November 2017 - Kenney Jones, Carnaby Street, Matt B, RC, Marilyn and Queen!

(23/24) Cold Berkshire / the North – Updates on this site took place today, notably the pictures of Kenney Jones (from two days earlier)…see pic section.

- Plans for next week, business-wise were also formulated today.

(23) Cold, overcast Berkshire – Several chats about several, forthcoming TV/ movie projects were discussed today… over the obligatory mobiles.

(22) Carnaby Street, London – Keith attended a rather impressive event in world famous Carnaby Street; a statue celebrating the legendary, Lord John. Doing the honours, none other than the classic ex-Small Face/ Faces drummer, Kenney Jones. Other notables present today, legendary 60s columnist/ publicist, Keith Altham and the superb TV comedian, Matt Berry. “Great talking to you both,” Keith said.

(20) Italy – Many thanks to “Ettoreil” for his five-star rating of Marilyn (kindle edition) on Amazon in Italy. His description of it, “ECCELLENTE”… “Thank you!”

(15/16/17) Cold, but Sunny Berkshire – Besides preparing this year’s annual Birthday Tour, Keith continued with email catch-ups and more work renovating his house. “They don’t call me the storage box King for nothing, ya know.”  

(16/17) Overcast Berkshire – A Punk-related documentary was quickly started… and swiftly shelved... within two short days.  

(13) Berkshire – Another RC Rockin’ was started, this month, George Harrison and Ringo Starr’s 1988 appearance on LWT’s Aspel & Co.

(11) UK / Europe – The latest Record Collector crashed through letter boxes of subscribers across the land and featured Keith’s piece on Wings’ 1979 appearance on Tyne-Tees’s Saturday Shake-Up.

(10) USA – A big thank you to “Rendi C” for their 5-star rating of Marilyn on Goodreads

(6-9) South Coast – Another business-related trip out to “Lawford-Land” and most enjoyable it was too.

(3) UK / (9pm UK TV time) European premiere of Queen: Rock The World. (Repeated later at 1am.) “A most memorable viewing of that inaugural screening took place for me that night,” Keith announced.

(2/3) Cold Berkshire – Video grabs of the latest Rockin’ The Box for Record Collector were prepared and sent over.

October 2017 - Beatles, Marilyn, JFK and Queen!

(31) UK/ Chilly Berkshire – Discussions with a famous photographer, top designer and a leading memorabilia dealer peppered today’s proceedings, the highlight from which, a major move forward towards the publishing of a rather exciting, exclusive and deluxe book for 2020…

(29) USA – A big thank you to “debby harmon” for her 5 out of 5 stars rating of Marilyn (hardback version) on Amazon.com.

- Early morning catch-up chat with legendary 60s/70s snapper, Michael Randolph…

- UK / Europe – Just five days to go to the television premiere (on BBC Four) of Queen: Rock The World, a documentary to mark the fortieth anniversary of their classic album, News Of The World (and featuring archive research by Mr Badman himself)… 

(26) USA – The National Archives release 2,800 previously classified files relating to the assassination of President, John F. Kennedy. To say Keith was all over them like bees over honey, was putting it rather mildly… “The story about an anonymous call to a newspaper in Cambridge saying ‘Something’s going to happen’ 25-minutes BEFORE Kennedy was shot, was particularly interesting… and enthralling,” he remarked.  

(25) Sunny Berkshire – More preliminary archive research on the new, rather exciting movie project.

(24) Canada – Marilyn was still at the top spot in the “Most Wished For in Monroe, Marilyn” listing on Amazon Canada. (It had fallen to No.2 in the “Best Sellers” section…)

(23) Canada – Another incredible day when (three YEARS after its release) the paperback edition of Marilyn raced back to the No.1 position (yes NUMBER ONE) in two different charts on Amazon Canada… “Best Sellers in Monroe, Marilyn” and “Most Wished For in Monroe, Marilyn” listings… Incredible!

- Further preliminary research work on the new, rather exciting movie project.

(18) Wet/ Rainy Berkshire – More early, pre-production work on a new, rather exciting film/ documentary project.

- Invoices were submitted to various companies. “We must eat, you know.” 

(16) Wandsworth – A trip out to see director, Alan G. to discuss the new, various ongoing projects.

(14) Subscribers – The Pepper movie, It Was Fifty Years Ago Today... began its two-month run on one of the world’s biggest the movie subscribers channel, Netflix.

(12) Goodreads – Many thanks to “Marilyn” for her five-star rating of Marilyn on the top, book reading site, Goodreads. “Thank you!”

(10) Wigan – A trip up North to see one of the World’s biggest Beatles dealers; Paul Wane at Tracks to see his truly amazing collection of pictures.

(9) Cold, Overcast Berkshire – Rockin’ The Box was finished and sent...

- Further, rather early, formative work on the new Lennon film/ drama idea also took place today.

(7) USA – Many thanks to “Samantha Dee” for her 5-star rating of Marilyn on the Goodreads website… “It was amazing,” she said… Thank you! 

(6 - 9) Overcast Berkshire – A week earlier than usual, the latest Rockin’ The Box (for Record Collector magazine) was started and wrapped…This month, Wings’ rare 1979 appearance on the Tyne-Tees TV show, Saturday Shake-Up…

(4/5/6) Sunny Berkshire – The new, proposed John Lennon documentary took a rather adventurous, highly interesting few steps forward over those three days…

(2) Berkshire – Another exceptionally long and busy day, taking in the High Street, the doctors as well as catch-ups with long-time friends, Mike Randolph (at 1pm) and Gary S (at 9:15pm)…

- Archive work was wrapped on the new, official Queen documentary…

September 2017 - Building work, Marilyn, Pepper and the Rock Gods, Queen!

(30) Overcast Berkshire – Building work (day one) at Chez Badman…

(29) Overcast Berkshire – Archive work resumed on the new official, Queen documentary, a show celebrating the big fortieth anniversary of their superb, 1977 album, News of the World.

(28) Windsor, Berkshire – Catch-up with another of Keith’s old chums, Daniel J. out in Royal Windsor.

- A great conversation with producer, Simon L… the “Book-to-Film” Marilyn idea was progressing very nicely.

(23) Dry, but overcast Berkshire – The start of a five-date tour of catch-ups with some old friends, beginning tonight with one of the country’s top record/ Beatles dealers, Steve Holmes. The venue, Langley, in Berkshire. It was their first social,  non-Beatles related hook-up in over… a quarter of a century! 

(13 – 14) Canada –Keith’s Marilyn (paperback edition) suddenly, once again became THE “Most Wished For in Monroe, Marilyn” reads on Amazon in Canada. “Incredible!”

(13) Sunny Berkshire – Work on the latest Rockin’ The Box article for Record Collector magazine was completed this morning. This time under the spotlight, John Lennon’s appearance on the December 1969 ATV/ITV special, Man of the Decade.

(11) Sunny Berkshire – Work began on the latest instalment of Rockin’ The Box.

(10) UK – A major photo update took place on this site, particularly the images of Keith on drums at the Liverpool Convention just two weeks earlier.

(9) UK/ Europe – Latest edition of Record Collector was released and included Keith’s recent Rockin’ The Box article on The Yardbirds on Granada TV in 1964. The piece even warranted a “Yardbirds On TV” mention on the mag’s front cover!

(8) USA – The Pepper-influenced movie, It Was Fifty Years Ago Today… was officially released on DVD and Blu-ray in the world’s biggest territory and most influential territory… America.

- That day, the first review appeared… Written by leading Beatles columnist, and freelance contributor at Billboard Magazine, Steve Marinucci , the piece, at axs.com said, “As do most unauthorized films like this, “It Was Fifty Years Ago” features a collection of vintage footage. In this case, however, the film has some longer (and not usually seen) versions of that footage. Credit for that should probably go to archival producer Keith Badman, also an author of several excellent reference books on the Beatles.”

Thanks, Steve. Appreciate it.

(7) UK / America etc. – The third part (featuring the second part of Keith’s recent interview about Marilyn) was sent out to the radio stations in America (New York, Texas and Illinois) and Australia. The broadcasts of which, will go out tomorrow (September 8); stations/ timings as before.

(6) UK – Another major update took place on this site, particularly the photos section.

(1)Goodreads – Another five-star review of Marilyn (the Italian version, Gli ultimi giorni di Marilyn Monroe) on the top-rated book-reading website, this time from “Giovanna”.

August 2017 - US radio, Pepper film, Liverpool... and a return to the concert stage!

(30) America – The following US radio stations, BNNS Internet Radio (in Illinois), the Diversity Broadcasting Network (in New York), the TMV Cafe (San Antonio), the Pyramid One Network and White Light Infinity Radio all received their copies of the second part of the Marilyn 3-part special (Keith’s first part) ready for transmission the following day.

Diversity Broadcasting Network aired on Thursday (August 31) at midnight and was also available on the station’s “play on demand” service.  TMV Café broadcast the programme at 2am on Friday morning (UK time).

(27 - 31) Liverpool Beatles Convention – Keith's 31^st video show. Early versions of the Cavern book were on display and Keith even shook hands with the legendary US radio DJ, reporter, Larry Kane.

- Big news time!  At 12:51, during the early hours of August 29, for the first time in many years, he jumped on stage to play drums, with musicians such as CCT’s Jon Keats and some all the way from Brazil, to play tracks such as ‘Nowhere Man’, ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ and ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ in an impromptu 20-minute set.  (Pics were taken... see photo section on this site.)

- Great opportunity also for Keith to catch-up with so many if his close friends.

(25) Canada – In the “Top Sellers in Monroe, Marilyn” section on Amazon Canada, the paperback version of Marilyn stood while the kindle edition was placed three places hi8gher at number 15.

(22 - 23) Sunny Berkshire – In readiness for the Liverpool concert, today saw the start of the great UK invasion of some of Keith’s American friends.

(17) Overcast Berkshire / twinned with London – Further pre-production (albeit brief) work on the Mexico ’70 movie idea.

(16) UK – Exciting news! The Marilyn “Book-to-TV” drama idea edged along a little but further.

(14) US – The famous Marilyn photographer, Douglas Kirkland sent Keith a message via Linkedin.

- US Radio interview – New York, Illinois, Dallas and Australia. Due to it carrying on far longer than anticipated, Keith was invited to appear in another part of the Marilyn special, the taping of which was scheduled to place the following Monday, August 21 (to be broadcast September 7).

(7) UK – Thanks also to “Garth” for his five-star review of Marilyn (kindle edition), this time on Amazon in the UK. “This Is a Very Good Book,” he wrote, “Well worth the Buy.” Nice!

- In readiness for the proper US radio taping session next week, Keith partook in an afternoon audio testing session with Diane (in the UK) and Norm (over in the States). The subject? The 55^th anniversary since Marilyn sadly passed away.

(5) Goodreads – Many thanks to “Middlethought” for their five-star review of Marilyn on the renowned book reading site.

(4) Sunny Berkshire – Getting closer… plans to turn Marilyn into a drama pic edged ever closer…

(3) Camden, London – Keith had a most enjoyable lunch with Reynold D’Silva and Pete Compton of Silva Screen. Naturally, much was discussed, including how well their Pepper, It Was Fifty Years Ago Today… film had done.  

(2) Germany – The Pepper movie continues to spread across the world. It was announced today it will be released in cinemas across Cologne, Germany on August 27. (Director Alan G will head there to begin promotions for it on Monday, August 7.)