END OF THE DAY
(knowing it doesn’t but making it matter)
These are the last words of JAG. I started recording James Alexander Gordon reading the classified football results on the radio every Saturday at 5pm. Each of his broadcasts was a list-poem and was loved by listeners in the UK for over 35 years, in part because of his special intonation that modulated musically, according to whether there was a win, a defeat or a draw. That was in 2014. After a few weeks his broadcasts stopped and it turned out that these were his last.
My first idea was a formal one, to make an audio work that uses the eraser to paint with, removing all the results except the goal-less ones in order to reveal a poetic incantation of teams inflected with the residue of competition. His death added an inescapable feeling of the summation of a whole life and whole lives in general. It captures the voice of trustworthy neutrality as the bringer of both good and bad news. Soccer Zen.
The visual track is filmed across one football pitch, (100m and 10 minutes long). The sound of cheering is recorded there at the same time. The pitch is one of dozens marked out on Hackney Marshes, the home of amateur soccer in London, where the game is played religiously in its purest form on Sundays. In close-up it resembles a muddy shell studded WWI battlefield of a century earlier.
Personally, in watching team sport, I find in genuinely hard to care which side wins. I have always struggled with this and I fully understand that this is a bit of a problem. I still enjoy watching the game although I just see and hear things a bit differently…
Plymouth Argyll nil, Southend United nil, Aldershot Town nil, Kilmarnock nil, Heart of Midlothian nil, Inverness Caledonian Thistle nil, Stranraer nil, Ayr United nil, Greenock Morton nil, Airdrie United nil, Raith Rovers nil, Falkirk nil, Berwick Rangers nil, Clyde nil, Reading nil, Liverpool nil, Queens Park Rangers nil, Barnsley nil, Derby County nil, Middlesbrough nil, Burnley nil, Nottingham Forest nil, Bury nil, Coventry City nil, Shrewsbury Town nil, Milton Keynes Dons nil, Swindon Town nil, Stevenage nil, Tranmere Rovers nil, Plymouth Argyll nil, Gillingham nil, Dagenham and Redbridge nil, Northampton Town nil, Southend United nil, Livingstone nil, Greenock Morton nil, Raith Rovers nil, Forfar Athletic nil, Arbroath nil, Stranraer nil, Stirling Albion nil, Clyde nil, Afan Lido nil, Carmarthen Town nil, Reading nil, Wolverhampton Wanderers nil, Crystal Palace nil, Barnsley nil, Derby County nil, Middlesbrough nil, Tranmere Rovers nil, Bury nil, Milton Keynes Dons nil, Crawley Town nil, Portsmouth nil, Stevenage nil, Scunthorpe United nil, Barnet nil, Northampton Town nil, AFC Wimbledon nil, Exeter City nil, Fleetwood Town nil, Torquay United nil, Oxford United nil, Cheltenham Town nil, AFC Telford United nil, Barrow nil, Lincoln City nil, Macclesfield Town nil, Wrexham nil, Hibernian nil, Aberdeen nil, Dunbarton nil, Cowdenbeath nil, Ayr United nil, East Stirlingshire nil, Airbus UK nil, Fulham nil, Queens Park Rangers nil, Everton nil, Swansea City nil, Southampton nil, Wigan Athletic nil, Leeds United nil, Millwall nil, Nottingham Forest nil, Barnsley nil, Blackburn Rovers nil, Colchester United nil, Shrewsbury Town nil, Coventry City nil, Doncaster Rovers nil, Milton Keynes Dons nil, Sheffield United nil, Tranmere Rovers nil, Stevenage nil, Crewe Alexandra nil, Dagenham and Redbridge nil, Burton Albion nil, Bristol Rovers nil, Exeter City nil, Morecambe nil, Rochdale nil, Plymouth Argyll nil, Kilmarnock nil, Falkirk nil, Cowdenbeath nil, Livingstone nil, Raith Rovers nil, Stranraer nil, Forfar Athletic nil, Ayr United nil, Annan Athletic nil, Montrose nil, Kilmarnock Town nil, Port Talbot Town nil, Connah’s Quay nil, Sunderland nil, Newcastle United nil, Norwich City nil, Leeds United nil, Bristol Rovers nil, York City nil, Burton Albion nil, Exeter City nil, AFC Telford United nil, Alfreton Town nil, Ebbsfleet United nil, Grimsby Town nil, Barrow nil, Tamworth nil, Wrexham nil, Newport County nil, Dartford nil, Dundee nil, Ross County nil, Heart of Midlothian nil, Airdrie United nil, Stenhousemuir nil, East Stirlingshire nil, Montrose nil, Rangers nil, Annan Athletic nil, Queens Park nil, Berwick Rangers nil, Carmarthen Town nil, Hartlepool United nil, Walsall nil, Coventry City nil, Preston North End nil, Leyton Orient nil, Swindon Town nil, Notts County nil, Morecambe nil, Barnet nil, Cheltenham Town nil, Accrington Stanley nil, Oxford United nil, Gateshead nil, Luton Town nil, Tamworth nil, Newport County nil, Falkirk nil, Berwick Rangers nil, and finally, Rangers nil, Stirling Albion nil.
