From Victoria: Oracle’s spoken: John Green’s Dakota Days (1983)

By |2022-10-18T11:53:39-07:00October 18, 2022|1980, books, john and yoko, Reviews, Uncategorized|

When Victoria, a regular commenter here on Dullblog, asked if she could write up a review of John Green's out-of-print book Dakota Days, I immediately said "yes!" I remember reading it as deep background for my comic novel Life After Death for Beginners, and finding its glimpses into soothsaying and John and Yoko fascinating and maddening in equal measure. Here are her thoughts. Enjoy.—MG The Dakota, a Renaissance Revival building constructed in the 1880s, is well-known as a glamorous and sought after residence, and as the site of supernatural happenings in Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby. Beatles fans know it, however, as John [...]

Beatles in the 1970s: Melting and Crying

By |2022-04-18T14:03:34-07:00April 13, 2022|1970s, books, Breakup, Let It Be|

I'm an inveterate haunter of used bookstores. I love the physicality of books, and seeing how publishers chose to present subjects at particular places and times. Today I give you two 1970s finds, both British paperbacks, that feature melting or crying Beatles. This edition of The Beatles Lyrics was published by Omega in 1975 and features an introduction by (cringe) Jimmy Saville. Though the book includes no cover illustration credit, commenter Dan pointed out that it appears in Alan Aldridge's The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics (it's in volume 2, published in 1971), and commenter meaigs further noted that the illustration is by John Holmes. This is [...]

Craig Brown’s “One Two Three Four”

By |2020-08-13T09:21:58-07:00August 13, 2020|Allen Klein, books, Brian Epstein, Mark Lewisohn, Reviews, Uncategorized|

Is it possible to write anything fresh and interesting about the Beatles in 2020? Improbably, Craig Brown has managed to pull off this feat in One Two Three Four: The Beatles In Time. It helps enormously that Brown departs from the marching-in-strict-chronological order structure used, understandably enough, in many accounts of the band. Brown is the author of 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret, as well as multiple parodies, and he brings a light (but not lightweight) touch to the proceedings. He's willing to go down rabbit holes after interesting tidbits, to summarize long-drawn-out situations simply, and to share his own investment in [...]

The Beatles and the Historians

By |2017-09-08T13:35:43-07:00September 8, 2017|books|

Available on Amazon or wherever good Beatles books are sold. After commenter Rob raved over it in this comment, I was reminded that I've been meaning to hip you all to something for a while. Longtime Dullblog commenter Erin Weber has written a book called The Beatles and the Historians, which anybody who loves this site will eat up with a spoon. In Erin's words, the book is "an overview of how Beatles' history has been written over time, the biases, errors, and mistakes within them, and also some of the very valuable works that have been written on the [...]

Beatles mystery: “She’s Leaving Home”

By |2016-09-22T07:33:20-07:00September 20, 2016|1968, Beatle-inspired, Beatles fiction, books, fans, Uncategorized|

William Shaw's She's Leaving Home is a Beatles-linked police procedural mystery. It's also a deep dive into the turmoil of late-60's London. And an examination of two detectives struggling with their identities and social roles. If that makes the book sound overstuffed, it's because it is. But overall it's an enjoyable read for Beatles or mystery fans who are prepared to skim a bit. Beatles novels are as various as the songs on the White Album, ranging from the simply parodic (Alan Goldsher's Paul is Undead) to the thriller (Phil Rickman's December) to the realistic slice-of-life (Philip Gillam's Here Comes the Sun). But alternative history leads the field, with [...]

Interview with Chip Madinger, coauthor of Lennonology: Strange Days Indeed

By |2022-08-25T17:24:20-07:00June 6, 2016|books, Interviews, john and yoko, John Lennon, Lennon family, Yoko Ono|

In this conversation with Hey Dullblog, Chip Madinger talks about the genesis, process, and future of the ambitious Lennonology project he has undertaken with coauthor Scott Raile. Thanks to Chip for answering our questions, and to Mary Klein, who recently reviewed Lennonology: Strange Days Indeed for HD and helped write the questions. You can learn more about the book, and purchase it, at www.lennonology.com. HD: How did you determine what information to include about the other Beatles' activities? CM: As time is such a rigid constant, a day-by-day format seemed the ideal way to present the Lennons' history. The narrative in Strange [...]

“Lennonology: Strange Days Indeed” a Lennon/Ono data feast

By |2016-05-10T07:46:38-07:00May 9, 2016|books, John Lennon, Reviews, Yoko Ono|

By Mary Klein, Guest Dullblogger A Lennon/Ono banquet Chip Madinger's and Scott Raile's  Strange Days Indeed–A Scrapbook of Madness presents John Lennon and Yoko Ono aficionados with a dizzying spread of information – and it's only the first volume in a projected three- to four-volume work that aspires to chronicle all the doings of JohnandYoko. Madinger (coauthor of Eight Arms to Hold You, 2000) and Scott Raile (academic advisor at the University of Colorado, Boulder) draw from an enormous range of materials to create a day-by-day, sometimes hour-by-hour, chronicle of the couple's activities, beginning in 1966. Even those familiar with the Lennon/Ono story will learn [...]

Philip Norman’s McCartney “poem”; and an afterthought

By |2016-05-13T13:28:14-07:00May 4, 2016|books, McCartney, Paul McCartney, Reviews|

In the same vein as Norman's 2005 Daily Mail "letter" to Paul, there's the doggerel he wrote and published in the Sunday Times back in the early 1970s. I've seen references to its being longer than the four lines I can find online, but those four lines are more than enough: "O deified Scouse, with unmusical spouse For the cliches and cloy you unload To an anodyne tune may they bury you soon In the middlemost midst of the road." So, nothing like now having a biography from a writer who once publicly wished for the subject's speedy death. I'm sure Norman [...]

Philip Norman’s “letter” to Paul

By |2016-05-03T16:18:48-07:00May 2, 2016|books|

Apparently written around the time Paul McCartney’s marriage to Heather Mills collapsed, an alleged (and uncharacteristic) altercation between McCartney and his public prompted Philip Norman to editorialize in an article he wrote for the Daily Mail entitled What’s eating you, Macca? After reading it I’d like to ask “What’s eating you, Norman?  His animosity toward McCartney is almost palpable. Dear Macca, The millions of people who regard you as pop music's patron saint will have been shocked and disillusioned by your recent behaviour - though, as The Beatles' biographer and a long-time observer of your remarkable solo career, it comes as somewhat [...]

Dr. Jenny Boyd On Creativity

By |2016-04-01T19:10:26-07:00March 31, 2016|Apple/Inner Circle, books, Uncategorized, Wives and girlfriends|

Jenny Boyd with George Harrison I was surfing the internet yesterday and came across an interesting story about Patti Boyd’s sister and ex-wife of Mick Fleetwood, Jenny Boyd. After leaving her modelling career, Boyd attended UCLA and obtained her Ph.D in psychology in the late `80’s. Her Ph.D dissertation about the origins of creativity was published in 1992 as Musicians in Tune and again in 2014 as an expanded version entitled It’s Not Only Rock ’N’ Roll: Iconic Musicians Reveal The Source of Their Creativity. Here’s the description from Amazon. Psychologist Jenny Boyd has probed the minds and souls of these artists [...]

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