Michael Gerber • Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

The Beatles and the Aristocracy

By Michael Gerber|2015-09-27T23:15:20-07:00September 26, 2015|British culture/politics|

City gents, 1964. After watching a tantalizing but toothless BBC documentary on the English aristocracy, my musing mind wondered: what was the relationship between the Beatles and the aristocracy? I'm not talking about professional contact -- not "rattle your jewelry" or the MBE -- but what John, Paul, George and Ringo felt personally. The more I think about it, the more I'm surprised at how little public contact there seems to have been between the Beatles and the aristocracy, especially given the high/low mixing that Swinging London was known for. I know that Seltaeb was run by Horse Guards' own [...]

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The Beatles and National Lampoon: “Magical Misery Tour” (1971)

By Michael Gerber|2015-09-22T22:57:43-07:00September 22, 2015|comedy|

Yeah, the covers kicked ass, too Last week, as I was cleaning up my office, I came upon this wonderful piece from the American humor magazine National Lampoon. In print and on vinyl, the Lampoon talked about the Beatles a lot, quite irreverently -- and it was (so I've heard) the magazine's irreverence towards Yoko that soured their relationship with John Lennon. (He hung out at Lampoon's offices for a while right after making the move from Tittenhurst Park to the Big Apple.) I don't know specifically what caused the rift, but I think we can all agree that it [...]

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Braverman’s Condensed Cream of Beatles

By Michael Gerber|2015-09-20T22:57:41-07:00September 20, 2015|Beatle-inspired|

Since it's so damn hot in my apartment -- much too hot to work out the plot of my historical spy thriller -- I cast around a bit in the Beatles-strewn attic of my mind for a suitable post. I suddenly got a hankering to find and watch a Beatles-related film I once saw as a hot child on a hot night such as this. Once a year -- invariably during a pledge drive -- St. Louis' PBS station KCET would host a night of Beatles. One year in the late 70s, sandwiched between "A Hard Day's Night" and a scratchy copy [...]

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The Savage Young Beatles

By Michael Gerber|2015-09-18T19:50:20-07:00September 18, 2015|Photos|

Paul McCartney in glasses, now that's something you don't see every day I must admit to a strange but persistent lack of interest in the prehistory of The Beatles. I can offer no defense; do others feel the same way? Sure, the Hamburg stories are fun -- hookers! strippers! possible murder of a drunken sailor! -- but even then I feel a certain...impatience. I welcome any attempts to turn me around on this subject. But even for a hard case like me, this exhaustive and lovingly curated collection of photos from the years before The Beatles were THE BEATLES is [...]

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The Beatles in Manila, 1966

By Michael Gerber|2015-09-17T14:39:19-07:00September 14, 2015|1966|

"Maybe your last chance to see the Beatles! Don't ask how we know this!" And what does the ol' "to-post" file have for us this morning? Why, it's a webpage dedicated to the Beatles in Manila, the feel-baddiest moment in all of Beatlemania. We all know the story of their ill-fated trip to the Philippines -- "snubbing" Imelda Marcos, their security mysteriously disappearing, Fabs and entourage making wills and quietly peeing themselves as they waited on the tarmac -- but this site has some nice added bits. (By the way, I've always assumed that it's even odds the Beatles knew [...]

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Hitler on Sgt. Pepper

By Michael Gerber|2015-09-12T14:24:27-07:00September 12, 2015|Sgt. Pepper|

We've discussed peak Brian Wilson versus peak Beatles before, but you gotta admire the guy's passion. https://youtu.be/sGVRQ-DC9PE Now, clearly this is unfair. As I've said many times before, the scale of an LP can only be measured by examining its every dimension -- packaging, conception and historical/industry impact do count -- not just in terms of songwriting and performance. If you want to know the difference between Sgt. Pepper and Pet Sounds, see how SMiLE is different; Brian Wilson saw the improvements that "mere McCartney" and his own Wrecking Crew had wrought. * * * I've been noticing a lot of site [...]

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Corgi Loves the Beatles

By Michael Gerber|2015-09-10T11:35:44-07:00September 10, 2015|Fan Foolishness|

This dog refuses to acknowledge her master's voice unless he speaks in a cheesy Beatle-scouse. It's not a very good Beatles impression, but still we admire the dog's general attitude. The scientist in me wants to see if the corgi will react to an actual Beatle's voice. Paul? Ringo? For science? https://youtu.be/MUdUmHKVdyU

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The Beatles Mustache Index

By Michael Gerber|2015-09-09T18:43:20-07:00September 9, 2015|Fashion|

Paul in "A Hard Day's Night," foreshadowing the Beatles' hirsute future. In an example of Beatle fandom amped to a truly Dullbloggian intensity, I offer "The Beatles Mustache Index." Can you spot any mistakes? I think I found one: the picture of Ringo with Geoff Emerick says that "[Ringo] shaves everything off and starts fresh before the "Hey Bulldog" recording sessions, but otherwise he has a moustache from 1966-thru 1970 and beyond." And then, not two pictures later, we see Ringo clean-shaven (July 8, 1968)." So did he shave directly prior to February 11, 1968, and then again directly prior [...]

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Kids React to the Beatles

By Michael Gerber|2022-03-10T10:55:04-08:00September 7, 2015|Each One Teach One|

Hope you enjoy this quick little nugget -- an amuse-bouche -- from my "to post" file on a quiet U.S. Labor Day. Kids react to the Beatles clips and songs for eight minutes; simple as that, and charming as when they get a cup of ice cream. If you wonder whether or not they can eat it, visit https://www.elitebaby.us/blogs/news/when-can-babies-have-ice-cream. Upon this second viewing, it joggled an interesting thought: are teachers more likely to be Beatles fans? Is it teachers who are driving the cross-generational Beatles-love? I know I had one of these Beatle fans: Mrs. Palmer, my social studies teacher at Wydown [...]

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Benjamin Levi Marks’ “The Ultimate Beatles Anthology”

By Michael Gerber|2015-09-07T14:09:47-07:00September 5, 2015|Anthology|

"I swear, I don't know how much more of this I can take." About six years ago a fellow Beatles fan named Benjamin Levi Marks sent me a few discs of his lovingly crafted, exquisitely detailed homebrew set called "The Ultimate Beatles Anthology." It was designed to fill in the many gaps left by the Beatles Anthology -- as well as, in Professor Marks' own words, "frame both the state of the world and the state of the Beatles as they stepped into Twickenham on January 2nd, 1969 to launch their third revolution. We all know that what they planned [...]

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