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Happy Birthday Paul McCartney, Friend of the Jews
In honor of Macca’s 77th, The Forward posted this little squib detailing Paul McCartney’s various Jewish spouses, friends, business associates, et cetera. (This from Heeb aside, there is no evidence that McCartney has converted—though of course all his children would be considered Jewish under Hebraic law, because Linda was Jewish.)With all the Jews in and […]
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Paul McCartney Makes Mashed Potatoes
This man loved his wife. (I’m guessing he was promoting her cookbook.) Adding this after I posted it: GodDAMN but Paul McCartney is charming. I don’t care if it’s all just a big hustle, I just love the guy. Let us take a moment to, once again, be thankful for the brilliant stroke of luck […]
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Up Against It: BBC Radio Play from 1997
Being a fan of both The Beat Brothers and doomed playwright Joe Orton, Up Against It has always been interesting to me. Brian Epstein rejected it, of course he did; Orton’s outlaw sexuality was a total wrong fit for the Beatle-buying public circa 1967—but the mixing of two such strong, really important flavors from Swinging […]
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Above Us Only Sky: New “Imagine” Documentary
“Imagine” is already the most well-examined John Lennon album, but the new A&E documentary Above Us Only Sky is well worth watching. Here’s the network’s description: “This special traces the untold story of the making of John Lennon’s 1971 album “Imagine.” Utilizing never-before-seen footage of Lennon and Ono from their private archive, the special delves […]
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“Nobody Loves You When You’re Down and Out” acoustic demo
With a few exceptions, demos are genial curiosities, adding context but little else to the standard version. You don’t hear the song any different after. This one is an exception. Like a lot of folks, I’ve always found this song from Walls and Bridges particularly haunting, given where John Lennon was in his life (and […]
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Thoughts on Red and Blue?
Robert Rodriguez, author of Fab Four FAQ 2.0, popped up on my Facebook feed this evening touting an interesting anniversary: Thirty-five years ago tomorrow, on April 2, 1973, Apple/EMI released the Beatles compilations, 1962-66 and 1967-70. Or, as they were universally called, the Beatles Red and Blue Albums, respectively. Not surprisingly, these two LPs hit like […]
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Charles Manson Is Dead
Charles Manson, who used a paranoid reading of the Beatles’ “White Album” to spur his followers to murder, is dead at 83. Alas, the kind of fear-mongering false narrative that he helped pioneer is very much alive. Like the mixers of the toxic social media soup we’re all swimming in today, Manson specialized in us-vs-them […]
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The Beatles and the Historians
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, […]
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Top Five Songs?
New commenter Tasmin writes: “I was curious on your take on lists? Specifically, Top 100 Beatles songs? The Beatles Channel has been playing a special this weekend, where listeners voted for their top 100 songs — here are the top 5: 1) A Day in the Life 2) In My Life 3) Hey Jude 4) […]
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Interview with Jay Goeppner of the the Beatle Brothers
Chicago-based singer Jay Goeppner pours his fervent love for the music of the Beatles, and John Lennon, into every performance. His voice, and his energy onstage, are almost eerily similar to Lennon’s. I’ve seen several of his Beatle Brothers shows, and can testify that the only time I’ve gotten a stronger Beatles vibe was at […]