by Peter Moore

Number Eleven – White Stripes: I Can Tell That We Are Going to Be Friends

There’s some base charm about the White Stripes from which there is no point trying to escape. Whether it’s the lumbering bass riff of Severn Nation Army, the Yankee Doodle blues of Hotel Yorba or the jumping piano of My Doorbell, each of them will grapple onto your head and burrow, like a determined ferret, into your mind.

Jack White may resemble an annoying Elvis imposter at gigs when he addresses the crowd like a circus ringmaster, but there are few people in the world that doubt his quality as a songwriter or musician. Anyone inspired to take to the fret board by The Stripes should probably start off with I Can Tell That We Are Going to Be Friends, a vivid recollection of those blissfully naive days in primary school.

It’s as dumb as a guitar riff could possibly be, but in that lies its attraction. It’s the alluring wooden spoon and tin pot appeal of the White Stripes.

by Tim Anderson

Football storms into the El Clásico weekend with Real Madrid nine points behind their La Liga leading Catalan rivals Barcelona. After last weekend´s 4-3 loss to Sevilla, manager Bernd Schuster threw himself to the lions when he said in the post match press conference, “ It will be impossible for Madrid to beat Barcelona next weekend”. The lion, owner Ramon Calderón didn’t wait much longer to finish him off, and promptly installed recent Tottenham sacking, Juande Ramos, to the managerial post the following day.

Barcelona on the other hand, continue to fly high. This month’s fixtures were meant to be the testing time for Pep Guardiola’s men, but they are sweeping all aside, a convincing 3-0 win over Sevilla last weekend was followed by a 4-0 thrashing of Valencia. That leaves the Catalans 6 points clear of second placed Villareal, having conceded just 9 goals in 14 games, while banging 44 in at the other end.

As if the presence of Messi, Xavi and Iniesta wasn’t enough of a threat, long-winging frog maestro Thierry Henry bagged his second hat-trick of his Nou Camp career to make every Madrid fan tremble with anxiety. With their own strike force spending extra time on the recouperation table, anything less than an embarrassment might be considered a success for the Bernabéu boys.

The atmosphere will still be electric, even if this round will be played in Barcelona. The bars will be buzzing, crying, cheering and jumping and it will only get better when the game actually starts!! Stranger things have happened than a Madrid win, and if there is a game to bring out the passion in the players, to test the nerves and to typify the Spanish passion for football, this weekend is it.

The last 5 results:

FC Barcelona 0-1 Real Madrid 2005-6
Real Madrid 4-1 FC Barcelona 2006-7
FC Barcelona 3-3 Real Madrid 2006-7
Real Madrid 2-0 FC Barcelona 2007-8
FC Barcelona 1-1 Real Madrid 2007-8