Michael Gerber • Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

The Beatles and the Historians

By Michael Gerber|2017-09-08T13:35:43-07:00September 8, 2017|books|

Available on Amazon or wherever good Beatles books are sold. After commenter Rob raved over it in this comment, I was reminded that I've been meaning to hip you all to something for a while. Longtime Dullblog commenter Erin Weber has written a book called The Beatles and the Historians, which anybody who loves this site will eat up with a spoon. In Erin's words, the book is "an overview of how Beatles' history has been written over time, the biases, errors, and mistakes within them, and also some of the very valuable works that have been written on the [...]

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Top Five Songs?

By Michael Gerber|2017-09-03T14:23:26-07:00September 3, 2017|Lists|

"OK, so, my #1 is 'Chains'..." New commenter Tasmin writes: "I was curious on your take on lists? Specifically, Top 100 Beatles songs? The Beatles Channel has been playing a special this weekend, where listeners voted for their top 100 songs — here are the top 5: 1) A Day in the Life 2) In My Life 3) Hey Jude 4) Abbey Road Medley, from Sun King through The End 5) While My Guitar Gently Weeps" In general, I'm not much for lists — they give undue weight to what can only be stochastic opinion. I for sure don't think [...]

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Rest in Peace, Brian Epstein

By Michael Gerber|2017-08-31T12:47:49-07:00August 27, 2017|Brian Epstein|

Brian Epstein, photographed by David Bailey, 1964 Chris Carter's ever-excellent "Breakfast With the Beatles" reminded me that today is the 50th anniversary of the death of Brian Epstein, the original Beatles obsessive. I've written a lot about Brian on this here site, as my own journey through showbiz has proven how important support people are to any showbiz success story. Brian was uncommonly intelligent, honest and decent in a business not known for these traits; what's more, he genuinely loved the Beatles, as a group and as individuals, and would do anything to protect them. He was an essential man. [...]

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The Gospel of “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”

By Michael Gerber|2017-08-26T00:09:40-07:00August 26, 2017|Abbey Road, Beatle myth, Paul Is Dead (PID)|

"The E-Type on his left symbolizes individuality, whereas the Mini on his right means…" Longtime commenter Waterfalls wrote in recently with the following: "I wanted to ask the Hey Dullblog community their thoughts on the song 'Maxwell Silver Hammer', after reading some comments on Youtube where some thought the song was actually about a real murder (i.e., Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell) and others believe it's a clue in the Paul Is Dead movement, still others believe that it's only a goofy singalong for a laugh, nothing more. I like the song and I was in the last camp believing [...]

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A Deccagone mystery

By Michael Gerber|2017-07-24T11:57:07-07:00July 24, 2017|1962|

The Fabs, looking nothing like they did during the Decca audition Reader Craig Fenton wrote in today with the following interesting question: "When the Beatles' Deccagone Sessions are talked about [in historical sources], there are those that state the exact order they performed are as follows 1-15: "Like Dreamers Do" (John Lennon/Paul McCartney) "Money (That's What I Want)" (Gordy/Bradford) (unreleased version) "Till There Was You" (Meredith Willson) (unreleased version) "The Sheik of Araby" (Smith/Wheeler/Snyder) "To Know Her Is to Love Her" (Phil Spector) (unreleased version) "Take Good Care of My Baby" (King/Goffin) (unreleased) "Memphis, Tennessee" (Chuck Berry) (unreleased version) "Sure [...]

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Screamin’ Jay Hawkins: “Monkberry Moon Delight”

By Michael Gerber|2017-02-19T22:14:11-08:00February 19, 2017|Ram|

Ran across this in the comments at the always-entertaining Dangerousminds.net, and felt moved to share. When Paul asked, Screamin' Jay Hawkins obliged. My life has been taken over by Bystander, but I hope to post more in the coming months. Carry on. https://youtu.be/bL6GJ10OBPE

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Deconstructing The Beatles, the movie

By Michael Gerber|2016-11-15T12:04:19-08:00November 15, 2016|Documentaries|

Enjoying your magical mystery tour...? Against all odds, and perhaps against our better judgment, life seems ever-so-slowly to be returning to normal. This morning I received an email from musicologist Scott Freiman, who lectures regularly on the Fabs, dissecting some of their most interesting albums in front of a live audience. Now Freiman's lecture on the White Album has been filmed and is being shown in many cities across the country starting on November 16th (that's tomorrow!). You can find a list of venues and book your tickets here. Don't be like me! Don't have something already planned for tomorrow [...]

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American Bystander #3 is available

By Michael Gerber|2016-10-07T20:35:17-07:00October 7, 2016|comedy|

If George were alive, he'd totally dig this magazine. I try to keep my non-Beatles activities separate from this blog, for obvious reasons. And being from the Midwest, I have a positive horror of self-promotion. (This has been exactly as helpful to my career as you might expect.) But several readers have asked me to tell everybody about my dayjob, on the chance that it is something y'all would like and want to support. I run The American Bystander, a print humor quarterly with an amazing roster of writers and cartoonists. Every issue is chock-full of people from The Simpsons, [...]

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Eight Days A Week

By Michael Gerber|2016-09-27T20:16:04-07:00September 27, 2016|Documentaries|

A room and a room and a car and a room: At least this room has wheels. Well, I finally went to see the much-anticipated Eight Days A Week last night at 10:00 in the p.m. Why so late? Because I've been working eight days, etc etc. I know the story, backwards and forwards, and so do you. So going in, I expected nothing, especially after reading Nancy's review which suggested a surface take. And a surface take it was indeed -- but I loved it. I think you should see it; in fact, I think every serious Beatles fan [...]

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Did Monoculture Make The Beatles?

By Michael Gerber|2016-09-19T10:09:16-07:00September 18, 2016|1967|

December 21, 1967: John, Paul and Ringo at the party celebrating the BBC's transmission of "Magical Mystery Tour." This morning, as I was shaving -- a marvelously quick operation now that I have a beard -- "Breakfast With the Beatles" played a blast-from-the-past radio ad touting the then-new LPs Magical Mystery Tour and Wild Honey. (So we can date the spot to late December 1967/early 1968). I suddenly felt a very warm feeling, a pang of entirely comfortable longing. How nice it would be to hear something like this on contemporary radio, something that I understand fully, by artists I [...]

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