Beatles News

Fearing he may commit more crimes, a three-person Parole Board panel announced Friday it has denied Chapman’s eighth bid for release. He won’t be eligible for parole again for another two years. The 59-year-old is serving a 20-year to life sentence at upstate Wende Correctional Facility after gunning down the former Beatle in 1980 as Lennon returned home from a late night recording session with wife Yoko Ono. ALBANY — John Lennon's killer will have to let it be in prison for at least two more years. Fearing he may commit more crimes, a three-person Parole Board panel announced Friday it has denied Mark David Chapman’s eighth bid for release. According to the decision, “the panel has determined that if released at this time, there is a reasonable probability that you would not live and remain at liberty without again violating the law.”

So its no surprise estranged husband Chris Martin and her fashion designer pal Stella McCartney, joined forces to complete the charity stunt, which involves being drenched in ice cold water. The Coldplay frontman could be seen holding a large black umbrella above his head as he said: "We’ve been nominated to do the ice bucket challenge." Not looking too impressed with the task at hand, Stella jokingly replied: "I’m a fashion designer. I am not going to get wet." In a last minute change of plan Chris, 37, then began to lower his umbrella as he responded: "Okay then, we just won’t do it."  The pair were instantly soaked with freezing cold water, which was poured on them by a mystery culprit on the balcony above. After getting wet for the good cause, Chris ran up to the camera and said:  We’d like to nominate Bono, Sir Paul McCartney… and who was the other one?" Stella then revealed she would like to nominate actress Angelina Jolie

In 1964, the Beatles released the album Something New, which is what they were to North American audiences. Their first Canadian concert took place that year at Vancouver’s Empire Stadium, where tickets topped out at $5.25. The concert was broadcast live on CKNW and, for a performance that lasted 27 minutes, the band was contracted to be paid 60 per cent of the $100,000 box-office take. According to Vancouver Sun music critic William Littler, the money was barely earned by the “Liverpudlian tonsorial horrors” who looked “anthropologically interesting” but were loud, monotonous and unmusical.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Visitors flying into Las Vegas got more than just their luggage when they stopped by baggage claim. Cast members from Cirque du Soleil danced on the carousels, did handstands on the moving sidewalks and rode a vintage Volkswagen Beetle into the terminal Thursday afternoon at McCarran International Airport. The unannounced, three-song shows marked the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' flight from San Francisco to Las Vegas. The band's two-show gig in 1964 was the only time the Fab Four performed in Sin City.

If you’re a fan of the Beatles, you no doubt know that ["She Loves You"] came before ["All You Need Is Love"]. But what about ["Help!"] or ["Yellow Submarine"] or ["I am the Walrus"]? You may not know which came first, but researchers from Lawrence Technological University in Michigan created an algorithm that does. By analyzing the evolving structure of the Beatles’ music, the computer program was able to correctly place the Fab Four’s albums in chronological order. The work is in the journal Pattern Recognition Letters. [Joe George, Lior Shamir: Computer analysis of similarities between albums in popular music] The researchers initially produced the algorithm to catalogue whale songs. [whale sound] And they figured what worked for killer whales should also work for the lads from Liverpool. 

For many, John Lennon – along with Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – is known for starting a musical revolution with the Beatles. However, before the Beatles even began, Lennon studied at Liverpool College of Art along with the original Beatles bassist, Stuart Sutcliffe. This rather unflattering self-portrait is set to sell for £3million at a London auction house. The piece dates back to 1958, an important year for the then 18-year-old Lennon as it was this year his mother was killed in a car accident, he played with Paul McCartney and George Harrison for the first time and he met his first wife, Cynthia Lennon. The painting is rather unflattering expressionist piece showing Lennon with a pot belly and male mammaries. Louise Cooper, the owner-managing director of CooperOwen Music Media Auctions of London which is selling the piece, said:

A waxwork model of Sir Paul McCartney will take pride of place at a Beatles-themedauction in Liverpool this weekend. The mannequin could go for between £800 and £1,000, the auction’s organiser believes. Stephen Bailey, manager of The Beatles Shop in Mathew Street, told the ECHO: “We hold the auction every year and it attracts people willing to spend £10 as well as people willing to spend thousands of pounds.” The life-size waxwork came from a museum in Great Yarmouth. The auction begins at 10.30am tomorrow and will be held at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, co-founded by McCartney on the site of his old school. There will be 330 items up for grabs, including signatures, clothes, books, posters and other memorabilia. Mr Bailey said: “We have sold all sorts of stuff over the years. The international pull is amazing. “This year will be the biggest auction we’ve ever had with 330 lots. “The Beatles were the first ever boy band and you can only invent something once – and they invented it. That’s why they are still so popular.”

“All of my girlfriends. We all lived on the same street. All we did, you know,we we’re the Beatle’ girlfriends every single chance we had,” Denise McKevitt Rasmussen, who was celebrating her ninth birthday, said. Her dad let her pick two friends to take to the Beatles show at the Cow Palace. One of them was Terry O’Brien. “I remember I wore my pink pants dress with my John Lennon boots. Everyone had them then—the little white boots,” O’Brien said. Terry’s mom Gina was not so thrilled. “I just thought, she’s too young; she’ll get eaten alive down there but, oh, she wanted to go so bad,” she said. “They were so excited.” While youthful fans were primping, a KCBS reporter named Hilly Rose was trying to figure out an angle on what was obviously the story of the day. “The Beatles were big but really with teenagers—young people. And so guys our age, who in that time where in their 30s and 40s working at KCBS, we didn’t know a lot about them,” Rose said.

They hold down the low end, but many of them are living the high life. A new list compiles the Top 10 Richest Bassists in the World, and there are many of our favorites among them. This countdown can be found over at a website fittingly called the Richest. Unsurprisingly, it’s topped by Paul McCartney, whose net worth is valued at $1.2 billion. In fact, McCartney is so far ahead of the pack that he’s got more money than the next four bassists combined. There’s a tie for second, with Sting and Gene Simmons both worth $300 million. Two months ago, Sting made news when, while discussing his fortune, said that he will not pass it on to his six children so that they understand the value of a hard day’s work. “I certainly don’t want to leave them trust funds that are albatrosses ’round their necks,” he said. “I told them there won’t be much money left because we are spending it!