From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure
Regular commenter Victoria has patiently untangled the saga of John Lennon's diaries, sorting through books and clippings to present us with an account worthy of film noir. I hope you find it as fascinating as I did. BTW, forgive any typos or funky formatting; I'm having terrible trouble with the backend. Just note any in the comments and I'll fix.—MG There are [...]
Ian Leslie: “Notes on Peter Jackson’s Get Back”
Four unidentified musicians, ca. 1969 Through the magic of the internet (actually my friend @comicthief on the rapidly decaying Twitter) I stumbled upon this chunk of fine writing by Ian Leslie on Peter Jackson's Get Back. So many solid insights here, I'll forgive the insane length. I always feel so bad castigating contemporary writers for their prolixity; it's just contemporary [...]
Itinerary for a Beatle-themed trip to London and Liverpool
I refuse to go to London unless I can see Paul's Magic Piano. Folks, a contributor is planning a trip to the UK in January and sent me this list of places to visit. "Did I miss any?" This, I thought, is a job for the commentariat! Did she miss any? Where else should she go? London British library Paul [...]
The Beatles’ 13th Album?
The glorious team blog Boing Boing linked today to an article on Formidable Mag—their guess as to what a 13th Beatles LP might've sounded like. Their surmises are, to my mind, riddled with errors and misunderstandings—that, for example, the always intellectually restless Fabs would recycle a rejected title for Abbey Road three years later; that they had “basically stopped collaborating on songs [...]
Revolver Deluxe Edition Open Thread
I lasted approximately thirty seven hours before I broke down and listened to the new mixes from Revolver Deluxe—thanks, bad influences, you know who you are. I was trying to hold out until Christmas morning. And I still plan to unbox the physical item on 9 am sharp December 25th. But in the meantime, here's a thread to contain all the burbling. [...]
From Faith Current: “Fool on the Hill: The Myth of Perfectionist Paul”
Folks, here's an interesting revision of opinion from Faith on Paul McCartney. Enjoy—MG. I got it wrong. Back in April, I wrote a piece for Hey Dullblog about Paul’s choice to put Linda in his band (“I’m Gonna Go WIth Linda on Keyboards”). It included this paragraph: Paul seems to have been the one who protested loudest about Stu’s and Pete’s musical [...]
Draft Ringo for PM!
As John F. Lyons (@JohnFLyons2) wrote on Twitter: "They have a vacancy, and he couldn't do worse!" Vote Ringo Starr on the Peace & Love Platform!
From Victoria: Oracle’s spoken: John Green’s Dakota Days (1983)
When Victoria, a regular commenter here on Dullblog, asked if she could write up a review of John Green's out-of-print book Dakota Days, I immediately said "yes!" I remember reading it as deep background for my comic novel Life After Death for Beginners, and finding its glimpses into soothsaying and John and Yoko fascinating and maddening in equal measure. Here are her [...]
Various musings on Lennon and Addiction
E arlier this week, reader @Maya wrote me, knowing full well the flood of words that this would cause: “Hey, just wondering your thoughts on this video. At around the 1:20:00 mark, Lewisohn says that he thinks John and Yoko weren’t addicted to heroin? This is really throwing me and has got me worried about his third volume, should it ever be [...]