Beatles News

This is the month to remember the struggles and celebrate the accomplishments of African-Americans and their fight for long-withheld civil rights. But as we mark Black History Month, it is worthwhile to consider the often-overlooked role three legendary white pop-music acts played in the demise of segregation-customary and codified--in the United States.

We usually don't think of swing-music titan Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra and The Beatles as civil rights movement figuregheads, but each in their own way certainly deserves to be remembered as such. Each took the lead in advancing the cause of social and political equality in America.

Source: Chuck Darrow/phillyvoice.com

Read More<<<

Following the announcement that special reissues of Concert for George, the film and album documenting the all-star 2002 George Harrison tribute show held at London’s Royal Albert Hall, will be released this month to mark what would’ve been Harrison’s 75th birthday comes word that the movie also will be shown in select North American theaters in the coming weeks.

Starting on February 20, a restored version of Concert for George, remastered in 5.1 stereo surround sound, will be screened in dozens of theaters across the U.S. and Canada. Visit ConcertforGeorge.com to check out a list of confirmed screenings.

Source: columbusnewsteam.com

“Concert for George,” a documentary about the tribute concert to George Harrison, will get a theatrical run presented by Abramorama in association with Concord Music beginning Feb. 20. The film will be shown in more than 75 theaters across North America.

The launch takes place five days before what would have been George Harrison’s 75th birthday. The international rollout of the film will be announced next week.

“C0ncert for George” was held on Nov. 29, 2002, one year after Harrison died. His widow, Olivia Harrison, and longtime friend Eric Clapton organized a tribute performance in his honor at London’s Royal Albert Hall performed by a lineup that included Clapton, Joe Brown, Dhani Harrison, Jools Holland, Jeff Lynne, Paul McCartney, Monty Python, Tom Petty, Billy Preston, Ravi and Anoushka Shankar and Ringo Starr.

Source: Variety

Read More<<<

Usually we receive realistic action figures from blockbuster movies mainly from comic book and the Star Wars franchises.

Well a new toy has been revealed that will make fans of The Beatles happy because it's a figure based on the likeness of the late John Lennon.

Molecule 8 issued out a new press release saying that this new 1/6th scale (12 inches) John Lennon toy will be available from April 2018. The list of features have been posted below as seen on the official website.

Source: By Damian Seeto/emptylighthouse.com

Read More<<<

As the Time’s Up / #metoo women’s movement that began in 2017 rages on, it’s worth noting that a major rock and roll icon and his famous wife addressed the women’s rights issue decades ago. The
response at that time was generally lukewarm — not surprising, considering back then the world was far from ready to acknowledge the mistreatment of females. Given the sea change that is currently in progress, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were ahead of their time.

In 1972, they released Sometime in New York City, the first album where the two shared top billing. As an aural document of their lives in New York City, its content didn’t consist of songs about love and romance; instead the project targeted intolerance and injustice that the pair were witnessing through their association with key activists of the day, including Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. The song from that LP the pair chose to release as a single was stunningly contentious in its title and lyrics, both of which contained a racial epithet to get their point across: “Woman is the N––––– of the World.” John Lennon was a rare breed: a rock star who didn’t recoil from controversy.

Say hello, hello to a stunning new book of photographs of the Fab Four themselves, shot by Astrid Kirchherr who according to none other than George Harrison, was “the one, really, who influenced our image more than anybody. She made us look good.”

Kirchherr was still just a student of art and fashion when she began turning her lens to greats like The Beatles when they visited her native Hamburg. At that time, the band was still pre-Ringo, with a lineup of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe. According to the book’s publisher Damiani, the young photographer “was struck by their 'raw energy, beauty and attitude' and there was an instant attraction between her and the band's bass player Stuart, to whom she soon became engaged.” Hard luck for her boyfriend, the artist Klaus Voormann, who had initially introduced her to the band in a club on the Hamburg's Reeperbahn.

Source: creativeboom.com

Legendary record producer Quincy Jones has described the Beatles as “the worst musicians in the world” as he recalled meeting the band for the first time during an interview to promote a new Netflix documentary and US television special.

In the new interview with New York Magazine, he discussed his first impressions of the Beatles in unsparing terms. “They were the worst musicians in the world,” he told interviewer David Marchese. “They were no-playing motherfuckers. Paul [McCartney] was the worst bass player I ever heard.”

Drummer Ringo Starr came in for particular opprobrium: “And Ringo? Don’t even talk about it.”

Jones recalled arranging Love Is a Many Splendoured Thing for Starr’s 1970 debut solo album Sentimental Journey.

Source: Laura Snapes/theguardian.com

Read More<<<

Universal Music CanadaFounding Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive rocker Randy Bachman salutes the music of the late George Harrison on a new studio album called By George - By Bachman, which will be released on March 2. The 13-track collection features reworked versions of various Harrison-penned Beatles songs, as well as one tune each from George's solo career and his stint with The Traveling Wilburys.

Explaining the concept behind his album, Bachman says, "I figured I would take George's songs and give them new grooves. I wanted the tempos and arrangements to be different but still recognizable by the lyrics. I took the major keys and turned them into minors. It was a whole new interpretation of a familiar song."

By George - By Bachman also includes an original Bachman composition paying tribute to Harrison titled "Between Two Mountains," which appears at the beginning and end of the record. Randy says of the inspiration behind the tune, "George's light shone through what could have been a shadow between such mountainous forces as John [Lennon] and Paul [McCartney]."

As an added bonus, Bachman says, "Throughout the album, I put in little signature licks that are associated with George's songs, lik details

Several years ago, Paul McCartney, in an interview with Terry Gross on National Public Radio’s “Fresh Air,” revealed a very personal moment he shared with John Lennon during a drunken night in a Florida motel in 1964. Television writer Bob Stevens happened to be listening and found it irresistible.

“Only Yesterday,” in its world premiere production by Northern Stage, opened Saturday at the Barrette Center for the Arts. Stevens has created a well-researched story that is not only heartwarming, heart-wrenching and very funny, but feels totally authentic. And Northern Stage delivered it in spades.

The 75-minute play is based on McCartney’s revelation that he and Lennon ended their night of drinking with both of them crying. (Unless you heard the interview, you’ll have to see the show to find out why.) This happened while the two were sequestered in a Key West motel room by a hurricane during their second American tour.

John and Paul aren’t exactly thrilled to find themselves in this situation, young men in their early 20s with their first day off in forever with nothing to do. And the bar doesn’t open for a while.

Source: By JIM LOWE/STAFF WRITER details

Ay-up – now, here’s a familiar face!

Fifty years ago this week, Beatles singer Paul McCartney was pictured at the launch of the February 1968 Leicester Arts Festival – a real coup for the city.

More curious though is how he came to be involved.

An explanation was provided by reader Lesley Hale, neé Bushell, undergraduate student at the University of Leicester at the time, who provided an insight into the organisation of the festival that year.

“Leicester Arts Festival was an annual event of huge ambition, running for two weeks in February.

“It was a town-gown affair, overseen by a committee of arts sector people from the town, city council and all the colleges.

Source: leicestermercury.co.uk

Read More<<<