About Michael Gerber

is Blogmom of Hey Dullblog. His novels and parodies have sold 1.25 million copies in 25 languages. He lives in Santa Monica, CA, and runs The American Bystander all-star print humor magazine.

Something Happened

By |2023-03-12T23:27:51-07:00March 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 [...]

The Beatles As They Were Heard: KHJ 93 Los Angeles

By |2023-03-04T18:58:58-08:00March 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 [...]

All is well!

By |2023-03-02T10:56:56-08:00February 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 [...]

We have a Patreon!

By |2023-02-02T22:55:25-08:00February 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 [...]

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

By |2023-01-09T18:47:08-08:00January 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 [...]

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

By |2023-01-02T14:24:49-08:00January 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.

Itinerary for a Beatle-themed trip to London and Liverpool

By |2022-12-08T14:48:47-08:00December 8, 2022|Uncategorized|

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 McCartney exhibit Abbey Road Cavendish Kenwood AppleLiverpool 20 Forthlin Mendips Julia’s house Casbah Cavern (such as it is) Gambier Terrace Liverpool Institute/Inny Beatles Museum Museum of Liverpool (Beatles exhibit) Jacaranda Grosvenor Litherland St. Peter’s Church (need to email to see [...]

The Beatles’ 13th Album?

By |2022-11-28T14:25:57-08:00November 28, 2022|1970s|

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 after Sgt. Pepper”; that George’s ATMP stuff would somehow be magically unrejected by the others, because we now in 2022, see ATMP as his high-point; that they would’ve used multiple producers (!); that Lennon/McCartney would’ve decoupled the credit; and so [...]

Revolver Deluxe Edition Open Thread

By |2022-10-30T16:53:19-07:00October 30, 2022|Uncategorized|

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. It's worth burbling over. To prime the pump, go check out this article on Slate, which I liked—rather unexpectedly so because Slate's motto should be "Where interesting topics go to die." And this interview with Giles Martin on the "how" [...]

From Faith Current: “Fool on the Hill: The Myth of Perfectionist Paul”

By |2022-10-23T14:25:37-07:00October 23, 2022|Paul McCartney|

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 shortcomings. That guy matures into Studio Obsessive Paul. Which then turns into Micromanaging Paul, the Paul of “let’s do sixty-two fun-filled takes of ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer!’” royally pissing off everyone in service of a song he apparently didn’t even like. [...]

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