<p>Kate’s an old pal of ours from Word magazine who writes scintillating columns and profiles for the New Statesman and Observer. We loved her book ‘Men Of A Certain Age: My Encounters With Rock Royalty’ – just out in paperback! – where she relives her meetings with a variety of legends, eccentrics and old lags whose music she finds particularly compelling and wonders what they all have in common. This typically funny and colourful conversation stops off at …</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>… the attractive fallibility of rock stars past their peak</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>… a lifetime’s devotion to Paul Simon</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>… “Olivia Dean is the Carole King of her generation”</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>… the ridiculous expectations we heap on musicians’ creativity</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>… why Arts Criticism is under threat</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>… when the first record you buy (aged five) is the Chicken Song</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>… “One-Hit Wonders have achieved infinitely more than most of us”</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>… Ray Davies and his “eternal sense of apartness”</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>… why George Michael is under-appreciated and the time he found someone living under his floorboards</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>… the days when Jeff Beck modelled PVC jackets for Rave</p><br><p>&nbsp;… the genius of Pat Metheny’s Orchestrion</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>… and the new acts who’ll still be huge in ten years’ time.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Order copies of ‘Men Of A Certain Age’ here: </strong><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Men-Certain-Age-Encounters-Royalty/dp/1788705645" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.co.uk/Men-Certain-Age-Encounters-Royalty/dp/1788705645</a></p><p><strong>Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: </strong><a href="https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear</a></p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>