Beatle Cars
One of the perks of the mega-fame and fortune the Beatles enjoyed in the 1960s was buying cool automobiles. I think that a look at one of the cars owned by each Beatle in the mid-1960s reveals something about the personality of each. On to the cars: Ringo owned this 1964 Facel Vega Facel II, which autoblog.com describes as "a brutally powerful, [...]
The Beatles and Forrest Gump
Ah, you didn't think there was a connection between the Beatles and Forrest Gump? Perhaps you've blocked that 1994 Robert Zemeckis film from your memory? (In which case, smart move.) Well, the great columnist and critic Lindy West is here to remind you of the link in her new book Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema. In the film, Forrest [...]
Sympathy for the Devil?
James Angleton, head of CIA Counterintelligence from 1954-1975. His opinion about The Beatles remains a mystery. Just a quick post, but a thought that I believe is important enough to surface up top. Recently some commenters have been using the Krays thread to explore conspiracy theories surrounding John Lennon's murder. This topic is, to me, more than fair game—it has [...]
Paul McCartney: The Lyrics
According to commenter @HologramSam and Rolling Stone: Continuing the unbroken string of 58 straight Christmases with more Beatle-crap to buy, it's just been announced that Paul's dropping a new book this November. Called, Paul McCartney: The Lyrics, it's meant to stand in for an autobiography (which I think we already got with Many Years From Now). Sez Paul, “More often than I [...]
Sgt Pepper Unmasked!
Who's Who (not shown: The Who) Longtime readers of this blog know that I maintain it simply as an excuse to avoid grown-up work. And also, that I love Sgt. Pepper. It is my single desert island disc, as pedestrian as that choice is, because to me, Pepper contains so much more time than any other Beatles record. What do [...]
The Beatles and the Krays
Reggie (left) and Ronnie Kray, photographed by David Bailey For those (mostly American?) readers who haven't run across Ronnie and Reggie Kray, they were a pair of murderous twin brother gangsters who ruled the London underworld in the 1960s. Probably the most notorious British criminals since Jack the Ripper (sorry, Crippen). Before settling down to serious lawbreaking, the Krays were [...]
Beatles on Ed Sullivan, 57 years ago
It's been almost six decades since The Beatles made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964. As a Gen X-era fan, I found watching the four Ed Sullivan Beatles shows in their entirety (on a DVD) a revelation. [The other shows were on February 16 and 23, and September 12, 1965.] I highly, highly recommend watching the [...]
The Merseybeat gang, circa 1962
Frequent commenter LeighAnn pointed me to this great photo which Ringo put up on his Instagram (@ringostarrmusic) in remembrance of the late, great Gerry Marsden. "3..2..1..JUMP!"
Bernie and the Beatles
After Senator Bernie Sanders showed up at yesterday's inauguration looking a bit, shall we say, casual, the photo spawned a thousand memes, with the Progressive octogenarian popping up in every famous shot imaginable. Of course the Beatles were part of this, so Michael Bleicher and I assembled some of the best examples. Add more in the comments.