Stewart was an amazing
person - A wonderful husband, a fantastic brother, a loving son and an
adored uncle. He was also a brilliant friend and colleague and will be
missed by so many people. His family are determined that his death will never
be in vain and are doing their part to beat bowel cancer for good. We are fundraising for the Bobby Moore Fund
which is part of Cancer Research UK and specialises in research into bowel
cancer. If you wish to donate to the
fund, you can via https://www.justgiving.com/Geraldine-Smith3
.
If you haven’t already
done so, please read the article which recently appeared in the Daily Record
and learn from Stewart’s story that you must never be complacent. It makes grim reading for us, his family,
even though we were beside him throughout his ordeal, or battle; call it what
you will. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/heartbroken-widow-geraldine-smith-raises-3452997
Stewart’s wish was that The
Grambler should continue after his death and I have been happy to oblige. Welcome to The Grambler, the most
ill-informed blog you are ever likely to see. Read on and enjoy…
Do you remember
a while back I told you I had been to a concert? Well, I’ve been to another one [Two in one
year, woo hoo! – Ed.]. Who, you may
ask. Steve Hackett, I answer. Who, you may ask. He was the geetarist with Genesis. Who, you may ask…Don’t start that again. And he can still play pretty damned well
despite the advancing years.
It isn’t always
the way with old rockers who want to keep performing. When I were just a whippersnapper one of my
favourite bands was Jethro Tull. I say
Jethro Tull but, as any Tull fan will admit, the band is basically Ian Anderson
(writer, singer, flautist, flamingo impressionist) surrounded by a few other
musicians of his choosing. He is Jethro
Tull. He thinks himself far superior in
intelligence to the others. He is their
leader. Their guru. What he says, goes. 37 years ago I went to a Tull concert which
probably still counts as the best show I have ever been to. The musicianship was spot on, the
arrangements great, the vocals just right.
A couple of
years back I went to see JT again. Again
the musicianship was spot on. Old Ian
can still play a mean flute (Did I just put the words mean and flute together
in a sentence?). The arrangements though
slightly different were still good. The
vocals…oh dear. Have you ever been
unfortunate enough to go to a family party where everyone has to sing their
party piece? There is always some
ancient old uncle, who everyone assures you used to have a wonderful singing
voice, gets up and croaks his way wheezingly through some song that is well
outside the old codger’s limited vocal range.
After his rendition everyone applauds politely but knows full well that
they have just witnessed a song being not just murdered, but shot, drowned,
stabbed and bludgeoned to death. Ian
Anderson on the last occasion I went to see him was that old uncle. It was a squirm in your seat with
embarrassment occasion.
So what is this
week’s Grambler grumble? Old rockers
refusing to admit defeat? Partly, but it
is more to do with snobbery. Sorry,
pardon, excuse me? Let me explain.
Old musos will
continue to perform as long as they can.
Who can blame them? They enjoy
performing, it keeps their fans happy and it brings in money. Sometimes, lots of money.
The trouble is
that the older these people get, the more of a struggle it is to sound the way
they used to. So where does the snobbery
fit in? The really popular acts spawn
imitators, or tribute acts. The tribute
acts can be pretty close to the original, not as he/she is now, but when he/she
was at his/her peak. I have a friend,
who shall remain nameless (I wouldn’t want to embarrass you Harry), who refuses
to go to see tribute acts, but will only go to see the ageing original. There are others like him who will only pay
to see original artists. And pay they
do. I recently went to see a Pink Floyd
tribute called MacFloyd (guess where they come from) and I thought them
excellent [That’s three in one year! – Ed.].
Cost of the ticket? 13 quid. Now, I doubt if Pink Floyd will ever tour again,
but if they did, I am sure you could not get a ticket for less than ten times
that amount. And what would they sound
like? No doubt the instrument parts
would sound as good as ever, but would Dave Gilmour’s voice be up to the task?
The thing is,
the music snobs wouldn’t care. It
doesn’t matter that the voice isn’t what it once was, they are seeing the
original artist and that is what matters.
They think nothing of paying a hundred quid to see some singer who is
long past their prime. I don’t think
much of it either.
So, back to the
plot. What is better? Pay exhorbitant ticket prices to see some
has-been singer struggling to perform?
Or pay a fraction of that to see an act who could sound the way the
original sounded 30 or 40 years ago?
To me it is no
different to listening to a concert orchestra playing the works of Mozart,
Beethoven, Strauss et al. The originals
aren’t around to conduct them or play piano or violin, so these ‘tribute’
musicians continue to play ‘live’ music as the composer had intended. Presumably, when the likes of Beethoven was
getting a bit old, other younger musicians were out there performing in tribute
to the original. I wonder if they had
the punny names that today’s tributes have – Mo’s Rat? Frederick Chip Pan? - Here is just a few of the current ones…
Peatloaf, Abbariginal,
No Way Sis, AB/CD, Red Hot Chilli Pipers, Antarctic Monkeys, Velvet Underpants,
Jef Leppard, By Jovi, Earth, Wind for Hire, Fleetwood Mock
…however, my
favourite has to be the Motorhead tribute going by the name of Lemmy’s Wart.
Any famous
birthdays on this day, the 1st of November? L.S. Lowry 1887 (cartoonist), Michael Denison
1915 (ectaw dear leddie), Ted Lowe 1920 (snooker commentator who famously said,
‘…and for those of you watching in black and white, the pink is behind the
blue.’), Gary Player 1935 (golfer sponsored by a cigarette company), Rick Grech
1945 (bass player), Jim Steinman 1947 (songwriter for Peatloaf), Anthony Kiedis
1962 (singer with Red Hot Chilli Pipers), Rick Allen 1963 (drummer with Jef
Leppard), Mark Hughes 1963 (Grambler teaser answer), Tina Arena 1967 (football
stadium), Paul Dickov 1972 (footie bloke), Dizzee Rascal 1985 (crapper). Anything in there worth gramblerising? What about this one from birthday boy Anthony
Kiedis’ Red Hot Chilli Pipers?
Gramble away gramble away gramble away gramble away now Gramble away
gramble away gramble away gramble away now
Gramble away gramble away gramble away gramble away now I can't tell if I'm a king pin or a pauper
Gramble away gramble away gramble away gramble away now I can't tell if I'm a king pin or a pauper
Maybe not.
How did we get on
with last week’s predictions? We
lost. Yep. We lost 6 pees. £2.14 return from our £2.20 stake. What happened? Read on…
Birmingham vs Bournemouth – Prediction Away win
Result – Birmingham 0 Bournemouth 8
Eight!!! Yay!
Brett Pitman put the visitors ahead inside three
minutes before Blues defender David Edgar was then sent off for a foul on
Callum Wilson.
Wilson and Matt Ritchie made it 3-0 by half-time
before the Cherries ran riot in the second period.
Marc Pugh netted a hat-trick and two more from Tokelo
Rantie, the first a penalty, completed Birmingham
In addition, Paul Caddis had a spot-kick saved by Bournemouth goalkeeper Artur Boruc with the
score at 3-0.
Good start for The Grambler. What next?
Result – Derby Wigan
2
What!!! Boo!
Substitute
James McClean scored twice as Wigan came from behind to win at Championship leaders Derby
The Rams led after an incident-packed 90 seconds just
before half-time when John Eustace turned in Johnny Russell's free-kick from
close range.
But McClean then converted Roger Espinoza's cross to
level before Butland spilled Adam Forshaw's shot and McClean scrambled in a
late winner.
Wigan manager Uwe Rosler celebrates after his team’s win at
Derby
Result – Oldham
2 Bradford
1
Yay!
Jonathan
Forte scored his 11th of the season as in-form Oldham beat Bradford .
Jabo Ibehre headed down a Joseph Mills cross for Forte
to finish, before Mike Jones's deflected strike from 20 yards made it 2-0 after
24 minutes.
On-loan winger Andy Halliday volleyed his first goal
for Bradford from James Hanson's header just
before the break.
Alan Sheehan's stinging shot was pushed away by Latics
keeper Paul Rachubka as City pushed for an equaliser, but they had Rory
McCardle dismissed late on.
"Oi felt woi moide it durfficult for arsels boi
not furnishing surm good charrnces that woi hed and then we gev them a
loifeloine with a poor gool on urr part, but a good gool on their part.
"It was a tarpsy-turvy end to end passionate
Loigue wurne toi and Oi was jurst deloighted to curme out on the roight end o
it."
He doesn’t talk like that really, but he’s from Suffolk Suffolk
Result – Preston
3 Fleetwood 2
Yay!!!
High-flying
Preston North End made it six wins in a row despite an early scare from Fleetwood Town
Stephen Jordan headed in from Steven Schumacher's
corner and Scott Laird deflected a cross into his own net to give the visitors
a 2-0 lead.
But the home side hit back in the second half when Joe
Garner twice headed in to draw level.
And Garner completed his hat-trick to win the match
with a left-footed strike from 12 yards.
Raith vs Alloa –
Prediction Home win
Result – Raith 1 Alloa
1
Ooh! ‘It the bar!
Alloa
Athletic moved off the bottom of the Scottish Championship after claiming a
hard-fought draw against Raith Rovers.
Liam Buchanan headed in before the quarter-hour mark
to give the visitors the lead.
Grant Anderson nodded Raith level before half-time.
The Wasps were reduced to 10 men when Kyle Benedictus
picked up a second yellow card late on but held out for a point.
That was then, this is another point in time
entirely. What has The Grambler selected
for our random gamble this week? There
are 42 senior league games for him/her/it to randomly select from.
Game – Result – Odds
Some interesting predictions there Grambler…Could this
be the week we finally get that win? Hope so.
The bet is on (10 x 20 pees doubles and 1 x 20 pees accumulator) and if
all selections go our way, The Grambler’s Kick Cancer’s Backside Fund will be
giving the Bobby Moore Fund a whopping…
£16.03
How whopping is that?
Fingers crossed my little Gramblerinis.
What about last week’s teaser answer? I asked who had managed five Premiershit
clubs. The answer was Mark Hughes (Blackburn , Manchester City Portsmouth Southampton , Tottenham Hotspur and QPR).
What about a teaser for this week? Another Premiershit question for you. Which team has been relegated from the
Premiershit the most times (and it stands to reason, has been promoted from the
second tier the most times)? A good un
there I think.
And finally,
Cyril? And finally Esther after last
week’s Balotelli Snakes and Ladders game here is another game for all you
gramblerinis out there to enjoy. You
remember the party game ‘pin the tail on the donkey’? Well, here is The Grambler’s variation of it…
Pin the eyebrows on Neil Warnock*
First, print out the
picture of Neil, then select and print your choice of eyebrows. Put a bit of double-sided tape on the back of
each eyebrow. Next, while blindfolded,
try to stick the eyebrows on Neil. Will
provide minutes of fun…perhaps.
*Also available in
Monty Don and David Moyes versions.
Happy grambling.
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