While it’s one thing to have influences in the music
industry, it is quite another to wear them as proudly as White
Light Motorcade do. The four wiry, leather-clad New Yorkers aim for a glorious
clash of sound between vintage punk (MC5, The Stooges) and the
melodic fireworks of 90s Britpop. It sounds like a bad idea and,
as you’d expect, it doesn’t work. The album results in something reminiscent of Jet’s Get
Born. Several of the songs have good hooks and winning melodies,
but they are delivered in a way devoid of any spark of
originality. This is a problem not just for White Light Motorcade, but also
for the current wave of ‘rock and roll’ acts. Music is
rarely totally original, but if you want to see a tribute act go
to your local pub. White Light Motorcade could learn something
from such advice. Coupled with this, the album’s tracks have
been glossed, buffed and produced to with an inch of it’s
life. ‘Open Your Eyes’ uses trademark Noel Gallagher chord
changes to no effect whatsoever and ‘Useless’, the
band’s attempt at a lighters-in-theair anthem, is let down
by frontman Harley Dinardo’s weak vocals. Things look up briefly during the catchy thrash of
‘It’s Happening’, but Ash would probably still
reject it as sub-standard. NME called White Light Motorcade “the saviours of
rock.” I can’t agree. The kindest thing to be said for
Thank You, Goodnight is that it makes all the right noises,
nonetheless it feels completely hollow.ARCHIVE: 2nd week TT 2004 

Let’s be honest, most people never venture further than
Europe. When the cheap spirit of wanderlust awakens, a group trip
(courtesy of Easyjet) to the sun-kissed regions of Spain soon
cures the travel-bug. Often the holy trinity of boozy paradises
– Majorca, Minorca and Malaga – in association with
Club so and so, adequately nourish the Joepublic soul with the
sublime necessities of sand, sea, sex and more sex. Meanwhile Africa merely registers as that place where Bob
Geldof “did his bit for us, for those skinny kids”.
Often the seasonal destination of many a “Hoorah Henry”
and the hutbuilding wealthy Gap year student, “cos laahk yah
know, I raahlly wanna help the children”, Africa remains
distant and inaccessible to most. A continent that conjures up
images of expense, famine, disease and poverty couldn’t
really be a holiday destination for the masses, could it? Lonely
Planet’s excellent new travel guide, Africa on a Shoestring
aims to dispel the miasma of thought surrounding the continent. A mixture of social comment, history, practical information
and observational humour, this sturdy tome is an invaluable guide
for any budgetconscious traveller aiming to explore the
impressive diversity of Africa. From the Roman and Pharaonic
temples of the Maghreb (North Africa), to the spicy charm of the
East, the platelicking cuisine of the West and right down to the
jaw-droppingly inspiring natural sites of Southern Africa, any
adventurer on a tight budget can experience the continent to its
fullest, particularly students suffering from the monstrous
after-effects of a student loan. The emphasis is on
“shoestring” and so each page is conceived with this
concern in mind; the helpful itineraries to plan budget
backpacking around specific regions of Africa, from North to
South, “the Maghreb Meander” to “French
Footsteps”, must be looked at. With this endlessly useful
one-stop reference guide, you can’t really go wrong. Lonely
Planet adds yet another jewel to backpacking culture.ARCHIVE: 2nd week TT 2004 

Colin Macintyre (aka Mull Historical Society) pleads
“I’m not cool anymore, stay with me honey” on the
opening track, ‘Peculiar’, of third studio album This
is Hope. Following up on the mainstream success of 2003’s
Usit contains eleven tracks of innocuous melodic pop that aspire
to latter- day Beatledom. Indeed, coolness is not the impression secured by repeated
exposure to the album; MacIntyre’s production, mixing up his
Hebridean lyrical fixation with orchestral and choral samples,
sounds more suited to a pipe and slippers, than to air guitaring
with a JD in hand. Moments of retro redemption prevent Mull Historical
Society’s full immersion in the spirit of blandness
popularised by David Gray and Coldplay. ‘Casanova at the
Weekend’ owes a significant debt to Coldplay and their
contemporaries. ’Death of A Scientist’, however, is a
welcome interjection of Kinks karaoke and ‘Your Love, My
Gain’ safely traverses into the territory of the classic
nostalgic ballad. A harmless exercise in creating an album largely composed of
audio non-entities, the lacklustre listening experience that is
This is Hopeis not a complete ‘Hebridean Disaster’.
Perhaps an attempted wreck is what MacIntyre was seeking to
reveal to his mainland audience. If it was, he failed, but only
just. Instead of this, the Mull Historical Society has
prematurely matured, and produced, hope and an egalitarian
soundtrack for Bovril drinkers everywhere.ARCHIVE: 2nd week TT 2004 

Let’s be honest, most people never venture further than
Europe. When the cheap spirit of wanderlust awakens, a group trip
(courtesy of Easyjet) to the sun-kissed regions of Spain soon
cures the travel-bug. Often the holy trinity of boozy paradises
– Majorca, Minorca and Malaga – in association with
Club so and so, adequately nourish the Joepublic soul with the
sublime necessities of sand, sea, sex and more sex. Meanwhile Africa merely registers as that place where Bob
Geldof “did his bit for us, for those skinny kids”.
Often the seasonal destination of many a “Hoorah Henry”
and the hutbuilding wealthy Gap year student, “cos laahk yah
know, I raahlly wanna help the children”, Africa remains
distant and inaccessible to most. A continent that conjures up
images of expense, famine, disease and poverty couldn’t
really be a holiday destination for the masses, could it? Lonely
Planet’s excellent new travel guide, Africa on a Shoestring
aims to dispel the miasma of thought surrounding the continent. A mixture of social comment, history, practical information
and observational humour, this sturdy tome is an invaluable guide
for any budgetconscious traveller aiming to explore the
impressive diversity of Africa. From the Roman and Pharaonic
temples of the Maghreb (North Africa), to the spicy charm of the
East, the platelicking cuisine of the West and right down to the
jaw-droppingly inspiring natural sites of Southern Africa, any
adventurer on a tight budget can experience the continent to its
fullest, particularly students suffering from the monstrous
after-effects of a student loan. The emphasis is on
“shoestring” and so each page is conceived with this
concern in mind; the helpful itineraries to plan budget
backpacking around specific regions of Africa, from North to
South, “the Maghreb Meander” to “French
Footsteps”, must be looked at. With this endlessly useful
one-stop reference guide, you can’t really go wrong. Lonely
Planet adds yet another jewel to backpacking culture.ARCHIVE: 2nd week TT 2004 

A confession: although On The Road is a fun read, I found that it never quite lived up to its reputation. The idea behind it all is great – drugs, rebelliousness, drink, sex and freedom – perfect ingredients for an adolescent’s ideal ofescape from home and the oldsters. It’s just that, well, it all got a bit samey after a while – they go off on a road trip, drive around a bit and come on back home.
Jim Dodge’s Not Fade Away, reissued by Canongate, touches on the same territory, but with a whole chunk more gusto. Remember the Big Bopper? No, why should you, or indeed anyone born in the last 25 years. He was an old-school Rock and Roll singer, whose biggest hit was ‘Chantilly Lace’ (first line, “HELLOOOOO Baybeeeeee”). This might make sense in a minute or two. Not Fade Away follows ‘Floorboard’ George Gastin (“when it comes to whipping it down the road I’m right up there with the best. Never been in a wrech that wasn’t on purpose”), a grizzled old Beat who drives around in an old tow up truck, ‘The Ghost’. He picks up one unfortunate, and tells him the tale of his ‘Pilgrimage’.
Going back many years to his youth, he recounts his days as a near-bum, listening to jazz, watching beautiful women, living with crooks and wasters. He finds himself employed by the local hoodlum, ‘Scumball’, to write off cars for insurance claims. It’s all a lot of fun until he’s asked to write off a pristine ’59 Cadillac. All this while being pursued by severely pissed-off violent gangsters, fuelled by Benzedrine and beer. Oh, and some LSD.
Dodge’s writing is seriously fun; heaps of enthusiasm and lashings of atmosphere. Sadly I’ve never seen jazz the way he describes it – deep, dark and oh so dirty. Nor have I driven a soft-top classic car down those huge American highways. But thus book makes me want to seek out the seediest jazz joint in Cowley, take a crowbar to a powerful-looking car, and drive all the way to Mexico. It’s a big swirling trip of legendary musicians, drivers, roads and weird people. Try it, you might like it.ARCHIVE: 2nd week TT 2004 

The quality of the football at the opening rounds of the
Cuppers 5-a-side last Wednesday mirrored the weather: dull, with
occasional bright spells. In an event which rewards discipline,
solidity and directness, plus the odd sprinkling of flair, few
teams truly shone in the plush surroundings of the Iffley Road
Sports Complex. First up were St Hugh’s B team, deservedly triumphing
over their supposed superiors, a combined Merton and Mansfield A
side. Mark Heath’s early penalty decided the game, the more
direct approach of Hugh’s countering the cultured yet
ineffective style of the opposition. This match set the agenda
for the days’ play, teams being consistently caught out by
the regulation forbidding defenders entering their own penalty
box. Queen’s B also caused a shock. Having been 2-0 down at
halftime, they eventually triumphed 3-2 over Teddy Hall A. The
talented Eckersley, with his delicate dribbling skills and
consummate passing, scored one and set up the other to put Teddy
Hall in complete control. Yet in the secondhalf, with Eckersley
tiring, Teddy Hall faded alarmingly, allowing a spirited
Queen’s fight-back with three goals, shared between
Sutcliffe and Pearson, putting the underdogs through. On the eve of the 50th Anniversary of the breaking of the
four-minute mile, not many individuals were showing the
consistency and tenacity that were so key to Sir Roger
Bannister’s remarkable achievement, also at Iffley Road. Exeter A produced a similar comeback to Queen’s B, with
twosecond half penalties from Paul Coles sealing the game after
Lennon had given Balliol A the lead. Though Balliol had the
better of the possession, the Exeter keeper, Taylor, wearing a
Blackburn Rovers kit, was rarely forced to display Brad
Friedelesque reflexes in a dull game. Teddy Hall B team, resplendent in a vivid red-and-yellow
strip, completed a resounding victory over a poor Lincoln B side
bedecked in a slightly more conservative and tasteful sky blue
kit. The excellent Atkinson volleyed the first goal, with Kelly
twice finishing well beyond the vociferous, though
under-protected, Lincoln ’keeper to seal a 3-0 victory. The tournament continues, and over the next few weeks the
action promises to heat up, though the Thursday rounds of the
tournament were postponed due to the celebrations of Sir
Roger’s momentous run.ARCHIVE: 2nd week TT 2004 

Three current Oxford students competed at the opening World
Cup Regatta at Poznan, the first chance that those boats heading
to the Olympics in August had to test their speed against serious
competition. For the British squad, it was also a chance to see whether the
reshuffles brought in by Jürgen Grobler had worked. In the
absence of the top British coxless pair due to illness,
Wolfson’s Peter Reed and Christ Church’s David
Livingston raced creditably as their replacements, finishing
fifth in the B final. Christ Church’s other Olympic hopeful, Robin
Bourne-Taylor, would have been more disappointed with the fifth
place achieved by the VIII in the final, seen as a set back
compared to the bronze medal achieved at the World Championships
in Milan last year. This result means that yet more reshuffles are possible in the
VIII, especially with the strong performance of former Keble
student Ed Coode. Coode, previously dropped from the VIII after a
poor showing at GB trials, raced to a gold medal in the coxless
four after substituting for the injured Olympian James Cracknell.ARCHIVE: 2nd week TT 2004 

Oxford’s karting team enjoyed their most successful
season so far in the highly competitive British University
Karting Championship, beating the Tabs in five out of six rounds. The championship, which visits the best karting tracks in the
country and uses two-stroke karts capable of 85mph and 0-60 in 4
seconds, attracts competitors with a wealth of professional
motorsport experience including Le Mans 24Hr, GT racing, Formula
3 and even the winner of the Channel 5 reality TV show ‘Be A
Grand Prix Driver’. With drivers of this standard, Oxford
were expecting a tough season; however on a number of occasions
they showed the pace and talent to run near the front of the 48
four-driver teams from 25 universities competing. Bayford Meadows in Kent was the venue for the opening round,
and the team struggled for consistency, messing up three of the
four individual races with only the writer scoring a decent
result in 14th. Round 2 at Rye House, Hertfordshire brought
further ill luck, as three of the team were given black flags and
penalties after collisions with other drivers. The Championship then moved to Warden Law near Sunderland for
rounds 3 and 4, and local boy Adam Craig proved the star. He
raced away into the lead of his first race, leaving all the pros
behind – until with just two laps to go he spun, dropping to
5th – still a great result. He followed that up with
Oxford’s first ever podium in 2nd in his other race – a
superb performance. Clay Pigeon in Dorset rounded off the season by hosting the
final two rounds in Noughth week. The team still had some work to
do to ensure victory over Cambridge, and once again the 30 minute
individual races proved tricky despite the writer’s best
ever result in 9th place, with the other drivers each having
problems. That left two one-hour pair races, and Marcus Haggers
and James Brown did a brilliant job to finish 12th in theirs,
despite spinning once and having started last on the grid, they
slashed their way relentlessly through the field. The other two drivers then scored a brilliant 7th place in the
final race of the season, keeping pace with the professionals all
the way to conclude the team’s best ever day and season in
the championship. The victory over Cambridge was well-deserved
and provides great expectation for the Varsity Karting race.ARCHIVE: 2nd week TT 2004 

Bannister, Chataway and Brasher; the four-minute-mile was
something of a team achievement; without his pace makers the good
doctor might never have breasted the tape in time. Had he been
just a fraction slower a foreigner would have taken the plaudits
that Bannister now laps up; there might have been no honours from
a grateful Empire, and no celebration fifty years on at
Oxford’s slightly less famous Iffley Road athletics track. Perhaps there would have been no subsequent British obsession
with middle distance running – an obsession which spawned
the great Cram, Coe and Ovett. Bannister, as he would certainly
be the first to acknowledge, owes his pacemakers a great deal. In fact, so much individual success is actually the result of
teamwork; the result of minions sacrificing themselves for the
good of their superiors. Lance Armstrong, that modern day hero,
is literally pulled up those steep Alpine climbs by his team
mates most of whom will have to drop out because of the sheer
exhaustion of breaking the still air in front of their leader;
Paula Radcliffe’s amazing London marathon records have been
aided by (male) pacemakers and Michael Schumacher’s
victories have so often come at the expense of his team-mates. Of course these three are among the most talented sportsmen
and women of this, or indeed any other, generation. It is this
talent that assures them of their greatness. Even the greatest,
though, have to rely on others from time to time. Individual
records are hardly ever so simple a feat as we are afterwards led
to believe by the historians eager to dramatise events and
glorify names – if it wasn’t you crossing the line then
you hardly count, it seems. At a time when everyone (us included) is quite rightly singing
the praises of Bannister, Cherwell asks that everyone takes a
minute or four to remember those without whom it quite literally
wouldn’t have been possible – Chataway, Brasher and all
your like: we salute you.ARCHIVE: 2nd week TT 2004