Your GCA Shopping List?

« **on:** September 17, 2006, 04:05:46 PM »

There's a show on radio over here where celebs are asked to spend 50 quid and choose their 'Celebrity Shopping List' (their fave book, dvd and album) as a prize.

A certain contributor to this DG was mentioned this week as having chosen:

The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler
Curb Your Enthusiasm Series 1 - on DVD
Bob Dylan's Highway 61 and Kraftwerks Computer World

Not one mention of golf or golf architecture - I ask you. The Big Eedjit!

If you had to choose a package for one of us to win as a prize, what might it be?

Mine would be:

Book:
Wethered and Simpson: 'The Architectural Side of Golf'
(the BEST book EVER written on the subject, IMHO.)

DVD: 'Caddyshack' of course. There's no finer exemplar available for the uses of animal-shaped plastic explosives in course 'restoration'.
Just kidding!
'The Fountainhead'. Who would be the GCA equivalent of Howard Roark???

Album/CD: 'Songs for Swingin' Lovers' by Ol' Blue Eyes. Effortless musicality, stylish orchestrations and pant-wettingly COOL vocals! What my ideal golfscape would look like if music could be turned into earth.

FBD.

« **Reply #1 on:** September 17, 2006, 04:16:23 PM »

I'll have to go for:

Book: The Spirit of Saint Andrews - MacKenzie

DVD: Dead Solid Perfect

CD: Hootie and the Blowfish - Cracked Rear View (a bit tenuous, but they play a bit)

« **Reply #2 on:** September 17, 2006, 04:45:26 PM »

Quote from: Padraig Dooley on September 17, 2006, 04:16:23 PM

CD: Hootie and the Blowfish - Cracked Rear View (a bit tenuous, but they play a bit)

Padraig,
you've landed on La Nancy's most fave band. One of these days, I'm going to relent and let her take me to Myrtle Beach and MATM:

http://www.hootiegolf.com/

Darius and Tiger: Separated at Birth?

FBD.

« **Reply #3 on:** September 17, 2006, 06:10:20 PM »

OK, for me a no brainer

Book: P.G. Wodehouse, "Golf" a collection of his golf related short stories, (oldest member etc)

DVD: Jeeves and Wooster season 1 and 2. hilarious, especially the golf related episodes.

CD: Pixies "Doolittle" Ok I don't have to be all stuffy and BBC all of the time. I miss this one as I don't have it on CD yet.

"Death to the Pixies"

« **Reply #4 on:** September 17, 2006, 06:29:20 PM »

Martin I know you're a fan of BBC Radio 2 but did you catch their GCA moment of the day, today?

The great broadcaster and historian of 'popular' music of the showtunes era, Russell Davies played Mary Martin's version of 'My Heart Belongs to Daddy'. Normally sung as:

"While tearing off
A game of golf
I may make a play for the caddy.
But when I do
I don't follow through
'Cause my heart belongs to Daddy."

Davies speculated that as the song was so carefully rhymed that Cole Porter would surely have partnered 'off' with 'Goff' and then proceeded to tell the audience that this was in fact an earlier name for Golf and would have been familiar to his audience, upper class Edwardians etc. (Ps the standard reference book he quoted by Kimball has a foreword by Updike who has also authored....)

Ahh it’s trivia but I love it.

« **Reply #5 on:** September 17, 2006, 07:28:36 PM »

Alright,

I was hoping somebody would call me out on the golf/Pixies connection, but I'm not going to wait. Well there is one, here you go.

I used to work lights at First Avenue, a local rock night club. The Pixies were doing a show so being a huge fan I got to talk to them a bit. The lead man Frank Black told a road story from when they toured in a van.

Apparently the band was a little "tired" from the travel and cut a gig short. After the show he was confronted by a frustrated fan at a convenience store who was fluent in international signing.

Frank, feeling the need to defend against this besmirch, grabbed an 8 iron from his van and signed something back. The fan needless to say fled without any more digital comment.

I must have looked a bit surprised (mostly because I never pictured him to be a golfer) because he said "you wouldn't have done the same?" I replied "no, given the situation I'd have chosen a club with less loft"

I thought he'd never stop laughing at that. For a moment I felt like I'd made a friend. Still a big fan.

« **Reply #6 on:** September 17, 2006, 07:36:15 PM »

Paul, I just figured you liked "Where is my mind?".

I'm a big fan of Frank Black's solo song "Headache".

« **Reply #7 on:** September 17, 2006, 08:02:31 PM »

George,

Glad to see there is another fan on the site, I never thought of that connection but you have a good one there.

I actually use "Gigantic" now and then as my swing tempo. You can probably imagine how that works.

« **Reply #8 on:** September 18, 2006, 11:01:09 AM »

Book - The Links by Robert Hunter - We always feel strongly about our "first"

Movie - Blade Runner - Harrison Ford starring as a futuristic putting champion

CD - Rattlesnakes by Lloyd Cole and the Commotions - An excellent debut album fronted by a sometime contributor to GCA and a bassist who is now a golf columnist and author.

Caveat - If Lloyd was Martin's "Secret Celebrity" and didn't mention any golf-related items then I will change the album to "American Beauty" by the Grateful Dead to continue the Robert Hunter theme.

Chris

« **Reply #9 on:** September 18, 2006, 02:24:34 PM »

Quote from: Paul Payne on September 17, 2006, 08:02:31 PM

George,

Glad to see there is another fan on the site, I never thought of that connection but you have a good one there.

I actually use "Gigantic" now and then as my swing tempo. You can probably imagine how that works.

Paul,

Make that three fans. I saw the Pixies four times and loved every one. And Doolittle maybe the greatest album of all time. I can't make a golfing connection, though.

« **Reply #10 on:** September 18, 2006, 02:58:19 PM »

Quote from: Paul Payne on September 17, 2006, 07:28:36 PM

Alright,

I was hoping somebody would call me out on the golf/Pixies connection, but I'm not going to wait. Well there is one, here you go.

I used to work lights at First Avenue, a local rock night club. The Pixies were doing a show so being a huge fan I got to talk to them a bit. The lead man Frank Black told a road story from when they toured in a van.

Apparently the band was a little "tired" from the travel and cut a gig short. After the show he was confronted by a frustrated fan at a convenience store who was fluent in international signing.

Frank, feeling the need to defend against this besmirch, grabbed an 8 iron from his van and signed something back. The fan needless to say fled without any more digital comment.

I must have looked a bit surprised (mostly because I never pictured him to be a golfer) because he said "you wouldn't have done the same?" I replied "no, given the situation I'd have chosen a club with less loft"

I thought he'd never stop laughing at that. For a moment I felt like I'd made a friend. Still a big fan.

I never quite got the Pixies. Husker Du>>>>Pixies.

If the First Ave is the one in the Twin Cities, I'm sure Mould and the homtown boys tore it up many a' times.

Cheers,
Brad

« **Reply #11 on:** September 18, 2006, 03:01:02 PM »

You have no reason to know this, but my accompanist when I was a student at the Royal Academy of Music was one Simon Rattle, now Chief Conductor of the Berlin Phil. That's a bit like saying that my old caddie was Tiger Woods. But then not many of you seem to share my musical tastes so it's entirely irrelevant what music I might choose.

« **Reply #12 on:** September 18, 2006, 03:47:27 PM »

Brad:

The Huskers were more of a 7th St. Entry band -- I did see them tear that apart a few times before they "graduated" to the big room. Little known trivia: me and my best college buddy promoted one of the very first Husker shows -- the basement of a college dorm where he and I and Bob Mould all went to college together. Mould was (and still is) a fascinating guy, much more introspective than your average punk-rock guy -- another good friend of mine from those days, who used to room with Bob, once told me Bob had "a million songs running around in his head" -- guess he was right.(Norton the Huskers' bass player now runs a chic restaurant south of Red Wing MN on the Mississippi River with his wife.)

« **Reply #13 on:** September 18, 2006, 04:01:14 PM »

Mark, you wrote, "But then not many of you seem to share my musical tastes so it's entirely irrelevant what music I might choose."

But some of us do share and would like to know!

I'm still working away on it.

« **Reply #14 on:** September 18, 2006, 04:43:04 PM »

Hey Phil,
I saw a Bob Mould's first solo tour (Workbook) at Grinell College on a road trip during my undergrad at Iowa State. It was the single most powerful musical performance I've ever seen (and HEARD, WOW!). I was fortunate enough to meet him after the show, and he was very personable. Unfortunately for me, Husker Du broke up right as I went to college, so I never got to see them. live.

Cheers,
Brad

« **Reply #15 on:** September 18, 2006, 04:45:25 PM »

Quote from: Martin Bonnar on September 17, 2006, 04:05:46 PM

Not one mention of golf or golf architecture - I ask you. The Big Eedjit!

BFD - Certainly we have some great writers, but even Darwin can't stand next to Chandler. As far as I'm aware the only golf CD out is by Peter Jacobsen and it's not quite up to Bob circa 1965.

And... Same chap (on a promotional tour of Europe at the time) was on the radio in Dublin and was overheard prior to the interview commenting on the disgrace that it was that The Ryder Cup was going to the K Club. DJ asked would he be willing to discuss on air? - Bloody right.

BTW - My choice. No DVD, No CD. The Spirit of St Andrews, Masters of the Links, and The Anatomy of a Golf Course.

« **Reply #16 on:** September 18, 2006, 04:55:30 PM »

I'm with Philip, Mark I'd like to know (I'm still stunned by the Rattle connection).

this is so hard

Book (I'll cheat a novel and a biography)
Perfume, Patrick Suskind
The Man Verdi by Frank Walker (yet to find a Golf book that is so complete)

DVD Brazil directed by Terry Gilliam (it's the film I've watched the most but I can’t explain the fascination)

Music (original had 2 so I will also)
Otello Toscanini, Vinay etc took my tastes in a different direction
It's too Late to Stop Now, Van Morrison live when he was king of the world.

« **Reply #17 on:** September 18, 2006, 05:17:35 PM »

Book--Catch-22
DVD--Local Hero
CD--Who's Next

They are all about golf and GCA, in their own way......

« **Reply #18 on:** September 18, 2006, 05:41:14 PM »

Who doesn't love Bob Mould?

Whether it's Husker Du, Sugar, or solo, he is totally awesome. I saw him solo acoustic about 8 years ago - fantastic. I was worried when he put out a disc a few years ago titled The Last Dog and Pony Show, but he's still writing, recording and selling, so all is well.

P.S. DVD's of entire season of TV shows are probably over the 50 quid limit.

And if you're gonna go TV, how do you not choose The Simpsons season 5, unless it's to choose season 4 or 6?

« **Reply #19 on:** September 18, 2006, 05:57:28 PM »

Just pick up Lloyd Coles "Bad Vibes" album. One of my all time favorites.

Book - The Milagro Beanfield War (funny, poignant, and there is a golf element. In fact, I believe that Robert Trent Jones is mentioned by name).

DVD - Gotta go with Happy Gilmore, since Caddyshack's already been mentioned. Are there any "serious" golf movies that are worth it? Bagger Vance? Ugh. Perhaps the Bobby Jones instructional series? Those are fun to watch.

« **Reply #20 on:** September 18, 2006, 06:19:11 PM »

Lord of the Rings
Quadrophenia
Shakespeare in Love/Pulp Fiction

Golf book - The Anatomy of a Golf Course but Spirit of St. Andrew's is a close second...

Hmmm...all English except Tarantino and Doak...I must have good taste;)

Anglophiles rock!

Sorry about the mispellings...I have fat fingers...but thin everything else...

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