Beatles News

She was the impetus for two of rock music’s most identifiable love songs in the Beatles‘ ‘Something‘ and Derek and the Dominoes‘ ‘Layla.’ Pattie Boyd was also the catalyst for the first Beatles concert reunion.

On May 19, 1979, Boyd — ex-wife of George Harrison — married the former Beatle’s best friend Eric Clapton at his English estate. Harrison brought along Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr for what turned into an epic, though apparently musically questionable, wedding reception jam. Also there on an outdoor stage at Clapton’s English estate (in the same garden, by the way, where Harrison wrote ‘Here Comes the Sun’) was the Rolling Stones‘ Mick Jagger and Bill Wyman, Elton John, David Bowie, members of Clapton’s band Cream and Denny Laine, from McCartney’s ’70s-era band Wings. Boyd, an ex-model who’d appeared on the cover of Vogue, was married to Harrison from 1966-77 & details

The walk to freedom for Sunder, a 13-year-old elephant who has been in captivity, could be delayed further. MLA Vinay Kore, who has been resisting Sunder's release, has now filed an appeal against it in the Supreme Court. 

The Bombay High Court had on April 7 ordered authorities to implement a state government order, issued in August 2012, to release Sunder into the wild. The People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has been fighting to secure the pachyderm's release and had moved the Bombay High Court as the state government's order to release him had not been implemented. Sunder who has been in captivity and was kept chained inside a dark shed at a Temple in the Kolhapur district of Maharashtra for seven years would have been finally free from the torture. PETA India's Director of Veterinary Affairs Dr Manilal Valliyate told NDTV, "This is an attempt from MLA Vinay Kore to delay the process of implementing the High Court order. All the paperwork from moving Sunder to a sanctuary in Bangalore details

TOKYO (AP) — The bug Paul McCartney caught last week has squashed the final dates of his Japan tour. His reps say the singer isn't well enough to do any of the remaining shows in Japan — because his doctor has ordered him to take complete rest. The canceled shows in Japan include one that had been set for tomorrow at Nippon Budokan hall.

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An electric guitar played by The Beatles' George Harrison has sold for almost £400,000  at an auction in New York. The former Beatle played the 1962 Rickenbacker 425 guitar on British TV shows like Ready  Steady Go! in 1963, prior to the band's US invasion in 1964.

Harrison, who died in 2001 aged 58, also used the instrument during the recording of I Want  to Hold Your Hand and This Boy. The guitar’s pre-sale estimate was up to $600,000 (£356,000) said auction house Julien's but  it eventually sold for $657,000 (£390,641) The sale topped the previous sale of a VOX guitar played by both Harrison and Lennon in May  last year which fetched £269,000 but fell far short of the record $965,000 (£591,000) set by a Bob  Dylan guitar in December. Harrison bought the guitar in 1963 in Mount Vernon, Illinois, while visiting his sister in the United  States. The auction also saw the sale of a placard covered in doodles and signed by John Lennon and  Yoko Ono, from their ‘bed-in’ protest, details

Tokyo National Stadium shows to be postponed 18th & 19th May Doctors have ordered Paul complete rest and he has been doing all he can to get better. Paul has only ever had to reschedule a handful of shows in his entire career and is so upset about this situation, he hates to let people down.

This morning he told his staff he was going to try and perform tonight against doctors orders, but his team, along with the doctors, wouldn't allow it. He has been very moved by the fan's reactions and messages of love and support he has received in Japan. Paul has instructed his team to look at rescheduling options. Message from Paul: "Thank you so much for your kind messages of support. I’m so very touched. Unfortunately my condition has not improved overnight. I was really hoping that I'd be feeling better today. I'm so disappointed and sorry to be letting my fans down. Love, Paul"

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With seven shows around the country already announced and selling fast, two new cities have been added to the White Album Concert National Tour, with performances in Canberra on 22 July and in Wollongong on 23 July.

The White Album Concerts feature four of Australia's greatest rock'n'roll showmen - Chris Cheney, The Living End, Phil Jamieson of Grinspoon, Tim Rogers from You Am I and ARIA award winner singer/songwriter Josh Pyke performing the entire album with an all-star 17 piece rock orchestra. The Beatles' most challenging and stylistically varied collection of songs has been taken apart and reassembled track by track by four singers at the peak of their powers. Coming after India, but before the split, The White Album was the sound of John, Paul, George and Ringo throwing everything they'd learned into their musical blender. This major work bursts with variety, creativity, experimentation, and the genius of The Beatles during one of their most intense, fertile, periods. It is a t details

It was basically music's worst-kept secret, but now it's official... The Flaming Lips are releasing a full cover album of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band. According to Stereogum, the album will be titled With A Little Help From My Fwends and will drop on Oct. 28 via Warner Bros. Records.

The Flaming Lips have long teased the release of its Beatles cover album, with plenty Instagram teasers of the band in the recording studio and working on music, especially with Wayne Coyne's new musical BFF, Miley Cyrus. Cyrus will be featured on at least two With A Little Help From My Fwends tracks; it's been confirmed that she will join Coyne and and join MGMT singer Andrew VanWyngarden on "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" and she's also reported to appear on "A Day In The Life." Last night (May 14), during Cyrus' latest Bangerz Tour stop in Manchester, England, Coyne joined Cyrus on stage for a (likely tel details

Beatles show Let It Be is to return to the West End for an 11-week run. The show originally ran in the West End in September 2012 at the Prince of Wales, before moving to the Savoy Theatre in January 2013.

It has since toured the UK and will now return to London, playing at the Garrick Theatre from July 9 to September 21. It will have a media night on July 10. Jamie Hendry, the show’s producer, said: “I am delighted that Nimax Theatres has worked with us to bring Let It Be back to the West End for its third season.” Let It Be is produced by Jamie Hendry Productions and Annerin Productions. When it opens on July 9 it will mark the 50^th anniversary of the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night. Its UK tour concludes on July 5 at the Cliffs Pavilion in Southend.

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A Beatles-themed cafe has created an epic 7000 calorie snack sandwich and has challenged fans to consume it.

The sandwich was prepared with 30 rashers of bacon, 20 slices of bread, six tomatoes, two lettuces and a pound of butter, the Daily Star reported.According to the challenge, the winner who devours the whole sandwich while listening to the Fab Four's hits will be offered free breakfast for the entire week at Cafe 23 on Liverpool's famous Penny Lane. Tess Smith, manager, said that the Fab Four are around us in high spirits and wished the challengers best of luck. The feast was kicked-off to celebrate the British Sandwich Week.

Source: Business Standard

At 38, Sean Lennon is already deep into a long and idiosyncratic career in pop music, following his creative whims as singer, sideman, bandleader and producer. His current band, the Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, was supposed to be a side project with his girlfriend, Charlotte Kemp Muhl, until inspiration took over.

"We have a very strong shared aesthetic," says Lennon of the musical partnership. "It has to do with spooky notes, wordplay, and a lot of records that we like." The duo's new album, "Midnight Sun," builds on the charms of their previous acoustic releases to create a heavier (and electric) psychedelic folk-rock sound. Beginning with the brooding "Too Deep," it's music with roots in both swirling, late-'60s pop and modern indie rock. "We basically just want to rock out," says Muhl, 26, of the band, which performs Saturday at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles. At the moment, the duo are on a breezy patio overlooking downtown Austin, dressed in stylish layers: Lennon bearded in a light brown suit and a matching wide-brim hat, and Muhl in fringed suede over details

He's been a Bonzo and a Rutle, appeared on film alongside Pythons and Beatles, written everything from kid's TV shows to hit singles, and kept a sense of humour throughout it all. Neil Innes has had the sort of career that could never have been planned, and has been all the better for it. We caught up with Neil to talk everything from appearing in Magical Mystery Tour to the knowledge of the ancients, the birth of The Rutles and the importance of finding the fun in everything you do...

 What drew you to music initially? Were you from a musical household? "My dad used to amuse us with a guitar, and sing terrible old Scottish songs about dead horses. You know, 'there's a bridle hanging on the wall,' or 'don't go down the mine dadd there's plenty of coal in the bin.' They were wonderful, they've stuck with me all my life. "Then I got piano lessons when I was seven, and I was quite interested with that. There was a critical day when I had to play something different with my left hand to my right hand, and I declared at the age of seven that it was impossible. I had this real details

Paul McCartney has collaborated with some of the biggest names in the world. In recent years his videos have featured a stellar line up of guests including Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Kate Moss, Jude Law, Tom Ford, Sean Penn and Natalie Portman.

Today, Paul announced his first artistic collaboration with a robot. Newman, the robot, has teamed up with Paul for his new music video for the song 'Appreciate'. 'Appreciate' is taken from Paul’s latest studio album NEW, which was launched last year. The video sees Newman on patrol in a museum of humans. Newman is drawn to one exhibition in particular. In a dimly lit sound studio he sees Paul McCartney sitting on a stool holding his iconic Höfner bass guitar. Paul twitches making a sound on the guitar and to Newman’s astonishment he starts to come to life as the song 'Appreciate' starts up. Paul comes closer to Newman staring at him through a force field that encloses him. Newman reaches through the force field and pulls Paul out of his exhibition. As the two of them move around the museum all t details

The Kaiser Chiefs frontman was thrilled when the veteran musician gave him the unique present and he had a cabinet specially made so he could show off the instrument in his home.

He tells Absolute Radio DJ Sarah Champion ahead of a special gig for the station at London's Hard Rock Cafe this week (beg12May14), "I was given a ukulele by Paul McCartney. It says 'To Ricky my dear Paul McCartney was here'. I keep it on a shelf at home in a specially made case."

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Source: The Express, UK

A flight bag belonging to John Lennon has been auctioned for £4,700. The Pan Am Airways bag was given to the musician during the Beatles' first trip to America in 1964. It was auctioned, along with a letter of verification from Lennon's uncle, by Special Auction Services in Newbury, Berkshire.

Auctioneers had initially expected the bag to fetch up to £8,000. The bag was sold to the vendor by Lennon's uncle Charlie in 2000. In the verification letter, he wrote: "John gave the bag to me on his first visit back to Liverpool after that trip - may have been the Hard Day's Night premiere." Alan Pritchard, music and entertainment specialist at Special Auction Services, said he believed the winner of the online auction was an overseas buyer. Mr Pritchard said: "I have dealt with lots of Beatles stuff in the past and it is usually very popular. "This bag is a typical bag which would have been given out on the flights, but it just happens to have belonged to John Lennon and that's what make it special. 

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