Happy birthday, Paul! (with a few notes on style)
Where can I find that jacket? DEVIN McKINNEY • Today is Paul McCartney’s 72nd birthday. He shows no signs of slowing, save for the current illness which his spokespeople will identify only as “a virus” and which has forced him to cancel several dates on his world tour—a contingency unprecedented, as far as I know, in his career. (Surely it’s [...]
Beatles in Austin
"We're coming to take you away -- FOREVER!" "Yoko, I've a feeling we're not in Manhattan anymore." NANCY CARR * My recent stroll down South Congress in Austin proved again that the Beatles are everywhere. I especially liked Sgt. Pepper's Day of the Dead Club Band at the Mi Casa folk art shop. The prize for sheer oddness [...]
Brian Epstein Marriage Tidbit
Mrs. Brian Epstein? (or Mrs. Lionel Bart? or Mrs. John Lennon?) MIKE GERBER • Happy to report that The Fifth Beatle, Vivek J. Tiwary's graphic novel about Brian Epstein, continues to carve out a bit of space in the culture. Here is an interesting interview with Tiwary. Apparently Tiwary's a strong supporter of marriage equality, and the book is affiliated [...]
Those McCartney e-tickets may be stolen
NANCY CARR * Paul McCartney's "Farewell to Candlestick Park" show, on August 14, is generating some crazy reselling action—tickets for the sold-out show are being hawked for up to 20 times face value. If you're looking for tickets, take a tip from my recent experience and do everything possible to ensure you're not buying stolen tickets that have been cancelled and will be [...]
Lewisohn’s “Tune In” Extended Edition back in print
Update for anyone who didn't seize a copy of the two-volume, extended version of Vol 1 of Mark Lewisohn's definitive biography of the Beatles: due to popular demand, it's been reprinted and is in stock in the U.K. You can buy a copy here. My advice is not to sleep on this, if you're interested. I wouldn't bet on another reprint.
Kiss as the Anti- Beatles
NANCY CARR * Easily recognizable iconography is one thing the Beatles and Kiss share. The Beatles have sometimes been represented by just their hair, and Kiss’ comic-book costumes and makeup are certainly distinctive. But there the resemblance ends. Reading Brian Hiatt’s excellent article “Kiss Forever: 40 Years of Feuds and Fury” in last month’s Rolling Stone got me thinking about all the [...]
Let It Be: A Missed Opportunity
Is Mike man enough to withstand the awesome depressive POWER of this film? Last Thursday I happened to rent a DVD of "Let It Be," and I did so mostly out of surprise that it was on the shelf at all. I'd seen it only once before, in the summer of 1981, paired with "A Hard Day's Night" at the [...]
Blank on Blank on John and Yoko on Love
Commenter Hologram Sam wrote in to say: "Blank On Blank finally did an animation of a John & Yoko interview. http://youtu.be/DmvmnYEy9NY "What amazed me were the comments on the boingboing link. It looks like the anti-John backlash is growing." To me, Sam, that's not a backlash, just another sterling example of Homo internetius. Uncharitable opinions hastily expressed, based on commonplaces and half-digested [...]
Imagine Beatles chocolates
Linda, I need another chocolate stat! NANCY CARR * Spring is finally here, and the holy people are out smelling the grass in the meadow. It’s the perfect time to have a Monkberry Moon Delight chocolate, courtesy of the folks at Imagine Chocolate. Appropriately, it has plenty of nuts. And it's part of the "Sir Paul" assortment, of course. [...]