When Well-Spoken Rock Stars Speak

   The brilliant (and unfairly underestimated) British rock guitarist Jeff Beck, who is sixty-five, had this to say about the horrors of the music business, and of celebrity in general, in a 12 Feb. 2010 New York Times interview (link to full story below):

   "It's a diabolical business.... I can't imagine how hellish it must be to be hounded like Amy Winehouse and people like that. I have a little peripheral place on the outskirts of celebrity, when I go to premieres and that sort of stuff, which is as close as I want to get. I cherish my privacy, and woe betide anyone who tries to interfere with that."

   Woe betide? Methinks the gentleman doth know the English language. 
   As it happens, Beck's guitar playing is as eloquent as is his speaking style, whether it's bluesy, gospelish, or covering a classic.
   (The New York Times interview is here.)  


Beck now...       

... and then (the 1960s)