veloman

I saw Mills on the tele this season; he was being touted then as a player to go with the England squad to give them experience of facing fast left armers like Mitchell Johnson as has been suggested above. He certainly appeared quite rapid with the slight disadvantage of only about 2 balls per over being anywhere near the bat ! If he is the best we can come up with......! Anyway - going out on my bike in a minute but PAULC - what do you know about the 'Poppy to Derbyshire' situation ?

I had to be up early this morning and was listening to TMS on 198mw. I'm not too sure who was commentating - Henry Blofeld and someone else but they were supporting Tymal Mills !!!!!! Tymal Mills for fecks sake - this bloke plays for a Second Division County, did not feature in the top few of that division and they were talking about him being the possible English 'secret weapon' to blast the Aussies out. What is their agenda? We already have a player, with the squad, capable of doing that - Boyd Rankin ! (no bias of course)

^^^^^ Do you mean like Dizzy Gillespie ?

"Return to Forever" - what a seminal band ! Launched the careers of, not only Chick Corea but Al di Meola who released some great stuff in his own right (I have a cassette of his still !) drummer Lenny White who incidentally made a great version of The Beatles 'Lady Madonna' (back to them again) and of course Stanley Clarke, one of the best bass players ever. Any bass player might know of Kramer guitars which Stanley Clarke popularised in the same way that Billy Cobham promoted Fibes drums in that both brands were virtually unknown before. I do feel that, like Weather Report, some of their stuff takes a bit of listening to; so if you want a more 'instant' hit try anything by George Duke.

Naturally am not cynical but I just wonder how much, financially, Pieterson receives from his (brief) England appearances compared with the IPL;for which I guess he will be heading for ASAP ! Never has been my favourite player - far too mercurial. I bet England wish Jetan Patel was English !!

re. Carberry's dropped catch. I played in a high level County side - actually it was West Midlands County Council but we did once win the NALGO knock-out trophy ! If I had dropped that, no-one would have spoken to me again. Let's face it; that was a dolly and could have a significant impact on the result.

After I retired, I started a Correspondence Course in taxidermy. It was a disaster; the animals wouldn't keep still so I wrote to the Course administrator who apologized profusely and said that the first part of the Course had not been sent out - this was the bit that said that the animals should be dead first.

I say BOF; is that Gif from "Jeremiah Johnson" ?

As PaulC says, this has always gone on. I have a book called 'Why Are You so Fat' - the talkSport book of best ever sledges. There are some classics in there but perhaps more in the way of personal insults rather than threats. Some beauties relating to Mike Gatting and his less than svelte figure. Some classics on Youtube too; check-out Curtley Ambrose and Steve Waugh where the 'hero' Ambrose has to be pulled away, quite forcibly, from Waugh.

Yeah - I remember that Season. ^ ^ Those more 'senior' cricket fans may remember the Denis Lillee v. Denis Amiss battles where Amiss was out of touch. Jack Bannister (ex Warks !) was apparently scathing in his criticism of Trott - didn't hear it meself but a mate heard it on Radio 5 I think. However - who would you bring in ? Gary Balance ?

But you must go for the one with the Black Widow; it had I little 'B W' badge at the bottom of the cab I think. The bass player always said that it was the speaker that made the difference . However, on thinking about it, he was from Stoke on Trent !

Well, remembering that I was/am a drummer; !! I thought the best bass amp I played with was a Peavey with a Black Widow. I have played with bass players with some nice gear too; Fender Bassman, Mesa Boogie etc. but thought that the Peavey was the nicest. Just an opinion.

The Kinks - in 1970 (I think) when 'Lola' was number 1. We supported them at The Belfry. Notable facts; they had a 250 watt pa which was unheard of at the time; their roadie was a female 'amazon' - fabulous lady, lugging gear around. They all spoke to us except Ray Davies who was incredibly arrogant and their drummer, who was pretty good, seemed to possibly be a beneficiary of pharmaceutical products and dropped a lot of sticks, throwing them over his shoulder, which I gratefully retrieved. In another musical world, I played in a band that backed cabaret and we came across quite a few 'household names' at the time; most are now deceased and most Vt'ers probably wouldn't have heard of 'em anyway. But the one that stands out was Roy Castle - excellent bloke !

Can't be impartial about The Beatles; it was my era as a youth; so would just suggest that their importance cannot be overstated. Rugeley Villa's point about other musos appreciating them is a great post IMO. Check out the buddy Rich version of 'Norwegian Wood' or if you like bass playing at it's best try the Victor Wooten version of the same number. Also the Jeff Beck version of 'Day in The Life'; these are incredibly strong numbers and I just can't see the stuff of the last 20 years being covered in the same way.

" Race With The Devil" - a Denis Wheatley book I think. Starred Peter Fonda and Warren Oates - 2 of my favourite actors. Emphasise I only THINK that is the film.

aaand BOF, like a VT Nostradamus is proved right. Yes, that was particularly prescient; and a real shame. I think the comment about cyclists being killed because it is their choice to 'take that risk' was nothing short of disgraceful.

I wonder if this topic should be pursued in the Cycling General Chat thread. It is very important to all of us who ride bikes or whose children or parents ride bikes. Wainy has put his/her finger on an important point; we are discouraged from riding on main roads so retreat to the lanes which are often narrower. I fully realise some cyclists don't help themselves but, as far as I am aware, there is a different attitude in more "traditional" cycling countries; Belgium, Holland etc.

Please accept apologies for carrying this OT but, just out of interest, if you don't rate The Beatles who do you rate ?

"The Living Years" - Mike and the Mechanics. The great Paul Carrack sings this with such emotion and , even at my age, I guess still miss my Dad.

Don't know about the technicalities of recording electronic kits but they (in my limited experience of 'em) don't have the same 'feel' or warmth as an acoustic kit. I recently sold my Maple Sonor to buy a carbon fibre time trial frame (my other main interest) then fell off on black ice just before Christmas and broke my hip. Was told I may never regain sufficient strength to race so am weighing up buying another kit. I had some rubbery pad thingies on the drum heads and you couldn't hear them outside. Just out of interest; I tell you what did feel good to play and that was those Simmons electronic drums much favoured in the early 80's. You can hear them at the start of the awful programme 'East Enders' - which is as far as I ever get before switching it off !

Errrmm . What do you Bears fans think of Warks releasing Steff Piolet to SUSSEX !!!! (of all Counties)

It's not a REAL music room ; there are no drums there .

First time I have been to one of these matches - very entertaining I thought - helped, of course, by the result. Particularly liked the number 11, Jordan Graham, who came off near the end, and, as others have said, number 9 Robinson . re. scouts - saw Terry McDermott and Derek Fazackerley plus a bloke from Derby Co whose name I can't remember. We sat behind the Newcastle bench; in the first half it seemed Peter Beardsley was shouting the instructions but in the second half it was a Scottish bloke who was bellowing out what seemed like mainly platitudes to me. Gordon Cowans didn't do any of that. Burton have a nice ground too.

Geezer above should audition for DragonForce !

Another vote for Blade Runner; out of interest have a listen to this version. http://youtu.be/bMD8yJ8AjWs. The late lamented Dick Morrissey and possibly Jim Mullen on guitar. The person who picked the Willy Wonka theme has great taste so try listening to the Bob James version (Steve Gadd on drums)