Finally got my hands on Keef's autobiography, "Life" - couldn't put it down.
12:05 pm, left the house. Called at the corner shop to pick up 10 cigs, then proceeded to Earlestown Station. The station where I met Dan, Laura and Jacqui back in 2008 when the first Merseyside Jam was held at Scrybe's house....
12:25 pm, arrive in Warrington. A brisk 5-minute walk, drop my Squier Tele off at Dawson's for essential repairs. The jack plug needs soldering back on to the three wires hanging out of the body....salesman completely sells me on a Fender Jaguar 20W amp for £99, modelling amp with about a million pre-sets and lots of FX - I'll have one of those.
12:45pm, arrive at WH Smiths - there's a book I want, Lee Child's "Without Fail" - I've got a £15 voucher that my daughter bought me for my birthday. Find it in roughly 30 secs....check price, still got £7 to spend on it. Then see "Life" in the biography section....£7.99. Yep, I've got the extra cash - I am having that!
01:00pm, phone Marilyn - "I'm on my way home, I'll be back at half-past-one, get t'kettle on luv!
01:18pm, train is bang on time - can't resist opening "Life" and reading the first few pages.
01:30pm (roughly) back home - sit down with cup of tea and say, "Do not disturb - been wanting to read this for ages!!
eleven and three quarter hours later - finished the book. Several interruptions on the way - cups of tea made, a walk to the chip shop for something to eat, a walk to Bargain Booze for something to drink, several detours into the back yard for a smoke (although I did take the book outside with me!)
First opinion? Thoroughly enjoyed the book - if there's a better autobiography out there, it's not come to my attention yet. Keef's ALWAYS been my #1 guitar hero - and the book's reinforced that opinion. There were several moments I actually laughed out loud.....and a few moments were I felt like crying.
I'm going to have to read it again, there's always something you pick up second time around you missed the first time....
Second impression? Keef's always been my #1 guitar hero - and that ain't gonna change anytime soon.
I could write a fuller review if anyone would be interested - it'd be a pretty biased review, because I'm a huge Keef fan...but as a story of one man defying the odds, taking on the world and not only coming the through the worst the world could throw at him, but becoming stronger and never ever giving in....well, in my view, it's the best (auto)biography I have ever read.
Hail, hail, rock and roll - as Chuck Berry once said. To me, Keef personifies rock'n'roll - the outlaw, the rebel, the outsider who's always gone his own way - and hopefully, always will.
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Sounds like I'd better get hold of it then...
A friend bought it, but in ebook form, which unfortunately means that it can't easily be lent. :( She liked it but commented that it did have a bit too much about music in it for her taste!.... Well d'oh.... if you want the sex and drugs ya gotta put up with a bit of the Rock-n-Roll... :mrgreen:
I might skip the smokes, but the tea, beer, and getting riveted by the story all sound good.
Cheers,
Chris
Well I am getting old and my memory ain't what it used to be... but I was pretty disappointed in it.
It was a good read and all but I expected a bit (LOT) more scandal :D
It was a lot of I wrote this riff Mick did that and we did this etc etc......
The first chapter was good in the US of A getting in trouble with the law, that's what I expected more of, I mean come on we are talking about the Rolling Stones here rock 'n rolls bad boys lol There has to be a MILLION stories in there :!:
I really enjoyed reading about their childhoods, how they met up and all.
Yeah it was a good read 5 out of 10 .......
Keith
(These are just my opinions no need to tell me to keep em to myself :oops: )
I know a little bit about a lot of things, but not a lot about anything...
Looking for people to jam with in Sydney Oz.......
Well I am getting old and my memory ain't what it used to be... but I was pretty disappointed in it.
It was a good read and all but I expected a bit (LOT) more scandal
Only thing I was disappointed with....I expected a bit more about the music, especially the open tunings. There is a little bit about them, but as a rhythm guitarist who's been influenced a lot by Keef, I'd love to have had a more in-depth look at them. There's one section where he describes a chord in some detail that he had trouble with until Bobby Goldsboro showed it to him. That slightly boggled my mind! I mean, I found it hard to imagine Bobby Goldsboro - Honey, Summer The First Time - showing Keef anything!
Definitely going to have to read it again though.....
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
I got it a a gift for Christmas, and pretty much read it all in one go as well. Nothing too surprising or mind boggling, but a good read nonetheless .
Falling in love is like learning to play the guitar; first you learn to follow the rules, then you learn to play with your heart.
several detours into the back yard for a smoke (although I did take the book outside with me!)
Not going well with giving up the smokes then , Vic?
I went to visit a good friend yesterday who is paying the price of the habit. The throat cancer has now spread through his body and he's now in his last days/weeks. It's winter here but he sits on his verandah wrapped in a coat, doped up with increasing doses of morphine, staring at the trees in his garden. We were able to talk a bit, because he recently had a stent put in from his throat to his stomach, which allows him to swallow and also speak for longer. I took him a portable CD player so that he can listen to some music while he sits there dying.
You should have been there.
Give it up mate. It's a waste of money and a waste of your health. Even if it doesn't kill you it sucks the juice out of your body.
Chris
Yeah, I know....it'll be a year next month since Marilyn quit. That involved a few weeks in the ICU on a ventilator, a diagnosis of COPD, and a couple more spells in hospital since. And I KNOW I should quit - the bad chest, the dry heaves, all the bad stuff that goes with smoking - but it's a 40-year habit now, and every time I try to quit it's that bit harder. Cutting down is no problem - I've gone from 40 a day a couple of years ago, to less than 10 a day. It's just that final step - cut them out completely - that's so hard to take. I don't smoke in the house anymore...and I make sure that everyone else who calls has to go outside for a cig.
Beginning to get intimations of mortality now - and it's all to do with breathing. I HATE not being able to run upstairs - I get out of breath half-way up. I hate not being able to go to the shops and back without having to have a cig on the way and another on the way back.
Got to quit soon - hey, if Keef can go cold turkey, I'm sure I can. He got rid of a bad smack habit - quitting cigs has got to be easier than that, right? Right?
Don't even get me started on the booze - yeah, I know, 45 units in two nights is a bit excessive. But it was there.....
I should stick to tea..........
(and hey, after all that booze, the inbuilt spell-checker is still working - now I am proud of that!)
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
On quitting. One of the hardest things I've ever done. Period.
On the book. I thought it a bit much on the junkie stuff and a bit weak on the rest. Over all, good and still above average. He does make an issue or two about Mick and some of his late '70's thru 80's behavior, but who wouldn't. LOL
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
I enjoyed the book. ya have to love Keith's memory embellishing. more than a grain of salt is needed.
got a lot out of his writing about his tuning and how the songs came to be. I have been a Stones fan from the beginning.
I don't think they have written anything in the last two decades, but that suits me fine.
