Beatles News
A brand new tour of the Cavern Club is launching next week.
The free tour will allow visitors to take a peek behind the scenes at the famous Mathew Street venue.
For the first time in the club's 62-year history, Beatles fans can enjoy a 45-minute tour ‘behind the curtain’ to see what happens backstage.
Led by guide Dale Roberts, the free tour will run every weekday morning except Wednesdays.
Source: Ellen Kirwin/liverpoolecho.co.uk
‘Oh f*** off, it’s just a rock album’: What John Lennon said when he was told people would be listening to Imagine '10 years later' is revealed in a new behind-the-scenes documentary
In the summer of 1969, John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono moved to Tittenhurst Park in Ascot, England – away from London and Lennon’s bandmates
The Beatles were on the precipice of breaking up and would have their last photo shoot at Tittenhurst, which was where Lennon started to record Imagine in 1971
A new Biography documentary, ‘John and Yoko: Above Us Only Sky,’ which premieres on A&E Network on March 11, looks at the making of the famous album
Source: dailymail.co.uk
The story of groundbreaking British film studio HandMade Films, which was founded by former Beatle George Harrison and made such films as “Monty Python’s Life of Brian,” will be told in “An Accidental Studio,” a feature documentary from AMC U.K. for its international networks.
The film will be the first original from AMC U.K. and bow on the British channel on May 4 and on AMC channels internationally later in the year. It has never-before-seen interviews with key players, and sets out to capture an extraordinary moment in film history through the eyes of the filmmakers and actors involved, as well as the man who started it all, music legend Harrison, who features in archive interview footage.
HandMade dominated the British movie scene with its ethos of making and releasing maverick films that everyone else had rejected, including “The Long Good Friday,” “Time Bandits,” and “Withnail and I.”
Source: Stewart Clarke/variety.com
The band officially parted ways in 1970 and rumors still abound regarding Yoko Ono’s influence on the split.
In Beatles lore, no person is as divisive or controversial as Yoko Ono, the lover and eventual bride of John Lennon, who arrived on the scene as the band was facing its toughest hardships. It was a time of deep loss, psychological questioning and bitter in-fighting over leadership and business that would ultimately end in the band’s split.
But was Ono to blame for the breakup of The Beatles?
The Beatles were already 'breaking up' before Ono came around
Regardless of public record in the intervening decades since the group went their separate ways, many fans still lay the blame at Ono’s feet. Addressing the rumor directly in 2012, Paul McCartney told British interviewer David Frost that Ono "certainly didn’t break the group up, the group was breaking up."
Source: biography.com
A sketch of a UFO by John Lennon is up for auction, along with his sci-fi magazines and a lock of his hair.
The Beatles singer-songwriter was reportedly fascinated by alien life, even writing about them, and was believed to have had 'UFO experiences'.
He drew the rarely seen sketch of a flying saucer in the 1950s or 1960s, then years later saw a UFO outside his apartment window traveling over New York's East River on August 23, 1974.
According to his lover May Pang, who was Yoko Ono's secretary, the star spotted a flying saucer - screaming at the window 'wait, take me with you' to what he believed was a UFO.
Source: Daily Mail
Every musician borrows, and The Beatles were no different. They were the first to acknowledge that to anyone who asked.
Paul McCartney once said the band would simply “pinch as much from other people as they would pinch from us.” However, few no bands were ever as successful as The Beatles.
In other words, if you had a legitimate copyright claim against the Fab Four, you had had thousands of reasons to lawyer up and try to sue. That’s how George Harrison got caught “pinching” another song on “My Sweet Lord,” a solo track he recorded later.
Since that song was one of Harrison’s No. 1 hits, he ended up paying out a six-figure settlement. By then, John Lennon had run into his own share of legal trouble over a Chuck Berry song. Lawyers for The Beatles realized right away that Berry’s publisher had a case.
Source: cheatsheet.com
The National Trust was accused of 'turning its back' on an important part of Beatles history yesterday after refusing to adopt Ringo Starr's childhood home.
The humble two-up, two-down terraced house in Liverpool attracts thousands of fans every year.
Along with other properties in the street it was being renovated and the hope was it would be turned into a heritage attraction, like the former homes of other Fab Four members.
But social housing company PlaceFirst has revealed its offer to lease Ringo's birthplace to the National Trust was turned down.
Now the Victorian property will be kept locked up because of concerns no one would want to live in a house subjected to constant attention from visitors.
Save Madryn Street campaign founder Steve Barnes accused the trust of shunning a 'golden opportunity' to preserve a vital part of Beatles heritage.
'We had expected that the National Trust or some other body would take it over and operate the house as a destination, with carefully controlled access,' he said.
Source: Daily Mail
When The Beatles began their historic run in 1963, no one could guess that millions of people would know their songs by heart 56 years later. But here we are.
Whether you drop The White Album on your turntable or dial up Revolver on your phone, you’re going to be able to sing along to at least half the tunes. Maybe you even know every word.
Either way, you can attribute this to the genius of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. While George and Ringo were obviously no slouches, the Lennon-McCartney songbook endures like few have in rock history.
However, by the time The Beatles had released their earliest albums, Lennon and McCartney had lost majority control of their own publishing rights. It’s a crazy story that ended decades later with Michael Jackson owning the rights instead.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Last week Paul announced the reissue of the iconic Professor Longhair’s album Live On The Queen Mary, set for release on 5th April. The recording took place on 24th March 1975 aboard the Queen Mary [a British ocean liner docked in Long Beach harbour, Los Angeles] at an exclusive – and by the sounds of it terrifically fun – party put on by Paul and Linda to celebrate the end of recording the Wings album Venus and Mars.
The band had a great time putting together the guest-list and sending out customised invitation cards. Along with invitees George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger and The Jackson 5, Paul also flew in a crew of his “N’arwlins” friends to provide the entertainment. This list of luminaries included Professor Longhair, The Meters and Allen Toussaint!
Source: Brett Buchanan/alternativenation.net
During a recent interview made by PaulMcCartney.com editors, The Beatles bassist Paul McCartney has revealed the untold story of his very special performance with Professor Longhair.
He also revealed that why Professor Longhair was invited to play. Here’s the story:
“He had this great style, this kind of rolling piano style. And he was singing this song called ‘Tipitina’, which is like one of his hits. He’s got this very interesting vocal sound, it was almost like a yodel. A funny little break in his voice… [Impersonates Professor Longhair singing ‘Tipitina’]. That’s a very bad impression of it… “
Interviewer said:
“So you saw him play live?”
Paul responded:
“Yeah, we saw him live. We had been down to a club to see him. It was like, ‘Wow, great! Cool guy!’ So we just loved him and we invited him around the studio …because I was ripping him off! I just loved the style so much that I composed something called ‘My Carnival’ and it’s got the same riff, basically, that he plays… I just couldn’t play it as well!
Source: Feyyaz Ustaer/metalheadzone.com
