Beatles News
Occasionally I try to impress my friends by noting that Paul McCartney’s encores in his current live shows are longer than were entire Beatles concerts. Sometimes I’m met with, “You saw the Beatles??” No! Hey-ho!
The originals were before me time, but I have seen McCartney many times over the years, including on each of his Las Vegas Strip tour stops and his show at Hard Rock Hotel. I’ll be rocking it Friday night, too, at T-Mobile Arena with Momma Sanna, who has not seen McCartney (or the Beatles) live.
As we tune up for the next rock show, a quick list of my Top 3 McCartney shows in Vegas:
April 5, 2002, MGM Grand Garden Arena: The “Driving Rain” tour was to back a not-great album during McCartney’s not-great relationship with Heather Mills. But the show was McCartney’s first Las Vegas concert since he played Sam Boyd Stadium — yes, there were major concerts booked there — in April 1993. He was playing his first Vegas dates without his wife, Linda, who had died in 1998, on keyboards. Showing his legendary versatility, McCartney ran through many Beatles’ hits (“Back in the U.S.S.R.,” “She’s Leaving Home” and “Can’t By Me Love” in the same stretch).
Source: By John Katsilometes / Las Vegas Review-Journal
In a manner of interpretation, Jack is Lennon - or at least that’s what he wants you to think.
With the assistance of his agent, Jack rises to global fame by taking credit for and performing songs by The Beatles.
Who is in the cast of Yesterday?
Young Jack is played by Karma Sood, who had an uncredited role in Fighting With my Family and also appeared in King Lear, both in 2018. Lily James plays Ellie, Jack’s childhood best friend, with a young Ellie portrayed by Jaimie Kollmer.
Kate McKinnon plays Debra Hammer, Jack’s agent described as ‘steel-hearted’. James Corden and Ed Sheeran both appear as themselves in Yesterday.
Other cast members include Lamorne Morris as Head of Marketing, Sophia Di Martino as Carol, Joel Fry as Rocky, Ellise Chappell as Lucy, Harry Michell as Nick, Camille Chen as Wendy, Alexander Arnold as Gavin, and Karl Theobald as Terry.
Source: Gabriella Geisinger/express.co.uk
We Have Our Mind Set On These Amazing George Harrison Quotes
If you're a fan of The Beatles you've likely asked yourself, "who's my favorite Beatle?". We've all done it and my answer is George. He was talented, low-key, and had a lovely solo career.
So in honor of the third Beatle, we found some of the best George Harrison quotes. Turn on his beautiful music and reread some of his heartwarming and hilarious quotes about the music industry and his time in a little old band known as The Beatles. While we lost him too soon his words live on long after he's left us. Share some of George Harrison's quotes with your friends, families, and Beatles fans.
George Harrison Quotes
"It is better to be an outspoken atheist than a hypocrite."
"Gossip is the devil's radio."
Source: Sophie Matthews /women.com
REVIEW
If you want to feel joy, head straight to “Yesterday.” It’s a heartfelt and humorous tale from Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle (“Slumdog Millionaire”) and screenwriter Richard Curtis (“Love, Actually”) about a struggling musician (Himesh Patel) who wakes up in an alternate reality where he’s the only person aware the Beatles ever existed. Gasp!
How high you get depends on your tolerance for sentimentality, but it’s almost a guarantee even the hardest of hearts will give into the movie’s many pleasures. Among them, Patel, who, in his leading-man debut, is the ideal choice to play Jack Malik, a down-on-his-luck bloke still living in Sussex with his parents and stocking shelves at the local Price Star. Patel, known in England for the BBC hit “EastEnders,” plays guitar and piano and is charmingly wry and funny when the script calls for it. Plus, when he sings the Beatles songs, it feels like they belong to him. No easy feat.
Source: Dana Barbuto /heraldtribune.com
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
