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Thoughts on Red and Blue?
Robert Rodriguez, author of Fab Four FAQ 2.0, popped up on my Facebook feed this evening touting an interesting anniversary: Thirty-five years ago tomorrow, on April 2, 1973, Apple/EMI released the Beatles compilations, 1962-66 and 1967-70. Or, as they were universally called, the Beatles Red and Blue Albums, respectively. Not surprisingly, these two LPs hit like […]
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Charles Manson Is Dead
Charles Manson, who used a paranoid reading of the Beatles’ “White Album” to spur his followers to murder, is dead at 83. Alas, the kind of fear-mongering false narrative that he helped pioneer is very much alive. Like the mixers of the toxic social media soup we’re all swimming in today, Manson specialized in us-vs-them […]
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The Beatles and the Historians
After commenter Rob raved over it in this comment, I was reminded that I’ve been meaning to hip you all to something for a while. Longtime Dullblog commenter Erin Weber has written a book called The Beatles and the Historians, which anybody who loves this site will eat up with a spoon. In Erin’s words, […]
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Top Five Songs?
New commenter Tasmin writes: “I was curious on your take on lists? Specifically, Top 100 Beatles songs? The Beatles Channel has been playing a special this weekend, where listeners voted for their top 100 songs — here are the top 5: 1) A Day in the Life 2) In My Life 3) Hey Jude 4) […]
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Interview with Jay Goeppner of the the Beatle Brothers
Chicago-based singer Jay Goeppner pours his fervent love for the music of the Beatles, and John Lennon, into every performance. His voice, and his energy onstage, are almost eerily similar to Lennon’s. I’ve seen several of his Beatle Brothers shows, and can testify that the only time I’ve gotten a stronger Beatles vibe was at […]
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Rest in Peace, Brian Epstein
Chris Carter’s ever-excellent “Breakfast With the Beatles” reminded me that today is the 50th anniversary of the death of Brian Epstein, the original Beatles obsessive. I’ve written a lot about Brian on this here site, as my own journey through showbiz has proven how important support people are to any showbiz success story. Brian was […]
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The Gospel of “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”
Longtime commenter Waterfalls wrote in recently with the following: “I wanted to ask the Hey Dullblog community their thoughts on the song ‘Maxwell Silver Hammer’, after reading some comments on Youtube where some thought the song was actually about a real murder (i.e., Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell) and others believe it’s a clue in […]
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A Deccagone mystery
Reader Craig Fenton wrote in today with the following interesting question: “When the Beatles’ Deccagone Sessions are talked about [in historical sources], there are those that state the exact order they performed are as follows 1-15: “Like Dreamers Do” (John Lennon/Paul McCartney) “Money (That’s What I Want)” (Gordy/Bradford) (unreleased version) “Till There Was You” (Meredith […]
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A George Harrison summer playlist
The Best of Dark Horse came up on my iTunes shuffle the other day, and I was struck by how many George Harrison songs can go with a sunny, breezy day. George has a (not wholly undeserved) reputation as the dour Beatle, but here’s a playlist of his solo songs that I think make for good summer listening. […]
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Critic Amanda Marcotte: Sgt. Pepper’s made rock “music for men”
Yeah, no surprise that the 50th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper’s has everybody out there opining. But I find Amanda Marcotte’s take in Salon worth calling out, if only to say that as someone who considers herself a feminist I’m thoroughly tired of this kind of facile, oversimplified finger-pointing. Her claim that Sgt. Pepper‘s “was the point when rock stopped being the music of girls and started […]