Beatles News

Never one for a big media blitz, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page has probably done more interviews in the last six weeks promoting the Zeppelin remasters and his new book, Jimmy Page On Jimmy Page, than he did throughout the entirety of the '70s.

Last night, Page put the finishing touches on the promotional campaign with a private dinner at the iconic Sunset Marquis hotel, a place that has seen more rock and roll gatherings than maybe any other hotel. The evening featured so much guitar power that before we all sat down for the four-course meal, Metallica's Kirk Hammett told Billboard, "I'm one of the luckiest motherf--kers in the guitar slinger's universe."

Jimmy Page Talks New Music, Led Zeppelin's Future & Why He Has No Interest Being in a 'Tribute Band'

If ever there was an event to just sit and be a fan, it was in this intimate setting for 45 or so friends and associates of Page and the hotel. Observing the conversations as Page, Joe Perry and Chris Cornell sat side-by-side during the dinner left any music lover awestruck.

At one point during a champagne reception prior to the sit-down meal Page, Hammett, Perry, Ringo Starr and Joe Walsh posed for photos together. That's like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame all-star class.

Everybody loves the Beatles. That's the first thought that came to Slidell artist Lori Gomez's mind as she tried to come up with a theme to transform a century-old, donated piano into a work of art.

The piano would be auctioned to help raise money to build veterans' homes in east St Tammany Parish, and so Gomez set about refurbishing and then painting the  colorful Beatles artwork onto it.

 But two final touches have made the upright, antique piano more rare and valuable than anyone involved in the upcoming auction ever imagined: personal autographs by both Ringo Starr and Sir Paul McCartney, the only two surviving members of The Beatles. 

"I had no idea it would turn into this," Gomez said.

In a tale of destiny, aided by a good deal of persistence, Kim Bergeron, an art auction committee member for the East St. Tammany Habitat for Humanity, sought to have the piano autographed in time for the organization's "Home is Where Art Is" gala on Nov. 21. Proceeds from the seventh annual event will go toward building homes for veterans, a key factor in helping Bergeron obtain the signatures.

She first reached out to McCartney, who performed in New Orleans Oct. 11. Then, after hearing from her friend Amy Kaussman that Starr had a tour stop at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Biloxi, Bergeron contacted his representatives on Oct. 17.

"Ours was the only autograph in Biloxi, and ours was the only autograph in Louisville. They do not sign autographs, so it's huge," Bergeron said. "This was persistence, and the story, the story behind the piano itself, the organization, the proceeds going to the veterans' build. It's the whole story. It really is a little fairy tale – a big fairy tale – with a happy ending."

the Spanish movie selected for this year’s Oscars “Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed”. The movie is based on the true story of the teacher Juan Carrion, who traveled to Almeria to meet John Lennon, where he was filming “How I Won the War”. The meeting with Carrion inspired Lennon to include the lyrics of the Beatles songs on all records.

As I’m sure you know, the movie title, “Living is Easy With Eyes Closed”, comes from the second line in Lennon's song “Strawberry Fields Forever” which he wrote in Almeria during the filming.

We would really appreciate your help in letting Beatles fans know that the film will be released in February in the US. We would also like to come back to you later on with a link to the Pat Metheny and Charlie Haden sound track to the film, which the fans may like.

(CNN) -- It would have been the ultimate supergroup: the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan.

And it was actually proposed, says engineer and producer Glyn Johns, according to a piece in Rolling Stone.

According to Johns' new memoir, "Sound Man," while traveling with Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner he ran into Dylan in New York sometime in 1969. The singer had just done an interview with Wenner and started peppering Johns with questions about the two bands.

Johns had worked with the Beatles in early 1969 on the "Get Back" sessions -- later to become "Let It Be" -- and the Stones on 1968's "Beggars Banquet," so he had recent experience with both.

Beatles photographer shares

Glyn Johns is a walking rebuttal to the maxim that if you remember the 1960s, you weren't there.

He was there — overseeing the Rolling Stones' first recording session, arranging the Beatles' rooftop concert, reeling from the first blast of Led Zeppelin — and he remembers everything.

Johns, a recording engineer and producer, began his career at the start of the 60s, when studio technicians still wore white lab coats. He went on to work with the Stones, the Small Faces, the Steve Miller Band, The Kinks, The Who, the Eagles and many more, helping to define a certain classic-rock sound.

"I'm a bit of a purist," said Johns, whose memoir, "Sound Man," is being published Thursday in the U.S. by Blue Rider Press. It's out in Britain next month.

Johns recalled how after the Beatles released the "Sgt. Pepper" album in 1967, Mick Jagger took him into a cafe near London's Olympic Studios.

"He said 'You've got to come up with some new sounds.' Because 'Sgt. Pepper' had reinvented the wheel," Johns explained. "And I said 'Oh really? Have I? I thought I was here to record you playing.' And that's really always been my attitude.""

He says over the course of two days, he sat and played and cried and sang at Lennon's side. It was a friend to took the video of Picco gently playing "Blackbird."

"It's a song I really love and I was looking to play songs that had kind of that melodic movement that might trigger something in him," Picco said.

It was also a song that as a Beatles fan, Picco hoped he would be able to play for Lennon as he grew up.
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Sir Paul McCartney was paid more than $1 million to perform at billionaire Ron Baron’s New York investment conference.

McCartney and Carrie Underwood, who also collected a large fee, headlined Baron Capital’s investors meeting at the Metropolitan Opera House Friday.

The stars played to 4,000 investors after a performance from the cast of “Show Boat,” including Vanessa Williams.

A source said, “It would have cost $2 million to get both McCartney and Underwood, and that’s before you’ve paid for their bands.”

While the artists’ reps declined to comment, a spokesman for Baron Capital said, “The entire event was paid for by Baron Capital. It was fabulous. Paul McCartney put on a great show. There was not one person sitting down in the whole place.” He declined to say how much the performers were paid.

Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band reveal a February-March run that includes shows in South America, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic as well as in the U.S. Destinations include Orlando, Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco and Las Vegas.

I invited Scott Freiman to dinner for a few reasons, but mostly because he gets paid to talk about rock ‘n’ roll. Scott, the CEO of a tech startup called Qwire(an intentional misspelling of choir), taught a class at Yale University on the music of the Beatles and lectures widelyon the topic. During a dinner with some 15 tech founders and investors, I asked Scott about the story behind Decca Records turning down the Beatles (an epic miss!) and subsequently overpaying to sign another young rock group.

Scott explained that an executive at Decca, who had stayed in touch with Beatles’ guitarist George Harrison, asked George what other hot young acts the label should be considering. George mentioned a young blues group, admonishing: “You blew it with the Beatles, don’t miss these guys.” That group was, of course, the Rolling Stones. The Stones went on to record more than a dozen records with Decca, including Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed, which are often classed among the 100 greatest rock albums of all time.

Why does this anecdote belong in a column about startups and venture capital? Because it’s all about deal flow. The beautiful universality of Decca transforming humiliating loss into lucrative victory is that sticking with the one that got away works.

Dylan then dropped a bomb. "He said he had this idea to make a record with the Beatles and the Stones," John writes. "And he asked me if I would find out whether the others would be interested. I was completely bowled over. Can you imagine the three greatest influences on popular music in the previous decade making an album together?"

Johns quickly began working the phones. "Keith and George thought it was fantastic," he writes. "But they would since they were both huge Dylan fans. Ringo, Charlie and Bill were amicable to the idea as long as everyone else was interested. John didn't say a flat no, but he wasn't that interested. Paul and Mick both said absolutely not."

Needless to say, the plan didn't go forward. "I had it all figured out," writes Johns. "We would pool the best material from Mick and Keith, Paul and John, Bob and George, and then select the best rhythm section from the two bands to suit whichever songs we were cutting. Paul and Mick were probably, right, however I would have given anything to have given it a go."