Beatles News

It was 56 years ago when Sergeant Pepper didn't teach the band to play, instead three of four Beatles landed in the early hours of a Darwin morning ahead of their imminent Australian Tour.
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Several hundred Beatles' fans gathered at Darwin airport in the early hours of the morning. Only a hand full of journalists had the opportunity to meet John, Paul, George and touring drummer Jimmie. The biggest band in the world was gracious, even after 30 hours of flights.

Ren Kelly, a Darwin-based disc jockey at a local commercial radio station and now Alice Springs' resident, heard rumours that the most popular band in the world at the time would be landing in the Northern Territory.

"I had a friend who was working as head of the tourist office up there, who had been talking with the Qantas staff … and he had tipped me off and said 'if I can get you an interview, would you like to?'" Mr Kelly said.

Source: abc.net.au

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While the media loved pitting The Beatles against the Rolling Stones, the members of the two bands were very friendly with one another in the ’60s. If you attended the “happening” that was the orchestra recording session for “A Day in the Life” (1967), you’d have found Mick Jagger there.

During that same period, Stones founder Brian Jones contributed a saxophone part on the Beatles’ madcap B-side “You Know My Name (Look up the Number).” But the friendships dated back to long before the ’67 “Summer of Love.”

In 1963, as the Fab Four was rapidly gaining fame in the UK, the Stones were still hungry and largely unknown. So when Andrew Loog Oldham brought John Lennon and Paul McCartney to a Stones rehearsal, Jagger and his group accepted a song (“I Wanna Be Your Man”) the pair were offering.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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The footage from the Let It Be sessions leaves no question as to the band’s gear choices during that time. George Harrison is often seen playing his custom-made rosewood Fender Telecaster (serial number 235594), which he later gave to Delaney Bramlett, and “Lucy,” the 1957 Gibson Les Paul Standard electric guitar (refinished to cherry red) given to him by Eric Clapton and famously seen in the Revolution promo film.

John Lennon is rarely seen without his stripped-down Epiphone Casino. Paul McCartney uses his 1963 Hofner 500/1 exclusively, although he can be seen playing his 1961 500/1 at Twickenham Film Studios (that model was stolen soon after filming - read on for the full story…), while his Rickenbacker 4001S was also present, but only as a backup.

Source: By Chris Corfield/guitarworld.com

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Paul McCartney fiercely criticized the Italian live-music industry over its refund policy for his canceled 2020 concerts in a Facebook post that has apparently been deleted. McCartney was scheduled to perform in the Italian cities of Naples and Lucca this week but canceled the shows early last month due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In line with the policy of Assomusica, the official Italian promoters’ association, fans were offered vouchers but not refunds, prompting outrage online and a fiery statement from McCartney.
“It is outrageous that those who have paid for their tickets are not getting their money back. Without the fans there would be no live entertainment,” reads the statement, which was written in Italian and posted on McCartney’s official Facebook page before being deleted. “We strongly disagree with what the Italian government are doing. In every other country we were going to visit this summer the fans have all been offered full refunds. The organiser of our shows and the Italian law makers must do the right thing here. We are all extremely disappointed the shows could not take place and this is a real insult to the fans.”

Source: aol.com

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When The Beatles parted ways in 1970, there was no shortage of bands vying to take the Fab Four’s place. Leading candidates included The Who, The Rolling Stones, and the upstart hard-rock outfit Led Zeppelin. And while Zep as a band was new, the group included a few old hands.

The list began with Jimmy Page, an ace session guitarist who’d played with both Stones and Who — and led the last stand of The Yardbirds. Page had brought in John Paul Jones, another familiar face on the London scene. Along with Robert Plant and John Bonham, Zep had its own version of a “fab four.”

For the remainder of the ’70s, Led Zeppelin enjoyed a level of commercial success that only The Beatles had tasted. But Page, who also served as Zep’s primary songwriter and record producer, never took the band’s success for granted.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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There seems little that can’t be sorted in life over a catch up and a cuppa. Angie McCartney, widow of Sir Paul’s late dad Jim would certainly agree with that – especially in lockdown life today.

She may have swapped her Merseyside roots and the commercial world of Littlewoods for the glamour of the Hollywood Hills where she’s had a host of top media jobs, but Angie McCartney still starts each day with a ‘nice cup of tea’.

In the ‘70s Angie, now 90, even started her own organic tea business – Mrs McCartney’s Tea – which is still going strong.

Source: theguideliverpool.com

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In case peoples are searching for enthusiasts of The Beatles, you’re going to discover them in any age gathering, race, and nationality. What’s more, in the event that you ask Fab Four fans how they tune in to the band’s music, people will see they stream and tune in to the first vinyl just as CDs, tapes, and perhaps 8-tracks.

Yet, regardless of which kind of Beatles fan you meet, you generally appear to locate the regular old discussions. Did John Lennon defeat Paul McCartney in the songwriting office? Or then again was “Quiet Beatle” George Harrison the band’s distinct advantage? Possibly it was not one or the other — they’d take Ringo over the rest.

Those contentions are ageless, and they’ve continued into the spilling period, where more youthful fans make up the mass (however not the entirety) of the crowd. Furthermore, in the most recent check it was an exemplary tune by George that outwitted the Lennon-McCartney songbook.

Source: allnewsbuzz.com

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Ringo Starr has spoken out about the wave of Black Lives Matter protests around the world, saying he is sending “peace, love and continuous support” to them.

The Beatles drummer referenced his bandmate Paul McCartney’s own message, which was shared yesterday (June 5), in his tweet.

“As my brother Paul said The Beatles always stood for equal rights&justice and I’ve never stopped working for peace&love ever since,” he wrote. “I send my peace love&continuous support to everyone marching & speaking up for justice & a better world.” See the post below.

McCartney’s message called on fans to “learn more, listen more, talk more, educate ourselves and, above all, take action”. He also reflected on a Beatles show in Jacksonville in 1964 that was meant to have a segregated audience and the band’s response when they found out.

Source: nme.com

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Many pop stars, from Elvis Presley to Mariah Carey, have tried their hand at being film stars. The Beatles stand out from the pack because they made multiple films often considered classics. A Hard Day’s Night and Yellow Submarine are often considered two of the best films of the 1960s.

Of course, not every Beatles movie was universally acclaimed. John Lennon had some very strong criticisms for some of the Beatles’ films. In fact, he said one of the Beatles films managed to infuriate the Fab Four.
In 1971, Jann S. Wenner famously interviewed John for Rolling Stone. The lengthy interview would become the most well-known of John’s career. It was even published as a book called Lennon Remembers. In the exchange, John mostly discussed music but he also shared his opinions on certain films.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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When other people discuss The Beatles, you’ll listen some knock Ringo Starr because the band’s vulnerable hyperlink. But you received’t listen Ringo’s bandmates talk that means. While Paul McCartney and John Lennon could have been laborious on Ringo now and then within the studio, they’d vouch for his or her drummer within the press.

“Ringo’s a damn good drummer,” John informed Playboy’s David Sheff in 1980. “He was always a good drummer. He’s not technically good, but I think Ringo’s drumming is underrated.”

Anyone who listens carefully to the Beatles’ recorded output would most probably agree. The factor about Ringo was once, he was once the other of showy. He refused to take drum solos (with one well-known exception) and most often have shyed away from the musical highlight.

Source: celebsyou.com

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Paul McCartney posted a statement of support for protests for racial justice on Friday. “We all need to work together to overcome racism in any form,” he wrote. “We need to learn more, listen more, talk more, educate ourselves and, above all, take action.”

He also added links to Black Lives Matter, Color of Change, the NAACP, Stand Up to Racism, Campaign Zero, and Community Justice Exchange.

McCartney then recounted a concert the Beatles were booked to play at Jacksonville’s Gator Bowl in 1964, and how when they learned that it would be a segregated audience they refused to play. “We never play to segregated audiences and we aren’t going to start now,” John Lennon said at the time. “I’d sooner lose our appearance money.” The concert ended up being the first nonsegregated audience there. After that, the Beatles incorporated a clause in their contracts guaranteeing audiences would not be segregated.

Source: Kory Grow/rollingstone.com

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Paul McCartney has shared a post celebrating Black Lives Matter, which reveals that The Beatles angrily refused to perform in front of a segregated audience in 1964.

The musician praised the protests and demonstrations taking place across the world following the killing of George Floyd while in custody of white police officers in Minneapolis..

“We all need to work together to overcome racism in any form,” he wrote in a statement on Twitter. “We need to learn more, listen more, talk more, educate ourselves and, above all, take action.”

McCartney, 77, then revealed that, in 1964, he and fellow bandmates John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr refused to play a gig in Jacksonville after discovering “it was going to be a segregated audience”.

Source: Jacob Stolworthy /msn.com

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In 1966 The Beatles had experienced four long years of Beatlemania. While many aspiring rock stars dream of being that famous, it took its toll on the Fab Four. Their infamous 1966 world tour would be their last culminating in a show at San Francisco’s legendary Candlestick Park on August 29.

But at the beginning of that summer, the band’s old friend Ed Sullivan came calling wanting The Beatles to perform where American Beatlemania had all started in early 1964, The Ed Sullivan Show. Already feeling burned out, The Beatles decided to send promotional videos of them performing their new singles “Paperback Writer and “Rain” instead of being there physically. It was a bold move and heralded the MTV revolution that would take place 15 years later, as George Harrison remarked in The Beatles Anthology documentary:

Source: Nate Todd/jambase.com

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The last party I attended in Fort Collins before the virus shutdown was a Beatles party. It was at the home of a friend who had been a big Beatles fan when she was young. She had been a member of The Beatles Fan Club and saw the group at Red Rocks in 1964.

I also have been a lifelong Beatles fan and I brought all of my stuff along to the party. We looked through old Beatles magazines, books, and even stacks of Beatles bubble gum cards.

But the most fun was getting out all of our old Beatles records — yes, vinyl versions – to spin great tune after great tune. It was a feast of melodic, upbeat music with those great familiar voices.

Of all the great Beatles recordings out there, the one that currently sticks in my head is from perhaps the band’s greatest album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and that is “When I’m Sixty-Four.” There’s a reason for that — this year on June 8 I turned sixty-four.

Source: Tim Van Schmidt/northfortynews.com

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