George Harrison: Early Takes: Volume 1

By |2016-11-30T07:29:45-08:00January 1, 2014|1970, All Things Must Pass, Bob Dylan, bootlegs, Eric Clapton, George, George Harrison, Living in the Material World|

DEVIN McKINNEY  •  Note: These are not new impressions, but ones jotted down in May 2012, the day Early Takes: Volume 1 came in the mail, and embellished more recently. George, in a photo taken in a Bahamian pool during the filming of Help!, holds his head above the water’s crystal surface, his face the perfect expression of the solemn young seeker braving the eddies and tidepools of the material world: a Siddhartha for the ‘60s. The image is rich, quiet, suggestive, like George at his best. It’s beautiful wrapping on a gift that isn’t quite there. Olivia Harrison, Giles Martin, and [...]

“Paperback” Trail; or, The Hunt for Mark Shipper

By |2014-07-23T16:52:15-07:00September 14, 2009|books, comedy, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Rutles|

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 to excise the dud links, I let it stand. The links once worked, and they said what I said they said. Honest. As I commented on "The Best Dancer" below, thinking about Chuck Klosterman's piece got me thinking about Mark [...]

There are a lot of beetles

By |2014-07-05T12:05:06-07:00July 29, 2009|1966, Bob Dylan|

"There are a lot of beetles." PLAYBOY: Why do you think rock 'n' roll has become such an international phenomenon? DYLAN: I can't really think that there is any rock 'n' roll. Actually, when you think about it, anything that has no real existence is bound to become an international phenomenon. Anyway, what does it mean, rock 'n' roll? Does it mean Beatles, does it mean John Lee Hooker, Bobby Vinton, Jerry Lewis' kid? What about Lawrence Welk? He must play a few rock-'n'-roll songs. Are all these people the same? Is Ricky Nelson like Otis Redding? Is Mick Jagger [...]

Pizza, Pooh & Magpie

By |2014-07-23T16:53:05-07:00March 17, 2009|1965, Beatles tributes, Lennon|

This just begs for a funny caption. DEVIN McKINNEY  •  The following was spotted recently in the liner notes of Peter, Paul & Mary's LP See What Tomorrow Brings, released December 1965, simultaneous with Rubber Soul. The notes spend needless time defending PP&M for not being "hip" like Dylan, or "electric" like the Beatles; and then assuring us it doesn't matter 'cause they do their own thing anyway. Then you get to this: Their message is the same as that of any artist through the centuries, a sermon of truth and beauty in the context of their times. And the [...]

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