"John was as blind as a bat…"
George watches This Boy. http://www.youtube.com/v/NAZGpFrx8G0&h
I’ve just seen a face…I think
ED PARK • The face of the Beatles’ drummer, Ringo Starr, has been seen in a droplet of water bouncing on a lotus leaf... —Telegraph
Little embellishments
ED PARK • "How is it different than...karaoke? I mean I once sang karaoke harmony on 'You're Gonna Lose That Girl,' and it was definitely fun, but is this that much different? Oh? What's that you say? Oh it's about playing the instruments? Really? Is it that much fun to play that guitar-thing like it's, I don't know, Defender?Isn't the fun of playing this kind of music on an instrument, part of it anyway, being able to do it your own way, at your own pace, adding your own little embellishments and whatnot? Rock Band just seems so...totalitarian. There! I said it! Just [...]
Better, better, better…AAAAH!
ED PARK • Korean baby singing Hey Jude. http://youtu.be/zPoQWclfqOY
Missing link
ED PARK • 1. Dangerous Bacon, Stackridge (from “The Man In The Bowler Hat”). The whole album is a masterpiece, the missing link between the Beatles and Prog, produced by George Martin in 1973. The harmonies are soaring, the songs alternately epic, whimsical and vaudevillian, all snapping with crackle and pop. It’s the kind of album you want to tell people about, the kind of music you’d like to listen to while you write epic, whimsical, vaudevillian books.From "Living With Music: Wesley Stace" on the NYT's Paper Cuts blog http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JGldJ4UJCw
And your "Birds" can sing
Lorrie, silent no Moore ED PARK • Jonathan Lethem on the new Lorrie Moore novel: I’m aware of one — one — reader who doesn’t care for Lorrie Moore, and even that one seems a little apologetic about it. “Too . . . punny,” my friend explains, resorting to a pun as though hypnotized by the very tendency that sets off his resistance. For others, Moore may be, exactly, the most irresistible contemporary American writer: brainy, humane, unpretentious and warm; seemingly effortlessly lyrical; Lily-Tomlin-funny. Most of all, Moore is capable of enlisting not just our sympathies but our sorrows. Her [...]
Web synchronicity — Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Wristband
ED PARK • Beatles fan and litblogger (and novelist) Mark Sarvas catches a curious NYT juxtaposition—the obituary for Richard Poirier mentions his Beatles essay, and what do we see in the margin?Yes—it's an image from the impending Beatles Rock Band release, illustrating the recent NYT mag story...Speaking of which: What do readers/dullbloggers think about the story/the release/everything?Much to mull over. I was most struck by the contrast between Paul's and Ringo's attitudes:1) “That’s what you want,” [McCartney] told me. “You want people to get engaged.” McCartney sees the game as “a natural, modern extension” of what the Beatles did in the ’60s, [...]
Covers and covers
From an L.A. Times piece about a "Worst Album Covers" blog...which also includes the "butcher" cover. What?? Get McKinney on the case!
There are a lot of beetles
"There are a lot of beetles." PLAYBOY: Why do you think rock 'n' roll has become such an international phenomenon? DYLAN: I can't really think that there is any rock 'n' roll. Actually, when you think about it, anything that has no real existence is bound to become an international phenomenon. Anyway, what does it mean, rock 'n' roll? Does it mean Beatles, does it mean John Lee Hooker, Bobby Vinton, Jerry Lewis' kid? What about Lawrence Welk? He must play a few rock-'n'-roll songs. Are all these people the same? Is Ricky Nelson like Otis Redding? Is Mick Jagger [...]
Quadruple fantasy
Let's play along with David L. Ulin's "The Beatles, 1970–1975," in the Believer's 2009 music issue (just out—get yours here or at your favorite store...be forewarned, these sell out!): If The Beatles Hadn't Broken Up The Beatles are the fascination that lingers. I’ve been listening to them since August 1968, when my parents gave me Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band for my seventh birthday, the original Capitol Records pressing with the souvenir cutouts, the paper mustache, the epaulettes. It takes a certain type of fan to obsess about such things, and once upon a time that’s who I was. Obsessive enough [...]