Beatles News

Given that Sir Paul McCartney regularly sells out arenas that seat 50,000 people, it was anyone’s guess what his production — usually filled out by giant graphics screens, pyrotechnics and plenty of moving parts — would look like in San Antonio’s 1,750-capacity H-E-B Performance Hall at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, where he played a gig to benefit the newly renovated venue Wednesday night. Amazingly, it was nearly the same setup but on a smaller scale. For those familiar with his recent Out There tour, which has been moving full-steam ahead since just before McCartney released sixteenth studio album New in late 2013, the only things really missing were side-stage jumbotrons, the rising platform during his tear-jerking solo acoustic run of “Blackbird” and about a dozen tunes, which cut his set down from the typical 40 to 28 and shortened it by nearly an hour. They even managed to light off enormous plumes of pyro during Wings mainstay “Live and Let Die” without torching the ceiling (though not without making more than a handful fans nearly leap out of their seats in fright).

Stories of the Beatles’ 1964 North American tour have gone down in legend — the screaming girls, the mob scenes, transporting the group from airport to hotel, and jellybeans hurled onstage because American audiences misunderstood interviews where the band professed to love “jelly babies.” While fans may be well acquainted with those tales, they will never fully comprehend what it was like to be in the center of the Beatlemania hurricane. Journalist Ivor Davis paints a vivid picture for readers in The Beatles and Me on Tour, an account of his month traveling with the band as an embedded correspondent. At once humorous and terrifying, Davis’ recollections lend a new and thoroughly detailed perspective on how the Beatles coped with those early days of fame. Davis found himself in the middle of the madness due to a special assignment. As the West Coast correspondent for London Daily Express, he was ordered to travel with the Beatles during their hectic 1964 trek, earning their trust and submitting reports from the road. In addition, Davis assumed another role: George Harrison’s ghostwriter.

Want to follow in the footsteps of The Beatles and record in the hallowed surroundings of Abbey Road studios? The Big Music Project competition will give some budding performers the chance to do just that. It is offering a once in a lifetime prize to aspiring musicians aged between 14 and 24. Winners will get VIP tickets to the star-filled BRIT awards, a private recording session at the Abbey Road studios, a solo performance at the Royal Albert Hall and your track on the BRIT Awards 2016 album. The competition offers wannabes the ultimate opportunity to get up close and personal with the music business and benefit from advice and mentoring from industry executives. Lynne McDowell who works for BPI, (the people behind The BRIT Awards) said the competition offers a great chance for talented musicians to follow in the footsteps of our homegrown musical talent who have made it big. She added: “It’s no secret that Northern Ireland has produced some of the world’s greatest musicians and songwriters, from Van Morrison to Gary Lightbody but it’s time a new generation was given a real chance.

Borderzine.com, a digital publication based at UT El Paso that focuses on achieving diversity in news media, announces an exhibit of photographs by  journalism professor David Smith-Soto at the Glass Gallery of the Fox Fine Arts Center on the UTEP campus, October 23 to 31. An opening reception of the exhibit at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 23 will help celebrate the 6thanniversary of Borderzine, an award-winning web news portal and online community for Latino student journalists. Attendees will learn about the online publication’s future plans and programs, and have an opportunity to help send UTEP multimedia journalism students to news internships throughout the United States. A celebration of photojournalism The 24 prints from Smith-Soto’s 60-years of street photography were taken during his travels as a journalist in Latin American, European and U.S. cities.  They include images from Oaxaca, Ciudad Juarez, Guatemala, Tangier, Paris and Madrid. Projected images by Smith-Soto’s photography students will also be on display. “It is wonderful as I celebrate my 10th anniversary as a journalism professor at UTEP to be able to share a lifetime of photography with my students,” said Smith-Soto.

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Source: Borderzine, El Paso

A piece of Beatles history will go under the hammer at Liverpool’s world-famous Cavern Club later this month when the childhood home of George Harrison goes up for auction. The three bedroom, mid-terraced property in Upton Green, Speke, has a guide price of £100,000-plus. But because of its historical associations as a popular hang-out for the band during their formative years, it has already attracted worldwide interest and is likely to go for much more. John Lennon’s first home in Newcastle Road, Wavertree, sold at auction for £480,000 last year, from a guide price of £150,000-plus. George was born on February 25, 1943, at his family’s previous home on Arnold Grove, a cramped two-up, two-down terrace in Wavertree. His dad Harold was a bus driver, while his mum Louise was of Irish descent. He also had two brothers and a sister. After his parents were offered a brand new council house, the family moved to Upton Green, Speke, in 1950. George spent 12 happy years living there before fame and stardom whisked him away in 1962.

WhatSellsBest.com - A bidding-war for a scarce fully-signed Beatles album on eBay has ended with a final bid price of $36,655. he record, Please Please Me, is listed as a mint-condition (PSA 9) example, and described by the seller as "an artifact worthy of the finest museum-grade collections." The upper-back-side of the sleeve has a signatures from each member of the group (George Harrison, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and Ringo Starr). Why's It Valuable? At this time... when it comes to memorabilia. You can't do much better than early Beatles items. They're an iconic group with millions of loyal fans worldwide. Even fifty-years-later their music continues to have a demand. When you consider their huge fan base and small amount of early memorabilia available. Finding a fully-signed record in mint condition (fifty-years later) is exceptionally rare. Extraordinary. Taking all of this into consideration... you have makings of a perfect-storm that's bound to capture the attention of the most serious of collectors. And when serious Beatles collectors get excited about something. The sky's the limit.

Sometimes who you know can open a door, but, without talent, that door may slam in your face faster than expected. Musician Brian Ray, despite working 14 years with Etta James in his younger years, never dreamed he would become a member of Paul McCartney’s band. For that matter, he was not positive when he was hired. For the past 13 years, McCartney has toured and recorded with the same musicians: Ray, alternating between rhythm and bass guitars; Abe Laboriel Jr., drums; Rusty Anderson, lead guitar; and Paul “Wix” Wickens, keyboards. Ray’s first appearance with McCartney was at the 2002 Super Bowl. The New England Patriots slipped past the St. Louis Rams that day, 20-17 — which is not what Ray remembers most. Rather, this was the first Super Bowl pushed into February, an NFL championship affected by the first terrorist attacks on American soil on Sept. 11, 2001.

Did you know that Linda wrote 'Cook of the House' for At The Speed Of Sound while in Australia? The song is, in-part, based around a plaque she and Paul bought whilst in Niagara Falls which hung in their kitchen and read, "No matter where I serve my guests. They seem to like the kitchen best.” In celebration of the forthcoming Wings reissues, Venus and Mars and At The Speed Of Sound, we have created a new interactive microsite telling the story of Wings; its members, their influences and of course – the music! We've collected together a selection of facts and anecdotes to take you behind-the-scenes of both albums and how they were conceived. We also give you an insight into each of the individual band members and the roles they played.  Explore the band  You’ll discover that Paul played Bill Black's bass on ‘Cook of the House’ (Black had used the same instrument on Elvis Presley's ‘Heartbreak Hotel’).

Featuring poignant vocals by Lennon backed by a hypnotic Brazilian rhythm by Flavio Pimenta and the students of Meninos do Morumbi, the track includes Lennon’s longtime friend, co-writer & guitarist, Justin Clayton, with additional percussion provided by Meninos do Morumbi alumnus Julio Santos. Grammy Award winning producer John Jones, who is featured on bass, guitars and keyboards, first conceived the project. Jones has worked with Paul McCartney, Celine Dion, Sir George Martin, and Fleetwood Mac, among others. “I don’t know how we could have had a better singer or human being to share this song with,” said Jones. “His great voice, and his natural empathy for the plight of children, made him a perfect fit.” Julian Lennon, who embraces both environmental and humanitarian issues, launched his career with 1984’s Valotte, produced by Phil Ramone, earning him a Grammy Award nomination for Best New Artist in 1985 and spawning two top ten hits, title track “Valotte” and “Too Late for Goodbyes.” His second album, The Secret Value of Daydreaming, included his first #1 single in the U.S. His latest album, Everything Changes, was released in 2013 and received critical acclaim.

The iconic Strawberry Field gates are to return to their rightful home in South Liverpool. The wrought-iron gates which were put in storage for safe keeping by the Salvation Army which owns the Beaconsfield Road site, are to be put on permanent public display in the grounds if city planners give approval next week. The site was immortalised by the Beatles’ hit Strawberry Fields Forever, but are no longer in place, having been replaced with a replica. The charity wants to transform the building into a centre for people with learning difficulties, where they can learn everything from gardening to catering. As part of the plans to go before next week’s planning committee, the 1970s buildings which were put up following the demolition of the original children’s home that captured John Lennon’s imagination, are to be demolished. As well as the new state-of-the-art facility, Beatles’ fans who visit the site every year will be able to go into the cafe and grounds and view a heritage exhibit which will explore the history of both The ‘Sally Army’ and the Beatles, with a special display being created charting the Fab Four’s rise.