Beatles News
John Lennon might not spark any first-hand memories in kids today, but nearly 38 years after his death, a tour bus bearing his name aims to preserve his legacy.
Earlier this month, the bus stopped off in Lake Forest.
The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, a mobile recording studio that treks around the country providing music productions lessons to students, visited Deer Path Middle School from April 9 to 12.
Deer Path band director Corey Ames, who said he knew about the bus, persuaded the Spirit of ’67 Foundation (a nonprofit foundation that supports District 67 initiatives) to authorize a $10,000 grant allowing it to come to the school for fifth- through eighth-graders.
Source: Daniel I. Dorfman
For Earth Day, Julian Lennon hopes to lay the foundation for a whole new crop of environmentalists. He just has to wait a decade or two before they bloom.
The firstborn son of the late John Lennon is the co-author of "Heal the Earth," the second in his picture book series teaching kids as young as 3 ways to help the planet.
"I wish I had this book when I was at this age growing up," he said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. "I wish we'd all had it growing up. The world would be I think a different place. I really do."
The latest book follows a group of children as they fly across the globe, learning to protect coral reefs and planting gardens in cities and trees in the rainforest. "Every day there is something new we can do to heal the Earth," the book says. "If we work together."
Source: ABC News
Turn me on dead man.
Long before conspiracy-minded rock fans screwed up their needles playing records backwards, to paraphrase George Carlin, The Beatles’ “Revolution 9” was a spooky experimental tour de force of hidden meaning. Marketed as one of the first boy bands, the mop topped sensations were best known for being at the toppermost of the pops. The ultimate pop band was also at the forefront of the rising underground scene.
While The Beatles are best known for writing love songs, not only catchy romantic ditties, but songs about the larger concept of love, they had a very dark side to their output that defied easy categories. John Lennon could be particularly scary. He forced George Harrison to arrange a guitar solo that had to sound better backwards on “I’m only Sleeping,” and shoveled out frightening amounts of ziti in the film Magical Mystery Tour. He always needed more.
Source: denofgeek.com
Somewhere along the line, over the course of a half dozen or so moves, I mysteriously lost my 20-inch-tall cloth John Lennon doll.
Granted, the level of detail wasn’t particularly good: I would place it halfway between the Saturday morning Beatles cartoon and Casper the Friendly Ghost. But it was still recognizably John Lennon, thanks in large part to the inclusion of a plastic Rickenbacker guitar, as well as the fact that very few musicians reach that level of mass-produced stuffed effigy. In fact, those late-’80s “Beatles Forever” dolls were the only rock ‘n’ roll collectibles offered by Applause, a since-bankrupted novelty company that was better known for its tricycle-riding Curious George and a line of unremarkable Muppet dolls.
Source: Bill Forman
The recently knighted Sir Ringo Starr has announced plans for this year’s tenth anniversary Peace & Love celebration on his birthday on 7 July.
Ringo turns 78 on that day, and will mark the anniversary of the initial 2008 event (which took place in front of the Hard Rock Café in Chicago) by appearing at the Hard Rock in Nice, France, during his European tour with his All-Starr Band. The idea remains the same: to invite his fans to express the phrase “peace and love” in speech, thought and by posting #peaceandlove, and to generate a wave of positivity that spans the globe.
The former Beatle has also unveiled the new video for ‘Give More Love,’ the title song from his 2017 album. Directed by Brent Carpenter, the clip features photos from fans depicting peace, love and kindness, selected from those submitted in a Give More Love contest. Ringo and the All-Starr Band’s summer tour begins on 2 June in Atlantic City and runs until 11 July.
Source: Paul Sexton/udiscovermusic.com
Around that time, she grew close to George’s friend and singer Eric Clapton, who had made it known he had strong feelings for Pattie at the time. Her dedication to her husband meant she didn’t act on it, and that led to Clapton’s highly publicised battle with drugs and alcohol, before he eventually sought treatment and recovered around 1974.
“I realised I felt something but I tried to keep it under wraps. Things were so hard and difficult for George, I didn’t want to add to his anxiety about everything. It was very, very difficult.”
By the time Clapton was out of rehab, Pattie’s marriage to George had hit rock bottom, and he had embarked on an affair with Ringo Starr’s former wife Maureen.
Source: startsat60.com
It won’t generate the same amount of publicity as the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band did, last year. But this year marks the 50th anniversary of the double album The Beatles — commonly referred to as The White Album, because of its cover. And Monmouth University in West Long Branch will host an academic symposium on the album, Nov. 8-11.
Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn will be the keynote speaker, and the symposium will have the theme of “Producing an Enigma for the Ages.”
Source: JAY LUSTIG/njarts.net
The Imagine mosiac at Strawberry Field in Central Park dedicated to the late John Lennon, who lived across the street in the Dakota at Central Park West and 72nd Street in New York City.
Some 20 students enrolled in the Penn State Berks Beatles honors course turned into day trippers on Sunday, April 8, traveling to New York City for a walking tour of Fab Four historic points "here, there and everywhere"; a presentation by one of the world’s leading Beatles experts and enthusiasts; and a visit to the New York Public Library’s current 1960s U.S. history and culture exhibit.
Taught since 2016 by Thomas Lynn, associate professor of English, the course INART 205: Introducing the Beatles offers undergraduates a detailed overview of the music and lives of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, and their impact on the world.
Source: Alan Shirk/news.psu.edu
Paul and Linda McCartney in 1973; Michael Putland/Getty ImagesYou might have missed it, but Paul McCartney took a moment Tuesday to remember his late wife, Linda, on the 20th anniversary of her passing.
McCartney posted a color photo of Linda on his Twitter and Instagram, one that appears to have been taken in the early 1970s. Linda's wearing a sweater, with her face in profile, slightly upraised and presented against a sunny blue sky, her hair catching the light like a halo.
"Remembering Linda with love today," McCartney writes. "Beautiful memories."
Paul met Linda Eastman in May of 1967 in London, when she was a 25-year-old photographer. They were married March 12, 1969 and remained nearly inseparable until Linda's death from cancer on April 17, 1998.
Source: wjbdradio.com
“As designers, we wondered what it would look like to visualize The Beatles and chart their story–the evolution of their music, style and characters–through a series of graphics,” write John Pring and Rob Thomas, lifelong friends and authors of Visualizing The Beatles, coming May 1 in the U.S. from Dey Street Books. (The book was released in the U.K. in 2016 by Orphans Publishing.)
And so they have, with their magical “history” tour of the Beatles career, arranged chronologically beginning with the band’s pre-Beatles days through to Abbey Road and Let It Be.
The book also takes welcome detours with pages devoted to such topics as “Press Conference Humor,” “Style Through the Years,” “Fab Four Memorabilia Sales,” “Hairstyles Over the Years,” and so on.
Source: Best Classic Bands Staff/bestclassicbands.com
