Hooray, or uh-oh, I can’t decide
Beatle biographer Philip Norman is writing a new McCartney bio. The New York Times reports that Philip Norman has been signed to do a new McCartney bio. One part of me: all right! Other part of me: oh no. Philip Norman is an excellent writer, with a beyond-thorough grounding in the subject. There is nobody who possesses better tools with [...]
Intermission — Dylan Hicks
ED PARK • Dullblogger Devin and I share a friend in the novelist and singer/songwriter Dylan Hicks. (His 2012 book BOARDED WINDOWS also spawned an excellent album, DYLAN HICKS SINGS BOLLING GREENE—listen here.) I was poking around to find some more DH tunes, and found this charming number, "What I Want," which begins, "I just want to be the Monkee to your [...]
Recording the White Album
Rejected cover for the White Album. Find out more about it here. Over on another thread, Anonymous posted the following question, which I thought was meaty enough to merit its own post: Hey guys, this is way off topic but if you get to it I'd love to hear your thoughts. The White Album was the first major project to [...]
Getting (a bit) better — and a Minus 5 cover
The past few weeks have found us spending time and (virtual) ink on some pretty dark themes -- the Lennon/McCartney musical feud of the early 70s and Albert Goldman's resolutely dirt-seeking biography of Lennon. But hey, it's spring! Here in Chicago it's finally stopped being 30 degrees, the sun is out, some (admittedly small) green shoots are emerging from the ground . [...]
Fool’s Goldman: Reliving “The Lives of John Lennon”
DEVIN McKINNEY • Warning—there’s a lot of rant here, most of it to do with Albert Goldman but some of it just my articulated flailings about the nature of biography and criticism, writers and readers. But Michael asked, I answered, this is our blog, and we make the rules. So strap on your poncho and feel free to skip around. Reading the [...]
David Bailey shoots Brian Epstein and the Beatles
Devin just posted this wonderful photo of Brian Epstein on Facebook. When I asked him about it, he told me it was taken by David Bailey. Which led me, as the internet does, to this shot of BE from Bailey's famous 1964 Box of Pinups: Also in Box of Pinups was this photo below, my all-time favorite John and Paul shot. (John himself [...]
Lennon: "Fascinating."
In 1976, a fan mailed a questionnaire to Mr. Lennon in the Dakota, and John was gracious enough to fill it out and send it back. I discovered this fascinating tidbit of Beatle-ania (first reported on Lists of Note) from this Beatle blog here. The comment thread is eerily similar to one we've been having re: RAM and "How Do You Sleep?" [...]
Lennon on McCartney and Ono: interview recordings newly available
We're rolling, John Salon is highlighting interview recordings made by Cass Calder Smith, including a few with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, that are now available via iTunes. Two Lennon/Ono excerpts are available for free streaming here. Smith was a New York radio host when he made the tapes; he's now in his mid-70s, and his son has taken over [...]
I wonder if we can get a Dullblog bulk discount?
If anyone will know, it's Mark Lewisohn MIKE GERBER • Volume One of Mark Lewisohn's Beatles bio series is slated for October, promising to be full of Lewisohn's trainspotter-y goodness! Just who was Torchy the Battery-Boy, and how did he influence a young Paul McCartney? Did George Harrison first read two of the Four Noble Truths scrawled on the wall [...]