Month: November 2015

  I certainly didn’t – until I researched AMERICA’s Gift. What I found amazed me so much, I had to share it If I had a buck for everyone who told me they’d like my two blues eBooks turned into a ‘proper printed book’, I’d have … well, about 70 bucks. This wouldn’t make me rich,… Continue reading Bet you didn’t know this about the blues

  America’s Gift’s VW Index. Where the figures aren’t fudged.  As you might expect, the entertainment genre, ‘vaudeville’, features on many pages in the book because that’s where most entertainers playing prototype blues in the early twentieth century were performing. You’ll see Muddy Waters gets quite a few mentions, too, even though AMERICA’S Gift doesn’t reinvent the… Continue reading The VW of blues … VW figures that DON’T lie

The STU INDEX of America’s Gift: dedicated to Stu Stewart, the sixth Rolling Stone The young Stones with Ian Stewart, left. Ian Stewart was thought too ugly to be a Rolling Stone, even though he was founder Brian Jones’ first recruit. With Mick Jagger on vocals, Keith Richards on guitar, Mick Avory (later of the Kinks) on drums, Dick… Continue reading The STU of blues – dedicated to the unknown Stone

Eight records Keith Richards would take to a Desert Island If we ever needed proof Keith Richards is now an English national treasure, just take a listen to the old Stone smokily cackling away on BBC Radio’s Desert Island Discs. Once the genteel preserve of crusty academics, senior politicians and other UK establishment figures, Desert Island Discs… Continue reading Share Keith Richards’ taste in music

Bet Kylie Minogue’s arse isn’t quite the R’s you were expecting. Thanks to the UK Sun newspaper for the picture. The P, Q & R of the AMERICA’S Gift Index The arse above belongs to Australian pop singer and actress Kylie Minogue. It has been voted the best arse in Britain. And if you’re a straight guy or a not-so-straight girl, it’s… Continue reading The P’s and Q’s of blues, and red hot R’s

CHECK THE MNO Index of AMERICA’S Gift below Christopher Marlow: English playwright who greatly influenced Shakespeare The young guy above is Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlow, stabbed to death aged 29 in a London pub brawl  in 1593. But why is he in AMERICA’s Gift? Well, it was Marlow’s play ‘The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus’ that kicked off… Continue reading The MNO of blues – AMERICA’S Gift Index: halfway stage