The FA Cup And The Fallout

The FA Cup And The Fallout I don't honestly know what the plan was, before Andy Carroll (of all people), came storming on and kicked the life back into LFC, during this year's F.A.Cup Final versus Chelsea, but it certainly didn't involve attacking football. Raheem Stirling, probably LFC's most promising young player, must have watched that reeling red rabble in disbelief that he didn't even make the bench. He had done more to earn a place in the 5 mins he got versus Fulham in mid-week than the entire midfield put together. It clicked, as I was writing this, just why Gerrard has been sulking like a little schoolboy AGAIN, and when I last saw him behave like that for any length of time...it was just before the sacking of Rafa Benitez, and then just before Roy Hodgson bit the Anfield dust. At those times had quite obviously lost faith in the direction the club were going in and he, well, he disappeared just like he did on Saturday. Just when Liverpool, when KD, when WE the supporters, needed him most. This is one of the most worrying signs for me. Yeah, it's just a cup, but it should have been ours, and if Captain Fantastic had got his finger out it would have been. I'm not going to go into details about the game, we all know the result, but our senior players let us down on Saturday, and J W Henry will not have missed that sat up in the stands with his dollybird. If I am not impressed HE certainly won't be. If this should prove to be the last few weeks of KD's reign then so be it, but I don't know whether I'm entirely sad about that. I'd rather he went with some modicum of respect, having won something than out through the back door having not even made it to christmas after another run of poor home results. As much as I respect KD, I'm not sure he got anywhere near the best out of the players he had this year, and the adventure he showed with our youngsters last season has long since evaporated. He has become terribly cynincal, even with the undying, unwavering support of the fans (and Press it has to be said). I honestly don't think he wants to be there anymore, and ghosts of failures past are haunting him. Thing is, I'm now fed up having to listen to his acidic, querrrelous, defensive, cliche-filled dourness. Quite frankly it depresses me, and it's becoming embarrassing because The Press have started, ever-so-carefully, to mock him for it. However much I dislike hearing Kenny moan, I dislike the idea of The Gutter Press mocking him 10 times more. Aside from that, I must say, that I'm surprised at supporters letting our senior players, KD included, SO much off the hook when they let us down. I'm upset at being accused of disloyalty and disrespect when I criticise one of them, "Oh that's so harsh, don't you remember what they've done for the club? You're out of order!". Well to that I say, what about the future of the club? What did Pepe Reina, and StevieG's, performance, and KD's team selection and tactics on Saturday actually DO for the future of LFC? Nostalgia has it's place, but less so in recent times in the modern British game, and almost NEVER in American sport (yes, I'm thinking of FSG). They love their heroes, and "Hall of Famers" are lauded wherever they go, but in the U.S.A. when it comes to winning titles and cups, nobody is spared, HOWEVER LONG THEY HAVE BEEN AT THE CLUB. Look what happened at Boston Red Socks recently when Terry Francona got unceremoniously booted after bringing the Red Sox their first World series since 1918!!! That incredible feat (not to mention breaking the famous "Babe Ruth" hoodoo) and 8 years of loyal service meant nothing in the end. This makes me fearful for KD's continued existence as manager of Liverpool, and I wonder whether we have also seen the last of Carra, Kuyt, Reina, and Gerrard as regular members of the side. As far as next season goes, Doni has shown enough for me, to earn him more starts, Skrtel & Agger have become well-drilled Siamese twins, Sterling and Kelly will come to dominate the right side, and Lucas (hopefully Dempsey) and Hendo will run midfield with a new left-sided attacking mid in too. We've got young Robinson, Ngog, and Morgan waiting in the wings too, to push the old guard even further into the shade.

What Ever Happened to Take It Easy?

I want somebody (somebody who has good knowledge, not just an opinion) to tell me what the hell is wrong with musicians and bands regarding concert photography.

I CONSTANTLY see crappy images of said bands and artists online, from so-called friends and/or people high up in "the system" that I wouldn't give my daughter (who's 6 years old) any praise for taking. Yet when a professional (who completely has their interests at heart) wants to step forward and take great photos they, in response to this simple wish, get shut in a press tent and ordered to put away any cameras they may have. That is BULLSHIT. Bullshit, yes, but completely true and in fact was what actually happened today at Norwegian Wood before The Eagles were due to take the stage! Can you believe it? No, neither can I. What happened to "Take It Easy", or "Peaceful Easy Feeling", or even "Love Will Keep Us Alive"? Nah now it's more like "Desperado", "Lyin' Eyes", "Get Over It" and you'll get your photo when "Hell Freezes Over".

I'll tell you something... from what I saw of Clapton, reports I got of the Ringo Starr gig, what I heard when I saw Joe Cocker and countless other "walking dead" artists that are desperately trying to milk the public for a last few dollars before they retire to the Betty Ford Clinic on a permanent fucking basis, they should all fucking retire, NOW! Then at least if we're not allowed to take pictures, we'll get some musicians that can still carry a fucking tune.

These guys are musicians, not friggin' war heroes or saints! The ones that didn't die in the first round of drug induced sick swallowing during the 70's, quickly became felons or criminals with a rap sheet that would make your average crook look like a bloody choirboy. Their management, having been indirectly responsible for many of those deaths in the 70's, are no better. Some of THEM are so bent they would make Al Capone blush.
So, WHY do concert venues the world over take their SHIT when they are PAYING them to come and play? It should be the venues who decide who is allowed to photograph who and what, surely to god.

If you ask me this image rights issue is really starting to get stupid, and it's about time we had a levelling of the playing field.

Concert Photography - Dead For Years

Right, time for a proper moan.

On Thursday I turned up at Oslo's Norwegian Wood Music Festival with a happy heart, looking forward to a few days of concert photography whilst getting to listen to a couple of legends of the rock world along the way.

Forget the fact that it began to rain just as Eric Clatpoon (sic), as a colleague of mine has begun to refer to him as, took the stage, and didn't stop from there until today. I can handle the rain up to a certain point (usually when the electronics in the camera start flickering, then it's wise to stop. What I CANNOT handle anymore is the constant moving of the goalposts by media-weary fucking prima donna rock stars and their so-called managers. "Up by the mixing desk for Clapton" the stage security boss shouts out in the press tent. This is code for the main attraction has woken up on the wrong side of the fucking bed and doesn't want to be photographed close up. "Oh by the way if you didn't get the email, it's only the two first songs aswell" comes the accompanying statement. This is one less than the standard 3 songs we usually get...Clapton's management are not endearing themselves to any of the photographers in the tent, some of the older more experienced snappers raise their eyes to the ceiling, and chuckle. They're not surprised, they've seen so much of it, they cannot be bothered getting irritated about it, oh and they are Norwegian so NOTHING bothers them (apart from personal criticism). The fact that they've photographed the guy 30 times and don't need to see him again EVER serves to irritate ME though, an Englishman with a mere 3 years experience in the game.

The news trickles through, as we are led like sheep, out to the mixing desk for our two songs of Clapton (who begins by turning his back on us, with no special lighting or effects, playing tracks that would put my neighbour's ADHD ravaged daughter to sleep), that Patti Smith will only be allowing photography from the sides of the stage. Fuck ing hell. Only the day before after getting to Oslo from a drug-filled evening in Amsterdam she had allowed a rank amateur to photograph her from about 2 feet away and from the front....believe me THAT was a mistake.

So my blood is beginning to boil, and all the old feelings from the last time I photographed a big name band come flooding back. And I thought all the way back from my two meesely Clatpoon songs that I'm absolutely FED UP WITH IT.

Back in the press tent my colleague, the same one from before, tells a now legendary story about when he photographed P-Diddy, or was he Puff Daddy then, or maybe Prick Blabby I don't remember. Anyway, they had been given 3 songs (wow, he thought, this guy is usually not so generous) and they could stand wherever (gosh, even better). However, then came the bad news, they could only photograph for the first 30 seconds of each track and for the rest of the track they should crouch with heads down not looking at the stage...what the hell?! OK deal with it, he thought there'll still be good shots to get. The concert starts, they wait for Poo-Hubby, the smoke comes, he takes the stage, he's wearing black, and...the stage spotlights stay off the stage is in complete darkness....this happens not just for the first track but for ALL 3 TRACKS! The bastard. What a totally shitty thing to do. Would that this was a freak occurrence, but no, no....oh no.

It seems that honest-to-god snappers that care about what musicians look like, and do their very best to photograph them in the best light and in a creative way, have been paying a heavy price during the last couple of decades for the actions of scum-of-the-earth paparazzi and journeymen fortune-seeking amateurs determined to record our rock/pop stars doing every little thing right down to how they perform their ablutions. I can only imagine what it must be like to have to live with that sort of shadow hanging over you, and I can also imagine that many famous musicians are fed up to the back teeth with it. However, that is one thing, but when in a safe, controlled concert environment with invited photographers and journo's what is the problem exactly? I often hear the excuse from the management of musicians that they are thinking of the fans who having often waited hours to get in then have to suffer the irritation of a gaggle of photographers ruining their view of the concert. I don't buy that, not when a concert is two hours long and a photographer get's the first 3 songs to do his thing and then out. In my experience the fans are dying to get in the shot, and when one turns round to snap them they go bonkers trying to get in the shot, and seem to love being the centre of attention.

I have a real issue with artists who enjoy in giving the concert photographer as little as damn-well possible with which to work and absolutely no co-operation whatsoever. Is it any wonder then that musicians then see crappy images of themselves in unflattering light, and unflattering poses from terrible angles? Why do they not give the photographer the same freedom to create that THEY have on stage and allow them to show their skill to the fullest? There is such a bitterness, and even hatred towards the photographer nowadays, and it seems to pervade the rest of society as well with people treating hard-working photographers in a disgraceful manner sometimes with no grounds for their actions. This anger is directed all to often in the wrong direction, because the majority of paparazzi live at such a high pace, and hide themselves away preferring to stalk their prey from darkened vans, or jumping out of alleyways to capture their victim unawares, nobody really knows who they are just that they are a plague on decent society. Papers like The Sun, The Star, The Express, The Mail, and other tabloids are somewhat to blame, but the people I blame really are the management of musicians and bands, and the musicians themselves. Urged on by people who think they have to control every single image ever produced in the world, these people think it is also necessary to do so at the only place they actually have complete control over how photographers behave, namely the concert venue.

I'm not even sure how much artists and musicians know about the photography contracts that are struck at each concert site. I am presuming they change from place to place, and even night to night. They have no rhyme nor reason, nor logic and the conditions for photography are ridiculously demanding and restrictive.

In my opinion a standard contract should exist no matter where the concert or who the band or artist. That contract should stipulate that they should allow photography from anywhere in front of the stage for 3 songs and include lighting as it would be for the rest of the show. The power to enforce this should lie with the concert venues and be enforced by law if necessary. A photographer, and particularly a freelance photographer has the right to work like anyone else, the freedom to create like any other creative artist.

I am sick and tired of taking time out of my life to photograph a concert only to find out that some over-the-hill musician woke up in his own piss and shit again and decides he doesn't like photographers anymore. I don't care who you are, all artists that want to sell records and tickets to their over-priced gigs, and sell t-shirts and memorabilia are dependent on selling THEIR IMAGE and a it needs to be a good one at that. Look at bands such as ACDC, KISS, QUEEN, and METALLICA, and how much the visual has turned them into massive global brands, and not just people who make good music.

I want a high-level international debate on this subject, and I want legislation protecting photographers at work, and their right to do their job. I'm fucking sick of having my wings clipped by people with either no appreciation for photography or no understanding of how the music industry used to be or could ever be again because it was them that fucked it up in the first place.

So, when I go to Norwegian Wood today to photograph the metal bands on their own special metal day, I will be doing so not with the happy heart that I travelled there with a couple of days ago, but with the trepidation that some tosser is going to poke his head in the press tent and say "Only one song for Mastadon, and that's from the mixing desk, but only with a compact camera and no flash!"....and do you blame me?!!!!

Dillusional Rockstar (Ghost)-Writes Book

"Life" is what Keith Richards so poetically calls his definitive version of the history of The Strolling Drones. I had the disappointment of reading it over the last week or so.

Mistake me correctly. Massive respect to Keeeeeef for surviving the 60's, 70's and all the shit that he put himself through, oh yeah and making some iconic music. However, a seriously fkin BIG BOOOOOOO to all the shit he put his kids and other close friends through, and then writing a book to tell us about it. Talk about your narcasistic, paranoical, egotistical rock stars. This guy takes the fuuuuckiiiin biscuit.

I wonder if he even realises the damage he has done to his brain over the decades? In his book you get the impression he THINKS he functions like everyone else. He even puts down all his near death experiences to "fate", as if it couldn't have had ANYTHING to do with being always off his face on some illegal substance or other! The more I read the more I utterly disliked the man.

Now I know why people, generally speaking, had much more affection for The Beatles. It had nothing to do with the authorities, or the music, it was because The Stones, quite simply, were a bunch of prize twats, gifted musically, but definitely a tight-knit group of wankers. You see how, recently, they've come to the same conclusion themselves, and look like missing their 50 year celebration concert, because they just can't fucking stand each other, and neither can anyone else.

I began the book really enjoying whizzing along with Keef enjoying the jolly japes, tales of the 60's, and hearing how the band came into being. However, the more I read the more I realised that Keef actually remembered very fucking little of what he'd done, and had to constantly rely on other people to tell his story for him. Interestingly enough, he didn't include any quotes from people who were of the opinion that he was an arsehole, nor indeed ANY golden nuggets from those best placed to tell i.e. Mick, Charlie, Bill & Ronny. It is entirely possible that he has no inkling of the contempt with which many people hold him, but he must have some idea that it*s his money that keeps people hanging around.

Just my opinion, of course, but If You Ask Me he's a sad, grumpy, old bastard just a bit richer, and just a bit nastier, oh yeah and with a worse memory than an Alzheimer victim. It's been a while since a book has managed to both disappoint me and piss me off to such an extent....

The Growing Shadow Of The Champions League

So, I'm reading the sport on the BBC website, and I notice a small link to the Europa Cup semi-final first leg results...meaningless. I mean who on earth gives a hoot?

Sadly, the old UEFA Cup, once only slightly less clebrated than the European Cup, has been reduced to a sideshow of waning importance over the last decade. It seems that UEFA er determined to itterate just how much of a step down it is in class by not giving it anywhere near the amount of exposure the Champions League receives. Indeed the financial rewards, even for winning the Europa League (approx. £8 million), pale into insignificance in comparison to the massive sums the Champions League winners carry away (this year it could be in the region of £100 million).

I felt a sudden pang of sadness and nostalgia, as I thought of all the furore that surrounded the match between Real Madrid and Barcelona on Wednesday night, and the considered lack of interest, from the same media outlets that covered the game, in the outcome of the Europa League games last night. In fact, I couldn't even tell you the names of the teams that played in those games, such has their enforced anonymity become. "That's not how it used to be...", I thought.

English clubs have done well in the past, Liverpool having won it 3 times, Tottenham twice, and Ipswich once, with 5 other clubs coming in as runners-up most recently the wonderfully bulldogged Fulham. We loved this competition once.

I lament the cup competitions of yesteryear, the atmosphere of desperation that a only true knock-out competition can bring. Thus should the UEFA Cup have remained, a true knock-out competition to rival the spectacle of the CL (Champions League) with it's own special gift to the beautiful game. A regular stream of out and out, gladiatorial contests with the winner taking the spoils, and moving on and up. No pre-qualifying, no group competition, no resting of players, no boring games. This is what the CL was in its emerging form, but will never be again, but that is another debate. It was how the UEFA Cup was even until 2003, when the format was destroyed by a greedy UEFA pushed by even greedier "nearly top" clubs desperate to cash in on extra european games.

Football, is destroying itself from the inside. Driven by on by over-hyped games surrounded by a global betting frenzy created by ever more powerful online betting syndicates. The guardians of the game lead by UEFA and FIFA are constantly letting us all down with more and more self-serving decisions influenced by money and power. The spirit of the game is dying, the fair-play aspect of sport lost in the ever-present, inexplicable anger of young players. These players live their lives with few rules, but nevertheless feel caged like animals by a society that has raised them to the status of heroes, without having given them the emotional tools to deal with the fame and power that comes their way.

I digress, we are talking of the Europa League, not of the sicknesses presently ravaging the beautiful game.

Anyway, grieve with me my friends for the loss of one of the truly great football competitions that has seemingly been banished into the wastelands of Five Live Thursday night football oblivion, I fear never to return....and the shadow of the Champions League grows ever larger.

An Open Letter to 5 Live Sport

I'd like to be able to say that the tripe that I heard from Ian McGary and Steve Claridge last night regarding the Rooney swearing saga, was an uncommon occurrence, but that would be total tosh.

How is it acceptable to give Steve Claridge air time when he comes out with a diatribe such as we were forced to endure last night regarding how parents bring up their children, and that Wayne Rooney is NOT a role model, and that we should just ignore his behaviour or simply turn off if we think it's a bit much for our kids, and that it's OUR fault as parents if we let our kids sit and watch him swear down the camera. What about the players responsibility to the public at large? What about the fact that he IS a role model in households where parents are not bothered about, or not able to control what their kids hear on TV? I'm fed up listening to Claridge using 5 live to spout his ill-considered opinions.

I'm listening to the discussion on-going now on 5 live in the run up to the Chelsea v Man U, and again there are journalists defending the actions of Wayne Rooney, and other similar acts from other players. Why should we continue to listen to the rubbish that comes out of top players mouths, and why should the FA continue to ignore the stream of abuse referees continue to endure every game?

Richard Scudamore is right, it has to STOP, and punishment should be meeted out accordingly until it disappears.

Don't Blame The Ballboy (or when is a try not a try)

Well goodness me.

I couldn't believe what I was watching. You know when you see things happening almost like it's in slow motion? Events unfold in front of you and you can see what's coming, you can see it's ALL wrong, and you can do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

Such a situation arose during the Wales v Ireland Six Nations rugby match at The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, yesterday. The ball Wales used to take the quick throw-in which resulted in the winning score was the wrong one contravening Law 19.2 which states that the ball used MUST be the same one that went into touch. The ref could have checked with the video, but he chose to trust his assistant who astoundingly made a catastrophic decision confirming that the ball was indeed the same as the one that went into touch. Cue debacle, and heated debates all OVER the stadium, including the Irish team who berated the referee for not seeing what many of them had seen.

Indeed, and not untypical of such close-fought matches, it proved to be THE decisive moment and Wales won a match they did not deserve to. Having said that the Irish quite simply threw it away in the dying seconds of the game Paddy Wallace selfishly opted to go for glory and with his failed move to the inside so died any hope of Ireland stealing the game.

Ireland wasted tons of possession, gave away too many penalties, and failed to run in 5th and 6th phase movements due to lack of intelligence and poor decision-making. So, all in all, with Wales' gamesmanship giving them the edge, things just about ended as they should have.

The Irish were obviously angry, and frustrated after the game, but as in so many other recent matches they KNEW they could have won it standing on their heads, and as such regret was perhaps the over-riding emotion.

A word about the referee before I go. Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa) did everything right concerning the disputed try, but had the laws regarding the use of TMO allowed him to go upstairs to check if the ball used was that which went into touch, I would not be writing this...I sense a law change coming on.