Beatles News

In 1964 Larry Kane was a 21-year-old journalist starting his career at the Top 40 music station WFUN Miami.

Kane considered himself a serious journalist. He'd contacted the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein in advance of the band's arrival in Florida to ask for an interview at the Gator Bowl stadium in Jacksonville.

"We planned to fly young fans to Jacksonville to meet the guys," he says. "But instead Brian Epstein and their publicist Derek Taylor suggested I cover the whole 1964 US tour. I've never quite worked out why the offer was made - except possibly that Brian, being new to America, assumed I was far more important than I was."

Kane tried to persuade his bosses to send instead one of the DJs already into the band. "There were all the Cuban refugees in Miami. There was war in Vietnam escalating and racial revolution in America - why would we bother about an English band who would doubtless disappear in a few months?"

But in December 1964 Kane found himself at the first venue on the tour - the Cow Palace in Daly City, California. "The reason WFUN sent me was because they wanted a real story every day - not just frivolous happy talk. Ultimately I was filing five or six stories each day because i details

This week sees a special one-off screening of the much-anticipated documentary film, The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years, from award-winning director, Ron Howard. But for those who want to keep the music alive after the credits finish rolling, there are a whole host of Beatles attractions to visit. From Paul McCartney and John Lennon's childhood homes in Liverpool to handwritten lyrics on display at the British Library, here are some of the top Beatles haunts to visit.

1. Liverpool and The Beatles

Evan Evans, London’s largest sightseeing company, offers a day trip exploring the historic city of Liverpool, home of the Beatles. The 'Liverpool and the Beatles tour' includes round-trip travel to Liverpool with Virgin Trains and tickets to The Beatles Story, where guests can experience the most sensational story the pop world has ever known. 

In the afternoon the 'Magical Mystery Tour' takes guests around all of the landmarks in the lives of the Fab Four, including their homes, schools, birthplaces, Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields and many other significant spots, before ending at the famous Cavern Club. The tour - which operates April to October - costs £138 per adult and £ details

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were reunited on the red carpet this evening for the London premiere of Ron Howard's new documentary The Beatles: Eight Days A Week: The Touring Years. Featuring remastered footage from their live concerts, the documentary charts the rise of The Beatles from their early years performing in The Cavern Club in Liverpool to sell-out tours of the US.

The legendary singers, who made music history as part of the Fab Four were joined by thousands of fans in Leicester Square. Wearing a dark suit with a velvet lapel and black suede shoes, Paul, 74, arrived hand in hand with wife Nancy Shevell. The music idol stopped to sign autographs as screaming fans called out his name.

Drummer Ringo, 76, wore a smart a black suit jacket and trousers for the evening accompanied by wife Barbara Bach, to celebrate the live concert performances of the band in their heyday. The film directed by Ron Howard has had the support of the surviving Beatles and their families as it celebrates their timeless music and their legacy.

John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono and Paul McCartney's fashion designer daughter Stella McCartney also arrived at the event in support of the film. George Harrison's widow Olivia Harris details

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will view Ron Howard's The Beatles documentary for the first time at its premiere.

The two surviving members of the band joined Ron for a filmed Facebook question and answer session on Wednesday (14Sep16) and revealed they were yet to see The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years.

"I haven't seen it," Paul said in response to a question about his views on the film and Ringo indicated also hadn't viewed the film ahead of its release on Thursday (15Sep16). "We're looking forward to tomorrow night as you can imagine," Paul added, referring to the movie's world premiere in London on Thursday.

The Yesterday singer admitted he was particularly looking forward to seeing new footage recorded by fans of himself, Ringo and late members John Lennon and George Harrison. "We know there's new footage that fans sent in so that's very exciting," he said, before Ringo jumped in to say he was looking forward to hearing remixed audio of the band's live performances. Paul agreed with his bandmate, explaining it would be a unique experience hearing a high quality recording of himself perform live with the band. "In the cinema we're actually going to hear ourselves for the first time," details

No one had too much hope for the Beatles' movie debut. Director Richard Lester was told to shoot quickly, to get it into theaters before the fab fad faded. And a worried United Artists wondered if maybe, for the American release, the boys' voices should be dubbed, to get rid of their accents.

"Look, if we can understand a bloody cowboy talking Texan, they can understand us talking Liverpool," the usually polite Paul McCartney snapped. (And he used a stronger word than "bloody.")

But, like the Beatles, "A Hard Day's Night" exceeded all expectations. Lester – a band favorite, as he'd directed their idol, Peter Sellers – gave the film a fun, frantic pace. And screenwriter Alun Owen, a fellow Liverpudlian, caught their distinct personas – rebellious John, nice Paul, serious George, sweet Ringo.

A smash, it was quickly followed up by the more gimmicky, less satisfying "Help!" – and, eventually, the charming cartoon, "Yellow Submarine." But there were other Beatles projects, too, some solo, many bizarre. A few, like Ringo's "Caveman" comedy, were even hits. Here are eight, though, you may have missed – but that any true Beatlemaniac will want to catch

How I Won the War (19 details

Apple Corps Ltd, the music company founded by members of The Beatles, was accused in a lawsuit on Monday of infringing copyrights of a company claiming to own a master recording of the group's famous 1965 concert in New York's Shea Stadium.

Sid Bernstein Presents LLC sued before this week's scheduled release in theaters and on Hulu of "Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years," a Ron Howard-directed documentary about Beatles concerts from the dawn of Beatlemania through 1966.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Sid Bernstein, who died in 2013, was a promoter who helped bring the Beatles to the United States from their native Britain. The complaint said he also helped stage the group's Aug. 15, 1965, performance at Shea, and arranged for TV variety show host Ed Sullivan's production company to film it.

But the plaintiff, which said it was assigned Bernstein's rights, said the group's manager, Brian Epstein, took custody of the "Master Tapes" and began using them without seeking consent. It said the recording was later used in the 1966 movie "The Beatles at Shea Stadium," the 1995 documentary "The Beatles Anthology," and the 201 details

It's time for “Maxwell's Silver Hammer” to come down on Sean Lennon's tree.

A Manhattan judge has ordered the musician to "remove as immediately as practicable" the 70-year-old Ailanthus tree that is rooted in his front yard but leaning into the stoop of his neighbors, the parents of actress Marisa Tomei. The Greenwich Village soap opera on West 13th St. has been broiling for years as the tree — leaning toward the sun to the west — has slowly twisted and dislodged the wrought iron handrail on the stoop of the Tomei townhouse. Unable for years to communicate directly with Lennon, who bought his townhouse in 2008 but only recently started to renovate, Gary Tomei, the actress' father, sued Lennon last year for $10 million.

Lennon's lawyer, Judith Goodman, said at a hearing this summer that Lennon was willing to pay for the damages but didn't want to remove the tree. His experts proposed to repair the Tomei stoop and handrail, but move the handrail to accommodate the tree's 24-inch trunk. Tomei's lawyer said that solution would cost his client more money because he would have to get approval from the city Landmarks Preservation Commission before moving the handrail. The entire neighborhood is details

They’ve been together longer than The Beatles were themselves, having survived and thrived for 22 years as Canada’s longest-running Fab Four tribute band.

According Sandy Vine, who is Paul McCartney on stage, that kind of staying power speaks volumes about what The Caverners offer audiences.

“They don’t keep you around if you stink,” he said with a laugh. “Originally, the show was meant to be a British Invasion show doing the Dave Clark Five, the Rolling Stones, that kind of thing. The fellows who came together for that audition sounded so much like The Beatles and had such affinity for the music, it immediately became apparent we needed to go in that direction.”

The Caverners will be one of the highlights of the upcoming London Beatles Festival scheduled for Sept. 23-25. Vine said being a tribute artist — a good one that captures the voice, look and mannerisms of the star — is tough enough. Then multiply that by four.

“Experience comes with performing a lot and the four of us have a neat chemistry in order to perform the parts the way they’re supposed to be performed,” he said. “It’s hard enough to get an Elvis i details

This Thursday, September 15th, at the Village East Theater, Stevie Van Zandt’s non-profit Rock and Roll Forever Foundation (RRFF) will host the New York City premiere of Ron Howard’s The Beatles: Eight Days A Week-The Touring Years. Van Zandt’s foundation, which for several years running has been offering extensive educational materials free-of-charge to middle and high school teachers interested in taking their students on a historical exploration of popular music, will be launching a nationwide educational effort centered around the Beatles film. Just two days after the event, with Scholastic, Inc. as their partner and with the support of Apple Corps, the RRFF will make available their Eight Days a Week in the Classroom

materials at teachrock.org. Those new Beatles-themed materials will join over seventy preexisting multi-media lesson plans on the website; this will be the largest, most in-depth Beatles-related project to be integrated into American middle and high school education to date. The September 15th New York City premiere, held the day before the film opens in New York at IFC Center and in theaters across the country, will take place on the same day as the world premiere of the film in Lond details

Stella McCartney may be the daughter of world-famous Beatle, Sir Paul McCartney, but she has undoubtedly carved her own inimitable path in the world of fashion.

Having launched her eponymous label in April 2001 under the Gucci Group, the designer not only introduced her infamous tailoring to fashion critics but her committed animal rights support.

In celebration of her 45th birthday, we take a look back at her revolutionary designs, which undoubtedly changed the way fashion is consumed forever.

How Stella changed the mindset of the fashion masses

Having followed in the footsteps of her mother Linda McCartney, Stella (who practices vegetarianism) has woven her core values into each and every collection - refusing to use furs, leather and animal skins within the process. Other renowned fashion houses would have undoubtedly fallen at the early stages, often reliant upon the use of animal skins but Stella prevailed.

In an interview with Women’s Wear Daily, the designer recalled the beginnings of her career and the hardships that she faced in order to be taken seriously.“Yes, early in my career I was blatantly ridiculed for it. I always felt that leather and fur are the conventions details