Having changed the world once with The Beatles, at the beginning of the 1970s John Lennon wanted to do it all over again, but this time in line with his personal vision of global concord. Desperate to consign the Moptops to history, he escaped to America with the love of his life, Yoko Ono, and plunged into his new world of activism and giving peace a chance.
Beatles 50 is getting a big push this week. Sources tell that CBS’s special scheduled for February 9th–and being taped this Monday at the Los Angeles Convention Center– could end up being three hours long.
The Ticket to Write playwriting contest – launched as a Beatles-themed Festival – is now open for entries for the third year when the selected plays will be performed at Liverpool’s Unity Theatre on July 15 and 16.
Ringo Starr has gotten an honor in Los Angeles — less than a week before The Beatles get a tribute at the Grammys. Starr was given the Lifetime of Peace and Love award from the David Lynch Foundation.
Shout Factory has announced the upcoming Blu-ray release of Joe Massot'sWonderwall (1968), starring Jane Birkin and Jack MacGowran. The film was released on by Rhino on DVD in 2002 (with handmade edition in 2004), but has since gone out of print. Shout Factory's release will offer the first Hi-def edition of the movie.
Few events in John Lennon’s brief life were as traumatic and painful than the death of his mother, Julia, when he was 17. Although Julia had abandoned John to be brought up by her sister, Mimi, the event proved important in cementing his close working partnership with Paul McCartney, whose mother had died from an embolism when he was 14.
On Jan. 18, 1964, the Fab Four graced the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time, as 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' entered the Hot 100 at No. 45. Music, and our charts, would never be the same.
After declaring the end of the Beatles, Paul McCartney retired to a studio-equipped farm in Scotland and released two modest, true solo efforts as if to deflect all the expectations: the charmingly ramshackle McCartney followed by Ram, a proto-indie folk/pop record, a cloistered and insular “selfie” that was dismissed as fluff in its own time and is now widely regarded as his best post-Beatles effort and a five-star desert island necessity.
The University of Rochester Institute for Popular Music will continue its "In Performance" Series with a concert and lecture series celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' first U.S. performance on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964.
Beatles’ fans have will have an unnamed lawyer to blame for their disappointment over the possible non-release of The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963.
