Michael Gerber • Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

Old Draft: Beatles Folk Memory 1970-1995

By Michael Gerber|2025-12-08T13:41:55-08:00December 8, 2025|Uncategorized|

[Folks: I found this in Drafts, re-read it, and liked it. I don't know why I didn't post it before, maybe because i didn't come to A Grand Conclusion. Anyway, enjoy.—MG] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl8btU0EYno Commenter D.N. just coined a phrase that I really love: "Beatles folk memory," which I took to mean "how the Beatles phenomenon, and the experience of being a fan of theirs, was experienced by fans." I think it's a tremendously useful concept. The folk memory of first-generation fans is easiest to track, not only because it left huge traces in the mainstream monoculture, but because it was [...]

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Lights are back on.

By Michael Gerber|2025-12-08T12:51:57-08:00December 8, 2025|Housekeeping|

Folks, last week I watched the refurb'ed Beatles Anthology (might post my opinions). Then I cruised around r/beatles, and had a nice interaction with a smart fan, who seemed pleased I was part of the Hey Dullblog crew. They encouraged me to re-open the site, and said that if I didn't do that, "could they privately ask me a few questions via email"? Well, obviously, sure. That was flattering, and surprising—though I respect our other contributors immensely, for me HD has always been strictly hobby-writing, so when someone expresses a sense of its worth, I am particularly pleased. It's as if my [...]

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From Faith Current: “The Sacred Ordinary: St. Peter’s Church Hall”

By Michael Gerber|2025-12-08T12:22:45-08:00May 1, 2023|Uncategorized|

Folks, this piece was in the editorial queue before Nancy and I decided to put this site on hiatus. To honor my commitment to Faith, I post it here. Enjoy.—MG BY FAITH CURRENT St. Peter’s Church, Woolton Village, Liverpool January 11, 2023 “You’re lookin’ for Eleanor then?” The voice startles me — I’d thought I was alone and anyway, disembodied voices in cemeteries tend to be startling on any account. I spin around to see an old man regarding me with a cryptic smile. He’s wearing a thick woolen overcoat and carrying a walking stick. Standing in the mist at the edge [...]

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A brief (?) hiatus

By Michael Gerber|2025-12-08T12:22:48-08:00April 22, 2023|Uncategorized|

After much discussion over several months, Nancy and I have decided to put Dullblog in the deep freeze, at least temporarily. We may post occasionally, but comments will be off. We'll be leaving it up as an archive—for now. Diverting as it has been, Dullblog has never really fit with the rest of my professional life, and my first impulse was to send the other writers their posts, then nuke the site from space. But my wife convinced me that there might be people—perhaps someone housebound, as I was when Devin, Ed, and I began this site in 2008—for whom HD is [...]

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Something Happened

By Michael Gerber|2025-12-08T12:22:50-08:00March 6, 2023|1960s|

After reading my post on LA's legendary radio station KHJ, commenter @Hieronymus wrote, This is fascinating, Michael. We are roughly the same age and while I’ve been obsessed with the Beatles and 60s culture since I hit double figures, I only really started digging DEEP into the 60s (aside from the Beatles) around 20 years (I know, ONLY 20 years ago, ha!) but what I soon became aware of was how necessary that deep digging was to really understand the world I grew up in. I think we came into this world at the start of the slowing down of whatever the [...]

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The Beatles As They Were Heard: KHJ 93 Los Angeles

By Michael Gerber|2025-12-08T12:22:52-08:00March 4, 2023|Radio|

KHJ billboard, LA, 1960's. Yesterday quite randomly I stumbled upon this archive of recordings from Los Angeles' legendary rock and roll radio station, KHJ. "Boss 93" started in 1965, and for fourteen years was beloved by young groovers like Quentin Tarentino, who used the station as part of the soundscape behind Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. (Here's a nice appreciation from Los Angeles Magazine.) I started with this hour, from April 24, 1966. As I listened, it made me aware of a bunch of things: 1) The furious pace of change in The Beatles' music. We talk about this [...]

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All is well!

By Michael Gerber|2025-12-08T12:22:54-08:00February 28, 2023|Uncategorized|

The float right BEFORE the John and Yoko one. Folks, sorry about that -- the site went down yesterday for the most prosaic of reasons, an expired credit card on Autopay. We're all good now. …or are we? I must admit my first thought was all the attackery, hackery and miscellaneous jackery the site's been suffering over the last year. But no angry Floyd or VU fans were involved. Thank you for all the concerned messages. My favorite was, "Elliot Mintz hasn't come after you for talking about Yoko and kink, has he??" To be honest, the single best PR [...]

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We have a Patreon!

By Michael Gerber|2025-12-08T12:22:56-08:00February 2, 2023|Housekeeping|

"Just enough for a macrobiotic Big Mac." As we've occasionally shared, maintaining Hey Dullblog isn't cheap. Nancy and I spend at least $1000 per year on this magnificently creaky edifice and well, 2023 is the site's fifteenth anniversary. More than once I've considered declaring Total Victory over all Blue Meanies Everywhere, and running down the curtain. But every time I do, readers chime in privately to say that they would miss it, that they and others find Dullblog to be entertaining and useful. And who among us doesn't want to be entertaining and useful? So to help with our ongoing [...]

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From Victoria: The Lennon Diaries: A Multi-Decade Adventure

By Michael Gerber|2025-12-08T12:22:58-08:00January 9, 2023|Uncategorized|

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 certain Beatles-related artifacts that are known to us, yet remain tantalizingly out of reach: one famous example is Japanese Jailbird, Paul McCartney’s 20,000-word account of his nine-day-long imprisonment in Japan in 1980 due to a pot bust. But the Holy [...]

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Ian Leslie: “Notes on Peter Jackson’s Get Back”

By Michael Gerber|2025-12-08T12:23:00-08:00January 2, 2023|Uncategorized|

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 style. But ye gods, we need Doctors Without Borders, but for Editors. Leslie warns you right up top, then makes it too good to stop reading in the middle. Unfair! :-) Anyway, read it. It's Dulbloggy, and you'll enjoy it.

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