Beatles News
Elevator pitch: What if you woke up tomorrow morning and were the only person on Earth who remembered the Beatles? John, Paul, George, Ringo: forgotten. Marmalade skies: gibberish. You scribble down all the lyrics you remember, pass off the songs as your own, and get a huge record deal. Everyone thinks you’re a rock god. You know you’re a phony. This scenario is the premise of “Yesterday,” the new film from Danny Boyle, a sort of reverse bio-pic in which the subjects are erased from history, leaving a yellow-submarine-size hole.
To play Jack Malik, the struggling singer-songwriter who goes from anonymity to Malikmania, Boyle cast the British actor Himesh Patel. “Yesterday” is his first film. Hours before its première, at the Tribeca Film Festival, Patel, who is twenty-eight, stepped out of a hired car on a rainy West Village street. Tourists have multiple New York Beatles tours to choose from, but Patel had opted for his own, customized “What If the Beatles Never Existed?” tour. Before him was 105 Bank Street, a cracked white-stucco town house, where an obscure couple named John and Yoko lived between 1971 and 1973. “I looked this building up,” Patel (rumpled black hair, green raincoat) said. “There was some family living there in the late nineteenth century with three brothers.” Two of them tried to scam the other’s widow out of some money, and they ended up in court. “So there’s this whole weird backstory of sibling criminality.”
Source: newyorker.com/By Michael Schulman
As The Beatles notched No. 1 hit records and sold out shows across the world, manager Brian Epstein had a strict policy when it came to politics –especially in America. The policy was simple: Don’t let the Beatles say anything about politics, and don’t allow the press to ask about it, either.
Eventually, John Lennon tired of the situation and planned to speak out about the Vietnam War and other issues. When Epstein died in 1967, all bets were off. The following year, John wrote and recorded “Revolution,” which was the first time fans got a taste of the band’s political side.
In 1969, after marrying Yoko Ono, John’s “Give Peace a Chance” instantly became an anti-war anthem (and a genuine hit, too). By November, half-a-million demonstrators would flock to Washington D.C. to sing the song in protest of the situation in Vietnam.
That was enough to get the attention of President Nixon and the FBI. However, it wasn’t until John recorded a protest song in 1971 that the FBI became really interested. After putting John and Yoko under surveillance, the Nixon administration even tried to deport the former Beatle in ’72.
Source: cheatsheet.com
When researching the movie Help! (including “the making of”) it becomes clear that there’s a consensus that this, The Beatles’ second film, is the visual equivalent of “Can you smell weed?” Even more cruelly, some critics and film buffs label it as disappointing in comparison to A Hard Day’s Night. As phenomenal as A Hard Day’s Night is as a movie and a tangible piece of history, is that enough justification to ignore its less popular little brother?
During recent years of social, political and economic turbulence, experts from all disciplines have been trying to understand why we are at loggerheads with each other. As time has passed, there has been a creeping realisation that the 60s still holds a sizeable power over our current society. Its wars, changing politics, social politics and its transforming personal values and morality seem to be the forerunners of some of the issues the world faces today. It was the first time in history where these changes were so meticulously documented and then broadcast to the general public – it would have been this mass sharing of information itself that stoked the flames of change, making them so sweeping. The music, film and television of the 1960s still enjoys continued popularity to this day, and none more than the music of The Beatles.
Source: thefilmagazine.com
On many albums, The Beatles presented a highly polished sound. A great example is “Yesterday,” the track from Help! that became the band’s most popular song of all time. With a string section behind him, Paul McCartney’s classic tune sounds perfect from a production standpoint.
While they’d drop all formalities for rocking tracks like “I’ve Got a Feeling” and “I Dig a Pony,” The Beatles would always mix in heavily produced songs, sometimes with guest musicians. That was only possible with someone able to read and write music for string players hired for the job.
However, The Beatles weren’t handling that part of the recording process. They might be able to sing or suggest what they wanted, but it was up to producer George Martin to put it on the page. (The medley on Abbey Road is a good example of Martin’s handiwork.)
Source: cheatsheet.com
Celebrated designer Stella McCartney may have grown up with one of music’s most iconic figures as her father, but she still had to pinch pennies.
“I’ve grown up in a family that doesn’t chuck stuff away,” McCartney (the daughter of Beatles legend Paul McCartney and famed photographer Linda McCartney) told PorterEdit. “And it sounds silly, but I didn’t have a huge amount of money as a kid.”
Continued the 47-year-old fashion favorite: “My mum and dad were really clever; I went to a comprehensive [school] and I wasn’t given a load of cash, so I would go to vintage and secondhand shops and markets to buy clothes. I think that’s kind of the future, and I would encourage kids to rent clothes and buy secondhand because you don’t have to always go for that quick fix. It’s way more exciting and cooler.”Her parents’ eco-friendly lifestyle clearly rubbed off on McCartney, herself a lifelong vegetarian and staunch supporter of animal rights. The designer’s collections are famously free of leather, skin, fur and feathers, and even her wools and silks are sustainably sourced and cruelty-free.
Source; By Elana Fishman/pagesix.com
Sherry Lynn, of Studio City, poses with "Peace and Love" outside the Capitol Records tower in 2017. The work was initially rejected by a Beverly Hills panel for not meeting "Fine Art criteria." (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)
When Ringo Starr decided to live full time in Beverly Hills, he planned to honor his adoptive hometown with an extravagant gift — an 800-pound polished steel monument of his hand making a peace sign.
The city politely declined.
“The commission thanks Mr. Starr for his generous offer but unfortunately the donation did not meet the Fine Art criteria,” the city’s now-disbanded Fine Art Commission wrote after it voted unanimously to reject the Beatle’s gift in September 2017.
“They said, sorry Sir Ringo, thanks for your proposal, but you’re not an artist, and the work is not art,” said sculptor Jeremy Morrelli, who helped Starr produce the version of the statue intended for City Hall. “They produced a definition of art which is extraordinary. They would have rejected Van Gogh or Picasso on those grounds.”
Source: Sonja Sharp/latimes.com
It’s not often you can own a home where the likes of Paul McCartney and David Bowie have set foot, let alone one where they actually made music, all for a price tag of under a million dollars. But that’s exactly what you’ll get with a West Hollywood loft currently on the market for $999,999. In the condominium’s past life (in the 1970s) it was the location of Cherokee Studios, where Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Tom Petty, David Bowie, Frank Sinatra, and more all recorded albums, and which Beatles producer George Martin dubbed the best studio in America.
Now an apartment complex called the Lofts at Cherokee Studios, the building has been transformed into a green living space with numerous high-end amenities and details. The listed unit in particular is a modern two-story condo with a giant open living space complete with 16-foot ceilings. The living and dining areas flow into the chef’s kitchen, which features a Caesarstone kitchen island, bar-style seating, a Bertazzoni oven, built-in microwave, and stainless-steel appliances. And the entire space opens on to a private balcony.
Source: Condé Nast/architecturaldigest.com
If you thought a thin-skinned U.S. president trying to deport people he doesn’t like is a new development … well, have we got a story for you. In fact, it’s another reminder why people keep comparing the White House’s current occupant to that great bastion of corruption, Richard Nixon.
This tale revolves around John Lennon, who by 1970 had kicked off his solo career and a year later moved to New York with his wife, Yoko Ono. By then, John and Yoko had become famous for their bed-ins and anti-war stance with tracks like “Give Peace a Chance.”
According to files that have been released since, the FBI became very interested in Lennon when he began using his influence on U.S. political matters in 1971. After his protest song “John Sinclair” led to the release of a man convicted for marijuana possession, Nixon turned up the scrutiny.
Source: cheatsheet.com
On July 7th, 2008, Ringo Starr invited fans to join him on the streets on Los Angeles to celebrate his birthday with a simple direction: Say the words “peace and love” when the clock hit noon. He’s been doing it ever since, and the gathering has spread to more than 20 countries around the world and on social media, to “create a wave of Peace & Love across the planet.”
Starr will return to the Capitol Records Tower in L.A. on his birthday this year for an event that will also include appearances by wife Barbara Starkey, plus Ringo’s All Star Band alum Sheila E., Edgar Winter, Nils Lofgren, Jim Keltner, and Starr’s friends such as Ed Begley Jr., Richard Lewis, T-Bone Burnett, Benmont Tench, and Life is Good founders Bert and John Jacobs. There will also be performances by Ben Kyle (from Minneapolis group Romantica), Sara Watkins and Southern California rock band the Jacks.
Source: Patrick Doyle/rollingstone.com
Paul McCartney gets a bad rap. Sure, he's a beloved pop icon with more platinum records than ordinary folks have missing right socks. But for so long, McCartney's been pigeonholed as the "cute Beatle," supposedly with none of John Lennon’s edge, George Harrison’s groovy vibes, or Ringo Starr's, uh, Ringo-ness. But bounce around McCartney's massive discography, and it's easy to see he's far more complicated, with each project spotlighting a different aspect of his creative persona. Here are a few such "faces," those bits of Sir Paul that portray him not just as the beloved Beatle but a genuine musical chameleon.
Source: Chris Coplan/phoenixnewtimes.com
