Michael Gerber • Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

Supporting Dullblog.

By Michael Gerber|2019-08-05T17:33:41-07:00August 5, 2019|Housekeeping|

When the site came back to life recently, several readers mentioned that they've really enjoyed it over the years, and—being the top-notch humans Dullblog readers are—asked for ways they could help support its continuation. This is greatly appreciated. Hosting and such costs about $500 annually, and so over the years, I've dropped over five grand, and Nancy has paid in, too. (Devin graciously offered a while back, but I told him "don't worry about it" because I was feeling flush. I am...not brilliant.) If only our ISP took Beatlebux. Actually, that wasn't total stupidity on my part. Dullblog is fun for me [...]

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How “Lost” Was My Weekend?

By Michael Gerber|2019-08-07T00:42:48-07:00July 30, 2019|1974|

Lennon and friends, up to no good. Especially that woman up front there, she seems like TROUBLE. :-) Frequent commenter @Hologram Sam provided this comment in one of our earlier threads. I commented, but as is usual these days had enough to say that I'm making a post out of it. Pop over and read it. I'll wait. I feel obliged to point out that May Pang's alleged statement tracks neatly with The Lives of John Lennon: John and Yoko as more a business entity than a couple, fulfilling their sexual/emotional needs elsewhere; May and Julian written out of the history; and [...]

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All Our Troubles Seemed So Far Away…

By Michael Gerber|2019-08-07T00:52:36-07:00July 24, 2019|Movies|

I saw Yesterday a month ago, one day after it premiered, and liked it. But since I haven’t commented on it until Nancy’s post, clearly the movie didn't spark much of a reaction in me. I think that's because Boyle et al. made the simplest version they could possibly make…which, to me at least, deftly avoided all the most interesting parts of the premise. Because of the people they were, when they happened, and what they accomplished in such a short time, a Beatles-less world would be orders of magnitude different from our own. Something on the order of a world without [...]

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Beatles as Women

By Michael Gerber|2019-07-07T13:05:25-07:00July 7, 2019|Uncategorized|

I think I went to high school with Ringolina. Immediately after running across this delightful bit of Photoshoppery, I knew I had to post the following "Shakespeare's Sister" question: Would the Beatles happen today, if four women came together in a band that great? How would it happen? What would it look like? We know it wouldn't have happened in 1957. But I wonder if we've made enough progress by 2019. Set aside if you like details like the lamentable state of the music business today, or how their time in the Reeperbahn would've worked. What say you?

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New Commenting Policy

By Michael Gerber|2019-07-01T18:22:32-07:00July 1, 2019|Housekeeping|

Do you know exactly what you think? Green. OK for trees, but generally nah.Scissors. Necessary, but I don't trust 'em.Tom Jones. My mom would totally sleep with him, and not just because he's Welsh. As you can see, I usually do. So for me the primary joy of this site has always been reading our comments, escaping for awhile into what someone else thinks. And for the first several years, we had a community that was (so people said) almost unique on the internet. New users would remark on how our site—posts and comments—was both genial and passionate, good-natured and informative, rigorous [...]

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Beatles Songs In Latin

By Michael Gerber|2019-06-30T11:24:30-07:00June 30, 2019|Uncategorized|

“Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And for the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewelry." Rest assured, I didn't translate these myself; I took Latin for five years and never quite got the hang of it. But I got a kick out of these. Classicists, add more in the comments. heri (Yesterday)via longa et flexuosa (The Long and Winding Road)illa te amat (She Loves You) sit (Let It Be)trans mundum (Across the Universe) tantum dormio (I'm Only Sleeping) salve vale (Hello Goodbye)hic et illic et ubique (Here There and Everywhere) quidam dies in vita (A Day [...]

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A Touch of Nilsson in the Night…

By Michael Gerber|2019-06-26T23:01:44-07:00June 26, 2019|Harry NIlsson|

Well, it's night here in Santa Monica at least, erstwhile nest of Harry (and John and Paul, at least for a day or two in the Seventies), so I thought I'd share a few Pussycats-era demos from “The Beatles' favorite American artist.” (Thanks to the indefatigable Stephen Kroninger.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjKEu4UDXbo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTUL9LPy2Sw

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The Beatles and Richard Avedon: Two Outtakes

By Michael Gerber|2019-06-23T00:45:17-07:00June 23, 2019|Photos|

Ran across these last night, and thought I'd share. I think Avedon's portraits of The Beatles are my favorite (with David Bailey's a close second).

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Pictures of Beatles and Pot?

By Michael Gerber|2019-06-21T13:01:35-07:00June 21, 2019|Drugs, Uncategorized|

I had a funny little thought today: we know the Beatles smoked a progidious amount of marijuana. Even Paul McCartney, the Beatle most likely to get you home by eleven p.m., smoked so relentlessly that he was actually thrown in jail for smuggling. But I couldn't recall a single photo of any Beatle with a joint, or even any paraphernalia. These, the most relentlessly photographed humans on Earth. No friend or fan ever snapped them with a doobie hanging from their lip? A statuesque bong lurking defiantly in a corner? It beggars the imagination. What about you? Ever seen one? Link to [...]

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All Hail the Rutles!

By Michael Gerber|2019-06-19T18:55:11-07:00June 19, 2019|Uncategorized|

I've mentioned this sublime Beatles parody band many times before on this blog, but if you love the Fabs there's never a good time not to celebrate the Pre-Fabs: Ron, Dirk, Stig and Barry. This afternoon I quite randomly happened to listen to "Let's Be Natural" and was struck, for the millionth time, what a wonderful bunch of work this all is. https://youtu.be/qin4o5TXfzw The Rutles began as a segment on Eric Idle's post-Python project "Rutland Weekend Television" (which also boasted an appearance by George Harrison). Thanks to the songwriting genius of Neil Innes, and an assist from Lorne Michaels, this bit was [...]

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About Michael Gerber