Jerry Lee Lewis 'Rock and Roll Time' album review and 'The Knox Phillips Sessions' album review

The cover of Jerry Lee Lewis' new album
Rock and Roll Time finds him outside the
Sun studios where he first recorded 58 years ago.
Dig those flip-flops, Killer!

Goodness gracious, there’s a whole lotta Jerry Lee Lewis around this autumn, including a brand new album, an album of previously unrecorded material from the 70s and an authorised biography.

I’ve had all three for a while now and can say Lewis fans are in for a treat!

The new album, Rock and Roll Time, which comes out at the end of this month is one of the best Jerry Lee has ever recorded. It’s a taut 30 minutes of verve and energy up there with his 2006 duets album Last Man Standing and older classics such as his eponymous Elektra album from 1979. You’d never think the Killer was pushing 80. He sounds no different to he did aged 45 as he hammers into one of the greatest songs he’s ever cut, a blues number by Bob Dylan called Stepchild.

Other album highlights include the title song, a beery anthem penned by Kris Kristofferson, an energetic romp through Sick And Tired and an inspired cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Mississippi Kid.

A growling Blues Like Midnight continues the strong thread of blues tunes while the double time piano on Chuck Berry’s Promised Land takes us out on a high.

Blasts from the past!
A private stash of previously unreleased
Jerry Lee Lewis music from the 70s
on new CD The Knox Phillips Sessions.

The album of previously unreleased songs is called The Knox Phillips Sessions and dates from the early 70s. At the time, Jerry Lee was riding high on the country charts and playing sold-out shows all over the world but that wasn’t enough to satisfy his insatiable appetite for making music. So after recording country songs in Nashville by day, he’d book Knox Phillips’ studio at midnight to record a wider variety of music for fun.

The opening Bad, Bad Leroy Brown may prove too wild for some tastes. The Killer was playing for fun, making things up as he went along and probably never expected the track to be heard. It might have been a rehearsal or just something to vent his unedited creativity on.

As the album progresses, things get a lot tighter. A medley of Chuck Berry songs - Johnny B. Goode and Carol - rocks on the very edge of control. A mash up of Music! Music! Music! (“put another nickel in the Nickelodeon”) and the instrumental Canadian Sunset, meanwhile, show a previously unseen side of Lewis’ musicality.

Best track is the closing Beautiful Dreamer which Jerry Lee turns into a narration, telling the story of 19th century composer Stephen Foster between singing snatches of one of his most famous songs. This song should have been on one of Lewis’ country albums of the time and we can be grateful to Knox Phillips for finally making it available.

I’ll be reviewing the new book, Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story in a forthcoming issue of Country Music People, so will save my comments on it till then.

Until then I can barely say how much I’m enjoying Rock and Roll Time. I gave it a 5-star review (the maximum stars) in this month’s Country Music People, but really it deserves even more than that. Ten gold stars, perhaps. I haven’t stopped playing the album at least two or three times a day for the past month and it gets better every time.

I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of Stepchild. But then Sick And Tired really rocks. And Blues Like Midnight... aw, every track is brilliant!

One girl who’d really love Rock and Roll Time is Natty Smalls, the bullet-bra-wearing rockabilly heroine of Polka Dot Dreams by Julia Douglas. Click here to read the customer reviews of this vintage clothes-clad rockabilly romance.

Live like Natty Smalls at the Vintage Festival's Classic Car Boot Sale, September 20 and 21

If you want to rock back the clock in a set of cool retro clothes, give your home a mid-century make-over or even pick up a classic car put September 20 and 21 in your diary.

That’s when London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford will be hosting the Vintage Festival’s Classic Car Boot Sale, alongside the Park's very first free mobile art fair, Portability: Art on the Move.

The event is expected to see more than 200 classic cars, with over 100 opening their boots for shoppers.

The weekend will also host a second event celebrating ingenious and extraordinary mobile art vehicles from across the country. From the smallest portable theatre, to a giant travelling seagull, a poetry potting shed and a fully functioning artist's studio on wheels - art vehicles on land, sea or air will come together to explore how artists have been taking their art out and about.

Dennis Hone, Chief Executive, London Legacy Development Corporation, said: “With a cornucopia of vintage clothes, cars and bargains, and our fascinating celebration of mobile art vehicles, this looks set to be a great weekend of art and culture on the Park.”

Launched last year at London's Southbank Centre, the Vintage Classic Car Boot Sale has proved incredibly popular, attracting around 8000 visitors a day from across the UK.  This festival-feel shopping event will host more visitors and classic car eye candy including vintage fashion, accessories, homewares, crafted products from independent designers, pop culture memorabilia and vinyl record traders offered amidst street theatre, impromptu musical performances, vinyl only DJs, an impressive display of classic cars, buses, vans and bikes and a gathering of the finest mobile eateries serving street food, coffee, cocktails and craft beer from vintage wagons.

Polka Dot Dreams
Because everybody
needs some
Natty Smalls!

And don't forget, for a taste of the vintage scene, follow the adventures of retro gal Natty Smalls in Polka Dot Dreams by Julia Douglas. Click here to read the 5-star reviews on Amazon. 
Or check out a copy from your local library!

Dress like Natty Smalls at Bettina Scarlett's Mid-Century Market

Natty Smalls?
It's certainly an uncanny lookalike of the
red-headed Polka Dot Dreams heroine at
Bettina Scarlett's last Mid Century Market
at Christmas

If you'd like to dress like Natty Smalls, the irrepressible bullet-bra-clad rockabilly filly in Polka Dot Dreams by Julia Douglas, make a date to attend Bettina Scarlett's Mid-Century Market on April 12.

Who is Bettina Scarlett? In the following article, which originally appeared in Classic American, I found out all about the go-to gal for vintage fashion events management.

Bettina Scarlett
Mid-Century Market
organiser

If you went to the Rockabilly Rave last summer - and what sort of square are you if you didn’t? - you may have bopped into the Vintage Fashion Revue and seen a collective of retro cuties wiggling down the catwalk in a selection of dresses and swimsuits like it was 1956.

Elsewhere on site, and at other events like the Hotrod Hayride, you may also have noticed the Atomic Girls, a sexy sextet of 50s-style cheerleaders busy promoting next year’s Atomic vintage festival.

Both the fashion show and the promo girls were organised by former retro pin-up model Bettina Scarlett who operates a one-stop service for the promotion of all things vintage, and who rocks a neat retro look herself.

Although new in business, Bettina was raised on rockabilly. Her dad, the DJ Rockin’ Shades, runs the Fireball Rock’n’roll Club in Lowestoft and the family home was a stone’s throw from such long-established coastal gatherings as the Hemsby Rock’n’roll Weekenders and the Wildest Cats In Town Teddy Boy festivals in Pakefield.

“I saw so many original artists by the time I was 13,” Bettina recalls. “I saw the Comets when I was 12 and that was probably one of the best bands I’ve ever seen.”

When not bopping to her dad’s rock’n’roll records, Bettina watched old MGM musicals from the 40s and 50s with her mum and grandmother. “I always wished I could look as glamorous as the ladies on screen and yearned to have dresses as beautiful as theirs.”

As an adolescent, Bettina explored different music and different looks. “I went through phases of being a goth, a punk, a hippy...” But by the time she was 17, she was into the punk-rockabilly hybrid psychobilly, which took her back to her rock’n’roll roots. Her renewed interest coincided with a fresh injection of blood into the rockin’ scene.

“When I was younger, it was mainly people of my parents age who went to the clubs and festivals. Then, when I was about 18, all these young people started coming and we all became friends. We’d go to Hemsby and Great Yarmouth and then down to London.

“At the time I was dressing rockabilly: leopard skin and cherry print; jeans and bandanas in my hair. Then a few friends started getting strongly into the vintage look. I started looking on ebay, and once you start you get addicted. It kind of went mad from there!”

Enid Collins handbag
-the must have accessory

Among Bettina’s biggest vintage weaknesses is for the ornate box handbags of 60s designer Enid Collins. “They’re really popular with the girls on the scene. I’ve got more than a dozen - and just bought another.”

At university, where she studied fashion promotion, Bettina was the only vintage girl on campus. But she quickly discovered that there’s a rockabilly scene everywhere if you know where to look.
“The first week I moved to Kent, I walked into Chatham town centre and saw a rockabilly band busking. I asked them where the clubs were and they told me about a place where they have bands every week.

“It’s a niche scene,” Bettina admits. “It goes through the mainstream every now and then with singers like Imelda May. But it’s always been extremely popular. When I tell people about the weekenders and how people travel from all over the world, they can’t believe it’s so big.”

Bernie Dexter
- an inspiration

Having always loved the classic 50s pin-up look, Bettina began modelling in her late teens. Among her best-known pictures is the Bernie Dexter-inspired stockings and telephone pose that graced the poster for Hemsby 47.

Bettina counts the American pin-up Dexter as one of her heroines and now a friend - “She supports me in everything I do.” Dexter, in fact, flew 5000 miles to star in Bettina’s fashion revue at the Rockabilly Rave.

During her final year at uni, Bettina organised a vintage fashion show with burlesque and rock’n’roll at Proud Cabaret in London, with proceeds going to the Royal Brompton & Harefield charitable fund. The show was such a success that it prompted her to put her modelling days behind her and go into events management under the banner Bettina Scarlett Presents.

As well as organising fashion revues and photo-shoots, Bettina offers a styling service for aspiring pin-ups and will act as a personal shopper for those in search of the perfect vintage look.
“Just tell me what you’re looking for and I will hunt high and low for the perfect outfit,” Bettina promises.

Don't miss the Mid-Century Market
April 12
You'll find 50s clothing and homeware,
a vintage tea room and rockabilly DJs
- and it's not just for the ladies; there will
be a pop-up barber's shop to
spruce up your vintage bloke
as well as hair stylists to give ladies
the perfect victory roll.

Bettina personally favours the reproduction 50s clothes of OuterLimitz designer Di Brooks. “I wear her stuff all the time. For the last Rave she made me a fringed white pencil dress. Every time I see her at a festival I end up buying something, because she has just the look that I’m going for. I also buy a lot of stuff from Lady K Loves. OuterLimitz do a lot more dresses and evening wear, and Lady K does very good value day wear in the £30 - £100 range.”

Among her genuine vintage items, Bettina singles out “a lovely white circle skirt with a school motif: pencils, noughts and crosses... there’s so much detail it’s amazing. I found it in a car boot sale at the Rave.”

Bettina recommends reproduction for wearability and value, but warns against the inauthenticity of some manufacturers. “You only have to look at photos from the 50s to realise that some things would never have been worn, so why do they make them like that?”

Bettina also suggests studying old photos on the internet when it comes to creating the perfect hairstyle. “Then practise, practise and practise until it looks perfect. Or try hair and make-up companies like Vanity Box and Lipstick and Curls.”

The appeal of mid-century fashion for Bettina is its sophistication. “It’s so glamorous. You’ll never get a dress like you would in the 50s. It was an amazing, outstanding feminine look. Women don’t dress like that now and it really upsets me that people just don’t make the effort in what they wear anymore.”

Make that most people, however. Bettina Scarlett and her fellow followers of vintage fashion make the effort every day.

BETTINA SCARLETT PRESENTS

Treat yourself to a vintage present at Bettina Scarlett’s Mid-Century Market, Saturday April 12 at:
The Hammersmith Club
11 Rutland Grove
Hammersmith
London W6 9DH

www.bettinascarlettpresents.co.uk

Polka Dot Dreams
because everybody
needs some
Natty Smalls!

And don't forget to treat yourself to some Natty Smalls! In the form of Polka Dot Dreams by Julia Douglas. Click here to download it on your e-reader or check out the paperback from your local library.

"I love the 50s era and got so caught up in the heroine, Natty's, sense of style that I went and bought a dress just like one she would have worn! A fun romantic read."
- 5-star customer review on Amazon.




Click here to read an interview with Natty Smalls - singing sensation!

Treat yourself to some Natty Smalls on Valentine's Day!

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, why not indulge yourself in the romantic adventures of Natty Smalls, the bullet-bra and girdle-clad vintage clothes-mad heroine of Polka Dot Dreams?

Fleeing a failed romance with a celebrity chef in London, Natty returns to her seaside home town and promptly falls head over high heels with Matt, the handsome but nervous owner of a rock'n'roll-themed ice cream parlour and pink and cream 57 Chevrolet. There's only two problems. Matt's married - so will Natty's head be turned by the mysterious Scottish Teddy Boy Cameron Swoon who plans to make Natty a singing sensation?

Click here to download Polka Dot Dreams by Julia Douglas from Amazon.

Polka Dot Dreams has two 5 stars reviews on Amazon including this one: "I love the 50s era and got so caught up in the heroine, Natty's, sense of style that I went and bought a dress just like one she would have worn! A fun romantic read."

Or check out the paperback from your local library.


Click here to read an interview with Natty Smalls - singing sensation!

Four faces of Natty Smalls!

It's always fascinating to see how different illustrators picture a character, as can be seen from the covers of the different editions of Polka Dot Dreams.

The drawing on the left is how I imagined the heroine Natty Smalls in a doodle for my own amusement while writing the story.

This is how Natty appeared on the cover of the My Weekly Pocket Novel edition of Polka Dot Dreams.

Great hair, and I love the seaside setting. Not sure what happened to the bullet bra that features rather, ahem, prominently in the book. But, then again, it was My Weekly!

Pocket novels, incidentally, have a short but glamorous life on the newsstands of shops like Tesco and Sainsburys for just two weeks. So if you have a copy, hold onto it. It's a limited edition!

Here's Natty on the cover of the Linford Romance large print paperback, which is available to borrow from your local library.

I'm flattered by how closely she resembles my original doodle, including the ice cream from Matt's 50s-themed ice cream parlous. I also like the little details in the background, such as the suitcase, guitar case and leopard print coat that she wears in the opening scene.

And here's Natty large as life and in the flesh on the cover of the new e-edition. Perfect hair colour and the way she's tucking into that ice cream is Natty through and through!

Click here to read a sample chapter on Amazon.

Introducing Natty Smalls - the sensational singing star of Polka Dot Dreams!

Julia Douglas provides an exclusive interview with the heroine of her latest ebook, Polka Dot Dreams, the irrepressible Natty Smalls.

Name: Natty Smalls!

That’s an unusual name...

Natty by name and natty by nature! My real name’s Natalie, but Natalie Smalls sounds ridiculous!

What’s your role in Polka Dot Dreams?

I’m the star, of course! I breeze into town in my genuine 1950s vintage clothes, bullet bra and Twinco sunglasses and turn upside down the lives of everyone I meet. Especially the gorgeous Matt!

Who’s Matt?

Matt runs a rock’n’roll-themed ice cream parlour and is the most stunning specimen who ever pulled on a pair of vintage Levis! He’s got a blonde rockabilly flattop, the most amazing smile and a body-builder’s muscles that are simply to die for! He is a bit on the clumsy side, but I think that’s just nerves. We’re working on those!

You obviously like Matt. Does he have any rivals for your affection?

Well, there is the smooth and sophisticated Cameron Swoon! Now there’s a sharp dresser! Most people don’t understand the Teddy Boy look - Showaddywaddy have a lot to answer for! - but Cameron gets it perfectly: the expensive tailoring of a true Edwardian gentleman! Matt is jealous of Cameron because he’s going to make me a singing sensation!

Anyone else...?

My ex, the millionaire celebrity chef David Royale. But the least said about him the better.

Natty Smalls
as I first drew
her

Who are the female characters?

Oh, just wait till you meet the marvelous Margie - my larger-than-life landlady, Matt’s mum and, dare I say it, my potential mother-in-law! Margie owns an enormous house at the seaside. The other residents are Jase, a DJ - he’s harmless and nice. Then there’s Jude, a mysterious older woman who is Not To Be Trusted. There’s definitely something going on between Jude and Matt that I don’t like the look of at all!

What’s your best line in the book?

That would be when David says, “Virginity is a rather old fashioned ideal,” and I reply, “I guess I’m just an old fashioned girl!”

Can you tell us a secret that’s not in the book?

Matt’s always introducing himself as “I’m Matt, by the way,” - but that’s not his real surname! It’s Cardy - which could have serious implications for my name if we ever get married.

Polka Dot Dreams is available to download as an ebook from Amazon for the positively retro price of just £1.97. Click here to read the first chapter for FREE.

Polka Dot Dreams is also available to borrow as a paperback from your local library.