8.31.2007

Pattie Boyd to tell all in new book details here.

According to the Daily Mail, one of rock and roll’s untold stories will surface next year. I mean it is not often that a true muse shares untold stories after a 40-year old self imposed silence. It looks like the books deals more with Pattie’s marriage to Eric Clapton, but I’m sure it’s filled with previously untold details of all things Beatle. (The John tidbits in the article sounded fascinating. I never knew.) The books looks to be a shocker, and it also looks that few mentioned in it will be seen in a particularly rosy light. But it sounds better the E.C.’s upcoming autobiography.

She has been silent for 40 years. Now tempted by a £1m pay cheque, the world’s most famous rock chick is set to reveal every detail of her abusive marriage to Eric Clapton.

Amid the amphitheatrical splendour of Verona’s Roman arena, Eric Clapton was not a happy man. On stage in front of 15,000 adoring fans at the lavish open-air venue this week, he was plagued by the draining summer heat and a particularly persistent mosquito.

“As he’s become older he gets miserable when it’s too hot,” says a member of the 61-year-old rock star’s entourage. “He was bothered by the flies and his glasses kept steaming up.” Clapton’s misery as he performed his classics Layla and Wonderful Tonight might also have been due, in part at least, to the woman about whom he wrote his two most famous love songs.

Holed up in her 17th-century cottage in the West Sussex countryside, Pattie Boyd, Clapton’s ex-wife and the woman he stole from Beatle George Harrison, is working feverishly on her autobiography.

The book, which will see Boyd finally break her 40-year self-imposed silence over her marriages to two of the biggest music stars of the 20th century, was described to the Mail by a publishing source this week as ‘full and frank’.

In other words, in exchange for her rumoured £950,000 advance, ex-model Pattie will be expected to dish the dirt about the sex, drugs and infidelities in her relationships with both the legends.

And to use the vernacular, 62-year-old Boyd certainly knows where the bodies are buried. Worse still for Clapton, her tome will go head-to-head in a sales war with his own forthcoming (and, it is rumoured, highly sanitised) £3.5 million life story. No wonder the guitar king is feeling the heat.

Pattie’s account of her life with Clapton is sure to tarnish his image as one of rock’s gentlemen. Particularly as, the Mail has learnt, she intends to lay bare the bizarre details of how the singer agreed to swop his own girlfriend for Pattie as a trade-off with George Harrison.

She is also said to be planning to tell the full story about dark rumours that during their nine-year marriage, Clapton, battling an addiction to drink and drugs, was an abusive and violent husband who cheated on her with a string of women because she couldn’t bear him children.

None of which is likely to make comfortable reading for the star — nicknamed Slowhand because of the speed of his hands on the guitar — who has become a father to three young daughters late in life thanks to his happy, five-year marriage to American-born former waitress Melia McEnery, 32 years his junior.

To compound his problems, Pattie’s memoirs come at the same time that another lover, Italian Lori Del Santo, whose four-year-old son with Clapton, Conor, died when he fell from a New York skyscraper, is penning her own version of events, which will allege that Clapton dispatched an aide to persuade her to have an abortion when he discovered she was pregnant.

Hardly surprising, then, that the veteran rocker, who is already worth £130 million, is said by associates to be rueing his decision to accept the payday offered by publishers Random House for his musings on his life and hugely successful career.

“He realises he has opened a can of worms with Pattie and Lori,” a source close to him told the Mail this week. “He is not too concerned about Lori, but he never thought Pattie would reveal the secrets of their marriage.

“He comes out of it pretty badly, but the truth is he should have let sleeping dogs lie and never agreed to do this book. He knows he’s only got himself to blame.” Indeed, friends of Pattie reveal she decided to sign her own publishing deal with Headline Books only because she was angry that Clapton had broken his vow not to speak about their marriage. Already, she has employed Prince Charles’s biographer Penny Junor to help her write it.

Meanwhile Clapton’s publishers are said to be furious over the news that Pattie’s book will go directly up against his own when they both hit the shelves in the autumn of next year. As one who has been researching their lives for several years for my own book on Clapton, I can say without hesitation that Pattie’s is one of rock’s great untold stories. Not only was she the muse for Clapton’s finest work, she inspired first husband George Harrison to pen the beautiful Something for her.

The public school-educated daughter of an RAF pilot, Pattie was a 20-year-old model when she was chosen to make a fleeting appearance in the 1964 Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night. The well-bred trophy girl caught the eye of bus driver’s son Harrison and the couple married in 1966. It was the blonde and toothy Pattie who spawned Harrison’s interest in eastern culture and introduced The Beatles to the Indian mystic the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1968.

But it is her description of her relationship with another Beatle, John Lennon, that will be most fascinating. Rumours abound among those who surrounded the group that Lennon and Pattie enjoyed a brief fling during her marriage to George.

What is certainly true is that Lennon shared with his friend Mick Jagger a sexual obsession with Pattie, which he documented in a series of graphic diary entries.

Indeed, the blatant flirting between John and Pattie at a party at London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel in December 1968 led to singer Lulu stepping in to remonstrate on behalf of Lennon’s long-suffering wife Cynthia. Not that Harrison, despite his conversion to mysticism, was above the more earthly pleasures himself.

He enjoyed an affair with Ringo Starr’s wife Maureen Starkey during their marriage and his bed became familiar to a rotating band of groupies known as the ‘Apple Scruffs’ because they would hang around outside the group’s Apple Corps headquarters on London’s Savile Row.

But it was Pattie’s relationship with Clapton that was to wreck her marriage to George. She and Harrison met the guitarist, then with Sixties supergroup Cream, at a party in Chelsea in November 1968.

The two men became immediate best friends, but Clapton, who was living with his teenage girlfriend Alice Ormsby-Gore, the daughter of Lord Harlech, fell passionately for the lovely Pattie.

When she rejected his entreaties for her to leave Harrison for him, he wrote the tortured love song Layla for her. Eventually, as George became more and more obsessed with the teachings of his new spiritual guru, Pattie fell into Eric’s arms. They continued their affair behind George’s back, even disappearing for trysts in an upstairs cupboard during candlelit games of hide and seek with an unsuspecting George at his huge Gothic mansion, Friar Park in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.

It was not Pattie’s first affair either. In the early Seventies, Harrison and guitarist Ronnie Wood, who would go on to join the Rolling Stones, negotiated a wife swop, with Pattie escorting Wood on holiday to the Bahamas while George took Ronnie’s then wife Krissy to his rented villa in Portugal.

Harrison finally twigged that Clapton had ‘done it’ with his wife when he arrived at a party at the home of his then manager Robert Stigwood in Stanmore, Middlesex, to see his best friend and Pattie acting like husband and wife. Clapton, who by then was living with model Cathy James, confessed his affair with Pattie to George and told him bluntly that he wanted her for himself. Harrison’s reaction was unexpected. He told Clapton: “Whatever you like, man.” Then added: “You can have her and I’ll have your girlfriend.”

Pattie fled in tears, but finally in 1974 she left George and moved into Clapton’s Italian-style villa Hurtwood Edge in the Surrey stockbroker belt. Astonishingly, the two men remained great friends.

But Clapton’s drinking and drug taking — not to mention his constant philandering — was soon taking its toll on his relationship with Pattie. By the time of their 1979 wedding in Tucson, Arizona, the guitarist was in the midst of a monumental addiction to cocaine. Just days before he asked her to marry him, he had begun a fling under Pattie’s nose with one of her best friends. She constantly forgave his affairs and his drinking sessions, which would start at 8am and last all day. But in 1982 she persuaded the star to check into the Hazelden Foundation drying-out clinic in Minnesota.

Part of his therapy was to read out a questionnaire filled out by Pattie which chronicled the abuse she suffered at his hands while he was in the grip of his addictions. Clapton was forced to admit to his fellow patients that he had beaten her up and forced her to have sex with him.

His behaviour led Pattie into her own battle with the bottle. Hardly surprising, then, that to this day she prefers to forget another song he wrote about her called The Shape You’re In, which chronicles her own alcoholism.

But it was Pattie’s inability to have children that proved the death knell for their marriage. Like Harrison before him, Clapton was keen to start a family, but despite fertility treatment she suffered a series of miscarriages. Meanwhile, Clapton began an affair with studio sound assistant Yvonne Kelly while recording in Montserrat in 1985, and she gave birth to his daughter Ruth.

Pattie was kept in the dark about the baby. But when beautiful television presenter Lori Del Santo, with whom he had begun a tempestuous affair, presented Clapton with a son, Conor, a year later, Pattie moved out. Clapton gave up drink for good, but the couple eventually divorced in 1988.

Pattie has consistently refused big money offers to tell her story about her relationships with the two rock stars, and remained on good terms with George until his death from cancer in 2001. Likewise, she stayed in touch with Clapton after their divorce and even attended the funeral of Conor in 1991.

But friends say she has never fully recovered from his treachery and went into psychotherapy in a bid to come to terms with the collapse of their marriage.

Nor, they say, was she ‘made for life’ by their divorce settlement and is wont to tell friends, who ask her how it feels to have been the inspiration for some of the most touching love songs of all time, that she would have preferred the royalties.

Pattie Boyd


Patricia Anne Boyd was born March 17, 1945 in Hampstead, England. She was the first child of the Boyd family, who would soon welcome daughters Paula and Helen (better known as Jenny). Pattie had a good relationship with her sisters, particularly Helen, who got her nickname from one of Boyd's favorite dolls. The family moved to Kenya for some time during the 1950's for their father's job, they returned when Pattie was in her late teens. Pattie and her sister Jenny went out to London in 1962, where they began successful modeling careers. They were used to traveling for the jobs, usually to New York City, and Pattie also modeled in Paris for Mod designer Mary Quant. Pattie's exposure in the press led to her getting a commerical contract from American director Richard Lester.

Lester wanted Pattie to be the Smith’s Crisps girl, to advertise for the potato chip brand. She was to be in television advertisements and do promotional appearances at stores throughout London. Around the same time, Lester was hired to direct a film for The Beatles. He liked working with Pattie for the advertisements, and he offered her a small role in the Beatles' first movie, A Hard Day's Night. Pattie was cast as a schoolgirl named Jean in the opening scene. However, her part was shortened to the line "Prisoners?" (She can also be seen during the Beatles’ performance of "I Should’ve Known Better"). Pattie later commented that it would be her last acting role, (which it was), stating "I'm quite happy modeling."

After a few days of filming, Pattie and some of the other schoolgirls asked the Beatles for their autographs, except for John Lennon (Pattie was said to be afraid of his sarcasm). George Harrison, lead guitarist for the band, signed autographs for Pattie and her sisters. He put one kiss on Pattie’s sisters autographs, and seven for Pattie.

Pattie stated on her first meeting with George, "George hardly said hello. When we started filming, I could feel George looking at me and I was a bit embarrassed."

George invited her to visit his trailer, but as Pattie remembered, "I was loyal, not stupid." Realizing he could not get far with that, he then proceeded to ask her on a proper date. Just when George was about to give up, she said yes. Pattie already had a boyfriend, but she found that this date would probably be harmless and he’d never find out. Their first date consisted of going out to dinner and driving around London. Pattie secretly dated George for a few dates, but soon had to break up with Eric Swayne, a 30-year-old photographer whom she dated for two years.

Pattie, circa 1964, said: "Eric was my boyfriend, but not any longer. George is tremendous fun to be with. We want it to stay just fun without having to talk about engagements and marriages."

George Harrison, circa 1964, stated: "She's my kind of girl and we like each other a lot, but marriage is not on our minds. We hope to see more of each other when we can. It isn't a sin to have a girlfriend, is it?"

Once Boyd broke up with her boyfriend, the couple was able to plan their first holiday together to Ireland. This was Pattie’s first exposure to "Beatlemania", for soon the press found out that they were there. Their holiday ruined, all they wanted now was to leave and go back to London. Pattie and Cynthia Lennon (who was also there on holiday with John Lennon) disguised themselves as maids and hid in a dirty linen basket. The basket was then pushed out by a bellboy, who took them to the airport. Unfortunately for the women, he forgot about them, only thinking of the good deed he did. When they finally got out, Lennon and Harrison were laughing hysterically.

Despite the problems in Ireland, the four of them were able to sneak away from the press. They traveled to Waikiki, Hawaii (from May 5 to May 20, 1964). After that, they even stopped by Los Angeles, only being noticed once. But the press found them again, and Pattie would not pose for the photographers. Oddly, George, who would learn to hate the press in later years, finally introduced Pattie as "my 29-year-old sister, my chaperone," as a joke.

With their relationship now public, Pattie started writing a column for 16 Magazine called "Pattie’s Letter From London" which, among other things, included beauty tips. By early 1965, Pattie moved into George’s Esher bungalow, Kinfauns. The fans hated Pattie for taking "their George" away after they realized how serious their relationship was. At the time, the only Beatle wife that had the fans' blessing was Cynthia Lennon. Pattie received most of the torture from the fans. George's fans would stalk Pattie whenever she was out, spit at her, kick her, beat her, and some even had threats of murder if she didn't break up with George. When Pattie told George how the fans acted toward her, George went out to tell the girls to stop it, but they were too busy staring at him, not listening to him.

Things were about to get worse for the fans. George proposed to Pattie on Christmas day, 1965. Pattie would recall in 1968:

"We were just motoring along [to Brian Epstein’s party] listening to the radio when suddenly he very calmly told me he loved me and wanted us to get married. I think I just said yes or some such nonsense, but believe me, inside I was doing cartwheels. We really were very much in love."

(Note: Brian Epstein was the Beatles' manager at the time.)

However, in an 1989 interview, Pattie remembered a different scenario:

"George jumped out [of the car], went to see Brian, came back ten minutes later and said: 'It's all right. Brian has said we can get married in January. Off we go!' I said: 'What?' I didn't have any idea that he wanted to marry me. He didn't actually consult me about it. But Brian had given his blessing and said it was quite all right. God had spoken! It was going to be fine."

They were married soon after the proposal, January 21, 1966 at the Epsom Registry Office in Surrey. Some authors point out that George became the first Beatle to marry by choice, not because his girlfriend was pregnant (e.g., John, Ringo). Brian Epstein was the best man, and Paul McCartney was the only Beatle in attendance. John and Ringo sent their best wishes, flowers, and very expensive gifts for the newlyweds. The couple were in outfits designed by Mary Quant, and to many, it was the picture perfect marriage. They posed for the obligatory wedding photos with their families, and were headed off to Barbados, where they let the press take photos of them on the beach together.

When they returned to Esher after their honeymoon, the Harrisons entertained guests. Pattie’s sisters came over a lot, because often George was out. George said he didn’t want any more press, so Pattie was to give up her budding modeling career. Her last photo shoot was with her sister, Jenny, for Vogue UK. Pattie tried to help out the poor, but the press made a big story out of it. Pattie was forced to become "a northern wife" and give up her career for the sake of her husband's.

During the 1960, a new culture in London was emerging, with free love and drugs. Pattie, along with many other of the fashionable people of the 1960's, soon found the usual glasses of wine replaced by marijuana, LSD and heroin. Pattie's first experience with LSD took place in 1964. In the 1980's, Cynthia Lennon recounted the events of the night:

"I’ll always remember that when we walked into this man’s [a one-time friend of George Harrison’s] drawing room. There were four lumps of sugar arranged along the mantelpiece. We (Cynthia & John Lennon; George and Pattie Harrison) all had a delicious dinner and lots of wine. When the coffee came, one of the four sugar lumps was put into each of our cups. It was as if we sudenly found ourselves in the middle of a horror film. The room seemed to get bigger and bigger. Our host seemed to change into a demon. We were all terrified. We knew it was something evil-we had to get out of the house. But this man told us we couldn’t leave. We got away somehow, in George’s Mini, but he came after us in a taxi. It was like having the devil following us in a taxi. We tried to drive to some club-the Speakeasy, I think it was. Four of us, packed into a Mini. Everybody seemed to be going mad. Patti wanted to get out and smash all the windows along Regent Street. Then we turned around and started heading for George’s place in Esher. God knows how we got there. John was crying and banging his head against the wall. I tried to make myself sick, and couldn’t. I tried to got to sleep, and couldn’t. It was like a nightmare that wouldn’t stop, whatever you did. None of us got over it for about three days."

As Pattie's drug consumption increased, so did her need for fulfillment in life. The Harrisons had taken a trip to India in 1966, and were fascinated by the country. When a friend suggested that Pattie hear Marharsi Mahesh Yogi speak, she thought it was a good idea. She told Harrison, and eventually most of The Beatles and their entourage went to hear him speak. Pattie thought it would be a good idea to get spiritual fulfillment by going to this lecture, since she wasn't happy being by herself all the time. However, Beatle biographers say that she would eventually regret this decision for two reasons. First, George fell deeply in love with India and being very spiritual, a major part in the breakup of their marriage. Secondly, they all came back disappointed by not receiving spiritual satisfaction, feeling cheated by the Maraharsi, who had less than spritiual practices (a possible ploy by Magic Alex). The end of their happy marriage was coming.

On March 12, 1969 (the same day Paul and Linda McCartney were married), Pattie answered the door of Kinfauns (the Harrisons' home in Esher) to find Sergeant Norman Pilcher. He had a warrant to search their house for illegal substances. They tore the house up looking for whatever they could find. They were charged with possession of cannabis resin [marijuana]. They were taken to the jail and released on bail. They plead guilty, and they claimed they had no idea the drugs were where they were. They had a stash somewhere else they said, which weren’t found. Ironically, the Sergeant who searched the house was charged with planting illegal drugs on an innocent suspect a few years later. However,this wasn’t the first time that Pattie and George were involved in drug busts. A bit earlier in 1967, Pattie, George, Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, along with some other friends, were partying at Keith Richards' home. As usual, drugs were present, mostly LSD, but also heroin, (a famous Faithfull vice). The police knew what was going on, but with the Beatles’ lawyer David Jacobs and manager Brian Epstein, who the police respected, they were alright. Only a few hours after the Harrisons left, did the police raid the house. By the time of the Harrisons' drug bust, both David Jacobs and Brian Epstein were dead.

Harrison's infidelities were also increasing by this time. There was always some affair to be carried on for him, and with his increasing drug and religious isolation from his wife, it only got worse. Harrison acted upon the chances given to him, which was the complete opposite of Pattie. There were plently of opportunities for her as well, even an tryst with John Lennon, (who was infactuated with Pattie), but Pattie still cared deeply for her husband. She was aware of the problems in her marriage, but did not have an affair at this point.

While their marriage was unraveling, Eric Clapton became friends with George Harrison. Clapton did uncredited work on Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and they became instant friends. Clapton would spend a lot of time with George and Pattie, and he could tell things weren't good between the couple. Pattie flirted a lot with Clapton to get her husband's attention, but the plan backfired, Clapton was falling in love with Pattie, and becoming extremelly jealous of his best friend.

Clapton's attempt to win Boyd's heart started with an affair with one of her sisters. He also started to reject religion, which he thought caused Pattie's unhappiness. Pattie finally listened to Clapton, and they started a brief affair, but as she would comment later, she was not one to carry on extramartial affairs. Clapton's obsessive love for her fascinated and frightened her, and when he said it was either drugs or her, Pattie backed out of the relationship. Her rejection, along with the death of Clapton's good friend Jimi Hendrix, led Eric into a four-year bout of depression and drugs.

Boyd later recalled the experience:
"Eric showed me this packet of heroin and said: 'Either you come away with me or I will take this'. I was appalled. I grabbed at it and tried to throw it away, but he snatched it back...At first, I felt guilt. Then I felt anger because it was totally irrational of him to blame me for something he was probably going to do anyway; it was very selfish and destructive."

It was during this time Clapton played in Derek and the Dominoes. "Layla", one of the band's most popular songs, which was as straightforward to Pattie. The title came from the 1,000-page work called, The Story Of Layla And Manjun. It was about a Manjun's obsessive love for women he could not have, Layla. Clapton biographers say that the song has little to do with the text, other than the title.

While Clapton went into seclusion from the public, Pattie had problems of her own. She had suspected that George had cheated on her, but the proof came during night at Ringo and Maureen Starkey's house. Harrison suddenly confessed how much he loved Maureen, and Harrison broke down in tears. Ringo Starr, who knew of Harrison's ways, could just roll his eyes. After Harrison's affair with Maureen Starr, Boyd started to defy what was told to her by Harrison. She started modeling again, and began a relationship with guitarist Ron Wood. As many things began to change in her life, Boyd had a near-fatal accident in 1972.

George Harrison always loved racing cars, and when he drove along roads, he drove just as fast. Pattie was in the car when they crashed, and she was knocked out unconscious and had serious injuries, including broken ribs, cuts and bruises. She was admitted into a hospital, where she stayed for several weeks, and then had rehabiliation for a while after that. When Boyd got her strength back, she was back out again with Harrison. Eric Clapton, even though still in depression, would often come out to some parties. On one particular night, he attended a party that the Harrisons also had gone to. Clapton got George's attention when Pattie was away, and simply told him, "I'm in love with your wife." Harrison just replied, "Fine, you get her, I get your girlfriend." By this time, Pattie came back on the scene and was completely shocked that Clapton had the nerve to tell George that he loved her and that Harrison was insensitive to her. She left angry at the both of them. But it was only a matter of time before she left George.

One night in 1974, George decided on the spur of the moment to try one more time to straighten out his marriage to Pattie, but it was too late. Pattie had flown to Los Angeles in desperation and was staying with her sister Jenny, and her husband, Mick Fleetwood. Soon after, she went to see Eric Clapton in Miami. After all his heartache of not being able to have Pattie as his wife, he finally had the woman of his dreams. George’s and Pattie’s divorce was finalized June 9, 1977. George on Eric’s relationship with Pattie:

"We both loved Eric, still do.... Pattie and he got together after we’d really split, and actually we’d been splitting up for years. That was the funny thing, you know. I thought that was the best thing to do, for us to split, and we’d should’ve done it much sooner. I didn't have any problems about it..."

Boyd later recalled her decision to leave Harrison for Clapton:

"In my naivete, I believed everything was all right. He wasn't taking heroin (anymore), which I thought was the main addiction for him. But, as it turned out, his drug of choice turned out to be alcohol."

Pattie and Eric were married in Tucson, AZ, Mar 27, 1979, at the Apostolic Assembly of Faith in Christ Church by the Rev. Daniel Sanchez, but only his band mates and some roadies, Roger Forrester (tour manager), and Rob and Myel Fraboni were in attendance. Pattie was staying at Rob and Myel Fraboni's in California when Eric proposed to her (over the phone, no less). Rob was best man and Myel was Matron of Honor. Another California friend, Chris O'Dell was also in the party as a Maid of Honor. Alphi O'Leary (EC's bodyguard) and Nigel Carroll (Pattie's sister Paula's boyfriend) were ushers. There was a party at the hotel that night with the traditional cake mashing, etc. He brought her on stage the next night in Tucson and played "Wonderful Tonight" for her. Clapton had a "no girlfriend/wife on tour" rule, but he broke his own rule and allowed Pattie to accompany him on tour from Tucson, AZ (Mar 28th) until Monroe, LA (Apr 14th). Then he sent her home to Hurtwood. The real reception with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Denny Laine, Mick Jagger, etc. took place some weeks later back in England at Hurtwood Edge during a break in the tour (May 19, to be exact). But, on May 25th, Eric was back on tour in Augusta, Georgia and Pattie was left alone at Hurtwood (a situation that would often be her fate). References for the above are: pp. 221-225 Crossroads: The Life and Music of Eric Clapton by Michael Schumacher, pp. 198-210 Clapton by Ray Coleman, and pp. 174-176 Clapton: Edge of Darkness. Thanks to EC fan, Tess Chatham.

Boyd was again being left at Hurtwood Edge by herself. Clapton's alcoholism got very bad, to the point that he went to a clinic. Boyd's efforts to help him beat his addict were trying on their relationship:

"It was becoming very difficult. You'd look for the part of the person you know and love, but it was hard to find."

By 1985, she had had enough. Clapton had very public affairs and two children by other women, and by this time she was publicly humiliated. She knew she couldn't have children, and this was in part to blame for the failure of her marriages. They were separated, and by 1989, the divorce was finalized.

"It probably took me six years to get over it, with four years of psychotherapy. My self-esteem was unbelievably low, and I found it really hard to build up relationships because I had been used to difficult people. Anybody who was sweet and nice to me was no challenge."

During this difficult time for Boyd, she refocused on her career as a professional photographer. Although she continues to be involved in photography, she has also become actively involved in charity work. In 1991, she co-founded SHARP with Barbara Bach, which aids drug addicts and alcoholics. That same year, Boyd met property developer Rod Weston, who has been her companion for over eight years.

Just because she's not married to either Harrison or Clapton doesn't mean her social standing has decreased. Pattie has long been friends with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, who "treat her like royalty", and enjoys the company of some of London's most exclusive social circles. The same members of these social circles (Barbara Bach, Christabel Durham) have also become involved in Pattie's latest project, a fundraising concert with Jools Holland and his orchestra.

"I've become involved in this because of people - friends - who have been in trouble as a result of alcohol and drug abuse. It's harrowing, totally harrowing, to watch."

During a majority of Boyd's life, drugs have had their effect. Her former husband, Eric Clapton, was an alcoholic throughout their relationship. George Harrison was also involved with drugs in the 1960's and 1970's, during his marriage to Boyd. Said Boyd on the subject:

"It's amazing we're all still alive."

Some songs written for/about Ms. Boyd:

  • "Layla"
  • "Wonderful Tonight"
  • "Old Love" (post-divorce)
  • "Pretty Girl"
  • "Man in Love"
  • "Shape you're In"
  • "Pretty Blue Eyes"
    (thanks to astute reader CL)

    Writer's note: The Pattie Boyd biography has been written with information complied from the following sources: The Beatles' authorized biography, press interviews by Eric Clapton, George Harrison and Pattie Boyd, and unauthorized books on The Beatles, George Harrison, John Lennon and Eric Clapton.

  • 8.27.2007

    The Iraq and the US should get the maps and... uhhh what the f**k??



    Whats your favorite cartoon or crayon colors would've had better answers... Very funny but still kinda sad...

    8.26.2007

    Thank you Rockfish and Austin, Texas!!!

    (ROCKFISH @ Austin, Texas)

    (Austin, Texas)

    The Killing Floor would love to thank the wonderful people in Austin, Texas that attended or happen to pass by last night's show at the Rockfish. You embraced us with such love that we're definitely coming back. We can't thank you enough for last night experience and maybe one day soon we'll make Austin our permanent home. Camp and management at the Rockfish were just as awesome and they made us feel right at home too. Rockfish have great food and I especially love their margaritas. All this wouldn't been possible without Andrew Minter... We thank you and as Ozzy would say... "We love you all" ~JCM







    8.24.2007

    "I'm stuck on what I'm seeking and not where I am..."

    (Just a thought on how I feel today and where I am)


    One of the hardest task for me is reinventing my music/guitar playing/singing/composing. I am at peace where I stand and accept the hardships and frustration of seeking what greatness means to me. But the more I learn the more my eyes widens with humbleness of what I am not. I am stuck on what I'm seeking and not where I am... ~JCM



    8.23.2007

    Don't restrict my rights for me to express the word SUCKS!!


    Alright I couldn't post a response comment on a previous blog on perfect circle - tool whatever the fuck and it made me look like an asshole so I'll post here then...


    The very rights and freedoms that chooses what you want hear I'm with you 110 percent... Fuck I'm an artist... I was merely expressing a feeling I felt at the very time I read the blog that was NOT directed to you or the readers here. I was just thinking out loud... So there's no need to get pissie. Defy the genius who is or is it purely subjective is OK with me because I really could care less what or who you think genius is... So with that being said listen to the music, long live the music... dance it, feel it and enjoy it loud... Just don't restrict my rights for me to express the word SUCKS because it merely an opinion and nothing personal. ~JCM

    8.21.2007

    !!sk-c-us-lo-ot!!


    Tonally Overrated Overseen Lends So Unique Can Kill Spirituality ~JCM

    So don't fucking feed it to me because I'm not impress...

    Cover the originals and slaughter the norm.


    I read this bullet from Susan O' Shea, a MySpace friend, expressing her frustration on covers vs originals acts and artist... Here's my insight and opinion...

    I feel you pain and frustration on cover bands vs original artist. But I really don't blame the bands on either side of this boxing ring. The local music scene's polices, standards and local radio and don't forget MTV 2-3 whatever the fuck, determine the out come of... "You are what you've been fed". All cities are different... I've listen to LA, Chicago, Nashville, Austin, Corpus Christe ect... And all have the same standard format but there's the alternative radio stations with that in between quality of choices to choose from. KSYM is college radio station here in San Antonio and I love'em. That all I hear when my CD player ain't playing in my truck period!!

    Now me and my band don't claim we're a cover material free band either but at least we try and convey my own interpretation on cover tunes and treat'em like my own. This again falls with in reason and common sense of course... If I was to cover Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" people will expect me to play the solos note-per-note... And I would oblige to the audience and understand that's a classic and will stand the test of time for many generations to come.
    I feel the same way with Pink Floyd, and Zep to name a few... They have so many signatures riffs and solos that it would be almost sacrilegious to change to one's own interpret version. Now Hendrix, Cream ect where more of jam-improv band... So you can lead and be to more extravagant places in your head if done right and in the same vain of course. But there's really no rules or remedy other than play your heart and your ass out. But remember anyone can spot a fake, poseur, wanna-be... enough on that subject....

    On a different note...
    I don't feel music of today can stand and have that same posture of yesteryear music. Everything is so cookie cutter, polished, assembly line sounding, shrink wrap and box... It amazes me that the record companies complain bitch about sales. They cater to 15-21 year old and totally for get about the 25-60... Where's the bigger margin here... It's Not rocket science. FUCK!! Why can't they just cater to everyone.


    Only you would know... And I have mention this before...
    To present your own original creation let it be: songs/a painting/photographs ect... whatever in the arts and have people come and tell you how much they are touched by it IS THE ultimate feeling as an artist. I've played in front of five thousand people playing covers tunes and I've played in front six doing my own thing... Guess what... I LOVE doing my own thing...
    Good nights or bad I've taken chances that only the few would dare. I can look back and talk about it and laugh. What the use of creating those callouses if you don't take any chances... ~JCM

    8.18.2007

    Review from Alex... One of our new and dearest fan.



    Through my dear friend Toni, I was introduced to this band. Now while I'm here in Myspace, I listen to them more than my regular player. So Ladies and Gentlemen, may I please introduce to you,




    If you love the sound of a solid body guitar, in the style of Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, or Robin Trower, then give these guys a fair listen. But DON'T get them F**ked Up for somebody else. While they DO have that classic sort of Stratocaster kind of sound, they are innovators, not imitators. Their music is clean, and instrument driven, and not cluttered with a bunch of studio wizardry and hype. The classic sort of blues sound (with just a dash of that wonderful Rocking Texas Flava), is mixed into Good Time Rock and Roll, experimental musings, gentle music that falls upon your ears like a spring rain, and Kick Out The Jams no holds barred rockin'. They do some covers of some classic Hendrix tunes, and it would make Jimi proud. Any band can cover a song note for note, but these guys add their own freshness, and make it all their own. That's the mark of a great band.



    They are just really getting up on the ladder of the music biz, and I for one think they will climb high. Personally, I would like to see a piece of their work in the unlockable section of Guitar Hero 3, due out this fall.

    They have just finished recording a new album, not sure of a possible release date, check their page for updates. When it comes out, if you like what you hear, BUY (not download on Krapzaa or Crimewire) it to support these guys. They're great musicians, and they love their fans. They have 2 pages, therefore 2 players, so you can really sample and get a feel for what they're about. Click on the links below to go to their spaces and check 'em out!






    All photography and GIF's are the property of The Killing Floor.

    7:02 PM - 6 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

    StArGaZeR

    They is the shiznit fer sure.......

    Posted by StArGaZeR on Friday, August 17, 2007 at 10:03 PM
    [Reply to this]


    Alex

    Great jams, great guys.

    Posted by Alex on Saturday, August 18, 2007 at 12:03 AM
    [Reply to this]


    Toni

    OH ALEX GREAT JOB !~!! YOU KNOW I LOVE THEM. THIS IS SUCH A SUPER JOB ON COVERING THIS BAND.
    EVERYONE LISTEN UP THIS IS RIGHT ON THE MONEY LISTEN TO "KILLING FLOOR" YOU'LL FIND THEM ON THIS PAGE AND MY PAGE AND STARGAZER'S PAGE. JOIN US IN ROCKING OUT WITH THIS BRILLANT BAND.
    THANK YOU ALEX YOUR THE MAN.
    I LOVE YOU TOOTS

    Posted by Toni on Saturday, August 18, 2007 at 4:56 AM
    [Reply to this]


    Alex

    Thanks Toots! While I wanted to write about this rocking band, I also wanted to offically kick off my membership in your group. So I was thinking of you when I wrote this, and put a piece of you in with the musical note graphic in the amp.

    LET"S ROCK TOOTS!

    Posted by Alex on Saturday, August 18, 2007 at 5:10 AM
    [Reply to this]


    THE KILLING FLOOR

    I Love you all and I wish I could just reach out and give big hugs and kisses to each and every one. It just fuels us to keep going and going... I know there's a pallet for this kind of music and again wonderful people like your selfs make all worth our while.

    Alex I love the wording and description of our sound. If you don't mind I will repost this on my personal blog. There's some more music on my personal MySpace and the podOmatic site too if in case you want to hear different versions of some of our tunes.

    Thanks again for the awesome review and sharing our music to your inner circle of friends and family. Much love and we're blessed to cross paths with you. Stay in touch my new friend. ~JCM

    Posted by THE KILLING FLOOR on Saturday, August 18, 2007 at 7:08 AM
    [Reply to this]


    Rhonda

    Thanks for the head's up here Alex...Great sound. The Killing Floor rocks! and they now have another friend.

    Posted by Rhonda on Saturday, August 18, 2007 at 7:26 AM
    [Reply to this]

    8.02.2007

    Guitar Strings that I will endorse.

    Left to Right: Curt Mangan & Rod Westphal


    It was and honor and a pleasure to have met Curt Mangan and Rod Westphal of "Curt Mangan - Fusion Matched" Strings at summer NAMM 2007 in Austin, Texas. So much passion and care is taken making Fusion Matched string that it really is a labor of love for them to make. Pure and perfect premium string with a sonic clarity like no other... I'm sold to them and I will never see other set of strings the same way. ~JCM


    8.01.2007

    Peavey At NAMM 2007

    What can I say about these Peavey Classic series amps... I have two tweed versions, my main "Blues Classic" with a "15 speaker and a "Classic w/ 4X10". These new one shown at NAMM have a revamped look and sound incredible. My Peavey Classics are all over the place in fact 90% of The Killing Floor CD were recorded using series. Peavey Classic are nothing but TONE MONSTERS worth trying out. Great clean channel and a roaring lead channel for crunch. PEAVEY RULES!!!!!

    Orange County Choppers made a chopper for Peavey... Read the whole story on Peavey 's Magazine "Monitor" Summer/Fall 2007 Volume 24 issue 2. I took pictures of the bike which don't do any justice seen this work of art live and in person.

    You can see the side pocket for your axe....



    The vented neodymium is the back of a "Black Widow" speaker.... Very Cool!!! ~JCM