Jeff Buckley Tribute!

Today marks the 10th anniversary of American singer-songwriter and guitarist Jeff Buckley. Jeff was best known for his album Grace which he released in 1994 and in my opinion if it wasn't for that moment of stupidity on the 29th May 1997 Jeff would have been a household name around the world.

Jeff died after deciding to go for a swim in the Wolf River Harbour in Mississippi whilst still wearing steel-toed boots, all of his clothing, and singing along to a radio playing Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love. A roadie of Buckley's band, Keith Foti stayed on dry land and after moving the radio and a guitar out of reach of the turbulence from a passing tugboat Keith looked up to see that Jeff was gone. The rescue effort had to be called off due to heavy rain and Jeff was found a week later by a tourist and his body was pulled ashore. The post mortem revealed that Jeff wasn't taking illegal drugs at the time of his death so this couldn't be blamed for this tragic incident. He was just 30 years old

On Saturday I attended a Jeff Buckley tribute night at St Ann's Castle near Braintree where the bands performed some of Jeff's songs and songs by the people who inspired Jeff. At the end of the night there was also a Band Aid style version of Jeff's most famous song Hallelujah. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures or video from the event to post so instead please enjoy a live performance by Jeff of Hallelujah.

Jeff Buckley November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997 - gone but never forgotten.

Meat Loaf Review!

Last night I went to my 2nd gig in as many weeks at Wembley Arena. This time I went to see Meat Loaf perform on his Bat Out Of Hell III tour with Marion Raven. I have always been a fan of Meat Loaf but I was equally excited about seeing Marion Raven in the flesh after admiring her for many months on you tube and other pictures, especially as today was her birthday!

Although the gig was promoted as the Bat Out Of Hell III tour they actually performed songs for all three Bat Out Of Hell albums which made the gig better as it appealed to all the generations of fans and because some of the classics are from previous albums.

When Meat Loaf appeared on stage it was accompanied with music and videos on the big screen from earlier in his career and he was sporting long hair how he use to have it but halfway through the first song of the night Paradise By The Dashboard Lights Marion Raven revealed she found old men who wore cheap wigs embarrassing and pulled it off to reveal it was indeed a "cheap wig" before Meat Loaf revealed it wasn't a cheap wig because cheap wigs cost £20 and his had actually cost him £32.

The next song that was performed was You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth (Hot Summer Nights) and after Meat Loaf had finished performing it he started talking about London and somebody shouted out from the audience and this was Meat Loaf's response!

After this Meat Loaf performed some tracks form Bat Out Of Hell II and started with Life Is A Lemon And I Want My Money Back, followed by one of his biggest hits I'D Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That), Objects In The Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer and Out Of The Frying Pan (And Into The Fire.) which had some good effects because every time the word fire was said flames ignited from the back of the stage.

It was about an hour into the show when Meat Loaf got on to his Bat Out Of Hell III - The Monster Is Loose Album from which he performed Blind As A Bat, Bad For Good, In The Land Of The Pig The Butcher Is King, If It Ain't Broke Break It and then he announced it was Marion Raven's birthday (something that I already knew) and they performed It's All Coming Back To Me Now.

Not surprisingly the last song before the Encore was the mammoth Bat Out Of Hell which you can see below.

For the encore Meat Loaf performed the Rolling Stones classic Gimme Shelter. It was a great night which I thoroughly enjoyed and I was very lucky to see two great gigs performed by artists at the top of their game. I was glad I got to see Marion Raven in the flesh and I thought I found her attractive before last night but after seeing her she has moved on to my top 3 most attractive woman and its not fair that I will never have her.

Finally I couldn't finish this blog without uploading this clear, up close video of her performing. Damn she is so fine - It ain't fair!

She was the one in the white by the way not in the black with long hair!

Jessica Jane Clement Wallpaper!

I got bored of my current wallpaper so I decided to make a new one so I have taken my favourite pictures of Jessica Jane Clement star of The Real Hustle and Dream Team and using Photoshop created a wallpaper for my desktop and it is now available for you to download if you wish.

Last FM

I have just introduced my stepbrother to a music programme I have been using for over 3 months now and like he likes me thinks it is great so I have decided to share it with the rest of you. The programme in question is Last FM and can be found here!

The programme scrobes the tracks you listen to form Winamp or Windows media player and calculates your weakly top artists, your overall top artists, your overall top tracks and your recently listened tracks and arranges them into a table for you.

The programme also makes radio stations for you based on your favourite/most listened to tracks and artists which you can share with other users if you so wish. As well as this you can also show people gigs you have or will be attending and share photos and reviews.

Last FM has a vast knowledge of information on most artists and if you find an artist that isn't on there you can add it yourself. Below is an example of the table that you can produce.

If like me you listen to a l0t of music its a worthwhile tool to get and the best thing about it is its absolutely 100% free!

Bryan Adams Review!

Yesterday I went to see Bryan Adams Live at Wembley and it was the best gig I have ever been to. Bryan came on stage at 8:30 and opened with There Will Be Never Be Another Tonight and he wasn't wrong. He actually started on the B stage which was behind everybody and the lights only came on once he had started the song which fooled a lot of people. Bryan then move to the main stage through the fans whilst performing The Best Of Me having some fun on the way as the following video shows.

When on the main stage Bryan said the reason he decided to do this tour was because he planned to have a new album out by now but he just hadn't got round to finishing it so the next time we see him unless it was walking down the street or something he would have it out which is something to look forward to. He then got back to doing what he does best and reeled off Can't Stop This Thing We've Started, Cuts Like A Knife, Run To You, Lets Make It A Night To Remember, Please Forgive Me and Open Road. Then it was time for 3 more of my favourites with Summer Of 69 (which as you can imagine bought the house down), 18 Til I Die and The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me which you can see the whole song in the video below.

Next came Everything I Do, Heaven and When Your Gone which some lucky member of the audience got picked to go up on to the stage and sing with Bryan Adams, she said she couldn't sing when she got asked and I ain't gonna disagree with her but never the less she will never forget it and unfortunately I don't think my ears will either.

For the encore Bryan made his way through the underground of the venue and appeared back on to the B stage where we were treated to Have You Really Ever Loved A Woman, All For Love and She's Only Happy When Shes Dancin'.

Bryan Adams was on stage for 2 hours and 20 mins which is a lot longer than any other the other gigs I have been to and I loved every minute of it and i can't wait for him to come back to England to preform his new album. I only hope Meat Loaf is just as good in 2 weeks time when I go and see him and I bet he will be.

Higgins Top Of The World!

Last Night John Higgins joined at elite group of players who had won the World Snooker Championship more than once though he must be wondering how it took so long to win the 6 frames he needed to reach the 18 frame winning score.

John started the 2nd day of the final 12-4 up after playing the best snooker of the tournament in the 2nd session of the first day winning it 7-1 and at this point there was serious doubts if the match could be won with a session to spare but these fears were put to bed when Mark Selby responded by winning all 6 frames in the 3rd session to make it 12-10 going into the final evening session.

The evening session started slowly as both players went 8 frames without making a single break over 50. This wasn't down to bad misses but the balls kept going safe and we saw some excellent safety play from both players in fact in one frame they spent 20 minutes on the yellow alone. Eventually Mark Selby got the scores back to 14-13 but this seemed to spur John Higgins on as he reeled of the next 4 frames in no time at all with a 57, 129 and a 78 break.

In getting to the final and Stephen Hendry's early exit in the 2nd round John also claimed enough ranking points to ensure he will once again be the world number 1 next season but he was more pleased with winning his 2nd world crown and £220 000.

Once, Twice, Three Times A Lady, No Its Four!

Arsenal Ladies won the woman's FA Cup yesterday against Charlton despite going a goal down in the first 2 minutes to seal the Quadruple. Arsenal came back and scored some stunning goals at Nottingham Forrest's City Ground with the reply coming from a sweetly struck free kick from Kelly Smith after she herself was bought down with a nasty challenge. Arsenal were soon 2-1 from another free kick taken by 19 year old Lianne Sanderson's which stand in captain Jayne Ludlow delivered the telling touch.

It was Ludlow who also got the 3rd right on half time when she connected with a cracking volley from outside the area to send Charlton in with a lot to think about. Kelly Smith also got her 2nd of the match late on but the match was already won. The match was played in front of a record crowd for the Woman's FA Cup final as 24,529 brave the cold weather to watch Arsenal beat 20/1 outsiders Charlton.

The Gunners have already sewn up the league and have yet to drop a point winning all the 20 games they have played so far. The Gunners also won the League cup against Leeds and just last last week a 0-0 at Boreham Wood was good enough to give them The Uefa cup after a 1-0 away win in the first leg to the favourites Umea IK.

Arsenal are far and away the best ladies team in England with many internationals on their bench which would walk into any other side but this is still a massive achievement not to lose a single game and to become European champions for the first time.

It's nice to see Arsenal can have some success and the Woman's game in particular especially with the European Championships coming up. I hope England can do well and I hope some of Arsenal's success will rub off on to the men next season I have a feeling it just might.

New Arsenal Away Kit Revealed!

Today I saw the new Arsenal away kit and at first I wasn't sure about but after studying it i have grown to accept it and I don't think it is as bad as I first thought in fact I am tempted to say I quite like it but I wont do just yet. Part of me can't help thinking is this another step away from the Arsenal tradition because since Arsenal was founded in 1886 the away kit was always been yellow or blue and if you put but this with losing Highbury (though this was necessary to compete with the big clubs) and the fact that we will soon be owned by an American I can't help thinking that Arsenal as I know it will soon be gone forever. I may be reading far to much into this as its only a colour of a shirt that has been changed and I hope I am but we will have to wait and see what happens next.

Chelmsford City 1 -1 Billericay Town (AET Billericay Win 5-3 On Pens)

A lackluster Chelmsford City last night failed to overcome 10 man Billericay at Melbourne Park. It was a tightly contested affair with both sides not really creating many chances.

City's first chance came from a corner kick which drifted past the far post but was then put back into the box by Captain Ben Chenerey for Fiston Manuella to head narrowly over whilst Billericay's Lee Hodges dragged a left-footer wide across the face of goal via a deflection. Towards the end of the half City enjoyed a spell of pressure, beginning with Jeff Minton's low arrow that careered wide from the edge of the box and Ricky Holmes worried the Town defence via a sweetly-struck right-footer which narrowly cleared the crossbar after a touch by 'keeper Billy McMahon.The best chance of the half came right on half time when the ball broke to right back Jay Conroy around forty yards from goal and he met it with a cracking drive which was destined for the top corner until McMahon achieved a slightest touch to guide it onto the bar and over.

The first action of the 2ND half was the the 2ND yellow card of the match for Billericay's Rikki Burbridge for clattering Ricky Holmes on the edge of the pitch so inevitably the red card followed and Billericay were reduced to 10 men to a series of cheers and chanting from the Claret Army.

City tried to make the extra man count but were left open at the back and had goalie Ashley Harrison to thank for keeping the scores level when he palmed a strike onto the bar and showed great reactions to get up and flaw the 2ND attempt when it looked like there was gonna be a tap in at the near post.

Around the middle of the half there were nervy moments at each end for both defences, Conroy sticking out a leg to divert the ball just past his own City post and Billericay's almost sliced a harmless cross into his own net but was cleared unknowingly by goalkeeper McMahon at his near post.

Jason Hallett then came on for Ibe as Chelmsford began to press-home their one-man superiority, firstly seeing a Lee Boylan cross find the head of the Hallet but he couldn't get enough on it to trouble McMahon. Ten minutes from time a Holmes centre then led to Boylan heading wide.

The goal finally came on the 82ND minute when Hallet was again in the action as Billy McMahon dropped a routine catch straight into the path of Jaime England who calmly slotted the ball home to spark frenzy in the terraces due mainly to relieve and excitement.

The 2,025 City fans were now talking about the final and wondering who would win in the other semi final tomorrow night when with 20 seconds of injury time left Chris Whelpdale (who had taken a lotof stick during the match for his extremely large noise) found himself unmarked to level the scores and Melbourne Park was stunned into silence.

Extra time was a dull affair with neither side really creating any chances so 42 games of hard work came down to the lottery of a shootout. It was Billericay who took the first penalty and it was buried into the bottom corner but Lee Boylan missed Chelmsford first penalty which proved to be the vital moment as Flack, Whelpdale (big nose) and Blewitt for Billericay and Knight, England and Minton all scored good penalties.

To be honest I don't think either side did enough to win the game and though it pains me to say it Billericay did play well with 10 men but I think Chelmsford could have upped the tempo and stretched them more but saying that we should have won the league easily if only we could win away from home. I hope Chelmsford can regroup and keep their players and if so we should go up next year and I will be cheering for the winners of The Bromley VS AFC Wimbledon in the final on Saturday!