When I was a kid, I was a fan of Clapton, particularly Bluesbreakers. I photographed him in concert in 1977. I loved a few of his songs. But when I interviewed him in 1991 I didn't know the full extent of racist comments he once made. I am re-posting this, and stepping out of any kind of Clapton appreciation society, because I am so pissed off that multi-millionaire Eric, sued a woman who sold on eBay a bootleg CD her late husband bought of Clapton. He won the case. But he has lost me, and many former fans, completely this time, I suspect. As someone said his music is a bootleg of black blues. 

One day in 2000, I was standing chatting to Mickey Dolenz in Dublin Hotel before we did an interview for radio. Billy Bob Thornton walked over, said, 'Hey, hey! I flew all the way to Dublin to see the Monkees show! Aren't they cool, man?" I said, "They always were." And they were. Even as a child I knew that. So, I am very sad to hear of Mike Nesmith's death. I never interviewed him but this is me and Dolenz telling the story of The Monkees in a way that he said had never been told before. I loved their music. 

In this podcast, following my first podcast about Peter Jackson's movie Get Back, I say that I now suspect it was meant to be a Disney version, in every sense, of the break up of the Beatles, an antidote to Let It Be, I include two clips from my 1999 documentary about the band. Gimme Some Truth sang Lennon, a teenage hero of mine. I am not saying my documentary was true or that Let it Be or Get back are. But somewhere in between all three is the truth I happen to believe.  

As I say in this podcast when I saw let It Be, in a cinema, I thought 'this is all about Paul.' I didn't know he had asked the cameraman to focus on him a lot, and that he wanted to be seen as the great conciliator, which he wasn't. I hope Peter Jackson doesn't turn Get back into another promo for me, me, me Paul and a historical lie. 

This clip is from my eBook Tori Amos Soul Searching and Uncensored. It was recorded in 2001 when Tori released her album, Strange Little Girls. Here we allude to the other Joe Jackson and talk about Lennon's song Happiness Is a Warm Gun, and related matters

Astaire was a great dancer but also the singer of choice for many great songwriters. This is my appreciation of the man and his music. 

This is one of my "Singles" podcasts, running less than five minutes. I was part of a small group of journalists supposed to interview Paul McCartney about his Liverpool Oratorio. But Beatle fans and McCartney fans might enjoy this tiny clip from before the real interview started. 

I love Dean Martin's music, have done so since I was a child. He always struck me as infinitely cooler than Sintra! This a radio tribute I did after Dino died. 

A bit of fun I had in Galway in 1992 hours before attending a Sawdoctors gig. Here I interview for a laugh a member of their "support band" that night, The Popsuckers, aka The Sawdoctors themselves. Funny as it may be, it also may as well be me interviewing, say, Bono. 

Paddy Moloney died today, October 12th 2021. Here, from a radio show, we made in 2000,  he remembers - in the company of the other Chieftains at the time - the music that influenced him at the outset of his career. A small man, in stature, but a giant in the world of Irish music. He will be missed. By, among others, some of the greatest musicians in the world, who played with the Chieftains.