Thursday September 13th 2007

Well it was Thursday night again, and it all seemed to come around again quickly. Another karaoke night and yet again hardly anyone in to help us entertain them. This is now getting to the stage where we may have to go back to pillaging our singers from other pubs just to get people through the doors. So the night started with the usual banter as it always does. Now I'm going to put the record straight here for a few people. It has been brought to my attention that I was not entirely behind the results gained by England in the football last weekend. Not true at all. Its the quality of the manager and the lack of quality of the replacements he brings in. I am a true football fan. You only have to read my Vale blog to know how frustrated a real supporter gets. My problem with England and the results we have been getting are more like the problems faced at the Vale at the moment. So here's my standpoints on the subject.

1) We never seem to play our strongest players in their correct positions or seem to inspire them to play as a team, therefore when they have a bad international game they get slated (e.g. Owen/Rooney not scoring Lampard not playing well with Gerrard etc)

2) When third rate replacements are played in place of first choice players and they have a good game, everyone appears to think they are the answer to all the problems (e.g Heskey did well in the two games but he will never be better than Rooney and Peter Crouch! Don't make me laugh)

3) We have never replaced David Beckham as a player on the right, and in all honesty we probably never will. Wright-Phillips is not the answer to replace of player of Beckham's genius. Love him or hate him the stats are there to be seen. England have won more games with Beckham playing than with him not playing. In fact apart from the fact that we always lose in the major tournaments regardless of who plays, we have had our most successful period in recent times with Beckham in the team, and we got to our highest Fifa ranking for 25 years between 2002 and 2005, some of Beckhams best years. Beckham is still our best right sided player and the replacement's are worryingly thin on the ground. Wright-Phillips is not good enough, David Bentley needs time to develop further at club level first, Aaron Lennon is too lightweight and is not that good anyway and that's about it for replacements. And to stick the boot in further not one of the aforementioned players has ever, could ever or will ever "Bend It Like Beckham" He is still regarded by the footballing world as one of the best dead ball specialist's in the business, and he still has pinpoint accuracy when it comes to passing. Beck's may not be as young as he was but to pick out players you need vision not pace. No point in beating players if the end product is crap.

4) We have a manager who has lost the respect of the players, if he ever had it. Two wins against teams we should beat anyway does not make a good manager. I want to see a team who could win a tournament. With McClaren in charge I fear we will not qualify for them. Of course at home we look good and Wembley will be a daunting prospect for many players from foreign shores, but away from home we have been abysmal, and to refer to point three, without Mr Beckham! We have the wrong manager in charge of this team. A manager without the respect of the team will never get anywhere in football. Admittedly choices are thin an the ground to replace him, but his right hand man Terry Venables had a great record as England manager and he has been a successful club manager too. He also is one of the most respected coaches in the game, and would have the respect of all the players and football fans alike.

5) The press in this country has always got on the back of England as a team and the general consensus of football fans is to agree with the bilge that is printed. Now the knives are out for the manager they were all hoping he would fail to up their readership. Now he has won a couple of games again it's gone the other way and he is the right man again, until he looses another game and it will go back to the knives. A good manager would play the press as Sven and Venables and Robson did in the past. McClaren seems as if the press dictate his thoughts, a dangerous game to play if your England manager.

6) We should qualify for every tournament without a problem, but when we get to them we should have the right attitude to win it. The teams put out in qualifying will not necessarily be the teams to win the tournaments. In an honest world no one would of picked the teams that lined up against Israel and Russia. The missing players like Rooney, Lampard, Beckham, Neville, Hargreaves, Carrick etc will be on the squad list if we qualify for next years tournament. They are quality players and prove this week in week out in the Premiership, which is at the moment, the best league in the world in terms of quality of players and teams. But the lack of English talent coming through is worrying. And to have to replace them with the likes of Heskey, who don't get me wrong had a good couple of games, is worrying. Players like the Lampard - Gerrard combination, the Owen - Rooney combination, the Terry - Ferdinand combination will come good for England as they are the best we have. World Class players need the right man telling them what to do not a man who doesn't know his best team telling them what to do.

Now rant over I just want to add that I never wanted the team to lose the last two games, but I would rather have a good England manager in charge picking the best players in their correct position's, and beating the likes of Iceland, Russia and Andorra by huge scorelines and then going on to finish at least in Semi Finals on penalties to Germany in major tournaments than anything in life. It would be a dream come true to see England win a World or European Cup in football. I just hope I get to see it in my lifetime.

Now on a lighter note we all get those funny E-Mails through with list after list of funny remarks. So in a new feature on Captain Jacks Track I bring you the first in my new series, wait for it der-der-der derrrr. Funny List Of The Week

Nine Things I Hate About Everyone

1. People who point at their wrist while asking for the time.....I know where my watch is pal, where the hell is yours? Do I point at my nuts when I ask where the toilet is?........No
2. People who are willing to get up and turn a room upside down to find a T.V. remote control because they refuse to get up an change the channel manually
3. When people say "Oh you just want to have your cake and eat it too" Damn right! What good is cake if you can't eat it?
4. When people say "It's always the last place you look". Of course it bloody is! Why the hell would keep looking after you found it? Do people look after they find things? Who are these people? Find them them and punch there lights out!
5. When people in the cinema/theatre say "Did you see that?" No you idiot I paid to get in and stare at the floor!
6. People who ask "Can I ask you a question?".........Didn't really give me a choice there did you numpty!
7. When something is advertised by being called new and improved! Which is it? If it's new. then its the first and there has never been anything before it. If it's an improvement then there must of been something before it so it couldn't be new numpty!
8. When people say "Life Is Short" What moron would say that? Life is the longest thing any of us will ever do or has ever done! What can you do that is longer?
9. When you are waiting for a bus at the bus stop and some numpty walks up and asks you "Has the Bus come yet?" If the bus had come why the hell would I be standing here you prat, for my health! Get a life you moron..............

There you go then folks. And don't worry I have plenty more where that came from. Now it seems that this weeks blog has appeared to of started with me appearing to be a little bit stressed so I thought I would add a nice calming image to sooth my frayed nerves...

So with all the fussing and feuding over with now on to the singing. Tonight I sang four new tracks, all equally unknown by anyone in the pub except the wife of course, but they all seemed to go down well to the assembled few. So tonight I sang 1. Strutter by Kiss 2. Saturday Superhouse by Biffy Clyro 3. What You Are by Audioslave and 4. My Hero by The Foo Fighters.

Strutter By Kiss link To Video

My first ever Kiss track on the old Karaoke and this one is again inspired by my new favourite PS2 game Guitar Hero 2. Kiss are also one of the most flamboyant and well known rock acts in the world ever. Formed in New York in 1973. Easily identified by their trademark face paint and stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid-1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire-breathing, blood spitting, smoking guitars, and pyrotechnics. Kiss has been awarded 45 gold albums to date. The group's worldwide sales exceed 80 million albums. The original lineup of Gene Simmons (bass and vocals), Paul Stanley (rhythm guitar and vocals), Ace Frehley (lead guitar and vocals) and Peter Criss (drums and vocals) is the most successful and identifiable. With their makeup and costumes, they took on the personas of comic book-style characters—the Demon (Simmons), the Star Child (Stanley), the Space Man (Frehley), and the Cat Man (Criss). Due to substance abuse problems and creative differences, both Criss and Frehley were out of the group by 1982. The band's commercial fortunes had also waned considerably by that point. In 1983, Kiss abandoned their makeup and enjoyed a commercial resurgence throughout the rest of the decade. Buoyed by a wave of Kiss nostalgia in the 1990s, the band announced a reunion of the original lineup (with makeup) in 1996. The resulting Kiss Alive/Worldwide Tour was the top-grossing act of 1996. Criss and Frehley have since left Kiss again, and have been replaced by Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer, respectively. The band continues to perform, while Stanley and Simmons have remained the only two constant members. In the late 80's they had their biggest U.K. hits, without the make up or original members, with Crazy Crazy Nights and the Bill and Ted inspired God Gave Rock And Roll To You, both reaching the U.K Top Ten. The band then disappeared from the rock radar until 2002 when the original line up reformed for a World Tour. Gene Simmons has had fame in the U.K. recently with Rock School and Gene Simmons Family Jewels. The band are an obvious inspiration for many of the more well known American rock bands such as Motley Crue, Poison, Warrant and Cinderella, but Kiss were the original and the best. on the night rating 8/10

Saturday Superhouse by Biffy Clyro link to video

Another great new song from Mon the Biffy Clyro. It was the first single from their fourth album, Puzzle. It was released on 5 March 2007. The band undertook a promotional tour of UK HMV stores to coincide with the release of the single. The song was first played live on 6 December 2006 at a warm-up concert at The Ice Factory nightclub in Perth, Scotland and first aired on radio on The Rock Show on BBC Radio 1, on 9 January 2007. The song reached number 9 in the UK mid-week chart, and number 13 in the UK singles chart, Biffy Clyro's highest charting single to date. Lead vocalist and songwriter Simon Neil said " This is a straight up pop-rock song. It felt great from the first time we played it together. It's about not knowing if you're making the right choices in life. Life is happening right now and if you're not careful you could wish it away " on the night rating 9/10

What You Are By Audioslave link to video

A great old fashioned rock track next up. This was the fifth single by American band Audioslave, led by former Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell. Cornell has got a brilliant and unique singing voice, and most of the songs he sings are pretty tough for him to sing let alone a mere mortal like me. He now has a successful solo career, from which he has a huge back catalogue of his own material, plus many Soundgarden and Audioslave tracks. As I went to see Chris Cornell at the Carling Academy earlier this month, I still plan to bring him into your lives with a full blog coming soon to a blog page near you soon, so as not to spoil the surprise or tell you his story twice I will leave writing too much about him until that blog. Suffice to say it is a great track, which is one of my favorites. It's just about in my vocal range, and although it was my least known song of the night it was my favourite to sing. on the night rating 10/10

My Hero By The Foo Fighters link To Video

To round off with tonight, probably my favourite band of the moment The Foo Fighters. If there is a true Rock God then Dave Grohl is his disciple on earth, if not the rock God himself! The group is named after the World War II term "foo fighter", used to refer to mysterious aerial phenomena. The band has earned a worldwide following, and have scored a number of hit songs, including 'This Is a Call', 'Everlong', 'Learn to Fly', 'All My Life', 'Times Like These', 'Best of You', 'DOA' and this track 'My Hero'. Two of their albums, There Is Nothing Left to Lose' and 'One by One', won Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album. On top of their six studio albums, they have also contributed to several movie soundtracks, including the song "The One" on the 2002 Orange County soundtrack. Grohl spent four years as the drummer for Nirvana. Unbeknownst to most of Nirvana's fan base, Grohl had gradually written a stockpile of songs that he had largely held back from the band for fear of ruining their chemistry. Six months after Cobains death in 1994, Grohl went into the studio and Foo Fighters were born. And the rest is history. Grohl has become one of the most reveered rock musicians around. An acclaimed song writer and brilliant musician, the band are about to release their sixth studio album. Regulars on the U.K. festival scene the band has this year played at both the V-Festivals, and in the past has played Reading and Leeds festivals. They also gave the best performance of the Live Earth Wembley concert earlier this year, dedicating this track to Al Gore, one of Grohl's hero's for his environmental work. The band announced a U.K. tour for the end of 2007 which sold out in 20 minutes. With a bigger World Tour planned in 2008, the band is heavily tipped to headline the annual Download Festival at Donnington. Watch this space for more Foo Fighters songs on karaoke in the next few weeks, including the new single The Pretender, currently running in my favourite video slot. on the night rating 9/10

So there we have it folks. All done and dusted for another week. I will try my best to keep my cool before next weeks blog as I am not a stressful person normally, but I do like to let off steam! So in another one of his calming moment, here is the final word from Homer to send you on your way. Until next time.......ta ra!

" Who are you? Why am I here? I want answers now or I want them eventually! "

Homer J Simpson

Thursday September 6th 2007

Guess Who's Back Back Again...Captain Jack's Back Again

Holidays are great. They help to revive the mind, settle the soul, refresh the old bone's etc etc. But there is nothing like coming home to a brand spanking new Karaoke Disc with Thin Lizzy and Thunder on it! So what has happened since I was last blogged up! Well of course I was away on me hols to sunny Newquay. It was my first wedding anniversary as well, so the wife was suitably over excited! (So was I but I won't let on!) We also got back and went to see the brilliant Chris Cornell as well at the Birmingham Carling Arena. For the unknowing amongst you Chris Cornell is the former Soundgarden and Audioslave front man, who now has a solo album out. We first saw at Hyde Park Calling back in June and were hooked, and with this smaller venue we could not resist seeing him and his new band live in more intimate surroundings. Anyway here is a little glimpse of the gig courtesy of YouTube.






So apart from that not a lot has happened worth blogging about. As soon as I sort my pictures out of the holiday (There are some crackers) and of the Chris Cornell gig I will blog those, but at the moment I just don't have the time. Ha Ha the busy life of a pirate! So much pillaging to do and not enough time to write about it all!
Anyway on to the triumphant return to the Karaoke at the Hotel this week. Not much has changed in a week. Shaun informed me that last week was a bit of a quiet, sorry dead night. In fact I think the rotation was only four singers. Must of all known I was away! It was a little busier this week. And it was an opportunity to sing another four new songs yippee! So with the new Sunfly Disc at hand thanks to Shaunio my song choices were hand picked at least a week before I got down to the pub (By the way Shaun I'll be singing the New Foo Fighters and The Queen track off the next Sunfly Set!!!!)
So tonight's songs were as follows. 1. Waiting For An Alibi by Thin Lizzy 2. Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones 3. Low Life In High Places by Thunder and finally 4. Bleed It Out by Linkin Park.

Waiting For An Alibi by Thin Lizzy link to video

Well its taken bloody long enough but finally there is another Thin Lizzy track on Karaoke. Thanks to Sunfly, and a bit of persuasion from Captain Jack and his Campaign for Brit Rock crew, that's two new ones in a couple of months. Well this one is a belter. This is a great example of just how good the band were, and what a genius Phil Lynott was. It was taken from Black Rose: A Rock Legend, and was the ninth studio album by the band, released in 1979. The album debuted at its Number 2 peak in the UK album charts and is the band's most successful studio album to date. For the first time rock/blues guitarist Gary Moore stayed in the band long enough to record an album having had previous stints in 74 and 77 as well as working with Lynott in the rock band Skid Row in the late 60s and early 70s. Around this time Moore recorded the album Back on the Streets with Lynott, spawning the UK top 10 single "Parisienne Walkways" (with Lynott on vocals). He left Lizzy that year following a dispute but worked with Phil Lynott again on his tours in 1984 and 1985 and on the top 5 single "Out in the Fields" and accompanying album Run for Cover, on what were to be Lynott's final performances before his untimely death in January 1986. Of course I fell in love with most of Thin Lizzy's song's like this one while watching Guns & Oatcakes, who do a brilliant live version. Love this one tonight and I think did it justice. On The Night Rating 8/10

Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones link to video

Well I suppose it's about time I got around to singing this one. I can't believe it's taken me this long to get around to it. It is without doubt the greatest guitar riff in the world. When you see the band perform this live sends shivers down your spine. Little treat time... Here is my first YouTube uploaded video of the boy's performing Satisfaction live at the O2 in August this year, shot by me. Only a short clip but I am still learning folks enjoy......



Now as for the song during the Rolling Stones fourth tour of the United States in 1965, Keith Richards came up with the guitar riff for the song. The Stones were staying at the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, Florida for part of their tour, and one night Richards suddenly woke up, turned on a tape recorder, and promptly played on his guitar the riff that opened "Satisfaction" before returning to bed. Richards later described his first opinion of the song: "It was just a riff. … I woke up in the middle of the night, put it down on a cassette. I thought it was great then. Went to sleep and when I woke up, it appeared to be as useful as another album track. It was the same when it was with Mick too at the time, you know. It goes da-da, da-da-da… and the words I'd written for that riff were "I can't get no satisfaction". But it could just as well have been "Auntie Millie's Caught Her Left Tit in the Mangle" Thank god they stuck with Satisfaction as it soon became one of the greatest songs ever recorded. Rolling Stone magazine ranks the song as Number 2 on its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It also made Number 1 on VH1's 100 Greatest Rock and Roll Songs of All Time. In my opinion this song epitomises all that is good about The Stones, a great riff, great lyrics and an all round good vibe when you hear it being played. on the night rating 10/10

Low Life In High Places by Thunder link to video

A change of direction now with this song. This is proper Brit Rock at its finest. Thunder are not the most well known band out of rock circle's, but the band and writing team of Danny Bowes and Luke Morley, formally both from a band called Terraplane. Thunder were signed with EMI after performing a demo audition in 1989, and soon began recording their first album Backstreet Symphony. With their producer, Andy Taylor (of Duran Duran) they created many blues-rock and atmospheric ballads, steering away from the melodic power pop of their previous band. The album was a huge success in the UK, and led to a prestigious appearance at the 1990 Monsters of Rock festival at Donington Park, where I first saw them live. The band split in 2000, much to the dismay of the bands loyal fan base, many of which had been following them from the early days of Terraplane. But the fans didn't have too long to wait for the band to reform. Thunder were tempted back into action by a slot on the touring Monsters of Rock UK arena shows in late 2002, which then prompted a follow up album in 2003. In 2005 they released another album The Magnificent Seventh. The band also took part in the triumphant return of the Monsters of Rock festival in 2006 at Milton Keynes, sharing the bill with Deep Purple, Alice Cooper, Journey, Queensrÿche, Ted Nugent and Roadstar. Hailed as one of the stars of the show Thunder justified their reputation as one of the best British live acts. The band released their eighth studio album on 30 October 2006, entitled Robert Johnson's Tombstone. It follows Thunder's traditions of good honest blues rock albums, with big riffs and big sing-along choruses. The band has just come of the back of a European Tour, their first in nearly 12 years, and later this year they embark on a U.K. tour in November and December, where I shall see them again at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall (Wifey get tickets) on the night rating 7/10

Bleed It Out by Linkin Park link to video

Last one tonight. A very excited Shaun text me earlier today to tell me he had the Karaoke version of this great song by LP. So I think I can safely say that as with the Biffy Clyro track a few weeks ago, this is probably a world premier! Now I'm not going to do a huge write up on this one, as I have written quite a lot about Linkin Park this year so far, but I will say I at least enjoyed it, although Shaun did find it wasn't our best effort on a Linkin Park song, but for a first time shot, and beer affected vocals, I'm sure our next effort will improve dramatically. on the night rating 5/10

So another zany week ends at the pub with me and Shaun screaming our heads off, nothing new there then. A good all round night I felt, eased back into the Karaoke with no problems, and a renewed zest for singing after my short, but well deserved break. Now barring a full scale mutiny I will endeavour to blog my holiday exploits and the Chris Cornell gig later in the week, so for now folks bye bye!!!!

" Homer: Aw, twenty dollars! I wanted a peanut!
Homer's Brain: Twenty dollars can buy many peanuts!
Homer: Explain how!
Homer's Brain: Money can be exchanged for goods and services!
Homer: Woo-hoo!
[Gust Of Wind Blows Twenty Dollar Bill Out Of Open Window]
Homer: D'oh "