Beatles News

The musicians who would become the Beatles played some of their earliest shows at the Casbah Coffee Club, a music venue in the basement of a Liverpool home. The house was owned by Mona Best, the mother of the band’s one-time drummer, Pete Best, who lived upstairs as a teenager.

Now, Pete and his brother, Roag, are reopening the building as an Airbnb. Guests can stay in Beatles-themed rooms full of the band’s memorabilia.

“The Beatles played here, the Beatles partied here and the Beatles slept here,” Pete, now 82, tells PA Media’s Eleanor Barlow.

Mona bought the building, located in the West Derby area of the city, after winning an unlikely bet, according to the Guardian’s Hannah Al-Othman. At the 1954 Epsom Derby, she pawned all of the jewelry she owned and placed the money on an inexperienced jockey riding a horse named “Never Say Die.” She watched the race with her family, who didn’t know about the bet.

“As the horse was winning and coming past the finishing post, she suddenly jumped up and started screaming: ‘I’ve won the house, I’ve won the house, I’ve won the house!’” Pete tells the Guardian. &ldq details

For almost 50 years, a recording of America at the Hollywood Bowl lay dormant as a lost treasure. But no more.

America – Live From The Hollywood Bowl 1975 has been restored and released via Primary Wave Music; distributed by Sun Records. The record comes out almost exactly 49 years to the day of the performance, which was September 5th, 1975.

The never-before-heard tapes were recently restored and recently mixed and produced from the original master tapes. Previously issued in limited quantities on Record Store Day, the 20-track album is now being released on CD, on a new red vinyl variant, and digitally.

Produced by Jeff Larson, Live From The Hollywood Bowl 1975 captures America at the peak of its performance prowess: The band was tight and spirited, nailing breezy harmony vocals, teardrop slide guitar parts, plaintive piano passages, and intricate folk guitar filigree. Adding to excitement was that America was joined by its producer Sir George Martin, often known as the “fifth Beatle,” who conducted an orchestra behind the band.

The album features live versions of classic tracks such as “Ventura Highway,” “Sister Golden Hair,” “I Need details

Recently I had a couple of items to be framed, so I visited Creative Framing Solutions on Chestnut Street. In my experience, owner Grace Burr has always done immaculate work. While chatting she mentioned that she was planning to have more shows on-site. Her next show coming up was by a photographer I was not familiar with. (Possibly showing my ’60s pop-culture ignorance.)

The exhibition, entitled “The Lost Weekend: The Photography of May Pang,” will provide fans a rare opportunity to see John Lennon in a new light, through the lens of someone who knew him intimately during one of the most creative periods of his life. May Pang’s candid photos will be on display and available to purchase. Pang will attend the exhibit, meeting customers and telling stories behind these amazing limited-edition photographs for sale of John Lennon.

The exhibit coincides with the recent digital release of the film documentary about John Lennon and May Pang called “The Lost Weekend: A Love Story,” available on many streaming platforms (Amazon Prime, AppleTV, YouTube, Vudu) and produced by Briarcliff Entertainment. 

Photographer May Pang knew John Lennon intimately. Pang was Lennon&rsquo details

With any artistic pursuit, the artist runs the risk of regretting their choices as time passes and their craft develops. Even the Beatles looked back on some of their earliest offerings and cringed. John Lennon was embarrassed by one song in particular. Find out why Lennon regretted writing “It’s Only Love,” below.

I get high when I see you go by
My oh, my
When you sigh, my, my inside just flies
Butterflies
Why am I so shy?
When I’m beside you

It’s safe to say that the lyrics to “It’s Only Love” are somewhat simplistic. That’s not always a bad thing. Some of the best songs–even the best Beatles songs–center around simple sentiments. Lennon, however, found them to be too juvenile. As he looked back on this track later in his career, he found it to be an embarrassing moment on his otherwise pretty stellar track record.

“It’s the most embarrassing song I ever wrote,” Lennon once said of this track. “Everything rhymed. Disgusting lyrics. Even then I was so ashamed of the lyrics, I could hardly sing them. That was one song I really wished I’d never written.”

It’s only lo details

Getting to meet and stand in line with your childhood musical idols must be one of the cooler parts of becoming a famous musician, but this perk comes with a price. Sometimes, those idols don’t feel the same about you, as was the case for a famed Britpop band and former Beatle, Paul McCartney.

The Beatles’ influence on rock ‘n’ roll is a globally undeniable phenomenon, but their legacy is perhaps most strongly felt in their native U.K., where bands like Black Sabbath, Queen, and Oasis followed in the Fab Four’s footsteps.

Unfortunately for that last band, though, they found themselves on Paul McCartney’s bad side sometime in the late 1990s.
Paul McCartney Called This British Band “Derivative”.

By the time Oasis became famous, the Beatles were a long-lost relic of decades past. The surviving three members, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison, were all busy pursuing their professional and personal passions. But when the Britpop band from Manchester tried to claim they were “bigger than the Beatles” in a 1996 interview with MTV, the lads from Liverpool took note.

In a documentary detailing Oasis’ divisive rise to sta details

Though he might not have had quite as many cuts as Paul McCartney or John Lennon, George Harrison did deliver his fair share of hits for the Beatles. Among his cuts are “I, Me, Mine,” “Something,” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Each of those songs are indelible in the Beatles catalog, proving Harrison’s songwriting prowess. However, there is one song in particular that stood out for McCartney. Find out what Macca’s favorite Harrison-penned Beatles song is, below.

Here comes the sun, doo-doo-doo-doo
Here comes the sun, and I say
It’s alright

It’s impossible to not like “Here Comes the Sun.” It’s the sonic equivalent to feeling the first warm rays after a long, cold, lonely winter. McCartney once credited this track as one of his favorite songs Harrison contributed to the band.

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, McCartney was asked what song of Harrison’s he liked best. “‘Here Comes The Sun,’” he said at the time. “It is a brilliant song and the kind of song that’s really good in times like these.”

Little darlin’, it’s been a long, cold, lonely winter
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I was there for the band's only appearance in this city, hired as an usher for the occasion. I can remember the scene — and the screams.

The Beatles performed two shows at the Forum on Sept. 8, 1964. Tickets were $4.50 and $5.50. Only the night performance was sold out.
The Beatles pose at the Forum for their one and only appearance in Montreal, on Sept. 8, 1964. They performed two shows, at 4 and 8:30 p.m. Tickets: $4.50 and $5.50.

In early September 1964, I noticed an ad in The Gazette seeking ushers to work a rock concert I wanted to see at the Montreal Forum. The ticket price was outrageous ($5.50!), so the opportunity to work the afternoon and evening shows and get paid sounded great. Applicants were asked to go downtown to the Forum four days before the show. On the appointed day, I took the Sherbrooke 105 bus from Montreal West to the arena. I was 20 years old.

More than 100 of us were crammed into a huge room. An official-looking man announced enough ushers had already been hired and thanked everyone for showing up. My heart sank. But as the crowd shuffled toward the door, the guy suddenly yelled: “Wait! We need the six tallest. If you are over six-foot-two, stick around!&rdqu details

John Lennon and Yoko Ono were political activists who used their celebrity to spread the message of peace and love, even if the FBI considered them to have limited efficacy as revolutionaries, as they were “constantly under the influence of narcotics.” In March 1969, Lennon and Ono honeymooned in Amsterdam. They turned it into an event, inviting the press to their “bed-in for peace.” Several months later, they repeated the event in Montreal. This time, they recorded “Give Peace a Chance,” which was quickly adopted by protesters of the Vietnam War. In December, they financed billboards in 10 cities worldwide, declaring (in the native language) “War Is Over! If You Want It.”

In August 1971, Lennon and Ono moved to New York City and embraced radical left ideologies. Richard Nixon’s administration began a four-year attempt to deport Lennon, causing a sticky legal battle with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that wouldn’t be resolved until 1976. Let’s take a look at the story behind “Gimme Some Truth” by John Lennon.

I’m sick and tired of hearing things from
Uptight, short-sided, narrow-minded hypocrites
All I w details

The new documentary One to One: John & Yoko reportedly features an eerie declaration from John Lennon regarding whether he felt his political activism put his safety at risk.

The film covers Lennon’s planned Free The People Tour in the early ’70s, which aimed to raise money for people who were jailed but unable to afford bail. It wound up being called off.

But People reports that one scene in the film includes archival footage of the Beatles legend talking on the phone with drummer Jim Keltner about the risks of the tour. Keltner asks whether Lennon has “any paranoia” about people ahead of the tour launch.

“What people? … You mean people trying to kill us or something like that? I’m not about to get myself shot,” Lennon replies. “It’ll cause excitement in its own way. But, er, you know, I’m still an artist, but a revolutionary artist, right?”

In another clip Lennon talks to a journalist about concerns he and wife Yoko Ono have for their safety, noting, “We started noticing people hanging outside the apartment. And I have a driver, he’s an ex-cop. But we’re getting followed by this car, all the time. So details

After suffering through a devastating personal tragedy, Paul McCartney hunkered down and got back to his music in 1999. Specifically, he turned to the music of his youth for comfort and inspiration. The resulting album, Run Devil Run, was a triumph.

While many cover songs of rock standards can lack the zest of the originals and come off as routine retreads, McCartney and the backing band he used for the album absolutely sizzled. Let’s look back at how Run Devil Run, Paul’s off-the-cuff project, delivered such lasting impact.

On April 17, 1998, Linda McCartney passed away after battling cancer. The McCartney’s marriage had been idyllic, especially by the standards of rock and roll unions where volatility is a given. The pair rarely spent any time apart, even with all the demands of the former Beatle’s career.

Thus, it was understandable when McCartney stepped out of the limelight and spent time to grieve, in the end taking about a year off. Many wondered if his next release would address the feelings of loss he likely was experiencing in the wake of Linda’s passing. But McCartney instead chose something invigorating and mostly joyful.

Long a fan of the early days of details

Sixty years to the day of the last time Beatlemania put a stranglehold on Indianapolis, thousands of Beatles fans returned to the Indiana Farmers Coliseum to listen to their favorite band.

The Fab Four performed at the Indiana State Fair on Sept. 3, 1964, to a sold-out crowd of 10,000 screaming fans. On Sept. 3, 2024, some of those same fans, along with droves of other Beatles faithful, returned to the coliseum to listen to a recording of that show and see a performance by a Beatles tribute band.

Of all the stories from the Beatles’ short stint in Indianapolis, the best might be in the hours after the concert when State Police Officer Jack Marks, assigned to the Beatles’ security detail, spotted a sleepless Ringo Starr by the pool at the Speedway motel the band was staying at.

“My dad and two other state policemen saw him and went over and were talking to him,” said Karen Balach, “And said, ‘Since you can’t sleep, would you like to drive around and see part of the city?'”

At the time, Karen’s last name was Marks and she was just 11 years old — too young for her parents to even let her go to the concert. Her dad had the coolest job around details

Though he might not have had quite as many cuts as Paul McCartney or John Lennon, George Harrison did deliver his fair share of hits for the Beatles. Among his cuts are “I, Me, Mine,” “Something,” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Each of those songs are indelible in the Beatles catalog, proving Harrison’s songwriting prowess. However, there is one song in particular that stood out for McCartney. Find out what Macca’s favorite Harrison-penned Beatles song is, below.

Here comes the sun, doo-doo-doo-doo
Here comes the sun, and I say
It’s alright

It’s impossible to not like “Here Comes the Sun.” It’s the sonic equivalent to feeling the first warm rays after a long, cold, lonely winter. McCartney once credited this track as one of his favorite songs Harrison contributed to the band.

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, McCartney was asked what song of Harrison’s he liked best. “‘Here Comes The Sun,’” he said at the time. “It is a brilliant song and the kind of song that’s really good in times like these.”

Source: Alex Hopper/americansongwriter.com

details

Elton John has never been shy about his struggles with addiction. Now that the rock icon has been clean since the early ’90s, he has been more than up for talking about his experiences. One tidbit he has shared involves George Harrison. Reportedly, the Beatle helped John curb his drug addiction.

The Beatles weren’t strangers to drugs. They had their fair share of bouts with weed and other substances. Nevertheless, Harrison took it upon himself to help out his fellow musician when he noticed he was struggling. John has opened up about how bad his drug addiction got in his heyday.

“I thought, ‘This is the drug that has opened me up,” John once said. “I can converse, I can be verbose. I would have an epileptic seizure and turn blue, and people would find me on the floor and put me to bed, and then 40 minutes later, I’d be snorting another line.”

“I’m not being flippant when I say that, when I look back I shudder at the behavior and what I was doing to myself,” he added elsewhere.

It was caustic enough to prompt John to do a 180 and attempt to get sober. Part of that journey involved Harrison’s keen advice. The Beatle came to hi details

The Fab Four brought British Pop to Milwaukee 60 years ago this week, on Sept 4th, 1964.

Radio super DJ Bob Barry was working for WOKY when he was asked emcee the concert.

“I didn’t want to do it,” Barry told WTMJ’s Wis. Morning News. “My program director told me I had to because it was the Beatles.”

Adoring fans screamed for the band as they were announced.

“I couldn’t hear what they were singing, it was that intense,” Barry said.

Source: Erik Bilstad/wtmj.com

The late George Harrison was responsible for composing many memorable songs for both The Beatles and his own solo career. Harrison usually wrote tunes by himself, but there were quite a few instances where he collaborated with other artists, sometimes for those musicians’ projects and sometimes for his own.

Spotify recently debuted a “George Harrison Co-Writes” playlist featuring more than 50 songs Harrison wrote in collaboration with other artists.

Here are four noteworthy tunes that appear on the playlist:
“Badge” – Cream (1968)

Harrison helped Eric Clapton write “Badge” while Clapton was working on a tune to contribute to Cream’s 1969 farewell album, Goodbye. The song never mentions the word “badge,” and the title came about because of a humorous misunderstanding.

The tune initially didn’t have a title, but Harrison had written the lyrics on a sheet of paper, and included the word “bridge” to denote where the bridge of the track was to be played. In a 1977 interview with Crawdaddy magazine, Harrison recalled that Clapton looked at the sheet upside down and, misreading his handwriting, asked him, “Wha details