My Name is on the Bills is the second album to be released by Welsh rhythm and blues band Red - Eyed Fly. Nicknamed "the Bills", the CD and accompanying vinal were released in August 2007, two years after the band was first formed. Out of the eight track listings, two were compositions of the whole band, and the other rest were separately written by lead singer Mike Bird, with the exception of "Calling Time", jointly written by lead guitarist Richard Eason, and "Montgomery Man", jointly written by bassist Rob Davies.
Writing
My Name is on the Bills was Red - Eyed Fly's first professional album, with writing stemming from a variety of techniques that played into the band's live performances over the previous year. The album is a collection of the songs written by the band itself, leaving out covers from notable jazz, blues and rock musicians. Nothing was written specifically for this album, but added when the time for recording came, although Bird had ideas for recording with the band as one of his main interests. Notable listings include the title track, "Calling Time", "My Purgatory" and "She's Up To Something". "My Name is on the Bills", Bird's slightly humourous latin/blues song, allegedly written for the Credit Crunch, but originating from an earlier 1990s twelve-bar blues song of his. "The Stutter" is most likely the most performed track on the album, which became the instumental opening for the band at almost every live perfomance it played,featuring the memorable shout of "Stutter" from Richard Eason, shaking up the tempo of the song into an actual stuttering effect. "My Purgatory" is a throwback to cabaret latin, but with a meaningful blues undertone, generate from Bird's style of singing. "Don't You Wish You Could Run Your Life Like You Run Mine" and "She's Up To Something", are two other of Bird's compositions dataing back to previous band experiences, the latter of which being a slow blues, with long lead guitar solo by Eason. "Calling Time" is a more Freddy King inspired twelve-bar blues riff featuring vocals from both Mike Bird and Richard Eason.
Recording
The album was recorded, engineered and produced by the band over a the course of a weekend in January 2007, at UWE is Bristol, with mastering and additional production taking place at SSL, Oxfordshire, in Spring 2007. Multiple takes were taken on many of the songs, notably My Name is on the Bills, in which Bird went back to record an additional harmonica solo, and vocal overdubbs by The Clan on the previously mentioned track. Following this, keyboards were later added to My Purgratory some time after January, with piano and slide added to That's Why I Drink So Much.
Track Listings
1.Don't You Wish You Could Run your Life Like You Run Mine? (Bird)
2. My name is on the Bills (Bird)
3. That's Why I Drink So Much (Bird)
4. The Stutter (Bird, Eason, Davies, Harvey)
5. She's Up To Something (Bird)
6. My Purgatory (Bird, Eason, Harvey)
7. Calling Time (Bird, Eason)
8. Montgomery Man (Bird, Davies)
Personnel
Mike Bird - lead, rhythm guitar and lead guitar, harmonica
Richard Eason - lead Guitar, slide guitar, backing vocals
Robert Davies - bass guitar, backing vocals
Carl Harvey - drums, percussion
Gethin John, Tom Smith - keyboards
The Clan - additional vocals
David Eason - engineer, producer January - August 2007
Gethin John - Producer
Writing
My Name is on the Bills was Red - Eyed Fly's first professional album, with writing stemming from a variety of techniques that played into the band's live performances over the previous year. The album is a collection of the songs written by the band itself, leaving out covers from notable jazz, blues and rock musicians. Nothing was written specifically for this album, but added when the time for recording came, although Bird had ideas for recording with the band as one of his main interests. Notable listings include the title track, "Calling Time", "My Purgatory" and "She's Up To Something". "My Name is on the Bills", Bird's slightly humourous latin/blues song, allegedly written for the Credit Crunch, but originating from an earlier 1990s twelve-bar blues song of his. "The Stutter" is most likely the most performed track on the album, which became the instumental opening for the band at almost every live perfomance it played,featuring the memorable shout of "Stutter" from Richard Eason, shaking up the tempo of the song into an actual stuttering effect. "My Purgatory" is a throwback to cabaret latin, but with a meaningful blues undertone, generate from Bird's style of singing. "Don't You Wish You Could Run Your Life Like You Run Mine" and "She's Up To Something", are two other of Bird's compositions dataing back to previous band experiences, the latter of which being a slow blues, with long lead guitar solo by Eason. "Calling Time" is a more Freddy King inspired twelve-bar blues riff featuring vocals from both Mike Bird and Richard Eason.
Recording
The album was recorded, engineered and produced by the band over a the course of a weekend in January 2007, at UWE is Bristol, with mastering and additional production taking place at SSL, Oxfordshire, in Spring 2007. Multiple takes were taken on many of the songs, notably My Name is on the Bills, in which Bird went back to record an additional harmonica solo, and vocal overdubbs by The Clan on the previously mentioned track. Following this, keyboards were later added to My Purgratory some time after January, with piano and slide added to That's Why I Drink So Much.
Track Listings
1.Don't You Wish You Could Run your Life Like You Run Mine? (Bird)
2. My name is on the Bills (Bird)
3. That's Why I Drink So Much (Bird)
4. The Stutter (Bird, Eason, Davies, Harvey)
5. She's Up To Something (Bird)
6. My Purgatory (Bird, Eason, Harvey)
7. Calling Time (Bird, Eason)
8. Montgomery Man (Bird, Davies)
Personnel
Mike Bird - lead, rhythm guitar and lead guitar, harmonica
Richard Eason - lead Guitar, slide guitar, backing vocals
Robert Davies - bass guitar, backing vocals
Carl Harvey - drums, percussion
Gethin John, Tom Smith - keyboards
The Clan - additional vocals
David Eason - engineer, producer January - August 2007
Gethin John - Producer
The Australia national women's cricket team are known as the Southern Stars.
The Southern Stars were a cricket team that featured in Kenya's short lived Sahara Elite League.
2008 squad
* Davinder Bharij (Team Manager)
* Alfred Njuguna (Coach)
* Kennedy Obuya (Capt) (Stray Lions)
* Nehemiah Odhiambo (Swamibapa)
* Rajesh Bhudia (Kanbis)
* Hiren Varaiya (Nbi Gymkhana)
* Peter Kituku (Stray Lions)
* Ashwin Prabhakar Jaffery Sports Club (although not picked for the 20-20 and One Day tournament, played in the 2 Day Contest.)
* Alpesh Bhudia (Kanbis)
* Darshit Shah (Nbi Gymkhana)
* Amit Shukla (Ruaraka)
* Ashish Bhatt (Swamibapa)
* Brijal Patel (Aga Khan)
* Jai Trivedi (MSC)
* Rajesh Varsani (Kanbis)
* Stewart Kayne (Aga Khan)
* Dharmendra Mepani (Kanbis)
* Zahir Abbas (MSC)
The 2008 Sahara Elite League
The Southern Stars made a rather poor start to the only edition of the Sahara Elite League losing all 3 of their Twenty20 matches to finish last in the four team competition .
They showed more fight in the one day competition by winning their first match against Western Chiefs . Nonetheless this proved to be a false dawn as they lost their subsequent two matches to finish bottom of that competition as well.
The Southern Stars were a cricket team that featured in Kenya's short lived Sahara Elite League.
2008 squad
* Davinder Bharij (Team Manager)
* Alfred Njuguna (Coach)
* Kennedy Obuya (Capt) (Stray Lions)
* Nehemiah Odhiambo (Swamibapa)
* Rajesh Bhudia (Kanbis)
* Hiren Varaiya (Nbi Gymkhana)
* Peter Kituku (Stray Lions)
* Ashwin Prabhakar Jaffery Sports Club (although not picked for the 20-20 and One Day tournament, played in the 2 Day Contest.)
* Alpesh Bhudia (Kanbis)
* Darshit Shah (Nbi Gymkhana)
* Amit Shukla (Ruaraka)
* Ashish Bhatt (Swamibapa)
* Brijal Patel (Aga Khan)
* Jai Trivedi (MSC)
* Rajesh Varsani (Kanbis)
* Stewart Kayne (Aga Khan)
* Dharmendra Mepani (Kanbis)
* Zahir Abbas (MSC)
The 2008 Sahara Elite League
The Southern Stars made a rather poor start to the only edition of the Sahara Elite League losing all 3 of their Twenty20 matches to finish last in the four team competition .
They showed more fight in the one day competition by winning their first match against Western Chiefs . Nonetheless this proved to be a false dawn as they lost their subsequent two matches to finish bottom of that competition as well.
Neil Blower is a British born novelist, screenwriter and poet whose debut novel Shell Shock: the Diary of Tommy Atkins was released on 1st October 2011.
Born in Salford, Manchester, Neil Blower joined the British Army in 1999 and served with the royal Tank Regiment, for five years serving in Kosiovo and in the invasion of Iraq in 2003 (Op Telic).
Due to his military service, Neil Blower developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and upon diagnosis was advised to undertake a create persuit to help cope with the symptoms of the condition. This lead to him taking up writing as a hobby which went on to Blower starting a degree in creative writing and English Literature at the Univerity of Salford.
Whilst at the University of Salford, it was also discovered that Neil Blower suffered from Dyslexia on the Autistic Spectrum.
His debut novel Shell Shock: The Diary of Tommy Atkins tells the story of a young British soldier and his struggle adjusting to civilian life, while struggling to cope with PTSD.
Neil Blower's writing has been compared to other war novelists such as Ernest Hemmingway, Pat Barker and British poets such as Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. This is due to his ability to convey both moving and accurate portrayals of the consequences of war.
Neil Blower has also contributed seven poems to the anthology Eduring Freedom, which comemorates ten years of British involvement inside of Afghanistan.
Born in Salford, Manchester, Neil Blower joined the British Army in 1999 and served with the royal Tank Regiment, for five years serving in Kosiovo and in the invasion of Iraq in 2003 (Op Telic).
Due to his military service, Neil Blower developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and upon diagnosis was advised to undertake a create persuit to help cope with the symptoms of the condition. This lead to him taking up writing as a hobby which went on to Blower starting a degree in creative writing and English Literature at the Univerity of Salford.
Whilst at the University of Salford, it was also discovered that Neil Blower suffered from Dyslexia on the Autistic Spectrum.
His debut novel Shell Shock: The Diary of Tommy Atkins tells the story of a young British soldier and his struggle adjusting to civilian life, while struggling to cope with PTSD.
Neil Blower's writing has been compared to other war novelists such as Ernest Hemmingway, Pat Barker and British poets such as Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. This is due to his ability to convey both moving and accurate portrayals of the consequences of war.
Neil Blower has also contributed seven poems to the anthology Eduring Freedom, which comemorates ten years of British involvement inside of Afghanistan.
Traditional Indian cricket bats are wooden bats made in India, in regions of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab ,Haryana, Gujrat and Rajasthan. In Kashmir it is made out of willow found in northern India whereas, trees like teak and saal wood are used in making these bats in north-western region of country. Some bats made in Kashmir are of international standards and are/were used by many national players in India such as Sunil Gavaskar ,Virender Sehwag ,Yuvraj Singh,etc .Bats made in other regions are generally of lower quality and mainly used in non-professional games of cricket such as tennis ball cricket which are played in streets and neighborhoods across India.
Kashmiri Willow Bats
The willow used in making these bats was brought in by the British, who ruled India, during the 1920's. The villages nestled high in the mountains which were abundant with willow of Kashmir accounted for the majority of the world's cricket bats during 1970's when its manufacturing started. These bats are not only popular in India ,but also in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Srilanka .The cost range of these bats is from a mere Rs.500 to Rs.10000. Generally considered to be heavier than English willow bats ,these bats are preferred by players of the sub-continent who prefer the greater speed generated off these bats. Traditional methods are still used by the industry established in Kashmir, whereby bats are shaped by hand and eye measurements, combining traditional tools with modern technology.
.
Kashmiri bats require constant knocking and oiling for making the bat good enough to use in a cricket match.Knocking is done so as to make the fibres of the willow blade compress together which helps the bat bear the impact of the ball. The best way is to use an old ball or bat mallet. Constant knocking for six hours is required so that the edges of the bat are well shaped. Another major aspect of taking care of such bats is Oiling .Oil is applied on the back, toe , front and edges of the bat to make it more durable and the fibers get knitted properly.Some of the disticts were these bats are made in Kashmir are as follows :
*Anantnag
*Baramula
*Pahalgam.
Few of the companies that produce Kashmiri Bats are as follows:
* Sareen sports Industries
* SG Cricket
* BDM Cricket bats
* Syndicate Sports Goods
Problems of Bat Industry in Kashmir
The bat industry these days in Kashmir is facing a number of problems and are losing their market shares not only in India ,but internationally. The constant competition from the English Willow and Kookaburra bats, which are used by many international players such as Ricky Ponting, are proving to be tough competition for Indian made bats. For the time being, Kookaburra bats are withdrawn from the market, but still continue to pose a treat to the Kashmiri Bat industry.Kashmiri willow is also regarded to be of inferior quality to English willow bats as it is considered to be of lesser quality in terms of grain quality and structure.
Another major problem is that of terrorism and constant unrest in the Kashmir valley which is causing losses in the region of Rs.30 crore to the industry .The hub of bat manufacturing is done around the seven villages—Charsoo, Hallmullaha, Bijbehara, Sangam, Sethar, Pujteng and Mirzapor in the South Kashmir, are the ones who have been badly hit .
The bat factories located in the villages ,which, according to traders, used to make nearly five lakh bats per year have been torn apart by turmoils.
A new ray of hope was seen for this industry during the IPL seasons. The emergence of Indian Premier League is proving to be a positive effect on the cricket bat manufacturing industry in Kashmir. Also during the the Cricket World Cup 2011, the sales figures of these bats rose from 15% to 18%
Other Areas and bats
Generally bats in other parts of country are made from the local wood found in the areas. These bats are of low quality and do not require as much care or knocking. These bats are made by local bat-makers,and sell them at a price range of Rs.200-300. One such establishment of bat-makers are from Gandhinagar, who migrate during the summer to different parts of the nation. They can even be seen selling the new mongoose cricket bats and are preferred by casual players of the game.
Kashmiri Willow Bats
The willow used in making these bats was brought in by the British, who ruled India, during the 1920's. The villages nestled high in the mountains which were abundant with willow of Kashmir accounted for the majority of the world's cricket bats during 1970's when its manufacturing started. These bats are not only popular in India ,but also in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Srilanka .The cost range of these bats is from a mere Rs.500 to Rs.10000. Generally considered to be heavier than English willow bats ,these bats are preferred by players of the sub-continent who prefer the greater speed generated off these bats. Traditional methods are still used by the industry established in Kashmir, whereby bats are shaped by hand and eye measurements, combining traditional tools with modern technology.
.
Kashmiri bats require constant knocking and oiling for making the bat good enough to use in a cricket match.Knocking is done so as to make the fibres of the willow blade compress together which helps the bat bear the impact of the ball. The best way is to use an old ball or bat mallet. Constant knocking for six hours is required so that the edges of the bat are well shaped. Another major aspect of taking care of such bats is Oiling .Oil is applied on the back, toe , front and edges of the bat to make it more durable and the fibers get knitted properly.Some of the disticts were these bats are made in Kashmir are as follows :
*Anantnag
*Baramula
*Pahalgam.
Few of the companies that produce Kashmiri Bats are as follows:
* Sareen sports Industries
* SG Cricket
* BDM Cricket bats
* Syndicate Sports Goods
Problems of Bat Industry in Kashmir
The bat industry these days in Kashmir is facing a number of problems and are losing their market shares not only in India ,but internationally. The constant competition from the English Willow and Kookaburra bats, which are used by many international players such as Ricky Ponting, are proving to be tough competition for Indian made bats. For the time being, Kookaburra bats are withdrawn from the market, but still continue to pose a treat to the Kashmiri Bat industry.Kashmiri willow is also regarded to be of inferior quality to English willow bats as it is considered to be of lesser quality in terms of grain quality and structure.
Another major problem is that of terrorism and constant unrest in the Kashmir valley which is causing losses in the region of Rs.30 crore to the industry .The hub of bat manufacturing is done around the seven villages—Charsoo, Hallmullaha, Bijbehara, Sangam, Sethar, Pujteng and Mirzapor in the South Kashmir, are the ones who have been badly hit .
The bat factories located in the villages ,which, according to traders, used to make nearly five lakh bats per year have been torn apart by turmoils.
A new ray of hope was seen for this industry during the IPL seasons. The emergence of Indian Premier League is proving to be a positive effect on the cricket bat manufacturing industry in Kashmir. Also during the the Cricket World Cup 2011, the sales figures of these bats rose from 15% to 18%
Other Areas and bats
Generally bats in other parts of country are made from the local wood found in the areas. These bats are of low quality and do not require as much care or knocking. These bats are made by local bat-makers,and sell them at a price range of Rs.200-300. One such establishment of bat-makers are from Gandhinagar, who migrate during the summer to different parts of the nation. They can even be seen selling the new mongoose cricket bats and are preferred by casual players of the game.