October 2013

(31) Italy – As the month drew to a close, there was more exciting news from Italy where the Kindle version of Keith’s Marilyn climbed back up to n.11 in the “>Book Kindle > Arte, cinema e fotografia > Cinema e television” store on Amazon Italy.

- London, North - Another lunch-time/ early evening catch-up with Laurence, one of the country's finest property entrepreneurs.

(30) Linkedin – Thanks to good friend, and top archive film/video specialist, Richard Groothuizen for requesting Keith’s connection on the business website, Linkedin and, after accepting it, Mr Badman’s number of associates on the site had risen to an impressive 260.

(28) London, West End - BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly, London - An industry event organised by NBC America and hosted by Clara Fon-Sing; VP & GM, Archive Sales & Strategy, NBC News. A surprise turn-of-events came at the end of the night when Keith won the raffle to attend the Televisual Factual Festival at the BAFTAs on November 6  & 7. 

   

- Canada – Another week; another leap, up to #7 in the “Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( M ) > Monroe, Marilyn” section on Amazon Canada, and thus, the book was out of stock on the site! Meanwhile, elsewhere on there, the, as yet, unreleased softback version of Marilyn stood at #17 in the “Hot New Releases” category, and thus marked an uninterrupted 19-week run in either the Top 10 or 20 charts on the site.

(26) Canada - A surprising leap in the Amazon Canada charts. The hardback of Marilyn leapt to the No.17 position in the ‘Amazon Bestsellers’ in biographies listing, (cough, cough) one ahead (yes one place in front of) Jane Fonda’s current publication, Prime Time: Love, health, sex, fitness, friendship, spirit; Making the most of all of your life.

(24) London – Cryptic corner alert! A meeting of the great Beatle-minds! At a private get-together, organised by one of The Fab Four’s literary giants, Keith was one of the especially-invited attendees. A rather exciting, nay, tremendously exciting new Beatles project was discussed. More news soon!

(23) Leafy Berkshire – Keith completed his latest Rockin’ The Box piece, an article on Baker Gurvitz Army’s November 1975 appearance on Mike Mansfield’s ITV pop music series, Supersonic.

(21) America – Still in the Marilyn Top 10. On Amazon.com, Amazon Best Sellers Rank, the hardback version of Keith’s Marilyn climbed once again, to #9 in the “Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( M ) > Monroe, Marilyn” section of the site. While today, on Amazon Canada, the, as yet, unreleased softback version of Marilyn stood at #10 in the “Hot New Releases” category, and thus marked an uninterrupted 18-week run in either the Top 10 or 15 charts on the site.

(20/21) London – Due to prior, unavoidable commitments, Keith was unable to attend the UK premiere of Good Ol' Freda! at the London Film Festival on Saturday and Sunday, October 19-20 But thanks very much indeed to Peggy, Kathy, Ryan et all for the invite.

(9) America – On the rise again! Hardback of Marilyn climbed one spot to #8 in the “Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( M ) > Monroe, Marilyn” section on Amazon.com. While on the same day, on the exact same site, advance sales of the, as-yet-unreleased softback version of the book, saw it leap to #22 in the “Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( M ) > Monroe, Marilyn”.

(8) America – Marilyn hardback – impressive #9 position in “Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( M ) > Monroe, Marilyn” section on Amazon.com America.

(7) Canada – Marilyn stood at #8 in the “Hot New Releases” category on Amazon Canada, and thus marked an uninterrupted fourth- straight month run in either the Top 10 or 15 charts on the site.

- PM - A return trip to Windsor, the home of Her Maj, to catch-up once again with Mike Randolph.

- The latest edition of Record Collector landed on the doormats of subscribers across the country, in which, as part of his monthly, Rockin’ The Box strand, was Keith’s piece on The Beatles’ November 1963, Granada TV appearance with the comedian, Ken Dodd.

(5) Berkshire – A return appearance at one of the finest bistro’s in town; John Barratt’s for sumptuous Chicken Curry. What with non-stop conversation, the evening went like a treat! (Thanks again, John!)

(3) Windsor, Berkshire – With immense honour, Keith participated in a photo shoot on Eton High Street with the famous 60s/70s snapper Mike Randolph (as seen on this site). Session over, our Mr. Badman returned home to catch-up with his old, long-time friend, Mike Dalton.

September 2013

(30) Canada – Still riding high! The soft-back version of Marilyn, over two months prior to its official release, was at #5 in the “Hot New Releases” category on Amazon Canada, and thus marked an uninterrupted 15th straight run in either the Top 10 or 15 charts on the site.

(28) The Railway, Felixstowe – Keith was “up” at Felixstowe this weekend for a top, top performance by The Kast-Off Kinks; a tribute band which features three original members; Mick Avory, John Dalton and John Gosling. Besides singing along to every Kinks classic performed that night, Keith also presented a simultaneous video show, featuring rare and hardly-seen archive clips of the band. (A highlight, standing alongside Mick as we watched an archive, 1966 clip of the band on German TV’s Beat, Beat, Beat.)

(26) Windsor, Berkshire – Opening of the Mike Randolph pictures presentation in Windsor, in advance of the Ricky Tick Club Retrospective evening.

(23) Germany – Lost for words… Another country cracked. On Amazon Germany, Keith’s Marilyn climbed to the Nr. 2 position in the “eBooks > Fremdsprachige eBooks > Englische eBooks > Unterhaltung & Kultur > Filme > Geschichte & Kritik” Kindle shop and in the Nr. 14 slot in the “Englische Bücher > Unterhaltung  Kultur > Filme > Geschichte & Kritik” section in Kindle sales.
- Canada – Still there! Amazon Canada. The paperback version of Marilyn, not due out for another 3 months was at #2 in the “Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( M ) > Monroe, Marilyn” books section and in the same position, #2, in the “Hot New Releases” category. So, on the same day, Keith’s Marilyn, in two varying formats was at No.2 in three completely different charts!

- Berkshire – Keith set to work on his latest Rockin’ The Box piece for Record Collector magazine. Under the spotlight today, Peter Gabriel’s rarely-seen appearance on a May 1977 edition of London Weekend Television’s Supersonic Saturday Scene.

(21) Canada – Simply incredible! Simply, simply incredible! The impressive run on Amazon Canada continued when the upcoming softback version of Marilyn returned to the #1 position in the “Hot New Releases” category…yep, #1…again! Incredible! While on the same site, on the very same day, the book was to be found at the #2 slot in the “Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( M ) > Monroe, Marilyn” section and at #18 the actress’s Kindle versions chart PLUS at #9 in the “Books > Humour > Entertainment > Movies > Biographies” listings… As the saying goes, “You couldn’t make it up.”

(18) Canada – An interesting aside on Amazon Canada. The hardback edition of Keith’s Marilyn was at #26 in the “Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( M ) > Monroe, Marilyn” section of the site and (get this) #74 in the “Kindle eBooks > Humour & Entertainment > Movies > History & Criticism” listings.

(16) Canada – Over at Amazon Canada, the paperback version of Marilyn stood at No.15 and thus marked a consecutive, uninterrupted run of 13 straight weeks in either the Top 10 or 15 of the “Hot New Releases” in biographies chart.

(13) Italy – Still in the Top 10! Today on Amazon Italy, Marilyn was at n.4 in the “eBook Kindle > Arte, cinema e fotografia > Cinema e television” Kindle store and at n.11 in the “Arte, musica e cinema > Cinema e television” Libri (book) charts.

(11) America – A quick glance at Amazon.com saw Marilyn at #9 in the “Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( M ) > Monroe, Marilyn” book chart on the site.

(10) London – sad news. A truly lovely bloke, fellow 60s aficionado, and a top boxing man, Dean Powell committed suicide in London this day. Keith had known him since 1997 and was proud to do so. “R.I.P., Dean, mate. It was a great pleasure knowing you.”

- Italy – A rise of 5 places to n.2 for Marilyn in Amazon Italy’s “eBook Kindle > Arte, cinema e fotografia > Cinema e television” Kindle Store chart.

(9) Canada – The (soon-to-be-released) US paperback edition of Marilyn stood at No.11 in the “Hot New Releases” in biographies section, and thus marked an un-interrupted run of 12 consecutive weeks in either the Top 10 or 15 of that chart.

- Italy – Latest news from Italy saw the Kindle version of Marilyn at n.7 in the “eBook Kindle > Arte, cinema e fotografia > Cinema e television” section of Amazon Italy and at n.15 in the “Libri > Arte, musica e cinema > Cinema e television” area of the same site.

(7) Berkshire, PM – A return appearance to the mighty-fine bistro of Keith’s great, most trusted friend, John Barratt. Besides the riveting, most enlightening conversation, the chicken offered this evening was, once more, truly exquisite. (“Thanks, John mate!”)

(4) Italy – Marilyn reached the n.6 position in the “Kindle Store > eBook Kindle > Arte, cinema e fotografia > Cinema e television” section on Amazon Italy. Furthermore, the publication was to be found at n.24 in the “Libri > Arte, musica e cinema > Cinema e television” and at n.63 in the “> eBook Kindle > Biografie, diari e memorie > Biografie e autobiografie” section of the site.

- While in Canada, the amazing run continues, with the paperback edition of Marilyn (some three months before its release) still sitting in the #8 position on Amazon Canada in the “Hot New Releases” in biographies section. While, on the same day, the Kindle version of the publication was to be found in the #59 slot in the site’s “Best Sellers in Biographies” listing.

(3) South London – In a typical, South London boozer, Keith was seen as an extra, credited as “Man at bar” in the new, highly amusing, Danny Dyer sit-com, Power To The People. (Currently still in production, but expect a TV screening in the – hopefully - not too distant future.)