veloman

I have on of those 'souvenir' footballs signed by the squad at the time that has Mark Draper's signature on it . "Draper for England" !!!!!

Well, went to see guitar master Larry Carlton at B/ham Town Hall on Tuesday. Obviously a lot of Steely Dan fans there judging by the reception 'Josie' (AJA Album) got. One thing that struck me was the small amount of gear on show. He played a red Gibson 335 all night - no racks of guitars behind him. The drummer (a fabulous , subtle player) had a 5 piece Yamaha and perhaps a ride , a crash and maybe one other and the keyboard player just had 2 Yamaha keyboards. I guess if you've got that talent you don't need much else. Roll on Steely Dan in Feb. (bass player had a 5 string I think)

I really can't vouch for the veracity of this but has anyone heard anything about a new Director of Football ….. from Portugal ?

What a dreadful shame ? Wonder what that erudite ,self-effacing David Lloyd will have to say about it ! Warks could have batted Kent out of their match; pity Trott couldn't have got a decent score.

There is at least one other person on here that knows Chas Hodges was much better than the rather trite 'Chas and Dave'. He played in a cult band of the late 60's early 70's called 'Heads, Hands and Feet'; they never really made it but released a great 'turntable hit called Warming Up The Band' which I always found really tricky to play (on drums) but then I wasn't much good ! I guess he made more cash out of Chas and Dave but it is often surprising what musos have done in the past - like ace session bassist Herbie Flowers wrote the dreadful 'Grandad' for Clive Dunn.

Agree with VILLAMARV's team …. apart from Rashid. I realise he isn't a leg spinner but I have always liked the look of Danny Briggs - even when he was at Hampshire - and he is left arm. Denly has had a great season. And Warks finally promoted; wonder if they will release anymore from their squad or is that it. Finally, I wonder if Stokes will stay at Durham; aren't they in a spot of bother financially ?

Good as Steve Winwood is that amounts to heresy ? . I played in a band that supported the original Spencer Davis group in about 1964/5 (can't remember). I was never so glad to get off stage 'cos they were so good and we ………. weren't. Casino Club in the market town of Walsall.

Tickets for ace guitarist Larry Carlton have arrived. Any of you muso types know this player ? Steely Dan tickets ordered !!

You missed Villa goal keeper Jim Cumbes !? Although a lot of people will be too young to remember that period.

Oh that's very upsetting !???

Has anyone heard a (nasty) rumour that Woakes can't play in Warks next game ? Summat to do with ECB regs not a fitness issue ?

Didn't you rate Jack Brookes ? (he was with Northants wasn't he?)

Well ok I guess but they were so poor last season they couldn't have got much worse. They SHOULD go up but (personally) a bit mystified by some of the players they let go - notably Rikki Clarke (look what he has done at Surrey) and Josh Poysden (rare legspinner). Would be VERY happy to see them go up and Lancashire go down !! Haven't seen them as much this year so don't quite know what to make of the younger players coming in. (Stone etc). Wouldn't mind Duckett !

Very sad news for all musicians and music lovers in general. It appears Bono has NOT lost his voice.

^^^^^^ Well, Curran then perhaps ?

Anyway - forget England; what a good win for Warwickshire; surely must go up this season. BUT .. a bit worrying about the players who have left or leaving. Chopra went for domestic reasons I believe, Clarke - possibly perceived as too old now ; Evans - a white ball player only ? ; now Poysden going/gone and Chris Wright. Anyone else nervous about all this ?

I take your point over the relevancy or otherwise of his record at Test Level; the great Ron Saunders never played at the top level in football and we all know how good HE was. But whilst scoring well at County level , Ramprakash seemed to fail (or not do very well) when it came to Test level and I would have thought that was important . Showing my usual bias, Ian Bell would have been better qualified ! In the paper this morning, even Michael Vaughn is questioning the fragility of the batting and he certainly knows a bit more than me.?

Remind me who the England batting coach is again ? What was his record like at Test Match level ??

Do you think it reasonable to add, ' not a very good captain' to this ? I wonder if England could have picked someone for their captaincy skills rather than playing ability in much the same way they did with Mike Brearley. Must confess, I can't think of anyone off hand though.

Backed him quite a few times; he was 'play on - play off' though. A thoroughly professional act and thoroughly decent bloke. He played in some damn good bands in the 60's. RIP NB. It was quite a coincidence that TISWAS had another local musician, Roger 'Olly' Spencer on their programme. He was from another excellent local band called The Idle Race(Roger was the drummer). Unfortunately , idle Race spawned Jeff (SHA) Lynne! !

Which Vt'ers are watching the Tour ? Which channel do you prefer , Eurosport or ITV 4 ? And finally , what the hell are SKY going to do with the Froome/Thomas situation. I have actually met Geraint Thomas at a wedding and you couldn't meet a more down to Earth individual; admittedly he was mainly a track (pursuit) rider then so don't know if success has changed him but suspect (and hope )not. The French don't seem too impressed do they - hence the booing.

Do you know …. it's difficult to say who are the bigger disappointment, AVFC or Warks ! Got Kent out really cheaply - looking good for huge step back to Div 1 - then collapse ! However, I wonder if questions will be asked about 20 wickets falling in one day on that wicket.

Some good old kit in that pic ! Is that a Fender Rhodes he's playing … or possibly a Wurlitzer ? And think that's an Ampeg behind the Marshall.

Oh that's awful news. What a fabulous player he was. I' had that LP on vinyl and my favourite track was 'Elegy' which I attempted to play … no chance ! Brilliant brush work. Replaced Ginger Baker in the legendary ' Graham Bond Organisation' ; that must have taken some doing - replacing Baker ! saw JH with his missus on sax at Lichfield Jazz and Blues Festival about 15 year ago. Thank s for info Xann - but very sad.

Some VT'ers might not know that the Fleetwood Mac of Today is far from the original line-up.; also play totally different stuff - not worse , just different. Danny Kirwan was in the line-up I saw in 196?? at a club called The Top Rank in Dale End and they played good old fashioned R & B; not the garbage that is known as 'R & B' today. The original members included Jeremy Spencer , I think , and can't remember if DK replaced him or was in addition to. All this was well before Peter Green went slightly odd and they brought in Christine Perfect (from Bearwood) Lindsay Buckingham and that rude - looking Stevie Nix ! Incidentally The Top Rank became The Hummingbird IIRC and was run by a relative of an ex-Villa centre half. It was closed down after suspicion of 'discrepancies' with Council monies.