(Erika wrote:)
Last nights guest on the Shaman's Den was Kevin Becketti of Jawbone Press and independent music book publisher based in London and San Francisco. Kevin is their San Francisco man getting the word out about their upcoming books, getting their books to distributors and looking for new book ideas. Some of the new books that they have are "White Light White Heat: The Velvet Underground Day by Day, "To Live is to Die: The Life and Death of Metallica's Cliff Burton," "The Impossible Dream: The Story of Scott Walker and The Walker Brothers," and much more! It was amazing to hear about all the books that they have coming out or have in the works.
Kevin talked about how he was an actor and then had a job with a tech company. They thought he was doing a good job at the tech company but he said he often did not know what he was talking about and they were always having him make announcements for new products that never came out. Working with books about music is more his style as he loves music. He likes working with books where there is a definite product that will be coming out. He said you would think he said that he would know all kinds of musical history and could quote things but he doesn't. He does enjoy doing research on bands and musicians and finding out things about them when they are working on new projects! He's a guy with a sense of humor and there was much laughter throughout the show.
Frank asked Kevin how he could get a book deal and Kevin said you have to come up with a proposal and then pick out the publisher that publishes the kinds of books that you like to read. He said that they publish music books. Frank said that if you goggle Frank Moore and punk clubs Frank comes up. Kevin loved hearing about the Outrageous Beauty Review at Mabuhay Gardens, about how Frank auditioned people and could not find people who were outrageous enough so he put plants in the show and people had to be more outrageous than the plants but nobody knew who the plants were. The first show there were prizes for everyone including everyone in the audience. Frank had gone around in his wheelchair and collected gifts and gift certificates from all the local stores and shops. He would come home with this backpack filled. Frank wanted a band that was raw and not polished so they auditioned musicians, most of whom said they couldn't do it or they lasted a week or two, so they decided to pick up instruments and do it themselves. When a song got too polished they would start learning a new one. Although the show wasn't punk they were part of the fabric of the punk scene and all the punk musicians knew them since the Outrageous Beauty Review was the opening act at Mabuhay Gardens for three years. Kevin said he had been around then and wished he had come to the show. Kevin was also going to UC Berkeley the first time that Frank did a series of performances there but wasn't sure he had seen it. When the UC series started the campus police showed up and there was Frank laying on a table naked. The campus police went to the professor who had sponsored the show and he told them that he was Frank's sponsored and that Frank could do anything that he wanted!
Kevin really enjoyed hearing about how Frank listened to Radio Luxemburg when he was a kid living in Germany when his dad was in the service. Frank and Linda told Kevin the story about how luver started. How Frank was doing a show on another internet radio station and they were all into freedom of speech. It turned out they were only into being able to say a few words on-air but did not like it when Frank started reading emails about there policies live on the air. They told Frank that he had to sell out and that why didn't he start his own internet radio station. So Mikee figured out how to do it and they had a once a week show, The Shaman's Den. A guy from Tokyo was the first show on luver and he would play amazing live music on-air with different musicians. Then one night they got a message in the chat asking why did they always shut off lunver at night just when this person was listening, so it grew into 24/7 programming!
Frank asked Kevin if he would like to do a show on Luver and he said he would love to. He had always wanted to do a radio show and he had an office full of cds. Then Frank told him the story of how John Sinclair of the MC5 had handed over his entire music collection off his computer to luver one of the times he was on the show. Then Kevin said well maybe his music collection wasn't quite what he thought it was and he would have to rethink it. Luver had just gotten Pat Boon and Hank Williams III's cds in the mail. Before luver it seemed like there was no good music anymore but it turned out they just weren't playing on the radio because amazing cds come in the mail to luver all the time!
Frank told Kevin to send them more books and for nobody to say anything about the Dick Tracy logo that Jawbone Press has on their website. Kevin said yes it looked just like Dick Tracy and he had been worried about it but nobody in England seemed to worry about it so there it is! It's amazing all the different people who come on the Shaman's Den!
* * * * *
That’s how I remember it.
Best,
Kevin
Kevin talked about how he was an actor and then had a job with a tech company. They thought he was doing a good job at the tech company but he said he often did not know what he was talking about and they were always having him make announcements for new products that never came out. Working with books about music is more his style as he loves music. He likes working with books where there is a definite product that will be coming out. He said you would think he said that he would know all kinds of musical history and could quote things but he doesn't. He does enjoy doing research on bands and musicians and finding out things about them when they are working on new projects! He's a guy with a sense of humor and there was much laughter throughout the show.
Frank asked Kevin how he could get a book deal and Kevin said you have to come up with a proposal and then pick out the publisher that publishes the kinds of books that you like to read. He said that they publish music books. Frank said that if you goggle Frank Moore and punk clubs Frank comes up. Kevin loved hearing about the Outrageous Beauty Review at Mabuhay Gardens, about how Frank auditioned people and could not find people who were outrageous enough so he put plants in the show and people had to be more outrageous than the plants but nobody knew who the plants were. The first show there were prizes for everyone including everyone in the audience. Frank had gone around in his wheelchair and collected gifts and gift certificates from all the local stores and shops. He would come home with this backpack filled. Frank wanted a band that was raw and not polished so they auditioned musicians, most of whom said they couldn't do it or they lasted a week or two, so they decided to pick up instruments and do it themselves. When a song got too polished they would start learning a new one. Although the show wasn't punk they were part of the fabric of the punk scene and all the punk musicians knew them since the Outrageous Beauty Review was the opening act at Mabuhay Gardens for three years. Kevin said he had been around then and wished he had come to the show. Kevin was also going to UC Berkeley the first time that Frank did a series of performances there but wasn't sure he had seen it. When the UC series started the campus police showed up and there was Frank laying on a table naked. The campus police went to the professor who had sponsored the show and he told them that he was Frank's sponsored and that Frank could do anything that he wanted!
Kevin really enjoyed hearing about how Frank listened to Radio Luxemburg when he was a kid living in Germany when his dad was in the service. Frank and Linda told Kevin the story about how luver started. How Frank was doing a show on another internet radio station and they were all into freedom of speech. It turned out they were only into being able to say a few words on-air but did not like it when Frank started reading emails about there policies live on the air. They told Frank that he had to sell out and that why didn't he start his own internet radio station. So Mikee figured out how to do it and they had a once a week show, The Shaman's Den. A guy from Tokyo was the first show on luver and he would play amazing live music on-air with different musicians. Then one night they got a message in the chat asking why did they always shut off lunver at night just when this person was listening, so it grew into 24/7 programming!
Frank asked Kevin if he would like to do a show on Luver and he said he would love to. He had always wanted to do a radio show and he had an office full of cds. Then Frank told him the story of how John Sinclair of the MC5 had handed over his entire music collection off his computer to luver one of the times he was on the show. Then Kevin said well maybe his music collection wasn't quite what he thought it was and he would have to rethink it. Luver had just gotten Pat Boon and Hank Williams III's cds in the mail. Before luver it seemed like there was no good music anymore but it turned out they just weren't playing on the radio because amazing cds come in the mail to luver all the time!
Frank told Kevin to send them more books and for nobody to say anything about the Dick Tracy logo that Jawbone Press has on their website. Kevin said yes it looked just like Dick Tracy and he had been worried about it but nobody in England seemed to worry about it so there it is! It's amazing all the different people who come on the Shaman's Den!
* * * * *
That’s how I remember it.
Best,
Kevin
* * * * *
you have a good memory!
Got the box of books! You don't publish fluff, but meaty histories about what we care about!
Next Sunday Richie is coming to talk about the Velvet Underground!
In Freedom,
Frank Moore
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