The Beatles and Drugs: the best books?
Yes, this is a bong. I don't even smoke and I want one. Folks, someone in the Beatle fan community told me recently that he's writing a book about the Beatles and drugs. It's a fascinating, underconsidered topic -- well, underconsidered by all but right-wing nutjobs, more about that later. Any weary perusal of our comments will attest that it's [...]
Bring on the Lucie by Hallelujah the Hills
Could he touch his nose? Happy birthday to John. I love this cover of "Bring on the Lucie" by the Boston-based and totally excellent band Hallelujah the Hills.
A slight present, on John Lennon’s 75th birthday: Interview self-interview, 1974
Sun's out, guns out, eh John? There's something interesting making the rounds during this, John Lennon's 75th Birthday Week -- and by "making the rounds," I mean that commenter Karen and Kim from JohnHeartPaul contacted me about it within 48 hours of each other. Who am I to resist the Collective Unconscious? So here's a self-interview typed out by the [...]
Jack Douglas in Beatlefan, 1999
In the run-up to John Lennon's 75th birthday this week, this old post of ours is getting a lot of traffic. If you haven't read it, it's great -- and an example of the wonderfulness of Bill King's magazine Beatlefan. And after you read it, you might head over to this thread on The Beatles Bible. [Originally posted July 20, 2010; reposted [...]
Lennon in the 80s
"Someday, son, this will all be yours. If you have Garage Band." I am always trying to figure out a non-obnoxious way to spotlight some of our great old posts. (There are over 600.) Today, commenter Damon F. solved that problem for me by finding this impassioned burbling on "Harry Nilsson: The Shadow Beatle", which spurred him to burble the [...]
Fest for Beatles Fans Chicago 2015
In the "better late than never" department, herewith some notes about attending a day of #ChiFest15 -- the first such I'd ever been to. My 16-year-old daughter accompanied me, and we met up with fellow Dullblogger Michael for part of the day. -- Nancy Carr Two Fest helpers -- the one in the white hat and sunglasses looked unnervingly like Yoko from some angles [...]
The General Erection
Here's that interview with John Lennon on the occasion of "A Spaniard In the Works" I alluded to in the Beatles and the Aristocracy comment thread. From the June 18th, 1965 edition of the BBC programme "Tonight" hosted by Kenneth Allsop, it's a real reminder of why Britain needed the Beatles. And how the world will always need them. "Do you think [...]
Best Beatles Magazine Covers
In the course of researching my post on the Beatles and the aristocracy, I came across the SatEvePost cover from 1964 which is the featured image. The Beatles as City gents is one of the few really iconic Beatles magazine covers -- given how many photos were taken of the Fabs, you'd think the shelves would be groaning with truly memorable shots, [...]
The Beatles and the Aristocracy
City gents, 1964. After watching a tantalizing but toothless BBC documentary on the English aristocracy, my musing mind wondered: what was the relationship between the Beatles and the aristocracy? I'm not talking about professional contact -- not "rattle your jewelry" or the MBE -- but what John, Paul, George and Ringo felt personally. The more I think about it, the [...]