Author Archives: simon robinson

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About simon robinson

Having worked as a graphic designer in the music industry, mainly in the reissue sector, I now concentrate on the design and publication of books about popular culture - and even write some of them.

Vintage Rock

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Vintage Rock magazine are running an illustrated feature on photographer Brian Smith, which is great publicity for our upcoming Blues photo book Boom Boom Boom Boom.  They have requested a batch of photographs, though as yet we are not sure what they will use.  We will post more details when we know the issue date.

In the meantime here is a photograph which Brian most certainly did not take!  It shows him back-stage meeting Little Richard at a show in Manchester in the early 60s.  Although Brian went along to snap the musicians, he was a big fan and if the chance to be recorded for posterity with one of the stars came up, he and his friends would take turns with the camera.  So we don’t know who took this,  but it’s one of those magic moments a lot of people would be happy to have experienced.  There are a couple more shots of Brian with the stars on the site.  It just leaves one question, who knitted that jumper?

Little Richard and Brian Smith, Manchester

Chapter 14

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Graham Bonnet

Just to let people know we have finally got to the end of the last chapter of the Graham Bonnet biography layout.  We have overshot the page count by a bit, but are meeting up with the author in a couple of days to run through the pages one more time, so will hopefully be able to squeeze everything in.  Inevitably new pictures are still arriving but we have to draw a line somewhere!  There are a few photographs which now have to be cleared and licensed and then we can begin to prepare the artwork files for print.

Updates

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Graham Bonnet newslettersFor anyone who has only recently subscribed for the Graham Bonnet biography newsletters, we have added the older ones to the site in PDF format so you can read through and catch up if you wish. Keep in mind some of the links may now be out of date and some of the information might have also been updated. The latest newsletter will go out this week, so make sure you subscribe if you want to get that.

Boom Boom update

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The book of Brian Smith’s fabulous Sixties Blues photographs – Boom Boom Boom Boom – is pushing along nicely, albeit a little behind schedule! But we’re pleased to be able to show the first page visuals at last.  Brian has also had some of his photographs selected for a really interesting new documentary on some of the Blues sidemen who perhaps never got the recognition of some of their peers.  Titled Sidemen : The Long Road To Glory, you can see an exclusive trailer for the project at the producer’s official Vimeo site. Universal have also requested a dozen of his images for an upcoming Chess blues box set. If you haven’t yet checked the book out, you can read the full details on the site.

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Graham Bonnet on tour

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We had a couple of meetings last week with Graham’s manager as the group are currently on tour in the UK, and finalised plans for the book editions. We will send out a newsletter next week to subscribers with all the details (you can get on the exclusive mailing list by visiting the book page on the site). I’ve never been to a rock show in Skegness before, and apparently it is 49 years since Graham last played there as a teenager!  We then took in a more regular concert in Leeds, and watched the band sound-checking beforehand, where this picture was taken. There is a review of the shows and more pictures on the Deep Purple site here.

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Graham Bonnet Band, soundcheck, Leeds, Feb 2016. Photo : Simon Robinson

Bonnet book

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Classic Rock magazine gave us a nice plug for the forthcoming Graham Bonnet biography just before Christmas (you can see the article here on their website).  The book was also trailed in the latest edition of Record Collector magazine.  I’m not sure where they got their information from but it was mostly correct!  Record Collector will be doing an interview with Graham when he is touring in the UK in February, and reviewing the book when it is out. For more on the book check the preview pages.

Deep Purple Photo Archive

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Deep-Purple-Cover-for-ekmThis upcoming title, which brings together the Deep Purple archives of noted Melody Maker photographer Barry Plummer,  is now open to people to pre-order. The book is published by our large format imprint ST33Books and you can learn more about the title and see page spreads on the ST33Books website.

Yes to Yes

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Yes-Dialogue-coverWe’re pleased to say that pre-orders for the rock book Yes : Dialogue are now being taken. A definitive collection of rare interviews with almost every band member, along with hundreds of rare photographs, this title is published by our large format division, ST33Books.  Check out Yes : Dialogue for more details.

Page spreads

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very alternative guide to spinal cord injury

The image above is from a specialist book we are publishing this month, and shows the testing of the page spreads to make sure they are all correct before it goes to the printer. You only need to get one page wrong and it throws everything else out! The book is on spinal cord injury, and has been written and designed by people with experience of the injury who wanted to see a book out there which helps people cope with the realities of their life changing experience, rather than a well meaning but dry technical guide. You can read more at the Alternative Guide page which links to their own site.