The Cocaine Diaries: A Venezuelan Prison Nightmare (Paperback) by Paul Keany with Jeff Farrell

 

If you have a good sense of humour and a few hours to kill, the narration alone makes this audiobook enjoyable. Quite frankly, it's that bad, it becomes funny. Written by Irish plumber come drug mule, Paul Keany, you’d expect the writing to be a little ropey, yet this was written with the help of an actual journalist, so Im unsure why it is this bad - but that's not the only thing bad about this book.  At the start, I thought ‘If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime’, which sounds unsympathetic, but Paul's character does little to enable the reader to sympathise or understand this nightmare predicament. 

The book starts with Paul's trip to Venezuela, explaining that he lost his plumbing business in the recession, which sounds dreadful, but I can't understand how you'd think becoming a drug mule (knowingly) would ease the issue, or that you'd get away with it? idiot. Paul mentions recreational cocaine use as part of his weekend lifestyle choices, so I expect he knew dealers already.  

Having failed to smuggle a suitcase with 6 kilos of cocaine out of Venezuela, and being busted at the airport, our hero (he really thinks he is) smuggles cocaine INTO the Venezuelan jail, Los Teques,  so he can deal for prison cash. He also brews illicit alcohol, gets into fights, snorts cocaine daily (his words) and befriends a band of fellow criminals, which at times, makes this nightmare prison sound like a holiday camp (this is where the audiobook narration becomes laugh out loud funny). 

Throughout this book, Paul Keany talks about morality, choices and karma, and having based this book on his prison diaries, his real-life ending is karma all on its own. Paul Keany died of a cocaine and alcohol induced heart attack in 2021 at age 58, which is karma in its purest form, I'd guess, quite like that cocaine he tried to smuggle into Ireland. No sympathy whatsoever. 

If you want a good drug mule, true crime story (with a hint of the Irish), I'd suggest 'You'll never see daylight again' by Michaela McCollum. instead.

www.ryanoxleywriter.blogspot.com 

Dancing With Demons : The Authorised Biography of Dusty Springfield

Dancing with Demons -The Authorised Biography of Dusty Springfield by Penny Valentine and Vicki Wickham is a fascinating and profoundly human exploration of one of the most enigmatic and influential female vocalists of the 20th century. Dusty Springfield, widely recognised for her rich, emotive voice and groundbreaking contributions to pop and soul music, lived a life of stark contrasts—glamour and turmoil, success and self-doubt, adoration and alienation.

I first discovered Dusty Springfield as a teenager via the 90s film Pulp Fiction (yes, I am that old). As a fan of Burt Bacharach and '60s girl groups, it was inevitable that the whole sound of Dusty would appeal to me. I even have a signed copy of one of her albums! 'Dusty Is Memphis' is my favourite (I'll get back to that later). 

Published in 2000, this is the first music biography I've read that gets right to the heart of the artist - the art and the person. It seeks to unravel the myths surrounding Springfield’s life and career, offering an honest and compassionate portrait, and I must admit I learnt a lot that I didn't know - this book would make a superb film, by the way. One of the many strengths of this authorised biography is its nuanced approach to Springfield’s struggles with identity and self-worth. As a woman navigating the male-dominated music industry of the 1960s and 70s, she faced immense pressure to conform. Her sexuality—Springfield was one of the few public figures of her time to acknowledge relationships with women—added another layer of complexity to her already tumultuous personal life. The authors explore this aspect of her identity with sensitivity, neither sensationalising nor diminishing its significance. You can tell it was published 25 years ago because this would have been a different story today.

While the book delves into Springfield’s struggles, it never loses sight of her extraordinary contributions to music. Her 1969 masterpiece 'Dusty in Memphis' remains one of the most critically acclaimed albums ever, showcasing her deep affinity for soul music. The biography captures the making of 'Dusty in Memphis', including the doubts that plagued Springfield during the recording, and her ongoing battle with self-criticism despite near-universal praise. I really enjoyed the interviews with those who knew Dusty best: friends, lovers, collaborators, and industry professionals - the book pieces together a career that, while commercially inconsistent, left an indelible mark on music history.

This biography is affectionate and unflinching, which emanates warmth and admiration in its tone, but does not sanitise Springfield’s darker moments. Subjects such as alcohol abuse, self-harm, and erratic behaviour are tackled with honesty and empathy, making it clear that these demons were not the sum of who she was but a part of her story. The book also gives insight into her lengthy career and late renaissance, concluding in her untimely and early death. Its prose is engaging, making it accessible to die-hard Dusty fans and those unfamiliar with her legacy. This book is meticulously researched, is a first-hand account, and one I could read again. 

I gave it 3/5 on Goodreads, but it's a four. 

www.ryanoxleywriter.blogspot.com

This Week I Have Been Mostly Listening To... JAZZ FM

Growing up, my grandfather was a jazz musician and my Dad always played soul music so it was almost inevitable that I would one day discover Jazz music and Jazz FM. 

It was November of 2024 when seeking some new sounds, I came across the RAYO app which offers a selection of podcasts, playlists, archives and live radio. I clicked randomly on Jazz FM and I don't think I've been the same since!  Having some trepidation to start with, I immediately thought of that classic The Fast Show sketch, and I half expected an old fuzzy static sound of some smokey-voiced DJ playing Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, and Nina Simone. The station features some of those artists obviously but what surprised me is the utter abundance of new jazz from the UK and around the world this station delivers in bucket loads.

Since November of 2024, I've discovered The Ezra Collective, Mama Terra, and Lady Blackbird in new sounds, acid jazz, chilled jazz, Gill Scott Heron, and Etta James, plus uber cool DJs Danielle Perry and Simon Phillips, to mention a few. Early mornings or late evenings, you can pretty much tune in at any time to find a plethora of new sounds and if live radio isn't your thing, check out the RAYO app. As they used to say on The Fast Show...Nice!, Great!

www.ryanoxleywriter.blogspot.com 

 

BOOK REVIEW - 'Shuggie Bain' - 2020 Booker Prize That Hurt My Eyes!

words by @rybazoxo 

2020 was a year that none of us will ever forget. After I saw Morrissey in Leeds in March of that year, the world decided to close, and lockdown. We were all then subjected to, and brutalised by, face masks, vaccinations, mass-media hysteria and erm…death. All very grim. What I didn't notice in that year, and I'd be surprised if anybody did, was the 2020 Booker Prize handed to Douglas Stuart for his debut novel, ‘Shuggie Bain’. It wasn’t until late last year that, scouring a charity shop for books, I picked this one up for 50p and thought I'd give it a whirl. 

A disclaimer at this point would be that I normally don't read fiction. I'm autistic, so fiction isn't real, and I normally stay clear, preferring biographies, true crime stories and memoirs. However, I read all the praise about this Scottish 1980s set melodrama / coming-of-age drama/alcohol abuse drama and enthusiastically began reading. At over 400 pages, it's not a short one but I thought it was worth it. I mean, a booker prize has got to be good, right? Well, not quite. The first 150 - 200 pages of this book are really good. You route for young Shuggie as he battles with his alcoholic mother (I’ll get back to that shortly), his problematic siblings, his absent father, his blatant homosexuality, and living with his grandparents - all against a backdrop of council estate poverty and Thatcherite policies. 

1980s Glasgow. Image by Raymond Depardon

Where Douglas paints a perfect picture of a grim Scotland (I've never been but read about it) and has strong characterisation, he lacks any fleshing-out of the coming-of-age of the book's main protagonist. This book should be called ‘Agnes Bain’ (Shuggie’s Mum) as she is the main character in this book. Agnes battles booze throughout the novel, and every alcoholism cliche you can think of, including with the wrong men,  only to meet her maker at the end, is by and large, rather disappointing. I thought this was going to be some sort of ‘good outweighs the bad’ kind of book - it is not. Shuggie’s character comes good at the beginning and middle but that's it. 

1980s Glasgow. Image by Raymond Depardon

The end of the story has no real conclusion and the last chapter (there are 30 altogether) introduces another character’s alcoholic mother which just regurgitates content. It's a shame as this could have been a good book, and I think 200 pages would have done it and still won the prize. But, rather like COVID-19, this book was very grim, went on for far too long, and I was so glad when it ended. 

www.ryanoxleywriter.blogspot.com