Beatles News
His book gives an insider's account of the tour that changed America.
We all love telling a good story, and Ivor Davis has one walrus of a tale to pass on.
Davis had the unique opportunity to travel with The Beatles on their first American tour almost 50 years ago.
“The amazing thing today, when I go anywhere and talk about The Beatles…people are so fascinated with (them)…were talking about kids to people my age,” he says. “Looking back, I didn’t realize, at the time, how incredible this experience was. It took me a long time to appreciate that I had gone through this experience.”
It's a booking that would have been unfathomable before Firefly Music Festival came to Dover in 2012: Paul McCartney is going to perform a nearly three-hour show of Beatles hits in Delaware this summer.
Forty days after the first rumor surfaced online that McCartney would headline Firefly, it became official Wednesday when Sir Paul was named as the last addition to the fest's 110-act lineup.
McCartney will join Kings of Leon and the Killers as the headliners of the fourth edition of the Firefly – one of the fastest growing festivals in the country.
In their post Beatles careers, each had a day that stands out. Let's take a look at those days, starting with Harrison.
For George, his big day was August 1, 1971.That was the day of The Concert for Bangladesh. It really started in early 1971, when Harrison was dining with Ravi Shankar. Ravi brought up the problems in Bangladesh. He kept Harrison informed. By Spring, the situation turned desperate. Shankar approached Harrison once again. Harrison's response changed the music industry and helped determine his place in music history and as a humanitarian.
Known first as "The Quiet Beatle," George Harrison was a great songwriter who had the misfortune to be surrounded by two stone cold geniuses whose work often obscured his talents. Yet Harrison compositions such as "Something" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" are as good as anything the Beatles ever recorded. And with his solo debut All Things Must Pass, he stepped completely out of the shadows of his Beatle band mates to reveal himself a powerfully spiritual songwriter with an expansive sense of melody. Harrison was also a gifted, fluid guitarist and hugely influential in introducing the Beatles — and, by extension, the entire Sixties generation – to Eastern religion and musical influences. His devotion to Hinduism was expressed publicly through rock and roll's first massive charity event, the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh.
The J.J. Hapgood General Store & Eatery in Peru had royalty from the music world drop by for dinner Sunday afternoon.
After spending a day on the slopes at nearby Bromley Mountain, famed musician Paul McCartney and five other people spent about an hour in the dining room enjoying a quiet meal that included margherita pizza and organic kale salad.
Restaurant owner Juliette Britton said she didn't want any hoopla to disrupt the legendary Beatle's visit, so she didn't even notify her coworkers that McCartney was a guest in their presence. Britton said McCartney was joined by his wife, Nancy Shevell, and two other couples.
The Beatles had sung about a day tripper, and I was ready to become one, making a one-day visit from London to the Fab Four's northern hometown of Liverpool. With all the buzz about the 50th anniversary of The Beatles first trip to America, the time seemed right to return the favor with a pilgrimage to the place where it all began. A full day on my own during a recent trip to visit friends in London provided the perfect opportunity to check out the Merseyside Mecca.
A plaque commemorating The Beatles manager Brian Epstein has been unveiled at his birthplace in Liverpool.
The memorial was erected on 4 Rodney Street where the pop impresario was born in 1934.
It was organised by tour guide Marie Darwin who said it was important to mark the birthplace of a "visionary".
It was unveiled by Watford's Viv Jones, once an employee of Epstein, who said she was "very proud" to honour "the man who made the Beatles".
John Lennon's sister Julia Baird and Jeni Crowley who was secretary of The Beatles fan club were also at the ceremony.
Epstein, born into a family of furniture retailers, yearned for a career in the arts and after failed attempts to become an actor discovered The Beatles.
Selection of former Beatle’s drawings on display at Liss Gallery in Toronto
The name Yoko Ono means different things to different people: To some, she’s one of the foundational members of the Fluxus art movement, which helped inflect early conceptual art of the 1960s with a performance flair; to others — let’s be fair, most others — she’s the fifth column that drove a wedge into the most beloved rock band of all time.
The former is true, the latter likely not fair but, by whatever means, she remains one of the most famous people in the world and the keeper of the flame for her late husband, John Lennon.
The George Harrison Memorial Tree, infamously killed by beetles, will be replanted on Feb. 25 in Griffith Park on what would have been the former Beatle’s 72nd birthday.
Chris Carter, host of the longest-running Beatles radio show “Breakfast With the Beatles,” will MC the event organized by Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge, in whose district Griffith Park sits.
The ceremony will take place at 4 p.m., north of the Griffith Observatory parking lot. The original tree, a Canary Island Pine Tree dubbed "The George Harrison Tree" on the accompanying bronze memorial plaque, was planted on Harrison's birthday in 2002. “In memory of a great humanitarian, who touched the world as an artist, a musician and a gardener,” the plaque reads.
“Saturday Night Live” celebrated its 40th anniversary with a star-studded and surprisingly inclusive televised gala on Sunday evening. The show’s legacy in comedy, late-night television, edgy and often surrealist content, and influence on the development of “comedy news” shows like those presided over by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, has been well-documented and is impossible to question.
But what about “SNL’s” effect on popular music? Well, beyond a doubt, that influence has been equally vast. And it all comes down to the “Live” in “SNL.” Yes, for 40 years, the show has offered us warts-and-all performances captured in real time and beamed directly into our living rooms in all their unvarnished glory.
