Jimmy Page with The Tower House, left. Next door is Robbie Williams’ Woodland House Sunday was gorgeous in London, hitting 27c, so we took a stroll to Holland Park, on the way passing Jimmy Page’s 1875 gothic mansion, on the park’s edge. Now, we all know Jimmy’s interest in witchcraft, black magic and Satanism, and his house certainly fits the…

Updated 26 May 2016 The first ever electric guitar hit record also happened to be blues: Floyd’s Guitar Blues.  But before that, here’s Bennie Moten’s iconic band. Guitarist Eddie Durham is 2nd left, next to that great blues vocalist, Jimmy Rushing, left We’re talking 1939 here when the electric guitar was in its infancy. As it happens,…

Updated 26 May 2016 For want of nothing better to write about this week, I thought I’d share a little story which involves pathetic name-dropping and also show what a complete idiot I used to be. Let’s go back to 1972, to South Kensington, a swanky part of Swinging London where I used to share a one-bedroom apartment with…

Updated 27 May 2016 Remembering AC/DC’s London concert at Wembley last July. Angus Young in action at Wembley last year. Jim Dyson/Getty Images Two of my most popular posts when I wrote this article last year were about veteran Australian-British band AC/DC. (This was as rated by Google Blogger, but I am now at paulmerryblues.com, which doesn’t have…

Updated 28 May 2016 Posters advertising Maison Close. It’s about the girl on the left who’s trapped in a Paris brothel                        A couple of years ago, we were at home in London watching a particularly entertaining French TV series about the saucy goings-on in…