Multipronged!
ED PARK • I. Has anyone seen/heard of I Met the Walrus? It's nominated for an Oscar, for Best Animated Short Film.In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan, armed with a reel-to-reel tape deck, snuck into John Lennon's hotel room in Toronto and convinced John to do an interview. This was in the midst of Lennon's "bed-in" phase, during which [...]
Happy ever after in the marketplace?
In 1966, after a secret car accident, bassist Paul McCartney was replaced in the group by actress Angela Lansbury MOLLIE WILSON REILLY • This week, Mimi Smartypants expresses a dislike of the Beatles. Generally I feel like this is her funeral (and it's amusingly put as always) -- but the specific circumstances have me puzzled:During these last few workdays I [...]
I read the news today: "Oh Boy!"
49 years ago today, a Beech Bonanza craft went down in a farmer's field five miles north of Clear Lake, Iowa. The plane had just taken off from the Mason City Municipal Airport and was on its way to Fargo, North Dakota. The cause of the crash was uncertain, but it was almost certainly due to the icy winter conditions. Inhabitants included [...]
The Never-Ending Beatles Trivia Quiz Challenge — Question #1
DEVIN McKINNEY • What one factor connects the Beatles to three major American filmmakers of the 1970s—Francis Ford Coppola, Woody Allen, and Alan J. Pakula? Hint: What you talkin' 'bout, Lightfoot? Put your guesses in the comments; if nobody gets it, I'll give the answer on Wednesday.
Oh! Our mistake
Harmless-seeming Pied Piper of the Get High Generation From Many Years from Now, Paul McCartney's memoir/bio, page 314: "...Another inaccurate but frequently told story is that 'Fixing a Hole' was about heroin. This track is actually about marijuana."
Four-string serenade
The most moving part of Concert for George was when Paul came out to sing "Something," accompanying himself on ukulele. (George loved the uke, and was a member of a George Formby society.) It was so moving that, a year or so later, I misremembered the scene, and thought Paul had performed "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," fitting in a sly joke [...]
More on the Rooftop Concert
DEVIN McKINNEY • This is an anniversary worth remembering—partly because it reminds us that next year's is the 40th. As Nature Intended is the essential Get Back boot from the great "second wave" of Beatle illicits that hit the market in the early '90s. But then came the third wave—and that crested, and conceivably was capped for all time, by The Complete [...]
Get Back on the rooftop
Today's the 39th anniversary of the rooftop concert, perhaps the most splendid public nuisance in human history. I have it on Vigotone's As Nature Intended--anybody know a better source? While you're thinking, here's an outdoor version of "Get Back," audio only but we can all imagine it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txk0j8JVKbI
"Let It Be" dissected
Let It Be, Naked or not, makes me itchy; I chalk it up to all the crap vinyl boots I listened to as a kid. But not everybody shares my allergy; an academic from Chicago is poring through the sessions, tape roll by tape roll, on this site. What I've heard so far of Let It Be Dissected, I've found quite interesting, [...]