Beatles News
Unseen footage of the Beatles filmed more than 50 years ago is to go on sale.
The Fab Four were caught on camera by actor Leo McKern while on location in the Austrian Alps for the 1965 movie Help!
McKern was cast as Clang, the leader of a mystical cult determined to recover a ring from Ringo Starr’s finger which would enable a sacrifice to proceed.
The late actor was a keen amateur photographer who took images on the major locations of the film – Obertauern in Austria, the Bahamas and Salisbury Plain.
He also put together a reel of 8mm film, running time 14 minutes 55 seconds and with no sound, which captured the Beatles and fellow cast and crew members in March 1965.
The footage is bookended by shots of McKern’s then 10-year-old daughter, who grew up to become the actress Abigail McKern, sledging down a variety of inclines, taking a ride on a cable car and playing with her baby sister.
Source: Daily Mail
This year's hotly anticipated John Lewis Christmas advert has been released fit with British band Elbow's rendition of an album track by The Beatles.
The Guy Garvey-fronted band follows in the footsteps of Ellie Goudling, Tom Odell and London-based act Vaults to be handed the honour of featuring on what has become an annual festive treat for British television viewers.
This year's advert, directed by the Oscar-winning writer-director Michel Gondry, is accompanied by Elbow's version of Beatles track “Golden Slumbers.”
The song featured on the band's eleventh studio album Abbey Road, released in 1969, serving as the sixth part of a medley which caps the records. It's preceded by “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window” and is immediately followed by “Carry That Weight.”
Source: The Independent
We love classic cars, but sometimes it is not necessarily the car that makes it a classic. Today we get a look at Ringo Starr’s 1966 Mini Cooper S. Mini was quite popular in the 60’s, which also coincided with the peak of The Beatles. Not really an iconic ride in the world of classic cars, Ringo Starr’s 1966 Mini Cooper S is notorious just for being Ringo Starr’s 1966 Mini Cooper S.
Source: By Jesse James
The man who made the The Beatles’ first suits has died aged 83.
Walter Smith crafted thousands of bespoke suits at his shop, Craft Tailoring, in the city centre .
But the tailor, who also served on Wirral Council , secured his place in music history after he suited and booted Liverpool’s fabulous four back in 1962.
One of his regular customers was Brian Epstein and one day that summer he walked into the shop looking for clothes for the four lads in his new up and coming band.
Speaking to the ECHO four years ago about the experience he said: “It’s funny. I had no idea on that Wednesday 50 years ago that those four lads would go on to do so much. Even with that silly name.”
Source: Liverpool Echo
It's been 50 years since the first issue of Rolling Stone was published in California. The legendary magazine captured the spirit of the time with its unique brand of music journalism, says founding editor Michael Lydon.
When the first issue of Rolling Stone hit the news stands on November 9, 1967 — complete with a photograph of John Lennon on its front cover — nobody could've known that it would still be going strong five decades later.
"Rolling Stone found this audience instantly," remembers the publication's founding managing editor, Michael Lydon. "Immediately we were getting calls. Eric Clapton called up, the Warner Brothers from LA called up."
Source: Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com)
Ringo Starr calls from his hotel room amid the neon bling and bustle of Las Vegas, a Liverpudlian accent still peppering that unmistakable voice. Fresh off of rehearsal, the spry and ageless 77-year-old rocker readies for something he doesn’t have to do: tour.
“Every time I put a band together and we talk to the press, they say, ‘You want to tour? You’re still playing?’” Starr said. “And I say, ‘Yep, because that’s what I do. I’m not an electrician.’”
He’s a drummer, arguably the most significant on the planet. Thanks to his Beatles tenure and solo career, the Rock Hall of Famer continues causing countless others to pick up sticks eons after the British Invasion.
“Ringo is the archetype of a great pop-rock drummer,” said Atlanta musician and producer Robert Schneider of psychedelic rockers the Apples in Stereo. “To me, he represents drumming perfection: heavy, groovy and solid, yet a little wild and not overly technical.”
Source: Jon Waterhouse
Something in the way he grooves...
The best advice George Harrison gave his son was "Keep your head down. There's enough trouble that will find you without having to go looking for it," the 39-year-old multi-instrumentalist and film composer says in a phone interview. Dhani Harrison has inherited his dad's predilection for operating quietly and deflecting attention—as much as a musician in earth's most popular rock band could do so.
Notably, Harrison the younger is not trying to follow in the footsteps of his world-famous father. That would be a fool's errand, as Julian Lennon could tell you. Instead, Harrison is forging a distinctly 21st-century path toward a rewarding middle ground between electronic music and rock.
Source: Dave Segal
The bigger the name, the weirder the theory.
Paul McCartney became a household name when he rose to prominence as part of the Beatles in the 1960s, and his star power has held steady ever since the band broke up in 1970. But some conspiracy theorists believe that the Paul we know and love today is not Paul at all, but "Faul," or a faux Paul McCartney.
According to a longstanding theory, the real Paul McCartney isn't the septuagenarian still tearing up stages – he actually died in the early hours of November 9th, 1966, after his car skidded off an icy road and crashed into a pole.
Conspiracy theorists claim that John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr worried about how his death might impact the Beatles' huge commercial success, so they covered up his death by replacing him with a lookalike named Billy Shears, who looked, acted and even sounded the part.
Extreme theorists have pointed to discrepancies in older photos of Paul and more recent photos, claiming that details like chin shape or the placement of his ears are dead giveaways. "Faul's" head size and shape are also supposedly different from McCartney's. Some theorists even go as far as to say Shears was an orphan who had once won a McCartney lookalike competition.
Source: Rolling Stones
Like many of the White Album’s tracks, “Sexy Sadie” dates from the Beatles time in India studying under the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. During this period, rumors began circulating that the Maharishi had been seducing female devotees (according to Paul McCartney, Alex Mardas — better known as “Magic Alex” — informed the group of the gossip). Disenchanted, the Beatles decided to leave, with John Lennon feeling the most betrayed.
As he told Rolling Stone in 1971, “So, we went to see Maharishi, the whole gang of us, the next day, charged down to his hut, his bungalow – his very rich-looking bungalow in the mountains – and as usual, when the dirty work came, I was the spokesman – whenever the dirty work came, I actually had to be leader … and I said ‘We’re leaving.’ ‘Why?’ he asked, and all that shit and I said, ‘Well, if you’re so cosmic, you’ll know why.’”
Source: Kit O'Toole
Yoko Ono considers herself part of the "young generation".
The 84-year-old artist - who is the widow of Beatles legend John Lennon - is excited about the future because she thinks people are very wise.
She said: "It excites me that the young generation is very wise. And I include myself in that."
Yoko is an avid user of social media because she finds it an effective and efficient way to communicate to many people at once.
She said: "[Twitter] communicates so quickly to so many.
"When you read 'Grapefruit' there are instructions for pieces where you can see I envisioned a life like that already."
However, she admitted she isn't thinking about audiences when working on her art.
Source: By Celebretainment
