Hundreds of people braved the cold and wet weather in Croydon, south London, to watch the 28-year-old perform on stage after he was introduced by his mentor.
Fellow finalist Fleur East, who is also in Simon's over-25s category, has received high praise from the music mogul who described her performance l
ast Saturday as "one of the top three performances" in X Factor history.
But speaking ahead of his appearance in Croydon, Ben said Simon had offered "priceless" advice to him and the show judge was "confident" in both of his acts.
"I don't think he's biased," he said. "He's really excited for the both of us and happy we got this far.
"I think he believes in both of us as artists. I don't think he'd have a favourite there.
"I think he's just got two of us through and two people who have worked so hard really beforehand trying to make it in the music industry. I think he's confident in both of us."
Ben also claimed there was no "major competition" between The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing despite the BBC One show regularly winning the ratings battle this year. He added: "For me it's a completely different audience. I don't think there's any major competition in that way.
"Ratings wise I'm sure X Factor has done amazingly well. I think it's like 11 or 12 million which is not too bad if you ask me."
Ben performed his version of Come Together by The Beatles and John Lennon's Jealous Guy in front of his home town supporters. Simon told the audience beforehand that Ben was "representing Croydon" before bringing on stage the contestant's mother and grandmother.
X Factor hunk Ben Haenow insisted Simon Cowell does not have a "favourite" on the show as they visited the singer's home town to drum up support ahead of this weekend's eagerly anticipated final.
Hundreds of people braved the cold and wet weather in Croydon, south London, to watch the 28-year-old perform on stage after he was introduced by his mentor Cowell.
SELLER: Ringo Starr
LOCATION: Woody Creek, CO
PRICE: $3,850,000
SIZE: 3,192 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms
YOUR MAMA'S NOTES: Two weeks ago Your Mama dissed and discussed the pretty well palatial, 200-acre-plus English country estate that Beatles drummer Ringo Starr has up for sale at an un
disclosed price that circumstantial digital evidence suggests is right around £15,000,000. (That's $23,541,600 as per our handy-dandy currency conversion contraption.) Earlier this week, as we first heard from the eagle-eyed kids at Curbed, the vaunted veteran rock star and his long-time wife, former Bond girl Barbara Bach, hoisted their 15-ish-acre spread along the Roaring Fork river in Woody Creek, CO, back on the open market with an asking price of $3.85 million.
Our research shows the Starrs picked up their rustic-luxe Colorado mini-ranch, which they dubbed the Shoot N' Starr ranch according to the wooden sign that hangs on the fence out front, way back in 1991 for $1.164 million. This is not, some of the children may already know, the first time the Starrs have tried to unload their Rocky Mountain retreat; They unsuccessfully had the place on the open market in 2010 for $4.5 million and then again in late 2013 and early 2014 for the (familiar) asking price of $3.85 million.
John R. Waters sings the hits of the late Beatle at the Union Square Theatre.
Lennon: Through a Glass Onion, a theatrical tribute to the music of John Lennon, will end its run at the Union Square Theatre on January 11. The show began performances October 3 and opened October 15.
Created and performed by Australian actor/musician John R. Waters and singer/pianist Stewart D'Arrietta, the biographical concert show explores Lennon's life and talent through performances of 31 of his songs. The set list includes Beatles hits like "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" and "Help," as well as Lennon solo hits like "Mother."
The Beatles top Billboard's Vinyl Albums chart for the fifth time with Long Tall Sally, a Black Friday Record Store Day exclusive. The limited-edition four-song 7" reissue also starts at No. 22 on Top Rock Albums, selling 6,000 copies (all on vinyl) in the week ending Nov. 30, according to Nielsen Music.
On the Billboard 200, the EP launches at No. 195, giving the Fab Four its 59th charting album, and third of 2014. It follows The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963 (No. 172, Jan. 4) and The U.S. Albums (No. 48, Feb. 8). The new EP's title track is a cover of Little Richard's 1956 classic "Long Tall Sally" and was originally released in the U.K. by the Beatles in 1964. Paul McCartney sings lead on the title cut, while three more tunes round out the set: John Lennon leads the original track "I Call Your Name" and a cover of Larry Williams' "Slow Down," while Ringo Starr sings a reworking of Carl Perkins' "Matchbox." ("Sally" was covered by another rock band in 1964: The Kinks released a cover of it as their first single.)
Speaking of the Beatles, a remake of one of their iconic songs debuts on Hot Rock Songs. NBC's The Voice contestant Taylor John Williams' cover of "Come Together" starts at No. 11 with 19,000 downloads sold. The Beatles' original peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 45 years ago (Nov. 29, 1969). The song returned to the Hot 100 in 1970 when Ike & Tina Turner covered the track (reaching No. 57) and again thanks to an Aerosmith redux in 1978 (No. 23). This is Williams' second entry on Hot Rock Songs; his version of Tears for Fears' "Mad World" hit No. 18 four weeks ago.
Hunter Davies' new book gathers the original scribblings of the Fab Four that became timeless pop classics. CBS News
Songs with word by The Beatles have never failed to delight their listeners. Now many of those songs are delighting library-goers as well. Mark Phillips takes us browsing:
On a busy road in London sits the British Library, and its collection of about 170,000,000 literary works and historic documents.
Some of them are given pride of place in the Treasures Gallery. Oh, you know, original works of Shakespeare . . . handwritten musical scores by Beethoven . . . the Magna Carta, only the first recorded attempt at constitutional government . . .
And a collection of original lyrics of Beatles songs, scribbled on scraps of paper, or the backs of envelopes, or on a child's card. "Yesterday." "Ticket to Ride." "A Hard Day's Night."
The music seems everlasting. But the lyrics were disposable, throw-aways . . . until Hunter Davies picked them up.
'Well, the Beatles never seemed -- John and Paul, main writers, never seemed to have any paper in the house," Davies said. "They had these massive houses, but they never had stationery or notepads. The songs suddenly came to them, obviously the music, they played the guitar or the piano; but when it came to the words, they were going 'round the house going, 'Gimme some paper. Gimme a scrap.'"
Friday, December 5, 2014
AVALON, CATALINA ISLAND - This weekend the Avalon High School Theater Department will be presenting John Lennon and Me. This powerful theatrical piece is a touching story about friendship, love, life and loss, all through the eyes of teenagers.
The cast in this production is exceptional. 
The emotion of the show will speak to everyone. These are the types of live performances we encourage everyone to see. This is what theater is about and you won't want to miss it.
There are many events to choose from this weekend and the Theater Department hopes that supporting John Lennon and Me will be one of them.
McCartney, Springsteen, Zeppelin, The Stones, The Who & Clapton reside at the Montgomery Mall as Classic Rock 102.9 ‘MGK presents the 102.9 ‘MGK Classic Rock Art Show & Sale, Friday, Dec. 5 through Wednesday, Dec. 24 .
The Classic Rock Art Show features artwork created by rock stars, Famous rock photographs, album artwork, gold records, concert posters, animation art and more.
The show is at the Montgomery Mall, 230 Montgomery Mall in North Wales.
Beatles animator Ron Campbell will be on hand on Friday, Dec. 12 through Sunday, Dec. 14. He will be exhibiting his original Beatles cartoon art as well as painting new works at the show. In addition to his Beatles past, Campbell has been involved with some of the most beloved cartoons including, Scooby Doo, Krazy Kat, George of the Jungle, The Jetsons, The Flintstones, the Smurfs, Goof Troop, Rugrats, Winnie the Pooh, Ed, Edd & Eddy and dozens more.
As the 34th anniversary of John Lennon's death approaches on December 8, his former Beatles band mate Sir Paul McCartney has branded his murderer Mark David Chapman "the jerk of jerks".
The 72-year-o
ld admitted the Beatles had an 'acrimonious' relationship at times but the death of one of his closest friends left him reeling.
"There was acrimony in The Beatles. But when he got killed we were friends. We used to call each other up and swap bread recipes," he revealed on The Jonathan Ross Show, airing on Saturday night on ITV.
"I was at home when he died. I got a phone call. It was so horrific. I could not take it in that he was gone. It was a very big shock. I was so sad that I was not going to see him again."
Blasting Chapman, he added: "And the guy who did it was the jerk of jerks. He was not politically motivated."
The musician also spoke of his wife Nancy Shevell, whom he married in 2011.
We miss you
Spouse: Olivia Trinidad Arias (m. 1978–2001),
Pattie Boyd (m. 1966–1977)
As you head off for the holidays don’t forget to bring a small notepad. You never know when inspiration will strike.
John Lennon found his inspiration for “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” while riding in his Rolls-Royce. He grabbed a few pages from an address book that belonged to his driver to write down the lyric that popped into his head. This is just one of many stories in Hunter Davies’ new book, The Beatles Lyrics. Davies, the only authorized Beatles biographer, has access to more than 100 draft manuscripts of Beatles songs and he tells the story behind each one.
The book also teaches us something about creativity. You’re more likely to come up with your best ideas when your out of the office, which is why I recommend that people brainstorm and storyboard their PowerPoint presentations before they open up the software. To me a great presentation or speech is like a song; it has a hook, a catchy title, memorable lines, and an infectious story. If musicians don’t write their best lyrics while sitting in front of a piano wishing for the words to come, why do think that your best business stories will come to you while you’re staring at a blank PowerPoint slide?
