About Michael Gerber

is Blogmom of Hey Dullblog. His novels and parodies have sold 1.25 million copies in 25 languages. He lives in Santa Monica, CA, and runs The American Bystander all-star print humor magazine.

Shenk on Lennon/McCartney

By |2014-12-23T18:58:16-08:00September 16, 2010|1965, John Lennon, Paul McCartney|

Lennon and McCartney by David Bailey, 1965. My favorite photo ever of John and Paul, taken by David "Blow Up" Bailey in January 1965. Speaks volumes. In analysis that is almost Dullbloggian in its grain of detail, Joshua Wolf Shenk addresses the Lennon/McCartney collaboration in this multi-part series in Slate. Take a look; if you're reading this blog, you'll really enjoy it. This article--part of a series on famous collaborations--was forwarded to me by my own dear collaborator Jonathan Schwarz. Jon and I wrote a bunch of humor back in the 90s. You can read Jon's own "Yesterday" (or "Help!" [...]

Socal Dullbloggers: Beatles on the Pier!

By |2014-12-30T20:35:27-08:00August 27, 2010|Uncategorized|

  The Beatles in LA, 1964. The Santa Monica Pier has just turned 100, and as part of a summer-long music series, they're running a three-day festival of all things Beatle. Sound-alike bands, booths, hints of karaoke, they say there are movies...all on the Pier, which is gorgeous and great fun. I really hope this tradition takes root. I cruised by the venue yesterday, and talked to some very nice memorabilia vendors ("Flip Your Wig" game, anyone? Yours is worn out by now, I'm sure) and Gillian Lomax. Gillian used to run the news department of our local "Breakfast With [...]

New Beatle pix from the attic

By |2015-02-15T12:36:22-08:00August 20, 2010|Photos|

A documentary filmmaker named Paul Berriff has discovered some great photos of The Beatles he took as a 16-year-old assistant on the Yorkshire Evening Post. The pix are going on permanent display in Liverpool. Here's the site.This is now my favorite picture of Paul.

Why People Love John Lennon

By |2015-02-15T12:31:43-08:00August 17, 2010|1970, John Lennon|

“Happy New Year…” Friend Jon just forwarded me this news article detailing a letter that John Lennon wrote a young songwriter in early 1970. The letter never reached the songwriter--it was intercepted and sold. Which I think is quite a neat metaphor for both Lennon's fundamental decency, and how the circumstances of his life conspired to make it difficult for him to express that.

Attention Harry Nilsson fans!

By |2021-06-15T17:40:04-07:00August 4, 2010|Beatle-inspired|

You know you're destined to be a rockstar when you have your school photo printed as a record sleeve. Good news! The Wrap.com reports that the 2006 Nilsson documentary, “Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)?” has finally found a distributor. The article says that the film will be at NYC's Cinema Village on September 10th, and be released on DVD before year's end. Folks, if I wasn't so sick these days, I'd fly out and lead a peaceful takeover of Cinema Village for an evening. I expect you to do Dullblog proud. I was lucky [...]

Norman and Goldman and Sentimentality

By |2022-07-24T13:09:54-07:00July 18, 2010|biography, Uncategorized|

Why pick an Isley Brothers song for the title? Yesterday evening, I was perusing Shout! and, as ever, thought it was a really great, fluid, surprisingly no-nonsense large-grain history of the group. Well, maybe "really great" is a bit much, given the book's anti-Paul bias, but it's still wonderfully written, and was essential in its time. If you were a Beatles fan in the early 80s like I was, Shout! was the companion volume to The Compleat Beatles. I'm looking forward to comparing it with Davies, as soon as I can lay my hands on that book. (It's not really [...]

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