Billboard 1964: “There! I’ve Said It Again”
"They have everything over there. Why do they need us?" Two words, George: Bobby Vinton. This morning as I awoke, I had a fun little idea (which must be all over the web): in order to demonstrate the impact The Beatles had on American popular music, HD will post the #1 hit from the Billboard charts for every week in [...]
Ticket to Ride Was the First…What?
Beatles as City Gents. Bowlers—check. Umbrellas—check. Fat arses—not shown. MIKE GERBER • John, as we all know, claimed that "Ticket to Ride" was the first heavy metal song. (Actually he said "one of the first," but we all know what John meant. He meant, "I personally invented heavy metal. As did Yoko.") But this weekend, KLOS's Chris Carter commemorated the [...]
Starrtime: Defining Moments from Ringo’s non-Beatle movies (1)
The two dozen or so films Ringo Starr has made outside of the Beatles may constitute, more than any other legacy, a hefty bequest to the genre known unofficially as film merde. In spite or perhaps because of this, a surprising number of the all-star extravaganzas that make use of our favorite drummer’s amenable presence and recognizable nose have generated cults of [...]
George Harrison: Early Takes: Volume 1
DEVIN McKINNEY • Note: These are not new impressions, but ones jotted down in May 2012, the day Early Takes: Volume 1 came in the mail, and embellished more recently. George, in a photo taken in a Bahamian pool during the filming of Help!, holds his head above the water’s crystal surface, his face the perfect expression of the solemn young seeker [...]
George and Ringo, the forgotten Beatles: A preamble and provocation for 2014
Imagine there's no ... DEVIN McKINNEY • Offered in spirits of love and objectivity: One notices that the talk at Hey Dullblog tends, in a broad sense, to revolve around, or devolve toward, precisely two subjects: John and Paul. (Or John or Paul; or John versus Paul. Or John. Or Paul.) Start at virtually any discussion point, and reader heat [...]
The Beatle Brothers at Fitzgerald’s: four hours of passion
Great mural outside, great music inside NANCY CARR * Last night I saw the Beatle Brothers at Fitzgerald's in Berwyn, IL, giving the crowd the ultimate Christmas gift for Beatles fans—four hours of covers played with expertise and passion, featuring the best Lennon and McCartney vocals I've heard outside the real thing. Far more than any dress-up-like-the-Beatles-band, Phil Angotti and Jay [...]
Paul McCartney: Screwed by life
Didn't want the bloody thing anyway MIKE GERBER • Paul McCartney was at last night's Nets-76ers game, and came this close to nabbing a t-shirt from one of those slingshots. So the next time you think, "Geez, some people have all the luck," remember, not all of it. Some people become world-famous billionaire geniuses, and others get a free t-shirt. [...]
Beatles analogy by judge in NSA spying case
Justice Ringo, appointed for life NANCY CARR • You know you're the biggest band in history when a federal judge ruling about the NSA's surveillance program uses an analogy to your members to explain his judgment. The whole article is here, but I've excerpted the Beatles-related part below: “Appeals Court Judge Richard Leon invoked Founding Father James Madison and the [...]
The Beatles US Album Box Set: “Yay” vs. “Wait a minute”
DEVIN McKINNEY • Capitol Records announces today that on January 21, it will reissue the Beatles' America-only LPs in a box set. Surely, thoughts of the 50th anniversary of the band's touchdown at JFK inspired this felicitous notion. First thought: Yay, another Beatles toy! Second thought: Wait, they've done this already, haven't they, more or less? The Capitol Albums Vol. 1 was released [...]