Beatles News
Nine year old John Lennon (1940-1980) poses for a portrait with his mother Julia (1914-1958) in the front garden of "Ardmore," which was the name of the home of John's cousin, Stanley Parkes circa 1949 in Rock Ferry, Cheshire, England. (Getty)
Ray Connolly was supposed to arrive in New York City from his native England on Dec. 9, 1980 to visit his pal John Lennon for a few days at his apartment in the Dakota building.
But of course it didn't happen, because on the evening of Dec. 8 the former Beatle was shot and killed right outside his home. Connolly, today a veteran journalist and screenwriter, recently published “Being John Lennon,” a book he hopes will demystify the artist and unveil the complex man he was.
“He’s either painted as a saint, a martyr or a monster,” said Connolly. “John was neither of those things. He was just like everybody else,” the British writer told Fox News.
Source: Stephanie Nolasco/foxnews.com
Tomorrow, Sunday 9th December, former Coronation Street star, Nigel Pivaro, will be conducting a special auction at the Salford Star pop-up shop in Salford Precinct which will include a brick taken from Ringo Starr's birthplace home at 9 Madryn Street in the 'Welsh Streets' of Liverpool. The brick is incredibly symbolic for Salford as well as being a rare piece of memorabilia.
Ringo's home was due to be demolished as part of the 'regeneration' of the Welsh Streets but after a huge campaign to save them, 127 properties are being extensively remodelled in a £17million scheme to keep affordable houses.
Contrast this tale with the other brick that is being auctioned – The Last Brick In Broughton, where residents put forward a remodelling plan but Salford City Council rejected it and, instead demolished all the terraced homes, supporting new unaffordable houses that were eventually sold for an average three times the price of what it paid homeowners to vacate. All done with public money, of course.*
Source: salfordstar.com
WHEN TIMOTHY GRINDLE was a teen in the mid-2000s, the latter-day Beatles fan stumbled on an image of Paul McCartney woolly in a Fair Isle sweater and sipping a cup of tea outdoors. Mr. Grindle, now the co-owner of Canoe Club clothing boutique in Boulder, Colo., remembers inwardly declaring, “I want to live whatever lifestyle that is.” So taken was he with this portrait of open-air tea consumption that he persuaded his grandfather to lend him a Ralph Lauren Fair Isle sweater. “It was loud, but I loved it,” he said.
Back when the photo was taken, in 1970, Mr. McCartney wasn’t making a lot of noise himself. The Beatles had just called it quits and, seeking refuge, the bearded bassist decamped to a farm in Kintyre, Scotland that he’d purchased in 1966. There, among rolling green hills, Mr. McCartney wandered with his wife Linda (who snapped this shot) and their children, dressing like a local in Fair Isle sweaters.
Source: Jacob Gallagher/wsj.com
"Ladies and gentlemen, The Beatles."
With those five words from legendary talk show host Ed Sullivan, America was introduced to four young men from Liverpool, England, and pop culture hasn't been the same since.
Walton resident Steve Hoheimer was just a 12-year-old living in Fairmount at the time, but he said he knew there was just something special about John, Paul, George and Ringo.
"I have two older sisters that grew up watching American Bandstand, so from an early age, I was into music," he said. "When we saw them [The Beatles] on Ed Sullivan, it was really crazy because everybody was screaming on TV."
Shortly after the performance, Hoheimer went out and bought his first piece of Beatles memorabilia, a 45 vinyl album of "Love Me Do." His mother even bought him a Beatles record player to go along with it.
And it's been Beatlemania ever since, Hoheimer said laughing.
The album and record player are now part of an even bigger collection of Beatles memorabilia that Hoheimer has on display inside a bedroom of his house. With everything from dolls and figurines to piggy banks and LEGO yellow submarines, Hoheimer said the 50 plus year collection brings a smile to his face and a lot of happy memories.
Source: Kim Dunlap /kokomotribune.com
Half a century after the so-called "White Album" dropped a whopping 30 tracks on Nov. 22, 1968, a breakout 6-CD reissue explores at great length and in minute detail the methodical experimentation and network of support resulting in the Beatles' über ambitious, sonically multifarious, and ultimately mind-blowing ninth long-player.
Giles Martin, son of "fifth Beatle" George Martin, helmed the subtle 2018 mixes on the first two discs. The percussive snap and enhanced reverb on "Yer Blues" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" make the songs all the more blistering, but overall, any flourishes are carefully considered. Better still, the true revelations occur after the familiar first 94 minutes are up.
Acoustic demos recorded at George Harrison's house fresh off of the English foursome's famed three-month retreat to India shift through the seeds and stems that become the double album. A single verse of "Glass Onion" repeats over chugging acoustic guitar for two minutes, peppered with nonsensical jibber-jabber of an in-progress song. In John Lennon's "Child of Nature," the swell up to the chorus that lapses into a slow walk back down is instantly recognizable as the tune to "Jealous Guy" from the fan-anointed "Smart" Beatle's defining 1971 solo disc, Imagine. Its faux-enlightened lyrics thankfully ceded their LP spot to Paul McCartney's "Mother Nature's Son," which also drew inspiration from the Fab Four's Indian guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Source: Abby Johnston/austinchronicle.com
In the late fall of 1968, I walked to the school bus stop at the corner of my street. My neighbor, Frank, was already there. He was 11 and I was 12. Frank was holding a record album, which he proudly showed me.
What was this? The cover was completely white, totally unadorned, without any photographs of a musician or a band on it. I squinted and saw that there was some writing on it: “The Beatles.”
It was, of course, the double-record set that would come to be known as “The White Album.” At age 50, it is an undisputed cultural icon.
At the time, to a sixth-grader, it was an oddity.
In that pre-internet era, without a 24-hour cable news cycle and social media, I doubt that I knew this album was coming. I was an avid listener of the local AM rock ‘n’ roll station, but even if the DJs had talked about it, I wouldn’t have paid much attention. My parents never let me buy rock albums. I had a metal box filled with 45 rpm singles, but I wouldn’t have an album of my own until I started earning my own money.
Mom and Dad grew up during the Depression, so I just assumed they didn’t want to spend money on record albums. “The White Album” went for about $10, at a time when milk was a dollar a gallon. Singles were less than a dollar.
Source: centralmaine.com
Giles Martin, the son of legendary Beatles producer George Martin, has returned to the original recording sessions for the "White Album" for a box set that includes demos, 50 studio outtakes and remixes. The new set coincides with the album's 50th birthday.
A recent Monmouth University poll found that the Beatles were far and away the most popular rock band of all time. Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, and Ken Womack, a noted Beatles scholar and dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Monmouth University, discussed the findings in a Q&A with Press Editorial Page Editor Randy Bergmann.
The Beatles performed together for only about seven years. And it’s been 48 years since they broke up. How remarkable is that The Beatles remain the most popular rock band of all time? And that 86 percent of those polled said they like the band?
Source: Asbury Park Press/app.com
In addition to her title as the original Queen of Rock and Roll, Ronnie Spector enjoys an undisputed status as one of the ’60s greatest heartthrobs. Fronting the legendary Ronettes in her signature sky-high beehive and stylish pencil skirt, the cat-eyed siren bewitched millions, including some of the most famous artists of her generation. Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie were among those who vied for her affections, but few were as besotted as John Lennon.
The pair met in January 1964 when the Ronettes toured England soon after their pop masterpiece “Be My Baby” became a global smash. The Beatles, barely a year into their own superstardom, counted themselves as huge fans and wanted to be introduced. “They had seen us on Sunday Night at the London Palladium and they said, ‘We have got to meet these girls with the black long hair and slits up the side,'” Spector, 75, tells PEOPLE.
Both groups were invited to a show business party at a glitzy London townhouse. Despite the fact that Lennon was married and Spector was linked to her producer (and future husband) Phil Spector, that didn’t stop the Beatle from making a move. “John took me into a room to show me the beautiful lights over London,” she remembered. “I said, ‘Wow, it’s so beautiful.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, you are.’”
He tried to steer her to a nearby bed, but her heart remained with her boyfriend back home. “I was young then, and I was seeing Phil. I didn’t want to kiss other guys and stuff,” she explains. “I just dug my feet into the carpet, ‘We gotta go downstairs, John!’”
Lennon, however, took the romantic rejection in stride. “He said, ‘Okay, I guess I lost on that one!'” Spector recalls.
Source: Jordan Runtagh/people.com
EVEN for age-defying rock stars, there comes the inevitable swansong. The final curtain of the last performance before shuffling off into some kind of Valhalla-style afterlife, where tales are told of glory days, of the debauchery and excess all areas that is part and parcel of touring.
In the last 12 months, Elton John, Ozzy Osbourne, Neil Diamond, Kiss and the grizzled remnants of Lynyrd Skynyrd have announced end-of-the-road tours. Paul Simon has already embraced the sound of silence with a final show in September in New York while fellow Sixties luminary Joan Baez is also packing away the touring set list for good.
But for all those happy to exit stage left after decades of strutting vanity, there are still others who continue to rage against the dying of the light and the onset of their twilight years. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Robert Plant, Neil Young and Bob Dylan are still rocking well into their eighth decade, having long ago sold their souls for rock ‘n’ roll in some kind of Faustian pact.
Source: Ken McNab/heraldscotland.com
Sir Paul McCartney has shared a number of archive photos from the early beginnings of his band Wings and the birth of their debut album Wild Life.
The legendary musician is about to release a remastered and expanded edition of the 11th and 12th classic works from his catalogue: Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway. Several previously unreleased tracks were made available in advance of the release.
Wings formed in 1971 and enjoyed a string of hits, including the James Bond soundtrack "Live and Let Die", and "Mull of Kintyre", which at the time became the best-selling UK single in history.
Wild Life was made during July-August 1971 at Abbey Road Studios by McCartney and his wife Linda, along with Denny Seiwell on drums, and Denny Laine of the Moody Blues. The majority of the tracks were laid down in a single take, and all songs were written by Paul and Linda McCartney – with the exception of a cover of Mickey and Sylvia's "Love is Strange".
Source: Roisin_OConnor/independent.co.uk
