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Did Monoculture Make The Beatles?
This morning, as I was shaving — a marvelously quick operation now that I have a beard — “Breakfast With the Beatles” played a blast-from-the-past radio ad touting the then-new LPs Magical Mystery Tour and Wild Honey. (So we can date the spot to late December 1967/early 1968). I suddenly felt a very warm feeling, […]
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Death and the Beatles Fan
Stephen Kennedy’s “Death and the Beatles Fan” has been called a Beatles-themed parody of The Seventh Seal… which makes it catnip for yours truly. (Seventh Seal is my mother’s favorite movie, which I guess explains all my therapists.) Anyway, “Death and the Beatles Fan” was broadcast on Ireland’s RTE Radio One last weekend; and reader […]
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Eight Days A Week trailer
Am I excited for Ron Howard’s upcoming documentary, Eight Days A Week? Hell yes, I am. The story of the Beatles’ touring years is the great untold portion of their career, and it deserves more attention. In part because the touring experience was what made them who they were; in part because we think we […]
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Lewisohn with Conan O’Brien on Serious Jibber-Jabber
Comedy legend (and serious Beatle fan) Conan O’Brien has just interviewed Beatle legend (and serious Beatle fan) Mark Lewisohn on his chat show “Serious Jibber-Jabber.” It’s well worth a listen. “Most of the books you have read, upon which you base your knowledge,” Lewisohn begins, “in terms of biography they only skim the surface. The […]
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Tony Barrow 1936-2016
Former Beatles press agent Tony Barrow has died at age 80. A member of the group’s original Liverpool gang, Barrow was part of the Beatles’ story from 1961-1968. Record reviewer for the Liverpool Echo from the age of 17, Barrow was working for Decca when Brian Epstein called for some advice regarding a pop group […]
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Our media policy
Folks, just a quick check-in here — earlier a commenter put up a link to a downloadable .epub of Philip Norman’s new biography of Paul McCartney. This file is almost certainly an infringement on several entities’ copyright, and I removed it as soon as I was made aware of its existence. As someone who has […]
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The Joshua Liquid Light Show
The Joshua Liquid Light Show, invented by artist Joshua White, was a psychedelic staple at New York’s iconic Fillmore East in the late Sixties. White and his colleagues would project their work on 30-40 foot screens behind bands like Jimi Hendrix and The Who, improvising in time with the music. I’ve found one of their […]
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Sgt Pepper and Psychedelic Utopianism
In a comment on Starostin’s latest review of Sgt. Pepper, Dullblogger Karen wrote the following: Part of the charm of this album, as it relates to the construction of an alternate reality, is that it was borne of out a felt need. It wasn’t just conceptual; it was an “only if” type of reaction to […]
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The Turtles and Managers
Since we’ve been talking a lot lately about managers and agents and their role in the story of the Beatles, I thought I’d post this so-sad-it’s-funny video done in 1990 by Flo and Eddie, the founders of The Turtles. As the Fabs discovered, this kind of thing makes it much, much harder to create, and […]
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All Things Must Pass
Dullblog readers will likely enjoy All Things Must Pass, a recent documentary on the rise and demise of Tower Records. Directed by Colin Hanks, All Things Must Pass probes all the nooks and crannies of the legendary record store chain, which via the magic of contemporary American capitalism, only exists in Japan anymore. Turns out […]