- From Faith Current: “The Sacred Ordinary: St. Peter’s Church Hall” - May 1, 2023
- A brief (?) hiatus - April 22, 2023
- Something Happened - March 6, 2023
There’s something a little anime about this poster. The Beatles flying towards you, presumably screaming
One of the more dubious pleasures of our current age is the ability to meet the people who create the things you like. This streamlines the disillusionment process in ways our ancestors considered unimaginable. Imagine if John, Paul, George and Ringo could’ve met Elvis as impressionable teenagers in 1957, instead of getting famously underwhelmed that night in 1965. Why, there might have never been a Beatles…
“Mum, did you know my English teacher Skyped with Elvis?”
“I don’t know if you should believe everything Mr. McCartney tells you, Doris.”
“No, he was telling the truth this time, I saw screenshots. Mr. McCartney said he wouldn’t talk to them unless his mother was in the room. And all Elvis wanted to talk about was Mr. Lennon’s half-sister.”
“Who’s Mr. Lennon?”
“He lives in Mr McCartney’s shed. You tripped over him at the Christmas party.”
“Ah.”
“Anyway, teacher said meeting Elvis changed his life. ‘Doris, that was the day I definitely decided to go to Uni.'”
World War Two gets the “Oh! What a Lovely War” treatment, with mixed results
So, LA area readers, maybe you shouldn’t go to the Aero Theater in Santa Monica this coming Saturday, where yours truly plans to attend the annual Beatles double-bill. This year it’s A Hard Day’s Night, followed by How I Won the War, which god, I haven’t seen since probably Beatlefest in 1985. I seem to recall War being one of those Sixties movies, like The Bed-Sitting Room, where drugs were presumably handed out with your ticket. (At least I hope they were.)
Still, how often do you get to see actual moving pictures of John Lennon in all his 1966 Chief Beatle glory? And “A Hard Day’s Night” — I could watch that every week, couldn’t you? It’s so wonderful that we have a piece of film that preserves Beatlemania. If you watch that movie sympathetically, it’s impossible not to get what all the fuss was about. I’m convinced that A Hard Day’s Night — like Yellow Submarine — is one of the primary vectors through which Beatles fandom continues to spread.
If you do decide to come, let me know — if the clot of Dullbloggers is sufficiently large, I’ll contact the American Cinematheque and see if we can’t wrangle a discount. The Aero’s a lovely thing, and the crowds for their Beatles-stuff are always large and boisterous and gratifyingly diverse in age.
I hope to see some of you there!
Related posts:
Off to the Fest for Beatles Fans
Wanna Live-Tweet Something?
Movie Poster of the Week: NVUJ!
John Lennon’s favorite movie?
The Fab Files, Pt. 1: Beatles “not a seller,” says movie exec probably no longer in biz
Do female Beatles fans understand John and Paul better?
Attention Harry Nilsson fans!
Beatles Doc to Be Directed by Ron Howard
The Beatles First American Concert
Nowhere Boy: The first Mid-Atlantic Beatles biography?
Unreleased Beatles song from Hard Day’s Night?
Joe Cocker and The Beatles
I already got tix for me and a friend. I’m excited to go. It’s a treat to see Beatles on the big screen. A Hard Day’s Night is such a joy. I can watch that every week as well! I haven’t seen How I Won The War so it will be really cool to finally get to see it.
I haven’t seen HELP! or Magical Mystery Tour on the big screen either. The Aero should have done a quadruple feature!
One of the best things I saw was the Washington DC concert that they showed at The Egyptian. That was a blast! And they even showed an episode of Shindig! before it.
@Kim, I was at the Egyptian too! https://www.heydullblog.com/1960s/1964/you-need-to-see-this-concert/
I totally agree about the quadruple feature. Or — and this is a true dream of mine — they should broadcast the entire Anthology, from noon to midnight.
I once wrote Mark Lapidos a letter laying out why Santa Monica would be the perfect place for a Beatles convention; if I ever make a gazillion dollars, I’ll try to throw one. Deal? Deal.
Anthology would be wonderful on the big screen!
I missed the Beatles Fest that was here the last time. I should have gone. Only reason I didn’t go is because no one wanted to go with me!
@Kim, it was a kick — although there need to be some tweaks to it. Maybe I’ll go write about that, now.