Good post, Eric B. Now if you could only get rid of Nalle and Barger ...

I'd love to see screenshots of BC stories that make the front page of Google News.

If if ever come across it, I'll snap it and store it...

that's a great idea Matt!

I didn't know where to post this comment, so I'll post it here.

The new layout is gorgeous! So nice in fact, it makes all of the articles and even the comments somehow better.

Nice job, Blogcritics.

Very cool, thanks uao!

And sure, this is a great place to talk about the site.

Book Review - Ticket To Ride by Graham Sclater


Graham Sclater spent much of the sixties playing in beat groups in and around Britain, and more importantly, in Beat Central, Hamburg. Of course, we all know that The Beatles set the beat boom off over in Deutschland, and literally hundreds of English groups went over chasing the same dream. Ticket to Ride, Sclater's first novel, sees him charting the insane rock & roll life of The Cheetahs, a group of young lads finding their feet (both in music and in their life) slap bang in the middle of the Reeperbahn, the infamous red light district made so famous by the Fab Four.

The book is a cracking little kitchen sink drama, littered with all the hopes and dreams that any young kid with an interest in music has. As opposed to being a wordy effort, that many books of this ilk suffer from, Sclater has kept it simple and straight forward, which allows Sclater to show the reader that he's still a fan, and the enthusiasm he has is shared quickly. From the tales of uppers, backroom sex and teenage fumblings, to name checking vintage gear and records, the whole tone of the book is one shot through Super 8. Obviously, with any book dealing with The Dream, it occasionally gets a little dewy eyed, but this again underlines how much the subject means to Sclater, rather than being someone writing about something from borrowed nostalgia. As Sclater lived it, the devil of the book is in the detail. Ticket to Ride perfectly captures that youthful optimism that was prevalent during the mid sixties, and that feeling that any young Englishman with a guitar or a Vox Continental, could take over the world. Thankfully, Sclater has kept the warts in, with the lads getting 'a dose' and the constant shivering that seems to prevail through the tour.


The innocence that is now lost in teens is alive and well with The Cheetahs. The post war fall out has not given birth to a Cosmopolitan bunch; if we now have backpackers and worldly teens, Ticket to Ride shows a bunch of lads almost unable to look after themselves in what might as well be an alien planet. A lot of music books have the 'us against the world' attitude in the band featured, but Sclater is smart enough to sidestep it. The fractions that appear throughout the shifting hierarchy expertly show how bands operated back then, when rock music was in its infancy, and without a five year plan, and thankfully, an absence of spin and PR.

The book itself is a breeze to read, and difficult to put down. Just about anyone with an interest in music (and not just sixties music) will be able to buy into the ride detailed by Sclater. Ticket to Ride has it all. Prostitution, deceit, drugs, alienation, violence, camaraderie, and most of all, good time rock and roll. Available to buy from www.flamebooks.com.

Ticket To Ride by Graham Sclater ****

Mof Gimmers

Hello, Blogcritics,
My name is Frank Chase Jr, author of False Roads To Manhood, What Women Need To Know; What Men Need To Understsnd. I'm trying to find information on how to submit my book to you for a professional book review. Or check my blogspot

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How do I get an interview, about my blog? I have links to help other artist like my self, that dont have credit cards or dont have the money to sighn up for a nice pagage for promotion. These things keep a lot of grate artist from being heard. alot of the music sites that have a free setup still dosenot promote your works, like they should. You just stay in the back with out being seen or heard. These sites also tell you they will promote your music to tv producers For sound tracks in movies and TV shows but we artist that are hard workers dont seem to get this at all. So I think to blog is a good way to get your music out your always going to be seen and heard, and the blog can help other artist. Jerry Criner aka Cryout. DREAD OVER AND OUT

Today, June 13, 2007, on the "Judge Maria Lopez" daytime court television show, she grossly inadvised a young bright African American kid, who, while "sneaking" over to his white friend's house, and in the process of them all trying to run and hide or something, he got bitten by the dog, had to go to the emergency room because of the pain and blood, and mom paid the three hundred something dollar bill, and promised by the white boy's mom and father to give her the balance, who, after not getting the balance of the half, came into court for justice. What did Judge Marie Lopez "find:" She found the black kid responsible and chastised him for going over, ("sneaking") into the house of the white kid, chastising him about how that is wrong, never addressed the issue of race, but implied the young black kid was with "criminal" intentions, when the white kid smirked and grinned along with his mom, while the black kid cried with his mom, and then the Judge chastises mom for "causing" the boy to cry by him seeing her "tears." It was obvious, (at least to me), this was embedded racism and should never be allowed the magnitude of individuals, groups, people all over the world, to allign themselves with her, would be taught blatant fear and feel more justified in their already frightened, heightened, and unsafe opinion of black men in general. My comments come after knowing that right is right, and wrong is wrong. I hope I am not seen as offensive to Judge Lopez, as I feel she was to all black families, men and boys, across the country and those impacted by this show, as well as popular media forums. Thankis