(31) Sunny Berkshire – Another busy day to start the working week; trips into London, later in the week, were arranged, early archive work on the next movie, Mexico ’70, was carried out and the 2017 Liverpool Beatles Convention video show was sorted, typed and sent over to Bill at Cavern City Tours. And, oh yes, Keith had another progress update chat with Alan G. Parker… "All go here!"
- Keith’s Marilyn book (softback version) suddenly climbed back to the #1 spot in the “Best Sellers in Monroe, Marilyn” section on Amazon Canada (I kid you not)…
(29) US/ www – It was announced that It Was Fifty Years Ago Today… will be released in America, on both DVD and Blu-ray on September 8.
(28) Overcast Berkshire – A chat with Alan G and a flurry of emails concerning yesterday’s meeting were sent, all regarding a proposal which will be sent to out to potential investors on Tuesday.
- Bill from Cavern City Tours was in touch… details of the 2017 Liverpool Convention video show were needed.
- News reached Keith that publication of the new (incredible, bound to be controversial) Beach Boys book, written by two very close to the band, in the 1970s, was edging nearer to publication. (Keith has been involved in this book, in one form or another, since its conception almost four years ago.)
(27) Central London – Another pre-production meeting for Mexico ’70, with director, Alan, Producer, Alexa and (for the first time) film financier, Tony. “Looks good, onwards and very upwards.”
(25) USA – Another fine, five-star Marilyn review on Amazon.com, this time from the reader, “Born to shop” who described the book as “An Interesting Read” and wrote, “I'm enjoying reading this book… as a fan I can say this particular author gives a very honest account, highlighting the good and not so good points and facts about Marilyn's final days.” Thank you!
(24) Germany – It is announced that the Pepper movie, It Was Fifty Years Ago Today, will be released in Germany in August…
- An interesting chat about the next movie project with director, Alan G…
- Another Marilyn Monroe-related interview request came in, by way of his representatives at United Agents. This time it was from a widely-circulated US radio station, broadcasting in New York, Texas and even Australia. The reason? A show celebrating what would have been her 91 birthday.
- In the Amazon Canada book charts, the paperback version of Marilyn was at no.4 in the “Most gifted in Monroe, Marilyn” section on the site.
(22) London, England – Keith travelled back into London, to rub shoulders with celebrities at the BFi, as an invited guest of Kaleidoscope's Chris Perry for another of their events celebrating the recovery of several lost UKTV music clips and programmes. Among those present, (the legendary comedienne) Madeline Smith and (the true broadcasting giants), David Hamilton and (I kid you not) Pete Murray... "It was an honour being in the same room as these legends."
(19/20) Overcast Berkshire – Two days, preparing text and video grabs for the new Record Collector, Rockin’ The Box piece. This time, a trip back to July 1964 for The Yardbirds’ appearance on Granada ITV’s Go Tell It On The Mountain.
- Also on the 19th, news came thru the final negotiations for the next movie project (Mexico ’70) should be wrapped in the next two weeks.
(18) Canada – Marilyn (softback) suddenly raced back to the No.1 position in the “Best Sellers in Monroe, Marilyn” section on Amazon Canada. "Not bad for a book that first appeared almost seven years ago…"
(15) UK/ Europe – The latest edition of Record Collector crashed thru the letter boxes of subscribers… and featured Keith’s recent article on the 1964 Granada music show, A Whole Lotta Shakin’….
(12) Sunny Berkshire – A round of email catch-ups and train ticket bookings.
- One for the “just brought to my attention department.” Alan G’s recent interview for Entertainment South Wales, in which, when discussing an alternate version of John, George and Ringo’s Bangor 1967 interview, he was quoted as saying…
“Keith Badman, our archivist is well known in the industry, they call him the Columbo of rock n roll, if he can’t find it, it doesn’t exist,” laughs Alan, “We’re sat one day chatting away and we’re at that point in the film where we are at the very early stages of the first cut, Keith goes “Hang on a minute they’re the Beatles, presumably when something as big as their manager’s death happens there’s not one camera crew, but probably 150!” He literally got up and walked out of the studio returning 5 minutes later grinning like a Cheshire cat, (and saying) “I’ve just rung HTV in Wales, they had a crew down there, the lady I spoke to said yes we’ve got the clip here, it’s not a problem but do you realise we’ve never been asked to license it in 49 years!”
(11) UK – The big official announcement… Keith/ Alan G and the team’s latest film will be… MEXICO 70 'The One We Should've Won, a documentary on the 1970 World Cup in Mexico City. (It is already scheduled - pencilled in - to open in Cinema in the summer of 2018, prior to next year's global soccer event.)
(10) UK/ World – Another big achievement for It Was Fifty Years Ago Today when it was announced that the movie/ documentary is now available to view on all long haul British Airways flights....
(8) UK / Europe – Stanley Kubrick's 1968 masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey (easily, by far, the greatest film ever made) was screened for the fifth time on the BBC in England, this time on the second channel, at 11:15pm. (It's first-ever UK TV screening took place on BBC1 at 7:36pm during the evening of January 1 1982.)
(7) Canada – Still there. Marilyn (softback) was still in the #2 position in the “Most Gifted” in Monroe section on Amazon Canada.
(6) London – 1pm. The first serious meeting about the new movie took place at the trendy, Sanctum bar in Soho, Central London. Those present included director, Alan G and The Bootleg Beatles’ co-manager, Andre Barreau. Most productive indeed, the get-together wrapped at approximately 4:40pm. After which, Keith faced a long journey home after signal failures in Hayes completely disrupted trains running in and out of Paddington. “Dear me.”
(5) Rather Warm Berkshire – Another big text update took place on this site.
(4) Sunny Berkshire – The new film/ movie project edged even nearer to fruition with the news that two Premiership footballers are now keen on getting involved in it…
(3) Overcast Berkshire / twinned with London – Another film/ movie project edges nearer towards a starting date when a meeting for… roll on Ringo’s drums… the Mexico ’70 project is called for this coming Thursday.
