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Japanese edition of The Life & Times of Malcolm McLaren out this month

Jan 5th, 2024

‘This book solves the mystery of a spell that was cast on a time that won’t fade away’

Hiroshi Fujiwara

2024 has got off to a good start with the news that the Japanese edition of The Life & Times of Malcolm McLaren is going to be published by East Press on January 26, four days after what would have been the great provocateur’s 78th birthday.

This translation includes a new photo selection, the above cover quote from Japan’s style guru Hiroshi Fujiwara and updated text, including much new detail on the visit McLaren made with Vivienne Westwood and Gerry Goldstein to Andy Warhol’s Factory in New York in the summer of 1973.

The Life & Times Of Malcolm McLaren Japanese edition is available to order here.

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A night of conversation, music + libation to celebrate Totally Wired at Reference Point

Jul 26th, 2023

Next Thursday (August 3) I’m going to be in conversation with the prominent writer and photographer Mark C. O’Flaherty at central London’s library/bookshop/bar Reference Point.

//Mark reminisces about his time at Boyz in Totally Wired//

We’ll be talking about the music press – the subject of my book Totally Wired, which is out now in paperback –  it’s history in relation to LGBTQ+ communities and Mark’s experiences working for such magazines as Melody Maker and Boyz.

Afterwards I’ll DJ a vinyl set of music-press-related sounds.

Bag your spot here.

//Totally Wired paperbacks in the Tate Britain bookshop//

Copies of Totally Wired are widely available, including from bookshop.org

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Totally Wired: Music publications that made a difference

Jun 28th, 2023

When he launched the small-format 32-page song sheet The Melody Maker in 1926, Tin Pan Alley music publisher Lawrence Wright sparked the media revolution that created the music press.

This multi-million pound business eventually straddled the Atlantic and simultaneously proved a fertile breeding ground for generations of writers, photographers, film-makers and performers who made their mark in the wider world.

Everyone from Bob Geldof, Chrissie Hynde and Neil Tennant to Danny Baker, Caroline Coon, Julie Burchill, Barbara Ellen, Caitlin Moran, Miranda Sawyer and movie directors Cameron Crowe and Anton Corbijn (and even Michael Winner) cut their teeth on music magazines such as Melody Maker, New Musical Express, Rolling Stone, ZigZag and Smash Hits.

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Totally Wired: Female music writers kicking against the pricks

Jun 27th, 2023

//Ellen Willis, c. 1970. Photograph: Ellen Willis’s family//

One of the narrative threads of my book Totally Wired: The Rise & Fall of the Music Press – which is published in paperback next week – traces the ways in which women writers have been forced to fight long and hard against white male dominance of the field.

//Gloria Stavers photographs Jim Morrison 1967. Photographer: Unknown//

This process was kicked off in the 1950s by Gloria Stavers, who transformed the US teen scene as editor and photographer at the huge-selling 16 magazine and went on to champion the likes of the Beatles and others in the 60s on her own terms: while she recognised the charisma of The Doors’ Jim Morrison, she was also his equal and lover.

//Lillian Roxon, mid-1960s. Photo by unknown, Fairfax Archives//

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Talking Barney Bubbles x Hipgnosis at Stroud’s Pop Up festival on March 26

Feb 28th, 2023

I’m looking forward to appearing at Pop Up, the subcultures festival being held in the Gloucestershire town of Stroud next month.

I’ll be comparing and contrasting the work of Barney Bubbles with that of his rivals Hipgnosis in the 70s and 80s with Mark Blake, author of the new book about the British music design studio and Pop Up organiser and writer Ben Wardle.

//Front Cover, Peter Gabriel, Charisma Records, 1977. Design: Hipgnosis//

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Taking part in Foyles’ Christmas evening tomorrow night

Nov 30th, 2022

I’m taking part in the the Christmas authors’ evening at central London’s Foyles bookshop tomorrow.

I’ll be signing copies of Totally Wired: The Rise & Fall of the Music Press, there’ll be readings and Jude Rogers is DJing an alternative Xmas set.

Come along, it will be fun.

Details here.

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Talking Totally Wired at the Write Idea Festival on Sunday

Nov 1st, 2022

I’m talking about my music press history Totally Wired at this weekend’s Write Idea Festival at east London’s venerated Bethnal Green Library.

The library is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and I’m lining up with such authors as crime writer Ajay Chowdhury, historian Panikos Panayi, writer and publisher Shahida Rahman, performer Vivi Lachs, architecture specialist John Grindrod, comedian Tez Ilyas, former BBC correspondent Nick Higham and journalist Siobhan MacGowan.

I’ll be in conversation with festival organiser Neal Smith about the rise and fall of the music press from 4pm on Sunday (November 6). Tickets are FREE here.

Full details of the Write Idea line-up here.

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Totally Wired x Ambit Pop x Disco Pogo x others = We Love Music! at Magculture on October 27

Oct 17th, 2022

I’ll be joining contemporary music magazines including Disco Pogo and Ambit Pop at a celebration of the music press then and now at London’s premier magazine outlet Magculture a week on Thursday (October 27).

Magculture currently stocks a dozen music magazines, so is the appropriate place to talk about the past, the present and the future of the media sector which has spawned so many exciting publications as well as writers, designers, photographers and editors.

Starting at 6.30pm, I’ll be discussing the themes raised in my book Totally Wired: The Rise and Fall of the Music Press with magCulture’s Jeremy Leslie,and then we’ll be joined by editors including Paul Benney of Disco Pogo (and also co-founder of 90s mag Jockey Slut) and Kirsty Allison of Ambit + Ambit Pop.

Details and tickets for the event are available here.

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Out and about with Totally Wired

Sep 27th, 2022

//With Peter York taking part in new literary/comedy festival Walthamstow Weekender at Walthamstow Trades Hall last Saturday. Photo: Mark Hart//

My new book Totally Wired: The Rise & Fall of the Music Press is out in the UK, Europe, Australia and other countries, so I have been active on the promotional front.

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‘Illuminating treatise… essential reading’ Electronic Sound on Totally Wired

Aug 24th, 2022

The first review of my next book Totally Wired: The Rise & Fall of the Music Press is in the current issue of British monthly Electronic Sound, which receives a mention in the post-2000 epilogue:

Challenging my ‘rise & fall’ thesis, Electronic Sound‘s review is nevertheless complimentary, describing the book as an ‘illuminating treatise’ and ‘essential reading’.

Visit Electronic Sound and buy the latest issue here.

Order your copy of Totally Wired at all good booksellers, including bookshop.org.

 

 

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