(30) Berkshire – BeatleWeek celebrations were officially over when the last of Keith’s American visitors, Bob B flew back to the States… and life returned, pretty much, thankfully, back to normal.
(25 – 28) Liverpool – Another trip up to the annual, Cavern City Tours-organised, Beatles Convention, where (on the Sunday, at the Adelphi Hotel) Keith presented his regular video show, which included the first-ever public screenings of the wonderful, Simon Wiseman documentary, Here, There And Everywhere and a rather superb film of the legendary 1960s Liverpool band, The Big Three…
- During the early hours of August 28, at approximately 2:20, he took part in the second, now annual, 'Apple Jam' session, performing in a line-up with several other, highly-gifted, Beatles-loving musicians from across the globe. His 35-minute set included numbers such as ‘Route 66’, ‘All My Loving’, ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ and ‘Johnny B Goode’, (See photo page for pics of the event.)
(28) AM: Before jumping on his train home, Keith and great, long-time mate, Steve took a trip round to the Museum of Liverpool which was running Double Fantasy - John & Yoko, a free exhibition, "celebrating the meeting of two of the world’s most creative artists who expressed their deep and powerful love for one another through their art, music and film." Running until April 22, 2019 it truly is a "must see" for any true Beatles / Lennon fan.
- Keith's goodbye to Liverpool (for this year, at least) was punctuated by a most pleasant phone from Jersey saying plans for the Beatles movie idea had just been given another big thumbs up!
(22) Canada – In-between hospitality duties, a rather nice occurrence took place, the paperback version of Marilyn suddenly back to the #2 position in the “Most Wished For in Monroe, Marilyn” section on Amazon Canada.
- Further great news reached Keith about the proposed "alternate" movie idea… more news soon!
(21) Berkshire, UK – Entertaining Bob B from the US meant trips around Berkshire… and a rather nice curry in Windsor, next to the castle.
(20) Canada – “Still hanging in there… six years on!” The paperback version of Marilyn was spotted in the #15 position in the “Best Sellers in Monroe, Marilyn” section on Amazon Canada.
- The great American (visitors) invasion at Chez Badman and the build-up to the 2018 Beatles Convention in Liverpool was almost upon us…
(19) USA/ The World – Many thanks to reader, “Marigiusy Digregorio” for her five-star, “it was amazing” review of Marilyn on the Goodreads website. “Thank you, Marigiusy.”
(16) Wintry Berkshire – Another review for RC, this time the excellent new book, Channelling The Beat…
(15) Overcast Berkshire – Another lengthy catch-up with a chap who worked closely The Beatles at Apple for six years.
- Another phone chat… with the news that the proposed "alternate" movie project idea was edging ever nearer to funding… but conversely the Jones film was moving ever closer towards failing.
(13) – UK/ Europe - “And in the end…” the latest edition of Record Collector crashed thru the letter box of subscribers of the magazine and featured Keith’s piece on Kate Bush. It was to be, sadly his very last instalment of Rockin’ The Box… The long-running, ITV themed series had been axed!
- Monster amazing news about Marilyn… the project (fingers crossed) seems to grow and grow…
- Also looking slightly good… the proposed documentary on Monty Python.
- Plans for this year’s Liverpool 2018 Beatles Convention video show were firmly put into place… “Thanks, Jon.”
(10) Overcast Berkshire – Further files were sent to David, the editor, for the long mooted Brian Jones documentary.
(9) Canada – “Well I never.” The paperback version of Marilyn suddenly raced back up to the #2 position in the “Best Sellers in Monroe, Marilyn” section on Amazon Canada.
- The end of an era. Without any fanfare whatsoever, Keith learnt his Record Collector column, which had been running for 24 years, was coming to an end…
(8) Sunny Berkshire – A rather pleasant lunch meet-up with a chap who once worked closely with The Beatles for almost 5 years…
- Suddenly, completely out of the blue, it looked like the long-mooted Brian Jones project was suddenly back on the cards…
- The new "alternate" film idea edged ever closer to fruition.
(7) Overcast Berkshire – Following a rather lengthy phone conversation, and after several months of work on it, it seemed as if the Jones film idea was now, regrettably dead in the water.
(3 & 6) Sunny Berkshire – In an attempt to save the Brian Jones movie, Keith began searching, downloading and sending archive-related items of the late musician to Dave, the editor on the film.
(2) Hawaii linked with Berkshire – Simply wonderful! Keith received an advance copy of the cover of the new Beach Boys book by the group's close associate, Rushton "Rocky" Pamplin, and which featured his endorsement of the publication. “Thanks very much Steve and ‘Rocky’… I am so very honoured. Thank you!”
(1)-USA/ The World – another month, another top “it was amazing” rating of Marilyn on Goodreads, this time from Susan Gibson… Thank you very much indeed.
