Losing it...

HI there. I haven't really had time to blog of late, and i am sorry about that. I did notice something in the Paisley Express which is one of the most ridiculous pieces of spinning i have ever seen.

One of our local MSP's (for the neighbouring constituancy of Paisley North as it happens) is Wendy Alexander, who will soon be taking over as the New Labour leader at Holyrood. You may remember as well that her party lost control of Renfrewsire Council to a SNP/Lib Dem coalition. Since then we have had to put up with the sort of backbiting that sore loosers normaly indulge in.

But to get back to the Paisley Express. Ms Alexander writes a colum for this organ, and today, while bemoaning the fact that another 2 town centre shops were to close (her column today was headlined SNP MUST DO SOMETHING TO STOP TOWN CENTRE ROT), she goes on to say -quote

"If Labour had been re-elected in May, it would have helped breath new life into the town centre by allowing it to share in a £50 million Town Centre Turnaround fund.

The Cash bonanza would have been used to aid the town centre's recovery..."

She goes on to outline various measures where this money would have been spent.

The question many of us would like to ask is, where was this money before the election, where was this money say, oh, 3 years ago when Paisley town centre started to go down the tubes. Would Paisley town centre be more worthy of re-generation than, say, some council buildings. Why was this money promised if a new Labour administration got back into Cotton Street. And how and why can Labour get a hold of £50 million now, is it our money that they forgot to tell us about? Answers on a postcard please!

Welcoming Sellik

Hullo.

Tomorrow the mighty buds face their toughese game of the season so far when Celtic visit. The two sides had contrasting games this week. We went crashing out of the CIS cup to East Fife, while Celtic came through an epic European Cup tie with Spartak Moscow, eventually winning on penalties. It’s the first time Celtic has won a European tie in this fashion (losing to Inter Milan in 1972 and Valencia in 2001).

We are overdue a win against one of the Old Firm, our last victories against Celtic date back to the 1989/90 season (1-0 at home in September ‘89, and 3-0 at Parkhead in April ‘90), lets hope that we perform better than we did at home last season, when our failure to turn up in the first half laid the foundations for a 3-1 win.

Oh and the title is a reference to how some of the Celtic support pronounce Celtic “sellik”.

See you later.

The Father of Indie is Dead

Hullo.

One of the television programmes that I will not be writing about in my annual pick of the year blogs will be the BBC’s latest rockumentry The Seven Ages of Rock. I saw a couple of episodes and found them an incredible mixed bag. The episodes on Prog-rock and Heavy Metal (which is not really my thing) I found interesting & informative. The episodes on Punk and “Indie” (which i am very much a fan of) were frustrating and taken from a particular viewpoint. The indie episode started from the viewpoint that “indie” was an invention of The Smiths, being a case in point.

I mention this now because at the weekend, arguably the father of “indie” music (if we must call it that) Tony Wilson passed away. As well as being a television presenter in the Granada region, he also started a record label with some money that he came into. The intention was that new bands would put out some singles on Wilson’s label before signing with a bigger operator, as had been happening with the previous independent record companies which had sprung up in the wake of Punk. All this changed with the arrival of Joy Division, and their manager Rob Gretton.
In an earlier blog, I had Tony Wilson as one of the 5 people/acts who really, really earned an outstanding contribution to music gong at the Brits. Apart from the acts that appeared on the Factory roster at one time or another (Joy Division, OMD, New Order, James, Happy Mondays to name 5), they lead the way for other independent record labels, which in turn helped their acts to thrive. Mute had Depeche Mode from the start, as well as Goldfrapp, Rough Trade was the home to The Smiths, while Creation was home to Primal Scream, the Boo Radleys, Teenage Fanclub and Oasis before it sold itself to Sony in 1995. As a result, the British music scene flourished in the late 1980’s, breaking free of the shackles of the major labels.

It was not just in guitar music that Wilson and Factory led. In 1981, New Order were touring the USA for the first time. Danceteria in New York made such a big impression on the Factory entourage that they began planning their own version in Manchester, much to the chagrin of Martin Hannett who was hoping that Factory would invest in Studio technology, particularly a Fairlight sampler (Wilson & Hannett fell out over this, Hannett returned to the Factory fold in 1988 to produce the Happy Mondays “Bummed” album). The result was FAC 51, or The Hacienda, which 6 years later was at the epicentre of the boom in Acid House.

Personally I am sad as a little individuality has gone out of the British Music scene. I’d have also preferred Wilson to find the next great thing rather than Simon Cowell.
See You Later.

Buds 1 Motherwell 0

Hmmm, as you can see, not the best start to the season.

To be fair to motherwell, the were excellent for the first half. They were first to every ball, first in the tackle. The winner was the most unexpected piece of football you will see all season, and the best goal I have seen with the naked eye for a long time. There were about 3 1-2’s before the ball found McGarry. Gee thanks for that one Mr Hendrie.

I know that it was only the first game of the season, but can our defenders please stop launching long balls forward. As we showed for (not long enough) spells in the second half, if our midfielders get the ball they are able to produce the same sort passing style that worked for Motherwell in the first half. The long ball tactic made us look one dimensional. No wonder Mark McGee changed his formation to a defensive one after 10 minutes of the second half.

Still should be a nice easy game next Saturday.

See you later.

The Wrong Target

Hullo.

I was going to write about the St Mirren game on Saturday (there will be more on that later). However, a couple of stories appeared in the Paisley Daily Express yesterday, which quite frankly demonstrate what a hair tearingly frustrating place Paisley is. It also shows why it is such a hole.


On page 3 was a story headlined “FURY AT SALMONDS UNIVERSITY SELL-OUT” where the FM, Alex Salmond is critisised by all right minded Paisley Buddies, and Hugh Henry, for giving the go ahead for Paisley University to change its name to The University of the West of Scotland. Mr Henry, I should point out is my local MSP, and he is “Furious”, claiming that “The SNP made great play about retaining the name of Paisley in the title. Now we find that with no consultation and no publicity, Alex Salmond and the SNP have betrayed Paisley, its history and its heritage”

This is clearly humbug from a former minister who would have been bound by the position of the Scottish cabinet when they gave the mearger of Paisley University and Hamilton’s Bell College the thumbs up. I am also offended because this is really small beer compared to the shooting at the weekend of Andrew Devlin outside of Suzy Q’s nightclub in Paisleys Stock Street (pictured).It is one of the great failures of the New Labour led executive that the criminal gangs survived and prospered. Its no surprise that Mr Henry would want us to forget their failings on that front, but to pick on something so trivial… Scottish New Labour really have lost the plot.

A New Season Awaits

Hullo.

Tomorrow the football season begins all over again. Here in Scotland, we hope that the season will go on to conclude at next years European Championships, held in Austria and Switzerland. Crucial fixtures in the Autumn against France (away), Ukraine (Home), Georgia (Away), and Italy (Home) will determine if we get there.

In the meantime the domestic season gets underway. After last seasons dramatic escape from relegation, the mighty St Mirren begin their last season at Love Street with a visit from Motherwell, who have provided some happy memories of late for the Saints. On top of their 3-0 defeat in the Scottish Cup last year, St Mirren were undefeated against the Steelmen last season, culminating in the 3-2 win on the penultimate day of last season which sent Dunfermline into the Scottish League.

Of last seasons squad, the biggest losses are Kirk Broadfoot, who has moved to Rangers, and top scorer John Sutton, who has gone to Wycome. After the departure of Adam and Lappin, this leaves Van Zanten and Kean as the surviving key players from the 2005/6 promotion/championship side.

Gus McPherson has not been idle in the transfer window. He has brought in 4 players, Mark Howard from Cardiff, Will Hainning from Oldham, Gary Mason from Dunfermline and, prehaps the bigest coup, Craig Dargo from Inverness. Dargo is a former Scotland under 21 player, and has scored a lot of goals with Kilmarnock and Inverness. It will be unfortunate that he will not start against Motherwell, as he is a key player.

This season, I think that we will finish just outside the top 6, maybe about 8th. Gretna will fight it out with possibly Inverness for survival. As for the championship, it will be Celtic by 5 points.

Enjoy the rollercoaster.

New Pearl of India No Less

Hullo, so where was I before last week and all the PC problems.

The other week there it was my birthday, and the purple rhino asked me where I would like to go for dinner. Sutherlands (posh Scottish restaurant) used to be nice (we haven’t been back for a couple of years), we’ve been to Minsky’s (ultra posh New York deli diner in the Glasgow Hilton) lots of times. I thought that it would be a good idea for us to go to a restaurant that we haven’t been to for years, The Pearl of India which the last time we went, oooh on Guy Fawkes Night 2004 was on Aitkenhead Road across the road from Hampden. It was small, but the best curry house that we’ve been to.

We booked the table for the Saturday, the day before my Birthday. We were surprised to learn that the Restaurant had re-located, and re-named itself New Pearl of India. It was now on Cathcart Road, across from the entrance to Mount Florida Train Station. We met up with our friend Fi and headed up there after a bit of shopping in Paisley.

When we got there, we were taken to our tables. The new premises are a lot more spacious than the old place, with a more modern feel. We started with the Popadoms/spicey onions/sauce combination, with Ange asking for Mango Chutney. Straight away the standard was set very high, excellent popadoms and spicy onions which tasted of onions.

For our starters it was a selection of Bhagis’, Pakoras and Chicken Chaat. Now Ange loves the sauce that covers the Chicken Chaat here, so at every opportunity she was asking for the recipe for the sauce, to no avail. Again the starters were excellent, though sometimes I do wish I had a bit more discipline when eating the starters, knowing when to leave room for the main course is a skill, especially here.

The main courses were excellent. A good curry is one where all the flavours can be tasted, and not be suffocated by spicy (chilli) heat. Clay Oven in Cash and Carry land in Glasgow was the last curry-house to carry that off, and the New Pearl certainly did it here. I had Lamb Jalfrezzi, which was excellent. Warm, but enough to let the flavours reach my palate. The rice was good too, but one of the things we came for was the Nan Breads, particularly their Peshwari Nan. This place does the best Peshwari’s that the Purple Rhino, and myself, have tasted.

The Purple Rhino and Fi both had mild curries which rather than be the blander counterparts, were all flavoursome with a hint of sweetness. Ange had her speciality, Chicken Makhanni Massala, while Fi had Chicken Pattia. We all shared a bowl of Chicken Chasni too. These particularly complimented the Peshwari Nan.

Afterwards, we headed back into town to meet up with Fi’s partner, Ferg, who had been at the Scottish Open golf tournament. A good night was had by all, and I would thoroughly recommend the New Pearl to anyone.

See you next time.

Oh Number 9

Hullo.

Sorry I haven’t been blogging of late. I have just been really busy with stuff, that and a touch of writers block. However, there’s nothing like a birthday to cure writers block, especially if it’s mine. Later on, I’ll be writing about the utterly magnificent meal that we had a week past Saturday. However, I have a little something to get off my chest.

Those of you who have looked at my Blogroll will have noticed a blog called Bloodbus, which is the factual account of a Glasgow bus driver. It is factual because dear reader, and I would plump your cushions up before I start, I have seen things as bad as those chronicled on Bloodbus.

Myself an my partner had got to Glasgow Central, thinking that we were living in a modern society when we found out that the trains had finished for the night at quarter past 12, half an hour earlier than they finish on Thursday’s and Fridays (go figure that one!). This meant a trip on the No#9 to Paisley, the “catch the dafties in the one net and put them all on the same bus” special. I don’t think the 14th was a full moon, but what we were about to experience, a full moon was the only explanation.

After we got on, the next stop was at Curry’s on Jamaica Street, where about 20 people tried to get on. There was no room for them, so the bus doors stayed shut. Someone on the outside tried to open the doors, and a crown of people tried to get on. The driver tried to get them off.. We didn’t move for a couple of minutes until everyone who had tried to get on, was back off. Not the only hold up of the night.

We got to Cessnock and the bus stopped again. This time it didn’t move. We were seated so couldn’t see why we had stopped. I thought that the bus had broken down because we had begun to move slowly. Then word spread, someone was standing in front of the bus. Sure enough we got confirmation that indeed there was someone, who wanted on, standing in front of the bus, not letting it go past until he got on. I believe there were people taking pictures on their camara phones for posterity (go on, try and search for in on you-tube, its bound to be there).

After about 5 minutes we were let go, either because the guy was too drunk, realising that he had no chance of getting on the bus, or that he heard that the police might be on their way. Either way we were on our way home. All we needed was a quick taxi once we got back to Paisley, which we got thanks to the Purple Rhino’s new pal Claire.

See you next time!