Michael Gerber • Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

The Black Album: Solo Beatles According to Ethan Hawke

By Michael Gerber|2014-07-21T21:18:24-07:00July 21, 2014|Beatles lists, solo|

Filmed over the course of 12 years, Richard Linklater's movie "Boyhood" is getting raves. Beatlefans will take particular note of the scene where a father (Ethan Hawke) gives his son (Ellar Coltrane) a mix of solo Beatles tracks, which he dubs "The Black Album." (Please note: this is not the stupendously lo-fi Let It Be-era bootleg, which managed to bring me down within seconds of loading the video.) The fictional collection's fictional liner notes begin, "I wanted to give you something for your birthday that money couldn’t buy, something that only a father could give a son, like a family heirloom. This [...]

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Update: George Harrison’s India photos (and John’s Spain ones)

By Michael Gerber|2015-04-14T04:44:35-07:00July 17, 2014|1966, George Harrison, India, Photos|

Shooting Film has a lovely post collecting all of the fisheye selfies taken by The Quiet One in India in 1966. You should read the whole post, but I'll paste the whole set of George Harrison's India photos below. [h/t Dangerous Minds, whose ever-snappy writeup is here.] FISHEYES FOREVER: ...and as a special Dullblog bonus, here's another fisheye shot from the same period, which I first saw in Devin's book Magic Circles. John's in Almería, Spain, filming How I Won the War. DM here: Thanks to Mike for posting what I knew was the only possible closing photo for my book. I [...]

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The Beatles on Stella Street

By Michael Gerber|2014-07-14T12:08:29-07:00July 14, 2014|comedy|

The Beatles on Stella Street? Yes, indeed -- although I don't think impressionists Phil Cornwell and John Sessions' hearts are in those impressions. It's not John and Paul, but the idea of John and Paul. (George and Ringo are even sketchier, and Yoko...aiyiyi.) When they do people like Richard Burton, Michael Caine, or Larry Olivier (I can call him that because we share a driving instructor -- really), there's much more precision and juice there. Thanks, Buck Turgidson, for this bit of Beatle comedy from BBC2. http://youtu.be/IQGva6HnXhc

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Ringo on the Train Song

By Michael Gerber|2014-07-08T23:07:32-07:00July 8, 2014|1964, AHDN, Unreleased/Outtakes|

Starr, swaddled. After last night, I should've learned my lesson: no posting after your contacts dry out, it's just gibberish. But this just came over the Mojo Wire: Los Angeles Times man of music Randy Lewis asked our own Ringo Starr about the mysterious 42-second snippet that's been rocketing around Beatledom. It's the full track from A Hard Day's Night, a snippet of which comes out of Ringo's transistor before being switched off by the upper-class git. “I hope you don’t mind a crazy ‘Hard Day’s Night’ question,” I said before relating the recent events and asking if he knew [...]

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The Beatles and the Dalai Lama

By Michael Gerber|2014-07-08T10:37:54-07:00July 7, 2014|1966, Revolver|

Yesterday, after reading Devin's lovely commemoration of everybody's favorite drummer (both here on Dullblog and on HiLobrow), I was quite tickled to find out -- via Facebook -- that Ringo shares a birthday with the current Dalai Lama. Then, after I'd written this entire post, I confirmed the birthdays and found that Facebook was wrong. The Dalai Lama, born in 1935 as Lhamo Dondrub, made the scene on July 6th, while the ever laid-back Ringo emerged a day later on July 7th. I am keeping this post up, however, as a mute testimony to the dangers of trusting Facebook, especially for you young [...]

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Michael Caine Impressions

By Michael Gerber|2014-07-03T22:06:11-07:00July 7, 2014|comedy, Swinging London|

Doing impressions of Michael Caine, Swinging London institution and drinking buddy of John Lennon, has become a bit of a cottage industry in Great Britain. The slow-burning meme was kicked off (apparently) by comedy great and drinking buddy of Ringo Starr Peter Sellers in 1974...And I agree: for reasons I don't quite understand, I can't get enough Michael Caine impressions. Hear for yourself, but be warned -- they're addictive. http://youtu.be/-qIy1DmGLWI

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The Nicol Theory

By Michael Gerber|2014-07-04T16:00:11-07:00July 4, 2014|1964, AHDN, Unreleased/Outtakes|

Did Jimmy leave a secret legacy? On June 22, Chris Carter's "Breakfast With the Beatles" unveiled an unreleased Beatles track that has fans buzzing: the full 42-second song that blares only for a few seconds from Ringo's transistor radio during the train scene in A Hard Day's Night. Thanks to Chris' kind permission, we were the first site to bring the track to the web. Yay, Dullblog. As the debate over Ringo's train music continues (I say probably yes, Devin says probably no, this blog says probably yes, this one probably no, Chris Carter says probably yes, Giles Martin says probably [...]

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Unreleased Beatles song from Hard Day’s Night?

By Michael Gerber|2014-07-08T23:09:56-07:00June 26, 2014|1964, AHDN, Unreleased/Outtakes|

Okay folks, after checking with Chris Carter from KLOS' wonderful "Breakfast With the Beatles"—a Sunday morning institution in my household, and should be in yours, too--I snipped out this bit of new Beatle-music. Originally recorded during the sessions for "A Hard Day's Night," it was found by collector Dave Morrell, and had its worldwide debut on BWTB last Sunday. I couldn't find it anywhere on the web, so I thought I'd post it so non-LA Beatlepeople could hear and enjoy. Sorry for the slack air at the end, I have to learn GarageBand over again every time I use it. [...]

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Ringo’s Radio Music from Hard Day’s Night

By Michael Gerber|2022-07-24T14:03:07-07:00June 25, 2014|1964, AHDN|

Just a quickie, 'cause I have a book to write and magazine to launch dammit-- Last Sunday, Chris Carter's excellent "Breakfast with the Beatles" played a complete song potentially recorded by The Beatles during the Hard Day's Night sessions in 1964. A loving recreation of anonymous Invasion pop, we've only heard a snippet of this before…at 4.01 in the video below: http://youtu.be/4Nq-GyLrtHc I looked for a full recording online, and it's not up anywhere (yet). Is it The Beatles? Carter believes so, and I agree; it's highly unlikely that any backing group would've been able to keep mum for 50 years. Furthermore, [...]

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Brian Epstein Marriage Tidbit

By Michael Gerber|2015-01-01T15:33:15-08:00May 9, 2014|Brian Epstein|

Mrs. Brian Epstein? (or Mrs. Lionel Bart? or Mrs. John Lennon?) MIKE GERBER • Happy to report that The Fifth Beatle, Vivek J. Tiwary's graphic novel about Brian Epstein, continues to carve out a bit of space in the culture. Here is an interesting interview with Tiwary. Apparently Tiwary's a strong supporter of marriage equality, and the book is affiliated with Freedom to Marry; in the course of discussing marriage equality, Tiwary says the following: There’s a line in the book, during a television interview where Brian’s being asked about the Beatles’ romantic lives, and Brian said “I think Beatles [...]

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About Michael Gerber