Thanks to Amazon, I became aware of the imminent release of Bruce Dickinson’s autobiography “What’s Does This Button Do”. My immediate response was “I am going to pre-order a copy right now”. I duly clicked the “buy” button, it will be delivered on the 19th October (its official release date).

Bruce Dickinson is one of my heroes and he’s had plenty of mentions on this site over the years (a selection of older article links below). I have been a fan of Iron Maiden for three decades, seen the band perform live many times, own every album produced and also possess everything that Bruce released during his solo career. I have some of his Samson stuff too and I even own copies of both his Lord Iffy Boatrace books from the early nineties.

In my pantheon of heavy metal heroes, Bruce is on the top tier along with Ozzy and Lemmy. Arguably Bruce sets the standard for all because he is also amazingly accomplished outside of the world of music and brighter than both the others put together (even when Lem was still alive). King of the heavy metal deities then.

To go all in, Dickinson is a UK treasure and it bugs me every year when he doesn’t end up on the New Year’s Honours List. He still lives in the UK, I haven’t heard that he doesn’t pay his taxes and if it was down to me, Bruce would have a knighthood for services to the music industry. Sycophantic I know, but there you have it.

I hope that his autobiography will be as interesting as Ozzie Osbourne’s “I am Ozzy”, and Lemmy’s “White Line Fever”. Ozzy’s autobiography (though technically assisted by Chris Ayres) is one of the funniest, most entertaining things of the genre that I have ever read. Hopefully though Bruce’s effort is nothing like Steven Tyler’s “Does the Noise in My head Bother You?” because that book is truly dreadful.  

I thought about book launches in general and wondered if Bruce was going to sign any copies of his autobiography anywhere. It was good enough for Michael Palin in 2012, maybe Bruce would turn up the Milton Keynes branch of WH Smiths too. I took to Google to find out.  And it turned out that he would be promoting his book, but in a more income generative manner.

A visit to Teamrock.com revealed an article that details the three dates on Bruce’s “personal appearance tour”. So not a book signing, more like “an audience with” - obviously less inclusive and certainly more expensive.

The dates/venues:   
Oct 17: London Troxy – 7.30pm
Oct 20: Edinburgh Assembly Rooms – 7pm
Oct 22: Manchester Lowry – 2pm

The cost of attending an event … £30 (plus £3 booking fee). But the ticket price includes a signed hardback copy of the book and a bottle of Maiden’s Trooper beer (or a soft drink).

This is the caveat re the signing “Please note all books will be pre-signed”. No personalisation then.

Now the Troxy in London would be the only event I’d have a chance to get to and I spent a while debating whether or not to go. But I couldn’t bring myself to buy a ticket because it just felt like a depersonalised, slightly exploitative, money making exercise. The Troxy gig isn’t sold out yet either, so I might not be alone in my thinking.

My copy of the book has cost me £9.99 from Amazon. Admittedly the list price is £20 but these days, whoever pays RRP? A bottle of Trooper ale (very good beer by the way) in Tesco right now is £1.80. So £33 (plus travel costs) to listen to Bruce talking about his book as opposed to a £11.79 outlay otherwise.

Admittedly a signed copy of Bruce’s book will be worth more in resale terms than a non-signed one, so you could view the extra cost as an investment. But that would presuppose that a fan might sell his/her copy. I certainly wouldn’t (unless Dickinson proves himself to be a Tyler-like-space-cadet, then I’d charity shop it).

Then I got to thinking about the venue. The Troxy has a seating capacity of nearly 900. So the chance of getting close to Bruce, or being able to engage with him personally, must be extremely low. Depending upon where one’s seat was in the venue, one might need binoculars to see him at all. No hand-shakes, no selfies, no personalised comments in the book.

In Bruce’s defence, he is a private chap, hates interviews and is remarkably busy. He probably had to commit to some promotional events as part of the publishing deal. Making some money out of them and limiting exposure would make sense if he was dreading the fan/media circus.

I sense checked my thinking with a close friend of mine, also a lifelong fan. He wasn’t interested in going at all. No internal processing for him.  

So I am not going to the Troxy next week but once I get my copy of “What Does This Button Do”, I’ll read it and write up a review when I am done.

I have heard it said and seen it written (in fact I am sure I have written it myself before) that you should never meet your heroes but … Bruce, if you ever read this post (highly unlikely I admit, but I can dream can’t I?), though I won’t be at the Troxy, I’d still love you to sign my copy of your autobiography. And, if we could meet over a pint of Trooper (or a soft drink), I’d thank you for all the value/joy you (and your band mates) have added to my life. My wife and kids have no idea who you are so if you happen to meet them too, I apologise in advance.

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Previous Posts
​July 2012 http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/heavy-metal-ndash-a-constant-companion.html
14/08/2012 http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/-behind-the-beast-ironing-maiden
​27/04/2016 http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/musicology

External Links
http://teamrock.com/news/2017-09-01/iron-maiden-bruce-dickinson-announces-uk-book-tour
​https://troxy.co.uk/event/button-conversation-bruce-dickinson/

On the evening of Tuesday 3rd October 2017, I went to see Living Colour (LC) at the Craufurd Arms in Wolverton, Milton Keynes. I have been familiar with this American band since the late eighties; and though my memory is slightly patchy on this, I think I saw the guys play in London in support of Anthrax back in the day.  Will have to dig out all my old gig tickets to jog my memory.

​I certainly have the albums “Vivid” “Time’s Up” “Stain” and “Collideoscope” and enjoy the fusion of funk, hard rock and metal.

The whole build up to the gig was a bit weird. I first found out about the event on the 25th September via an email from the venue (I am on the mailing list and receive regular newsletters so would have known about the event earlier had it been scheduled for longer). I bought a ticket immediately, then mentioned the show to a few friends.

​The show itself was due to take place just eight days later.

To have so little time in between the event promotion and the event itself surely meant that it was impromptu, unplanned, or came about because of some other fluke of circumstance (a cancellation perhaps).

I did a little bit of research and found the tour details published on planetrock.com, here’s what I found …

SEPTEMBER 2017
Glasgow The Garage – Tue 26th
Bilston The Robin2 – Wed 27th
Leeds Brudenell Social Club – Thu 28th
Nottingham Rescue Rooms – Fri 29th
Manchester Club Academy – Sat 30th

OCTOBER 2017
London ULU – Sun 1st
Norwich Waterfront – Wed 4th
Liverpool Hangar 34 – Fri 6th
Newcastle Riverside – Sat 7th

… No mention of the Wolverton date or the venue!

The rushed nature of the gig wasn’t the only unusual thing I noticed. On arriving at the Craufurd Arms, there was a large double decker tour coach and trailer filling the car park. Normally bands that play the venue turn up with Transit vans and other less glamorous vehicles.

The gig was sold-out - no real surprise given the quality of the band - but I had never been to an event at the Craufurd where there were so many people. The merchandising for the bands had to be in the main pub rather than the music hall to make way for all the punters. My mates and I still got nice and close to the stage though.

Though Living Colour is a long established band, there was no branded dressing of the stage area. I bet there just wasn’t time to get any bespoke backdrops commissioned.  

Living Colour has always been vocal on subjects such as racism and discrimination; I don’t suppose there was a race related agenda at all, but it was just interesting to observe that whilst all the band members are/were black, all the road crew, minion types at the gig were white.

​That brings me on to another observation; the fellas from LC are still lean and trim, no middle aged spread on any of them. I have been to a few gigs over the years where time clearly hasn’t been so kind to the aging rockers – Chuck Billy from Testament or Rob Halford from Judas Priest for example. Getting to the point, one of the crew members was a big, overweight twenty/thirty something - think Brian Blessed but with ginger hair and a big ginger beard. He was responsible for the guitars and watching him putting them on was quite funny. The straps, being adjusted for Vernon Reid and Doug Wimbish were so tight on him that the instruments were digging into is armpits and they looked like they were three-quarter sized. 

Anyway the band was promoting its new album called “Shade” and was supported by an English band called “Stone Broken”.

Living Colour took to the stage a little after 9pm. The fellas looked a little bemused, most likely disappointed, by the small size of the venue. The opening line from Corey Glover “we’ve played in loads of venues, but we’ve never played here”. Perhaps a come down in status for the band but a pleasure for the residents of Milton Keynes and the surrounding area.  

The band didn’t look completely interested/engaged to start with but got into its stride and the audience followed in terms of enthusiasm and participation.

There were some sound issues part way through the set. A broken microphone clearly frustrated Corey but whilst it was being fixed, he launched into an impromptu acapella rendition of Otis Reading’s “The Dock of the Bay” (follow this YouTube link and you’ll be able to listen to the song yourself). He sang the song all the way through and it went down well with the audience. There is no doubt that Corey Glover has a great voice, lots of range and power.

The set lasted for the greater part of two hours and included a nice mix of classic (“Cult of Personality”, “Middle Man”, “Glamour Boys”) and new tunes (like “Who Shot Ya”). Unusually for a Craufurd gig, Living Colour’s set included significant (something like nine minute) bass and then drum solos. The heat in the hall was significant and drummer, Will Calhoun, was soaked through by the time he was done with his solo slot.

At the end of the show there wasn’t an encore but the guys did come out and engage with the audience and to sign merchandise. I really should have bought a copy of “Shade” and got it signed but I didn’t have enough cash on me so that was the end of that.

All in all, it was a great gig and a damn fine way to spend a Tuesday night. Once again the Craufurd Arms pulled a blinder, I have seen some excellent international bands at this venue, Living Colour followed in the footsteps of Honky and The Atomic Bitchwax in terms of representing the US.

I can report that Living Colour has still “got it”, so my recommendation is go and see the band if you get a chance.

Finally, thanks to Mike and Darren, good company, good food, good music and a good night out.

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https://youtu.be/TPCjd9V7OCg

I was sad to hear the news late last night that Tom Petty had died. I am a fan of his music and have his entire back catalogue on CD. Despite me being a head-banger/mosher, Tom Petty gets played much more in my house than some of his much noisier heavy metal and punk contemporaries. The simple reason for this is that his music is more melodic and accessible and none of his material, or that of the Travelling Wilburys (he was a member of the super group), gets moaned about by Mrs Baldwin or the kids when I play it. What’s more, Tom Petty is always a safe bet when we have visitors or dinner guests – the Dead Kennedys … a bit too edgy.

The Heartbreaker had a heart attack that there was no encore from. On reading the various tributes pouring in, I found out that he had been addicted to heroin for a period of his life, I guess that kind of problem was inevitably going to have an impact on his life expectancy. But Petty was only 66 and that still feels like too early an exit to me.

Of the thousands of CDs I own, “Full Moon Fever” would certainly rank in the Top 40 (maybe even the Top 20), but at the office this morning when I mentioned to one of my younger colleagues that I was sad about his demise, the response back was “who is Tom Petty?”. I couldn’t believe my ears. Even worse was that by 3pm this afternoon, Petty’s passing wasn’t even in the top ten most read BBC news stories.  But “Why don't I want to have sex with the man I love?” was … go figure!

I know Petty was reported as a quiet and unassuming rock star but he was a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and I thought there might be more interest in his death. 

So in my own quiet and unassuming way, this post shares my appreciation for a talented song writer, singer and guitarist. Thank you for the music Tom, may you rest in peace.

For the second time in two days, I have published a post connected to a death of a celebrity, I really hope that I don’t have to score a hat trick tomorrow.

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Last week, Hugh Hefner popped his clogs; at 91 he’d had a fine innings and he had lived a fairy tale (distinctly adult themed) kind of life.  Whilst I can’t bring myself to write a heartfelt obituary for the Playboy impresario, I am prepared to write a post acknowledging that the bloke was a legendary brand owner/manager.

Much has been written already by others reflecting on his life. I have read everything on the BBC because I’ll be honest, I knew very little about him really. I wasn’t surprised to learn that, like most highly successful people, he was thoroughly driven, he had passion and when he found his niche, absolutely owned it. 

Regardless of whether you think that Hefner was an exploiter of women, an architect of the social/sexual revolution or just a dirty old man, the brand he created was one of the most recognisable in the world.

As a marketer, I think that Hefner was as synonymous with Playboy as Richard Branson is with Virgin. Both these chaps built their empires whilst acting as the figurehead for them, the success of the brands so linked to their founders’ personalities and determinations. Hefner totally lived his brand, the mansions, casinos, publishing all bringing glamour and nudity into the mainstream. Regardless of whether you’d want to have your own harem or be permanently draped with young, scantily clad women, you’d have to acknowledge that all the behaviour was in line with the Playboy brand.

As a bloke I’ll admit that there is a lot of me that thinks that Hefner was a cult like superhero sort of character. He must have had charisma by the bucket load. If he was a Viking, I’d argue he lived in Valhalla whilst still being on earth. He was rich, he was infamous, he bedded more than a thousand women and he had sex on tap. What a life! He absolutely lived the dream.  No bloody wonder he lived for so long, who wouldn’t find the strength to face each day with all his advantages?

But dreaming would be as close as most blokes could get to his lifestyle. He lived it for decades when most blokes I know would run across burning coals just to live his way for a couple of days.

Though I live on a different continent, exist in a different reality, never met Hefner, never knew anyone who met or knew the chap, and always thought Playboy was rubbish as a porno mag (though I appreciate that it was pitched at a higher level), I think that the world is less colourful for Hefner’s exit.

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