And You’re Gone
Lucy O'Donnell as a child; Lucy Vodden grown up DEVIN McKINNEY • But not forgotten. Lucy Vodden, who provided the inspiration for the Beatles’ song “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” has died in London. She was 46. Her death, after a history of lupus, was announced Monday by St. Thomas’s Hospital in London, where she had been treated for [...]
“Paperback” Trail; or, The Hunt for Mark Shipper
DEVIN McKINNEY • Note from the future (2013): Refreshing this post four years after assembling it, I find that a couple of the hyperlinks are no longer functional—one doesn't exist, while the other exists but doesn't yield the indicated information. But this is the story of a few hours' Internet idling, a mesh of the long-gone afternoon, and rather than rewrite it [...]
Little embellishments
ED PARK • "How is it different than...karaoke? I mean I once sang karaoke harmony on 'You're Gonna Lose That Girl,' and it was definitely fun, but is this that much different? Oh? What's that you say? Oh it's about playing the instruments? Really? Is it that much fun to play that guitar-thing like it's, I don't know, Defender?Isn't the fun of playing [...]
Better, better, better…AAAAH!
ED PARK • Korean baby singing Hey Jude. http://youtu.be/zPoQWclfqOY
The best dancer
And again ED PARK • This sort of I've-been-living-under-a-rock thing shouldn't work...but I think Klosterman pulls it off! It is not easy to categorize the Beatles’ music; more than any other group, their sound can be described as “Beatlesque.” It’s akin to a combination of Badfinger, Oasis, Corner Shop, and every other rock band that’s ever existed. The clandestine power [...]
Everybody’s trying to be my baby
Oh, I get it. He's kidding MOLLIE WILSON REILLY • Everyone and their brother is writing about the Beatles today -- and last night VH1 was showing Help!, for heaven's sake! It's weird, and oddly it's making me a little bit cranky. (Like, Hey, I liked them first.) This happened back in 1995, though, a couple of years after my [...]
Missing link
ED PARK • 1. Dangerous Bacon, Stackridge (from “The Man In The Bowler Hat”). The whole album is a masterpiece, the missing link between the Beatles and Prog, produced by George Martin in 1973. The harmonies are soaring, the songs alternately epic, whimsical and vaudevillian, all snapping with crackle and pop. It’s the kind of album you want to tell people about, [...]
And your "Birds" can sing
Lorrie, silent no Moore ED PARK • Jonathan Lethem on the new Lorrie Moore novel: I’m aware of one — one — reader who doesn’t care for Lorrie Moore, and even that one seems a little apologetic about it. “Too . . . punny,” my friend explains, resorting to a pun as though hypnotized by the very tendency that sets [...]
Enjoyable Billy Preston Video Friday
Also very enjoyable, very large Afros...on ALL bandmembers! http://youtu.be/gwZe-pUhMsQ