'Scuse me while I kiss this guy
He kissed the sky, of course, but the title of this piece is a Mondegreen that I couldn't resist! Back Pocket make very good notebooks in pocket size (9x14cm), which funnily enough is just right for the back pocket of a pair of reasonably commodious jeans. Every now and then they like a special edition, and here comes another.
I'm going to be honest about slightly mixed feelings about the 27 Club set, because not all those depicted joined said club for reasons which should perhaps be celebrated, and - call me an old stick in the mud - it feels just a little uncomfortable to see untimely demise by booze or gunpowder as a mere 'collectable'. But that's probably not very rock'n'roll of me, and there is sure to be a market for this out there amongst folk who don't feel quite so restrained and like the idea of something a bit different.
Nero sent me Jimi Hendrix to test. Blimey - talk about a guitar hero! In truth the member of the 27 Club I listen to more often is Kurt Cobain, but Jimi is surely a legend in anyone's books. Telling you about his music seems redundant, because there's plenty about him all over the internet, and indeed on the inside cover of the the notebook itself...
But let me share just one anecdote which always tickles me. Finding a flat in London has always been a struggle, and it's really nothing new - it was going on in the 1960s and, actually, in the early eighteenth century too. Which is how Jimi Hendrix and George Friedrich Handel ended up living in adjoining apartments, separated only by a partition wall and, oh, about 250 years. You can even go and visit the twin museum. If only Hendrix had lived long enough to give us his version of Music for the Royal Fireworks - now wouldn't that have been one heck of a hit?
The notebook itself is for writing in, of course, and it serves that purpose very well. Ink is pretty happy there, with just a touch of bleed-through if you're a full-on tintophile but no evidence of feathering. Graphite is maybe a touch happier still. It all works; just promise me that, if you buy a set, you'll look after yourself until you make it to 28.
