Beatles News

AVALON, CATALINA ISLAND - Beatlemania swept the nation in 1964 after the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. Those crazed and hysterical fans - now in their sixties - continue to be as passionate about the Beatles today as they were in their teenage years. Two friends from Virginia recently proved how far they would go to view A Hard Day's Night and meet Pattie Boyd, former wife of George Harrison, when they traveled to Avalon for the Catalina Island Museum’s 50th anniversary screening of the film. For the record, the distance from Yorktown, VA to Catalina Island is approximately 2,357 miles. Linda Rody and her friend Billie spoke with Michael De Marsche, Executive Director of the Catalina Island Museum, during the book signing with Pattie Boyd that occurred after the screening of the film. The following is their story. "This past February my high school friend, Billie, reminded me of the fifty-year celebration of the Beatles arrival to the U.S.A. As I searched the Internet for news of the Beatles, I included Pattie Boyd in my search. I thought she might be interviewed somewhe details

Star Wars actor Mark Hamill enjoyed a Magical Mystery Tour while he was in Liverpool as he visited a series of The Beatles' landmarks. The actor, who plays Luke Skywalker, visited the city while he is in the UK and Ireland filming for the new Star Wars film. Sporting a Jedi Knight beard, he was seen in the Cavern Club and the Beatles museum at the Albert Dock, with several surprised fans sharing photos of the star on social media. Bill Irwin, Cavern Club General Manager, said: "Mark arrived at the Cavern Club around 10pm last night and seemed really happy to be in the Cavern , he and his his wife and two children and his friend seemed to really enjoy the atmosphere. "His son took real interest in the Merseybeatles who were playing because I later found out he is a real keen guitarist himself!

"Mark and I chatted for about an hour about the history of the Cavern and of course about the Beatles. He told me stories of when he met George Harrison and Ringo Starr. "His knowledge of the Beatles was to say the least amazing , dates , gigs , meetings, there wasn't much he didn't know, a r details

“The Beatles and Me on Tour” British Journalist Ivor Davis speak at Malibu Film Society’s 50th Anniversary screening of “A Hard Day’s Night” Saturday, August 9 in Malibu and at The Grove on Thursday, August 7 In the summer of 1964, the Beatles invade America with a 24-city tour and through the release of their first movie “A Hard Day’s Night.” The Malibu Film Society will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the movie’s opening with special showings, Friday August 8 at 7:30 and 9:15 PM, and Saturday, August 9 at 7 and 9 PM. They are also hosting a special screening at The Grove in Hollywood at 6:30 pm on Thursday, August 7. For both screenings on Saturday and at The Grove Thursday, the Society announces a very special guest: Ivor Davis, the journalist who befriended the Beatles early on, traveling with them across the globe as they developed into international superstars. Ivor’s brand new book,

“The Beatles & Me on Tour,” is now available and he will be signin details

Sir Paul McCartney told students at the performing arts college he co-founded to “go out there and be wonderful” as he attended its annual graduation ceremony. The ex-Beatle spoke of his determination to save his old school building with Mark Featherstone-Witty and his pride at seeing it become a base for the successful Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA). And he joked students should ignore what they had learned from tutors and said his advice was to “be yourself.” LIPA, which opened in 1995, is housed in Sir Paul and George Harrison’s old grammar school, the Liverpool Institute for Boys. Around 280 students from 26 countries, including Israel, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland and the USA, graduated at the ceremony at the BT Convention Centre. Meanwhile nine leading figures from the entertainment industry – including legendary lyricist Don Black, Island Records President Darcus Beece, actor Sam West and Grammy Award-winning music producer Giles Martin – were made Companions of LIPA, an accolade details

The duo performed a rendition of 'Stand By Me' before playing a few riffs. Actors Marion Cotillard, Jared Leto and Joan Collins, model Cara Delevingne and singer Robin Thicke were among VIP guests. Bono donated one of his guitars to the charity auction which saw US businessman Len Blavatnik take home a Damien Hirst sculpture entitled 'Golden Myth' for $6 million (€4m). Walk-on A Harley-Davidson motorcycle signed by DiCaprio, movie director Martin Scorsese and actor Robert De Niro went for more than $673,000 (€500,000), while another bidder spent $2.4m (€1.8m) for a walk-on role in DiCaprio's next movie. Oscar-nominated actor DiCaprio established the foundation in 1998 to raise awareness for the environment. "We are facing a tipping point of environmental crises unprecedented in human history," DiCaprio said at the event. "Not since the age of the dinosaurs have so many specie details

The GRAMMY Award-winning Paul McCartney Archive Collection Announce next release Wings to reissue classic albums Venus and Mars and At The Speed Of Sound Formats to include previously unreleased material UK Release: 22nd September, US Release: 23rd September MPL and Concord Music Group confirmed plans today to reissue Wings albums Venus and Mars and At The Speed Of Sound as the next releases in the Paul McCartney Archive Collection on September 22nd (UK), and September 23rd (US), 2014. Both albums will be available in a variety of physical and digital formats: Standard Edition: Starting with a 2-disc (2 CD) Standard Edition, the first CD will feature the original remastered album and the second CD will include bonus audio made up of material including demos and unreleased tracks. Deluxe Edition: The 3-disc (2CD, 1DVD)

Deluxe Edition will be housed in a hardback book featuring unpublished photographs, new interviews with Paul, material from Pa details

Fifty years after The Beatles made their North American debut, their music continues to attract young audiences. “They are one of my favourite bands. They are really inspiring for people to play musical instruments,” said Alex Wyant, 11, of Wasaga Beach. “When I started drumming, I only played Beatles songs. Ringo (Starr) is my favourite Beatle and drummer.” Wyant, who won the Ringo Starr lookalike contest Saturday at the Orillia Beatles Celebration, stayed in the stage area to hear Beatles music being performed by local musician Kayla Elizabeth, followed by The Beagles, a band of four young men who play only Beatles music. Carson Merkley, 15, of Orillia, also loves The Beatles and comes to the city’s Beatles festival annually. “They are timeless. I grew up listening to them,” said Merkley, who also attended to watch The Beagles perform. Beagles band member Tyler Chute, 19, of St. Thomas, grew up surrounded by Beatles music. “I grew up on it. How do you not like it?” said Chute, the George Harrison of The Beagles.

THE role set him on course for a three-decade acting career and gained him an Olivier Award nomination when he first appeared in the West End. But despite the plaudits from John Lennon’s own family – “it’s always a comfort to know Dad’s words and music are in the hands of an artist such as Mark McGann” says son Julian for one – the actor has, he admits, generally shied away from playing the legendary Beatle. He explains: “When I was chasing acting alone as a career, which was actually until about 2008, I had to be very careful not to be perceived as wanting to do John as often as I really wanted. For the obvious typecasting difficulties that it might put me into.” Almost a decade after Lennon at the Everyman, he appeared in a short run of Imagine, produced by Bill Kenwright, at the Playhouse.

“Then I didn’t think about it again until I started to branch out,” says the 53-year-old who runs a successful company, Drama Direct, directing other actors and corporate films, and designing workshops and projects. & details

The Beatles approached director Stanley Kubrick to make a film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings novels back in their heyday, according to moviemaker Peter Jackson. The Fab Four starred in five movies during their career, including A Hard Day's Night and Help! in the 1960s, and when they were considering their third film, the musicians went to Kubrick to discuss adapting JRR Tolkien's books into a movie version, but the author had not yet sold the rights. Tolkien eventually released the book for film adaptation and Jackson brought the franchise to cinemas from 2001. The director tells Deadline.com, "The Beatles once approached Stanley Kubrick to do The Lord of the Rings. This was before Tolkien sold the rights. They approached him and he said no. I actually spoke about this with Paul McCartney. He confirmed it. I'd heard rumours that it was going to be their next film after Help!.

"John Lennon was going to play Gollum. Paul was going to play Frodo. George Harrison was going to play Gandalf details

WEST End theatregoers are about to view him as The Man Who Made The Beatles, but for veteran Liverpool solicitor and ECHO columnist Rex Makin he was, first and foremost, a friend and next-door neighbour. From 1945, when he was 11, Brian Epstein’s family home was 197 Queen’s Drive, Childwall. Rex, who was nine years older, moved into 199 when he married Shirley in 1957. And it was to Rex that Brian’s grieving younger brother, Clive, and mother, Queenie, turned when the Fab Four’s manager was found dead in his London home – 24 Chapel Street, Belgravia – during the August Bank Holiday weekend of 1967. The Beatle Making Prince of Pop, as the Daily Mirror called him on its front page the following day, was just 32. An inquest later found that Brian – whose dad, Harry, had only passed away the previous month – died as a result of “incautious self-overdoses” of Carbitral sleeping pills. A verdict of accidental death was recorded. 

“I didn’t see this play (Epstein: The Man Who Made The Beatles, starring Andre details

SOUTHFIELD, Mich., July 24, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Music fans and critics know that the music of the Beatles underwent a dramatic transformation in just a few years, but until now there hasn't been a scientific way to measure the progression. That could change now that computer scientists at Lawrence Technological University have developed an artificial intelligence algorithm that can analyze and compare musical styles, enabling research into the musical progression of the Beatles. Assistant Professor Lior Shamir and graduate student Joe George had previously developed audio analysis technology to study the vocal communication of whales, and they expanded the algori details

Earlier this month Paul published his latest music video, 'Early Days', from the album NEW. To celebrate the release, PaulMcCartney.com has published a new photo collection bringing together shots from the video shoot.  “Paul’s scene was incredibly fun to create. It was just him, some blues players and Johnny Depp jamming on set all day. Patti Smith also turned up on set and hung out, which made the crew very happy!” Director, Vincent Haycock

Read more on this story....]

Source: PaulMcCartney.com

For anyone who wasn't alive in 1965, it might be hard to imagine what Beatle-mania looked like in Minneapolis -- but almost 50 years after the concert, it's back in the form of a special exhibit. For more than 20 years, the old Met Stadium was home to both the Minnesota Vikings and Twins -- but for one special night in August, it became the beachhead for a British invasion. "The Beatles were my favorite," John Andradi told Fox 9 News. "I've played music for over 40 years now. I played all their stuff. I fell in love with them."

Andradi was 14 years old when the Beatles landed in the Twin Cities for their first and only concert in Minnesota. Because of the pandemonium at the airport, the promoter didn't allow anyone -- including police or professional photographers -- on the field, much to the disappointment of 25,000 screaming fans. A few months ago, the son of the band's U.S. tour manager, Bob Bonis, found 32 photographs from that historic night in his parents' basement after they died. Now, those images are on display in the lobby of the W Hotel in the Foshay Tower -- and the details

Big, Grey and Smiling. Sunder, the former temple elephant is an unlikely celebrity with  friends ranging from the Big B to rock legends. But his international fame had come at a horrific cost. Sunder was filmed suffering abuse at the hands of his mahout at a temple in Maharashtra. When the video of abuse found its way online it resulted in a barrage of outrage from animal lovers. International celebrities, From Amitabh Bachan to Sir Paul McCartney and former Baywatch actress Pamela Anderson joined a campaign to free Sunder. The campaign finally resulted in his being moved to the Bannerghatta National Park outside Bangalore in June. Now, a month on, NDTV revisited Sunder in his new home, to find him happy and adjusting beautifully to his new home and new elephant family. 

While Sunder's story is one of the most depraved human abuse - but it is also an example of human compassion and concern. When we first met him in early June,the day he arrived here in Bannerghatta near Bangalore, he was stressed and uncertain, afte details

Some people mount John Lennon tribute shows and we listen to hundreds of wannabes and nowhere men in the bargain. But rare are the people who are drafted to chew gum and sing John Lennon songs because of an uncanny resemblance. When producer Gordy Deems was working at Chaton Recording Studios in Phoenix, he noticed the studio's owner and engineer/producer Otto D'Agnolo bore a striking resemblance to the ex-Beatle. Deems told him he should be in a John Lennon tribute show and then assembled that very show around him. "I told him I sounded even more like Lennon than I looked," said D'Agnolo, a notion Deems seconded when he heard D'Agnolo's own original music recorded under the pseudonym Caesar Bach. As one reviewer observed of that album, "It sounds like John Lennon trying to sing like George Harrison." 

"That was an astute observation," said D'Agnolo who readily admits his melody and rhythm ideas are George-influenced. "But I love John as well." D'Agnolo and musical director Deems are hoping lots of people love John as well now that " details