Michael Gerber • Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

1965: The Most Revolutionary Year In Music

By Michael Gerber|2015-03-11T22:00:15-07:00March 11, 2015|1965, books|

Gentle Readers, the following is an excerpt from Andrew Jackson's "1965: The Most Revolutionary Year In Music." You'll have to read the book to decide whether his title speaks the truth, but in the meantime here's Andrew's take on The Beatles, Dick Lester, and the little-known bit of 60s cinema called "The Knack…and How to Get It." My only question is -- having seen the movie once, about 20 years ago -- is Ray Brooks obviously John Lennon? The author is giving a reading tonight (Thurs 3/12) at Los Angeles' Book Soup. And of course, videos, playlists, and more excerpts can be [...]

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Lennon: Through a Glass Onion

By Michael Gerber|2015-02-22T13:06:32-08:00February 22, 2015|Beatle-inspired, New York City|

In a rather shocking display of feckless self-absorption, I just discovered in my inbox a months-old email touting the musical performance Lennon: Through a Glass Onion. Musicians John R. Waters and Stewart D'Arietta are performing a slate of Lennon's work -- written both with and without his Beatles -- at the Union Square Theatre, on 100 East 17th Street. Just the kind of thing Dullblog readers would want to know about, right? Apparently not. Apparently my disjointed mewlings are far more important than an actual professional performer, singing and playing some of John Lennon's songs, for cash money, in Lennon's adopted hometown. [...]

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Give Greece a Chance

By Michael Gerber|2015-02-12T11:55:39-08:00February 12, 2015|Politics|

Thousands of Greek citizens have gathered in Athens' Syntagma Square in front of the Greek Parliament, where they hope to prevent a continuation of austerity policies. The protest signs have a bit of a Beatle flavor. One, two, three, four, can I have a little more? Everybody's talkin' about ministers and sinisters Somewhere, John Lennon is smiling. You can read more about the situation here -- suffice to say that the government just passed a budget that pisses off both citizens who are tired of cuts to pensions and services, and lenders who wanted a quicker paydown. But [...]

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Plastic Ono Band — Threat or Menace?

By Michael Gerber|2015-02-10T12:04:19-08:00February 10, 2015|1970, John Lennon, solo|

More POB than you can shake a stick at, if that's your thing (The title's a shout-out to the dear departed National Lampoon -- where John and Yoko hung around a bit in their Bank Street days, and which ran an entire Beatles-themed issue in October 1977.) In a discussion with commenter @Rob this morning, I realized that I had stronger feelings about John Lennon's first solo album than I realized. I admire it as a piece of work, but can't remember the last time I listened to it; and always find it a bit unpleasant when I do. Rob, [...]

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Most pirated group? The Beatles, of course

By Michael Gerber|2015-02-09T13:25:58-08:00February 9, 2015|bootlegs|

"Hey guys! We were able to buy a car!" In the process of refurbishing this old post on the Beatles and piracy, I stumbled across this NME article from 2013: according to an industry group, The Beatles are the most pirated musical act. MUSO, who released the data to Music Week, revealed 186,876 files featuring The Beatles music have been removed from the internet with an average of 1,000 downloads per file. This equates to nearly 190 million illegal downloads per year. The article goes on to say that this tally doesn't even include sites like The Pirate Bay which [...]

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What to do in Liverpool?

By Michael Gerber|2015-01-30T17:24:43-08:00January 30, 2015|Liverpool|

"I've got my eye on you, Lennon." Folks, my friend Ben Orlin just wrote to say that he and his wife are taking a daytrip to Liverpool tomorrow. He knows I struggle with Chronic Recurrent Beatlemania (CRB), so he kindly asked, "Anything you want me to photograph/purchase/graffiti for you?" Of course I'm wilting under the pressure -- I'm a writer, not an improvisor, for God's sake -- but I thought Dullblog's teeming millions might have some good ideas. 1) What should Ben photograph? 2) Any Beatle purchases that aren't cheesy, aren't expensive, and that can be shipped Stateside? 3) Any [...]

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Art and the 60s

By Michael Gerber|2015-01-19T10:35:41-08:00January 19, 2015|Art, Documentaries|

Yesterday, I watched the BBC Four documentary "Art and the 60s," which tells the story of Swinging London through its two iconic galleries, the Kasmin Gallery, and (of course) Robert Fraser's Robert Fraser Gallery. http://youtu.be/7anAtAgEpFs "Groovy Bob" was great pals with Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and Brian Epstein (and even greater pals with the Rolling Stones, to the point of famously being busted with them at Keith's house in February 1967). That bust dealt Fraser and his Gallery a mortal blow -- even though he reportedly had "a wonderful time" serving a six-month sentence in Wormwood Scrubs. Fraser's Beatles connections were many, [...]

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Mick Jagger on The Rutles

By Michael Gerber|2015-01-17T12:58:11-08:00January 17, 2015|comedy, Eric Idle, Rutles|

Cash is all you need… If you haven't seen All You Need is Cash, the 1978 Python/SNL jam that created the Rutles, you're in for a treat. We've covered the Rutles before on Dullblog -- here -- here -- and here -- but I just ran across a transcript of the interview with Mick Jagger from the movie. "QUESTION: Were they trying to sell you songs at that stage? MICK: A bit later on they did, yeh. The one for that was Dirk really. He was a real hustler for the songs. Any old slag he'd sell a song to. [...]

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Thank God for Abbey Road

By Michael Gerber|2015-01-14T18:17:51-08:00January 14, 2015|1969, Abbey Road|

The Beatles, not worrying about global warming, 1969. In the midst of a comment thread, I stumbled on an interesting thought which I wanted to open to the group: how do you think The Beatles' legacy would've been different if they'd never returned to the studio after Let It Be? My initial, instinctual thought is that the group's demise would've been even more mythic, even more shrouded by "what might have been." The rich sprawl of White seems to invite a follow-up of the quality of Abbey Road, and had the wet firecracker of Let It Be been The Beatles' [...]

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Apple Jam: Off the Beatle Track

By Michael Gerber|2015-01-12T15:45:12-08:00January 12, 2015|Beatle-inspired, Covers|

Oh, you'll like this In the process of refurbishing Nancy Carr's earlier post on the Seattle-based Beatle-tribute band Apple Jam, I discovered these videos and had to pass them on. 2009's "Off the Beatle Track" is Apple Jam doing an LP's worth Lennon/McCartney songs never released by the Beatles (a recent obsession of mine) in the style of the early Beatles. What I'm noticing as I listen to this stuff is the pure songwriting chops; the variation between songs and sounds, the multitude of hooks. And Apple Jam's performance is convincing me that, if The Beatles had wanted to apply [...]

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