Happy Birthday Miriam Linna of Kicks/Norton Records!

Celebrating the birthday of Kicks.Norton Records co-founder Miriam Linaa with an interview and some performances.

Writes Miriam...

"Thank you, friends and fiends, for the excitable birthday greets. I'm a 20th century gal who is still hanging onto the old world for dear life, so bear with my antiquated mind, means and methods. News is coming very soon about projects that have been stewing for a very long time - and are now ready to share. It's peculiar how synchronicity plays with our daily doings. I was reading one of my favorite paperbacks from the old days, Fahrenheit 451, during the wee hours this morning, and recalled that I had seen a copy of the fireproof asbestos edition under glass at a book fair many years ago. Now making this post, I wanted to reshare a clip of Stay, complete with its teenage TV host, and what do I see on the wall behind the group- look/see. So anyway, all rambling aside, please stay just a little bit longer. Thank you to everyone who has helped me through the hard stuff and to those who share with the fun and laughter. That accounts for everybody!" - Miriam XXXX
 

Peculiar To Mr. Bowie book & fragrance launching in London, UK

John Mendelssohn's new book Peculiar to Mr. Bowie – A Day with David Bowie in 1971 and scent is out soon.

Here's the scoop from Miriam Linna at Kicks Books...

Hey Metrobolists, I'll be in London for a week with John Mendelssohn and Paul Gorman on a wee press junket for the latest Kicks books-and-fragrance. We have a shindig at the Century Club and two book shop dates immediately following. Watch for a newsflash this week as we prepare for lift off. 

It's our privilege to bring this small book with fragrant trimmings to you as a memento / souvenir of John's day with David Bowie in 1971, when DB was on his first visit to the states, wearing a man-dress and tossing his locks during a cross-country press junket for his new footlong The Man Who Sold The World, which was a queen-size flop Stateside. 1971 was pivotal for DB (weren't they all). Following the release and said hype of TMWSTW came the recording and release of Hunk Dory, and by December, he had shorn and dyed the locks to become Ziggy Stardust. 

Our righteous little tome celebrates one small spot in time when man met dress and another man met the man in a dress and snapped a roll of film that has remained largely unseen for 64 years. The London junket (including photo show) runs Jan 23-27, followed on Jan 31, back in the States by a WPKN mega chat with Trident's Howard Thompson and Bowie collector king Kevin Patrick at the hallowed halls of WPKN - with record party and photo exhibition to folllow. Details erupt soon. Working on an NYC location, so we are calling in ye troops for a gangbuster blast. 

Incidentally, the book shindigs are tailgated by an exact replica of the legendary Mr Fish "Man-Dress"! We tried unsuccessfully to license a one sided flexidisc a dynamite '71 demo titled Miss Peculiar, but the title also leans toward the logo of Mr Fish's designs, and the line from Space oddity circa 1969. Oh, and yes, Kicks Books is the only publisher in history to produce a book-and-fragrance line. The fragrance of Peculiar is a unisex dose of old school English lavender. Of course.x miriam

You can pre-order John Mendelssohn's Peculiar to Mr. Bowie via the Norton Records site right here. 

BEDAZZLED... BESPOKE...BOWIE! A third  PECULIAR book event in London is now set in stone, dear ones, with the great map mavens at Herb Lester joining again with Kicks Books...  "Bowie in London and Hollywood" is at Word In Your Ear at 21Soho, 3-5 Sutton Row, London with hosts Mark Ellen and David Hepworth chatting with authors John Mendelssohn and Paul Gorman.... make the date? It's on Monday Jan 27 7-9:30 PM. We're at the launch at the Empire Club on Jan 23rd and at Tender Books on Jan 25th. See you all soon! Books-perfume-photos... watch for full pressola blast.. here's the info on the Jan. 27 blasteroo! https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bowie-in-london-and-hollywood-tickets-1118845138929

We look forward to seeing you at one or all of the London gang meetings!

January 23 - Empire Club,  61-63 Shaftesbury Ave, London

January 25 - Tender Books, 6 Cecil Court, London

January 28 - Word In Your Ear at 21Soho, 3-5 Sutton Row, London

Happy Birthday Nick Tosches!

Remembering author Nick Tosches on his birthday with a piece by Rob Pomeroy right here and one by Austin Brookner there. 

Nick Tosches talks Save the Last Dance for Satan

Andre Williams' novel turn

 Along with Andre Williams' considerable skills as a producer, arranger and house-wrecking showman, we all knew reckless R&B raconteur was a talented tunesmith as well. But evidently the composer of such timeless classics as Bacon Fat, Jail Bait, Shake A Tail Feather, Pig Snoots and I Want To Be Your Favorite Pair of Pajamas wasn't content with just writing dancefloor destroyers so the wildly creative Williams decided to mark his 73rd birthday with the publication of his first book of fiction, Sweets and Other Stories.
The swankly designed old school Signet tall-style paperback is the first release of Kicks Books, an off-shoot of Norton Records which is currently celebrating it's 30th anniversary as a proudly independent label. It was actually Norton co-founder and dime-store novel aficionado Miriam Linna who suggested to Williams the potential therapeutic benefits of writing prose during his recent 42-day stint in rehab.

Williams took the advice and wrote what he knew. True to salacious form, it's a terrifically trashy bit of streetwise pulp fiction – more Donald Goines than Iceberg Slim – populated by pimps, hookers, thugs, snitches and dope-dealers, just the sort of sleazy characters Williams understands implicitly from his own hard hustling life in the music biz. Although much of the action is set in Chicago, where Williams currently resides, don't count on Sweets and Other Stories getting big upped on Oprah's Book Club. But who knows, maybe Quentin Tarrantino will buy the film rights and keep Andre in vintage Cadillacs for years to come.

Of course, recording and performing music remains Andre's main focus. He's just finishing up a new Jon Spencer-produced album with the ever-fabulous Sadies  providing musical support. The Sadies will be joining Williams to road test some of the new material at the Horseshoe (370 Queen West) in Toronto on Thursday, November 19 with Bloodshot Bill and Catl opening. Tickets are $15 advance, $18 at the door and available from Ticketmaster, Rotate This, Soundscapes and the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern.