.
The main tosser was a bloke who could best be described as a giant sized 13 year old boy with a blonde hairstyle right out of the 70's.
He seemed to be texting the entire time, would do this for 10 minutes or so then look up and scan the crowd for somebody to harass.
Needless to say, it made my night when the fat f**ker fell off his seat.

THE MIDDLE EAST, LAST VENUE FOR THE REMAINING BARMY ARMY.

The gig was very good, the support band Girl in a Coma were most excellent and the lead singer was as fit as a butchers dog.
Yeah, she'd "get it"
Unfortunately the barmy army were well knackered from the rest of the weekend and quite subdued. We tried to get a decent mosh going a couple of times, but to no avail.
Graeme finally broke a string on his guitar, David was so shocked that he announced it to the crowd.
Not to be outdone he broke two himself in quick succession.
Final score: Ramsey Rovers 1 - Gedge United 2.
David tried out a few new jokes in between songs which didn't really go down to well, I think anal retentive Cambridge man stole his thunder.

ME AND THE LOVELY MELINDA.
FELLOW WP MERCHANDISER AND MOZ OBSESSIVE.

After the gig, we hung out and chatted while Jessica gave us some WP/Dirty Harry posters from the Atlanta gig and I hounded the band and got them signed.
David was worried that the gig might have been a bad one as we didn't seem very enthusiastic from the stage, "It was great" I assured him "we were just a bit knackered"
We said our goodbyes to the band and dropped Kirk and the "other two" off at their hotel before driving back to our motel in Derek's hometown.
It was a bloody long drive and once again we didn't get back until after 2am.
We still found time to chat and have a couple of beers while waiting for Derek to show up and drop off the directions back to the van rental in New Jersey.
Good work fella, there is no way we would have found our way back otherwise

FINAL FAREWELL BY THE TOUR VAN.

OKAY, THIS IS THE FINAL FAREWELL BY THE TOUR VAN.

The next morning we got up early and said a sad/dour farewell to to our favourite Glaswegian.
I'll not bore you with a long drawn out description of our travel high jinks back to NJ/NY/JFK but we saw a green beetle (hmm fear), I had pizza for breakfast and we got lost in the Bronx.
Overall we all had a great time, despite a few setbacks of getting lost, not being able to find a liquor store in the hell hole that is known as North Bergen and not getting hardly any sleep.
So I would like to take this opportunity to thank David and Jessica, the rest of the band, Graeme, Terry and Charlie, with a special mention to the lovely ladies Tigi and Melinda.
I'd also like to say thanks to the barmy army, Ian and Steph from Ian and Steph, Kirk, Harry, Phil, Jen, Sally, Gav, Derek (the t-shirts were brilliant) and my good friend Mark, glad you came along mate.
Most of all I'd like to thank Kellie for being my main travel companion. Nice having somebody to cuddle up to after a long and tiring day.
Also a big "Hello" to everyone we met along the way, it just confirms that Wedding Present fans are nice no matter where you are.
Hopefully we'll get to do this all over again for the next tour be it a new album or (gasp) for Seamonsters.
Who knows, maybe 2010 will be the year I finally see The Wedding Present do a gig in the UK?
Thank you, love from Andy and Kellie, roll on San Francisco on the 24th.

and finally........

GREEN BEETLE ON THE DRIVE OUT OF BOSTON.
RUNAWAY!!!!!!

The Wedding Present's Bizarro Barmy Army 2010 US Tour (Part Three)

2010-04-15T17:17:00.000-07:00

THE BOWERY, NYC.

SUBWAY.

So we decided to do the tourist bit on Saturday, hang out in NYC all day looking at the various sights and then head off straight to the gig.
The original plan included getting up early and finding a pub to watch the Man City match in, but after a late and fairly sleepless night we decided to watch it in our room on Mark's computer.
Harry and Kirk gave the game a miss and went off in search of photo opportunities.
As for the match, it was a corker as City stuffed Birmingham 5-1 with Tevez and Adebayor looking like scoring every time they got the ball.

STATUE OF LIBERTY.

We finally got to Manhattan in the afternoon and took the free ferry across the Hudson River to get a good view of the Statue of Liberty.
I have been here in the US for 22 years and to be honest seeing the grand lady of New York was an honour and fulfilled an ambition I have had since I was small child.
I would have liked to have got up close, but it wasn't feasible.
Oh well, next time.
Our group consisting of Derek, Mark, Kirk, Harry, Kellie and myself wandered to streets for hours, taking in Beaver Street, Wall Street, the famous bull and it's balls and many others.
One of the most exciting things for me was spotting a skateboarding teenager wearing a Buzzcocks t-shirt.

THE BOYS DRINKING AT IGGY'S BAR NEAR THE BOWERY.

We finally headed off to the Bowery and once found, we decided to look for a bar.
We were going around in circles like headless chickens and tensions were running high until some Russian geezer directed us to a place called Iggy's Bar just around the corner.
It turned out to be a good call as the Ramones were blasting through the P.A. when we walked through the door.
Turns out that they were having an extended happy hour and all draught beers including Boddingtons were $4 a pint.
We ended up staying for a couple of hours, which was the perfect way of unwinding before the gig after our exhausting day of sight seeing.
Right on cue the rest of the barmy army joined us as we were leaving the bar and heading to the Bowery.
We got to the Bowery and despite it looking like a dump from the outside, inside was a different story.
You entered the venue through the bar and the place was packed, full of fans young and old.
Various classic shirts were spotted, Seamonsters and original Bizarro and a Mini one.
The place was buzzing and people seemed pretty excited.
While in the bar a guy approached me and introduced himself as "Brian", someone who had commented on my previous barmy army blog. We exchanged greetings and then he announced that he could get a Bizarro t-shirt as he wore XXL and they had sold out.
"Hang on" I said and ran over to the coat check girl and grabbed my backpack.
I pulled out my favourite blue stripey 2008 barmy army shirt and gave it to Brian as it was pretty baggy on me these days.
Brian's face lit up and I thought he might even cry, keep that a secret people, I don't want my reputation to be ruined and word getting out that I might actually be a nice guy.
After the support band finished we moved into the concert hall and found Ian and Steph from Ian and Steph up front and centre, we muscled our way up to them and nobody seemed to object.

GRAEME WEARING HIS BARMY ARMY SHIRT DURING THE SOUNDCHECK.

BIZARRO KEG????

The floor was full and David later confirmed that the gig eventually sold out.
We were quite pleased to spot Graeme wear his barmy army shirt for the sound check.
The gig started and it was obvious from the first couple of songs that this was going to be a special show, the place was rocking and with the barmy army bouncing up and down like it was 1989, most people around us joined in.
There was a dodgy Brix Smith look-a-like near Steph from Ian and Steph doing some vintage 80's dance moves and just behind us I was shocked to spot the forum's very own Keg. On closer inspection it wasn't really him, but it certainly gave us lot a chuckle or two or more.
The crowd was already into the set and leaping about, but things kicked into overdrive when the Bizarro songs started.
Despite everyone jumping around and people getting knocked over from time to time, not one person objected, this wouldn't have been the way in L.A. I can assure you of that.
Down the front were a few small young women and they rolled their sleeves up and were moshing with the rest of us, it was fucking brilliant to be honest.
Unfortunately all good things come to an end and before we knew it the final bars of Be Honest sounded and the show was over.

US WITH GAV AND SALLY AT THE BOWERY.

So it was back down to the bar where we chatted amongst ourselves, with members of Jet Age who bought me a pint, result.
Sally even got chatted up by two members of Girl in a Coma, unfortunately (for the lads) it wasn't the gorgeous lead singer.
We chatted with TWP and David reckoned it was one of the best shows he had ever played, not one of us disagreed.

DLG & ME AFTER THE GIG.

After leaving the venue we said our farewells to Gav and Sally and Phil and Jen who wouldn't be joining us in Cambridge for the next gig.
Then the real fun began.
We struggled to find our way back to the hotel in a scene straight out of 70's cult movie The Warriors.
It was 1am and the subway station was shut so we once again had to wander the mean streets of New York and an effort to find the right train.
Hilarity followed as Harry and Kirk's Scottish rivalries came out and they sniped at each other like an old married couple.

We eventually got back to the hotel at 2.30am and it would have been a lot worse had it not been for the helpful people we met along the way. In spite of New York's horrible reputation, everyone we met was nice, polite, very courteous and extremely patient despite one of two of us being a bit crabby due to tiredness and the stress of not thinking we'd ever see our hotel room again.

To be continued......

Martin P. Smurf on tour with The Wedding Present.

2010-04-14T20:11:00.000-07:00

While on the east coast we bumped into this guy following the tour.
Apparently he is the smurferator on smurfitones.co.uk.
What an adorable little chap, unlike the other one we all know and "love"

AT THE EDGE OF THE SMURF.

LOST PANDA??

EVERYONE SMURFS HE LOOKS DAFT.

PERFECT BLUE SKIN

DON'T SMURF ME HOME UNTIL I'M DRUNK.

BESMURFED

MY FAVOURITE SMURF
Blog fan Brian poses with Martin P. Smurf while sporting old school barmy army shirt.
I'll miss that shirt, but it goes to a good home.

GIVE MY SMURF TO GAVIN.

THIS SMURF CAN WAIT.

NOT FROM WHERE I'M SMURFING.

NOBODY'S SMURFING YOUR ARM

DON'T SMURF, JUST KISS.

DON'T SMURF THAT DIAL.

The Wedding Present's Bizarro Barmy Army 2010 US Tour (Part Two)

2010-04-14T19:30:00.000-07:00

BARMY ARMY, HOWARD JOHNSON'S, NORTH BERGEN, NJ.
(The Indie Tele Tubbies)

So Mark, Kellie and I took the red eye to New York on Friday night and arrived at JFK at 5.30am the next morning.
We caught the subway (E train no less) and then the 125 bus and arrived in North Bergen NJ at 7.30am. A slight problem as we couldn't check into our room until 3pm.
We tried calling Harry but there was no answer, I even battered his hotel room door but he obviously wasn't in there, bummer.
Luckily the lady on the front desk found us a room that was ready and let us check in 7 hours early, we later found out that Harry had gone into NY early so he could watch Celtic on the telly
They lost, that'll teach him.
Seeing we got zero sleep on the flight in, Kellie decided to have a nap while me and Mark took off on the hotel shuttle to Manhattan to meet Derek and help him with 3 boxes of Bizarro t-shirts that he was carrying for the band.
We met up and carried the boxes for about 3 blocks until we decided that they were so heavy we must have a pint or two or three in some lovely Irish bar we found.
Fast forward several hours and our group moved onto Hoboken for the gig.
While we were waiting for our cab to the venue a car load of knobs looking like extras from the Jersey Shore drove by and screamed "Irish niggers" at us before racing off.
Well me, Mark, Derek and Harry might be a bit pasty and non-Italian looking and we can handle being called "niggers", but we take great exception to being referred to as Irish.
It was very amusing though.

OUTSIDE MAXWELL'S

We found a decent enough bar, had a few drinks and arranged to meet the others.
Kirk arrived with suitcase in hand and was soon followed by Ian and Steph from Ian and Steph, Phil and Jen and last but not least, Gavin and Sally.

We necked down a few more beers and discussed how shit the pub juke box was.
It was truly dire, so bad in fact that after making a few picks, Derek gave up and asked me to take over as he was stumped.
It was hard worked but I managed to pick out 7 or 8 songs that while "not good", weren't too horrible.

The venue (Maxwells) just might be the smallest I have ever seen. It was literally just slightly bigger than the average living room with a tiny stage at one end and a bar at the other. I guessed it held anywhere between 200 and 250 which explained why it was the first venue on the tour to sell out.
I insisted that the barmy army check out the support band The Jet Age and the ones that watched were very impressed.
The Wedding Present came on and delivered for a captive audience, the barmy army were on form as well bouncing about like rabid easter bunnies, other members of the audience were only too eager to join in and a fine time was had by all.
The highlights for me were No and Bewitched.
Graeme's strumming on No is very impressive and I'd just like to remind you that he is onstage to do just that and not to upstage DLG by leaping about and doing the windmill like Pete Townsend in his prime, so stop f**king moaning about it.
I would also like to state that Charlie Layton is the best, I repeat, the best drummer I have seen in The Wedding Present.
I know that may upset Simon Smith enthusiasts, but it's my opinion and my blog, so there.
We chatted to the band and other fans after the gig, then headed off for a few slices of pizza down the road.
Beer, a great gig and tasty pizza, it really doesn't get any better than that.

To be continued...

The Wedding Present's Bizarro Barmy Army 2010 US tour. (Part One.)

2010-04-03T08:23:00.000-07:00

There was good news and bad news as the second "official" barmy army tour kicked off as usual in San Diego.
The bad news was that the usual suspects weren't around for the launch party.
The good news was that most of them would be there for dates on the east coast instead, exciting times indeed.
But I'm sure their hearts were with us on the west coast and the start of The Wedding Present's "historical" Bizarro 21 tour.
New barmy army recruits Fergal, Mark and Kia were along for the ride and we were also due to meet up with friends Lori, Dolly and Paul, so there would be a few familiar faces in the crowd.

NOW I KNOW HOW MPS FEELS.
SHE WASN'T WEARING ANY BY THE WAY.

FERGAL & MARK IN THEIR "COZY" ROOM.

Kellie, Fergal, Mark and I arrived at about noon in San Diego, we couldn't check into the hotel until 3pm so we wandered around and explored our surroundings.
This included walking around the gaslight district for a curry and avoiding eye contact with the massive homeless population as this encourages panhandling.
We also walked around the wharf, checked out a few boats (as you do) took a few pictures and then cut things short as it was getting a bit chilly.
We checked in at the "plush" Motel 6, and it actually wasn't that bad.
The downside was we didn't realise until we got there that all the rooms were single with only one double bed. Fine for me and Kellie, but a bit of a nightmare for Mark and Fergal.
Not sure how they handled their sleeping arrangements, but they looked very cozy.
The colour scheme in the rooms was orange, brown and white which reminded me of the buses back in Manchester during the 70's & 80's.
We settled in and had a few beers, Kia arrived at about 7pm and we left for the gig shortly after that.

THE VENUE.

We arrived at the Casbah, parked up and headed for our traditional Subway sarnie across the street.
Dolly and Paul joined our group, we ate and chatted while waiting for the venue to open.
The band joined us a bit later, we talked for a bit and then headed off, leaving them to eat while we went to the Casbah in search of something stronger to drink.
I love the Casbah, it's a tiny and scruffy venue situated at the end of the runway at San Diego airport.
A plane flies overhead literally every five minutes just a couple of hundred feet above the venue, it sounds bad, but it's fucking ace.
Fergal and I attempted to have a game or two of pool, but the table would not comply and decided to keep taking our money and not dispense all the balls, so despite help from the beautiful barmaid, we gave up.
I tried to buy a Casbah t-shirt but all they have were shirts for little women.
Clearly this wouldn't do, I have been called a big woman on many occasions, but never a little one. And even though I probably could have used the shirt as a bandana, I passed.

"D'YA WANNA BUY A T-SHIRT MATE?"

Speaking to Jessica in the weeks leading up to the gig, ticket sales had been really weak and they were worried about the gig and if anyone would turn up.
In the end San Diego came through and we ended up with a bigger crowd than on the "El Rey" tour.
This time around we obviously had Bizarro t-shirts, El Rey vinyl, Wedding Present bags and other stuff.
The merchandise sold very well, they sold out of Sheperds Bush dvd's and David regretted his decision to only bring 4 copies, doh!!!!!!
Bearing in mind that last time I only sold 12 t-shirts and 9 of them were to the barmy army (including Kellie), I was quite shocked at how much we sold.
My "helper" this time around was drummer Charlie's girlfriend the very lovely Sarah, who I managed to insult by saying she didn't sound German enough.
My excuse was that the gig was very loud so I couldn't hear properly, plus I had a bit to drink, a shabby excuse, I know, but I'm sticking with it.

FERGAL and TERRY DECASTRO AFTER THE GIG AT THE CASBAH.

Despite one or two gaffs by the "band" (By band I mean DLG), the gig was very enjoyable. The small crowd while not jumping about much was very enthusiastic and very appreciative.
The setlist was great, we had three (yes three) new songs and a few older classics such as Corduroy before the band launched into Bizarro.
With the three new songs David hadn't quite learned all the lyrics yet so he kept glancing at notes on the stage floor. After each song he would hand them back to Jessica for safe keeping as they were the only copies.
LOL, I guess they couldn't find a Kinko's before the gig to make a few copies.
A good time was had by all.
After another chat with the band we eventually got back to the hotel at 1.30am. Kellie went to bed while me, Kia, Mark and Fergal headed to the lads room for a few more drinks and to listen to the gig again recorded by Mark.
It sounded great and we must have been a bit too enthusiastic as security showed up and told us to turn things down.
I eventually called it a night at 2.30am and everyone agreed to get up and have breakfast in Old Town the next morning, or should I say, a few hours later?

THE BEST BREAKFAST EVER IN OLD TOWN SAN DIEGO.

After a couple of attempts to rally the troops, Kellie and me headed off the Old Town at 9am and the little Mexican restaurant Jessica had recommended.
A good call Miss MacMillan because it was delicious.
They make their own tortillas on the premises and they are wonderful. Still warm and fresh when they arrive at your table and really thick and chewy.
I had huevos rancheros and it was the best Mexican breakfast I have ever had.
On the drive back to L.A. we stopped in Carlsbad for gas, after filling up I pulled the car over to the front of the gas station and almost immediately a massive swarm of bee's took over the premises. There were thousands of the pesky blighters and the car was covered in them, luckily I had the AC on and all the windows in the car were firmly closed.
We escaped onto Interstate 5 still covered in bee's, they may have been killer bee's for all I know, but I didn't ask.
Anyway some clung to the wing mirrors and windscreen for dear life, I think the last one stayed on us for about 8 miles.
Yellow and black striped, stinging bastards, God I f**king hate bee's man!!!!

PRE-GIG CURRY at THE GATE OF INDIA on SUNSET BLVD.

For the Troubadour gig, my old friend Brett drove out from Nevada to re-live our 1990 experience, we were also joined by my mate Neil from Blackburn and my 13 year old son Liam.
Another pre-gig curry was the order of the night.
No Keanu Reeves this time around but Langley/Middleton legend Mark Burgess of The Chameleons was in attendance which was far more exciting than Keanu for me.
I chatted with Mark about City, David chucked in a couple of light hearted comments regarding his love of the shite from Salford.
These came back to haunt him the next day as Chelsea beat them at the swamp and we stuffed Burnley at Turf Moor............ brilliant.
We saw quite a few familiar faces at the venue and not to say the San Diego performance was poor, but the L.A. gig blew it out of the water.
I managed to grab a Troubadour venue t-shirt and very snazzy it was as well. Ha, in your face Casbah!!!!!!

MIDDLETON LEGENDS DLG, MARK BURGESS AND ERRR...... ME AT THE TROUBADOUR.

After another few hours sleep everyone was up by 9am the next morning, I played the "Hostess with the mostess" and made our group breakfast burrito's. They were delicious even if I do say so myself. We watched City v Burnley and before you knew it the time had come for our guests to bugger off home.
Brett drove back to Nevada and Liam and me took Fergal for a short trip to Hollywood where we did a bit of shopping at Amoeba and had lunch and a pint at the Cat and Fiddle.
A great weekend in all, here's to the east coast.

To be continued.......

My Adidas.

2010-01-03T16:51:00.000-08:00

Green and Yellow Samoa

Red and White Adi Run

Green and White Gazelle

Black and Red Superstar

Samba 85

Yeah, I'm a wee bit obsessed with Adidas trainers.
When I were just getting into my teens Adidas trainers were just becoming big with lads, terrace wear and what would later become known as the casual movement.
I have had a few pairs of Puma, Reebook, Converse, Nike and a few other different brand names over the years but it's always Adidas and the three stripe that I keep coming back to.
They usually last me for years on account of the fact that I now own about 20 pairs and can rotate them.
My oldest pair are a green pair of Gazelles, I've had them for 16 years.
I guess my second oldest pair are my blue and orange Samoas that I have had for 10 years. They both show a bit of wear, but I feel I always get my money's worth out of my favourite brand of trainers.
Having said all of that, my favourite pair of trainers that I currently own are a fake leather pair of limited edition Johnny Marr PF Flyers. There were only 200 pairs produced worldwide and they were designed by Johnny with all proceeds going to charity. I have never worn them and probably never will, well maybe about the house or to take them out to get them signed by the great man himself one day.
I hope.

"Antique" Navy and Orange Samoa (10 years old)

"Antique" Green Gazelle (16 years old)

Red and White Gazelle

Johnny Marr "Limited Edition" PF Flyers.

Of course some of these older pairs look well worn and a bit tatty in these pictures but to be honest I was never a huge fan of spotless looking brand new trainers like some daft Yank. I prefer my shoes to look a little bit broken in and all of these still look the dogs bollcks with a pair of jeans on.

Musical Obsessions Part Two. The Wedding Present.

2009-12-31T13:41:00.000-08:00

Let me start off by saying that I never went to university but I liked the music, in fact I was a bit of a scally in my youth, but was drawn to music that many of my peers would look upon as soppy student shite.
I was obviously well into The Smiths, Joy Division and the like but usually spent my hard earned dole money of following Manchester City rather than attending many gigs.
Now that I think about it, maybe my choice in music reflected my choice of football team.
And so I generally wallowed in misery for most of the 80's thanks to my record collection and Man City.

Fast forward to 1987 and one Friday after a night out in Middleton, I put the telly on while devouring a Chinese take-away and tuned into Anthony H. Wilson's late night TV show "The other side of midnight". One of the featured musical guests was a band I had never heard of before, The Wedding Present. "From Leeds" said Tony..... err I mean Anthony and they performed "Nobody's twisting your arm"
I was taken by the gruff voiced lead singer wearing a dodgy shirt and my interest was peaked when Wilson mentioned their new album "George Best".

Now as a Manchester City fan I am supposed to hate anything to do with the other lot from Stretford, but to be honest George was my one of my favourite footballers of all time, he was a joy to watch and I would have sold my soul to the devil if he could have played for City.
I went out and bought the album the very next day, the cover was a thing of beauty and the music was instantly loveable. I researched this "Leeds" band and discovered that David and Pete Solowka were from my hometown of Middleton, we already had The Chameleons, so they'd do for me. Plus I do believe that TWP were the first band to be dubbed The "new" Smiths after they split, I was fated to love them really.

In March of 1988 I moved to Los Angeles leaving behind my friends, family, football team and most of my record collection.
After what seems like ages in the wilderness I found an American friend (Brett) who liked the same kind of music as I did and we'd attend gigs together and spend hours scouring the racks in L.A. record stores.
The release of Bizarro came and went, I originally owned in on cassette. Then finally The Wedding Present were to make their L.A. debut promoting the "newish" album and on Wednesday June 27th 1990 they were playing at the world famous Whisky A Go Go.
Brett and I bought our tickets, they were $15.50 each and we found out that the band were also scheduled to appear at Moby Disc in Sherman Oaks on the day of the gig for a meet and greet.
"Ooooo, we've got to go to that"

We were hoping for a performance at the record store, but no such luck, it was just a signing.
Unfortunately I had turned up empty handed with nothing to sign, but a quick trip to the "W" section soon remedied that and I picked up a used CD copy of The Peel Sessions for $1.49. All the band except for Simon (He didn't play on it) signed the cover, I also helped myself to a promo photo and had that signed.
The band thought it would be a bit of a laugh to sign their names under the wrong face. I introduced myself and informed David and Pete that I was from Middleton as well, they seemed mildly underwhelmed and were more interested in the American teenager wearing a Chameleons shirt.
After the signing Brett and I headed off to Hollywood for the gig. We decided to grab something to eat and found a cheap Italian restaurant across the street from The Roxy, we walked in and were mortified to see the band already in there for their pre-gig meal.
"We can't eat in here" I said to Brett, "They might recognise us and think we have followed them"
So we grabbed a couple of hotdogs from the AM PM gas station further down on Sunset Blvd.
The gig was excellent and afterwards I bought Bizarro on CD and had another brief chat with David.
And so this scenario was repeated with TWP and later Cinerama whenever they played L.A., I'd go to the gig and try and chat to David after the show.
To me it really wasn't really so much a case of hero worship, I was the only Mancunian I knew in Thousand Oaks and David was from my hometown, so I felt obliged to talk to him after gigs.
Nearly two decades later after many run ins with David Lewis Gedge I found out he was relocating to Los Angeles for a few months so I sent Jessica an e-mail containing points of interest for an exiled Brit. Which pubs showed the English footy, where to buy your Heinz baked beans etc, etc.....
This act of randomness from me resulted in an unexpected bonus, David got in touch and asked if I wanted to meet up and hang out.
Kin'ell, my years of semi-stalking had actually paid off.
A couple of years on I find myself as one of David and Jessica's L.A. regular contacts and usually see them when they visit. To be honest it's no big deal now, I basically just view him as "David from Middleton" although the other week I did stop and think "Bloody hell, I just made breakfast for David Gedge from The Wedding Present"
For the record, he wolfed down the veggie omelette but didn't touch the hash browns.

All I want for Christmas is an 80's casual flashback.

2009-12-26T11:15:00.000-08:00

My (latest) Adidas.
Trimm Trab, a true casual classic.

We went up to the Camarillo Adidas outlet in order to get Liam a pair of decent trainers for Christmas.
Found him a pair of navy and white Gazelle's for $39.99. Not a bad price really, then one of the attendants informed us that they were having a "Buy one pair get the second pair 50% off sale"
"Hmmm, I'll have a bit of that" I thought.
I scanned the shelves and there wasn't really much available to be honest, then in the clearance section I spotted them, a pair of retro two tone blue Trimm Trab.
They were only priced at $29.99, sold!!!!!!
When I got to the register not only were they half off but they were mislabelled and should have been $19.99, bloody result or what?
So I ended up paying $9.98 for them.
All I needed was a Slazenger jumper, a pair of Lois cords and a wig with a "perry boy" flicker fringe on it and I would have been all set for a midweek visit to Grimsby on a Yelloways coach.
Ha, it doesn't take much to get me excited huh?

The Bobby Mancity era.

2009-12-26T11:00:00.000-08:00

"Mark who? I'm the f**king daddy now Robinho"

New City boss Roberto Mancini got off to a great start today.
I was impressed with the entire team, maybe with the exception of Robinho who was a little rusty.
A solid performance against an always awkward Stoke City, Vincent Kompany led by example at the back.
The midfield was excellent and Tevez was tireless, weighing in with a kung fu volley.
Bellamy might have been rightfully disappointed to have not started, but I suspect he was rested and being saved for the big test for Wolves away on Monday. He did great when he came on though and seemed happy to be playing.
We just seemed a bit more confident today and knocked the ball around nicely.
I do think Hughes was a bit hard done by, but I am excited by the new/new era and think we can only improve as the season goes on.

Estrellas in their eyes

2009-12-17T20:55:00.000-08:00

Spot the white guys. Shocker and me playing for Estrellas 1988.

Me before the cup final at Birmingham High School. November 1988.

Estrellas at Pacoima Junior High

Way way back in 1988 when I first came to America, I was soon joined by my mate from Middleton, Ian Shaughnessy aka Shocker.
We both played for the Woodman in the Blackley league and decided we wanted to have a kick around on a Sunday in the Golden State to keep ourselves sane.
So one weekend we ventured over to nearby Balboa Park and walked around asking various teams if they needed players.
Balboa Park in 1988 on a Sunday afternoon was completely full of young Latino males playing "futbol" there wasn't a white face to be seen apart from the obligatory LAPD squad car that continually circled the fields on the lookout for trouble.
Our enquiries were met with blank stares until we talked to a white haired older Mexican gentleman named Anselmo Hernandez.

"Do you need players?" we asked
"Err si, do you play" he replied
"Of course, we're English, from Inglaterra mate"
Thank god we had remembered the Spanish word for England from the 86 World Cup.
Anselmo looked at the Derby County shirt I was wearing, I had bought it from the market in Middleton for 2 quid, not a fan of the Rams, but it was dirt cheap.
He pointed at the Derby badge.
"You play for them in Inglaterra?"
"No"
"Si, you play for them"
"No, it's just a shirt, we didn't play for them"
"Okay, si"
We gave up at that point.
Anslemo told us to come to his fortified house in a dodgy Van Nuys neighbourhood during the week and to bring pictures and he would take a gamble and sign us up without actually seeing us play.
After all we were ex-Derby County players so we couldn't be that bad, right?
"Do you think he's a drug dealer?" asked Shocker on the way home.
"Could be" I replied.
We thought everyone was a drug dealer back then, especially the Mexicans you'd see on the San Fernando Valley streets selling oranges and flowers. We thought they had the perfect "cover" but looking back we were just naive and the cops would have been all over them.

Well we did the deed, got signed up and we set to make our debuts the following Sunday, except I managed to stab myself with a Bowie knife in the thigh. An accident that required 70 odd stitches.
Me and Shocker showed up that Sunday and announced I couldn't play on account of my knife wound.
"Were you on drugs man?" one asked
"No" I said
"Were you drunk then?"
"No, I just did it by accident"
They all looked at each other.
"Fucking loco" said one, they all laughed and nodded in agreement.
The game started and Shocker was playing while I was interrogated on the sideline
"So Andres" said one "Tell us about the Ingles"
"Errr, well we are like the Mexicans of Europe"
They looked puzzled.
"We love to drink, play football, fight, fuck and nobody likes us"
Again they all nodded and laughed, we fit right in.
Shocker of course took the game by storm. He was small even by Mexican standards but they were amazed by his ability to take a kicking, get up and carry on playing unaffected. He scored two goals as well which was a bonus.
After the match was over I presented Anslemo with the Derby County shirt that he so admired.
"You play for them in Inglaterra?" he asked again
"No"
He walked over to the rest of the team and I could tell he was informing them that his latest two signings were ex-Derby County players as he pointed at the shirt and then pointed back at the two pasty gringo's.
As the next week was easter there was no game and in between I had my stitches taken out.
I was ready to make my debut, they put me and Shocker up front against some pretty rubbish opposition, I scored 4 and Shocker got another 2 in the first half.
At the start of the second they informed us that we were done for the day. We were both shocked and pissed off until we were told that this was the 2nd team and we were now promoted to the 1st team who were playing immediately afterwards.
Back then of course we were younger, skinnier and a hell of a lot fitter so we came to an arrangement where we would play for both teams on a Sunday. I'd play up front for the 2nd team and then slot in at the back for the 1st team.
Shocker played in midfield or up front for either team depending on his mood.
Frequently our games would be delayed because a massed brawl would break out. The usual decorum for us two would be to sit down in the centre circle and wait for things to boil over. Now I think I can handle myself but getting into a massive brawl with a bunch of Mexicans is not wise as it could easily turn into "Kill whitey" so we kept out of it and to their credit, nobody ever bothered us.

It was also during my tenure in the San Fernando League that I scored my greatest ever goal.
We were playing a match at Pacoima Junior High (Richie Valens' alma matter).
I was playing as centre forward and during one attack somebody drove a low pass across the pitch, I had over ran the ball and stopped dead, the ball hit my out stretched heel and pinged in the air looping down right in front of me, I volleyed the ball before it could hit the ground and it flew right into the roof of the net from 25 yards out.
It was complete fluke how the ball ended up in front of me for the shot but my team mates were convinced that I had meant it.
"Maradona" screamed one of them.
"No, it was an accident, a lucky goal" I protested, but they were having none of it of course, they knew I had played for Derby County and was obviously just being really modest.
Anyway Shocker eventually returned to England and I continued to play for Estrellas as the lone Englishman and the lone white guy in the league.
We ended the season in second place and got to the cup final. It was played in front of about 2000 spectators at Birmingham High School. During the game I was racially abused, had bottles thrown at me, I loved it, it was my proudest moment as a footy player.
The opposing supporters went mental when I elbowed on of their players in the face forcing him to be subbed with a bloody nose.
Late on in the match we were losing 3-2 when I pushed forward and hit the crossbar with a 30 yard shot, cue more abuse.
Then the game was over and we had lost, their fans invaded the pitch instantly and I thought that I was going to get a bit of a slap as loads of them made a bee line for me.
"Here we go" I thought
"Nice game white boy" I was patted on the back by dozens of Mexican strangers and many more wanted to shake my hand.
While I was disappointed to lose the game I was pretty pleased by my performance and the reception of the crowd, for 90 minutes I almost felt like a "proper" footballer.

The clock's ticking Sparky.

2009-12-16T17:42:00.000-08:00

Despite being "unbeaten" in 12 games, let's face the Chelsea result was the only one worth shouting about.
Well they were bloody awful at Spurs tonight, how long before the owners take action?
I've lost faith to be honest, we have drawn far too many games we should have won during this run.
Hull? Fulham? Bloody Burnley??????
Taxi for Hughes.

Hopeless in Seattle, the LA Galaxy in the MLS Cup Final.

2009-11-23T20:19:00.000-08:00

Outside the Hawk's Nest Pub, Seattle.

Bizzarro Restaurant.

Seamonster Lounge.

My stalker, Miss Galaxy

So, Mark and I went to Seattle this weekend for the MLS Cup Final.
We have been going to watch them all season and decided weeks ago to go to the final regardless of who made it there.
As luck would have it the Galaxy scraped their way through. Now Beckham and co aren't a bad team, they have a great keeper, a decent back four and one of the best midfield's in the MLS.
The main problem is that they have absolutely nothing up front, their attack is as toothless as Shane MacGowan.
Edsen Buddle and Alan Gordon would have struggled to get a game for teams I have coached in the Tri-County Soccer League.
Buddle can't jump or run and is African American, my theory is that he was adopted by an elderly white couple from Encino. He plays with his head down and never seems remotely interested. Alan Gordon while certainly enthusiastic, is fucking awful, a touch like a baby elephant and lacking in even the ability to trap a bag of cement. Now when I was a young and lean amateur player I was a half decent Sunday league forward, but now that I'm old fat and slow, I'd still be more useful to the L.A. Galaxy than either one of this pair.
Beckham was playing with Kaka, Pato and Ronaldinho this time last year, how he must love playing with Gordon and Buddle.
No wonder he's back off on the first plane to Milan this week to prepare for next summer's World Cup Finals in South Africa.
Anyway the soccer media had installed the Galaxy as hot favourites for the final, but Mark and I had our doubts, Real Salt Lake had a good team, decent forwards and nothing to lose.
We flew up to Seattle, hung out with my Wedding Present buddy Fergal, got drunk a few times, took some touristy pictures and generally had a great time thanks to our fantastic Nottingham Forest loving Irish host.
The day of the match, we headed to the Hawks Nest pub and got drunk with other like minded Galaxy fans.
We met a Middlesbrough fan in the bar who wears a pithe helmet for Galaxy matches. We chatted for a while, he was a top bloke. Then I asked him where abouts in L.A. he lived in and he said he still lived in Middlesbrough and just flies out here for the craic and to attend Galaxy games. Fuck me, I know the Boro are dire these days, but flying out from the UK to watch the Galaxy is a bit much, he must have more money than sense.
Oh well, he's a top bloke and if it makes him happy, then more power to him.
We'll look him up next season at the Home Depot Center and share a can of lager or two or three or more.
We had a bit of fun with a bucket (long story) and ran into Miss L.A. Galaxy again.
I honestly think she must be stalking me or something.
At the stadium we met Galaxy legends Mauricio Cienfuegos and Kevin Hartman, it is nice to see them still cheering on their old team.
The game was a bit predictable, Real were slightly the better team and the Galaxy barely troubled them offensively. We had key players missing with illness and then Donovan Ricketts got injured so we had to waste one of our substutions replacing him with Josh Saunders. In the dreaded shoot out Beckham buried his kick, Berthalter did likewise. Up next was Landon and he never misses from the spot. Unfortunately the giant screen in the stadium showed two of his pk kicks just before the shoot out. My feeling is that he changed his usual tactic of putting to the left or right of the watching RSL keeper and opted to bury it just under the crossbar instead.
This didn't do us any good as he put it so far over the net that people on top of the Space Needle reportedly ducked.
The equally dire Jovan Kirovski missed another and the final lick came down to my favourite Galaxian Edsen Buddle. He trudged over from the halfway line like a deadman walking. "Look at the fucker" I said "he's gonna miss"
"Aye" replied Mark.
He walked up to the ball and basically rolled the ball back to the keeper and the final was over as soon as the ball left his foot. RSL just about deserved to be champions. Beckham was about the only one to show any class and walked over to the RSL coach and team after they got their hands on the trophy, congratulating each and every one of them while his team mates slunk off back to the dressing room, heads bowed.
Despite the game, we had a great weekend thanks to Fergal and his mates.
Hopefully the Galaxy will keep most of the squad intact for next year and add a couple of forwards. If they insist on keeping Buddle and Gordon maybe they could have them sell hot dogs inside the stadium, this is really all they are fit for.

Hmmm, what's been going on recently then?

2009-11-17T15:31:00.000-08:00

I've been slacking on the blogger front of late.
It's a familiar story, I first start a blog, it's shiny and new and I'm blogging my ass off. Then after a while I get a bit bored with it and slowly but surely everything kind of comes to a standstill. Sure I could blame it on the lack of feedback from my massive following of five, but deep down I know it's down to me.
So what have I been up to then?
Well the work situation is shit, I was busy for a while covering almost every square inch of the downstairs at the wonderful Forbes-Black family home. I originally went over there to just paint the gazebo but after working there for almost two months I had refinished the kitchen and bathroom cabinets, built a custom made island, made a breakfast bar, tiled the kitchen counter top and hallway counters, tiled the floors in the kitchen and bathrooms, painted the entire downstairs, the gazebo and finally built a fence for the pool equipment.... phew!!!!
Not only were they lovely people for keeping me busy, but they were without a doubt the nicest family I have worked for. Ade and Clare were great and the kids Lola and Luke were both adorable and charming, hell I even got along with the dog.

Forbes-Black bathroom cabinets.

The Forbes-Black finished kitchen.

I have also been attending LA Galaxy home games with my old mate Mark from Swindon, this weekend for our pains we will be flying up to Seattle to watch them try and win their 3rd MLS Cup against Real Salt Lake, it won't be easy, but I think we can do it. I'll probably post a blog regarding that trip next week.

Me and Kellie's "other" boyfriend.

Miss Galaxy and friends with me at the Home Depot Centre.

On the concert front it has been a bit quiet, since we saw Camera Obscura on Kellie's birthday in June we've seen Terry De Castro 3 times, Franz Ferdinand, Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker, Trashcan Sinatras, The Jet Age, She wants Revenge, Echo and the Bunnymen perform Ocean Rain with a full orchestra and last week we saw The Cribs featuring my musical idol Johnny Marr, they were all great gigs, hopefully 2010 will see us go to a few more.

Fingers crossed on the work front, I've been temping with Labor Ready, it's shit money and quite depressing, but it puts a bit of money in my pocket and food on the table, it just kills me that these people take the piss expecting you to work your ass off for a pittance and then act like your should fellate them for doing you a favour.
As usual my so-called friends have been a great help on this score and I'm really getting along with the ex-wife.... NOT!!!!!!!!!
Thanksgiving is coming up, hmmmm, watch this space.

The Echo Curio. Saturday November 14th.

2009-11-17T11:06:00.000-08:00

Terry De Castro's first solo gig at Crane's Hollywood Tavern.

Terry's second gig at the Hotel Cafe.

Terry supporting The Jet Age at The Echo Curio

SETLIST:
(Featuring Simone White)

The Great Avalanche
The Sun is Always Sweetest
East St. O'Neill
Starry Eyed
To Love You
Dalliance (Featuring 2/3 of The Jet Age)

A bit of a strange gig this one.
I had never heard of the Echo Curio before never mind been there, but when I found out that Wedding Present bassist Terry De Castro was playing I thought we'd give it a try.
Terry informed us that she was just performing a short opening set for The Jet Age. I'd never really heard them before so I checked out their myspaz page and was pleasently surprised, hell one of their songs "O Calendar" even sounded like TWP's "Click Click"
Anyway Terry also let us know that not only was it just $5 on the door for a night that included five (count 'em, five) bands, but you could also bring your own alcohol.... SOLD!!!!!!

Kellie and I started off the night by meeting up with Dolly and Paul for dinner, two lovely people we know through our WP connections.
We went to Bulan Vegan Thai Restaurant.
Now Kellie and I are not vegans, but we've been to this place before and it has such delicious food that even the most avid carnivore would love it.
A fine time was had by all, we had great food, great service and then it was off to the Curio for the gig. We were greeted by Terry, her main man Andrew and Simone White outside, paid the five bucks and sheepishly walked in with our booze. I opted for the Fresh and Easy brand "Taurino" beer which Paul reckoned looked like an energy drink, he's right, but they are still pretty good and cheap ($9.99 for an 18 pack) while Kellie had a bottle of red wine. Dolly presented me with a bottle of micro brew ale which I'll save for a special occasion.
The "venue" was actually a small shop that from what I could make out doubled as a used record store/art gallery.
Well it certainly had character.
The gig was great, a bit short, but Terry was just opening.
She has really gotten better (her own words) live over the past few months since I last saw her. This isn't to say she wasn't up to scratch before, but after a few weeks of opening for TWP on tour in the UK you could definetely hear the difference, to be honest I just think she had gotten over the nervousness of being the main focus onstage. After about 20 minutes she announced that this was her last song and she was then joined by two members of The Jet Age for a rowdy version of Dalliance.
It was brash and loud and despite the drums getting a bit overbearing towards the end she left the floor to generous applause.
Jet Age came on next and informed the audience that free ear plugs were available because "They were loud"
Well they certainly were and then some, I enjoyed the show but us old folk in the audience went outside and listened from behind the window.
We decided not to stay for the other bands as we had a bit of a long drive home as did Dolly and Paul.
Despite us wimping out and going home "early" it still was a great night and dirt cheap by L.A. standards.
Dinner = $30
Booze = Free
Gig = $5 for five bands
Hanging out with Dolly, Paul, Terry and Andrew = Priceless.

www.myspace.com/thejetage
www.myspace.com/terrydecastro
www.echocurio.com

Punctured bicycle on a hillside desolate.....

2009-09-07T19:16:00.000-07:00

Will nature make a man of me yet?
NOPE.
Anyway last week I was riding my bike around Simi, while running some errands.
As I was passing the entrance to the strip mall featuring Jons and CVS on Cochran some woman pulled out onto the street hitting me with her car, I rolled across the hood/bonnet and ended up in the middle of the road.
My life literally did flash before my eyes on my way down.
Luckily no other cars were coming or I may have been seriously hurt or even worse.
After the shock of being hit quickly wore off and I realised that I was completely unhurt, I got up and checked to see if "SHE" was okay.
To be honest she was in worse shape than I was, she was pretty shaken up and I thought she was going to break down and cry at any moment.
I really can't stand to see a woman cry.
I ended comforting her and letting her know I was fine and not to worry, although the side panel of her car was pretty fucked up.
***Note to self. Start new diet next Monday***
People pulled over in their cars and thrust their phone number upon me swearing they'd be my witness. Witness to what? I'm fine, the poor lady made a mistake and I'm unhurt and now armed with some cracking dinner conversation that further proves how hard I am. ;)
She insisted that she would buy me a new bike, but I settled on letting them take the bike to the repair shop and fixing the wheel.
I also noted that my Puma Roma trainers were little worse for wear and the lady's father-in-law graciously gave me a a cheque for $100, result as they only cost $40.
I suppose with this being California I could taken her to court to "sue her ass" but I'm English and clearly above that sort of thing.
Besides, although I'm not exactly a god fearing man I do kind of believe in karma. My gut feeling is if I tried to screw somebody over it would eventually come back to bite me in the ass and I really wasn't harmed in any way and needed no medical treatment at all.
I think I did the right thing and was pretty proud of the way I handled the situation.

The season so far

2009-09-07T18:35:00.000-07:00

Three wins out of three up to now for City, four if you count the League Cup.
Adebayor has been awesome so far scoring in each league game despite friends who are Arsenal fans saying "We'd be sorry for signing him".
Can't argue with his early season record and he looks like he hasn't hit peak form yet. Give him and the rest of the squad a bit more time to gel and we'll really be flying, I hope.
Gareth Barry has been immense. He has always been a player I've admired, but you just don't realise how good he is until he plays for your team. He covers every inch of the pitch and never seems to tire.
These two along with the likes of SWP, De Jong, Ireland, Toure, Lescott, Robinho, Bellamy, Petrov, Richards, many others and Shay in net make me feel pretty confident of a top six finish.
We only got two away wins all season last year and we have already equalled that, I'm predicting good times ahead.
Fingers crossed for the next two games.

Toure signs.

2009-08-06T19:11:00.000-07:00

A bit of class at the back, yes please. That shirt is huge, is it a gift for me?

Adebayor Signs.

2009-07-18T14:31:00.000-07:00

Well that's the forwards sorted out, the midfield is okay for now but the back four badly needs a bit of steel though.
Lescot would do nicely.

Things are shaping up nicely.

2009-07-14T20:17:00.001-07:00

Who's next?

David Gedge's Barmy Army (On tour with The Wedding Present part III)

2009-06-29T09:59:00.001-07:00

Back at the hotel after the gig, we bought a large case of lager and settled in at Kirk's room for a music quiz ending to the night. I was teamed with Harry and fell asleep, I think we lost.
We set off early from Portland the next morning for the long drive up to Canada.
Along the way we stopped at Jessica's mums house and picked up mine and Kellie's missing passports, after I skillfully out manoeuvred our "follower" on Interstate 5.
The next port of call was lunch, we stopped at a wonderful Mexican restaurant where despite his hatred of cheese (mentalist) even even Peter enjoyed his meal. It really was one of the better meals of our entire trip, and thoroughly enjoyable as we say there ate, drank, chatted and chilled for a couple of hours. The owner was delightful as well and graciously snapped photographs for us tourists. I think our large group expanded his daily takings in a big way and we left him a generous tip for his efforts.

VANCOUVER, BC. CANADA.

Upon entering Canada we were pulled into the customs office to explain our large travelling group, not too much hassle except it was here I discovered that I "might" have problems getting back into the USA because my green card wasn't with my passport. Doh!!!!!
My options were:
A) Stay in the States.
B) Enter Canada and take a chance on not getting back in.

I elected to choose option B. There was no other choice really, I didn't want to miss the show and obviously as the van driver it was my fucking duty. Oh yeah, danger is my middle name.
We finally made it to Vancouver and the City was quite beautiful, we passed a stadium where the soon to be MLS team Vancouver Whitecaps were playing. The streets were filled with fans and I was quite impressed, just a pity we were short on time, I would have actually liked to have gone to watch Peter Beardsley's old team in action.
Our hotel was a right dump, definitely the worst one of the entire tour and situated in a shady part of town as well. Some dodgy homeless bloke was wandering the corridors checking the doors to guests rooms. I reported this to the desk clerk and he seemed completely uninterested, the twat.
We all rode to the venue in taxi's as I fancied a drink on the last night, big mistake, the first pint I sampled was a watered down Guinness. It was so foul that it put me off drinking for the rest of the evening.
The gig was ace, Earlimart thanked us for our support, we gave Aaron a barmy army shirt which he wore onstage. TWP paid tribute to us onstage and after the gig, we chatted with both bands and everyone posed for photo's.
We met legendary forumite Revs at this gig, he politely greeted us but we didn't see him again which was a shame, nice bloke, but I just think he was a bit shy. I'm sure (and hope) our paths will cross again one day.
The next morning we tearfully said our goodbyes. Harry, Kirk, Peter, Ian and Steph were flying out of Vancouver, while Cait, Keg, Kellie and I were driving back to L.A.
We hugged, took pictures, shed a few tears and then drove the "Jambo Coloured Beast" off in the morning sun, southbound back towards the USA.
At customs I embarrassingly confessed that I had forgot to bring my green card along on the trip.
My take on the matter is that they could just easily look me up on the computer, compare my CA ID, social security number and passport with my green card file and say "Oh yeah, that's you alright" and let me go, it would literally take 5 or 10 minutes.
Well that wasn't their take on it. We were "imprisoned" in some scruffy DHSS type office for three hours while I was bollocked, tortured and interrogated. Then I had to sign a form saying that I was a naughty boy and wouldn't do it again or I would get a massive fine.
Oh well, no harm done, at the end of the day if they had made it quick and easy I would have no motivation not to forget it again in the future and I realise that they were only doing their job.
Needless to say, I won't ever forget my green card again.
The plan was for me to drive through without stopping but by 1am I'd had enough and we booked into a cheap motel just outside California. Fortunately the room had three beds so Keg and Cait didn't have to bunk up.
I got us up all early at 7am and we were soon on the road again.
The drive home was fucking mind numbing, luckily for the passengers the DVD player kept them entertained.
We finally arrived back in Simi Valley at 9.30pm on Sunday night completely knackered.
The next morning I dispatched Cait and Keg off at LAX, we bade each other farewell and with that the barmy army tour was over.
I was kind of relieved that it over, all the driving had taken a bit of a toll on me, I was shagged and it was a bit stressful being somewhat in charge of 11 other adults.
But I was also extremely sad, we had a wonderful time, travelled with great people and had loads of fun. The shows were excellent as both bands played their hearts out.
I was even gutted to see the van returned, I had grown fond of that massive fucker during the previous two weeks.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Jessica and David, Terry, Chris and Graeme of The Wedding Present for making the tour possible and putting us on the guest list.
Earlimart for also welcoming us and being exceptionally friendly to us during the tour. Maybe they were scared of us and thought we were a group of middle aged stalkers not to be trifled with, either way they never let it be known. A special mention to Aaron for his piss poor British accent and for wearing a barmy army shirt onstage.
Thanks to the lovely people at Bandago.
A shout out to the many forumites who greeted us on the tour Kia, Nall and his lovely girlfriend, Fergal, Revs and anyone else who said hi, but I forgot about.
But most of all a big thanks to Kellie, Ian, Steph, Cait, Peter, Kirk, Marc, Harry, Keg and Phil. Thanks for coming along for the ride and contributing to the most enjoyable two weeks ever. The gigs were great but the best times were the touristy ventures, eating, drinking and just hanging out with you lot.
Fingers crossed for an east coast tour in 2010.

Rest In Peace Billy Mays.

2009-06-29T06:55:00.000-07:00

Somewhere up in heaven Saint Peter just bought some Oxyclean.