A quick yawp from Mr. History
(I just wrote some of this in a comment responding to @Paul, and while the sentiments are ones I've expressed before, I expressed them particularly succinctly here, and so wanted to surface them as a post, in hopes they'd elicit some discussion.--MG) I'm staying with a friend of mine who is getting over a stroke, and she doesn't know much about The [...]
First Thoughts on “The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event”
Let's begin here: Movie making is so collaborative, so expensive, and so many things can go wrong, that it’s a miracle any of them are any damn good. And I so want these to be good. I've never seen a movie up close, but my wife worked on several high-profile prestige TV shows in the 2010s -- "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad." [...]
Last Recorded Audio of John Lennon, 12/8/80
John and Yoko being interviewed, Dec. 6, 1980 YouTube in its infinite wisdom served this up to me today, and I spent a melancholy five minutes listening. Where do people get this stuff? How do they get it? I wonder when Yoko passes, will there be a lot of new things to listen to? And will I still be young enough [...]
Confessions of a Teenaged Beatleg Fanatic
A 1985 bootleg containing the mysterious track "Peace of Mind." Longtime readers of this blog will recall my fascination with bootlegs, especially as a teenager and into my 20s. Lucky for me, the 1980s and especially the 1990s were an excellent time for this passion, spanning the period between the legendary John Barrett Tapes to all the deluxe CD series and [...]
Some Thoughts on The Boys of Dungeon Lane
(A friend of mine, Nick Zaino, wrote me his thoughts on Paul's latest LP, The Boys of Dungeon Lane. I found them interesting, and asked him if I could share them here. Put your own feelings in the comments, hmm?—MG) I like it. He can still write a snarling guitar riff when he wants to, and his ability to chart a whiplash [...]
“Hope You Got That”
A friend sent me this excerpt from Paul's appearance on "Chicken Shop Date." I pass it along mainly to note that Paul's method of going through life is "Flirt first and make excuses later," and I 100% approve. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Chicken Shop Date (@chickenshopdate) In addition to their obvious musical and lyric talent, [...]
Quick Housekeeping Note re: Moolah
Ringo's "very impressive" Zephyr for sale. As you know, I've been investigating monetizing this site somehow. It costs me about $720 per year to host, and over the 15 or so years we've been on Wordpress, that's enough for a used Zephyr Zodiac. But I just can't do it. Ads are junky-looking, and people are DCMA'ing posts they don't like. [...]
How We Got Here
J&Y in National Lampoon Magazine, March 1972. Available, along with the rest of the issue, on Internetarchive.org. This morning, about a week into the Great AdSense Experiment, I got a notification from Google that ads were being turned off on one of our posts. I went to check it out, and someone had filed a DCMA violation report. What post [...]
The concept behind Pepper
Reading Starostin's part one analysis of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, I realized that I've never wondered for a second about "the concept" behind that LP; it's so clear to me I'm a little puzzled when people -- John Lennon among them -- profess that there is no concept whatever. But I'm finding it difficult to write. I've spent the last [...]