Mark's Music - Part 2

United Christmas present

December 22nd, 2011

Well, 5-0 will do me for a Christmas present from Wayne Rooney and the lads. And a special goal from Ryan Giggs too, making him the only person to have scored in every Premier League season. That is some record. I know a lot is said about his age but it does seem remarkable that, at 38, he still looks like he could keep going for another ten years.

Man City’s result against Stoke means that they keep hold of the top spot in the Premier League, for now. Like I said before, they’re just keeping it warm for us! And I’ve got a good feeling about the next couple of games, especially as I’m going to Old Trafford on Boxing Day for the Wigan game, in a corporate box with my mate Phil – bring it on! If we can get a result there (which we should do (not wishing to jinx us!)) and City get a beating away at West Brom, we’ll be top of the league – just how things should be!

I had a look at a couple of cars yesterday, including a Peugeot and a Renault Megane. Guess what? I still can’t decide! I think I’m going to leave it until after Christmas – it’s all a bit busy at the moment and I’ve still got a few presents and things to get before the weekend. Anyway, I probably won’t get a chance to blog over Christmas so this is me signing off for the year – see you in 2012! I’ll leave you with a few classic moments from the great man, Ryan Giggs:

Oh, and here’s my favourite Christmas song this year. I heard it on the radio the other day and haven’t been able to get it out of my head! Another legend, this one of the musical kind – Mr Stevie Wonder. Merry Christmas!

Top of the league!

December 19th, 2011

Had a good day yesterday with the lads round for a solid performance by Man United. Nice to see us getting some form back after a couple of sloppy weeks. And nice to see that we’re keeping some decent pressure on Man City as well – we were top of the league for a couple of hours yesterday, before City’s game finished and they took it back. Don’t worry though – they’re just keeping it warm for us up there; we’ll be back on the number one spot before long!

As you know I’ve pretty much shut the studio down for Christmas now – just a couple of small voice over sessions today and tomorrow, then that’s it – but United have got a busy Christmas ahead of them. The next three games – Fulham this Wednesday, Wigan on Boxing Day (which I’m going to!) and Blackburn on New Year’s Eve are going to be crucial for us, so I hope there’s not going to be any Christmas boozing within the squad! City have got similar fixtures so it’s going to be a crucial time for the Premier League. Here’s hoping we can start 2012 as we mean to finish the season – on top!

It’s nice to have a bit of time over the next week to wind down and just tidy a few things up. I plan to have a good look at some cars on Wednesday and Thursday, maybe go and try a few out. The Peugeot lease deals are really tempting me at the moment I have to say, so I’ll be taking a close look at them. Otherwise I’ve got a few presents to get, a bit of food to buy then that’s it – I’ll be all ready for Christmas!

Work Christmas do

December 15th, 2011

Being self-employed, I don’t tend to have too many work social evenings – there would just be me there! I do like to get out in the run up to Christmas though, so me and a couple of the lads are heading into town this Friday night to sample some of the best bars Manchester has to offer. We don’t like to go out with too much of a plan – just see where the night takes us. It’s worked out well with Man United playing on Sunday too. I can have a quiet Saturday and then have the lads round for the footy on Sunday – a decent pre-Christmas weekend!

I did miss the classic work Christmas do when I first set up this studio but not having one is a (very) small price to pay for being in the position I’m in now. I’ve had two different local bands in this week that were really good; great people to work with and really talented too. Completely different styles of music – one was a pop act, the other an indie band – but that’s what it’s all about really. I just like working with talented people and I’m really luck to be able to do that!

Next week is a bit of a wind down. I’ve got someone coming in to record some voice over stuff on Monday and Tuesday, then that’s it. I’ll spend Wednesday doing a bit of tidying and some accounts stuff, then I think I’ll shut up for Christmas, just in time for the Fulham game on Wednesday night. Perfect!

Christmas number one 2011

December 12th, 2011

As you might have noticed, I sort of went off X Factor about a month ago, around the time Frankie Cocozza ‘quit’ the show (i.e. got chucked out). I used to like it when it was a singing competition (hearing great singers is part of my job after all) but it just turned into a giant media exercise. Anyway, I did have a look at the final this weekend, just to see what happened. It was fairly predictable, I thought, and I’m not surprised Little Mix won. You’ve got to remember who does most of the voting and it’s basically teenage girls, so like I say, no surprise really!

I must admit I did lose interest after a while and ended up playing Cleopatra slots for a lot of it, only paying attention when there was an interesting performance on, like Coldplay. So that’s it for another year anyway and I don’t think I’ll watch much more than the auditions next year. It will be interesting to see if the media machine can make it to Christmas number one this year, although they do have some competition again.

There are basically two others in the running for Christmas number one 2011 – the Military Wives Choir, who were formed as part of a TV show and sing a song especially written for them, and Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, which is being promoted a bit like Rage Against the Machine was the other year, with the express purpose of stopping the X Factor winner getting to number one. I like Nirvana (and I don’t particularly like Little Mix) but I won’t be supporting that ‘campaign’. If people really don’t like ‘commercial’ music and the X Factor taking it over, there’s a simple thing to do – ignore it! I’d be more inclined to support the Military Wives Choir and their song Wherever You Are. All proceeds go to military charities as well, so it’s all for a good cause. Check them out here:

Europa champions?

December 8th, 2011

Well I can’t avoid it, can I – we’re out of the Champions League. Last night was pretty awful for us but as a lot of people are saying, we can’t just blame it on that one game. We shouldn’t have put ourselves in that position in the first place and to be honest it never really felt like we were properly focussed in the Champions League this year to me. You have to win your home games at this level and we just didn’t do that so we’ve only got ourselves to blame for it.

So we’re in the Europa League now, relegated to playing on Thursday nights, which obviously isn’t the best with Premier League games on Saturdays. Still, I’m a believer in making the best of what you’ve got so let’s not dwell on it and move on – we’re in the Europa League competition so we might as well get on with doing the best we can in that. I’m not going to gripe and moan about the Champions League – I’ve been a fan too long for that and you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth, as they say.

The other big football news is that Rooney’s England ban has been reduced to two games, which means he’ll be able to play in one of the Euro 2012 group games, against Ukraine. I am happy about this as an England fan, obviously, but I can’t help thinking that Rooney should really have learnt a lesson from this and reducing his punishment isn’t going to help with that. I mean, the incident itself was nothing really – a yellow card, possibly – and the other player (Miodrag Dzudovic) did make the most of it but (and this is a big but) Rooney should know not to do stupid things like that because, like it or not, that’s the way the game is these days. After all these years and so much experience, players like Rooney are still making stupid, spur of the moment mistakes like this – when will they learn?

Anyway – that’s my rant for the week! I’ll finish on a lighter note and happier days for Man United. We may be out of the Champions League this year but we mustn’t forget that we’ve won it before and we will (hopefully) do so again.

Winding down

December 6th, 2011

Thankfully I’m not as busy this week as I was last week. I think with Christmas coming up a lot of people are concentrating on that rather than other things, like recording music! Don’t get me wrong, I like it when it’s busy (I’ve got to pay the bills!) but it is nice to wind down a little towards the end of the year.

Anyway, we went out on Saturday night as a foursome – Sally, Chris, me and that girl I mentioned, Kim. We had a good meal in Manchester and it was all going OK. Chris and I chatted a bit about football and what he does for a living (he’s an electrician – could come in useful in the studio!), and the girls seemed to be getting on all right. We drank two bottles of wine between us over dinner, which I didn’t think was that much, but afterwards in the bar Kim seemed really wasted. She was slurring her words, laughing (more like screeching) loudly and became a really different person. Strange!

So I don‘t think I’ll be rushing to invite her out again. Ah well, I’ve got other things to worry about rather than my failing love life! The Champions League for one thing – we need a point on Wednesday to be sure of going through so I’ll definitely have a few of the lads round to watch that. I’m also still on the hunt for a new car and am going to have a look at a Renault Clio later this week. I know I said I wanted a bigger one but I’m thinking economy might be better in the long run – I can’t make my mind up!

Double date

December 1st, 2011

Well, once again I don’t really want to mention the football. All I will say is that we’ve still got the Premier League and Champions League to concentrate on, so we should do that and not dwell on the Carling Cup. Or losing at home to Crystal Palace 2-1. In extra time. I know, I said I wasn’t going to mention it – I’ll stop now.

Sally and her boyfriend popped round last night, which was a bit unusual. I think he probably wanted an excuse to watch the second half of the football and he knew I’d have it on. Sally hates football and spent the whole time talking over the commentary and texting her friends, so me and Chris (that’s his name, by the way) had a bit of a bonding moment, which was quite nice I suppose – even though it was over Sally annoying us! He is growing on me though and I have to say I probably was a bit harsh on him at first. He’s an OK guy and seems to like Sally a lot, so that’s what counts I guess.

Anyway, Sally suggested that we go out one night together. There’s a girl I’ve seen a couple of times in the last month or so who I haven’t wanted to mention on here before, because I thought it might jinx it a bit, but I suppose now is as good a time as any. She was a singer in a band that came to record in the studio and we… well, we just hit it off. She’s not my girlfriend or anything (yet!) but as I say we’ve been out a few times to some decent Manchester restaurants and she’s very much like me – loves some nice food and a drop of good wine. So we’re going out, all four of us, on a double date. Not sure where yet – I might let Chris choose, seeing as he’ll be paying!

Busy week

November 29th, 2011

I’m not going to mention the Newcastle game – hospitality was good, decent laugh with Phil and his workmates but a poor result really. Worth forgetting! Carling Cup this week anyway, at home to Crystal Palace but I won’t be going to that one. Phil only really gets hospitality for the Premier League matches and I’m not going to buy a normal ticket – I’m too used to the VIP treatment now!

I’ve got a lot on this week anyway. The studio’s booked every day and in the evenings I’ve got loads of stuff on – just things like bills to pay, some business accounts to do and Christmas presents to start looking for. They’re all little things but they can take up loads of time and before you know it a whole evening has gone.

I’m also going to be looking at cars again this week as it looks like my Corsa is on its way out. It wouldn’t start for ages the other morning and it did the same today on my way back from the supermarket. I could get it looked at but I’m reluctant to spend any money on it to be honest – something else will just go wrong in a few months and I might as well put my time and money towards getting something better.

I was totally sold on the Megane I was looking at the other week but I’ve looked at some Peugeot leasing places recently too and they look really good. You can get some decent deals on them and it takes away the hassle of having to think about MOT and servicing and all that as you can get packages that include everything in them. Anyway – lots to do so I’d better get on with it all!

Beckham United

November 24th, 2011

Beckham said this week that he wouldn’t go to another English club, having played with the best, United (of course), the club he supports. I respect that – everyone knows he doesn’t need the money so by publicly saying that he basically won’t be influenced by the bank accounts of Chelsea or (worse) Man City is a respectable position in my eyes. He’s interested in football – playing it and supporting it and he understands that to go against your loyalties when you don’t have to is frowned upon.

To be honest, I never really rated him that much when he was with us. Dead ball situations, fine – he’s got a good right boot on him, but when it comes to movement and aggression on the ball, he always lacked for me a little. I much prefer players like Keane or Cantona, who had real flair with a ball at their feet.

Still, I’ve watched Beckham’s career with interest and as I say, I’ve got a real respect for him for the way he handles himself and the decisions he makes, so here’s a little United tribute to the man who you have to say goes down as one of United’s legendary number sevens. Not sure we’d ever have him back but it’s a nice gesture to say he wouldn’t go anywhere else!

Oh, and I almost forgot – Newcastle at home on Saturday and Phil’s managed to get me a ticket to his work’s corporate box. Sweet!

Nervous wreck

November 21st, 2011

Well I said that Swansea game wasn’t going to be easy and I was right. Still, on reflection, a win’s a win, as they say. We didn’t make it easy for ourselves but there you go – still three points! Which is more than I can say about last night – I thought we’d scraped it when Fletcher made it 2-1 but it wasn’t to be. We need a draw against Basel now to guarantee qualification and that’s going to be one nervous game to watch!

Talking of nerve, Sally’s boyfriend took up my offer of coming round for the game. There were four of us – me, two of my mates and him. He was OK at first, we had a couple of beers and talked about the match in the build up, but as soon as the game started he just wouldn’t shut up! I like to pay attention to my football and listen to the commentary, so I know everything that’s going on, but he just kept on and on, making comments – ‘what’s he doing, why’s he done that, come on ref, play it wide, get back, offside!’ It was doing my head in after about five minutes, let along 90, and he managed to drink four cans in the first half. He didn’t even bring any with him!

Apart from that he wasn’t too bad I suppose, and before anyone else emails me about it I wasn’t really going to hunt him down and kill him – that was just a joke! I think next time he wants to watch a match with us we’ll just head out into town and hit some of the cool bars Manchester has to offer. Much easier that way and he’ll have no excuse not to get a round in!