A little while ago, Bob Dylan was award the Nobel Prize in Literature – the first songwriter ever to receive the award. I found this really interesting for two reasons… Firstly that some people should question that a songwriter should be given an award for literature. And secondly – why hasn’t it happened before? Personally –…
This week I spent a lovely evening as a guest of She Voices – a group of women writers based in Richmond, in London. We gathered at the Tea Box for an evening of music and words with an added layer of cake, tea (and wine) and fellowship. I was struck by how important evenings…
I fought my way through the crowd at London’s O2 Arena (formerly the Millennium Dome) this week to see a music legend – Jeff Lynne’s ELO. Wow – what a great gig it was. I was down on the floor and it really was like magic. (OK – no more ELO lyric puns). The O2…
I’ve just done something I have never done before – and probably never thought I would do… I have joined the mosh pit at a metal gig. Ok – let set a few things straight. Regular readers of the blog will know I am a big fan of live music – and it’s a rare…
I lost one of my heroes this week – the amazing David Bowie died. He was 69 and had just released his latest album, Blackstar. I’m listening to it as I write. Bowie’s music has been with me all my life, since I was living in a tiny room at university, and first heard someone…
It’s August and the sun is shining (well – occasionally) and that means I am to be found on most weekends camping in a field listening to music with fifteen or twenty thousand of my closest friends. I always know it’s festival season by the sudden appearance of that strange and rarest of creatures –…
I was in a fashion scrum this week – struggling in a crowd to get my hands on the latest designs… not, not shoes. T-shirts. Specifically a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert T-shirt. The guy in front of me, successful in getting an XX-Large of his chosen design, said to me .. ‘I have the T-shirt for…
I love a ghost story. And a legend. And music. So it was inevitable that while in the American south on holidays, I should go in search of the ghost of Robert Johnson. We found his grave – all three of them .. and the crossroads where he sold his soul to the devil.…