Try it, you might like it
(And now, a brief word from our sponsor…) The latest issue of my print humor magazine, The American Bystander #23, is all about the Seventies. Given that so much of this blog talks about that very distinctive time, I thought I'd hondle everybody. Try it, you'll like it—and at just $5 for a PDF and $20 for a print edition, how wrong [...]
Reader question: “Thoughts on Prisoner of Love?”
"Hmm...I did not know that" Reader @Maya writes in to ask: "Hi, Michael. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the cancelation of Peter Doggett’s book on Lennon’s Dakota Days, Prisoner of Love: Inside the Dakota with John Lennon that was meant to be released April of last year. It would have been so great to have a book on [...]
Mad King John
Right next to today's news of the Queen Elizabeth II's passing, there appeared in my Twitter feed this photo of John in 1967, dressed in togs from "I Was Lord Kitchener's Valet" or some such. Which made me think: what would've happened if, through some terrible mix-up or unforgivable governmental chicanery, John Lennon had been crowed King of England in 1967? I'll [...]
Some thoughts on “Jailhouse Rock”
[Folks, this post may be a little rough because I'm having real trouble typing into the WordPress backend. Forgive any typos, etc.—MG] Elvis the Pelvis comin' at ya I’ve never seen Elvis’ breakthrough 1957 movie, Jailhouse Rock, because truth be told, I'm not the world's biggest Elvis fan. But I decided to watch it, specifically with an eye towards comparing [...]
Deluxe Revolver coming this fall!
O frabjous day! Variety reports that Revolver will be the next Beatles album to get the Deluxe treatment, with the box set likely to appear this fall. Which means that by December 26th at the latest, it will be nestling cozily next to my box set of Sgt. Pepper. Yeah, I have that much confidence in Santa. He never lets me down, [...]
From Wabi Sabi: “The Beatles’ Embrace of Absolutely Everything”
Folks, a longtime HD commenter pointed me to some recent Beatle-related musings on their Substack, which I liked enough to repost here. Enjoy. —MG BY WABI SABI • My favourite music reviewer, George Starostin, has been writing about the Beatles for a long time. On his old site, he takes on both the naivety of the Beatles superfan who thinks the band did [...]
Go read Karen Hooper’s posts!
Folks, in the midst of scrubbing the pot/CBD-links from our posts, I came across some posts by Karen Hooper, who used to post here. I always found Karen's contributions interesting and valuable, and I would encourage you to browse them. In subsequent years, it seems that Karen's gone one to co-admin Erin Torkelson Weber's fascinating site; and I see they did some [...]
Please help me find weed-related links in our old posts!
Try hemp oil if you want, just don't put links on this site without paying us. In the course of fixing some broken links, I am discovering that some delightful person has broken into our site and inserted a bunch of text links to pot- and CBD-related stores. For example, Title: Get Back on the Rooftop After Taking Hemp Oil [...]
Allen Ginsberg: “Portland Coliseum” (1965)
Whenever our commenters start griping about the perception of John Lennon as the leader of the Beatles, I always think of this poem, written by Allen Ginsberg in 1965. It's a good poem...and it also speaks to how people perceived the group in 1965. Reversed to give emphasis, Ginsberg's perception of the members' relative power was just as they were endlessly advertised: [...]