Beatles News

A star-studded concert at Liverpool’s Epstein Theatre is the latest fundraiser in the high-profile Statue 4 Eppy campaign.

Organisers are hoping to both raise the profile of the campaign further and boost funds to create a statue in honour of legendary Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein in his hometown of Liverpool.

Epstein took four Liverpool performers and shaped their careers into the biggest pop band in the world.

Now Liverpool campaigners are working tirelessly to raise £70,000 to have Brian’s efforts formally recognised with a permanent statue.

It will be created by acclaimed sculptor Tom Murphy, who was also behind the statue of John Lennon, which now stands in Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

Celebrity, unlike influence, has an expiration date, but the value of older pop culture still shines in Kanye West's collaboration with the ex-Beatle.NOAH BERLATSKY

The constant, unforgiving churn of pop culture seems designed expressly to let the old know they’re boring and irrelevant. The carefully coded and collated cultural knowledge that defined your childhood, or even your adulthood, passes its sell-by date, and you're left staring at some ugly Nirvana shirts, wondering vaguely whether you should put them back in the closet for another pointless decade, or just chuck them now.

The reaction to the new Kanye/McCartney collaboration seems to argue for the "chuck them now" option. As one Twitter user declared after hearing the new track: "who tf is Paul McCartney ???!?? this is why I love kanye for shining light on unknown artists." Kanye fans, apparently, have never heard of the Beatles. Kids these days are broadly and hideously ignorant, and Western culture is doomed.

Screaming teenage girls got a lot of attention in 1964 and they're the ones immortalized in the black and white footage, but the largest number of first-generation Beatle fans were actually boys and girls between five and 10 years old -- boomers born in the mid-to-late 1950s. Though not old enough to go to shows like their older brothers and sisters, they were paying very close attention. If you're between 55 and 60, give or take a year or two, and feel an irrationally strong connection to the Beatles, this connection makes sense, given that the Beatles changed boomer childhoods in seven significant ways.

By: Steve Marinucci  AXS Contributor Jan 22, 2015 5 days ago

The 50th anniversary of the Beatles' iconic Shea Stadium show will be the theme of this year's Fab 4 Music Festival held in Danbury, Connecticut, this summer, Liverpool Productions announced Jan. 21. The day-long show will take place on Aug. 15, exactly 50 years to the day after the legendary concert.

January 26, 2015 09:46 ET | Source: San Francisco Art Exchange 

Major exhibition of photos from Pattie Boyd's illustrious life in Rock 'n' Roll

Original Layla Painting on display for first time in US

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 26, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- San Francisco Art Exchange (SFAE) announces the return of photographer Pattie Boyd, aka Layla, in a new exhibit opening February 10 – March 15, 2014. The Gallery is hosting a Valentine's Day reception for collectors of her work to meet her in person.

Former wife of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton, Boyd's first-ever photography exhibit was held at SFAE in 2005. She received global accolades and the experience inspired her to write the autobiography, Wonderful Tonight, chronicling her life as the wife of two music legends who were best friends. 

There are Beatles lovers. There are Beatles fanatics. And then there are guys who spend months scrutinizing every Beatles track over and over, meticulously taking notes, and writing about the experience.

You can figure out where self-described Beatles freak Ted Montgomery fits.

With his new book, "The Beatles Through Headphones," the Brighton resident and University of Michigan staffer set out to log the "quirks, peccadilloes, nuances and sonic delights of the greatest popular music ever recorded," as the subtitle declares.

All you need is cash: I am told that Neil Young’s high end music player and library, Pono, has scored a coup. They’ve secured the Beatles catalog for download in what’s known as loss-less digital.

Paul McCartney himself is said to be supervising the transfer of the Beatles’ crown in the jewel recordings so they can be added to the Pono catalog which can then be purchased and downloaded into the $399 Pono player.

This could be huge for Pono, which is already offering a wide selection of music on its site at 192 khz. But the Beatles will kick it over the top. Even last night when I ran into the Black Eyes Peas’ will.i.am the first thing he said to me about Pono was “Wait til you hear Sgt. Pepper on Pono. It’s going to blow your mind.” The Pono people have already played the classic 1967 album for him on their device. One thing he did tell me was that you don’t need very expensive head phones to enjoy it. “Just regular good headphones.” (Me, I have Grado and Sennheiser.)

Sony has no plans to sell the music publishing business that controls rights to songs from the Beatles and Taylor Swift, as was suggested by leaked e-mails, Sony Entertainment chief executive officer Michael Lynton said.

Sony's music-publishing business, the largest in the world, has a catalogue of more than 2 million songs. Music publishers collect songwriting royalties from album sales, use on TV and other performances.

E-mails and documents released in the cyber-attack on Sony mentioned a 'top secret' plan to sell the music publishing business because it had few growth prospects, it has been reported last month. Top management at Tokyo-based Sony was concerned about the complex ownership and governance of the business.
In a January 8 interview, Lynton said a sale isn't under consideration.

Music publishing accounts for 14 per cent of Sony's music revenue, with recorded music generating the larger part. The business includes Sony/ATV Music Publishing, a joint venture with the estate of Michael Jackson, and EMI Music Publishing, in which Sony has a 30 per cent stake.

Sony/ATV chief executive officer Martin Bandier said in a memo to staff on January 9 that he's been advised by Sony that the venture isn't for sale, the New York Post reported. Sony/ATV was established in 1995 in partnership with Jackson, who had acquired rights to the Beatles songs a decade earlier.
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