The Beatles and Richard Avedon: Two Outtakes
Ran across these last night, and thought I'd share. I think Avedon's portraits of The Beatles are my favorite (with David Bailey's a close second).
Pictures of Beatles and Pot?
I had a funny little thought today: we know the Beatles smoked a progidious amount of marijuana. Even Paul McCartney, the Beatle most likely to get you home by eleven p.m., smoked so relentlessly that he was actually thrown in jail for smuggling. But I couldn't recall a single photo of any Beatle with a joint, or even any paraphernalia. These, the [...]
McCartney Talks Carpool Karaoke
The Paul McCartney episode of Carpool Karaoke has been so wildly popular (about 130 million people have watched it on YouTube or Facebook, and it spawned an extended version as well) that it's hard to imagine that the show almost didn't happen. But it's true. McCartney and Corden in the car. I saw McCartney play at Globe Life Park in Arlington, TX [...]
All Hail the Rutles!
I've mentioned this sublime Beatles parody band many times before on this blog, but if you love the Fabs there's never a good time not to celebrate the Pre-Fabs: Ron, Dirk, Stig and Barry. This afternoon I quite randomly happened to listen to "Let's Be Natural" and was struck, for the millionth time, what a wonderful bunch of work this all is. [...]
Abbey Road, the Best Non-Beatles Album Made by the Beatles
To me, Abbey Road is one of the least-dated-sounding Beatles albums—possibly the least dated—but it also sounds the least like the Beatles. Oh, there are Beatles playing on it, I’ll grant you that. The generally impeccable songwriting—that melding of optimism, expression, rawness, craft, and pure joy—could only have come from three particular songwriters. And that’s unquestionably John, Paul, George and Ringo strutting [...]
Happy Birthday Paul McCartney, Friend of the Jews
In honor of Macca's 77th, The Forward posted this little squib detailing Paul McCartney's various Jewish spouses, friends, business associates, et cetera. (This from Heeb aside, there is no evidence that McCartney has converted—though of course all his children would be considered Jewish under Hebraic law, because Linda was Jewish.)With all the Jews in and around the music biz, I actually think [...]
Paul McCartney Makes Mashed Potatoes
This man loved his wife. (I'm guessing he was promoting her cookbook.) https://youtu.be/WyyEc-GNDfQ Adding this after I posted it: GodDAMN but Paul McCartney is charming. I don't care if it's all just a big hustle, I just love the guy. Let us take a moment to, once again, be thankful for the brilliant stroke of luck that was The Beatles: what are [...]
Up Against It: BBC Radio Play from 1997
Being a fan of both The Beat Brothers and doomed playwright Joe Orton, Up Against It has always been interesting to me. Brian Epstein rejected it, of course he did; Orton's outlaw sexuality was a total wrong fit for the Beatle-buying public circa 1967—but the mixing of two such strong, really important flavors from Swinging London is fascinating. In 1997, BBC Radio [...]
Above Us Only Sky: New “Imagine” Documentary
"Imagine" is already the most well-examined John Lennon album, but the new A&E documentary Above Us Only Sky is well worth watching. Here's the network's description: "This special traces the untold story of the making of John Lennon's 1971 album "Imagine." Utilizing never-before-seen footage of Lennon and Ono from their private archive, the special delves into the depth of the creative collaboration [...]