In keeping with my last post, here’s Fed talking about why he doesn’t get injured, yes he’s lucky, but you make your own luck:
Will Nadal ever be as great as Federer?
It’s sad that Nadal has pulled out of Wimbledon. Any true Federer fan ( i am one) will be upset. Why? well nobody wants to see another great player or champion losing the right to defend his own title - and despite the agony of 2008 in that final, i’d like to see Federer in another grand slam showdown against the man who is turning out to be his ultimate nemesis.
For those that are huge fans of Nadal and claim point blank that Federer’s reign is over, well this proves they are wrong. The Spaniard lost in the French (there was no mention of knee problems before Soderling), and he has now pulled out of Wimbledon. It’s no secret that Nadal’s game is built in part on his ability to chase every single ball down, to wear his opponent into submission - but that doesn’t make him a great player. Federer’s reign is far from over, and Nadal is far from achieving anything quite like the swiss has achieved in his 14 slams and 5 years at Number one. Being “great” or being the “greatest” as Muhammad Ali will attest to is about many things. One is the ability to perform in the sport for many years with the ability to go the distance, longevity therefore is no mean feat - and it’s one a great player should possess.
Federer’s game is great, because he conserves energy, he dances around the court and that means he’ll last longer and achieve more. Nadal pounds the floor, expands enormous amounts of energy and, with the incredible force of top spin he places on his shots, he places immense amount of pressure on his muscular frame in order to deal with the ferocity of his movement.
Whilst he’ll be able to beat the best players in the world when he is at his best, the reality is, there will always be a danger, if he carries on like this that he’ll be missing matches and big tournaments. He might only be 23, but Federer is still clocking up Grand Slams at 27 and looks at times as sharp as ever. Nadal might be the greatest chaser of the ball we have seen, but does he have the stamina to chase down Federer to ultimate greatness?
Judging by Nadal’s form over the past 6 months, you’d be a brave man to best against the Swiss right now, without doubt we are all watching the greatest player of the open game. I just hope Nadal recovers soon, so Federer gets the chance to prove to everybody that fair and square he has what it takes to master the Bull.
They’re Dinosaurs…..
Dinosaur Jr formed in 84, split in 97 and then got back together in 2005 – all in a lifetimes work then. They really don’t like doing interviews, or so the media says. But i found them quite engaging and full of opinion. Mascics is one of the funniest people i’ve interviewed. I could probably play his interview back double the speed and it would still sound slow! The bands ninth album is out on June 23rd. It’s called Farm. It wasn’t recorded on one though, nope they recorded it in a small room in the J.Mascis mansion.
Meeting Marilyn Manson
Four hours is officially the longest time I have ever had to wait to interview a musician, and now my interview with Marilyn Manson is officially the strangest 10 minutes of my life.
Having arrived at The BBC Maida Vale studios with the naive understanding he’d be on time I spent much of my afternoon sat in a lounge preparing for the big rock arrival.
Away from music, Marilyn Manson has proved himself an insightful, articulate and compelling man, this interview conducted after a session for the BBC went slightly wayward.
During the interview he pulls the microphone apart, asks his girlfriend to strip and drops more sexual innuendos than Finbarr Saunders from the Viz comics.
Listen to the man himself with interviewees Adrian Larkin (6 Music News) and Ian Youngs (BBC Online).
John Peel World Cup
In the name of charity 7 of us from 6 Music headed north to play in a footy tournament as part of Liverpool Sound City. So we started well and battered Manchester boys In the City, then things took an almighty nose dive as we were pulled apart by Cream and followed that dismal encounter by being out paced by a collective of 45 year olds allegedly from The Farm. You know the ones, “All Together Now”….
Viva la Revolucion (still?)
Back from Cuba… what a place. But it’s heading for another revolution. Yep - it’s going down to capitalism in a big way. It’s gonna be chewed, swallowed and spat out as soon as the yanks can say “Cohiba”.
The capital carrot has been dangled for such a long time now that they’re just itching to get their hands on all the things we take for granted everyday.
Played tennis against the coach at one of the resorts, and he literally took the shirt off my back.
I gave him my Federer, Australian Open Nike top. It made his day. It made mine too, till i found out i can’t get actually buy it anymore in the UK as it’s a limited edition. People living in Cuba must get that feeling 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
“All my life i wait for Castro to die, when?” my tennis coach said.
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- It ain't quick
My Work PC @ BBC
It’s not been the greatest of weeks. Hell in fact. So what better way to top off 5 days of anguish than breaking a BBC computer? The thing is, i didn’t break it, i swiveled the screen and then….well it fell off.
One thing you can count on the BBC is the equipment. I’m pleased with the result, a really large and cumbersome laptop… see under extremes of pressure we’re a pretty resourceful bunch.
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- 1) Broken PC
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- 2) A Screw loose
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- 3) I have neck ache
James Lavelle’s Studio
Somewhat of a legend, especially after Psyence Fiction and that blazing beast of a mix tape under the guise of UNKLE…. so as you would imagine quite a pleasure to spend an hour or so with him in the studio…
Turns out Lavelle is a massive Xbox 360 fanatic, so we had that in common, that and punching knobs (so to speak).
Smokin’ Hot Tricky
Trip-Hop Legend...
If, like me, you’ve been suffering from a mild case of mid winter blues recently, then you might find that a heavy dose of Tricky is the answer – not because his music is in any way hopeful but his ritual on stage is so captivating, the theatre and spectacle so bewildering that you’ll walk out smiling – trust me.
At 41, but in many ways still the “Kid” of old, Tricky looks to be a man back on the top of his game. Much of this gig though rests on the shoulders of his co-singer Francesca who delivers vocals flawlessly and his band who dish out baselines and drumbeats with such severity there’s not a head in the crowd that isn’t motioning along with them.
Two songs in, and like a boxer ringside - Tricky derobes and punches the air, now twitching as if in the middle of an exorcism he bellows out the Past Mistake lyrics, chanting “I hope Jesus comes!” It’s brilliant and accomplished and in every way emotional.
As in past gigs though, he is happy to skulk around in the darkness as Francesca assumes control on stage. Tricky, meanwhile, is flouting the law. Smoking with his back to the crowd by the drum kit he nods in unison with his band. Indeed it is Tricky himself who is the first to accept that for large pockets of this show it’s not about him, that Francesca holds the reigns in parts and that he always runs the risk of being carted off stage.
“In Sweden they are not having it, they say i’ll get arrested, and go straight to jail, now with the smoking ban everyone is on you, but I’m lucky I can walk off stage,” he says, smoking backstage in his dressing room before the gig.
As the gig progresses Tricky ventures from old to new playing tracks like Vent from Pre-Millennium Tension, as well as newer songs from his 8th album Knowle West Boy, after almost every song there’s a short “thank you” as he sparks up again and drifts off into the background for a few minutes of composure. The energy he gives on stage during songs like Girls is so brutally intense – it’s as if he depends on those quiet moments away from the limelight.
In the final hour of the show though, there’s more of Tricky, this time he orchestrates Francesca and the band as they flutter in and out of cover songs, such as Motorhead’s Ace of Spades and The Cure’s The Love Cats.
He closes with a fiercely good rendition of the Tricky Kid and even demands that the lighting crew illuminate the stage for that one.
By his own admission Adrian Thaws has mellowed a lot over the years - but on stage tonight he’s everything but mellow – this was an agonizingly good performance, full of energy and soul and one that for a while lifted me out of the seemingly relentless winter gloom.
Tricky will now head across the pond for his biggest tour to date in the US.
You can find more reviews here: www.bbc.co.uk/6music/news/
