Uncategorized Archives - Page 3 of 18 - Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

“I’m going to go with Linda on keyboards.”

By Michael Gerber|2022-04-04T17:18:47-07:00April 4, 2022|Paul McCartney, Uncategorized|

[As part of our New Regime here at Dullblog, we've started reaching out to commenters with interesting, well worked-out opinions to write these up as posts. Commenter @Faith pitched this idea last week, and here's what she came up with. Enjoy. -- MG] By FAITH CURRENT • (The headline quote is from Carlin's McCartney: A Life, p. 215) Paul and Linda McCartney in the studio, 1970 Every time I read a new McCartney bio, I dread this moment in the story. I ache for Paul’s naive enthusiasm, for the damage it will do to his credibility, for the soft underbelly [...]

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Desperately Seeking: Paul’s Striped Jacket in COLOR?

By Michael Gerber|2022-03-19T00:04:36-07:00March 19, 2022|Uncategorized|

Hey folks, in another of a series of really questionable financial decisions, I'm looking to get a modern reproduction of this wonderful striped jacket worn by Paul in early 1967. Does anybody know of a color photo? I seem to remember one, and I think it's red with cream and blue? In a preliminary search, I unearthed this wonderful site called Beatles Style, which offers a large selection of reproductions of Beatle clothes. I WANT that Penny Lane jacket in hunting pink. This is important to me—such things are the only reason I became an adult; I made a deal with 12-year-old [...]

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New commenting rules!

By Michael Gerber|2022-02-22T13:48:56-08:00February 22, 2022|Uncategorized|

Hey there, folks. Last night, I had an epiphany—I was sitting here typing away at 12:30 am, crafting long, thoughtful, hopefully thought-provoking responses to a person I didn't know and would never meet, about a topic I've probably written 100,000 words about. They didn't seem to like me, and my considerable personal affability (ask anyone!) was beginning to wear thin. Why? Because I'd been here tens, hundreds of times before. I knew that nothing I'd write would ever convince them, and that if necessary they'd just switch the topic to some other thing -- some other fact, some other era, some other [...]

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Lennon Murder Conspiracy Open Thread

By Michael Gerber|2022-02-02T21:08:28-08:00February 2, 2022|Uncategorized|

Folks, I've been noticing certain topics growing like wild vines over the comment sections of various unrelated posts. So in the interest of housekeeping, I'd like to experiment with Open Threads. Ideally my goal is to have the comment sections hew fairly closely to the original post, so that lurkers and other quiet readers can use the comments to learn in greater depth on that topic. This Open Thread is for discussion of conspiracy theories related to the murder of John Lennon; I will not be participating, nor will I even read this thread very closely, as I find the topic quite [...]

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Moving past fandom

By Michael Gerber|2022-01-08T14:45:36-08:00January 8, 2022|Uncategorized|

Folks, I'm increasingly churlish on this site, and it bugs me. It bugs me because I love The Beatles, individually and as a unit, love what they made, love their time and place, and like all of you. My churlishness comes from the exact opposite place that it seems to come from; it must seem critical, but it is…fundamentally positive and supportive? There's something important I haven't expressed well enough, despite all my words, and I'm going to try to address it here. After a certain number of hours logged listening, reading, and thinking about The Beatles -- or any other cultural [...]

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A quick note about celebrity journalism

By Michael Gerber|2021-12-04T15:22:59-08:00December 4, 2021|Uncategorized|

Starting in the mid-50s, television has fundamentally shifted the balance of power in the US. Other people would have to talk about other countries, but here all power now resides in the hands of celebrities. The impacts of this shift on our culture are practically incalculable. In politics for example, it began with JFK; the famous factoid is that people who listened to the Kennedy-Nixon debates thought Nixon had won, whereas people who watched them were strongly for Kennedy. The story of the 60s, 70s and 80s was an unprecedented mixing of celebrity with traditional sources of power. Whether it's John and [...]

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“Get Back” Halftime Report

By Michael Gerber|2021-11-27T15:21:15-08:00November 27, 2021|Uncategorized|

Folks, I've watched roughly half of "Get Back," and had a few thoughts and impressions that you might be interested in. It looks gorgeous, doesn't it? Great sound, great image quality, and that alone makes it a huge gift to the canon. Before I do, however, I want to link to a Dullblog post I wrote in 2014, "Let It Be: A Missed Opportunity." Re-reading it today I think it's quite prescient. I am not saying that Peter Jackson or anyone at Apple needed to read my lil' ol' post to figure out what a better documentary might look like...but I'm always [...]

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“Get Back” open thread

By Michael Gerber|2021-11-25T16:48:41-08:00November 25, 2021|Uncategorized|

Folks, I'm rushing out to Thanksgiving dinner, but here's the promised open thread on the Peter Jackson film. Put any thoughts/observations in the comments. For all my grouchiness, I'm really looking forward to seeing it. Enjoy!

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What happened in India?

By Michael Gerber|2022-09-28T14:43:18-07:00November 11, 2021|Uncategorized|

Reading one of a flood of pre-Get Back reviews just now; the premise of the piece, in The New York Times no less, is that the breakup of The Beatles had multiple causes and is a topic of debate even today among Beatle fans and scholars. Its big reveal is that, thanks to a new film, maybe the Get Back sessions weren't utter misery (despite Lennon calling them "hell" and Harrison "the winter of our discontent"). In other words… Fear not, aging Boomers increasingly sentimental about your salad days! John, Paul, George and Ringo were as happy to be Beatles as you [...]

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The Compleat Beatles (1982)

By Michael Gerber|2021-11-03T23:30:32-07:00November 3, 2021|Uncategorized|

Following some mention in the comments, I was able to find a very nice VHS transfer of the pre-Anthology Beatles documentary The Compleat Beatles, streamable on the Internet Archive. I post it here for several reasons. When people talk about "the standard narrative," this is it. The Compleat Beatles is a well-told, extremely concise rendition of The Beatles' story as most fans knew it before the Anthology in 1995. In other words, from 1970 to 1995 this is what people thought, and even today I suspect that this version of the story is the most defensible. One thing I noticed is that [...]

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