“These Paper Bullets!”: The Fabs Meet the Bard

By |2016-01-18T21:58:42-08:00January 18, 2016|AHDN, alternate history, Beatle-inspired, Beatlemania, Beatles fiction, comedy|

For everyone who's wondered what might have happened if Shakespeare had met the Beatles, These Paper Bullets! delivers  "a modish rip-off of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing with a serious backbeat." I saw one of the last scheduled performances of the play, by New York's Atlantic Theater Company, and it was a delight. Despite a few wobbly bits, it stands on its own as a story—but it's also salted with plenty of in-jokes and references for Beatles fans. And the original songs, by Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, are outstanding. The play originated with the Yale Repertory Theatre, and its book was written by Rolin [...]

The Fab Five: My Top 5 Beatles Albums

By |2015-04-26T19:10:32-07:00April 26, 2015|Abbey Road, AHDN, Guest blogger, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, The White Album|

By Jack Cornes, Guest Dullblogger  •  I should just add before I run through this list that the Beatles were genial from their origin to the day they disbanded. Every album they made is magical, sensual and transforming. I adore all of them. The strange thing with the Beatles is that they were and are so unique that they can’t be described; they exist within the heavens of the musical dynasty. These are my five favourite albums that make these four lads from Liverpool more than just musicians but something quite addictively beautiful. 5. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band I can [...]

Charles Taylor on A Hard Day’s Night

By |2014-08-12T09:54:34-07:00August 10, 2014|1964, AHDN, Beatles Criticism, Swinging London|

Some boys have trouble expressing affection. Charles Taylor has written a marvelous appreciation of "A Hard Day's Night" for the Los Angeles Review of Books. He just gets so much right here, and it's stuff that I've felt myself but never read anywhere else. Here's the opener to get you started: HOW WOULD YOU REACT if there appeared in front of you a flesh-and-blood vision of everything you ever dreamed life could be? What if you could, at the same time, be your distinctive self and an irreplaceable part of a greater whole? What if that greater whole showed you [...]

Comments Off on Charles Taylor on A Hard Day’s Night

Ringo on the Train Song

By |2014-07-08T23:07:32-07:00July 8, 2014|1964, AHDN, Unreleased/Outtakes|

Starr, swaddled. After last night, I should've learned my lesson: no posting after your contacts dry out, it's just gibberish. But this just came over the Mojo Wire: Los Angeles Times man of music Randy Lewis asked our own Ringo Starr about the mysterious 42-second snippet that's been rocketing around Beatledom. It's the full track from A Hard Day's Night, a snippet of which comes out of Ringo's transistor before being switched off by the upper-class git. “I hope you don’t mind a crazy ‘Hard Day’s Night’ question,” I said before relating the recent events and asking if he knew [...]

The Nicol Theory

By |2014-07-04T16:00:11-07:00July 4, 2014|1964, AHDN, Unreleased/Outtakes|

Did Jimmy leave a secret legacy? On June 22, Chris Carter's "Breakfast With the Beatles" unveiled an unreleased Beatles track that has fans buzzing: the full 42-second song that blares only for a few seconds from Ringo's transistor radio during the train scene in A Hard Day's Night. Thanks to Chris' kind permission, we were the first site to bring the track to the web. Yay, Dullblog. As the debate over Ringo's train music continues (I say probably yes, Devin says probably no, this blog says probably yes, this one probably no, Chris Carter says probably yes, Giles Martin says probably [...]

Unreleased Beatles song from Hard Day’s Night?

By |2014-07-08T23:09:56-07:00June 26, 2014|1964, AHDN, Unreleased/Outtakes|

Okay folks, after checking with Chris Carter from KLOS' wonderful "Breakfast With the Beatles"—a Sunday morning institution in my household, and should be in yours, too--I snipped out this bit of new Beatle-music. Originally recorded during the sessions for "A Hard Day's Night," it was found by collector Dave Morrell, and had its worldwide debut on BWTB last Sunday. I couldn't find it anywhere on the web, so I thought I'd post it so non-LA Beatlepeople could hear and enjoy. Sorry for the slack air at the end, I have to learn GarageBand over again every time I use it. [...]

Ringo’s Radio Music from Hard Day’s Night

By |2022-07-24T14:03:07-07:00June 25, 2014|1964, AHDN|

Just a quickie, 'cause I have a book to write and magazine to launch dammit-- Last Sunday, Chris Carter's excellent "Breakfast with the Beatles" played a complete song potentially recorded by The Beatles during the Hard Day's Night sessions in 1964. A loving recreation of anonymous Invasion pop, we've only heard a snippet of this before…at 4.01 in the video below: http://youtu.be/4Nq-GyLrtHc I looked for a full recording online, and it's not up anywhere (yet). Is it The Beatles? Carter believes so, and I agree; it's highly unlikely that any backing group would've been able to keep mum for 50 years. Furthermore, [...]

Give us a kiss.

By |2015-02-12T11:59:34-08:00February 12, 2008|AHDN|

MOLLIE WILSON REILLY • Hi folks! Consider this a public service announcement. Showing tomorrow, throughout the day, on the Independent Film Channel, for reasons unknown to me: A Hard Day's Night, probably the best movie ever made in a rush with the express intention of cashing in on a fad. I know my fellow Dullbloggers need no introduction to this movie, and probably don't need to watch it on television, either. At this point I suspect we can all just cue it up in our heads. But I post this (and cross-post it over at Restricted View) for all those who do not [...]

Go to Top