Joshua Wolf Shenk on Lennon and McCartney (Take 2)

By |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 [...]

Thoughts on the Python Reunion (and the Beatles)

By |2014-08-08T09:56:33-07:00August 7, 2014|Breakup, comedy, Monty Python|

Just got back from watching Monty Python Live (Mostly), the filmed record of the Python reunion concerts performed at London’s O2 Theatre last month. It was — and I say this as someone who bought the expensive tickets primarily out of affection — a ball, a delight; if you can see it, go see it. The two and a half hours flew by; I laughed a lot, and even got a little choked up there at the end. I’m so glad I’ve lived at the same time as Monty Python. (A shaky fan video of their farewell — "Always Look on the [...]

Kiss as the Anti- Beatles

By |2016-03-22T12:24:16-07:00April 24, 2014|Breakup, Other bands, Photos|

NANCY CARR * Easily recognizable iconography is one thing the Beatles and Kiss share. The Beatles have sometimes been represented by just their hair, and Kiss’ comic-book costumes and makeup are certainly distinctive. But there the resemblance ends. Reading Brian Hiatt’s excellent article “Kiss Forever: 40 Years of Feuds and Fury” in last month’s Rolling Stone got me thinking about all the ways that Kiss is the anti-Beatles—not in the sense of the band’s being opposed to or “against” the Beatles, but in the sense of being a kind of photographic negative of the Beatles. Well, the HAIR is here . [...]

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Beatles solo albums sell slowly: or, no escape from the Fab Four

By |2022-04-11T09:43:45-07:00March 24, 2014|Beatle-inspired, Breakup, solo|

NANCY CARR * The Beatles broke up over 40 years ago, but in the public’s mind they could never really stop being Beatles. The desperate efforts of all the band’s members (well, except Ringo) in the 1970s to escape its gravitational pull were doomed. If you want to see this reality in action today, check out the displays in a nearby record store—assuming you're near one that's survived. There's a good chance that everything Beatles related will be shelved together. One of my favorite local shops, Oak Park Records, is owned by Alan Heffelfinger, who's particularly knowledgeable about music (he worked for [...]

A Momentary Lapse of Reason

By |2019-09-04T11:19:38-07:00April 23, 2010|1969, 1970, Breakup|

The happy newlywed? Shirley Tilloch over at Beatles Til I Die has written a very interesting post originally inspired by one over here at Dullblog. This post of mine began as a lengthy comment to her post...until I got to the point where it was too long and went off in too many directions. So apologies in advance if what I'm about to say is a bit (or a lot) scattered. I think it's sufficiently original to be worth saying anyway. Briefly—and Shirley, please correct me in the comments if I mischaracterize you—Shirley writes that the presence of a 1969 [...]

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