Opher Goodwin – My top 2 books on Rock Music!

51Sz5vEI6eL__SX331_BO1,204,203,200_ 51GXVbm-F7L__AA160_

The Blues Muse

A novel that spans the whole gamut of Rock Music from the Blues in Tutwiler in the 1920s right up to the present day. Live it through the Man with No Name – he was there – right at the front. He lived it all!

I was in conversation with a good friend who, like me, is a Rock Music fanatic. We have both been everywhere, seen everyone and have had our lives hugely affected by music. However it is not who you have seen but what you failed to catch that you dwell on. I said to him that it would be brilliant if we had a time machine and were able to go back and see all the major events in Rock history; Robert Johnson play in the tavern in Greenwood, Elmore James in Chicago, Elvis Presley in the small theatres, The Beatles in Hamburg, Stones in Richmond, Doors in the Whiskey, Roy Harper at St Pancras Town Hall…………….. and a thousand more. Then I realised that I could. I knew it all, had seen much of it first hand, and had the imagination to fill in the gaps. All I needed was a character who worked his way through it, was witness to it, part of it and lived it; someone to tell the story and paint the picture. I invented my ‘man with no name’ and made a novel out of the History of Rock Music. This is that novel. It starts in Tutwiler Mississippi in 1903 and finishes in Kingston upon Hull in 1980. On this journey you will breathe the air, taste the sweat and join all the major performers as they create the music that rocked the world and changed history.

In the UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blues-Muse-Opher-Goodwin/dp/1518621147/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469093602&sr=1-4&keywords=opher+goodwin

In the USA – https://www.amazon.com/Blues-Muse-Opher-Goodwin/dp/1518621147/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469092766&sr=1-11&keywords=opher+goodwin

In Search of Captain Beefheart

51GXVbm-F7L__AA160_

Yes that is me on the left in the photo from back in 1971.

This is a memoir of my life with Rock Music – the music, the bands, the gigs, the meetings, the search for excitement and the greatest gig, the best band.

Music is a huge part of my life. This tells that story – the sixties and on to the present.

Here’s the blurb –

The sixties raged. I was young, crazy, full of hormones and wanting to snatch life by the balls. There was a life out there for the grabbing and it had to be wrestled into submission. There was a society full of boring amoral crap and a life to be had in the face of the boring, comforting vision of slow death on offer. Rock music vented all that passion. This book is a memoir of a life spent immersed in Rock Music. I was born in 1949 and so lived through the whole gamut of Rock. Rock music formed the background to momentous world events – the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War, Iraq war, Watergate, the miners’ strike and Thatcher years, CND, the Green Movement, Mao and the Cultural Revolution, Women’s Liberation and the Cold War. I see this as the Rock Era. I was immersed in Rock music. It was fused into my personality. It informed me, transformed me and inspired me. My heroes were musicians. I am who I am because of them. Without Rock Music I would not have the same sensibilities, optimism or ideals. They woke me up! This tells that story.

Why not check it out here:-

In the UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Search-Captain-Beefheart-Opher-Goodwin/dp/1502820455/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469093602&sr=1-1&keywords=opher+goodwin

In the USA – https://www.amazon.com/Search-Captain-Beefheart-Opher-Goodwin-ebook/dp/B00OHXSIQ4/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469097796&sr=1-7&keywords=opher+goodwin#navbar