Dear all, its been another trying week here at the AAA. You know that I’ve been waiting to hear whether I passed my last application for esa (causing agonising stress on top of cfs problems like muscle pain and no sleep whatsoever?) Well apparently I passed 7 weeks ago but those incompetent corrupt imebeclies at ATOS couldn’t be arsed to tell me. Instead I had to hear it from the job centre who are now threatening me with all sorts of unpleasant things if my business (ie what you’re reading) doesn’t ‘take off’ in the next 6 months. Well, sorry, I don’t know about you but I think we’ve been a big success – 20,000 hits in a little under two years of ‘proper’ business making and no budget whatsoever (because the job centre couldn’t be arsed to help me there much either to be honest) is a lot better than I was expecting and our hit rate is growing each and every week, suggesting that many of you are coming back. Frankly I don’t care about making money at the moment: that’s secondary to the sheer enjoyment of writing these reviews and the sheer pleasure I get from spreading the word about something in life that actually matters more than making some fat cat in a suit get so fat he has to buy a shiny new one. I’m far too ill to work any more than my 8-9 hours a week on this anyway (mainly thanks to all the stress the jobcentre keep causing me) and have no chance of it any time soon with such a long term illness (that’s already killed 37 people this year) so frankly I don’t want this site to take off too quickly, I simply wouldn’t be able to cope with the pressure. What this site does mean is that there is an interest for when hopefully I will be well (for instance when the Coalition falls and I won’t be harassed every five minutes) when I will have gained the experience, learnt from the mistakes and shown the capabilities and determination of running this site for so long ie invaluable experience that’s good for me and my future career. Too many projects have been ruined by rash promises of money making (just look at the Olympic security team) and I bloody well refuse to compromise over the work and dedication this site takes to be run properly. Don’t worry readers, this site will still be run whatever condition they leave me in and whatever they try and make me do because at the end of the day keeping up the monster of capitalism is a lot lower on my list of proprieties than getting to grips with the music and messages that really matter. Rant over, we return you to your regularly schedules newsletter...(Just to rub it in we’ve been hugely successful this week!)
♫ Beatles/Rolling Stones News: ‘Bobby Keyes’ is an album that’s been out of print ever since it’s limited release in 1972. American Keyes is probably best known for his saxophone work with the Rolling Stones on most of their 1970s albums and is particularly close to Keith Richards (the two happened to have been born only an hour – and a continent – apart). No Stones appear on the re-issue of his album but two Beatles do, with George and Ringo both performing on some of the instrumental cuts on the record in return for his work on ‘My Sweet Lord’ and the ‘Ringo’ LP (almost the only time the pair work together outside The Beatles or their own solo albums). Alas Lennon doesn’t appear to make it a three-way reunion, despite the fact the two were friends (that’s Bobby you can hear on Lennon’s 1974 single ‘Whatever Gets You Thru The Night’). Ringo even ended up releasing the follow-up album ‘Gimme The Key’ on his own short-lived label Ring o’ Records in 1975 although that album still hasn’t been issued on CD yet.
♫ Monkees News: There have been lots of Monkees docuemtaries in the past, but ‘We Love The Monkees’, showing this Monday, July 30th on ITV1 at 9pm will be the first since the sad loss of Davy Jones earlier this year. His family friends and the other three surviving Monkees all take part in the hour-long programme which tells the tale of the band from auditions to reunions.
ANNIVERSARIES: Birthday boys and girls come out to play, that is if you belong to the AAA: Happy birthday to those born between July 25th and 31st: Mick Jagger (singer with The Rolling Stones 1962-present) turns 69 on July 26th and Rick Wright (keyboardist with Pink Floyd 1967-80 and 1987-94) would have been 67 on July 28th. Anniversaries of events include: Brian Jones’ last ever Stones concert – and the last any of the band did for three years – takes place in San Francisco (July 25th 1966); A year later The Beatles publish their infamous advert in The Times calling for the legalisation of marijuana (how the band ever got Brian Epstein to sign too I’ll never know...) (July 25th 1967); Big Brother and the Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin release their second, last and best loved album ‘Cheap Thrills’ (July 25th 1968); Neil Young’s first performance with CSN, barely a week after the trio’s debut album came out (July 25th 1969) and finally, The Beach Boys return to their old hit making ways – briefly – with well received LP ‘Surf’s Up’ (July 25th 1971); The Rolling Stones’ ‘Beggars Banquet’ becomes the first AAA album to be cancelled because of a cover dispute – Decca object to the band’s idea, a toilet wall with the album tracks scrawled on as graffiti (July 26th 1968); George Harrison holds the press conference that heralds the ‘Bangladesh’ benefit concerts (July 27th 1971); meanwhile his sometime colleague John Lennon finally gets his ‘green card’ allowing him to stay in the States after four years of fighting (July 27th 1976); The film Ned Kelly starring Mick Jagger receives its premiere (and weirdly I only bought my copy of it the day before writing this!) (July 28th 1970); the world record for concert attendance – 600,000 – takes place at a little heralded concert at New York’s Watkins Glen arena, starring the Grateful Dead (July 28th 1973); The Beatles’ film ‘Help!’ receives its premiere at the London Pavilion (July 29th 1965); The Beatles close their ‘Apple Boutique’ shop, giving away their stock to delighted customers for free (July 30th 1968) and finally, The Rolling Stones play their shortest ever concert (12 minutes) after the stage gets invaded by rioters in Belfast (July 31st 1964).
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