Beatles Notes

Just a couple of items:

The original contract between the Beatles and Brian Epstein has surfaced. You know, I grew up thinking of Epstein as some kind of older Svengali -- and then when the Rutles created Leggy Mountbatten, that image was solidified. Okay, he was older, but not much. He was only 33 when he died, after all. Still, I guess when they met George was what? 17?

I've been doing a little Beatles research lately and when I see the interviews with Epstein, he just looks like a nice guy who had a great idea. One interview, which I can't post here for legal reasons, has him prognosticating that pop music will focus on solo singers -- something that didn't really happen.

Anyway, he was gear.



And -- I won't add a lot of commentary here: Mark David Chapman has been denied parole for shooting an innocent man five times in the back (four bullets met their mark). The man he killed had been kind enough to sign an autograph for him earlier that same day, December 8, 1980.

Is it Possible to be an Anglophile and Not a Beatlemaniac?

News of another Beatles movie has me a bit twisted around.

The planned film probably won't be at the cinema for at least a year. It will be called Nowhere Boy, and it will be based on the book by John Lennon's half-sister, Julia Baird. I wasn't crazy about the other Beatles biopics, like BackBeat back in '94, and I don't know what to think about this one. It'll have all the right elements: Matt Greenhalgh, who gave us Control (about Joy Division leader Ian Curtis ... it's been languishing in my Netflix queue) will direct.

The main dilemma I have is that when I read the news, oh boy, I wanted to blog about it. But I'm frankly shocked at how often the Beatles have come up since I have launched this project. As I have said before, I don't want this to be a Beatles blog. My main goal is to survey the many entry-points that different people have to this lunacy of loving a country to which one has no particular ties beside the cultural ones. And the Beatles come up again and again.

Now, I'm not one of deify the Fab Four. I remember once when I suggested to a friend that the Beatles were, at the end of the day, a band ... he nearly exploded, screaming about their genius and how they changed everything. Then again, I once worked for a guy who claimed to hate the Beatles, which I thought was a bit of posing. He said that The Who were much more influential -- and better musicians, as well.

The question is: Does loving the Beatles and this level of anglophilia go hand in glove? I'm sure that there are some Beatles fans who don't spend too much time following other elements of British culture ... but are their anglomaniacs out there who aren't fans of the lads from Liverpool?

It's my Birthday Too, Yeah

I spent my birthday weekend experiencing a phenomenon that I'd only heard about until now: The Butties reunion weekend in Vermont. The Butties are a Beatles tribute band and they're now in their 25th year. In fact, I first saw them play in the mid-80s in Syracuse, NY. Each July, they descend on the Londonderry/Manchester area of Vermont and the locals don't know what hit them.

I've always maintained that the Beatles were kind of a special case, but they are certainly an on ramp for a lot of anglophiles. And these guys are hardcore. During the show, they'll ask really tough trivia questions ... you even need a British-American dictionary to decipher their name. In the UK (especially the UK during the era when the Beatles were growing up), butty = sandwich, presumable with some butter in involved. The young Beatles were keen jam butty eaters.

So it's clear that there's a deep Beatlemanic/anglophile connection.

The Butties met in college. They are:
* Mark Humble, an insanely talented singer/songwriter. Mark is currently writing and composing children's CDs/book sets.

* Sam Lloyd, a very popular actor, probably best-known as Ted Buckland, the lawyer on Scrubs.

* Paul F. Perry, an Emmy-nominated composer. (Paul has also appeared on TV, with Sam, as a member of The Blanks.)

* Robbo Morey, a philosophy professor and musical director.

You've probably heard them before ... their Christmas album is everywhere during the winter season. You can listen to their imaginative takes on popular carols at the iTunes store.

The Second Fab Four Post

I'm shocked that there's been so much Beatles news since I started this project. This isn't a Beatles blog, but since the lads from Liverpool were and entry point to a million Anglophiliacs, I couldn't ignore it all. Apparently, there's a lot of new scholarship surrounding the crucial period when the Beatles decided to stop touring, opening the gates to Sgt. Pepper and changing music forever.

First, the president of Eastside Pictures send me this link. It seems that a radio interview including John, Paul, George, and Ringo has surfaced from a South London garage -- and it's still broadcast quality. It was recorded on April 30, 1964, just a couple of years before their momentous decision to stop playing live. According to the report, Paul says about the screaming fans: "We love that, the atmosphere in the theaters. It's marvelous." Of course, we know that in reality, they hated the extremeness of it all and the fact that they couldn't hear each other or themselves.

Secondly, two other Beatlemaniacs in my life have their knickers in a twist about this piece in the Guardian. A bootleg tape of a summer 1966 concert that the lads did in Memphis has emerged. What makes it of so much interest to scholars is that a definite explosion can be heard -- part of the little-known Cherry Bomb incident. Remember, this is right after Lennon's famously misunderstood quote, "We're more popular than Jesus now." That remark didn't go over too well in Tennessee. One of my Beatles-mad friends checked and indeed, George mentions this firework in his Anthology interview of 1995, and a contributing factor in their decided to stay home. It might even be the straw that broke the camel's back; it was starting to get dangerous out there. First a cherry bomb -- next a pipe bomb?

Haunting, of course, since George was attacked by a knife-wielding maniac and John ... [I don't have to finish that sentence.]

I'm not big on what-if games, but it is interesting to ponder if the Beatles would have/could have done what they did in the studio if they continued the road show.

Gear!!

Many thanks to my good friend S-Frog for making sure I didn't miss yesterday's op-ed page of the Old Grey Lady. Yes, there where the incomprehensible polemics about Albany usually are, a mad rant about the much rumoured Beatles video game.

First of all, a Beatles video game would be brilliant, but more on that in sec.

The blogosphere is buzzing about one section in particular: "For fans of a certain age, those of us who literally grew up with the Beatles, the idea produces a certain sense of loss."

What? This only underscores the stereotype that Baby Boomers are now a bunch of geezers who hate change.

According to S-Frog, who has his finger on the pulse of these things (and remains the grooviest number I know) the game is going to be fantastic. "You will be able to play as one of the Beatles with facsimiles of their famous Rickenbacker and Hofner guitars and the graphics will progress from Hamburg up to Abbey Road."

Do you hear that? You'll be in a virtual Cavern Club playing "I Saw Her Standing There." You'll be in the studio playing, "All You Need is Love," with all those flower children at your feet. You'll be on a London rooftop with Billy Preston playing, "Get Back."

No sense of loss there.

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