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natromanxoff · 5 years ago

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Queen live at Colston Hall in Bristol, UK - November 18, 1975

The photos could be from either night.

This article from the November 29 issue of Sounds chronicles the second night in Bristol.

Queen triumphant

QUEEN ARE the type of group that make a man want to abandon rock writing. They pose questions and never provide answers. They exist in their own space-time continuum, visible and audible but keeping their secrets to themselves.

On the surface they couldn't be a nicer bunch of people, but they carry English reticence to an epitome. It isn't, as Geoff Barton said two weeks ago, that they're boring, it's just that they're reserved. Or in writer parlance, they don't automatically provide colourful copy. All my instincts as a writer tell me that there is a great story in that band, but after two nights with them I'm hardly any the wiser.

Skin tight

That their insularity has a lot to do with them being one of the most amazing heavy-metal and/or rock bands in Britain - with all the signs that they'll end up monsters on the order of Zep - is fairly obvious, but just how much bearing it has on the matter is hard to say. The enigmas they might pose mightn't even have answers.

Is there any logical reason why they present an image and persona straight out of the Beatles school of interlocking chemistry?

John is reserved, almost nonchalant on stage, as if it's all in a small, personal joke. When asked how he saw himself within the framework of the band he replied, with a small smile, "I'm the bassist".

Roger is his opposite, the cheeky sidekick in a Clint Eastwood movie, and attracting a lot of cheesecake attention in America and Japan.

Freddie is an original - one of the most dynamic singers to tread the boards in quite a few years. His attraction is obvious.

Brian is perhaps the biggest enigma of all. What is this seemingly frail, gaunt astronomer doing on that stage, striding purposefully and blasting diamond-hard rock? They're all equally strong personalities - like the Beatles there's no one major focal point. Ask four fans who their dream Queen is and you'll get four different answers.

Only Queen are driven to better each previous album - which at this stage of the game is obviously producing some excellent results - and 'A Night At The Opera' turned into a saga - culminating in 36-hour mixing sessions in an effort to allow at least a few days for rehearsal. In the end they managed three and a half days at Elstree with four hours off to videotape the promotional film for 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.

Their first few dates had not been without errors and the quartet were still not feeling totally comfortable their second night in Bristol, fourth night of the tour. You'd never know it, though.

Like all other aspects of the group, the stage is sophisticated. A black scrim provides a backdrop bounded by a proscenium of lights both front and rear. At each side the p.a. rises like a mutant marriage of Mammon and Robby the Robot. Amp power is readily evident but the most extraordinary is Brian May's subtle set up: nine Vox boxes stepping back in rows of three. The only packing crate visible is holding a tray of drinks, and you may rest assured that no roadie will rush, crawl or lurk across the stage while the show is in progress unless it's to rescue Freddie's mike from the clawing crowd.

As the auditorium darkens the sound of an orchestra tuning up is heard over the p.a. The conductor taps his baton on the music stand and a slightly effete voice welcomes the audience to A Night At The Opera. The Gilbert & Sullivan portion of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' follows, a brief glimpse of Freddie is allowed, and then in a blast of flares and white smoke the blitzkrieg begins.

Roger is barely visible behind his kit, just his eyes and tousled locks. John is wearing a white suit and playing the-man-who-must-stand-still-or-it-will-all-blow-away. Brian is slightly medieval in his green and white Zandra Rhodes top, while Freddie is...

There have been sex objects and sex bombs, superstar potency and the arrogant presentation of this all-important area, but never has a man's weaponry been so flagrantly showcased. Fred could jump up on the drum stand and shake his cute arse, leap about and perform all manner of amazing acrobatics, but there it was, this rope in repose, barely leashed tumescence, the Queen's sceptre. Oh to be that hot costume, writhing across the mighty Fred!

Phallic

Freddie is not pretty in the conventional sense of the word; like Mick Jagger of '64, he is his own convention. Also like the Jagger of the time, his stage persona and action is unlike anything else. Although it borrows - like most of the group's plagiarisms - slightly from Zeppelin, in tandem with Freddie's supreme assurance and belief in himself - he always refers to himself as a star - it explodes into something that is a constant delight to watch.

He reacts to his audience almost like an over-emotional actress - Gloria Swanson, say, or perhaps Holly Woodlawn playing Bette Davis. At the climax of the second night in Bristol he paused at the top of the drum stand, looked back over the crowd and with complete, heartfelt emotion placed his delicate fingers to lips and blew a kiss. Any person who can consume themselves so completely in such a clichéd showbiz contrivance deserves to be called a star.

Freddie's real talent, though, is with his mike stand. No Rod Stewart mike stand callisthenics here, just a shortee stick that doubles as a cock, machine gun, ambiguous phallic symbol, and for a fleeting moment an imaginary guitar. He has a neat trick of standing quite still in particularly frantic moments and holding the stand vertically from his crotch up, draw a fragile finger along its length, ever closer to the taunting eyes that survey his audience.

Their show contains lots of bombs and smoke, lots of lights, lots of noise. They fulfil the function of supremely good heavy metal - i.e. you don't get a second to think about what's going on. When they do let up for a few minutes, it's only so you can focus in on the bright blue electric charge crackling between your ears.

Bulldozer

Dominating the sound is Roger's drumming, a bulldozer echo that bounces like an elastic membrane, meshing with your solar plexus so that your body pulses in synch with the thunder. Tuned into that, everything else is just supremely nice icing.

For three days rehearsal, after eight months off the road Bristol was extremely impressive. In speculative mood I quizzed people on how long they thought it would take to headline Madison Square Garden. I was thought a radical at a year and a half. John Reid smilingly assured me it would take a year.

That Queen should end up with John Reid is an entirely logical proceeding. Everything about Queen demands that the world eventually kowtows at their feet in complete acquiescence - so big that bodyguards have to accompany them at every step. Well, no - they found that an annoyance in Japan, but, you know, huge.

Such status demands a Reid or a Peter Grant, and whatever the causes for their leaving Jack Nelson and Trident, an elegant group like Queen is going to look for a man with class. Reid found the idea of managing a group interesting, and having to deal with four strong personalities a challenge. He only concerns himself with their business and ensuring that the year ahead is mapped out. In January they begin a jaunt through the Orient, Australia and America, by which time it's March and they begin preparations for the next album.

Reid's prediction of a year was proven highly credible the next evening in Cardiff. The band had still not paused from the rush up to the tour and spent most of the day relaxing and sleeping - no doubt a factor in their near recumbent profile. Also, unlike most groups, they were keeping their dissatisfaction with the show to themselves.

They stopped off at Harlech TV on the way to see a cassette of the video for 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. The general consensus was quite good for four hours, with much laughter during the operetta. Brian finds film of the group educational - the first time he saw himself was a Mike Mansfield opus for 'Keep Yourself Alive' - "It was 'All right fellows, give it everything you've got but don't move off that spot.' It was terrible." You don't like Mansfield, eh? "Oh, I hate him - we all do... I was horrified when I saw it - I couldn't believe we looked that bad. I looked very static - seeing myself has taught me a lot about stage movement. Some of the things I do are planned for effect, but it's mostly just feeling the audience and communicating that back to them."

Arriving at the motel - several miles out of town - Freddie immediately fell asleep, John held court of a sort, joined later by Brian, while Roger went jogging, a daily event when touring. Tuning in to rock via Bill Haley and Tommy Steele, he became a drummer because he was better at it than guitar. All through school he was in bands; he only went to dental school out of "middle class conditioning, and it was a good way to stay in London without having to work". His mother thought it a bit strange when he opted for a career as a rock star, but she doesn't worry too much now.

The concert starts in much the same manner as the previous night, but there are signs that tonight is work, with posing an afterthought. The endings to most of their songs are magnificent and majestic, especially 'Flick Of The Wrist' and the rapid harmonies of 'Bad Boy Leroy Brown'.

Maniacal

The audience, seeing their faces in town for the first time, are vociferous in their appreciation. Guys know all the words to every song, yelling enthusiastically at every effect and solo. The band picks up, Freddie receiving the crowd beneficently, telling them they’re beautiful.

As the show builds it is obvious that things are gelling more. The previous night Brian had seemed totally out of place, not moving too much, taking solos with the weirdest half blank half possessed stare, talking to himself; cocking ear towards guitar. He was the proverbial stranger in a strange land, one step removed from the plane inhabited by you and me.

Tonight he moves fluidly, the gonzo lead guitarist of a gonzo band. His expressions are just as maniacal, but it only makes him look more demonic. His solo in 'Brighton Rock', an exposition in riffing and echo, is a treat because of his physical response to both music and audience, complete with ham acting. Freddie gets into the same game on 'The Prophet's Song', where he conducts an acapella madrigal with himself. It's a pretty commanding moment.

It’s soon after this that Madison Square seems reasonable. About a minute into 'Stone Cold Crazy' it becomes very obvious that Queen have suddenly Plugged In. Found the metal music machine and Connected. Freddie's movements explode in perfect unison with the music, the lights and surroundings go crazy, and the audience goes berserk.

Freddie asks for requests and receives a roar out of which one can vaguely make 'Liar'. Fred walks along the stage, nodding, agreeing he will do this one and that one while the kids roar on. "I'll tell you what - we'll do them all!"

'Doing Alright' opens slow and portentously. Queen's variation of light and shade is one of the major factors in their popularity, but even so the quiet sections frequently find the audience's mind wandering. One kid starts getting a joint together, totally forgetting it when everything blasts off again; guys talk among themselves, only to instantly leap to their feet, fists flying to the beat.

'Doing Alright' changes into a cha-cha beat, Freddie snapping his fingers, the coolest hipster in town, and then instantly drops into faster-than-light drive - the whole row next to me leaps to their feet as a man, rocking back and forth as Brian roars into a blinding solo.

Two songs later, in 'Seven Seas of Rye', the kids break - very fast - and in five seconds half the audience is a seething mass in front of the stage, climbing on each other in pyramids, sudden openings appearing as a splintering seat sends a few bodies to the floor.

The rest of the show is equally intense, especially for a couple of minutes during 'Liar; where Fred and Brian merge into a tight little triangle with Roger while John stands in front of the bass drum, staring out with his small smile.

Freddie has treated his encores - 'Big Spender' and 'Jailhouse Rock' - differently on successive nights, once appearing in a kimono and in Bristol with rather rude tight white shorts, giving the song title new emphasis. In Cardiff, though, he doesn't bother to change at all. Later it transpired that Brian had twisted his ankle during 'Liar'. While he’s attended to, kids out front pick up chair slivers to keep as mementos.

On the bus back to the hotel Brian sits quietly at the back, chatting with two girls. John sits at the front, as always. Freddie stares out of the window, lost in his own world. Roger bounces around, starts a pillow fight with Brian - which stops as soon as Brian scores a direct hit to the face - then discovers an eight track of 'Sheer Heart Attack', punching it through the channels as he conducts the group. The two hours towards which they have channelled the day's energies are spent.

Ambition

That Queen have become a top attraction through a fair degree of plagiarism is amusing. Stealing is nothing new in rock (or any art for that matter) and mostly Queen use the borrowed material better than the originals. That they would be big I don't think anybody really doubted. All four have immense desire to be successful, and that kind of ambition will keep them slogging until they achieve it.

But there are popular heavy metal bands and there are popular h-m bands. From watching Queen's audience it is apparent that Queen speak for them in a way that bands such as the Who and the Stones and the Beatles spoke (and continue to speak) to their audience. Uriah Heep may be great at what they do, but five years after their demise who'll remember them? Creedence Clearwater Revival demonstrate the same thing - who remembers them? And yet five years ago they were the largest band in the world.

Queen will probably always be remembered, because as their tour is beginning to demonstrate, they have the ability to actualise and encompass the outer limits of their sense of self-importance. Queen and their music, presentation, production - everything about them says that they are more important than any other band you've every heard, and who has there been, so far, who has objected? Certainly not the 150,000 people (plus 20,000 a day) who bought 'Bohemian Rhapsody' in the first 20 days of its release. Certainly not me.

See you at Madison Square Garden.

[text © J. Ingham 2007; photos © Kate Simon]

~ You can see the photos which was mentioned on the article, from the link on the title. ~

#queen #queen band #roger taylor #freddie mercury #brian may #john deacon #queen concerts

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ivedonestranger · 5 years ago

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Chapters: 24/?

Fandom: Teen Titans (Animated Series), Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons), Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Jinx/Raven (DCU) Characters: Raven (DCU), Cyborg (Character), Robin (DCU), Beast Boy, Batman, Green Lantern, Diana (Wonder Woman), Superman (DCU), Blue Beetle (DCU), Jinx (DCU), Koriand'r (DCU), Phil Coulson, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), See-More, Dorcas "Godiva" Leigh (DCU), Jason Woodrue, Bulletman, Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Zatanna Zatara, Komand'r (DCU), Stephen Strange, Karen Beecher, Kyd Wykkyd, Gizmo (DCU) Additional Tags: Multiple Crossovers, World Domination, Epic, Dark, Canon Temporary Character Death, Minor Character Death Series: Part 1 of The Midnight Saga Summary:

Though there were some in the know when it came to multiple realities, very few understood how expansive it was. Not only were their realities that changed fundamental parts of the known quantities, but there were also realities out there that were entirely different. Worse, there was something between those realities, and it wanted to get in.

All it needed was someone to open the door. She was his way in.

--------------------------------------

It was time.

The feeling flooded through Raven like a dawning truth, and it caused her eyes to pop open. She felt the thrum of excitement, the primordial terror of failure, and the fact everything was about to change permanently.

Raven and Jinx's naked bodies were intertwined among the blankets and pillows in her room of the Fortress and the pinkette mode in protest when Raven pushed her off. The woman walked over to the windows and throwing them open to allow the light to flood in. The rain from last night left everything glistening in the morning light as the sun came up.

It was time.

"Wake up, Jinx," Raven ordered as she pulled on her dark dress and fastened the control gem around her throat.

"Just five more minutes, Mistress," Jinx muttered rolling on her stomach and burying her head in the pillows. The Midnight Empress scooped up the leather belt and gave a good swat across the sleepy girl's exposed posterior which caused her to yelp and fall out of bed.

Fastening the belt around her waist, Raven leaned down to the surprised and sleepy girl.

"It's time."

The knowledge that the world was on a knife's edge was not lost on Robin when Batman signaled for the pullback of his team from Boulder. They all knew the alignment of the realities would give their lost friend a clear shot at opening the portal to Sovereign's prison.

The Quinn jet that had picked them up screeched through the sky towards the rendezvous, only miles away from Boulder, Colorado at the foot of Apache Peak. They did not want to sit on top of the portal point in fear of the rupture, destroying their chance to stop the evil creature. Robin leaned forward with hands together while Cyborg and Gizmo were going over some of their gadgets.

"You get the briefing, Robin?" Clint asked in the jumpsuit beside him. Robin nodded without looking at the bow and arrow wielding Avenger.

"We're air support on the southern flank. We're to keep Midnight's troops busy so Superman and Shazam can close in on Sovereign."

"And the Midnight Empress."

"Yes."

"You gonna be okay, kid?"

"Do I have a choice?"

Had they ever had a choice. Weren't he and his friends just curled up in Titan's tower only over a year ago eating pizza and watching movies? Now, he was part of an army that was trying their best to murder a woman that he once cared so much about.

'Not murder. Stop.'

This was war, and this was something that needed to be done to preserve the rest of reality.

"T minus 13 hours before optimal alignment," Iron Man's voice came through the speakers. His suit of armor flying in formation beside them. "Then, the party begins."

The Armies of Midnight rose like a dark cloud from the Fortress. The heroes and metas that allied with her taking the lead of Millinium's minions. The giant cyber bug himself was not far, towering over her thin frame like an ever-present watchdog with the power to level streets. Raven strode out among the troops, humans who had joined her cause, Metas who saw the truth of Sovereign and the cybernetic bugs that followed Sovereign's oldest ally.

Even clans of the Kaz-Kal, space insectoids from another galaxy had joined her cause, probably sensing the impending doom if they continued to resist. Blackfire and Jinx stood in the front of their legions, their heavy black outfit mirroring her own in their own unique cut. Jinx was showing some skin while Blackfire's resembled more battle armor of Tamaran.

"Lead, Archon," Millennium's voice thrummed in low pressure. "We shall follow you."

Wrapping herself in the golden light of her power, Raven rocketed into the sky, and the swarms followed. The first fight of the final battle about to begin.

The wind whipped and cut at her, but Raven pushed through, her mind focused on the goal, to land in the center of the point and ripped a hole in the fabric of space. The thoughts of Robin's laugh, Starfire's ill aligned words, and Cyborg's battle cry flitted across her mind, but she shunted it aside. There was a greater good to be fighting for, a greater good that required sacrifice.

'Can you do it?'

Sovereign's voice came through to her mind as clear as a bell. The alignment was almost perfect, and his presence could be felt.

"Can I do what?"

'Can you kill them if you face them?'

"I'll do what I have to do, my Sovereign," she answered, pushing her friend's faces out of her mind. "Whatever it takes."

Conveniently, the mathematics pointed to the entrance of the portal being in a field at the foot of Shoshoni Peak, and it had allowed them to dig in and hide among the sparse wood and rock faces. SHIELD and ARGUS agents with all sorts of weaponry, metas that Robin had never seen, and weapons of all sorts had been set up. Robin strode out of the Quinn Jet, his armor activating and the mask extending and wrapping his face. His titanium gap still billowed, but he resembled more a soldier than the hero of Jump Suit. The suit's optics kicked in overlaying the scene with augmented reality.

Cyborg strode up beside him and pointed to a cluster of trees.

"That's gonna be the best place to intercept any of the air attacks. We're gonna need to keep as many as we can off of Iron Man as possible."

Traveling a few more clicks, His new Titans found their spots and quickly hunched down to hide. Gizmo dropped a few scatter probes that masked their signature from any sensors. Starfire huddled in close to him. She had donned the full Tamaranian armor and face mask. Koriand' r had insisted as this was a fight for the existence of her own people too. Her eyes flitted to his mask a few times as they silently waited. Bumblee had shrunk down to a smaller size and up in the tree.

It was now time to wait.

The waiting was the hard part. The holo chronometer counted off the seconds, and the sun slowly rose into the sky, bathing them in its light. It had begun to get hot to the point that his suit's environmental systems kicked in to try and regulate. Birds were singing, and animals flitted to and fro as if nothing unusual was happening.

A few deer had taken up to eat in the center of the large field oblivious that they stood in the center of an intergalactic portal point.

"This waiting is killing me," Gizmo growled, his binocular lenses zoomed out giving him a strange insect-like look.

"Trust me; we're going to want to wait as long as we can. Once it starts, it's going to be all in." Cyborg responded. "There's no booyah in what we're about to do."

"Robin?"

Dick Grayson turned to his friend Starfire, who had come up close and lowered her voice. "I understand how difficult this is for you, but if you face Raven and find that you cannot do it. I will kill her for you. I am willing to take that burden."

"Star..." Robin started as a wave of emotion, choked him. She had spoken all their fear. Each had pretended not to hear her words, but he knew that they had.

"I'll make it quick. A snap of the neck and she won't feel a thing. It's the least I can do for someone who has meant so much to us."

"I'm not giving up on her," Robin said firmly.

"Dude," Cyborg said as quietly. "She's gone. If we don't kill her first, she'll take us out. You saw her eyes. Our Raven is gone. It's the Midnight Empress we're about to face."

Starfire returned to her spot to keep a lookout, and for the next hour, the image of Raven's lifeless body and the sound of her neck snapping played over and over in his mind's eye. It couldn't come to that. It couldn't.

"Heads up!" the speaker in Boy wonder's ear kicked in. "We've got incoming and a lot of it."

Robin looked up at Bumblebee as she zipped down and returned to size, her entire body covered with yellow and black armor, weapons at the ready.

"What is it?"

"They're sending in the grunts. Clouds of cyber minions and Kaz-Kal. They're going to try to overwhelm and hold so they can bring the bitch in."

"Alpha-2 this is central," Batman's voice came over, grim and somber. "It's a go. We see Midnight Empress in the center of the cloud. Pull those flankers away and give us our opening."

"Understood," Robin responded standing and turning to his team. "Let's do this."

Charging out, all of them shot into the sky. The jet pack lifted Robin off the ground while Cyborg's jet boots, had him going alongside Gizmo. Almost immediately the sky became alive with multi-colored energy bolts emanating from hiding spots cutting into the swarm and dropping them in droves. It seemed though that for every one killed, three appeared in its place. Bombs and bolts cut through them, and The New Teen Titans all banked north drawing a good swarm of them away. Below Robin could make out the descending mass being met by the colorful metas of the Avengers.

"Damn, all hell just broke loose!" Falcon called as he shot overhead, machine guns blasting away.

'No, hell is coming.'

In the center, Raven watched from her floating perch in the sky. The swarms had begun to descend, and as she had expected, Iris had set up, and they were mowing through her troops efficiently. She had expected as much. With their positions shown, the sorceress turned to Jinx and Blackfire and gave them a nod. With glee, the descended leading their armies with them.

The Midnight Empress watched closely as the battle raged, watching for her opening to cut through and to land. She could feel the urgency, the draw of the alignment growing closer. Raven could taste the anticipation coming off of her imprisoned comrade.

"Now!"

Without hesitation, she shot down towards the spot, and her guard followed. They twisted and turned as they descended, and she could feel the enemy focusing their firepower on her. Heroes flew by in blurs as the Kaz-Kal, allies, and cyber minions put themselves between them and her. She alighted on the ground and fell to her knees. She drew held her arms out, and the world became silent.

What was next was sheer pain as the power exploded out of her and into a forming vortex. An energy beam sliced through her shoulder spurting blood, but she could not care. Sovereign had come.

Forcing her eyes open, Raven saw the black portal that warped reality as if being pulled inside and from the distant stars. A form appeared and stepping out, floating in the air was a young man with brown hair, simple features but brilliant glowing gold eyes. He glided forward with a grin of pure ecstasy on his face.

"I. Am. Free!" he said with a laugh that seemed to reverberate through her.

"Sovereign!" Raven choked out a warning as she saw Superman come blasting from the woods, every ounce of energy thrown into the Kryptonian's influence. She knew that the blow he was about to deliver could shattered meteors, but when it connected with Jason's face, he barely flinched. Superman halted in front of him with a mixture of surprise and realization of how powerful the entity was.

"Hello," Jason said, a look of glee on his face. He backhanded Superman which sent him soaring away and impacting the side of a mountain. Shazam, in his red outfit, tried to hit also but found himself caught by the arm and hurled into the ground below, leaving a crater on impact.

Raven floated up to him, and he turned his eyes on her. His smile softened, and the girl's heart thrilled with excitement. It was horribly stupid of her, but she was glad he was handsome. Her Jason wasn't striking or adonis, but his eyes seemed ancient but kind. He ran his hand down her cheek.

"You've saved me. Thank you."

"Anything."

"Now, hold them off while I begin my process of bringing peace."

He floated upwards with arms outstretched and instantly, she felt a strange tug on her body and mind as if the world itself was beginning to shift and phase.

"SOVEREIGN!"

Raven turned to see Superman, bloodied and bruised charging in again with Wonder Woman right on his heels. Jason gritted his teeth and turned to face the attacker but caught the glint from the corner of his eye just like she did.

Batman stood there with Coulson with a strange bazooka, and the realization hit.

"No!" Sovereign's scream of anger reverberated through her.

Instinctively she flew up to him to shield him, but he dropped and grabbed hold of her. Instantly, she felt white-hot as if his hand was somehow cooking her body completely. She screamed in pain as he held her fast with no way to escape. The feeling broke abruptly when a bolt of red and blue energy struck him and dropped him to the ground. Raven could feel the power being ripped from him. Iris had done it. They had found a weapon to hurt him.

Dropping as fast, she caught the entity who had fallen unconscious, and as Superman darted towards her to grab her, she threw open a portal, fell through and snapped in shut cutting of the shout of rage from the Kryptonian. The next thing she knew, she hit the marble floor of the Fortress hard, the sorceress head slamming with a sickening crunch and though being ripped from her.

#teen titans #teen titans raven #teen titans jinx #raven #jinx #robin #fanfiction #ao3 #ao3fic #ivedonestranger fiction

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radio-nano · 6 years ago

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A Riot At The Opera: Queen Triumphant by Jonh Ingham with my favorites parts in bold.

Skin tight

Is there any logical reason why they present an image and persona straight out of the Beatles school of interlocking chemistry?

Roger is his opposite, the cheeky sidekick in a Clint Eastwood movie, and attracting a lot of cheesecake attention in America and Japan.

Freddie is an original - one of the most dynamic singers to tread the boards in quite a few years. His attraction is obvious.

Queen have been busy lads these past few months. Having disassociated themselves from their former management and joined with John Reid, the fourth album was seen to. Reid decided that a tight schedule wouldn't cause them undue harm, and figured on two months to record before embarking on this current tour. Only Queen are driven to better each previous album - which at this stage of the game is obviously producing some excellent results - and A Night At The Opera turned into a saga - culminating in 36-hour mixing sessions in an effort to allow at least a few days for rehearsal. In the end they managed three and a half days at Elstree with four hours off to videotape the promotional film for 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.

Their first few dates had not been without errors and the quartet were still not feeling totally comfortable their second night in Bristol, fourth night of the tour. You'd never know it, though.

As the auditorium darkens the sound of an orchestra tuning up is heard over the p.a. The conductor taps his baton on the music stand and a slightly effete voice welcomes the audience to "A Night At The Opera". The Gilbert & Sullivan portion of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' follows, a brief glimpse of Freddie is allowed, and then in a blast of flares and white smoke the blitzkrieg begins.

Around his ankles his satin white pants flare like wings - fleet footed Hermes. Everything north of the knee is skin tight - tighter than skin tight - with a zip-up front open to AA rating. But further south, definitely in X territory, lurks a bulge not unlike the Sunday Telegraph . There have been sex objects and sex bombs, superstar potency and the arrogant presentation of this all-important area, but never has a man's weaponry been so flagrantly showcased. Fred could jump up on the drum stand and SHAKE HIS CUTE ARSE, leap about and perform all manner of amazing acrobatics, but there it was, this rope in repose, barely leashed tumescence, the Queen's sceptre. Oh to be that hot costume, writhing across the mighty Fred!

Phallic

Freddie is not pretty in the conventional sense of the word; like Mick Jagger of '64, he is his own convention. Also like the Jagger of that time, his stage persona and action is unlike anything else. Although it borrows - like most of the group's plagiarisms - slightly from Zeppelin, in tandem with Freddie's supreme assurance and belief in himself - he always refers to himself as a star - it explodes into something that is a constant delight to watch.

Bulldozer

That Queen should end up with John Reid is an entirely logical proceeding. Everything about Queen demands that the world eventually kow-tows at their feet in complete acquiescence - so big that bodyguards have to accompany them at every step. Well, no - they found that an annoyance in Japan, but, you know, huge.

Maniacal

Tonight he moves fluidly, the gonzo lead guitarist of a gonzo band. His expressions are just as maniacal, but it only makes him look more demonic. His solo in 'Brighton Rock', an exposition in riffing and echo, is a treat because of his physical response to both music and audience, complete with ham acting. Freddie gets into the same game on 'The Prophet's Song', where he conducts an a capella madrigal with himself. It's a pretty commanding moment.

On the bus back to the hotel Brian sits quietly at the back, chatting with two girls. John sits at the front, as always. Freddie stares out of the window, lost in his own world. Roger bounces around, starts a pillow fight with Brian - which stops as soon as Brian scores a direct hit to the face - then discovers an eight track of Sheer Heart Attack, punching it through the channels as he conducts the group. The two hours towards which they have channelled the day's energies are spent.

Ambition

But there are popular heavy metal bands and there are popular HM bands. From watching Queen's audience it is apparent that Queen speak for them in a way that bands such as the Who and the Stones and the Beatles spoke (and continue to speak) to their audience. Uriah Heep may be great at what they do, but five years after their demise who'll remember them? Creedence Clearwater Revival demonstrate the same thing - who remembers them? And yet five years ago they were the largest band in the world.

Queen will probably always be remembered, because as their tour is beginning to demonstrate, they have the ability to actualise and encompass the outer limits of their sense of self-importance.

Queen and their music, presentation, production - everything about them says that they are more important than any other band you've every heard, and who has there been, so far, who has objected? Certainly not the 150,000 people (plus 20,000 a day) who bought 'Bohemian Rhapsody' in the first 20 days of its release. Certainly not me.

See you at Madison Square Garden.

And Freddie in an interview a few later after this article:

He has been talking almost an hour and from the rapid increase in body twitches it's obvious he now wants to leave. He gets up to go but then thinks of something else.

A few weeks before I had written a story that adored in detail the tightness of Freddie's costume and the obvious bulge it contained. The Editor had not missed the opportunity to use an obvious headline.

"You know, your 'Cock Opera' piece has done me more harm than good. It was a wonderful piece, but My God, I've got to live up to it now. The insinuations of hosepipes and things, it's gotten really amazing. My God! A day hasn't passed when someone hasn't made a comment on it."

I was reminded of critic Lillian Roxon interviewing Tom Jones and wanting to poke her pencil there to see if it was all Tom. I guess only Fred's tailor knows for sure.

#queen #queen band #Freddie Mercury #roger taylor #brian may #john deacon #deaky #disco deaky #bohemian rhapsody

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foodgreys · 2 years ago

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Chastened but not yet broken the Norse warlords have settled across Britain. Mario And Luigi Superstar Saga Rom Hack Download BEST Bruno Mars Doo-wops And Hooligans Zip. So '9th legendary lord leaked.' would be fine but 'The 9th legendary lord is XXXXX' would not be. My preferred solution would be to allow discussion of leaks but not allow spoilers in thread titles. It’s being developed by a completely independent team lead by Jack Lusted and is separate from the next major game’s development. However, our first Total War Saga will be released before the next major historical game.

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In light of this development, we return to look at some of the greatest challenges the franchise has offered players. Total War Saga Thrones Of Britannia freeload The year is 878 AD, the embattled English king Alfred the Great has mounted a heroic defence at the battle of Edington, and blunted the Viking invasion. It is odd that it's basically everywhere but can't be discussed here. So no, Total War Saga games are not that, they are spin-offs of previous games, like Fall of the Samurai. Lurasidone has an average rating of 6.4 out of 10 from a total of 837 ratings on. That's thanks to how it increases the maximum and minimum height of the camera during combat, allowing for a broader zoom and better framing of the game's large fights.

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No matter the time period being covered, every game in the series has its collection of factions that are a challenge to master. RELATED: Total War: Easiest Factions To Play In The Grand Campaign Fans of the series will undoubtedly know that this is easier said than done for certain factions. The Total War franchise encapsulates this difficulty by putting players in the shoes of great generals and statesmen and tasking them with leading their chosen country to greatness. It is known, this film has a total of 7 songs, which even fans are tired of hearing.Grand strategy games, much like life itself, can be difficult. Then what is the reason behind the One Piece Red film getting a low rating and negative reviews?Īs information from Anime Senpai, Twitter user said that fOne Piece Film: Red had too much music which made fans a bit disappointed. Mythos is a fresh layer of paint for Troy, but also feels like the first step towards an exciting evolution for the Total War series. Rather uniquely for real-time strategy games, flanking manoeuvers and formations factor heavily into gameplay. They combine turn-based strategy and resource management with real-time tactical control of battles. While in Japan, One Piece film Red broke the record for the second highest revenue on the weekend, where the first was Demon Slayer Mugen Train. Total War is a series of strategy games developed by British developer Creative Assembly for personal computers. Meanwhile, the film broke the record for the highest grossing in the One Piece franchise on its opening weekend. The small rating given by One Piece fans, of course, is inversely proportional to the success of the film, which has only been airing for two days and has already broken records.Ĭonsidering in Japan, the One Piece Red film has made around US $ 16 million. It was recorded that almost 25 percent of fans gave a one-star rating after watching the One Piece Red film. After One Piece Film Red was released in Japan on August 6, 2022, fans gave bad ratings and reviews.

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buttdawg · 5 years ago

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New South: The Saga Continues 11/2/2019 (2/2)

New South Championship: Chris Crunk vs. Cabana Man Dan (c)

Geez, the title belt is huge. I like it, but it does seem like a little much. One thing I like is how they’re not presumptuous enough to call this the “New South World Championship” or anything like that. The belt has like four states engraved on the centerpiece, so it’s not even necessarily trying to claim the entire Southern U.S. But they still treat it like a big deal, because it represents the promotion, and the land where it operates.

I like that. They’re humble where they need to be humble, and proud where they ought to be proud. Kind of the opposite of WWE, which crows about how their Saudi Arabia shows are trending on Twitter, but gets really self conscious about using the word “wrestle” in a sentence.

Anyway, before the match can start, Dump Sanders, the outgoing General Manager, interrupts and announces that he’s adding a third man to the match, Tyler Matrix, who was a former champion who lost the title without ever getting pinned for it. So I guess this is Dump’s way to stack the odds against Crunk, as Dan’s bum shoulder made this match look like a shoo-in for Crunk. And I’m fairly sure Crunk’s responsible for the shoulder injury.

Crunk not only rejects the pre-match handshake, but he attacks Dan when the faces try to shake hands with each other. He’s a good heel. He teases a dive to the outside, then stops and yells to the crowd that there’s no way he’d do that. Pretty clever. Then he puts Matrix in one of the ringside seats and powerbombs Dan into Matrix. Is Crunk that big a deal in this promotion, or were they just not sure how to book a triple threat match? I’m like six or seven minutes into this match, and so far it’s allllllll Crunk. It’s a good match, I’m just surprised he would be dominating two faces at once like this. Maybe Dump should have made this a four-way.

Dan tries to use his flip flop, which I think is a pretty big deal, since he’s billed as the “Master of the Flip Flop Chop,” but Crunk catches it and throws it into the crowd. The crowd throws it back, though, which I guess is the advantage of an intimate venue like this. Dan throws it out into the crowd again (?). Well okay.

Tyler Matrix finally gets into gear and starts hitting Crunk with some kicks. Tyler kinda looks like a young Dave Mustane. Then he and Dan go at it, which normally would make sense, except Crunk’s been eating their lunch all match long, so maybe they should be wearing him down while they have the chance.

Nice spot where Tyler hits a swanton bomb on Dan, and then Crunk zips into the ring, tosses him out, and tries to steal the pin, but Dan kicks out at two. Okay, now it’s starting to feel like a more even three-way match. Though really, you’d think Dan would be less of a factor. He’s got a bad shoulder and he keeps limping in the ring, so I would expect this to be mostly Crunk vs. Tyler with Dan struggling to stay in it.

But ironically Dan steals the win when Matrix reverses a move on Crunk, and then Dan schoolboys him to score the pin. Well, good for him. I was really expecting some sort of clusterfuck WCW-in-1997 finish to this show, but a clean win is always fine by me.

Okay, wait, there’s an encore? Well, all right.

Dy-Lan & The Kenway vs. Lion Heart (Leo and Johnny Lerman)

Some guy appears on the Titantron and addresses the crowd, but I can’t tell what the hell he’s saying. He says something about a “female surprise”, and then some lady comes out to “Baby Got Back” and twerks in the ring. Her name’s “Cat Fontaine”, apparently.

The announcer calls this match the “pre-show extravaganza.” Why are they showing it at the end, then? I guess they edited the order of the matches, but why not just leave them in the order they took place?

Not much to say about this one, except Lerman and Dy-Lan do some mat-based stuff for a bit, which is kind of weird for an indy show in 2019. Or maybe it’s not, how would I know? Hot tag to Leo gets a nice pop. This isn’t bad or anything, but I don’t know what to say about it. Leo hooks Kenway in a rear naked choke and taps him out to win. I guess Lion Heart is kind of a submission/old-school grappler combo? I could get into that kind of team, but I think I need to see them against someone else to really see what they’re about.

And that’s it. Never did figure out what BB-8 and that “GM1″ card was all about. Oh well.

#new south #the saga continues

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mr-ilango · 7 years ago

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Top Records for 2017

youtube

Side A:

Ghetto J Scienide feat. Kev Brown

Tristate x Oh No "G.T.D." feat. Xiomara

Roc Marciano - Marksmen feat. Ka

Conway The Machine - Spurs ft. B.E.N.N.Y (Produced by Daringer)

BIG SPROXX x ADAM BOMB - LEMME TELL 'EM

Asun Eastwood x Daniel Son - Summer's Fuckin Over (Prod. By Futurewave)

Tha God Fahim - Jesse James Ft Mach Hommy (Prod by A Villa )

DJ Premier - Our Streets feat. A$AP Ferg

MEYHEM LAUREN & DJ MUGGS - Aquatic Violence ft. Mr. Muthafuckin Exquire and Sean Price

Saga & Thelonious Martin - Out There

KRS-One - Show Respect

Heavy Metal Kings - Séance Gone Wrong (Ft. Goretex)

Asun Eastwood - Hollywood Briggs

Recognize Ali X Daniel Son X Lil Eto X Vic Spencer - Shiny Ski Masks (Prod Karnate)

Hus Kingpin - Serotonin High Ft. Milano Constantine & DJ Q Bert

WestSide Gunn X Conway - RIP BOBBY [Prod by The Alchemist & Daringer]

Wu-Tang Clan - People Say ft. Redman

Your Old Droog - "Help" feat. Wiki and Edan

Molecules & Showbiz - Methadone Rap

Nolan The Ninja - Zip (feat. Louie P Newton)

Nowaah The Flood X Ol Man 80zz (Of The Lost Info) - MUDD

MEYHEM LAUREN & DJ MUGGS - Street Religion ft. Roc Marciano

Killah Priest - You Don't Stop feat. Raekwon prod. by 4th Disciple

Justo (prod. by Showbiz) - The Council

Blue Notes - V Don x Willie The Kid

Sean Price "Imperius Rex"

Side B:

Your Old Droog “You The Type"

Cam'ron "Kiss Myself" (Prod. Just Blaze)

Jay Worthy - Miss You ft. Conway

Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire - Bebop and Rocksteady (Feat. Meyhem Lauren)

D-Sisive & Arkeologists "Pussyclot"

Crimeapple (feat. Daniel Son & SmooVth) "WHEN YOU GO"

The Alchemist & Budgie - Brother Jedidiah Ft Action Bronson & Big Body Bes

Royce Da 5'9 Ft Slaughterhouse - Chopping Block

Rosati - Crystallizations (Prod. Dirty Diggs)

Milano Constantine - Rasclat Ft. Conway & Big Twins (Prod. DJ Skizz)

J Scienide (Featuring Hassaan Mackey) - Stick Up Kids (produced by Dom Sicily)

David Banner - "Who Want It" Ft. Black Thought & WatchtheDuck

Skyzoo - Bamboo (Produced by Marc Nfinit)

Rapsody "The Pain" (Prod. Nottz)

Conway - St Regis [prod by Daringer]

Smoovth - Piranha Bones (Prod. Big Ghost LTD)

B.E.N.N.Y. Camillia's (prod by Green Lantern)

AZ feat. Raekwon & Prodigy - Save Them (Prod. Buckwild)

Kool G Rap - Mack Lean Feat. Fred the Godson & AG Da Coroner

Lil Wayne - Family Feud feat. Drake (Prod. No I.D.)

Westside Doom "Gorilla Monsoon" (ilango's Bamboo Remix)

Prodigy of Mobb Deep - Mystic

Kendrick Lamar- DUCKWORTH.

Muja Messiah - You Haven't Lived (feat. Roc Marciano)

BLACK THOUGHT - FREESTYLES ON FLEX

#yearend #top25

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gotmudonyou · 6 years ago

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OCR World Championships 2018 Report

When I heard that this years OCR World Championships would be held on home soil I had conflicting emotions. On the one hand it was great that I wouldn't have to shell out a lot of money to fly abroad again but on the other hand I was worried that it wouldn't have the magic that the event village in Canada had. I guess not having jet-lag would also be a plus.

Lets rewind to last year though. In Canada I had lost my band on the 3K and kept it for the 15k and team races. Analysing my performance it was clear that my obstacle game had to improve. Why had I lost my band at the rig in the 3k? Inexperience in a major race and specifically on rigs was clearly a big factor. But my mental game was clearly at fault as well. When running at full pelt on a short and fast course I was blowing too hard to be focussed coming into a technical obstacle. I also knew that although I had kept my band on the 15k I could have pushed harder during the race (although had I pushed harder would my obstacle game have suffered and maybe not kept my band?).

In the lead up to Canada I was on about 30-35kms of running a week. I wanted to up that so I signed up for a Marathon in April. This turned out to be a really bad idea. Reaching around 30kms in a training run I suddenly had knee pain that stopped me in my tracks. Diagnosis? Patella Tendonitis. Severely reduced mileage, strengthening exercises and a complete deconstruction and re-build of my running form. The reduced mileage was bad enough but the new way of running was tiring and made me long for the days I would just run without thinking whether I was overstriding or lifting my knees high enough.

Finally at the point of getting on top of the Patella Tendonitis I was looking forward to getting back to training hard. My body had other ideas. It saw my Patella Tendonitis and raised me ITB pain. I won’t bore you with my months of recovery but suffice to say it was not fun. My physio warned me against increasing mileage too fast as ITB issues are prone to coming back. So coming into the World Championships I had run a maximum of 11kms in one go since April. Not the best prep.

Thankfully I had also signed up to a training programme held at the PT Barn. The Road to Worlds training programme was run by 3 fantastic coaches who each brought a differing skill set to the coaching. The course focussed on every aspect of OCR training that a racer needs to be successful in OCR. This included specific obstacle technique, skills and strength analysis, race preparation and race strategy. It taught me how to asses a race down to the finest detail. It also helped me to identify mental traps that had hampered my racing in the past. So whilst my race endurance was nowhere near where I had wanted it to be, my obstacle strength and performance as well as my mental game were better than ever. On the advice of the coaches I had also added an OCR Specific workout to my weekly regime, my hope was that this specific training would partially offset my lack of mileage. I have to admit I got some funny looks from the neighbours running out of my garden every 10 mins and doing a lap of the area with a sandbag on my shoulders! So...back to this year’s race....

This year’s race was held on the permanent site of the award winning Nuclear Races. The course was billed as packing in 100 obstacles over 15kms.

Ok so it wasn't really 100 obstacles. 6 of them were a continuous wreckbag carry and many obstacles listed were logs, trenches or streams. In any case, this was going to be very different from last year’s race which was up and down a ski slope with not much mud and no water obstacles. This race was going to be pretty flat with lots of mud and a fair amount of water including a full submersion.

3km Short Course

Due to my lack of mileage in training all year I knew that there was no way I would be able to keep up a decent pace for the 15km course so decided the 3km was many target race. The plan was to go all out and I said to myself if I didn’t cross the line exhausted then I hadn’t gone hard enough. I’d ‘pre-rigged’ the course the day before so I knew all the obstacles and had decided on my techniques through the rigs. I’d decided which attachments to use and which to miss out. This is something that the Road to Worlds course stressed. Just because an attachment (such as a ball, nunchuck or rope) is there it doesnt mean you have to use it. I saw so many racers out there using small and tricky attachments on a rig just because they thought they should.

Stood on the start line they had replaced Coach Pain with the MC from the UK Spartan series, Spartan Phil. Ok so he’d replaced his spartan helmet with a cap so I guess he was just regular Phil. As much as I’d loved Coach Pain’s rousing start line speeches it was probably wise to use a more UK friendly style for this race.

The MC counted down..3....2...1....GO!! As it was a short course the pack went off at a fast pace. We were straight into some ditches which immediately got my heart rate through the roof. Next it was a crawl under barbed wire and then into a Wreckbag (sandbag) carry and then a crawl with the sandbag. This was a crazy way to start a race and didn’t allow you to settle into any kind of pace. I was thankful that I’d done a decent warm up so I felt able to push on. Then it was straight into 3 rigs back to back. First up was the platinum rig. Having done my prep I knew that I wanted to miss out a few attachments which made it a simple rig of rings and monkey bars. My heart rate was high which might have made me rush things in the past, but not now. I flew through but with barely 30 seconds of running I was at the next rig. This rig, named Varjagen Saga had been brought over by Strong Viking, a European race series. It consisted of 3 parts each with various things to hang and swing from. Through my prep I knew the technique to use for each section and flew through to hit the bell.

Varjagen Saga

With hardly any time to regain my breath I was hit with another grip strength sapping rig. The Force 5 Rig was something I’d never seen before in person. However having watched videos of the North American Championships I had a feel for how to approach the rig. All of the attachments swung from front to back, which made it easier to reach the next attachment. This rig was also housed by part of the huge event tent (it was massive!) which was cool and meant there were loads of spectators cheering on the racers. Surprisingly I got through it first time.

After a couple of jumping type obstacles I approach the Ninja Rings. This was a traverse where you had to get to the other side using plastic rings that you held in your hands and moved from bar to bar. I’d been practicing this on my home rig for months so I was ready and flew across.

After this followed some squats under bars whilst carrying a log, a quarter pipe and another hanging obstacle called Trapeze. I then arrived at a new obstacle called Skitch. The aim was to traverse to the end of a hanging bar using hooks that you held in each hand. The tricky part was that you had to lift both hooks across a chain attached to the middle of the bar. This was a difficult obstacle and many struggled (even some pros). As part of my training I had some hooks fabricated for me and I mocked up a version and practiced at home. This paid off as I nailed it first time.

Skitch

Now I just had 3 obstacles to go! First up was a bomb carry, which was exactly what you think is. A metal bomb that you had to carry in your arms but not on your shoulders. The bomb had a moving weight inside so if you carried it at an angle all the weight shifted to one side. This obstacle in itself was fine but it tired your arms and grip out enough to make the penultimate obstacle that much harder.

The penultimate obstacle was the wonderfully named Skull Valley. I’d conquered this obstacle in Canada so was confident I could do so again. Thankfully I had just enough grip left to get through.

Skull Valley

The final obstacle was a giant slip wall to get over. Thankfully the ropes were a little lower than in Canada so this was no problem (it got tougher on subsequent days due to the mud).

Crossing the line in 65th place out of 202 in my age group I was in the top 32%. I was happy with my obstacle performance and effort. Band kept, but this was just race 1 of 3.....

15km Standard Course

The 15km race was going to be a different beast. As I said, I hadn’t run more than 11kms since April so a tough 15kms Obstacle race was going to be a test of my fitness. The race set off at a less frantic pace and after the ditches we were treated to a nice long Wreckbag carry through the forest. The carry involved ducking under and going over beams. Being short means ducking under beams was nice and easy but going over them not so much!

Wreckbag Carry

After another carry and some other minor obstacles I hit the Nuclear monkey bars, thankfully just the short section. After this came possibly the worst part, around 5 sets of cargo nets to crawl under. I hated these, they were quite tight and you had to crawl on your hands and knees. I’m pretty sure this was responsible for the scrape on my knee.

About 5kms in and after a zip line we got into some proper mud. I mean the kind of mud you have to crawl through. Thankfully I then got completely soaked by the deathslide which cleaned the mud off. Whilst obstacles such as zip lines and deathslides are fun I’m not sure they have a place in a World Championship race. Saying that many racers I ran past told me they loved the zip line. So what do I know.

I was looking forward to the low rig having trained specifically for this type of obstacle. So I was a bit disappointed to find it was simply two bars with a ring in between. Boring! Oh well. Shortly after this came Stairway to Heaven, an A frame with horizontal planks which you had to climb and ascend on the inside with only your arms. This was only the third time I’d ever attempted this obstacle. The first time was Canada last year and the second at a Road to Worlds training session. It was at this point that I caught up with my wife Jo who had set off in the wave before me. After a quick hug and checking how she was getting on I quickly ascended and descended the stairway without much thought (I think you can overthink this one easily). I found out later that Jo managed to get to the top of Stairway but was unable to make the transition. This was the furthest she had ever got on this obstacle so she was really happy with her progress.

The race used a lot of the permanent obstacles on the Nuclear site but added a number of World Championships specific obstacles as well as obstacles from other races. After a section of Nuclear obstacles I was back in the event village and the gauntlet of rigs. The Platinum rig had been changed up from the previous day and was marginally more complex. Yet again though there were attachments that I had no intention of touching. It now started with 2 rings followed by a T-bar. There was no way of skipping the T-bar so I decided to grab it with a couple of fingers either side and effectively treat it as a ring. A rope, some monkey bars and a couple of rings and I was through. I sailed through Varjagen Saga again and was actually starting to enjoy the flow of this obstacle. It was then on to the Force 5 rig. Although I’d smashed this obstacle the day before I was getting tired. I wasn’t focussed and therefore fell off the middle wheel and had to go back to the retry lane. I knew my grip was still ok so decided to take 5 minutes and regain my focus. I took the time to clean the mud off my hands and managed to fly through. Phew!

Weaver & Force 5 Rig

After this it was back into the forest and a rope traverse over water. Now I hadn’t seen a rope traverse in a race since the UK Championships back in 2016. For some reason I had a feeling we’d see one so I’d been down to Mad Mike’s, my local training centre, to practice. Theres also no better impetus to hold on than the threat of dropping into cold water. So hold on I did.

With around 4kms left I could feel my lack of mileage in training starting to tell. I was slowing and could feel my legs tiring. I took in another gel and pushed on.

Bomb Carry

Nailing Skitch and battling through the bomb carry I was faced with Skull Valley for the second time in 2 days. Having had no problem with this on the 3K I was surprised to feel my grip failing before the second set of skulls. As I reached for the first skull my hand slipped. For a moment I felt doubt creeping in. I’d trained my grip endurance and to feel weakness was disheartening. But I reckoned that I just needed a quick rest to let me recover. When I slipped off I also ripped some skin off my hand. This was bad news as I now had a red raw section of skin where I would need to hold the skulls. Arse. But wait...ripped hands were always going to be potential risk at such an obstacle heavy course. If only I had put something in my pocket for such an eventuality. As my coach Scotty PT says, ‘fail to prepare and prepare to fail’. I’d prepared for every other element so of course I was ready! I’d thankfully packed some WOD & Done hand protectors. These are sticky strips that go over your fingers and protect your palms. I carefully applied the strip to my right hand and took some deep breaths. Arriving at Skull Valley I’d met Team UK honorary captain Stuart Neail and he was having to retry as well. We were both taking our time and ensuring we were recovered enough before taking a second go. This was an obstacle that most racers could probably complete when fresh but after 15kms and 100 (ish) obstacles it suddenly felt a lot harder. Seeing Stuart get through I knew it was my time. It was now or never. I flew through the first set of skulls and onto the swinging monkey bars. The tricky bit is the transition from the monkey bars back up to the second set of skulls. Thankfully I nailed that and as soon as I started swinging I could feel that the rest had the desired effect as my grip felt solid yet again. I was so happy to hit that bell!

The final obstacle was again the slip wall. This time things were made a bit harder by mud caking the wall and ropes. Scrambling over the top and running over the finish line I was thrilled to have kept my band again. I definitely had to work for it towards the end of the race.

Team Race

I ran the team race with 2 fellow Road 2 Worlds members, Leanne and Claire. Like last year the team event was divided into 3 sections, Speed, Strength and Technical. However this year the sections were much more even in the length of the sections plus there were some team obstacles that we had to complete together. I was on technical again although I was feeling pretty beat up by now as the 15k had taken it out of me. Before the race I realised I wasn’t at all focussed so a I was hoping a coffee and a caffeine gel would wake me up.

I didn’t really do much of a warm up as I was standing around for nearly an hour waiting for my team mates to complete their legs. Finally I saw Leanne coming up the hill and after completing her last carry she handed over to me and I was straight into the Platinum rig. My arms being tired from 2 days of racing I made sure to go two handed on rings when possible and make sure I landed each hand where it needed to be. I could hear coach Tony Leary shouting ‘make it safe Fabian, make it safe!’. It was then straight into Varjagen Saga and again I sailed through this obstacle.

It was then on to the Force 5 rig. I lost concentration at the last moment and doing an Appleton (sorry James) I missed the bell by millimetres. Back to the retry lane for me. Fatigue was definitely the main reason that I missed the bell but I think I let the initial failure the day before get in my head a bit. After a few minutes of recovery and some encouragement from another Road to Worlds member Jonathan I had a second attempt and nailed it.

It was then on to the Dragon’s back, Ninja Rings and Weaver. The final obstacle of my technical leg was Skitch. Noticing that my WOD & Done hand protectors weren’t that grippy against metal I tore most of them off to ensure I had the best grip. My grip was fine thankfully and I hit the bell and ran down to tag my team mates for the final section of the race. I have to say that by this point my arms were burning!

The final section included 3 team obstacles. The first was transporting 2 atlas stones on a metal gurney. Leanne and Claire carried the gurney whilst I steadied the stones and ensured they didn’t fall off.

Next was a rope climb over a metal A frame. We all had to go over the same rope but could help each other. Claire wasn’t keen on this at being afraid of heights. Leanne waited at the top in case she needed help but Claire was amazing, faced her fears and conquered the obstacle.

It was then on to the final Slip Wall. This time there were no ropes! We had a plan which was to form a human ladder. I went at the bottom, Leanne climbed on my shoulders and Claire then climbed up both of us to the top. Claire then helped pull Leanne up. Leanne then hung down whilst I ran up and grabbed her leg to reach the rope. We were over! Crossing the finish line with your team is an awesome feeling and we were all buzzing after the race.

So 3 races and 3 bands kept. That’s one more than last year so I guess that’s progress. I had hoped to be a bit more competitive this year but that wasn’t to be. I was really happy with my performance on the 3k and I reckon if I can get back to the kind of mileage I was at last year coupled with the functional OCR workouts I’ve been doing this year I can get a lot quicker. My obstacle game is streets ahead of where it was last year as is my grip endurance. So speed and running endurance is my focus now.

So as I said I was concerned that having the Championships in the UK it wouldn’t match the heights of Canada. I really shouldn’t have worried. The race village was great and from a spectator point of view there were a lot of obstalces to view. I thought the course was well designed and challenging. Yes there was more mud than some competitors were comfortable with but this was a good representation of what UK OCR is about. We were also ridiculously lucky with the weather. It was around 16ºC for the first 2 days and by the Sunday I was lying around in a t-shirt with a high of 20ºC! Madness for October. A week later it dropped to 5ºC so we were very lucky. Also had it rained instead of hanging around spectators would have had to huddle under the tent or go back to their hotels. But it didn’t rain, so it was glorious.

Special mention needs to go to Tom Nash, Stuart Neail and the many others who have worked to make Team UK a unified team. Having the team kitted out in Team UK racing tops, jackets and shorts was a wonderful sight and made it easy to support our fellow countrymen on the course. I have to say that the support for Team UK out on the course was amazing. Not only that but the support I received from fellow Road to Worlds members was incredible. Hardly 10 mins would go by without hearing a ‘Go Team UK’ or ‘Go on Fabian!’ It was wonderful and nearly made me a bit emotional at one point. No crying for me this year though. Just lots of smiles. What a weekend! 🇬🇧

Oh I also took loads of photos over the weekend, feel free to check them out here!

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raleightatum · 10 years ago

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My Cup of Coffee with R.A. Dickey

When guys make it to the big leagues for a handful of games, maybe an entire season, later on in their lives they'll say they "had a cup of coffee" in the big leagues. The implication here being, of course, they didn't stay long.

My baseball career was short enough to call it a "shot of espresso," or maybe, "the tiniest, whispered sip of espresso." This metaphor admittedly gets a little complicated, because, after my cup of baseballian coffee, I entered the coffee business. But before I began dispensing non-baseball cups of coffee to thousands of non-baseball-playing Nashvillians, I did have a teeny, David Eckstein-sized cup of coffee for a local college. And while I was swishing around that dirty, grimy coffee in my mouth, I faced R.A. Dickey, Cy Young Award winner.

* * *

My freshman year, I played outfield at Trevecca Nazarene University, a small, Christian college in Nashville that fines you if you miss chapel. Trevecca has a competitive Division II baseball program (the school was in the NAIA during my time)—we finished second in the conference that year. During the fall semester, a block of months reserved collegiately for football and basketball and whatever else, baseball is relegated to conditioning drills, long-tossing, batting cage work, and good-natured rookie hazing. Rules prohibit teams from holding "practice" (rules also prohibited teams from "hazing"—guess shaving our heads and dizzy bat racing us into viritigalian stupors didn't count—so we did all of these other things and didn't call it "practice").

One of the things we did was have a round-robin "Intrasquad World Series." Our 25-man roster was divvied up among three teams—Team Black, Team Gold, and Team Purple. To round out each team's nine-man starting lineups, our three coaches were eligible to play. A draft was held to select the teams—one of our players' dads owned an upscale bowling alley, and we had the live draft there, complete with a draft board and microphone'd podium, in one of the "party rooms" (definitely a place where your ninth birthday was, with a cake and party hats and a clown you're scared of and you're not sure why is there). The three teams were captained by each of our three coaches.

Our head coach, Jeff Forehand (now the coach at Lipscomb University), played high school ball at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, under his father, legendary Nashville coach Fred Forehand. Coach Forehand (our Coach Forehand) was teammates and remains good friends with former MBA and University of Tennessee star, current Toronto Blue Jay, and 2012 Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey. R.A. and Coach Forehand had a yearly standing agreement that, if R.A. was in town, and healthy, and just happened to be near Trevecca Nazarene University's campus during the intrasquad world series, he would pitch for whatever team drafted him. It was a risk--you draft R.A. and he doesn't show, you're down a man on your roster. If you pick him, you get a spot start from one of the best pitchers in the world.

Of course, this was 2005. R.A. Dickey was not one of the best pitchers in the world. He was one of the best pitchers in whatever room he happened to be sitting in, maybe? If he was sitting in a room completely devoid of professional baseball players? At the doctor's office, definitely, he was the best pitcher there. And, say, at the mall, although there are lots of people at the mall sometimes, so you can never be sure. He definitely was the best pitcher at any given moment at any local doctor's office, and he was sure in those a lot. Had a host of shoulder problems and all other kinds of stuff.

Also, he was old.

He'd starred in high school in the early 90's. His good friend and contemporary, Coach Forehand, was our coach, in his late-30's; this is what R.A. should've been doing at this point, settling down, having a family, "giving back" to the game. Instead, he was floundering around minor league bullpens and major league disabled lists. Numerous times, he was a shot of espresso away from being out of baseball entirely, forever.

In 2005, he was technically with the Texas Rangers. Although he was with the Texas Rangers the way you're still married to your wife even though she made you move out and you're eating pizza every single night and she is dating someone new and the divorce is just a matter of paperwork. As a formality, Orel Hershiser (just a totally random and huge name to appear in this saga) told R.A. to learn a knuckleball, like the wife saying to her estranged husband, "Um, get a job that pays six figures, and quit drinking, and dedicate your life to Christ." I'll get right on it, honey!

So R.A. got right on that knuckleball, a fickle, wavering pitch tried by few, mastered by even fewer. Tim Wakefield was able to grasp it, sort of, in the way that you don't really grasp a knuckleball anyway, but just kind of heave it up there, with your knuckles, hoping for the best. It's a long-shot pitch, capable of dancing past bats and ducking catcher's mitts. It can dart and flutter and weave, and it can float there like an eight-year-old's toss.

R.A. took up the knuckler because he couldn't take up anything else. Injuries had ravaged his other stuff—his fastball was hittable by every two-armed human in the coffee shop you're in right now, his curveball wasn't so much of a curve as a Google Maps "slight left" on its way to being a stand-up double, his fast-less fastball meant his change-up wasn't much of a change from anything, except maybe now every single human being on earth could hit a homer on him. He wouldn't have lasted 15 more minutes for the Rangers.

So he learned the knuckler.

It didn't start well. His first year throwing the knuckler, by some miraculous finagling of the disabled list, Dickey made the Rangers' opening day roster. No pitcher in major league history has given up more home runs than he gave up in his first start of the season. The Detroit Tigers launched six (6!) on him that day, which is half a dozen, and also twice the homers I've hit in all my life.

So he hadn't quite figured out the knuckleball yet. And he wouldn't, either, for a while. Six years it took—one for each of those six bombs—for Dickey to figure it out, or maybe it just took that long for the unpredictable yips and zips of the knuckleball to float the right way for R.A., in a career that had zipped in all the wrong ways for so long.

In 2012, as a member of the New York Mets, Dickey won the Cy Young Award. Six years removed from that ignominious home run record, seven years removed from making a fool of me in the Trevecca instrasquad world series.

* * *

I redshirted my freshman year. Redshirting is code for "looking good for the girls." My sole purpose at Trevecca Nazarene University—other than keeping the pitching charts, which I did with accuracy and aplomb—was to look good for the girls in the stands. I wore my socks just right, high cuffed, with my jersey tucked perfectly into my pants—and I never worried about it becoming dislodged, either, as the fastest move I'd make all season was to swiftly high-five a run-scoring teammate on his way back to the dugout. My actual on-field performance was irrelevant, unnecessary, and, if I was to keep my redshirt designation (which allowed me an extra year of eligibility on the hypothetical back end of my baseball career), prohibited. So I had to make up for it with sartorial swag.

Technically, my freshman year was dedicated to my continual improvement as a baseball player. There was no pressure on me to perform.

And then, in game one of the Intrasquad World Series, R.A. Dickey shows up.

This was not the R.A. Dickey of the Cy Young. In fact, this was not the R.A. Dickey of the major league-record six home runs. This was a half year prior to that, R.A. still testing out the knuckler, recovering from surgery—about 70%, he told us—and basically still figuring out if he could throw a baseball as a means of employment any longer. He was at the end of his rope. He could barely stand a chance on an MLB roster.

And he dominated us.

I faced R.A. four times. I made contact once. I hit it from me to you. Really. If you and I were sitting here talking, that's how far I hit it: a conversation's length. He fielded it, and easily threw me out at first. This after three straight trips ending in strikeouts.

The knuckleball was annihilating.

Maybe it was just 18-year-old me, never having seen anything like it. But it was crazy—nothing like Tim Wakefield, who just lobbed the thing up there like a greased-up watermelon. R.A. pitched the thing, hard—not like, 90-miles-an-hour hard, but hard, low-80's probably. With that amount of heat on it, the knuckler did some funny things. It dropped halfway there and continued on its path, like some sort of horizontal Tetris game. It shifted to the right just as you were about to swing, like a girl in the high school hallway, narrowly avoiding crashing into you. Most of all, it was fast, accurate, deceptive, and dizzying.

That this man couldn't cut it on a major league roster had major league implications for me: I was nowhere close. I had tasted, and I had seen: my cup of coffee tasted nothing like his.

After completing a full season of looking good for the girls at Trevecca, I retired. When he could hardly carry his own arm out to the mound, R.A. Dickey struck out my baseball career.

You can go ahead and pour one out for me—I was about to brew a new cup of coffee anyway.

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