“Imagine” better Op-Eds
Our John Lennon circa 1971, haunting Gary Abernathy's dreams. Because she knew it would get a rise out of me, commenter @Tasmin sent me this cringeworthy Op-Ed from The Washington Post today, which I pass along out of a need to trauma-share. The Bezos-owned WaPo, for any foreign readers, is ostensibly the liberal-est of our oh-so-very-liberal American media, which [...]
Beatles in the 1970s: Melting and Crying
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 [...]
Beatle Dreams!
Last night, I had the most amazing dream, one of my favorites ever. I was flying on a jumbo jet from New York to Los Angeles, with my brother and father. That's not important. What is important is that the jet was an amazing flying museum of all these wonderful Beatle artifacts, like a flying exhibition. In addition to all sorts of [...]
“I’m going to go with Linda on keyboards.”
[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 [...]
Desperately Seeking: Paul’s Striped Jacket in COLOR?
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 [...]
New commenting rules!
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 [...]
Lennon Murder Conspiracy Open Thread
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 [...]
Moving past fandom
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? [...]
A quick note about celebrity journalism
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 [...]