Oh. (Russ L going to and fro in the Earth)

March. Huh. Where do the months go?

Standard disclaimers: I can’t ensure that these events will go ahead, that they’ll be good, or that I will be going to them. Please do not contact me to ask for your event to be included. That’s not the way it works.

Monday the 26th of February to Saturday the 3rd – “Acorn Antiques: The Musical” @ The Hippodrome, Birmingham - “I’d better go and find that king-size thermos. Looking at animals can be thirsty work.”

Thursday the 1st of March – “The Black Country Laughter Show” @ Library Theatre, Bloxwich - Featuring Lizzie Wiggins and Giggetty. Mentioned with apologies for the lack of anything in the way of a useful link.

Friday the 2nd of March – Los Campesinos!/Sky Larkin/Johnny Foreigner/KateGoes @ The Barfly, Digbeth, Birmingham - A nicely varied selection of indie-pop, here. Boo sucks to and/or down with exclamation marks in band names, but if we can force ourselves past the distaste then your Welsh headliners have had many good notices from Bizzen and the supporting cast seem pretty interesting all-round too.

Friday the 2nd of March – Boxing (Shakespeare Promotions) @ Coventry Sport Centre, Coventry - Headlined by Stourbridge’s Robert Norton in a tilt for the vacant English cruiserweight belt against Tommy Eastwood.

Monday the 5th – The Twang @ The Little Civic, Wolverhampton - Unsurprisingly sold out, with them being famous now. In some ways they’re the perfect band to get support from the NME, since the inevitable backlash-to-come is practically built in (c’mon, are you telling me you can’t see Johnny NME-scribe and Jilly NME-Reader liking them now while they’re on their way up but then turning against “That bunch of chavs” once they’re fully established? You’re a lot less cynical than me if you can’t). I think they’re ace, whichever way up. They’re also at The Academy 2 on Thursday the 22nd, but that’s sold out as well.

Tuesday the 6th – Trans Am @ The Medicine Bar, Digbeth, Birmingham - Synth pop, post-rock, krautrock, if you can name it then Trans Am have had a stab at it at some point. Excellent local squiggly instrumental nutbars The Arm are on the bill, too.

Thursday the 8th to Sunday the 11th – Crufts @ The NEC, Birmingham - Just imagine if you went to this by car and got parking space K-9. How fulsomely would you laugh? ‘Very fulsomely’ would be my guess.

Friday the 9th – “The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond Of Matches” (Impetuous Kinship) @ The Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton - The Arena has a good programme this month, it appears. This one is Marcia Carr’s adaptation of Gaetan Soucy’s novel. Sounds like it’ll be heavy-going but very interesting.

Sunday the 11th of March – ‘Parkology’ @ Edgbaston reservoir, Edgbaston, Birmingham - “Come and find out how science could help parks in the future. Have ago at designing your own park.” Educational stuff for the liccle yoot dem. Sounds fun.

Monday the 12th – An Evening With The Birmingham Poet Laureate: Spoz @ Hall Green Library, Hall Green, Birmingham - I didn’t realise that the post was only held for a year. I thought it was still Dreadlockalien.

Wednesday the 14th & Thursday the 15th – Ricky Gervais’ “Fame” @ the NIA, Birmingham - Sold out, obviously. I mean, be serious.

Thursday the 15th – Celtic Frost / Kreator @ The Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton - Pioneers in the field of graaaghmetal and 80s German thrash veterans. A perfect opportunity to wear that denim jacket with the arms ripped off that you’ve been saving for a special occasion.

Thursday the 15th to Monday the 18th – New Art Birmingham Market @ Curzon Street Station, Digbeth, Birmingham - The building is gorgeous from the outside, and apparently there’s a petrified cat in there. Wow! Plus, on these days, there’s an art market courtesy of New Art Birmingham. Party, bonus.

Thursday the 15th to Saturday the 31st – ‘The Little Mermaid’ @ The MAC, Edgbaston, Birmingham - Awww. I bet this will be so sweet. It’s in the Cinema part of the MAC, apparently, but seems to be a play nonetheless.

Friday the 16th – ‘Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames” Launch Party @ The Barfly, Digbeth, Birmingham - Erm… I’ve no solid idea whether this is meant to be wholesome or pervy or what, but it more-or-less seems to be the former. There’s a launch party at The Barfly, anyway, with Dragster and The Mobsters playing, and apparently a demonstration of the sport. In The Barfly. Yes.

Saturday the 17th – Angrrr Management’s “Wired” (MMA) @ The Glades Leisure Centre, Kidderminster - Topped by Marc Goddard’s comeback match against the always entertaining Tipton Tony Bentley, and the much-anticipated rematch between Danny Batten and Kyotaro Nakao. The card also features Ross Mason, Matt Ewin etc, and there’s always a good atmosphere at these Angrrr Management ones.

Saturday the 17th - Ringside Promotions’ Corporate Boxing Dinner @ The ICC, Birmingham - More fighting, fighting, fighting the world on the 17th. Elcock vs Lord knows who for the vacant WBF middleweight belt, a three course meal, musical entertainment, and bingo! Lord oh mercy. Whether the ‘corporate’ means it’s only open to companies buying large quantities of tickets is something I do not know. (Edit: I don’t think Elcock is fighting on this one anymore, but apparently some current version of The Temptations are performing as part of the festivities…)

Saturday the 17th – The Destroyers @ Rooti Frooti in The Custard Factory, Digbeth, Birmingham - Yes, yes. You know by now.

Sunday the 18th – Mothertrucker @ The Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham - With what looks like an unusually varied supporting line-up. I approve of that.

Wednesday the 21st – “You Don’t Need To Know That…” (Gonzo Moose) @ The Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton - A ‘collision of comedy, drama, slapstick and puppetry’ inspired by Kafka’s “The Trial.”

Friday the 23rd – “Mutton” (Mutton Productions) @ The Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton - An onstage sketch show centred on ladies of a certain age. Hot flushes or power surges?

Saturday the 24th – Lemar @ The NIA, Birmingham - More or less the only person of lasting worth to have come from any of these Pop Idol type programmes. As such he should be treasured.

Saturday the 24th – Boxing (Coventry Sporting Club) @ The Leofric Hotel, Coventry - Yet another decision match for a vacant title, this time Baz Carey against Billy Smith for the Midlands Area lightweight.

Sarurday the 24th – The Destoyers @ The Epic Skate Park, Moseley, Birmingham - I’m assuming this will be an indoor sort of thing. I hope so, anyway, at this time of year.

Tuesday the 27th – Keiran Hebden & Steve Reid @ The Medicine Bar in The Custard Factory, Digbeth, Birmingham - One of your geezers from Four Tet alongside your man there who played drums on “Dancing In The Street” (the proper one) as well as having hit things for James Brown, Chaka Khan, Sun Ra and squillions of others. Intriguing. This gig features an opening set from Calvados Beam Trio, too, and they always bring the super-duper.

Tuesday the 27th – Just Jack @ The Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton - Like a posher version of The Streets. I should probably find a more enticing tagline than that.

Wednesday the 28th – Dolly Parton @ The NEC Arena, Birmingham - I’m not completely convinced she does know all that much about working nine-till-five these days. I doubt she’s had the practice. Maybe you should go and ask her.

Thursday the 29th – David Benson’s “To Be Frank” @ The Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton - Good ol’ Davey-Boy Benson’s show about Frankie Howerd. Shut yer face.

Saturday the 31st – Thea Gilmore @ The Little Civic, Wolverhampton - Gutsy and gritty folk-rock singer-songwriter. I can’t help but feel that Ani DiFranco is a cheap comparison, but I can’t think of a better one.

~ Russ L, remembering to tilde/sign-off for the first time in a while.

Saturday the 24th was the night with a squillion billion gigs all happening at once, as previewed here. What I didn’t know when I wrote that was that Beverley Knight was playing at The Ricoh Arena in Coventry, too. I’ve no idea how that one slipped under my radar, but Our Bev would probably have just squeezed all of the others in terms of what I intended to go to. As it was, I found myself heading off to The Varsity in Wolverhampton.

They’ve had gigs on there since prior to forever, but I’d never been there before being tempted by The Destroyers on this particular night. I’ve always thought it was unusually cool for the overseers of a chain pub to allow live music to take place in the upstairs room, though. You wouldn’t expect it.

This, anyway, was the Magic Garden Studios showcase gig. Other than The Destroyers, I had no idea beforehand who was playing. A quick consultation of a poster on the wall when we got there explained to me that they were headlining, Cantaloop were on in the middle, and that The Lines were opening. These last-named (and first-on) played mostly up-tempo shouty indie type stuff, in the range of The Cooper Temple Clause/Kasabian styled bands. While not without their moments (I loved the bit where the singer started playing extra percussion, it gave them a much more dynamic and climactic feel for a little while), I was fairly indifferent to the songs. They definitely have a following, with a loads of people singing along and bunch of lads dancing up the front/invading the stage, and this at least made their set more fun to watch. Far from the worst band I’ve ever seen, but… meh.

I knew Cantaloop’s name was familiar, but assumed I must have just seen it around in gig listings and so forth. They were a little way into their set before I realised I’d actually seen them before. Lord, I am useless. I definitely should not have forgotten about them, either, since they’re fantastic. Funk/hip-hip type business, with a bit o’ rock and a bit o’ jazz and… yeah, the lot. As much groove as one might want (and if it’s a day of the week with a ‘y’ in it then I want a lot of groove), with some blinding songs, what sound like they might on closer inspection be some interesting lyrics, and a great frontman. I will try very, very hard not to forget about them again.

Finally, The Destroyers, who I know I’ve been waffling on about far too frequently lately but they’re just so good. I don’t tend to make this sort of claim, but I really can’t see how anyone could possibly dislike them. This was (interestingly. Well, for me, anyway) the fourth time I’d seen them but the first time at what you might call a proper gig, and while they didn’t have Paul Murphy with them they did have Feva (I think) to perform the song you can see in the Youtube clip on their MySpace page. It’s a shame that the crowd had thinned out a lot by the time they were on (that’s what happens when you have late runnings, though. When will folks learn?) ‘cos I think as many people as possible really should have their chance to see this amazing band, but there we are.

I’d call this a very good gig overall. Nicely varied line-up, I like it.

Friday the 23rd was the first time I’d been to a boxing card promoted by Ringside, and while a decent night of fights it didn’t leave me with a good impression of them as an outfit. The card at the Aston Villa Leisure Centre was originally due to be headlined by Birmingham’s Matthew Macklin vs Vinny Baldassara, but Macklin was forced to pull out due to a chest infection. Fair enough, everyone knew about this well ahead of time and a replacement had been found. On the night, however, Johnny Punter finds out that two more fights were off and unreplaced – the bouts involving Scott Ibbs (his opponent dropped out) and the Pele Reid (it was announced that he had a stomach complaint, although an expression of “Have I?” passed over his face as he sat near ringside). Now, I know these things can’t be helped, but the fact that the tickets still cost a whopping £35 (with fewer fights and fewer ‘names’) is fairly galling. Further annoyance was summoned as a result of having to listen to the near-useless compere doing the ring announcing all night. At one point he couldn’t read his own notes; at numerous points he tried (sometimes successfully, sometimes not) to get a series of clearly unwilling figures from the crowd to come up into the ring to be politely applauded and then moved on, like metaphorical performing apes.

None of this is the end of the world, but I can’t claim to be impressed. I get the impression that Ringside’s primary interests lie in their ‘corporate dinner shows,’ though, and it wouldn’t at all surprise me if they considered the ordinary cards like this (and the satisfaction of the people that go to them) to be ancillary affairs of less importance.

Moaning aside, the fights were alright. Waj Hussein fought bravely against Gavin Deacon in the opening bout, but was out-powered from start to finish and knocked down in the second of four rounds. He remained tenacious right through, though, taking the final round with repeated precise flurries. It wasn’t enough. Max Maxwell looked to me like he was having a lot tougher time of it against Peter Dunn than the 59-56 score would suggest. He showed speed and power, but despite his considerable height advantage seemed reluctant to jab. Peter Dunn, meanwhile, found a lot of openings over the course of the fight to land heavy shots and wasn’t hesitant to slam a few in below the belt. There’s no question that Maxwell won, but it was far from a walkover.

D. Mitchell totally outclassed Garaint Harvey over four-threes and showed why he’s seen as such a big prospect. His switch-hitting advance to both the head and the body saw little effective response from Harvey other than the occasional need to hold on. The fight of the night came next, in which James McKinley took a 60-55 win over Matt Scriven. This was another slightly deceptive score - although McKinley was firmly in control for most of the fight, the outcome remained in doubt right up to the final bell as Scriven was repeatedly able to score hard punches over the top of his dropping hands. Exciting and enjoyable stuff to watch.

I’d read about local boxer Lee Jones having come from the world of kickboxing, but it was only when I saw him in person I realised that I’d actually seen him compete under those rules in the past. Dur. He brought a bit of the showboating I saw from him back then into this fight against Phil Callaghan, but I really don’t think it was justified in this case – having been knocked down by a whopping overhand right in the first round, it was a race against time for him from then onwards. He took the following three rounds by means of establishing a firm jab, but Callaghan kept managing to come back with that right. A narrow 38-37 win for Jones, and one he really had to work hard for.

In the main event, finally, Cello Renda (replacing Matthew Macklin) took out Vincent Baldassara in three and looked very good doing so. He stalked Vinny for the first two rounds, forcing him back with the jab. Baldassara looked like he was beginning to re-assert himself in the third before a mighty left hook knocked him from there into next week. A stylish finish (and in half the time it took Elcock to stop him, interestingly).

Another version can be read here.

Pete did it, I did it, and so judging from the latter even an educated flea could do it. Who, however, will pick up the gauntlet for 2007 and go to a gig every night for two weeks?

The October-y/November-y sort of time that is becoming traditional is less than three quarters of a year away, and so naturally my interest grows. The specific reason I’m posting, though, is because the name of this proud custom was mentioned by Baron (and as much as I’ve wanted to various times in the past, I can’t comment on his blog ‘cos he has that annoying “blogger users only” setting). Tension builds.

A few local bloggers seem obvious choices. Dead Kendalmintcake rejected it out of hand, the rotter. ‘Er With The Shoes On ‘Er seemed quite enthusiastic. Maybe Baron himself would be interested. Or will it be a complete dark horse, perhaps not known for their regular gig-going?

I think we need to get around to appointing our champion, comrades.

As reluctant as I am to publicise my local-blogging-arch-nemesis The Shiny Shoed Concert Slattern, her weekly Tuesday update is essential for all local gig-goers, in particular those with a yen for the indie-rock side of things. That which one will end up listing in such a post is (obviously) entirely dependant on that which one knows about, and as such I understand if you refuse to believe me when I try to represent the fact that she generally tends not to mention the gigs I find the most interesting-looking as a conspiracy on her part. I think it is, though. She strikes me as the shifty type.

With all that in mind, I’m now going to tell you your plans for both the evening of Saturday the 24th of February and for the next few minutes, and you’re not going to argue with me. You know better by now, I’m sure. On the former, you’re going to go to a gig, since there so very many ace ‘uns taking place. The next few minutes will be spent deciding which.

I happen to think a good way to start would be to go over here and have a look at Madam’s preview for the night. Of those, I myself would probably find cause to slip out of character for a moment and recommend the one at The Academy 2 the most: I have a friend who adores Men, Women And Children more than life itself (as well as them getting a great notice from Baron), and I thought !Forward Russia! were alright when I saw them a while back, despite the fact that the combined forces of their exclamation marks and the way their singer sounds on record give me the perfectly natural urge to dismiss them as a bunch of insufferable tits.

There’s more, though. Oh-so much more, and I couldn’t leave it all unmentioned.

24 (I don’t put a ‘th’ at the end of the ‘24’ because I’m far too cool and tough) February

The Varsity, Wolverhampton: The Destroyers - There are also other bands that I don’t know about playing (starting this thing off with the level of accuracy you’ve come to expect from me). It’s the “Magic Garden Studios Showcase Gig” if that helps anyone; Editors have recorded there before now, and the rumour that they might drop into this gig to play a quick unannounced set remains unconfirmed (mostly because I just made it up on the spot). Never mind all that guff, though – you don’t need other bands when you’ve got The Destroyers. I know some of you will be sick of hearing about them from me lately, but I’m going to keep banging on until you all go and see them. Amazing klezmer/gypsy-folk, danceable as you like but with some great epic expansive bits too. Sadly Paul Murphy won’t be accompanying them at this gig (I checked), but even when you take away the icing you still have a cake. A fifteen-strong cake that plays great music, in this case.

The Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, Birmingham: The Reverend Ted Chippington / The Courtesy Group / Nadeem Rangzeb / Mills And Boon - Curse the unyielding progression of time and the inability to do anything about date clashes that it creates. I’d definitely be at this one if I wasn’t going to see The Destroyers. It’s an unusual sort of affair, is this – a mix of bands from that little scene that’s too interesting for boring people, and comedians. I don’t know the slightest thing about what goes on in the world of comedy these days (what do you expect from a miserable git like me?), but I am informed that The Rev. Ted Chippington is a big influence on Stuart Lee (as well as once having put out a record backed by The Nightingales, fact fans) and that Nadeem Rangzeb is not afraid to do routines on Muslim-related subjects that (apparently) a lot of comics just don’t want to touch lately. The Courtesy Group are like a alternate-world version of The Fall who can concentrate, and Mills & Boon are like an alternate-world version of Beefheart who still can’t. There’s a flyer, ‘n’all.

J.B.’s, Dudley: Hammerfall / Krokus / The Poodles - Alright, so I’m not actually suggesting anyone should go to this. It’d be funny though.

The King Edward Inn (formerly Chapter Eleven/The Ben Johnson), Birmingham: Mothertrucker / You Judas / Last Chance At Rampton / The Skeleton Cartel - Mentioned here mainly for the always reliable Mothertrucker (huuuuuuuuuuge instrumental rock, beautifully rolling back and forth between eerie creepy-crawly-ism and the sound of the destruction of Pompeii translated into guitary form), but The Skeleton Cartel (Joy Division gone a lot rockier. I’ve heard both very good and very bad things about their live performances) and You Judas (face-chewing alt-rock/prog/shoegaze, involving members of the amazing The Swarm) sound like they could be great too, and Last Chance At Rampton’s vogue-ish riff/different riff/different riff metal could surprise us yet. Here, have a flyer.

The Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham: Trencher / Rolo Tomassi / a big bunch of others – Cut short because I am getting fed up with writing this now. Is adjectivecore making a comeback? Blimey. This is your “really really really really noisy” option for the evening, and in the name of not bothering to listen through all seven bands I’ll just recommend the top two on bill, both of whom I love already. Trencher play hook-filled grind (yes, it’s actually catchy) with fun little Cassio keyboard bits and generally have a live bass sound that you could toast marshmallows on. Rolo Tomassi are one of the best noisy bands in this country, sez me: reigned-in chaos with an average of 7,381 ideas per minute. This gig is not for those weak of heart or infirm of purpose. This flyer is not for those inflexible of spine or sensitive of eye.

That’s twelve gigs between here and there, anyway. Are you really saying you can’t make it to a single one of them?

Had I not already praised that Capsule gang on this blog by a far greater degree than will allow anyone to retain the contents of their stomach, I’d be prepared to praise ‘em some more now. Folk more feckless than myself would proceed anyway. I, however, value the intestinal integrity of the few readers I have and will limit myself to saying that they put on interesting gigs and that anything they have a hand in is worth considering at the very least. I will speak no more on the subject at this time.

This weekend just gone they had two (count ‘em) gigs on consecutive nights (17th and 18th), at The Jug Of Ale in Moseley. This is a pub I like a lot. The lager in the gig room upstairs is pretty crappy, but it is five pence cheaper up there and obviously you have to consider ‘bothering to go downstairs’ amongst your pros and cons.

Saturday, anyway. This was the second time I’d seen Mills And Boon, and despite having liked them a helluva lot the first time (no, I did, honest) this was even better still. The Beefheart reference shone through a lot more clearly this time – not only in the guitar style, but also in the way they hover right on the edge of chaos (most of the time. Periodically they hover straight over, but always in a convincingly purposeful way). Fantastic messy (without being sloppy) and violent (without being angry) jazz-rock (without being especially jazzy or rockish) is how I would describe them, but I’m perfectly happy at the same time to acknowledge how useless that is as a description. Go and see them, that would be easier (and more fun) for you.

I’d actually got as far as listening to Voice Of The Seven Woods on the t’internets before this gig, and found myself pleased by his eastern-folksy psychedelic rock. The recordings I’ve heard seem to be full-band efforts, though, and his solo “Jus’ me an’ my gee-tar” live thing didn’t initially impress. Plus, of course, there’s always the fact that if you learn a man’s name is Rick Tomlinson and you don’t hear him tell Anthony to peel the spuds there’s always going to be at least a slight degree of disappointment. But, but, but… he won me over. It may have initially seemed to be a dull guitar-picking exercise the likes of which we’ve all listened to politely a squillion billion times before, but it grew. The tension rose as he approached a Can/Krautrock style intensity-through-repetition; I was gritting my teeth and rapturously nodding along, as were many others. Consider me convinced. Wonderful stuff.

Our headliners for the evening, the Flower-Corsano Duo, played what I might politely call ‘a load of purposeless guff created for the edification of those who consider anything even slightly outré to be of immediate and automatic worth’ but probably won’t, ‘cos I’m trying to be less cynical these days. A two-piece, with a drummer playing patterns that might have been considered interesting in isolation married to a guitarist going “widdly-widdly-widdly-widdly-widdly-widdly-widdly”… and so forth. I’ll stop there. He didn’t. A lot of folk seemed pleased at the end of their set, so (in the name of reducing cynicism) I have to acknowledge the fact that whatever effect they intended to create must have got through to many. I was forced to shrug my shoulders and wonder. Bah.

Sunday, then? First on was D. Louis Baker, with different backing to the times I’ve seen him before. I can’t pretend I don’t miss the sound of the ol’ joanna, but his set was lovely nonetheless. He’s a great songwriter, no matter what instruments the songs might be presented with. Were references to ‘The Farm’ in the last song in reference to Lion Farm near Oldbury? I’d like to imagine so.

When Copter began I was disappointed that they didn’t have their oft-heralded robot on stage with them. By the time they’d finished I was ready to herald them the best band in the world ever. A slight exaggeration, perhaps, but not too much of one. This band who have been around forever but I’d never seen before this play awesome soul’n’roll, sort of Rolling Stones meets Rocket From The Crypt meets MC5, but actually good (as opposed to a large number of the bands proclaimed thusly). The singer’s clearly put-on American accent irked a bit (interesting side-note: could this type of music work without a god-bless-the-USA voice? I’ve no idea, but I’d like to see someone try. If any band out there has a Yampy or Brummie testifier up front then please let me know, I’ll definitely come and see you at the very least), but his entertainment value was immense and the energy the band created was undeniable. Their songs seemed amazing, too, and you can never underestimate the appeal of fat geezers in the crowd being moved to execute ‘shake your hands to the sky’ style dancing. This lot are ace, and yet another band I would bid you go and see. Only more so.

Headliners Young James Long musically existed in some sort of psychic middle ground between Clutch and Lynyrd Skynyrd, but that’s not the important thing. The important thing is that their singer talked just like Boomhauer from ‘King Of The Hill’. I was able to make out the odd word, and faintly gathered the idea that he was upset by the lack of heckling. Well, that would be because few could understand what you were saying in order to make a smart-arse response. I say that, though, but a few people had an exchange with him towards the end, near the encore. I personally could make out what the crowd members were saying but remained none the wiser as regards the wisdom of the singer-bloke.

Still, their music was a whole pile of fun. Gritty Southern (and I ain’t talkin’ Dorset) Rock stuff, with drawling put to better use on vocals than it was in between-song proclamations and wild Freebirdin’ guitar swooping all over the place like sauce on a biscuit. Or whatever these people say. Good fun.

So, five outta six ain’t bad (as Meatloaf came close to singing). Hurrah for Capsule.

I’d really been looking forward to the boxing at Dudley Town Hall on Thursday the 15th of February. Having to work till eight in Walsall ensured that we were going to miss at least a bit of the seven fight card, but having arrived in time for the third bout I suppose it could have been worse (we missed Rob Kenney’s points win over Peter Dunn and Lindsey Scragg’s two-round stoppage of Valerie Rangeard, which is a shame since the latter sounds like it was something to see).

Wolverhampton’s Dean Harrison took on Dirty Dan Thorpe in the first fight we saw, and was on the wrong end of far too much holding for my liking. I’ve seen Thorpe vex referees before now, and official Sean Messer put up an initial attempt at stopping him from repeatedly grabbing hold of Deano’s arms before seeming to just give up. Every moment of the fight that wasn’t about doing the tango saw Harrison firmly and aggressively in charge, of course, including a knockdown in the third. I concurred with the 40-35 score in favour of Dean.

I was absolutely gutted for Matty ‘Too Hot’ Hough, who now finds himself having lost two in a row. The visibly much bigger Nicky Taylor stopped him in two in this light-heavyweight (cheers Tom) contest. Matty was easily outboxing him, landing jabs and combos right on Taylor’s jaw at will, but he simply isn’t very heavy-handed at the weight. Taylor was happy to absorb ten for every one he scored in return, and niftily manoeuvred Hough into the corners for a pummelling far too many times. It really is a shame, since Matty’s precise but fluid style is great to watch. I hope he sees this as something to be learned from rather than something to be disenheartened by.

The main event was up next, in which Dudley’s own Darren “The Black Country Bodysnatcher” McDermott took on Leeds’ Darren Rhodes in an eliminator for a shot at the British middleweight title. A gritty affair fought in the trenches from start to finish, with rough clinch work (but always active, in contrast to a couple of the other fights on the night) and Macca getting his elbows as far forward as possible (not that this made any noticeable difference). Big shots were traded constantly, but McDermott landed more. Rhodes looked noticeably affected for the first time as he came out for the fifth, before getting knocked down and then pinned against the ropes for the finishing barrage. This was both an important result and a fantastic display from McDermott – he looked relentless. If all goes well, I hope we’ll be seeing him against Wayne Elcock in a Birmingham vs Black Country superfight somewhere around here at some point soon.

Rob Hunt And His Supporters (believe me, this bloke has his supporters) took on Kristian Laight next, in another affair with more holding than one might like to see. Hunt looked relaxed throughout, and put Laight on his back halfway through. I suspect he might have been able to stop him if the ref had been a bit keener to prevent hanging-on. The official score was 60-54; it seems I’m not alone in having it at 60-53.

Finally, Sam “The Man” Horton of Stourbridge stopped Dave Pearson. As I said to my companion for the evening after the first round, it wasn’t what you’d call classical boxing but it was a lot of fun. Brawling a-plenty took place, with both men swinging for the fences but Horton showing a lot of power and noticeably more accuracy. There were a few points in which it could reasonably have been stopped, with Pearson in a corner and doing nothing to defend himself beyond bending forward and covering his face with his gloves, and the inevitable finally came early in the fourth.

Really fun card, overall.

Tom Podmore’s more detailed account can be read here.

Now I know I’m not exactly on record as being a fan of the Carling Academy venues in Birmingham, but one of the bigger problems with them (as someone else once astutely noted, although sadly I forget precisely whom) is that they manage to simultaneously feel like clinical, souless wipe-clean entities and unsanitary crapholes - the worst of both worlds. The Bar Academy amplifies this sad state of affairs by being an establishment that (if you squint and think laterally) bares a faint, vague relation to an actual pub. It’s nothing like one, of course, but there’s just enough of a hint of the real world in there to remind you of it and make you sad that you’re in this revolting place instead.

It stands to reason, then, that if you go to a gig there on a night when you’re already feeling very tired and even more irritable (such as the 11th of Feb 2007, to pick a random example) you won’t be onto a winning formula. There were a couple of very interesting bands that I wanted to see, of course, but I suppose it was obvious from the very beginning that in my mind they’d be struggling against all the other mitigating circumstances.

Bah.

I fell for the old “everything will be starting early” line, too. Cretinous of me, of course, but I got there bright and early to find the upstairs gig room wasn’t open yet. Normally I know better than this, but there you go. We’re all the sucker sometimes. I went down the road a bit to Scruffy Murphy’s for a drink, since I don’t buy them in Academy venues (as regular readers of this thing will be sick of hearing).

Two bands, anyway, both of which I enjoyed but didn’t particularly make me into a happy bunny. First on were Mothertrucker, they of the instrumental metal and of the drummer who is too good at chess and Scrabble for my liking. This short-ish set was the first time I’ve seen them in nearly five months (very unusual by my standards of the last couple of years), and it was lovely to have them back in my life. I fear I may come close to damning them with faint praise if I say it wasn’t what I’d call one of their absolute best sets, but any time you see them their instrumental rock has the ability to shift oh-so-effectively between ‘atmospheric and tense’ and ‘total coruscating storm of guitar.’ New song ‘Festival Strength’ might take me a few listens, perhaps.

Aereogramme, as I’ve said hereabouts before, are a band I saw a good while back and decided to definitely check out further. And didn’t. They’re pretty different between then and now, though – much, much less noisy and angry, and more about well-crafted melodic (though unconventional) songs. Again, the ‘damning with faint praise’ spectre rears its evil head, but trust me when I say that this change in sound is not a bad one – the songs really are excellent, epic and cinematic (never sure if I like that as an adjective for music or not) while being passionately delivered to boot. Direct reference points for their new sound do not spring immediately to mind, which is a good sign.

They’re not a subtle band in any aspect of anything they do, of course, but nonetheless the heartfelt sense of it all still shines through. Also, some of their songs reminded me of Christmas. I really do not know why.

I left before they finished nonetheless. A tired misanthrope can only stand so much enjoyment.

~ Russ L, not a misanthrope really. He’s got nothin’ but love for everyone, and doesn’t really mean it when he acts to the contrary.

(EDIT: Comments have been closed on this post because it seems to be one that attracts a disproportionate amount of spam that gets through the filter. I don’t know why that may be, but it it’s true).

Saturday the tenth of Feb was the occasion of ‘AMMA: The Beginning’ – an amateur Mixed Martial Arts card in one of the suites in Walsall’s Bescott stadium. I turned up and luckily was still able to pay on the door at that point (I gather later on they were having to turn people away).

A great show in every respect, anyway – well run, nice atmosphere, no dumbasses to be overheard making stupid comments about how easy it all is and how they could batter everyone in the ring without a problem, and most importantly every single fight was fun to watch. There wasn’t a single slow-paced bout amongst them. Your results are here (final decision on the result of the Patrick McBride vs Shaun Charles fight withstanding due to a disputed eye injury), and the overall high quality makes it hard to pick a highlight. It’s cool to see Dan Korbely continue his rise to prominence, though; I’ve mentioned him a couple of times before, and he looks fantastic every time.

I tip my hat to Marc Goddard and all of his associates involved in running this. The next one is supposed to be in June, and on the basis of this I’d wholeheartedly recommend it to any MMA fan who can get there.

~ Russ L, trying to recall the name of that darts commentator who ran the charity auction. “One-hundred-and-eightyyyyyyy” bloke.

Recently I was very annoyed to find that the already-booked CageWarriors Card due to happen at Wolverhampton Civic Hall had been cancelled at the behest of the council. My annoyance was partly due to the tired and discredited arguments trotted out as reasoning for the decision, but also due to the fact that Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) bouts have been held at that venue before. I happen to know this since I was there, quite apart from the fact that they were clearly displayed on the poster advertising the event (which should be an interesting thing to see explained away by anyone involved who claims not to know about them).

This sort of thing, sadly, isn’t rare. MMA is rapidly becoming a big-time affair in America and by extension over here, and naturally those who wish to toot their own horn by means of expressing moral objections to things based on incomplete information are crawling out of the woodwork. Take, for example, a programme recently broadcast on BBC Radio Five by Stephen Nolan (jump forward to about 2hrs 16 mins or thereabouts for the beginning of the MMA section). It was exactly the sort of thing one might expect, really, where the host speaks on the basis of popular preconception without explaining his points but nonetheless expects the defendants to explain theirs, thus making them seem like they’re acting contrary to all notions of common sense. It’s a regular tactic on this type of radio show. I honestly don’t see the point of a ‘debate’ programme if one side of the argument simply insists that any idea or reference they weren’t expecting to hear is invalid by default (“Comparing MMA to other sports? Ludicrous! No, I don’t care if it’s only a statistical comparison of the number of injuries, you can’t do that!”), but that’s a broader question than that which I intend to discuss here. Of those defending MMA, Hywel Teague was magnificent, while Dave O’ Donnell made a lot of good points but really shot himself in the foot by overrunning that poor ‘1973 Cortina’ metaphor and by insulting callers. Jess Liaudin said some good things but (sadly) I don’t think his accent is built for English radio.

This, of course, links into things that have been said recently by a couple of this country’s biggest boxing promoters - Frank and Frank Jr. I am not, and not for a moment, knocking boxing. I like boxing, and if you scan over this blog you’ll see I go to (and enjoy) a fair few boxing cards. I don’t understand the mentality suggesting that MMA and boxing are in some sort of economic struggle where one must bankrupt the other, and I have no idea whatsoever why the two can’t co-exist. The fact remains, though, that if General Franko Warren (and that other one, whatsisname) want to play the safety card then they’re on shaky ground.

MMA is less dangerous than boxing, and there are numerous reasons why. Firstly, it’s less dependent on strikes to the head. Concussions are caused by repeated head trauma. For a fight to finish inside the distance in boxing, you have to knock your opponent out. In MMA, there are other ways to finish – numerous submission holds can be applied. Even taking aside the actual finish, in boxing you either strike to the head (the weapon of choice for probably over 80% of the time) or strike to the body. In MMA, apart from this, you can strike to the legs or attempt to take an opponent down. Once on the ground, there are various grappling and submission-related ways to further your aims that can be used as well as simply striking. The simple fact that there’s so much more that a fighter can do pulls the sport away from a matter of hitting the other guy over and over again in the head.

Of course, people do get hit in the head, and one of the least visually appealing things to see is the “ground and pound,” where one fighter takes up a position on top of the other and strikes at him. What needs to be noted here is that the main criteria for a referee to stop a bout in these instances is that one competitor is not “intelligently defending himself.” It is not a question of a participant needing to have been beaten up to a certain level. Of course there are incidents of bad refereeing and fights going on longer than is necessary, and these are unfortunate. This is not, however, different from any other sport involving any form of physical contact. Generally, an established show will have competent referees (in this country, for example, the likes of Marc Goddard and Grant Waterman are exemplary).

I mentioned submission holds above, which are frequently misunderstood by those without a clear idea of what actually happens. The “competitor having to submit in agony!” idea is silly. When a fighter realises he cannot escape from a hold, he taps to indicate that he gives. There’s no shame in it, and no harm done – it hasn’t yet had chance to cause any sort of injury. Some submission holds take the form of chokes, and the phrase ‘choking someone out’ is thrown around frequently in the radio broadcast linked above (as well as elsewhere). I wish it wasn’t, because it’s a colloquialism that MMA followers will understand but others will be horrified by. There’s no “out” about it. Incidents of someone being rendered unconscious from a choke in an MMA match are rare indeed – the individual on the wrong end of it will tap (as above) or the ref will call a halt to the bout.

That broadcast makes reference to Douglas Dedge, who died as a result of injuries sustained in an MMA match. I would like to make clear that I’m not making light of this incident, but this was an individual who had been refused permission to fight by the state athletic commissions in the US, and flew to the Ukraine of his own accord to fight on a dodgy little show without basic medical provisions in place. I can assure you that such shows do not happen in this country, and that Dedge’s death (however tragic) is not even remotely related to anything you might see at Cage Rage or CageWarriors or any local promotion. Frank Warren saying “There will be a fatality one day” is particularly ironic, meanwhile. MMA has had one death since the beginnings of its present form in 1993. Boxing has about three or four per year.

These are just a few things to consider, anyway. If you’re opposed to combat sports in general then at least your argument is consistent, if not one I’d agree with; if you object MMA specifically from a safety point of view then I honestly don’t think you have a leg to stand on.

~ Russ L, happy to be questioned about this.