This picture doesn't do those ribs justice. 

Goodbye and Good Luck!!!!!

On Sunday i said 'See you soon' to my little sister Helen Powney. She will for the next 8 months be laying on a beach drinking Sangria or doing the Hokey Cokey with 5 five year olds. If you see this Helen have a great time don't let anything get you down and know that we will all miss you but understand that it's time you had some fun!

All our love

Chris, Sarah and Oli XXX

PS- If anyone want's to leave Merelli a message please do so by clicking on the comments link below.

Mmm, bloody big Pie!!!!! 

Eating all the Tipton Pies

DATE: FRIDAY 15/04/05 (the Wife's birthday)

PLACE: The Tipton Pie Factory, Hurst Lane, Tipton

The Pie Factory is a strange, original, bizarre little creature located off a main road in deepest darkest Tipton. On entering the first thing you notice is the barrels, the pigs heads(not real, so calm down don't use all your energy up you silly weak little veggies) and the sawdust on the floor which seems to get more and more on every visit. The place has a very rustic feel, the tables mostly look like something may have been recently slaughtered on them.

Also the Pie Factory is an Irish pub that doesn't flaunt it, under the Mad O'Rourkes banner you are guaranteed a decent pint of Guiness on every visit. Anyway that's enough of the yacking, down to the pies!!!!

First the Cow pie arrived in front of my big sister Kathy, currently eating for two, with two horns sticking out of it Desperate Dan styley. A full meal in a pie, potatoes, Steak, Kidney and veg suffice to say much was left and Kath and her impending child were left fully fed and sweaty. Also liitle sister Helen, currently doing the Chacha slide in Menorca, had ordered a rack of ribs, what arrived looked more like a fat dead piglet but no one complained. Add all this to the Wife's mixed grill being served on a Shovel, which was surprisingly clean, and the food was top notch, although there is no diet option and the staff would probably slap or laugh at you if you asked for one!

A good night out which on weekends at the Pie Factory is rounded off by Local caberet which this week came from the one and only Tom Jones!!! or a guy who looked more like Nick Knowles(DIY SOS) with a bloody booming voice personally i didn't know Tom Jones did Amarillo but took great pleasure in marching back and forth to it with the barmaid and the chef.

All in all a great night out in an original place, unlike the Frankie and Benny of this world, that you could only find tucked around a dark corner in the Black Country.

Green Bay. 

Green Bay,JB's Dudley 25/03/05

First the venue Jb's is the dodgiest little shed venue in the midlands, but that is a good thing! Having been to Jb's to see lots of tribute acts aswell as the likes of The Wildhearts and Pitchshifter, i have to say that Jb's is the best venue I have been to. Holding about a thousand at a push it's a great little venue with great sound and a serious hang up on bad(or good if you like to dance like a fool to Van Halen!) 80's Rawk'n'Roll! with a little room out the back for the Nu-Metallers and i must agree sometimes Rammstein and System of a Down have a serious jump like a fool appeal, the venue really does appeal to the whole spectrum of rock and roll. Also bizarrely in this room is also the greasy spoon, where shit chips and a heart attack burger are the order of the day for sweaty mansonites who probably couldn't get served across the room at the Bar, which, wait for this it's a classy touch, sells not only Guiness, Lager and Newcastle Brown Ale but also Jack daniels and 20/20, surely making it's first appearance at a venue for over 18's and not just on Red House Park.

Another interesting fact about Jb's is that Dudley as a whole has NO and i mean NO (capitals and everything!) other places to listen to Bon Jovi meaning therefore that a high level of women over 40 descend on the place every Friday or Saturday more eagerly as Hoddle to a church, making it and remember i'm married, Milf city for the desperate and eager among us, even and i must stress the EVEN Andy Clarke has been laid by two different women met at this venue.

Anyway...The Band

Tribute bands come in 3 categories Dire(a bad experience with a Freddie Mercury tribute on a Holiday camp springs to mine), OK (Ozzmosis) and GREAT (Limehouse Lizzy). Green Bay come firmly in the verging on GREAT department. I think a love for the band comes second only to the setlist as the makings of a great tribute act, Green Bay don't look a thing like Green Day but they look like they are having a whale of a time during every song and as a fan who has seen Green Day on 4 occasions, i can say the voices aren't perfect, the bass player forgot the lyrics to Longview(ooohh the bugger), but for enthusiasm more than made up for it.

The setlist left no stone unturned even waying in great Ramones and Clash covers(I fought the Law, whichwas covered by Green Day on the soundtrack for some crap US teen movie). Kicking off the set unsurprisingly with a perfect American Idiot, they then managed to surprise everyone with the full nine minutes of Jesus of Suburbia, which i think for a tribute band is quite a risk it would be so easy to just play hits and not lose everyone but the hardcore fans, but these were hardcore fans playing for hardcore fans which as a hardcore fan was a delight. About five songs in the drummer took centre stage a gentleman in dodgy hat with an acoustic guitar walked on and everyone watched looked at each other and said 'Time of your life?' but no what followed was a word perfect version of the hidden track on Dookie 'I was alone'. Sometimes the genius in a tribute band is hearing tracks you never see live and these didn't disappoint 'Nice guys finish last' being just one example and alongside live classics like 'She' and 'King for a Day' which led as it does with Green Day into a Skatastic version of Lulu's 'Shout'.

When it finally got to it everyone who set foot in Jb's that night sang 'Time of your Life' from start to finish A fitting end to a great set and joy of joys, like any good meal followed a fitting dessert, a cheesy rock disco altogether now 'She's got eyes like the bluest sky...'.

The night was only marred by the first act of violence i have seen in Jb's in the 5 years i have been going. Sad but incredibly amusing, During the second song i was having a little skank as you do when all of a sudden a skinhead slammed into my back, i believe i handled this situation quite well and left the centre of the dancefloor, for fear for my glasses and also my ribs looking at the 6foot5 muscular psycho walking up and down with no top on,always the good sign of a true nutter, with a middle finger raised on each side of him. Now what i didn't see was that he slammed into a lady and apparently hurt, I gauge that by the fact she kept trying to approach for maybe a kind apology, but her fella was having none of it. A couple of songs later the boyfriend wen't to the toilet and the Lady landed possibly the best thrown punch i've seen connect WHAT A BEAUTY!!!! The sound it made was louder than the band, as was the cheer. Psycho man was then ejected, possibly to Hospital or maybe to tell his mommy.

www.greendaytribute.com
www.jbsdudley.co.uk

My little Baggie! 

WEST BROM 1-0 EVERTON

Oh yes, It's good to Boing!!!!! The spirit of confidence lacking in recent times has left and we are currently playing the best football seen by West Brom fans in (according to my old man) the last 20 years, may i at this point out we were relegated in 1982 so 20 years ago would put us in the then second division struggling aimlessly.

Ok i'm calming down now let's have a realistic match review. Possibly as convincing as a goalless draw with hardly any goal action can be. The Baggies went out there confident and ready to fight, unlike the Everton side they played who just wanted a fight. It was hard to tell who was fighting for safety and who was fighting for a Champions League spot, on this showing Liverpool don't have much to worry about!

The first half was a none starter apart from hitting the bar with a Neil Clement header the Albion didn't offer much. On the plus side a resolute and confident defence started and finshed the half on top as Everton had about two easily saveable chances on goal.

Ther second half was a different story. The Baggies came out with the same attacking options as the first half but twice the impetus (i think that's how you spell it).Not many teams in the world would leave there hat-trick hero on the bench for the entire game, but somehow we didn't seem to need him. A decent cross seemed to be going out of play until one of the shortest men on the pitch rose above huge Everton defender Joseph Yobo to head home to his bottom right of the goal for the only goal of the game.

Late on Everton played their 'oh bugger what are going to do?' card and brought on big dirty Duncan Ferguson. A problem for some but when you can just bring on West Brom version of the BFG to counteract that, Darren Moore, it really doesn't seem like much of a problem.

All in all a great win confident, assured defence, no nonsense tackling and, more than anyone else struggling at the bottom anyway, good attacking football.

Chant of the day:

Show me the way to Aston Villa
We'll see the goals of Zoltan Gera
And we'll be shitting on the Villa
When Zoltan Gera scored for me

Sha lalalalala
West Brom
Sha lalalalala
West Brom
When Zoltan Gera scores for me!

SUMMARY

We are a premiership team, but playing on borrowed time. I beleive we have as much chance as anyone to stay up but everyone down with us has to play each other so will all pick up points we still have Arsenal, Man Utd, Tottenham and other tasty teams still to play. We have conceded too many late late goals at Norwich, Southampton, Portsmouth, Fulham and at home to Palace which could have done us early, But the key is in the last game at home against Portsmouth. So three points at the Villa to start please (GOD). We where bottom at Christmas but in words of Frank Skinner on Fantasy Football before the last game of the season against Portsmouth in the 93-94 season when we beat them to stay in the First and send the dirty bluenoses down...

BELIEVE!!!!!!!!