Football, work and Faith.

I went to see Aston Villa play Spurs at White Hart Lane yesterday with Nick Clarke. I’m quite getting in to this away game lark. Sang my heart out for most of the 90 minutes, coupled with a couple of beers, some good conversation with Nick and of course, watched Villa play out a difficult draw against our major competition for the coveted 4th spot in the Premier League.

I’m writing this on Sunday evening – ahead of a busy week work-wise. Tomorrow, it’s a sales meeting for the post Namm wrap up (the Namm show is the world’s most important trade show for the Music Industry) – then running through some plans for the last quarter of our financial year – then straight in to some discovery coaching (which is our annual training event). I’m looking forward to all of the above really – it will be good to get the team together for another few days and get geared up for another year in what is a very tough, yet enjoyable career for me.

The vicar of the Church I go to (St Mary’s, Aldridge – aka, Aldridge Parish Church) now has a blog. He’s written a very interesting post about whether Vicars should wear Dog Collars when doing their everyday jobs. I’m in two minds about this really. One of the things I really admire about Richard Cornfield is his approachable nature and his down to earth attitude. He loves cars, music, socialising… he’s in touch – something that always impressed me about him and his approach to leadership. One of the things I’m most passionate about is the fact that the Church needs to be relevant and approachable – especially to those people who do not have anything to do with the Church;

If you’re looking to speak to a vicar – then seeing someone in a Dog Collar does help in identifying someone. However, surely walking in to your nearest Church does the same thing? I feel that the single biggest drawback about the Church and the general public, is their [general public's] reluctance to go in to a Church to seek help, or to chat, or find out more etc, as it comes with all sorts of stereotypes. The Dog Collar to me is one great big stereotype. If someone will not walk in to a Church, surely they will feel the same about approaching someone in a Dog Collar? If we really are to break down the barriers and be able to get along side people and communicate to them that we are just normal human beings, with the same flaws, failings and struggles as everyone else on this earth, then normal clothes aid this aim? Dressing up to the stereotype will satisfy those who feel that the Church needs to be honouring it’s traditions rather than actually living out the challenges that Jesus set out for us, whilst being part of the real world and active members of our community?

I guess what I’m really meaning is that if someone won’t make the first step on their own in to a Church (where they know there will be a Vicar!), then why should we feel that they will approach a Vicar in the street wearing a Dog Collar? Surely, our first responsibility of followers of Christ is to accept, listen, understand, not judge and be friends first. Then, we should stop trying to do things in our own strength and let our love of Jesus and his example shine through to those who may (or may not!) need Him – He will do it, through us attempting to lead the life that He showed us.

Well, that’s my thoughts anyhow.

Blimey. Time flies eh?

And AGAIN it’s been a long time since I updated my much under-used – despite being able to update it from my (still) spankingly lovely iPhone. I guess wife, work, friends, socials, beer, food etc etc etc get in the way. This, I’m afraid to say it, is a terrible excuse.

So, what go on then my lovelies? Well, honestly speaking… I can’t think! I am just sitting here at my Mac thinking that I should really write something on my blog.

Well, Apple have launched the iPad. Although I can’t really see it’s uses, I think I probably want one. Aston Villa have managed to get themselves to Wembley this year and I’m very pleased to say that I now have a ticket to go and see them play Manchester United and hopefully beat them.

I’m missing being on stage in a fairly big way at the moment. I want to go and do some gigs. I feel very happy and comfortable on stage. I’m missing some aspects of my “old” life – but when I really sit down and think about it – actually I’m not. I look back and remember fondly about the fun I had – but realise that I’m slowly getting older and wiser (I hope).

Well, here’s the another year. Here’s to 2010 and hoping that it’s everything you hope and need it to be.

I still love you. Thank you for reading, dear friends.

Rich (end of Jan 2010) x

I’ve gone mobile.

So, I’m writing this on my iPhone. Small screen, small keyboard. But, if you can see your way past the inevitable spelling mistakes, it could make interesting reading.

It basically means that I should be able to update my blog, albeit in small bitesized chunks, more frequently.

Yes, there is Twitter. Yes, there’s nothing here that I probably can’t do on Twitter. However, this will probably allow me to leave posts with some degree of permanancy. Nice.

Right, back to MOTD. Long day beckons tomorrow. Goodnight mobile world. See you tomorrow.

thinking about the past.

Sort of following on from my previous post really – I’m not thinking coherantly this morning, so I’m just writing down what’s coming out.

As I’ve got older, I’ve thought about experiences and times of my life that really meant something to me at the time. My life story is an interesting one – but has lots of facets to it.

I was 17 years old and working in a music shop in Yeovil – pretty much making the tea. This is possibly not what my parents had in mind for me as they saw me growing up. However, it was good fun. I was priviledged to work with an exceptionally inspirational guy, called Simon. We’re still friends to this day. He taught me how to sell. He also taught me how to talk to people – being the grumpy sod of a teenager as I was. Anyhow, he put me in touch with the manager of his other store who was looking for a bass player. Now, I couldn’t play bass. Not a note. Some would argue I still can’t. Anyhoo… I blagged my way through saying I’d give it a shot, and I got invited to an rehearsal with a band called Saints n Sinners – a classic rock covers band. Got there, nearly died. Awesome guitarist, awesome keyboard player, awesome drummer, awesome singer. Shit bass player. Cutting a huge part of the story out, they had no other option and as a group of people, we just clicked. We had an amazing laugh. Hadn’t laughed so much in years. We decided to give it a go. 6 or so rehearsals later and we had a half decent set. Barrie (singist in said band) organised our first gig, downstairs in the pub where we rehearsed. It went well, we got people there, they had fun, we got paid. Nice. Barrie organises another one. The Newmarket Hotel in Bridgwater. Great venue, lots of people. We were starting to get a name for ourselves after 2 gigs. Awesome! A month or so later, I get a phone call from Baz. “we’ve got a gig” – cool, I reply. “It’s at Hinkley Point power station, in a huge marquee in the grounds of the social club” – Cool, I reply. “Supporting ELO”. Shit, I reply. Can we do it? Is it possible? Are you joking? Nope. The big day comes and goes, we play to about 2,000 as the warm up (venue held 10,000!) but people were down the front listening to us. Amazing. I shall never, ever forget it.

Anyway, cutting huge amounts of the story out. We split after 5 years of playing together. The gigs were less frequent in the latter years, our original drummer left and a replacement was drafted in. It didn’t really work out and the atmosphere wasn’t really the same. I left, the original drummer came back (I don’t think it was personal!!) – I’d gone. We all lost touch and had done for the last 8 years, until about 3 months ago.

The singer, Barrie, added me as a friend on Facebook. As did Chris (drummer) and Eug (Guitarist). I’m still in touch with Mark (keys). We decided it would be fun to catch up for food and a beer or two. Eventually, it was just Chris, me and Barrie that turned up to the Blackbrook Tavern in Taunton. It felt like yesterday. Great food. Great conversation, I nearly cried with laughter at one point! Then it was on to Taunton town centre to go and watch a covers band. Of course, conversation turned to remembering our S&S days… the gigs, the music, the fun, the jokes… I’m so pleased that I’m in touch with these boys again. What fun it was. I’m putting together parts of my life that I’d pushed to one side. Parts of my life that I’d brushed away. I have been so fortunate to meet so many amazing people in my life so far. Amazing people, with great souls. People who have been genuine friends for me. Who still remember little touches with me. Who were always there when I needed an ear – who I didn’t have to ask, they just knew.

I threw a lot of this away when I moved away from the South. I think about what a bad friend I have been to them, as I have lost touch with an awful lot of them. All in order to find a “fresh” start up here in the Midlands. I am carrying so much baggage around with me – I feel like I don’t know how to address it. People up here know what I let them know about me. People down South know me warts ‘n’ all. Never the twain shall meet hopefully. The interesting side of the equation, is when you have to start asking the question that, are the people who only see the side of me that I’m prepared to give away (and therefore what I consider my best aspects) the genuine friends I think they are, or is it the rough around the edges, difficult at times, friends who know me warts ‘n’ all and who can recount stories about me of incidents I don’t want to remember? Interesting stuff…

 

getting older.

I have recently celebrated my 33rd Birthday. I have now walked around on this earth for 33 years. I celebrated it at the NEC in Birmingham, as has been traditional for me for the last 4 years – doing the set up for Music Live.

In the evening, the wonderful and fabulous (I keep saying that, as every day I wake up and realise that she’s lying next to me – I count my blessings. She is the most amazing woman in the world and I love her more than anything) Sal took me out to Portabello’s in Aldridge – I LOVE Itallian food. I mean, LOVE it.

A cheeky stop by The Duke in the evening was much appreciated, for a cheeky lager before bed.

The older I get, the more I think about the last and what I’ve actually done with my time on this earth. The more I think about it, the more I get depressed. I’m trying not to think too hard about it, but it’s difficult as I realise that I’m running out of time with each an every day that passes by. Time is a train, it makes the future the past. It leaves me standing in the station, my face pressed up against the glass.

Bugger. I think that’s the second time in as many months that I’ve used the same lyric. Ok, I’m a U2 fan. I’m not ashamed.

I should be more disciplined…

But I’m not. I have neglected this blog AGAIN! How many times am I actually going to write “I must update this”, “my new resolution is to make sure that I update this blog regularly…” and so on and so on.

Anyway, whilst I remember, here’s a few updates.

I guess the main one is that I completed the Birmingham Half Marathon! I did it in a final time of 3hours and 6 minutes. This was not the time I wanted to finish it in, but it wasn’t bad. The main thing is, I actually finished it!

The most unfortunate thing about it was the fact that on the friday before the race, Sal started to complain of not feeling too well. As both Sal and I were nervous about our first competitive race, I put it down to nerves really. It had also been a tough week for her. As the weekend progressed, she started to feel worse. Saturday came and ended with complaints of a sore throat and temperature, then race day came and she was in a terrible state and definately not fit to run. It ended up being tonsilitus. After months of training (doing really well too), Sal was gutted and not able to run.

So, Nick Clarke and I drove in to Birmingham to start the race on our own. We met up with Nick’s friend Brett (a good runner – made me feel even more nervous!) and found our starting place (towards the back with all the other non professional runners). After the race started at 10.00am, we finally crossed the start line at about 10.20am. I kept up with Nick and Brett for about the first 1.5 miles, but their pace was a little too quick for me, so I wished them good luck and off they went. I decided that if I was going to finish this race, I needed to do it on my own terms and at my own pace. The first 6 miles felt very comfortable to me really. I was doing a good average, with about a 10-11 minute mile, meaning I would come in at an expected finish at 2hours 20 or 2hours 30mins. At 9 miles, I hit my wall good and proper. My groin gave in and I made the fatal mistake of slowing right down to a gentle jog and eventually a walk. This allowed me to cool down and then the muscles started to freeze up. I started to get stiff and the pain REALLY started to kick in. It became VERY painful to walk in the end. The last few miles were a slow walk for me really until I finally saw the finish line and then managed to find the energy to kick through my pain and jogged towards the finish line.

I have learnt from my mistake this time. The race was an amazing experience. I loved every single second of the event and Birmingham did everyone proud. They were superb in their support of the competitors, handing out water and clapping and cheering. I felt really proud to call Birmingham my home city today.

Sal and I have now entered the Silverstone Half Marathon in March 2010, as Sal needs to run a race! You can’t do all this training for nothing can you??! ;-)

Finally, a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who believed in me and contributed to making a fantastic final figure of £605.00 for Cancer Research UK. You have made a massive difference and I am genuinely humbled by your generosity.

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Travel & Updates

I really should be more disciplined with this blog. However, I’ve almost lost count of how many times I’ve posted that opening statement now.

I’ve just be travelling, travelling and travelling – or so it seems.

Since my last update, I have been to Hamburg, Belfast and Glasgow on business. I have been away to the South of France on holiday and I have spent an extended time away in that sprawling metropolis known as Milton Keynes (again, on business).

The holiday was awesome. It was a fantastic villa, right in the middle of nowhere (well, not nowhere really, it was, of course, in the South of France, in a place called St. Laurent Du Bois). It overlooked the vineyards, looking across the hills and was just perfect. It was beautifully furnished, complete with fantastic swimming pool and the weather was just perfect – well, aside from a crappy day on the day we were coming home.

We spent the week with Mike, Nicky, Oli, Emily and Eva. Lots of wine, cheese, fun, laughter, hangovers, coffee, walking, sunburn and general relaxation. Sal and I managed to get some time away from the rest of the group and we spent the day in Bordeaux, which was simply stunning. Fantastic architecture, hidden gems of Churches and Cathedrals and miles of historical buildings. As we like to try and do, we took a tourist tour around the city and learnt a lot. One of the interesting things about it was that a lot of the restored buildings along the riverbank have not long been cleaned up – around the late 90’s early 2000’s. It was undertaken by the city’s mayor who is widely credited for rejuvenating the city’s streets and installing the tram system etc.

The staggering fact I learnt too, was that the incredibly beautiful and historic Cathedral in the main centre was only designated as “listed” (or the French equivalent) and given historical monument status in 1998 – which considering it’s stood for nealy 800 years was something that really suprised me!

In general terms, this leads me on to another subject… Having now been to the Pyramids and seeing how close they were to the city and knowing the recent history about how they were stripped of the stones by the locals until given a preservation order in the late 50’s early 60’s, the way we treat our historical buildings is a disgrace.

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U2 360 london

Well, the moment finally arrived and Sal and I headed down to Wembley to see U2 on their latest world tour. Incredible!

I’ve followed U2 for years – with my first live experience of them at Leeds Roundhay park for the Zoo TV tour in, errrm, ‘93 I think. I’ve subsequently seen PopMart at Leeds, Elevation at the NEC and Vertigo at Cardiff.

In my opinion, the setlist tonight was just about near on perfect. I know the album has had some tough reviews from certain quarters and I don’t think it’s their best either – but the first half at least is fantastic. The opening of the gig contained Breath from the new album – a slightly strange opener IMHO but good to hear live. This was followed by No Line on the Horizon, which again was great to hear live but possibly in the wrong place in the set to get the really large Wembley crowd going. However, in the light of what was to come, you could understand the positioning this song somewhere in the set was going to be tough one! ;-)

Far too many highlights to mention, but they sounded particularly stunning on Get On Your Boots, Magnificent, Elevation, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, The Unfortgettable Fire, Vertigo, Pride, Where The Streets Have No Name and Mysterious Ways.

Their energy was superb, the live sound was awesome (despite it being a little on the high end side in the early stages) and the complete package was just awesome. All the componants of the great mamouth U2 sets of the 90’s, coupled with the simplicity of fantastic band playing fantastic songs. Really enjoyed it. I mean, REALLY enjoyed it! ;-)

Complete set list for your viewing pleasure;

1) Breath
2) No Line On The Horizon
3) Get On Your Boots
4) Magnificent
5) Beautiful Day
6) Elevation
7) I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
8) Stuck In A Moment
9) Unknown Caller
10) The Unforgettable Fire (bloody awesome version!)
11) City Of Blinding Lights
12) Vertigo
13) If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight
14) Sunday Bloody Sunday
15) Pride
16) MLK
17) Walk On
18) Where The Streets Have No Name
19) One
20) Mysterious Ways

Encore

21) Ultra Violet
22) With Or Without You
23) Moment Of Surrender

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Training update #1

Well, training for my entry in to the Birmingham Half Marathon is now well underway. I have about another month before I need to be able to run for 8 miles without stopping. Eeek!

The most I have managed at the moment is about 2 miles – only another 6 miles to go then! I have decent running shoes, which make all the difference in the world. I have new shorts and new t-shirts. All of which are very nice and very comfortable. I tell you though, it’s bloody hard work.

What’s really surprised me so far is that my legs are holding up remarkably well. It’s my chest that’s causing me all the pain. Well, dur! I guess you’d expect that from a smoker wouldn’t you? Well, yes. I’m getting there though. I ran with Stat yesterday for about 3.8 miles – for the first time, it actually felt pretty comfortable.

It’s really strange to describe this, but you actually get to a point where it becomes quite pleasurable to keep running – it’s the strange point of where the pain becomes quite nice! It’s hard to write that without sounding a little like an S&M enthusiast… but either way, it’s getting slightly easier.

Time to pack the fags in now though and see what sort of difference that starts making to my health. If I manage to lose some weight in the process, the bonus begins… Looking back through some old photos on Facebook that someone put up of me when I was 18 suddenly made me realise that I haven’t aged very well – it would be at least nice to be able to get my figure back, even if my hair is long gone! ;-)

I will keep you posted with progress…!

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In the words of Larry Mullen Jr…

“It’s like a musical journey”

Firstly, I have to say that this post has nothing to do with U2. Yes yes, it’s a shameless plug to get picked up by search engines etc – I need more hits on my rather dull and lifeless blog.

However, in keeping with the theme – I really do feel like I’ve been on a musical journey of late.

First up – blur at Hyde Park. Just to give you an insight in to my blog writing, I actually mis-typed blur and put blue instead. I was very tempted for a moment to leave it and make people think that I went to see blue at Hyde Park. How ace would that have been? Ok, you’re right – not much.

Anyhoo, back on subject. Blur at Hyde Park. I’ve got to be honest, I was not a happy bunny about these tickets. Blur announced that they were to be playing a reunion gig in Hyde Park. I waited eagerly to get my tickets for the Friday 3rd July show and it’s bloomin’ well sold out in record time. Dammit.

So, when news of a second show popped up for Thursday 2nd I waited eagerly by the phones and the email… lines opened – BINGO! Got two tickets! I thought, this would be a great day out for Sal and I… Of course I’d forgotten that Sal works in the day (as do I – but it’s a lot easier for me to take the day off than it is her) – so a quickly arranged phone around to my friends resulted in Matt taking the spare ticket off my hands and a great day out together in London ensued. We drove to London, managed to park just off Abbey Road which was ace.

Parking just off Abbey Road was cool – as Dropknee (my old band – before I joined – if you know me, that will make sense) recorded at Abbey Road – something I would love to have done, but I hadn’t joined the band by that point. I’ve seen the film of that day and laughed many times, so it was with some fun and not without a sense of irony that we found ourselves there. Matt tried to photograph and film me crossing the zebra crossing, which I refused to do, so he filmed me crossing by the side of the crossing instead, much to the amusement of the tourists watching on, who were laughing at us NOT wanting to cross on the zebra crossing. Anyway, it was funny at the time.

We walked down towards the tube and then towards Hyde Park. We did McDonalds (yum) Sainsbury’s for a four pack and then a laze around outside the main gates to the gig before walking in to the venue late afternoon. We soaked up what was left of the late afternoon sun before watching a fantastic blur come on a perform an amazing set.

I did mention that this series of gigs annoyed me. It’s not much of a reason, but it’s the fact that they announced a series of “warm-up” gigs before these two dates – including Glastonbury Festival, T in the Park, Wolverhampton Civic AND the M.E.N in Manchester… WHY do bands do this?? It took the specialness out of the occasion for all of five minutes, but all was forgiven when they hit the stage in Hyde Park – a good gig, made all the better by spending it with a good friend.

After all of this, I suppose I should relate to why I feel like I’ve been on a musical journey of late. Vender (the band after Dropknee, the one I actually joined) split up 4 or so years ago. I left a few months before they split, amongst bad feelings with certain members of the band and some friendships that needed working on and repairing. My good friend Matt is leaving Walsall to move on to pastures new soon. I’ve been really fortunate to spend the last couple of years of my life being his neighbour and his friend. We’ve shared some good times together and I’m really going to miss him. Matt was the drummer in Vender.

Our Church held a leaving “party” for him and Gemma last night. Curry, drinks, laughter, memories and friendship ensued and a good night was had by all. We (the remaining members of Vender) were asked to perform a few songs from the band as our “tribute” to Matt. It was really fun re-learning some of these songs and performing again as the band. Matt joined us for 3 songs at the end and it felt great playing together as a 4 piece again.

It was really cool playing as the band. Remembering the fun times, the laughter, the friendship and the acknowledgement that we’ve all grown up and moved on to other things. Matt is about to start his Vicar training and new life with Gemma in Bristol, Oli and Neil are both married men, with fantastic wives and beautiful children. I finally found myself the most amazing wife in Sal.

Vender was an important part of my life. It introduced me to an amazing Church, amazing group of friends and people I’m so honoured to have spent lots of time with – Matt, Neil and Oli. I feel selfish in the fact that I want to spend much more time with Matt. I don’t want him to move away and I don’t really want to share him! In the words of someone from last night, we shall remain good friends, but I just won’t get to see him as often.

Time is moving on. To relate back to U2, in the words of the greatest opening song from an album of all time* “Time is a train, it makes the future the past, it leaves me standing in the station, my face pressed up against the glass…” – it’s about as close as I can get to explaining how I feel at the moment.

*Zoo Station – Achtung Baby.

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