Michael Gerber • Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

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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Yellow Submarine by Alex Ross

By Michael Gerber|2016-02-29T07:03:12-08:00February 28, 2016|Beatle-inspired, cartoon|

Maybe all of you knew this already (and if so, I appreciate you allowing me to live in blissful ignorance). This morning commenter Linda S. hepped me to an interesting development in Beatledom: Apple has engaged comic book artist Alex Ross to create photorealistic illustrations based on the Beatles' 1968 film, Yellow Submarine. The thing about Blue Meanies is, they never look like Blue Meanies. In the real world, they wear suits -- which was the Beatles' first lesson post-Yellow Submarine. Hey, kids! See if you can find the sugarcube hidden in this photorealistic art! I love comics, and I [...]

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John Lennon’s hair…

By Michael Gerber|2016-02-22T15:11:04-08:00February 22, 2016|auctions of note|

Lennon, post-shearing, 1966 is worth more than your car. (Probably.) A lock of Lennon's hair clipped in 1966 for his role in "How I Won The War" has been sold at auction for a whopping $35,000. (That is one smart "German hairdresser.") No word as to whether the "U.K.-based collector" is planning on cloning Mr. John, like a Canadian dentist is attempting. Dr. Michael Zuk bought a tooth, and thinks that entitles him to the whole thing. He says he wants to raise John II as his own son, keeping him away from booze and cigarettes. (And, perhaps, conceptual artists? [...]

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Like the new Comments?

By Michael Gerber|2016-02-19T15:30:48-08:00February 19, 2016|Housekeeping, Uncategorized|

I write all my comments on my screen, in pen Dullblogisti, in my mania to build an ever-better online clubhouse for Beatle-obsessives, I have installed a new commenting system. If you get a moment, could you help me test drive it? Leave a comment — See if it shows up, and is formatted correctly. Give a comment the thumbs up. Share a comment via Facebook or Twitter. Thanks in advance. With the old system, I couldn't follow who was replying to what and when. These days on Dullblog, that's important. You are a voluble bunch.

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Beatles Impact on the Economy

By Michael Gerber|2023-02-17T15:41:27-08:00February 17, 2016|Liverpool|

Kneel before Zod The Beatles are responsible for one out of every 100 jobs in their home city of Liverpool, according to a new report by the City Council. The Beatles impact on the economy of the city is simply immense; the report estimates that John, Paul, George and Ringo bring in about £82 million worth of trade annually. Gulp, but this figure is likely low: "[A]ccording to Professor Richard Evans from Liverpool John Moores University, the figures do not take into account the marketing value of the brand or the number of people staying at non Beatles-themed hotels...The report [...]

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The Beatles Swan Song

By Michael Gerber|2016-02-16T11:25:02-08:00February 16, 2016|1969|

Where's John? Didn't really matter, did it? I'm delighted whenever Nancy gives us some Starostin news -- he's a brilliant critic, and a fluid writer as well. He is a guy I'd like to sit around listening to albums with, and that's not something I could say about a lot of music critics (Lester Bangs, for example). But I do, predictably, have a quibble -- and it's not just with Starostin, but with a lot of the appreciations of Abbey Road that I've read over the years. Here's how Starostin starts: While speculating on all the possible and probable causes [...]

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Try some, buy some

By Michael Gerber|2016-02-10T16:55:27-08:00February 10, 2016|Uncategorized|

Donald Trump's use of "Revolution," though egregious, is far from the only time the spirit of John Lennon's been pressed into service to sell something. The Lennon commercial pasted below is objectionable on so many levels, not least dubbing and vocal impression (have they ever heard John talk?): https://youtu.be/4Ph4rZU0Ns4 And here's a 1992 Nike ad featuring "Instant Karma" (ironic, that): https://youtu.be/AmmpbSlr8UQ And here's an ad that works hard to get around the Estate: https://youtu.be/RweXg3YMOHg People often ask why rock music doesn't pack the same political punch -- Beyoncé's halftime show aside -- as it did in the Sixties and Seventies. One reason [...]

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Explaining Beatlemania via Sex At Dawn

By Michael Gerber|2016-02-07T13:35:26-08:00February 7, 2016|Beatlemania|

Nope, nothing sexual going on here. Commenter @King Kevin asked me yesterday whether I'd read the book Sex At Dawn, a fascinating and controversial attempt to explain contemporary human sexual behavior via “anthropology, archaeology, primatology, anatomy, and psychosexuality.” One of the book's primary contentions is that human females are as randy as males, if not more so -- and it takes maximum effort and much selective vision on our society's part to make it seem otherwise. From the book: "And yet, despite repeated assurances that women aren't particularly sexual creatures, in cultures around the world men have gone to extraordinary [...]

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I’m Down by Joe Strummer

By Michael Gerber|2016-02-05T12:31:22-08:00February 5, 2016|Beatle-inspired, Covers|

"You tell lies thinkin' I can't see..." This morning, I awoke to find this gem in the comment queue from @O'Boogie... "Long time/first time — tangentially, there are some neat bits of Beatles flavoured trivia to London’s pub rock/proto-punk scene. Joe Strummer christened John Tiberi (pre-Clash manager of The 101’ers, later associated with the Pistols) “Boogie” because he’d smoke Winston cigarettes; before “No Elvis, Beatles or The Rolling Stones” in 1977, Strummer was speeding through material like I’m Down and I Saw Her Standing There." Here's the YouTube in question; I've cued it up for "I'm Down." Thanks, @O'Boogie, and [...]

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Was John Lennon bipolar?

By Michael Gerber|2016-02-04T13:28:57-08:00February 4, 2016|John Lennon|

After watching a TV program on Spike Milligan's battle with depression, John Lennon sent the comedian a book. In the comments on the John and Mimi post, @Karen and some others have elucidated a theory that I've toyed with for years, myself: that John Lennon, Chief Beatle and beloved by all denizens of Dullblog, suffered from bipolar disorder. Formerly called manic depression, bipolar disorder is "a condition in which a person has periods of depression and periods of being extremely happy or being cross or irritable. In addition to these mood swings, the person also has extreme changes in activity [...]

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About Michael Gerber