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But truth be told, long before that assumption, Lennon was done with The Beatles anyhow. All the money and accolades in the world couldn’t have kept him in his shiny grey suit and pointy boots any longer than he was obligated to be as that entertainer. What Lennon saw in Ono was more about evolving into his existence rather than pitting her against the world as the reason for leaving the famous group, and he took to her with mind, body and soul.

To be fair, I can see what he might have been enamored with back then. Long before Ono met Lennon, she had a direction of her own invention. An avant garde innovator of the early era, Ono had a self-made scene. Rubbing elbows with John Cage and other luminaries (she was a member of the Fluxus movement of artists), Ono hosted countless series of raw and original visual happenings as far back as 1961.

A self-promoting apprentice of the bizarre, Ono forged her own radical brand as a pioneer of conceptual and performance art, going far against the grain and mesmerizing (or alienating) a denizen of New Yo details

And among the bands featured are Pepperland from Sweden – who performed with Mark McGann at the Royal Court last year, the Beatlemaniacs, Indonesia’s G Pluck Beatles, The Cavern Beat and American English from Chicago, and Liverpool’s Mersey Beatles and all-girl Fab Four band the Beatelles

“The idea for the documentary came when I went to Liverpool several years ago with a friend who performed as John Lennon in one of the featured tribute bands,” explains Steve.

“I had never seen anything like it! 300,000 people, like me, with the same connection…the music of The Beatles. The quality and diversity of the bands was unbelievable.

“We had to share this story with others.”

Come Together is a tribute to The Beatles’ legacy, a phenomenon that shows no signs of stopping. The lengths that some tribute groups go to honour The Beatles range from simple vocal harmonies to groups affectionately called 'boots and suits' bands. Regardless of nationality, they attempt to look and sound as close to John, Georg details

More than 200 are set to surface in a series of limited-edition fine-art prints to be sold over eBay starting Feb. 2, making most of them accessible to the Beatles and Stones fans for the first time. The first batch going up for sale Feb. 2 includes 30 images — 15 of the Beatles, 15 of the Rolling Stones.

Various photos capture the Stones recording at the fabled Chess Records studio in Chicago in June 1964, shortly after their first U.S. concert stop in San Bernardino; Jagger doing his best James Brown dance moves during the band’s performance in Santa Monica for “The T.A.M.I. Show,” and the Beatles’ 1965 tour stop in Bloomington, Minn., the only show for which press photographers were not allowed in because of security issues.

In one shot from the Beatles' 1965 performance of “I’m Down” in Portland, Ore., Lennon, wearing the signature Shea Stadium jacket and fisherman’s cap, jabs an electric piano keyboard with his right elbow, like his hero Jerry Lee Lewis, as other members of the Fab Four look details

In her book, his sister Julia Baird said Mimi would refer to her own house as the “House of Correction”, but would refer to John’s mum’s home as the “House of Sin”.

The three-bedroom home has been given a guide price of £120,000, but auctioneers Venmore are hoping it might attract the interest of investors with an interest in the Fab Four.

Chief executive of Venmore, Rob Farnham, said normally properties in the area fetched in the region of £115,000.

He said: “It’s a unique property and Beatles houses always attract lots of interest from around the world. It has the potential to make money but also to provide a great home.”

The house is now a stop off point on the Beatles Tour.

It was there that on July 15, 1958, a 17-year-old Lennon answered the door to a policeman who informed him his mum had been killed in a road accident.

Afterwards, Lennon said: “It was awful, like some dreadful film where they ask you if you’re the victim’s son and all th details


Postcards From Paradise will come out on March 31st, a couple of weeks after his North and South American tour, and weeks before his Hall of Fame induction on April 18th. The former Beatle will receive the Award for Musical Excellence.

When Rolling Stone asked Starr what the honor meant to him, he said, "It means recognition." He also said he was excited to join the company of his former bandmates. "Finally, the four of us are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame even though we were the biggest pop group in the land," he said.

He also said that he wasn't planning on performing at the event – unless Paul McCartney took the initiative to get him on the stage. "If he puts a band together, I'll do 'With A Little Help From My Friends,'" he said.

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The Statue 4 Eppy Concert will take place on Saturday, February 28, hosted by BBC Radio Merseyside’s Billy Butler. It’s a fitting venue as the theatre is named after the Beatles’ former manager.

The show will celebrate the life and career of ‘Fifth Beatle’ Epstein through an evening of mus details


Or possibly not. It turned out all those people asking "who is Paul McCartney?" on Twitter were just tweaking those old, grizzled Boomer noses. Kids do, in fact, for the most part, know who Paul McCartney is; they're just implying that he's not as relevant as he once was—and perhaps suggesting that the ones who are really out of touch are their elders, who may not know who West is. If that was the joke, it seems to have worked pretty well. The painful part for Boomers and their ilk, presumably, isn't just that folks don't know who McCartney is, but that it’s at least somewhat feasible that some young people don't know who Paul McCartney is. And that’s not exactly a shame.

The Beatles were hugely popular, sure, but that was more than 40 years ago. McCartney had some hits with Wings and a famous collaboration or two with Michael Jackson, but even that was three decades ago. Most pop music fans today weren't even born the last time McCartney had a song in the charts. As far as their personal experience goes, he might as well be Bing Crosby. details


1. The Beatles made music a necessity.
Kids went from listening to Disney records and Alvin and the Chipmunks to "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You." Many boomers heard music at home and at school, but it was someone else's music. After 2/9/64, their ears were opened in a new way and they wanted this new music, made by and for young people. As one fan, age eight at the time, recalled, "Beatle music was ours. It became central to our lives." Children as young as six didn't want to be separated from their transistor radios. These young fans remained closely tuned in throughout the 1960s, with ears -- and minds -- wide open.

2. The Beatles displaced traditional childhood pastimes.
Children started spending more time listening to music, and records became the gift of choice. Cowboys and Indians, sports, Lincoln Logs, jacks, pickup sticks, and Chatty Cathy were pushed to the periphery. Boys who had just been playing army games were suddenly playing Beatles, with tennis racket guitars and trash can drums. Millions of boys (and a muc details


The New York/New England regional Beatles-themed festival, which is also known as Danbury Fields Forever is a family-friendly music, foods and arts festival that is now in its fourth year. The event will run from noon to 8 p.m. at Ives Concert Park, 43 Lake Ave. Extension in Danbury. Ten bands playing music from The Beatles, both group and solo material, plus other songs from the 1960s will be featured. The event will be hosted by Charles F. Rosenay! Ken Michaels of the “Every Little Thing” and “Things We Said Today” radio shows will also be guest emcee.

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"Pattie was a major part of the music and pop culture scene as the wife of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton," says Theron Kabrich, co-founder of the San Francisco Art Exchange. "She has made an indelible mark on the history of that era, so much so that some fans consider her to be a fifth Beatle."

Ten years later, her follow-up exhibition includes a vast assortment of intimate and never-before-seen photos of her life, love, friendship with Harrison, Clapton and their talented, famous circle of friends. Additionally, on display for the first time in the United States, fans will have a rare opportunity to view the original Layla album cover painting that normally hangs in Boyd's home in England.

Patricia Anne "Pattie" Boyd was born in Somerset, England. She first met Harrison in 1964 when she was cast in the Beatles' feature film A Hard Days Night. Two years later they were married. When being a 'Beatle wife' made it too difficult to work, Boyd began taking a strong interest in photography. She captured her loved ones and the experiences they shared, including details


But his real revelation came in 2005. Donning a pair of headphones on a whim, he played his copy of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and discovered a whole new Beatles world to be explored, courtesy of an adventurous band that "understood the potential of the studio as an instrument in itself," Montgomery said.

"I was hearing stuff I didn't remember hearing over external speakers or in my car," he said. "So I listened again right away and started making some notes."

As he dove into the rest of the group's catalog, headphones on, Montgomery noticed more bits that hadn't registered on his prior "millions of listens." There was the "high trebly hiss of Ringo's drums" that dominates the Beatles' early work. The omnipresent hand-clapping on the first four albums. The spotty solos that crop up in George Harrison's guitar work.

And there were the true oddities, like the background voices buried on "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" that include John Lennon solemnly spelling out "H-O-M-E."

With a book deal locked up by early details

Paul McCartney thinks that college courses based on popular music, especially those that focus on his band The Beatles, are "ridiculous, and yet very flattering." Maca said this during a Q+A on his website.

He is so humble, and he should all be like, "Yes, I am da shit."

He furthered, "Ridiculous because we [The Beatles] never studied anything, we just loved our popular music: Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino, etc. And it wasn't a case of 'studying' it. I think for us, we'd have felt it would have ruined it to study it. We wanted to make our own minds up just by listening to it. So our study was listening. But to be told – as I was years ago now – that The Beatles were in my kid's history books? That was like 'What?! Unbelievable, man!' Can you imagine when we were at school, finding yourself in a history book?!"

The world's greatest living songwriter did note that you can't really learn to be a great songwriter by taking these courses, though. He said, "To think that you can go details

Four American Bulldog puppies named after The Beatles are in need of a new home on Merseyside.

Fab Four John, Paul, George and Ringo are seven weeks old and being looked after by Dogs Trust.

Aimee Best, supporter relations officer at Dogs Trust Merseyside, said: “These puppies are a total delight, and very sweet. They have a lovely temperament, and love nothing more than cuddles with their carers.

“As they are American Bulldogs, they are going to be a large breed, so any new potential owner must be aware of that.

“They will require puppy training classes and lots of socialisation. As they are still so young, their owner must be around for most of the day to be with them.”

If you can give these very special puppies a loving home, drop in to the Dogs Trust centre Whiston Lane, Liverpool, L36 6HP or give them a call on 0300 303 0292.

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All you need is cash: I am told that Neil Young’s high end music player and library, Pono, has scored a coup. They’ve secured the Beatles catalog for download in what’s known as loss-less digital.

Paul McCartney himself is said to be supervising the transfer of the Beatles’ crown in the jewel recordings so they can be added to the Pono catalog which can then be purchased and downloaded into the $399 Pono player.

This could be huge for Pono, which is already offering a wide selection of music on its site at 192 khz. But the Beatles will kick it over the top. Even last night when I ran into the Black Eyes Peas’ will.i.am the first thing he said to me about Pono was “Wait til you hear Sgt. Pepper on Pono. It’s going to blow your mind.” The Pono people have already played the classic 1967 album for him on their device. One thing he did tell me was that you don’t need very expensive head phones to enjoy it. “Just regular good headphones.” (Me, I have Grado and Sennheiser.) details

Sony has no plans to sell the music publishing business that controls rights to songs from the Beatles and Taylor Swift, as was suggested by leaked e-mails, Sony Entertainment chief executive officer Michael Lynton said.

Sony's music-publishing business, the largest in the world, has a catalogue of more than 2 million songs. Music publishers collect songwriting royalties from album sales, use on TV and other performances.



E-mails and documents released in the cyber-attack on Sony mentioned a 'top secret' plan to sell the music publishing business because it had few growth prospects, it has been reported last month. Top management at Tokyo-based Sony was concerned about the complex ownership and governance of the business.
In a January 8 interview, Lynton said a sale isn't under consideration.

Music publishing accounts for 14 per cent of Sony's music revenue, with recorded music generating the l details

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