Michael Gerber • Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

Wanna Live-Tweet Something?

By Michael Gerber|2015-05-17T21:54:36-07:00May 17, 2015|Movies, Uncategorized|

(We all live in a) Twitter Submarine Yesterday, my dear wife learned via Twitter that a group of people would be queueing up the 80s Henson-and-Bowie fever-dream Labrynith on Netflix at 4:00 pm PST, and then live-tweeting it. She had a ball, and it got me to thinking: should we do this on Hey Dullblog? Unfortunately the only directly Beatle-ish offerings on Netflix are Nowhere Boy and Good Ol' Freda, either of which would be fun, but not the crazed free-for-all of, say, The Beatles Anthology. If we widen it out a bit, there's Who is Harry Nilsson (and Why is Everybody [...]

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Ziggy Stardust was McCartney? Could be…

By Michael Gerber|2016-01-11T18:33:13-08:00May 16, 2015|Beatle-inspired, David Bowie, John and Paul|

J.R. Clark, guest Dullblogger • Of the many personas David Bowie created during his entertainment career, perhaps none was more memorable and influential than the protagonist of his song, “Ziggy Stardust”. The song tells the story of a musician in a rock band who becomes famous. The fame makes him conceited; he seizes control of the band from the other members, and the fame ultimately destroys the band and the musician. David Bowie, 1971 Rock music fans in general, and Bowie fans in particular, continue to debate which musician(s) Bowie drew upon for inspiration in writing the song, including Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Marc Bolan, Gene [...]

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Call for Submissions!

By Michael Gerber|2015-12-30T11:50:10-08:00March 29, 2015|Housekeeping|

Hey folks! As you might have noticed, Dullblog's content flow has been lighter over this last month or so. Nancy and Devin do what they can, but they have day jobs, bless 'em, and my new gig (I'm writing for The Huffington Post's new weekly satire show) makes it impossible for me to spew as prolifically as I have in the past. So: lemons. But we here at Hey Dullblog would like to make some lemonade. We are, for the first time in the seven-odd years of the site, officially calling for submissions. Any of you who would like to write a [...]

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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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About Michael Gerber