THE MUSICAL RAPIST (a poem by MALLAZ)

You came here expecting stardom

Thinking you’re the man

It was you that caused the problems

That ruined my fucking band

You’re always trying to steal the credit

For someone else’s graft

We’ve heard the song you stole it from

Not everybody’s daft

.

You claimed that you would Be Someone

But it’s not your song

What about Breakfast at Tiffany’s?

Did I say something wrong?

You’ve got nothing that’s original

You’re a fucking plagiarist

Trying to pass it off as your work

Deep Blue Something will be pissed

 .

You said I can’t play an instrument

So I know fuck all

You’ve been doing this for years

You’ve seen and done it all

Now you’re trying to take the plaudits

For Downtown Lester Brown

A project born of my hard work

Don’t be a fucking clown

 .

Everyone knows where it started

Everything was me

You’ve exposed yourself as a fraud

For everyone to see

You’ll never cut it as a front man

You haven’t got the grit

And you’ll never make a songwriter

All your lyrics are fucking shit

.

2011 © Malcolm White

Dedicated to Richard Gilroy, who very recently tried to steal my credit for starting Downtown Lester Brown.

WHY I DECIDED TO LEAVE DOWNTOWN LESTER BROWN

On Monday 5^th December I parted company with Downtown Lester Brown, the band that I started earlier this year.  The main reason behind my quitting the band, both as a band member and their manager, is that I feel the band’s arrogance outweighs their ambition, although this mainly applies to Ben and Richard.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was the text message that I received on the Saturday following the gig I had organised on Friday 2^nd December at The Telegraph.

The Telegraph - Friday 2nd December 2011

The Telegraph is a small venue and for my gig it was only about a quarter full, only thirty-five or so people attended the gig.  Obviously I felt disappointed at the turn out.  The crowd Downtown Lester Brown attracts has seemingly been getting smaller the more gigs they do.  I feel that the more gigs they do the more followers they should acquire.  That would denote some level of success.  But to be pulling smaller and smaller crowds each gig, is stepping towards failure.  So to receive a text message from Richard the following day claiming to feel “like a god after that”, I was highly dissatisfied.  It shows a terrible lack of ambition as well as a ridiculous amount of arrogance for someone who had just played a gig in front of a handful of people.

Unfortunately this was not the first act of unwarranted arrogance from Richard, let alone the band.  Richard cancelled a gig that I had arranged, to go to another gig.  The gig I arranged was set to be Downtown Lester Brown’s debut EP release.  At that point Richard claimed to be too big to play at venues of that stature and Ben also stated that that gig was unimportant as it was a free gig and not one where we would earn any money.  When a band has just started out, every gig should be important but to cancel a pre-arranged gig to go see another gig shows a lack of dedication and ambition.  As well as the arrogance shown by Richard thinking he’s too big to play small gigs of the stature that I was arranging, as it’s “not Wembley”, and Ben’s attitude of it not being important as we weren’t getting paid, there is the wasting of the time and the effort I put in arranging gigs in the first place.  Ben is also the self-proclaimed “voice of a generation”, although he’s not saying a great deal with tracks such as Each To Their Own, which despite being free was only downloaded twenty times.

Despite that arrogance though, they totally lack ambition.  When I put the band forward for the Battle of the Bands, in Redcar, Ben didn’t want to do it and claimed it was pointless because his last band, the generic and unoriginal Casino, always sucked when they did them.  I had to convince him that it was a good idea and the winning isn’t important.  It’s an opportunity to play your music in front of people who might not otherwise ever get the chance to hear it.

Another massive issue for me was the style of the new material.  When I set this whole thing up I had a specification that I wanted to work towards.  I wanted to create a band with a fun attitude that would play psychedelic, up-beat music that would get people dancing and in the mood to go out clubbing because, after all, if you’re playing Friday and Saturday night gigs then your demographic is the pre-clubbing market.  Unfortunately neither Ben nor Richard has enough attitude or edge and, due to Richard having too much influence over Ben, we’ve ended up with songs with whiney vocals and songs crying over girls.  Too many of their new songs are songs that you can’t dance to.  The psychedelic guitars, such as the style in Empty Heed or High Definition Jazz Kitten have been dropped and I feel the music is heading in a more mainstream direction.  They’re heading back down the same route as their old band Casino.  I also have major concerns that all of the lyrics Richard writes are wet, too tame and basically shit.

After getting back from a short break in Amsterdam near the end of November, I was basically told by Ben that my input in the sound of the band is no longer wanted as I can’t play an instrument so know fuck all.  At this point I told them I would work with them for one more recording and the promotion of that release, and after that I would leave the band and concentrate solely on managing the band.  I am aiming to set up my own independent record label in the new year and was hoping to commission a Downtown Lester Brown album through my label.

As part of my role in managing the band, I sent the tracks from our EP away online for some independent reviews.  The reviews basically supported the things that I had been saying from the start.  Tracks such as Empty Heed, High Definition Jazz Kitten and Man On The Run were reasonably well received.  Those were three songs that Ben wrote before the band took off and before Richard had gotten involved.  Each To Their Own was unanimously panned for being generic wannabe-Beatles stuff, but that was an unrecorded Casino track that we used when we first started and has now been dropped.  Dufresne’s Escape bombed.  I had said that I thought the vocals were weak and let the track down because it’s just Richard whining again.  All the reviews seemed to agree with me and one even went as far as to say the vocals “ruined” the song.  However, Richard also sung on Fun & Games and there were several reviews raving about how good he was on that track.  On Fun & Games Richard sings with a bit of grit.  When we recorded it I was blown away.  Unfortunately that’s the only track he’s done like that and at the last practice I attended before leaving the band, he was whining on a new song and opened with the lyrics, “I was feeling down..” and went on to do the crying, “Why? Why? Why?” throughout the track. It was typical Richard Gilroy music; it wasn’t anything new or original.

I also have concerns over plagiarism in some of the new songs, and the legal ramifications that could come from that.  I wouldn’t want anything to do with the recording of Be Someone, another of Richard’s tracks, as that’s basically Breakfast at Tiffany’s and also the exact same guitars are in some crap pop song that I heard on whichever mainstream shite radio station Wor Colin listens to.  I also expressed concerns over several other songs.  There are only two tracks that I would want recorded, Mallaz Beats The Devil and Eesh’s Jam.

So after Richard’s “god” text, I have decided to quit Downtown Lester Brown to pursue other ventures.  I’ve got my next Telegraph gig on Friday 3^rd February 2012 and hope that the next couple are successful enough to start looking for bigger venues.  I’m going to be starting a new band after New Year and I am also going to be setting up my own independent record label in 2012.  I’ve also got the art to keep me occupied and several other ventures that I’m looking into.

I have processed Downtown Lester Brown’s debut EP, ‘Love & Other Diseases’, and that will be available to download from Boxing Day 2011.  As for the physical copies of the EP, I am not sure if or when they are going to become available.  That’s now down to the band to give me the green light to get them manufactured.  Also, as far as I’m aware, they don’t have anything at all book for before the Battle of the Bands, in Redcar, on 10^th February 2012.  There was some doubt whether they will actually attend that though.  Ben was telling me that the band had all basically agreed that it would be pointless as they wouldn’t win, I shit you not!

I wish Downtown Lester Brown the best of luck for the future.

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO!

I listen to music all of the time and I listen to all sorts of music, new and old, from across almost every genre.  My favourite artists include Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays, David Byrne of the Talking Heads, The Rolling Stones, Ian Brown of The Stone Roses and Swede Mason, who I believe should be knighted!

I also listen to a lot of new music, particularly from the North-East because it’s local to me.  So what I’m gonna do is give you some recommendations of what to listen to, based on what I’m listening to these days.  I’ll do my best to cater for different tastes, just because I’m nice like that.

What I’ll do is recommend a handful of acts you may or may not have yet heard of and prattle on a little bit about them.  Then I’ll give you a ten track playlist that will include some of my favourite tracks as well as new stuff worth listening to and then I’ll stick the links to the acts that I have recommended at the bottom.

If you click on any of the highlighted track titles in this blog you will be forwarded to somewhere you can listen to that track online.  Same with highlighted names, they’ll take you somewhere online relative to whatever you’re clicking on.  It’s not rocket science.

The Mojags

To start off with, I highly recommend checking out The Mojags, a young Rock band from North Shields area.

The Mojags performed at The Telegraph for me on December 2^nd.  They have bags of talent and, being so young, have limitless potential.  At my gig they did a brilliant cover of ‘Hey Joe’ by Jimi Hendrix.  This is a band that’s going places so keep an eye out for them.

The Mojags at The Telegraph, 2nd December 2011

In 2010 they won the Teenage Kicks Battle of the Bands.  They are also competing in a Battle of the Bands in Redcar next year.  They are in Heat 2 on Friday 20^th January 2012.  The Battle of the Bands is held at Coatham Bowl in Redcar and entrance fee for any of the heats is £10.  The event is in aid of charity.  Get down for that and show some support for a great band and help raise some money for charity.

The Mojags can be found on Facebook, YouTube and Soundcloud.  I would recommend listening to ‘Ojay‘ if you’re only gonna listen to one; it’s my favourite of the tracks currently available online.

Also check out this video on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mhs_Dkdu2w .  It’s The Mojags video of ‘Sychophant‘, shot as their prize for winning the Teenage Kicks competition.

The Stroll

Another band on the way up is Durham based Alternative Indie Rock band The Stroll, who are a new outfit only started in August.  They’ve only got one track online at the minute ‘Different Tune, Different Mood‘ and you can listen to that on Soundcloud.  It’s a catchy track like, and displays a small portion of the talent that these lads possess.

I saw them perform live at LYH the other week when I played there with Downtown Lester Brown.  Being a brand new band they are still doing quite a few covers but their original stuff is quality.  I particularly liked ‘Searching’, which is apparently about looking for magic mushrooms.  Their choice of covers was a cool blend of things ranging from The Beatles to The Stone Roses.

The Stroll

It’s not just the music that makes The Stroll a great band in the making.  The Stroll have a great vibe and energy and create an electric atmosphere at gigs.  They’re a fun band and their crowd interaction is impressive.  Their singer Josh Pringle has good crack and his patter on the microphone in between tracks is entertaining.  This band has it all and I’m tipping The Stroll to become massive!  They epitomise everything I was after when I set up Downtown Lester Brown.  They are a fun, energetic band with a great vibe and attitude as well as plenty of talent and drive.

The Stroll are also performing in the Battle of the Bands, in Heat 1, on Friday 13th January 2012.

I also have them booked for Friday 3^rd February 2012 at The Telegraph, behind Central Station in Newcastle.  That’ll be £3 in and the wisest investment you’ll ever make.

Look up The Stroll on Facebook and Soundcloud and remember, you heard it heard first!

Baron Von Alias & MistaBreeze

If Hip Hop’s your bag, here’s another act with a sense of fun.  Hip Hop duo Baron Von Alias and MistaBreeze are an audio-visual spectacle to behold, so I would recommend checking out their videos on YouTube to get the full effect.  The Baron is an emcee time-lord from 1830 and sports a huge tashe, top hat and sunglasses, so you know he’s got a sense of humour, however, he’s also an excellent wordsmith and a born entertainer.

Baron Von Alias

I was put onto Baron Von Alias and MistaBreeze by old school mate Nathan Wood, who has his own radio show.  He recommended I listen to ‘Get Wild, Gan Mental’, which is growing on me but I didn’t take kindly to it at first.  I told Nathan on twitter that I wasn’t impressed and The Baron piped up.  After a bit crack on, The Baron said I should give some of his other material a whirl.  I did, and I was impressed.  I blame Nathan for his poor choice in track selection whilst making recommendations.

There are plenty of quality tracks by The Baron and MistaBreeze so check out their YouTube channel.  You’ll enjoy their official videos and their live stuff.  I’m particularly keen on ‘White Noise’.  The Baron and MistaBreeze do make fukkin awesome videos!  I’d also recommend checking out the video of Baron Von Alias performing ‘Phoney’ on Amazing Beats, because I find it really fukkin impressive.

I saw Baron Von Alias and Mistabreeze performing live at The Head of Steam in Newcastle the other week and they are an act well worth catching.  For £5 you can see them live at The Riverside this Thursday (15^th December) http://www.facebook.com/events/109965722442103/ .

—-

So that’s three acts for you to check out, now here’s a couple other things that you wanna check out.

The Local Music Show

The Local Music Show presented by Nathan Wood, on Spark Sunderland.

That’s 107FM local radio or can be listened to live online at sparksunderland.com every Sunday at 4pm til 7pm.

Nathan plays music from local bands from across all different kinds of music so give that a listen and you’re bound to hear something that tickles your fancy.  Mix that with a little bit of low brow humour and smut and you’ve got yourself one canny Sunday afternoon’s listening.

Battle of the Bands

As mentioned earlier, there’s a Battle of the Bands going on in Redcar in early 2012.  The competition is being held at Coatham Bowl, in Redcar, every Friday from 13^th January 2012, with the final being held on Friday 9^th March 2012.  The entry fee to these events is £10.

The Mojags and The Stroll are both competing in the Battle of the Bands so get down for their heats and show some support.

Heat 1 – The Stroll – Friday 13th January

Heat 2 – The Mojags – Friday 20th January

Battle of the Bands 2012

Now Here’s My Recommended Ten Track Playlist

Here’s a ten track playlist I recommend listening to.  Click on the song title and you’ll be directed either to a YouTube video or somewhere else online that you can hear the track for free.  Enjoy.

Happy Mondays – Yahoo

Mick Jagger – A Memo from Turner

The Mojags – Ojay (live)

The Stone Roses – Good Times

The Stroll – Different Tune, Different Mood

Swede Mason – Bill Wyman’s Metal Detector

Baron Von Alias & Mistabreeze – Its OK

Public Enemy – What You Need Is Jesus

Gorillaz ft Shaun Ryder – Dare

Flowered Up – Weekender

Hopefully you’ve enjoyed what you’ve listened to and if you’ve got any recommendations let me know because I’m always willing to listen to new things.  Also please share this blog so that other people can hear the acts that I have mentioned and to get a little bit more publicity for the charity Battle of the Bands competition.

Thank you.

Links

The Mojags

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Mojags/162283410463944

Soundcloud – http://soundcloud.com/the-mojags

YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/user/TheMojags

The Stroll

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Stroll/152650318150277

Soundcloud – http://soundcloud.com/the-stroll

Baron Von Alias and Mistabreeze

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Baron-Von-Alias/28616761468

YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/iamsteesh

Bandcamp – http://baronvonalias.bandcamp.com/

Soundcloud – http://soundcloud.com/burnblockbeats

Spark Sunderland 107FM

http://sparksunderland.com/

Battle of the Bands 2012

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/events/233350486723088/

THE DOWNTOWN LESTER BROWN CALENDAR

Dufresne's Escape

Downtown Lester Brown are set to close 2011 with a steady gigging schedule on our hands.  This Saturday we’ll be making our first appearance at The Cluny, a very popular venue and yet another Too Far North gig.  Then we begin December by gigging on two consecutive nights.  Firstly, on the 1^st, at LYH and at The Telegraph on the 2^nd.  I’m actually running The Telegraph one, and I’ll be following that one up with another one in February.  If those two gigs go well, I hope to make it a regular thing.  Then it’s our final gig of the year.  On Saturday 10^th December, we’ll be playing at The Dog and Parrot for Too Far North again.

Also, you can download the Empty Heed single for just $0.50 now.  Click this link and get it downloaded – http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/downtownlesterbrown2.

So just to recap; DOWNTOWN LESTER BROWN GIGS

Sat 19^th November – Too Far North, The Cluny.  £5 door

Thu 1^st December – LYH.  £3 door or £2 each for groups (5+ people)

Fri 2nd December – DLB/Artisam/ The Mojags, The Telegraph.  £3 door

Sat 10^th December – Too Far North, The Dog and Parrot.  £4 door

A WEEKEND WASTED IS NEVER A WASTED WEEKEND!

Another weekend draws to a close and it’s time to recap and attempt to piece together what really happened.

DOWNTOWN LESTER BROWN

On Friday, DOWNTOWN LESTER BROWN played another Too Far North gig at The Dog and Parrot.  According to Photo Dave, it was our best performance to date.  Of the four bands that played, we brought the largest crowd and as usual blew everyone away.  Needless to say, I was paggered when I was on stage shaking my noisy things.  We opened with Mallaz Beats The Devil, played a couple of new tracks and finished with Man On The Run.  It was good to see Smack-Knackers at the gig, and as an added bonus he brought V For Vendetta, who’s back from New Zealand.  Also, good old reliable Sam Nelson kept up his record of attending everyone of our gigs so far… and we didn’t even play his favourite track (at the request of Ben and Richard, giving the fans what they want!), although I did give him a shout out as a bit of recognition because I know how to keep people happy.

High Definition Jazz Kitten

I obviously made an impression too.  After we finished our set, some kid who had come to see one of the other bands came up and asked for his photo taken with me.  He reckoned he’d witnessed history in the making and compared it to when The Sex Pistols played in front of 42 people.  It was a pretty fukkin good performance!

In other DLB related business, I finally managed to upload the two videos from our Riverside gig from October 11th.  Fukkin Youtube’s shite though!  It took me four fukkin attempts to upload Dufresne’s Escape!  It takes six fukkin hours to upload a bastard video, only to say the cunt didn’t work!  Sort it out you gang of twats!  I’m gonna have to go through the same clart this week with the videos from Friday’s gig as well.

The Love & Other Diseases EP is just about complete and hopefully we’ll be releasing that real soon.  Also, the Empty Heed single is now available to download for just 50c on CD Baby.  The next gig we’ve got lined up is my gig at The Telegraph.  I’ve also got The Mojags already confirmed for that one, give them a listen.  They really impressed us when we played with them at The Riverside.

FOOTBALL STUFF

I’ll start with the betting challenge with Wor Shitus…

For the God knows how many consecutive-th week in a row, we both had a total fukkin wash-out.  That leaves him on -£239.89 and me on -£274.96.  If you want a useful tip, here’s one… don’t fukkin listen to either of us!

Obviously, with having a season ticket for The Toon, I was at the Everton game on Saturday and I’ve gotta tell you, these early kick-offs take the piss!  I was still smashed from Friday’s gig when I got to the match.  It’s a good job the first half was entertaining as fuck or I’d have struggled to stay awake!  Ryan Taylor’s goal was absolutely fukkin awesome!  Goal of the Month already, nothing can match that.  Especially when you consider he’s a Liverpool fan too.  I also wish to say Tim Krul will become the best goalkeeper in the world!  I’ve been saying that for a few years now and grow more and more confident with each game I see him play.  However, I really don’t rate Danny Guthrie, the useless cunt, or Danny Simpson, the weakest link in our defense.  He’s scared to make a fukkin tackle and backs off far too much, allowing wingers to get into the box.  He was guilty of that in the first half, in the build up to Louis Saha hitting the post.  Get fukkin Santon in before Simpson really drops a bollock!  We were shite in the second half and just allowed them to come at us.  We got lucky that Everton have been shite this season or we could have been punished for that.  Three points is still three points though and the mighty Magpies march on!

Ryan Taylor... Over them all...

Watched Match Of The Day tonight too.  Ali Al Habsi was unbelievable for Wigan today, it’s a shame they got fucked off Wolves.  He needs to find a better team to play for, because he really did not deserve to concede three goals after that performance.  Goal of the Month was a disappointment too.  It should blatantly have been Gutierrez’s goal against Wolves, he skinned three fukkin players before he slotted it past the oncoming goalkeeper and last defender!  That presenter’s an irritating fukkin prick an all!

DOWNTOWN LESTER BROWN GIG TONIGHT

It’s seemed like ages for me, so it must have seemed like a lifetime to you.  But DOWNTOWN LESTER BROWN http://www.facebook.com/downtownlesterbrownmusic are performing live again tonight.

We’re playing another Too Far North gig at The Dog and Parrot in Newcastle. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=217553381644173

Also on the menu are Death To Indie, The Villeins and Rooftop Showdown.

You can check out a video from our last visit there on YouTube.

FUN & GAMES http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5-z45AkwP8

The Dog and Parrot, September 2011

 

 

A WEEKEND IN WORDS

After a long, hard and loud weekend involving funerals, football, gigs and politics, it’s time to set a few things straight and get a couple things off my chest.

We’ll start with the antics of Oliver Holt from The Daily Mirror.  My previous blog raised an issue with Holt’s article in Wednesday’s Daily Mirror.  I was also having a debate of sorts with Holt on Twitter, although he seemed to stop responding to me when he realised that I was making a valid point.  Holt mainly seems to be responding to the arguments put forward only by bigots and simpletons and has resorted to insulting these plums in an attempt to justify his self-indulgent, attention-seeking crusade.

Holt’s article – http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/columnists/holt/2011/09/07/it-s-a-scandal-we-only-have-two-black-managers-in-2012-115875-23401746/#.TmdPeHoG_zI.twitter

If it weren’t for having such a difficult weekend, I would have written this blog earlier because this clown’s really twisting my melon with the drivel he’s been spouting on Twitter.  After his article on Rooney’s Rule on Wednesday, the following day Holt tweeted “Piece by me in Mirror tomorrow too, starting with conversation I had with former top flight manager a couple of years ago…. We were watching a Premier League team’s training session and started talking about Thierry Henry, who was playing for Arsenal then… There are only two problems with Thierry Henry: he’s French and he’s black.”

Well my thoughts on this are as follows; firstly, I think this is absolute hoop!  If a racist football manager had actually said this to him, then why wait until now to mention it?  It seems all too convenient that he only brings this to light now when it supports his argument wanting to introduce positive discrimination into the process of recruiting managers for football league clubs.  As I am currently boycotting The Daily Mirror, as it ranks in the same league as The Sun and I refuse to part with my money for cheap toilet roll, I was unable to verify whether or not he chose to name and shame the offending manager.  However, I did ask him for the manager’s name or an online link to his article on Twitter and was not given a response.  So, I am assuming that he didn’t name the manager and that this is nothing but a cock and bull story fabricated to support his case.  If, however, this story is true then why does Holt refuse to name the manager?  And for what reasons has he never before mentioned this?

Holt is claiming that English football is institutionally racist and that managers from ethnic minorities are denied the opportunity to progress into football management after their playing careers are over.  Holt’s article on Wednesday was based on a conversation with ex-Arsenal footballer Paul Davis, who, as Holt even stated himself “hasn’t even bothered to put himself forward for management jobs.”

On Twitter, I asked Holt to provide me with answers to several questions.  I want to know, first and foremost, the name of the offending manager.  Secondly some examples of footballers from ethnic minorities who have actually applied for managerial positions and been denied on the basis of their race.  And finally, which clubs it was that refused to give managers opportunities based on the colour of the skin.  So far Holt has refused to dignify me with a response and I believe the reason for this is simply because his head’s stuck up his arse and everything that comes out of his worthless mouth is a lie!

Holt has created an issue where there was not an issue before.  Most people, when thinking about football managers, do not even consider the colour of their skin.  I, for one, was totally unaware that only two of the ninety-two managers in English league football are black.  A football manager’s ethnic origin has never been a concern to me.  I judge a football manager solely on the basis of his ability to manage a football team.  One example that I would like to highlight of a black football manager being given ample opportunity to prove himself as a manager is Paul Ince.  When Ince joined Blackburn Rovers as manager special dispensation had to be made allowing him to do the job.  Despite being a manager for two years, and working at two professional clubs, Macclesfield Town and Milton Keynes Dons, Ince had not obtained the necessary qualification.  Also Ruud Gullit began his managerial career at Chelsea in the top tier of the English leagues before going on to become Newcastle United manager.  Chris Hughton is another black football manager who was once in charge of Newcastle.  So, several examples can be given.  My friend, Joe Short, made an interesting statement on Facebook regarding this issue.  Joe said, “These tossers who write these arguments always seem to skip over one obvious point: there were fewer black players in days gone by, and given that most managers have played professional football at some stage in their lives (and this is the most common route into the managerial system), then clearly it follows that there aren’t likely to be many black managers kicking around right now.  Give it 10-20 years when the current crop of players have retired from playing the game and I’m damn sure we’ll see higher proportion of black managers plying their trade.”

An article by Martin Samuel worth reading – http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2036302/Martin-Samuel-Being-black-Cole-Co-held-back.html

I put it to you that Oliver Holt is a shameful antagonist and a liar!  His article was, in no way, an attempt to highlight an issue, but in fact designed to create one.  Introducing positive discrimination would only serve to create a divide between managers of different races who believe that other managers are being given opportunities they have not strived as hard for simply because their skin colour fits the right categories and ticks the right boxes to keep the PC brigade happy.  My argument is still, that nobody should be looking at another person and seeing a skin colour, they should simply see another human being and if that is not the case then the goal should be to change that person’s perception, not introduce laws and rules to force people to do things.  In my opinion Ollie Holt should be using his position to report NEWS and not stir trouble and he should quite frankly shut the fuck up!

Now that I’ve said my piece on that prick, I’d like to get into the weekend’s football.  The Toon are now fourth in the league after another clean sheet and have still taken more points off the Mackems than they have actually picked up all season, happy daze, Sunderland’s a massive club!  As an added bonus, I even racked up a few points in my fantasy football teams with another Coloccini and Steven Taylor clean sheet, goals from Agbonlahor and John Terry, and hat-tricks from both Aguero and Rooney.  NICE!

My next topic is music.  On Friday, my band Downtown Lester Brown performed with Manalishi at The Telegraph in Newcastle.  We were all sporting ‘tashes as a tribute to Joey Barton’s loyal service for the Toon over the past few years.  I’d like to wish Joey good luck at Queens Park Rangers.

DLB - Tashes for The Telegraph

The gig went well, from what I’m told.  I was so drunk that I only have a few fleeting memories of the night.  Apparently, The Telegraph was unable to handle Downtown Lester Brown’s funk and we tripped the power whilst playing our first track, Each To Their Own.  I’d like to thank everyone who attended, Wor Colin (for helping with transport), Manalishi, The Telegraph, Chay at North-East Rehearsals-Recording (for equipment hire) and, of course, the one and only Downtown Lester Brown for, what I’m told, was a good night.

Also on the subject of music, Downtown Lester Brown had a very productive day yesterday.  We released our single Empty Heed on mp3 download, which you can find on Amazon, Soundclick, CD Baby and several other sites.  We also spent last night down at North-East Rehearsals-Recording with Chay and recorded another three tracks for our debut EP ‘Love & Other Diseases’.  All went very well and thanks again to Chay.

Empty Heed by Downtown Lester Brown – http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/downtownlesterbrown2

Empty Heed

Finally, I would like to pay my respects to my friend Dave Richmond, whose funeral I attended on Friday afternoon, and would encourage you to check out his charity page and please make a donation to help raise some money for Bristol Drugs Project, as this was a cause he supported wholeheartedly.

Dave’s Justgiving.com charity page – http://www.justgiving.com/Evad/?fb_ref=fundraising-page-top&fb_source=profile_multiline