Iain McNay 09/05

Books

Jasper Rees - 'Wenger - The Making of A Legend' I am a big football fan but I rarely watch matches on TV. I prefer to be out and about at real games. Arsenal are the exception though. They are just stunning to watch at times. This book fills in many details about their manager, Arsene Wenger, especially his early years in France. It's interesting and enjoyable.

Don Arden with Mick Wall - 'Mr Big' I have never actually met Don Arden. I did talk to him on the phone a few times when I worked for a recording studio 30 years or so ago, and I once had lunch with his son David. He always had a reputation for being very tough. He is of course the Father of Sharon Osbourne and the former manager of ELO, The Small Faces and many others. This book actually makes him sound even worse than his reputation. He comes across as a pretty nasty guy with very few redeeming features. He puts his side of the story on the famous incidents when Robert Stigwood was hung out of window by his feet, and the story of how his former accountant was badly beaten up for embezzling monies from his accounts. The way Arden sees life it is all about making money, image and revenge. It does have a certain compelling fascination as a book but contains many obvious inaccuracies. Co-author Mick Wall should have checked the Guinness book of hit singles to see that the Brenda Lee's 'Speak To Me Pretty,' The Nashville Teens 'Tobacco Road' and Small faces 'Sha La La Lee' all didn't get to No 1 as the book claims. When these easy to check facts are wrong one wonders how much of the rest of the book to believe.

Colin Wilson - ' Dreaming To Some Purpose' Colin Wilson is probably best known for his first book 'The Outsiders' (a study of existential despair) written some 50 years ago. I remember buying a copy several year after it had been first published and not getting very far with it. Since then Colin has written and had published another 80 or so books and is one of Britain's most prolific authors. I have since read three or four of his works and enjoyed them. This is his autobiography and really is an excellent read. His memory for detail is quite outstanding. He covers the various ways he developed to control 'peak experiences' and keep his depression at bay, many meetings with literary greats over the years, his sex life in a fair amount of detail, and the details of how he came to write most of his books. Recommended.

Dan Brown ' Angels And Demons' and 'Deception Point' Must confess that I got rather hooked on his books after reading 'The Da Vinci Code.' These two earlier works are in similar mode. They both have similar story ideas to The Da Vinci Code and unfortunately when you start them you can't put them down. Mr Brown is rather a clever man and must be extremely rich by now.

CDs

Blue Nile 'High' If I ever sat down and compiled my Top 20 favourite albums of all time, it would certainly contain Blue Nile's 'Walk Across The Rooftops' and 'Peace At Last.' (Their first and third albums) And probably 'High' wouldn't be far away either. This band have only ever recorded 4 albums in their 20 plus years existence and they have all been stunning. One reviewer said of 'High,' 'they don't waste a note.' I couldn't have put it better myself.

Christine McVie 'In The Meantime' Starts off well but starts to drift away after a few tracks.

Annette Peacock 'My Mother Never taught Me How To Cook.' A compilation of her recordings for Aura records 20 years or so ago. Worth listening too.

Kevin Thista's Red Terror 'Wake Up Captain' I like his work a lot. He shows such promise but this, like 'Judo' and 'Don't Breath A Word' is a little patchy. He has it in him to make a really great album, he may do it one day, I hope so.

The Thrills 'Let's Bottle Bohemia' I actually like this better than their highly acclaimed debut, 'So much for the City.' The critics don't agree with me but I think they are going the right way.

Films

'Before Sunset' The follow up to 'Before Sunrise' (which I never saw). All takes place in 'real time.' i.e. 90 minutes. Clever, sweet and quite absorbing.

'Motorcycle Diaries' A film about a youthful Che Guevera growing up on a road trip around South America. Tastefully done and very watchable.

'Super Size me' I can't remember ever eating a Big Mac. I was a vegetarian for 25 or so years and since I stopped being one a few years ago I certainty haven't eaten one. I guess that possibly makes me a 'Big Mac Virgin' and I am sure there aren't so many of those in Western Europe. This is a film about a guy who, as an experiment, eats nothing but Macdonalds for 30 days. The effects on him are not pretty, in the end the Doctors monitoring his progress start to make grim pronouncements if he continues. Should be compulsive viewing on entry to all Macdonalds. That might start to change a few people's health.

Gigs

John Howard - London What a great evening. OK, there was only 70 or so people there but John played for well over 2 hours. When he finally finished, nobody wanted to leave.

Madonna - Wembley I had never seen her perform so was somewhat intrigued to see if she lived up to her rave live reviews. It was all too much about the show and not enough about the music to me. I though the sound was only mediocre and was a tad disappointed in the end.

Sporting event

Croydon 0 AFC Wimbledon 3 'Ryman League Division 1' So the Dons march relentlessly on. Unbeaten in the league now for nearly 70 games they seem invincible. Croydon held out for 70 minutes or so and then it was all too much for them.

Wootten Basset 1 Pewsey Vale 1 'Hellenic League Premier League Part of the annual Hellenic League 'groundhop.' An enjoyable match.