Beatles News
A DOCUMENTARY photographer from Faversham is ready to present his photos of John Lennon to Yoko Ono. John Stewart Farrier has now teamed up with Faversham’s Maihen Picture Framing Company, in West Street, to finalise the piece. The photos of John Lennon were taken almost 50 years ago by Mr Farrier and were previously unseen until a few years ago. There are twelve pictures of the former Beatle, the negatives of which were left undiscovered in a loft for around 45 years. Mr Farrier discovered them towards the end of 2011 and they went on display for the first time earlier this year at The Proud Gallery in Chelsea, London. He now intends to present the photographs to Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono at The Folkestone Triennial, where she will be featuring as an artist.
Collectors of Paul McCartney’s music may have to add a new format – a version of PlayStation or Xbox — to their stacks of LPs, tapes, CDs, DVDs and digital downloads. His next major project is the score for Destiny, the highly anticipated video game from Bungie and Activision, due on Sept. 9. For the last four years, on and off, Mr. McCartney has been working on the score for the game in a collaboration with Marty O’Donnell – until recently Bungie’s house composer, responsible for the widely praised Halo soundtracks – and Mike Salvatori. He has also written a theme song for the game, which he plans to release as a single soon after the game is released, said Lev Chapelsky, the general manager of Blindlight, a Los Angeles company that puts musicians and game companies together.
The Dream Weaver and Really Wanna Know You hitmaker will publish Dream Weaver: Music, Meditation, and My Friendship with George Harrison in October (14). A press release announcing the new book reads: "Dream Weaver is ultimately a story of a spiritual journey and Gary's lifelong friendship with George Harrison. At 33, Gary Wright was at the highest point in his career. His album, The Dream Weaver, had been on top of the charts for months with two hit singles - Dream Weaver and Love is Alive - and during the summer of '76, he was part of a massive arena tour with Peter Frampton and Yes. "Earlier, while still living in England, he recorded music with legendary musicians Eric Clapton, B.B King, and George Harrison, who would later become one of his best friends.
A Martin D-28 left-handed guitar signed by Paul McCartney is up for auction, with proceeds going to the Nature Conservancy's African Elephant Initiative. Bidding began on Wednesday on eBay with a starting price of $10,000. Along with his signature, McCartney paid tribute to Woody Guthrie's famous, fascist-slaying six-string, by scrawling, "This guitar saves elephants" on the Martin as well. Money from the auction will go to the Nature Conservancy's efforts in Africa, China and other locations to increase security and protection for elephants, as well as reduce the demand for ivory. If bidding on the McCartney-signed guitar is out of your price range, though, the campaign still welcomes any and all donations.
One of the earliest photos of The Beatles in Liverpool’s Cavern Club is being auctioned later this month along with a series of other recently unearthed snaps taken of the the band at the beginning of their career. The picture, taken in 1961, features Paul McCartney at the front of the stage and Pete Best on drums – a year before he was replaced by Ringo Starr. Stephen Bailey – the manager of The Beatles Shop, in Liverpool – said the forthcoming memorabilia sale includes a series of negatives brought into the Mathew Street store by a man who casually told him: “My father was a professional photographer and these might be of interest to you.” Mr Bailey said the man then handed over a series of envelopes of transparencies which all turned out to be in perfect condition. Another shot which stands out features George Harrison, John Lennon, McCartney and Best posing with six girls.
FitzPro Ltd, which supplies audio-visual solutions to help businesses save time, money and the environment, has opened its new premises on Tiverton’s Business Park. Managing Director Rich Denham has more than 25 years’ experience in electronic engineering. Mr Denham, who was also sound engineer and logistics manager for the Exeter-based tribute band The Fab Beatles, set up the new company and recruited a team of experts to help run and build the business, which specialises in helping firms use the latest audio-visual and video-conferencing technology to the best advantage. He said: “We already have blue chip clients in London, such as TSB, Best Western and infrastructure investment company John Laing, but now we want to offer the same quality service and equipment to companies in Devon. “We specialise in helping firms save time and money by keeping their staff connected wherever they may be, on the road, working from different offices or from home, so people spend less time travelling and more time doing what is most profitable.
Hulu has exclusive U.S. streaming rights to the pic under its recently renewed licensing agreement with the Criterion Collection. A selection of the distributor’s 800-plus arthouse films are available exclusively to subscribers of Hulu Plus, priced at $7.99 per month. “Hard Day’s Night” stars John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, with Wilfrid Brambell portraying McCartney’s grandfather. The comedic romp takes a satirical look at several days in the lives of the Fab Four and features eight Beatles songs, including “Can’t Buy Me Love” and title track “A Hard Day’s Night.” It’s available to Hulu Plus subscribers here, as well as on mobile devices and connected-TV platforms.
Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have been invited to perform at 'Alien Woodstock' in a bid to make extra-terrestrials reveal themselves to the planet. The two musicians - who were joined in The Fab Four by the late John Lennon and George Harrison - are wanted by UFO expert Michael C. Luckman to play at the proposed event in Malibu, California. Luckman - who is director of the New York Center for Extraterrestrial Research - has a theory there is a huge underwater alien base located six miles off of Malibu's Point Dume in the Pacific Ocean and he wants to use a host of pop stars who believe in alien life to coax them out of their base. As well as Paul and Ringo, Luckman also wants Yoko Ono - the widow of late Beatle John Lennon - her son Sean Lennon and Dahni Harrison, the son of deceased fourth band member George Harrison, to take part in the concert. Among the other alleged alien admiring stars invited to take part in Luckman's out-of-this-world Woodstock are Rihanna, Robbie Williams, Sir Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Alicia Keys, Sting, Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry, Muse frontman Matt Bellamy and guitar legend Joe Satriani among others.
Chart act The Killers have triumphed in the baffle of the bands - after their hit Human was judged to have the most bewildering song lyric. The track - which reached number three in the singles chart in 2008 - was judged to have the perplex factor for the impenetrable line "Are we human or are we dancer?" Second in the poll for online streaming service Blinkbox Music was the surreal nonsense lyric for I Am The Walrus by The Beatles, from Magical Mystery Tour. The chorus of "I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob" was the line which left music fans scratching their heads. The top 10 also included Wham!'s Club Tropicana which says "Drinks are free, fun and sunshine, there's enough for everyone, all that's missing is the sea" - despite later referring to watching "the waves break on the bay". The explanation for the apparent inconsistency is that it is said to have been written about a spot in Ibiza set high in the hills. Killers frontman Brandon Flowers has explained that his lyric was based on a quote from the author Hunter S Thompson, "we're raising a generation of dancers". Flowers said:
On a recent night in San Diego, Tom Petty was doing what he's been doing for close to 40 years: leading his band The Heartbreakers on stage, playing the old hits and inaugurating new ones. He's just started touring behind Hypnotic Eye, the band's latest album in a prolific career — and if you ask Petty how it feels to still be kicking after all this time, you'll get an uncharacteristically bashful response. "It's actually kind of embarrassing now; it's such a love fest," the 63-year-old rocker says. "I don't think any of us pictured doing it at this level, at this age. "How could you?" Musically, Hypnotic Eye is a throwback to early Heartbreakers albums; it's driving rock with a bluesy vibe. But lyrically, Petty says, it's very much about what's going on in America today. Petty recently spoke with NPR's Melissa Block about his long friendship with a late Beatle and why it pays to hear one's own music on a bad car stereo. Hear the radio version at the audio link and read their conversation below.
