This holiday season I decided to give my followers some Crime of the Century teasers as a Christmas present from me to you! Gotta give you reasons to buy the book and I think the teasers I’ve dropped are really interesting stories.
The first teaser I dropped this month was uploaded on Phil Ochs’ birthday, 19 December. It was recorded spontaneously when I remembered that it was his birthday and I really needed to drop some promos for the book and what better time to do that than on a musician in the book’s birthday? So I put on a hippie outfit complete with a peace sign necklace that a friend gave me and I revealed that in one of the chapters I talk about Phil Ochs meeting Charles Manson in jail and visiting Spahn Ranch. He was good friends with Ed Sanders, former member of The Fugs and author of The Family. Ed Sanders dedicated the book to Phil Ochs, whom he said knew these times well. True story! Also what better place to record this video than my 60s looking bedroom? The 45 in the frame behind me is The Beatles’ “I Feel Fine” – Love that song!
(If you don’t have Instagram, don’t worry, I also uploaded this video to YouTube)
The second teaser is one I released on Christmas Eve as a little Christmas present. I know some people unwrap presents on Christmas Eve (hello fellow Latinos!) so here you go! Why this occasion to talk about Phil Spector? Wasn’t he Jewish? Well, a lot of Christmas songs were written by Jewish people and while Phil Spector didn’t write a lot of Christmas songs, he co-wrote one of the best known songs on the Christmas album A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector (yup he really had to make it about himself, talk about main character syndrome š), “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” by Darlene Love. Spector loved the song so much he wrote a version called “Johnny (Baby Please Come Home)” to play the other 11 months of the year and Darlene Love sang that too. Sadly, Darlene Love got a bad deal and had to go back to working a day job, but she returned to music after hearing that Christmas song on the radio and took it as a sign to return to music because she realised she was appreciated. I’m usually not a fan of Christmas songs, but that song is really good.
I filmed in my usual location, the living room sitting on my Victorian sofa. I wore my wedding dress, which reminds me of dresses the Ronettes wore on their debut album cover. My wedding look was partially inspired by Ronnie Spector and I had a beehive for my wedding.
This video is also on my YouTube channel.
Finally we get to New Years Eve and Kinks fans might know that’s Pete Quaife’s birthday. This year, he would have turned 80. The Kinks don’t just have one chapter, but two chapters so Crime of the Century is going to be great for Kinks fans who love true crime and The Kinks were a big inspiration behind me writing the book. We already revealed chapter 1 being about The Band and Jack Ruby, well The Kinks are in chapters 2 and 3. In chapter 2, we talk about how The Kinks met John Wayne Gacy in Springfield, Illinois on their first US tour in 1965, yes that notorious tour where they got banned from the USA. Talk about Death of a Clown! In chapter 3, we talk about how Britain’s most notorious gangsters The Kray Twins wanted to manage The Kinks and have Ray and Dave Davies star in a biopic about them. In the end that didn’t happen and instead Martin and Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet played them in The Krays, released in 1990. The Kray-Classic Rock connections don’t end there! In the book you’ll find out how they went from having photoshoots by David Bailey to finding themselves tried for murder at The Old Bailey.
The outfit I’m wearing in this picture is based on The Kinks’ stage outfit/uniform from circa 1964-1965: red riding jacket and frilly shirt. The blazer and frilly shirt are both vintage. I love 60s dandy fashion!
This video has also been uploaded to YouTube.
So are you excited for Crime of the Century? Were any of these stories interesting or surprising? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
Happy New Year! I wish everyone a happy, healthy 2024.
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