Obituaries Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

The Beatles and David Frost

By Michael Gerber|2021-09-15T19:57:15-07:00September 1, 2013|1968, Obituaries|

This Was The Guy That Was David Frost has died, suddenly it seems while on a cruise ship, at age 74. The most prominent overlap between The Beatles and David Frost was, of course, his involvement in their 1968 promo film for "Hey Jude" and "Revolution," which I've embedded at the end of this post. But there's much more to say about it than that. Frost was a quintessential "mid-Atlantic man" in the Beatle and solo era, and his passing is another reminder to examine that time, and celebrate the blending of American and British pop culture which made it [...]

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Sid Bernstein obituary

By Michael Gerber|2013-08-21T15:49:58-07:00August 21, 2013|1964, 1965, Obituaries|

Paul McCartney and Sid Bernstein. MIKE GERBER • Sad news today: Sid Bernstein, one of America's first Beatlemaniacs and a man who helped orchestrate the peerless mayhem of 1964 and 1965, has died at 95. "The son of a Harlem tailor," wrote Bob Spitz, "he was convinced of The Beatles' greatness before he ever heard them sing a note…Bernstein reached into his own pocket to book no less a venue than Carnegie Hall for a group that had no hit record and no following in America." Then Capitol decided to really push "I Want To Hold Your Hand," Ed Sullivan [...]

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Tony Sheridan, 1940-2013

By Michael Gerber|2015-09-18T22:50:27-07:00February 18, 2013|Hamburg, Obituaries|

Tony Sheridan, an essential part of The Beatles' early story, has died. To quote Chris Carter from KLOS' "Breakfast With the Beatles," without Tony Sheridan, "we wouldn't have had The Beatles in the way we did." Allan Kozinn agrees: "Though Mr. Sheridan’s involvement with the Beatles was brief, it proved crucial to their career."Apparently he settled down in northern Germany. Here's the guys with Tony S., doing a song I'd never heard. Mach shau, fellas. http://www.youtube.com/embed/EtcN7HksEDE

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Ravi works George out

By Michael Gerber|2013-08-09T00:15:46-07:00December 16, 2012|1968, George, Obituaries|

Reader Rupa S. pointed me to this great clip of George Harrison and Ravi Shankar from 1968 (before George decided to stick to guitar). RIP, Ravi Shankar. Glad to be alive at the same time you were. http://youtu.be/t79aI-I6ucA

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Did Yellow Submarine beget The Simpsons?

By Michael Gerber|2016-02-28T13:35:31-08:00December 4, 2012|1966, 1967, 1968, Obituaries|

Simpsons writer Josh Weinstein argues so in this (hotly debated) article for The Guardian. Without Yellow Submarine there would never have beenThe Simpsons, no Futurama, no South Park, no Toy Story, no Shrek. No animated anything that enables us to laugh at ourselves while being highly entertained. Naturally, I want to believe him. In my opinion, The Beatles (and -related) are that clear, burbling spring from which all good things flow. Of course the comments are alive with internet types, people who obsessively leapfrog each other in truth-owning appeals to obscure authority, who defiantly declare that Yellow Sub was/is shite and the REAL breakthroughs were the [...]

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Lines for George

By Ed Park|2017-11-26T11:23:12-08:00April 29, 2012|George Harrison, Obituaries|

George Harrison, looking tough in this self-portrait. I had some thoughts re the recent George-is-overrated brouhaha...but I'm lazy, so instead I dug up this obituary I wrote for The Paper That Shall Not Be Named, over a decade ago (gulp!). The Man Who Wasn't There Ed Park published: December 04, 2001 I. About 23 times a year, by his count, the narrator of Nicholson Baker's novel The Mezzanine wonders, "McCartney more talented than Lennon?" The comparative gifts of George Harrison, who died last week at 58, could hardly provoke similar debate, yet it was his relative proficiency that made him desirable to the [...]

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Robert Whitaker, ‘Butcher’ photographer, dies at 71

By Michael Gerber|2014-07-23T16:21:59-07:00September 27, 2011|Obituaries|

Nice obit from the blog Ironic Photos.

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And You’re Gone

By Devin McKinney|2014-07-07T13:40:32-07:00September 30, 2009|1967, John Lennon, Obituaries, Sgt. Pepper|

Lucy O'Donnell as a child; Lucy Vodden grown up DEVIN McKINNEY • But not forgotten. Lucy Vodden, who provided the inspiration for the Beatles’ song “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” has died in London. She was 46. Her death, after a history of lupus, was announced Monday by St. Thomas’s Hospital in London, where she had been treated for more than five years, and by her husband, Ross Vodden. Ms. Vodden’s connection to the Beatles dates back to when she was Lucy O’Donnell, a schoolmate and friend of Julian Lennon…

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Billy Preston: The week that wasn’t

By Ed Park|2015-09-18T23:35:42-07:00March 27, 2008|Obituaries|

Billy, in better days ED PARK • "An obituary on June 7, 2006, about the rock keyboardist Billy Preston misstated his date of birth. His Web site recently announced that he was born on Sept. 2, 1946 — not Sept. 9, as was widely reported." —NYT[Original article is here. For more ambiguous Beatle birthdaying on Hey Dullblog, go here.]

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"Don’t touch Neil. He’s ours."

By Michael Gerber|2014-07-03T18:56:45-07:00March 25, 2008|Obituaries|

Neil Aspinall and Paul McCartney in 1969. Allan Kozinn, the NYT's resident Beatle expert, writes a top-notch obit of Neil Aspinall. And Beatle biographer Hunter Davies has some interesting things to say about Neil here. Hey Dullblog--your one-stop Neil Aspinall obituary source. Re: the photo: Sixties fashions were incredibly unkind to men over 25, don't you think?

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