A year on from the 2010 World Cup

Last year this time, South Africa was in the midst of World cup fever which lasted until the 12 of July.

Ask any South African where they were on the opening day of the world cup and they will be able to tell you. Not because of the fact that the event was being held in SA but because of this.....

World Cup South Africa 2010 Opening Goal - More amazing video clips are a click away

The first goal of the World Cup 2010 was not scored by a Mexican or a Uruguayan or even a Frenchman. It was scored by our very own Siphiwe Tshabalala.

Just a note: For the unfortunate few who have not had the pleasure of watching SA soccer...the noise in the background is not a swarm of killer bees comming to sting the shit out of the players on the field. It is the sound of 90 000 Vuvuzelas being blown at once.

But lets be hounest. It might be irritating, but you are not proudly South African if you dont own a Vuvuzela or know how to blow one. Even Diego Maradona likes them.

Even if you were the most pessimistic bastard in the world (which I can admittedly be at times when it comes to my country) you couldn't help but be proudly South African and proud of your country after watching that goal. I cried like a baby when he scored that goal,the only time you will ever see me cry is during emotional moments of sporting events. I don't cry at weddings or funerals. I cry during sports events. I cried like a baby when we won the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France and I cried like a baby when 'Tshaba' scored that goal.

Another very emotional moment for me on that day was seeing one of my favorite performers of all time R Kelly performing the unofficial World Cup anthem Sign of a Victory.

	R. Kelly - Sign Of Victory .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Alot of people ask me why am I fan of R Kelly and they give me every excuse in the book about him abusing drugs and sexually assaulting an underage girl, and I tell them that I am a fan of R Kelly for the same reason that 80% of the world was (and still are) a fan of Queen (and we all know what a dodgy Cabron Freddy Mercury was). I am a fan of R Kelly because his music has meaning. His lyrics have meaning. He doesn't just sing about bro's, ho's, smoking weed and getting paid. Listen to the song. Close your eyes and concentrate on the lyrics.

But this is all besides the point. A year on from the World Cup, has South Africa benefited from the World Cup?

The Positives
South Africa benefited mainly in the form of tourism. Because of the tourists during the World Cup period for every one rand spent on improving South Africa for the event the country saw a ROI of four rand. This means that South Africa made R4-billion out of the event. A profit of R3-billion.

And this lasted long after the event. I went to the Kruger park three months after the World Cup final and there were Australians, Canadians, Americans, Israelis, Arabs, and Japanese tourist groups all in the Kruger because they saw the World Cup on TV and wanted to visit the country.

The standard of South Africa's soccer has also improved. For many years, and even during the World Cup, the South African soccer team (known affectionately as Bafana Bafana or The Boys) had foreign coaches with local coaches having to be content with playing role of the supplicant assistant. However, after South Africa's first round exit from the event the calls for a local coach were to loud to ignore and Pitso Mosimane was named as the new coach.

Under Mosimane, Bafana has improved immeasurably crushing African Champions Egypt in Johannesburg and then getting a draw in a rather dirty affair in Cairo. Who would have thought that Bafana, a team that couldn't beat the like of Cape Verde Islands two years ago, would prevent the AFRICAN CHAMPIONS, a team that has won the last three African Cup of Nations tournaments, from participating in the 2012 event? Bafana has also jumped 20 ranking points under Mosimane. 20!

The Negatives
There were infrastructure improvements left, right, and center in South Africa leading up the World Cup but the ordinary South African could not see the benefits of this.

The Gautrain was built, but at R100 a return ticket from Sandton to OR Thambo International Airport a person who makes minimum wage and is flying to Durban once a year cant afford that.

Eskom upgraded the efficiency on its power grid, but we still have rolling blackouts in areas where some of them have not had power for weeks on end. Seems like the Prince of Darkness is the nickname for the CEO of Eskom once again.

We have fantastic new stadiums all around the country, but are they becoming White Elephants? We need to have more big events at these stadiums, and not only soccer now. It needs to be a mix of Soccer, bands, conferences and exhibitions.

Overall the feeling is that South Africa did benefit from the World Cup. But instead of the country revelling in these benefits it is saying: Yes SA has benefited...but at what cost? And this dear readers is a shame.

Things aint what they seem in music

Things are not always what they seem in the music industry. 90% of this can be attributed to the fact that music artists are over worked and need sustenance to keep their energy levels up at times when it is down.

I briefly touched on this issue in an earlier post: one hit wonders and I though that it would be apt to explore this issue in a bit more depth.

Drugs are amazing things. I am not speaking form personal experience as I am a good Catholic boy and don’t condone the use of drugs. MUGS ABUSE DRUGS. I just think that drugs are amazing because they can make people do amazing stuff.

The best story I have heard involves a certain mister Reginald Dwight otherwise known as Elton John.

Now Elton John is a homosexual, by his on admission I am not labelling him, and has always been. But he was married to a woman at one stage in his career. Watching a documentary about him on the history channel he said that he was so high on drugs that he forgot that he was a homosexual.

I’m sorry? What? He was so high on drugs that he forgot that he was homosexual! How much drugs was the man on? The scary thing is that he was married to the woman for four years!

Now you see people will not know this. They watch him on stage and follow his music and think that he is the best thing since sliced bread. And he is a quality performer.

The same situation rings true with probably one of the greatest rock bands of all times, Queen. Rumours were rife about front man Freddy Mercury and the lavish parties that he used to host at his London hacienda. Apparently, servants used to walk around with platters of Blow (cocane).

But its funny how most of the best songs of all time were written while on drugs. Bob Marley’s No woman No Cry, Queens Bohemian Rhapsody, and even the Rolling Stones Start Me Up.

This was a big issue in the movie Walk the Line which is a rather brutal portrail of the life of the signing cowboy Johnny Cash who had a huge battle with amphetamines. When he got clean at the end of his career, he even sang about the fact that he was on drugs. At his live performance at Folsom Prison he sang Cocaine Blues that basically outlines his addiction.

	Johnny Cash - Cocaine Blues
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Speaking of musical artists performing in Prisons. You have to admire Cash’s balls for doing such an album. Mind you he had a big following in the Prisons as he often sang about being in trouble with the law. His Live at Folsom Prison was his comeback album that no record label wanted to endorse. At the end, the record outsold The Beetles and Bob Dylan.

Imagine if a local artist had to perform in Prisons? The only cats that would fit in would be Mandoza or HHP

The next issue worth mentioning is non drug related.

One of my favourite bands of all time is UB40. They must be one of the best bands in the world that never recorded a hit that they wrote the music to themselves. In fact, most of their hits such as Kingston Town and Red Red Wine are covers.

I came across this when I purchased an album called: Reggae Classics on Capital Gold. On the second CD I hear bladdy Johnny Nash belting out Red Red Wine. Perturbed I asked my West Indian Cockney friend that I was working with at the time about this and he said: Mate 90% of UB40’s work are covaz!

I will admit that their version of Red Red Wine is better.

Probably their best cover is of the Temptations classic: The way you do the things you do.


The Temptations- 'The Way You Do The Things You Do' - Click here for more home videos

Basically they took it, quickened the beat, changed the feel from soul to jazzy and changed a few lyrics. And that F for it, ohhh man, what a song. Lets just say that my girlfriend is a huge fan.


UB40 - The Way You Do The Things You Do - The most amazing home videos are here

The only song that they did that was as good as the original is: I Cant Help Falling In Love With You.