Beatles News

A Moray pensioner’s recollection of meeting The Beatles in the swinging 60s has been published in a new book about the Fab Four. A “cheeky” John Lennon leaned out of a window at student nurse Adeline Reid while theatrically clutching his chest, and asked her to take his pulse.

The encounter took place when the Merseyside musicians were playing their first ever Scottish gig, at Elgin’s Two Red Shoes ballroom, in early 1963. While Mrs Reid was “embarrassed” by the group’s attention at the time, the meeting became a source of pride when they hit the big time just a week later with the release of Please Please Me.

Yesterday, the Keith retiree reflected on how “lucky” she was to have her own personal memory of the pop legends. She said: “I was in my late teens and stayed at a bed and breakfast near the Two Red Shoes, while studying at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin.

“Next door, there was a boarding house where a lot of the acts that played there stayed. “That day, The Beatles were all hanging out of a window there – with John Lennon nearest to me. “He held his hand to his heart, saying ‘nursie, nursie’, “T details

SOMETIMES I THINK I’m the biggest Beatles fan in the world, which is probably how most Beatles obsessives feel. At age five, I attended my first Beatles convention; by age six, I could make the distinction between the group’s UK and US discographies. I was a savant in Fab Four trivia.

When I hear somebody say “the Beatles suck” (probably the textbook utterance of boilerplate iconoclasm), I take it personally. The Beatles raised me—my birthfather never paid a dime in child support, but he did leave me a turntable and ragged, water-damaged copies of 1962-1966 and 1967-1970 (also known as the Red and Blue Albums, respectively). As I got older and started surrounding myself with more and more Beatle-bashing, wannabe provocateurs, the band’s music would become my own little embryonic asylum away from the obscurantist chest-beating of punk and indie.

If the fact that I’m having fewer idiotic arguments about the band on social media is any indication, it appears that the music community has settled on the consensus that the Beatles were patently great (even if John Lennon was an asshole). But there’s one myth that even diehards like myself remain susceptible to: that Ring details

Harrifest isn’t just a celebration of George Harrison’s music, or The Beatles’ impressive catalog of songs. The yearly event has also evolved into a “family” reunion of sorts, of friends united in their appreciation for John, Paul, Ringo and George, said organizers Rachel and Wayne Cabral. Westport resident Rachel Cabral started Harrifest in 2004. Over the years, it’s evolved into a two-day celebration highlighted with an array of live bands, seminars, yoga, Beatles-related artwork and items, and Beatles experts.

“It’s become a kinship... people who are like family who go year after year,” said Wayne Cabral. “There’s a great vibe in the room of people who love The Beatles and George Harrison.” This year’s Harrifest, marking 15 years since Harrison died from cancer, will be held Friday, Oct. 21 and Saturday, Oct. 22 at the Seaport Inn in Fairhaven. The proceeds are donated to the Southcoast Visiting Nurse Association.

The Cabrals — who are both in The Oh Nos, one of the bands that performs yearly — have a few special guests lined up lined up for this year including Greg Hawkes, of The Cars, and Erik Taros, who worked on Ron details

PAUL McCartney may have had a point when he famously said “if slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian”.

A new psychological study lends support to the vegetarian former Beatle’s claim that people only stomach meat by distancing themselves from the animals whose flesh they consume. In a series of experiments, researchers showed that feelings of empathy were reduced the more the origin of a meat product was disguised by processing or packaging.

Language also played a role in making us more comfortable with having slices of dead animal on our plates, the scientists found. Replacing the words “pork” and “beef” on a menu with “pig” and “cow” made people less happy about eating meat.

Lead researcher Dr Jonas Kunst, from the Institute of Psychology at the University of Oslo, Norway, who is not a vegetarian, said: “The presentation of meat by the industry influences our willingness to eat it. “Our appetite is affected both by what we call the dish we eat and how the meat is presented to us. “The science results support a line of philosophers and animal rights activists who have said that the way meat is pres details

A few days after John Lennon died, in December 1980, the NME’s editor at the time, Neil Spencer, sat down and tried to encapsulate the man’s genius, influence and complexity. By necessity, the resulting obituary turned out to be a lengthy and emotional meditation. “It was not merely that his songs provided the soundtrack for our lives that made Lennon the voice of his generation,” wrote Spencer, “but that they so often seemed to crystallise the mood of the times, and to do so with an honesty that was apparent in the way the man lived out his life.

“That is one reason why his loss has hit the world so hard. Like most of us he was often selfish and unpleasant, but he was never miserly with himself or his soul, at least not in the latter part of his life. He gave. He shared. And now he’s gone, we too seem diminished. The part of us that responded to the man’s essential goodness, his dignity, his openness, and his optimism will be that much more difficult to locate without him around.”

“To say he is destined to be judged as one of the great men of his age is not mere emotionalism or fan adulation,” continued Spencer and, 36 years down the line, that j details

She may want to hold his hand. But Paul McCartney was occupied by his walking stick as he took a hike with wife Nancy Shevell on Monday. The 74-year-old rocker was full of life as he enjoyed the greenery of TreePeople Park in Beverly Hills. 

The Beatles legend looked fit in Nike trainers, blue shorts and a dark grey tee, topping the outfit off in a straw fedora. 

He picked himself up a practical accessory en route in an impressively honed walking stick. His 56-year-old wife meanwhile showed off her fab figure in a pair of tight yoga pants and long'sleeved top, trumping her hubby in a larger floppy sun hat.

McCartney is taking a well-deserved breather between gigs, having rocked Desert Trip on Saturday, and preparing to do the same again this weekend. He headlined Day Two of the first-ever 'Oldchella' music festival in Indio, California, and he certainly delivered. The 74-year-old singer turned back time as he blended tunes from his Beatles days, his years as Wings frontman to his current status as solo entertainer. 

While he arrived on stage a fashionably 30 minutes late, not one person in the 75,000 crowd held it against him as he launched straight into A Hard Day's Night. The rem details

Paul McCartney and Neil Young shared the bill at the Desert Trip music festival in Indio, Calif. Saturday, and they also shared the stage during McCartney's set. Young joined the former Beatle to perform A Day in the Life, which morphed into John Lennon's Give Peace a Chance.

The audience flashed peace signs as they sang along. Young played lead guitar to duet with McCartney on Why Don't We Do It In the Road? "Thank you, Neil," McCartney, 74, said when his friend left the stage. "I love that boy!"

McCartney's headlining 2 1/2-hour set was full of love. He paid tribute to his late wife and his current spouse during the performance, along with George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones. He sang Maybe I'm Amazed for the late Linda McCartney, and dedicated My Valentine to his wife, Nancy, ahead of their fifth wedding anniversary Sunday.

He brought out a ukulele to perform Harrison's Something, but stopped the song almost as soon as he started. "I'm out of tune," McCartney said, alone on stage. "I'm going to get another one." A stagehand brought him another ukulele and McCartney began again. "At least it proves we're live, right?" he cracked.

Backed by a five-piece band, he played a few bars details

As the keeper of his flame, Yoko Ono led the relighting of The Imagine Peace Tower, a tall shimmering tower of light to John Lennon’s music near Reykjavik, Iceland to observe his 76th birthday last Oct. 9.

With music from the Söngfjelagið Choir and speeches by Yoko and Dagur Eggertsson, mayor of Reykjavik, it was lit from one hour after sunset until sunrise fed live in capital cities on Periscope.

Visible until Dec. 8, John’s death anniversary, The Tower is an outdoor art work-turned-memorial to John as conceived by his widow. Its light comes from 15 searchlights with prisms that act as mirrors continually changes with Iceland’s prevailing weather conditions.

Symbolizing John and Yoko’s continuing campaign for world peace, the light projects from a white stone monument inscribed by the words “Imagine Peace” translated in 24 languages. These words, and the name of The Tower, are a reference to Imagine, John’s peace campaign song released in 1971.

The Tower reflects the column of light vertically into the sky from a 10-meter wide wishing well. Buried underneath it are one million plus written wishes that Yoko collected through the years in her art details

Malavika Sangghvi pens a letter to the late John Lennon.

Dear John, It's been so long since you were taken so brutally away from us thirty-six years ago and yet your music, images and words are so palpably with us that it feels like you never left at all.

Again and again, as I watch your images and hear your songs, I find myself mesmerised by you, the caustic, cerebral Beatle, the one who so strikingly evolved, from a moppet-headed cherubic lad to the almost ascetic-looking, gaunt-cheeked apostle of peace and love.

Right from the start, you had always been my favorite, the one who'd won my heart with his words and wit, the one who sketched and drew and turned out books full of wordplay and puns, the one who said and did all the coolest things, the one way ahead of his time.

Of course, as part of the Lennon-McCartney team that wrote such a staggering amount of hits for the world's most successful band, it is difficult to say how much of the collective charisma of your band mates added to your charm and success, but even when you all dressed in identikit dark drainpipe suits and sported the same hair cuts, you were hard to miss.

Your irreverence, spontaneity and mischievous grin in your you details

Jackson Heights residents will have the opportunity to “Come Together” to celebrate John Lennon this weekend.

The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus is coming to the 78th Street Play Street Plaza on Saturday from 12 to 6 p.m. to provide a block party full of music, participatory art exhibits and activities for all ages.

The event is free and open to the public, and will be hosted by 95.5 WPLJ’s Ralphie Aversa. It will also feature music from DJ Tommy Sunshine, as well as performances by Brooklyn-based musician Sophie Auster, Merasi: Master Musicians of Rajasthan, recording artists Majix (formerly Love Jones Girlz), and local band Wyland. There will also be demonstrations and giveaways throughout the day.

The Lennon Bus is nearing the end of its month long tour through the City in honor of John Lennon’s birthday on October 9. The bus is a non-profit state-of-the-art mobile recording facility, and during the tour New Yorkers are able to create music, videos, poetry and art based on the theme “Come Together.”

The art created throughout the tour will focus on the stories of New York immigrants as part of the Cultural Immigrant Initiative through the NYC Council and D details