Michael Gerber • Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

Interview: McCartney Recording Sessions author Luca Perasi

By Michael Gerber|2014-10-28T13:52:09-07:00October 28, 2014|books, Interviews, Paul McCartney, Wings|

"Groundbreaking and definitive" Here's a welcome sign that Paul McCartney's solo work is being looked at with new and appreciative eyes: Luca Perasi's Paul McCartney: Recording Sessions (1969-2013) catalogs all Paul's solo recording sessions in detail. Well, the first 44 years of his post-Beatles career, anyway. Among the book's revelations is just how often McCartney recorded songs he didn't release for years, or in some cases didn't release at all. In the course of his researches, Perasi interviewed over seventy people who have worked with Paul over the years, and the perspectives they give on the man and his work are invaluable. Better still, Perasi doesn't let his obvious affection for McCartney's [...]

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Howard Goodall’s Twentieth Century Greats The Beatles

By Michael Gerber|2014-10-26T22:29:01-07:00October 26, 2014|Documentaries|

Commenter Buck Turgidson pointed me to this documentary, "Howard Goodall's Twentieth Century Greats The Beatles," deconstructing the Beatles' music, and placing them within the musical trends of the 20th Century. I found it fascinating -- what do you think? http://youtu.be/HbcHG7lL_T4

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Shepard Fairey George Harrison Poster

By Michael Gerber|2014-10-23T13:49:44-07:00October 23, 2014|George Harrison, Graphic Art|

Star graphic designer Shepard Fairey (yes, you know him -- think "OBEY" or that Obama poster) has created a new poster of George Harrison, to celebrate/promote the release of The Apple Years 1968-75. I think it's pretty cool. What say you? Please tell me he did this by hand and eye, and didn't just apply a Photoshop filter. That MATTERS to me somehow Interested in purchasing a Shepard Fairey George Harrison Poster for your own cozy little Beatle-infused digs? Be quick and vigilant: "Silver edition to be released 24/10/14 through the George Harrison web store at 10am PST/6pm BST located [...]

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John Lennon on Evolution

By Michael Gerber|2014-10-16T13:54:19-07:00October 16, 2014|1980, Interviews, John Lennon|

Yes, this is Mike's old college humor magazine I'm still collecting my thoughts about The Fest for Beatles Fans, but in the meantime wanted to pass along this hilarious quote from our own John Lennon. I was editing a humor piece for a friend of mine, and went to Wikiquote to confirm that Lennon did in fact say, "There are no problems, only solutions." (In the piece, I attributed it to Vince Lombardi -- a little Easter Egg joke for Beatlepeople.) Along the way I found this priceless snippet of John Lennon on evolution: Nor do I think we came [...]

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Off to the Fest for Beatles Fans

By Michael Gerber|2015-08-14T11:08:07-07:00October 10, 2014|Beatles in LA|

The mothership. Can somebody die from too much Beatles? We're about to find out! Any readers going to the LA Fest who want to meet a Dullblogger in the flesh — and God, wouldn't that be something to tell your grandkids? — send an email to the site. I'll be checking it over the weekend. I'm usually somewhat shy and prefer to swim the seas of Fabdom incognito, but if there are a few of us, maybe we'll do a meetup. "Try these Riñgo Jalapeño Poppers, they're super-spicy." "Ahh, I don't think they're any different than regular jalapeño poppers." "I disagree. [...]

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Who should I interview at The Fest?

By Michael Gerber|2015-08-14T11:11:41-07:00October 7, 2014|Beatles in LA, The Fest for Beatles Fans|

I just booked my hotel for LA's edition of The Fest For Beatles Fans, and am incredibly psyched. I plan to spend this coming weekend immersed in sun-drenched SoCal Beatledom, writing down things to share with you. I also hope to interview as many people as I can, but I want to know who you'd like most, so I've embedded a poll below. Vote for the guests you'd like me to try to corner, and I'll make a special effort to chat with your favorites. Put suggestions for questions in the Comments! [polldaddy poll=8358662]

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Interview with Man on the Run author Tom Doyle

By Michael Gerber|2014-09-24T11:02:26-07:00September 23, 2014|1970s, books, Interviews, Paul McCartney|

At this late date, it's a rare book that fundamentally redefines what I think of a Beatle and his work. But after reading Tom Doyle's Man on the Run, I'm hearing Paul McCartney's Seventies music in a whole new way -- not as tuneful, inoffensive AOR, or bargain-bin Beatles, but as a legitimate second act -- a bit like Dylan after the motorcycle crash. Doyle is just the right man for this job; a longtime contributor to the Beatles-crazy UK music mags MOJO and Q, the spine of Man on the Run was formed by a series of interviews he did with [...]

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Deconstructing The Beatles: The End

By Michael Gerber|2016-01-18T11:04:00-08:00September 18, 2014|1969, Abbey Road|

Yukking it up in Studio Two. Thanks to a timely Tweet from The Fest for Beatles Fans -- LA Fest is coming and I will be there! -- I stumbled on this wonderful video, which lays out Abbey Road's climactic track in all its glorious pieces. Too juicy not to pass along. I have to say, as a non-musician, this is both very encouraging (I can hear how they made the finished song) and also demonstrates a way of thinking that I've never done myself, which makes music even more mysterious than before. http://youtu.be/P68IF-90WWU And here's the track in toto [...]

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The Beatles in Pittsburgh, 1964

By Michael Gerber|2014-09-15T11:59:05-07:00September 15, 2014|1964, Beatlemania|

The Beatles one and only visit to Pittsburgh came in 1964, at the height of Beatlemania. The Post-Gazette commemmorates both the concert and the phenomenon here. This is my favorite part. Three fans, holding a cake they hope to present to the group, are outside the arena waiting for the concert to begin: Speaking “British” was something the three teens who’d never ventured far from Weirton [West Virginia] had done quite often. Just a few weeks earlier, Sharon and Beverly had launched into the accents while attending the premiere of the Beatles’ new movie, “A Hard Day’s Night,” in nearby Steubenville, Ohio. [...]

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Joshua Wolf Shenk on Lennon and McCartney (Take 2)

By Michael Gerber|2015-04-11T11:43:35-07:00August 14, 2014|Breakup, John and Paul, Joshua Wolf Shenk, Reviews|

Hello there Nancy (and everybody)— Mike here. Nice post, Nancy; thanks. Here are some more thoughts spurred by The Atlantic's Joshua Wolf Shenk on Lennon and McCartney, perhaps too many. "I read The Atlantic, mmkay?" First of all, Shenk’s piece struck me as typical magazine journalism in the post-Gladwell age — well-written and not factually wrong, but persistently unambitious, only revelatory to somebody who hasn’t really thought about anything but TPS reports since the late 1990s. You know the drill: writer declares something to be conventional wisdom — Shenk even goes to Wikipedia for it — then demolishes it via a catchphrased [...]

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