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Hello all!
Before getting to the fun stuff, I just wanted to make clear a couple of things RE the newsletter: first, I have sent these out every Monday since the start back in November 2024. It may be early in the day; it may be just as you are getting into bed, but always on a Monday. It has come to my attention that there are some of you who have received some newsletters, but then a week or two or three may go by and you are not seeing another. There will never be more than a week between mailings – maybe I shouldn’t say never – but that’s the norm and if there is a contingency, there will be an explanation. What I have heard from some of you is that they stopped coming, and for that, I have no explanation – nothing has changed on my end, you are still in the newsletter mail list, and if ever a week goes by without you hearing from me, let me know – it means something has glitched. And of course, you can always catch up on these – once we hit 20, I will probably move them to the SATB website and you can access them all there.
Second, the Ribbons of Rust site has a similar gateway, prompting an email sign-in to get on a mailing list to get updates on stuff related to the book Jerry and I just published. All info for the book, updates, podcast appearances, and so forth, will be handled through this newsletter, so that there is no duplication of energies. So if you signed up either on that site, or the SATB one, you are in good shape.
On the subject of the book, there have been several online reviews and more to come. (Bonus: some of them spell our names right!) Also, as alluded to, we will be appearing on some podcasts soon, among them Joe Wisbey’s fab Beatles Books, Jonathan and Julia Pretus’s Ranking The Beatles, and Eric Senich’s Booked on Rock. We’ll keep you posted here as they come up. Also, as a heads up for anyone attending the upcoming Fest For Beatles Fans: Mark Lapidos bought a quantity of books to have on hand – that’s the good news! He also likes to have signed copies, and neither of us will be there – that’s unfortunate. But – to remedy this – he requested sigs on bookplates to have on hand so that anyone who wants one can get a signed copy – that’s the good news! But the plates Jerry produced and signed apparently vanished en route between Toronto and Chicago – that’s unfortunate! But – I am told that they mysteriously returned to Jerry’s doorstep just this weekend – that’s the good/bad news. If they arrive overnight today as I expect, I will sign ‘em and send ‘em to Mark 🤞. Otherwise, I will be in Rosemont in August for sure – Jerry possibly too. And both of us will be in the Catskills come late June for the Magical Mystery Camp, presented by the RPM-School and starring the Fab Faux, Peter Asher, Joan Osbourne, Steve Forbert and Ken Womack, Scott Freiman, Walter Everett, and ourselves. Loads of music, open stage, lessons, presentations, and more, in the wonderful locale of the Catskills. (On-site hiking and swimming, plus attractions like Woodstock and the site of Peg Leg Bates’ former resort are within driving distance.)
On the subject of the RPM School: remember the Beatles’ Bag of Tricks episode with Cameron Greider and Jack Petruzzelli? We just convened for another dip into the bag – it’s coming next…
Today is Pattie Boyd’s birthday, and I’m sure many of you can remember the conversation we had a year ago, on the occasion of her auction at Christies. (And if you ever wondered why “Pattie,” just look at the calendar.) Some backstage notes: I had been pursuing her as a guest for a while before her handlers acquiesced, in the spirit of publicizing the sale. She had recently published a book of photos and I really wanted to talk about that as well, but the sale was the focus and because she was doing a lot of media at the time, she could only give an hour. Fair enough, and I was well prepared, in case this was the only shot.
She was great, of course, and a real pro, although apparently she was not accustomed to the idea of wearing headphones or earbuds, so that the computer mic recording her would not also pick up me – you want to keep these tracks separate for editing purposes. Anyway, at about 20 minutes into the talk, she was fiddling with one of the buds and inadvertently dropped the call…..completely gone. I frantically reached out to her handler, hoping she was in the next room or something, but found out nope, they were in two different places. Finally Pattie figured things out and got back on the call, but only after a good 15 minutes had passed, cutting into our hour.
So I made the most of the time we had and she genuinely seemed to enjoy it; in fact, I was hoping that the “great idea” she thought I had about turning photos of her auction items into another book, with her telling anecdotes about them, would be taken up. But in our follow up discussion, she’d decided that, having just turned 80, that she was just going to take it easy for the foreseeable and get out of the “Pattie Boyd” business. So this may end up as her last lengthy conversation, but I hope this is not the case. (Recently, she was the subject of a finger-wagging piece in the UK tabloid rag, the Daily Mail, for “disgracefully” using ayahuasca and copping to a recent one-and-done Botox experiment being a regret. I won’t post a link but you can find it easily enough.)
Did you know Pattie has a YouTube channel? Did you know she had a podcast? Among the guests she’s conversed with have been Gary Brooker – John Lodge – Roger Taylor – Kenney Jones – Mike Rutherford. Here’s her conversation with Glyn Johns – one would think they could have a deep dive about fashion.
Until next week, thanks to all for being here. Reviews of the podcast and/or the new book are encouraged. And keep the topic ideas coming – some are being mapped out as we speak…