Michael Gerber • Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

Paul Is Dead Open Thread

By Michael Gerber|2016-03-24T10:17:55-07:00March 24, 2016|Paul Is Dead (PID)|

Worst Hanukkah EVER In case you hadn't noticed, here at Dullblog, we live to serve. One of the topics that seems to be of persistent interest — particularly to Beatle fans under 40 — is the theory that Paul McCartney died in 1966 and was replaced by a lookalike. (My personal theory is that Paul committed suicide so he wouldn't have to go through the Get Back/Let It Be sessions.) While there are lots of places to discuss PID on the internet, I'm creating this open thread so that people who want to dig into all the ins-and-outs of this [...]

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George Martin Tribute on Twenty-First Century Radio

By Michael Gerber|2016-03-21T12:21:08-07:00March 21, 2016|Interviews|

"We have a ghost in our house in the country...he smokes a pipe." Commenter Linda sent me some interesting links to last night's two-hour George Martin tribute on Twenty-First Century Radio, hosted by Dr. Bob Hieronimus. Baltimore-based radio host and artist Hieronimus seems to be somewhat Art Bell-ish, but with a definite Beatles bent (he's written a whole book on Yellow Submarine). Hieronymus interviewed Martin six times between 1995 and 2007. Says Linda, "This is definitely interview material I have not encountered before — George Martin and Dr. Bob discuss ghosts, life elsewhere in the universe, ecological concerns... a departure from the [...]

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Benjamin Levi Marks has a new Anthology cooking

By Michael Gerber|2016-03-20T12:45:36-07:00March 20, 2016|Anthology|

Beatles at Twickenham, 1969 This morning, I awoke to a nice comment from Benjamin Levi Marks, the world's pre-eminent scholar on the Get Back/Let It Be sessions. : "Hey! Long time since I checked in. I have finally retired, which frees up a lot of time and energy. This allows me to move forward with my dissection of one month of the Beatles’ career (January, 1969). I certainly fit your blog subtitle to the ‘T’ (People who think about the Beatles maybe a little too much). Mea culpa! Like many of us, I read and was bowled over by the [...]

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George Martin, King of the Bond Theme

By Michael Gerber|2016-03-19T14:41:22-07:00March 19, 2016|George Martin|

"Name's Martin. George Martin." Some of you know that I'm a very big, but very picky, fan of James Bond. So much so that -- if Bystander ever gives me a couple months' off -- I'm planning a novel designed to be the ultimate Fleming-era Bond book. It should be great fun. But even I did not know that George Martin produced Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger". Add this to 1973's "Live and Let Die," and it's clear that, in addition to all of his other accolades, Sir George has to be considered the King of the Bond Theme. https://youtu.be/Fy_PJODH3p0 https://youtu.be/IqdqAAzjgDE

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First 1000 Words: 16 in 64

By Michael Gerber|2016-03-16T22:15:54-07:00March 17, 2016|First 1000 Words|

Marti presents the plaque, 1964. From 16 in 64. Folks, print publishing may be dying (says the publisher of a magazine) but one subgenre is going quite strong — books about The Beatles. It's a rare month that I don't receive an email from a publisher, publicist or author telling me about a book they're sure Dullblog readers will enjoy. We try to cover as many of them as possible, but so many slip through the cracks. Ivor Davis' book, for example, has been glaring at me for years (in a way that Ivor himself would never). So I've decided to open [...]

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All You Need Is Love: Martin’s Greatest Accomplishment?

By Michael Gerber|2016-03-14T10:46:51-07:00March 14, 2016|George Martin|

George Martin, rocking out, 1967 David Yearsley over at Counterpunch has a wonderful appreciation of George Martin's work on the Summer of Love anthem "All You Need Is Love." Unfortunately Apple has taken down the linked video -- maybe they think your momentary frustration will spur a quick purchase of "1+"? Instead of making you think, "Jerks." Yearsley writes, It was only fitting that the fifth Beatle so often out of frame should be the first member of the band to be introduced, if namelessly, to the live world audience. Martin comes off in this quick shot not only as [...]

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Why not add something to a comment?

By Michael Gerber|2016-03-10T11:45:10-08:00March 10, 2016|Housekeeping|

Folks, many of you have asked for the ability to add images, video, and other files to your comments, so I have shelled out the princely sum of $25 and bought an addon that does that very thing. I would love it if our comments regularly contained supporting materials -- this would make them an even more useful reflection of the aggregate intelligence of our commentariat. If you think of it, why not add something to a favorite comment of yours, or to a thread you feel would be enriched?

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George Martin obituary roundup

By Michael Gerber|2016-03-10T08:20:39-08:00March 8, 2016|George Martin, Obituaries|

Beatles record producer George Martin has died at the age of 90. (And I didn't even know he was sick!) Below is a link to the obituary in The Guardian; we'll add other notable ones as they appear--please suggest additions in the comments. The Guardian. SPIN. Vulture. The New York Times. And yet another link to the Beatles story is lost -- remorselessly, inevitably experience is becoming history.

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Yellow Submarine Liner Notes

By Michael Gerber|2016-03-08T10:49:07-08:00March 8, 2016|Yellow Submarine|

Anybody know why John is giving that symbol? Look, the Beatles et al. can't blame us for being obsessed. Not when so much of the stuff generated by them was so wonderfully, almost obstinately eccentric. Especially after Sgt. Pepper, with its cover of eminences, to dig into the Beatles was to encounter a glorious ragbag of art and history, comedy and poetry. Per esempio, dig these crazy liner-notes by Capitol's Dan Davis, plastered on back of the Fabs' 1968 LP Yellow Submarine. And then imagine being a precocious six-year-old reading them and thinking, "Beowulf? Magna Carta? If the Beatles like [...]

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John Lennon: Man of the Decade

By Michael Gerber|2016-02-29T13:08:04-08:00February 29, 2016|John and Paul|

Guest Dullblogger Chris Dingman has just written a very interesting and well-expressed post on Paul McCartney's essential contribution to the Lennon/McCartney partnership, and you should probably read that before reading this. This post began as a comment to that post, but as I wrote I felt it ranged too widely, and touched on something too essential, not to be surfaced on its own. It's true that Paul was the more natural musician, and the Beatles were, after all, a band -- but they were so much more than their music, just as Valentino was more than movies, and JFK was more than politics. Music [...]

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