Paperback of Original Rude Boy out soon

The paperback of Original Rude Boy will be published in the spring of 2010.  My mole tells me that there will be plenty of tales from the recent Specials tour while Jerry Dammers will be faded out earlier in the story. 

When the hardback came out in March 2009, it seemed that Dammers' row with the band might overshadow the tour.  The air was thick with talk of legal action and so on.  But with the huge success of the tour, it seems we can all now move on from that episode.

The front cover of the paperback will be white in contrast to the black cover of the hardback.  And rumour has it....Amy Winehouse will be writing a new intro. 

Notting Hill Waterstone's - books run out at signing

Neville signed so many books at the Notting Hill Waterstone's - they ran out.  I was there to see shop staff phoning the Piccadilly store to see if they could get some more copies sent over.  In the end, Neville got in a cab, went down to Piccadilly and signed some more copies there.  There was a huge turnout for a Nottingham signing with fans queueing round the block.  The original rude boy has never been so popular!

Amy Winehouse to write Neville Staple intro???

Rumour mill grinding again.  This time - can there be any truth to the rumour that Amy Winehouse is going to write the intro to the paperback version of Neville's "Original Rude Boy" biography - due out in the spring of next year.  Keep your eyes and ears open for more on this little story......she did present him with an award at the Q magazine bash last month.

Look out for book signings during Specials tour...

The Original Rude Boy is likely to be at your local HMV or Waterstone's over the next few weeks - especially if the Specials are gigging nearby.  Check out your local store.  He's already been doing a few signings and queues have gone round the block.  Make sure you don't miss out on a chance to get your hardback copy signed.

Neville in The Sun today - with Amy Winehouse

Neville Staple has picked up a gong from Q magazine presented by Amy Winehouse who was sporting a fine pair of Q stickers in an appropriate place.  Rumour has it, he's recording with her in the near future.  And she may write the intro to the paperback version of his biography 'Original Rude Boy'. 

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/2702480/Special-of-the-day-for-Neville-Staples-after-winning-The-Q-Inspiration-Award.html

Mojo review of Original Rude Boy

Mojo has given Original Rude Boy a big thumbs up calling the book "fascinating but harrowing". It praises the author for giving an honest insight in to a life that was tough, uncompromsing and including a spell behind bars. Let's hope that bumps up the sales further. My mole in publishing tells me the hardbacks have outsold another ska tome I won't mention here.

Movie on Neville Staple

News on the grapevine that a movie which includes Neville Staple's character is in development. It also includes Errol Christie - the Coventry boxer. "Ghost Town" is being produced by EMU Films and I'm told that the budget will be around four million quid. Not bad for a British flick - chicken feed for Hollywood of course. My industry sources tell me that it will be set to a ska soundtrack and be set in the Coventry of the 1980s. I'll keep you posted.

Neville back in the UK!

After his little brush with the forces of law and order in Jamaica - Neville returned to the UK on Monday, 22nd June. To clarify - he was "detained" and not arrested in Jamaica. No charges have been pressed. Interestingly, USA Today ran the story as did a few online blogs and of course, the mighty Coventry Evening Telegraph.

Jah Baddis comeback?

Ex-Specials roadie Trevor Evans and Neville Staple have been doing DJ sets together after recent gigs giving rise to speculation that their old sound system - Jah Baddis - might re-surface. Readers of the holy book - I refer to Original Rude Boy of course - will know that Jah Baddis was the sound system set up by Nev and Trev back in the 1970s. They had a residency - well, that's a rather grand way of putting it - at the Holyhead youth club....where Nev later bumped in to the Coventry Automatics (who subsequently became The Specials). Anyway - Nev the toaster and Trev the selecter seem to be itching to re-live old times and why not? Nev's done a cracking job with The Specials gigs so now let's salute the genius of Jah Baddis.

Neville Staple arrested in Jamaica

Proving that he's still seen as one big rude boy - Neville Staple was arrested this week at Montego Bay airport. He phoned friends to say that he was strip searched and then taken to a local hospital to be X-rayed. Cops found nothing on him and no charges pressed. But he's stuck in Jamaica till Saturday this week. As a result, he's missed two Neville Staple Band gigs. The great man is reportedly furious at the way he's been treated.

Are American 'Third Wave' bands really ska?

Chapter ten in Neville Staple's book 'Original Rude Boy' talks about the so-called Third Wave of ska - bands like Rancid and No Doubt that came out of the United States in the 1980s and 1990s. But I've heard plenty of 2Tone purists say to me that...well...are these bands REALLY ska outfits? They don't look like it. They don't sound like it. So they can't be ska bands at all.

But then you can say - well, The Specials and The Beat developed the sound of earlier Jamaican ska combos - and music should never fossilize. All musical genres need to develop and grow. The US Third Wave bands are just as ska as the 2Tone groups that influenced them a quarter of a century ago.

On balance - I think the 'Third Wave' is a legitimate extension of ska. That many of those who sneer at it are stuck in a nostalgic time warp. And it alienates many American ska fans to discover that fans in the UK look down their noses at them. After all, Neville produced and played with Rancid, No Doubt and Unwritten Law - was he mistaken to do so?

Oh dear, somebody doesn't like Original Rude Boy

There's a review of Neville Staple's biography on the 2Tone website (written by somebody who obviously loved Horace Panter's drier tome on The Specials) which makes the most bizarre critique you can imagine of Nev.

Nothing to do with his music, voice or role in 2Tone. No - there's a long moan about the fact that Nev admits that when he was five years old, he used to torture animals. Now - I'm not condoning that. But he was five. This was the late 1950s in Jamaica. And he's making a point about his rough upbringing. But this guy decides that on the basis of that and later in his teens working in a slaughterhouse (well, there were three million unemployed at the time and you took what jobs you could get), Nev is a very bad man and his book is not to be read lest you become an animal torturer yourself!

Then we have a moan about Neville admitting that he was a burglar. And he did time in borstal. But because he says burglaries were "exhilarating" - that drives our reviewer on 2Tone nuts. Again, Neville was a rude boy - what do you expect? He says Nev is glorifying burglary. That's like saying - don't watch the Godfather in case you end up supporting the mafia.

Original Rude Boy finally shows the black British influence on 2Tone and some white folk don't like it. They don't take the sound system scene that Nev came from seriously because sound system DJs didn't pluck guitars. But I for one am glad Mr Staple has finally put pen to paper and upset the right people.