Beatles News

An acoustic detective story.

The story belongs in a film script - a man buys a used acoustic for a few dollars and plays it for years. Then, one fine day, he discovers he has in his possession one of the most important ‘lost’ guitars in rock history. We find out how John Lennon’s Gibson J-160E acoustic, which was used to record some of The Beatles’ legendary early hits, resurfaced in California last year, solving a 50-year mystery.

When the gavel finally fell in the auction of John Lennon’s ‘lost’ 1962 Gibson J-160E acoustic in California last November, the bidding closed at $2.4m. For John McCaw, who had originally bought the guitar for just $175, the hammer’s crash also marked the end of a remarkable piece of detective work - and a kind of farewell.

John bought the guitar in 1969 from a friend, Tommy Pressley, who had picked it up at a San Diego music store called The Blue Guitar two years previously. Neither man had any inkling at the time that the guitar had previously been the main squeeze of John Lennon, who originally bought it at Rushworth’s Music Store in Liverpool in September 1962, for just over £161, and used it to create some of the details

Did you know that the Beatles’ 1962 hit song ‘Love Me Do’ was written years before the group was formed?

Paul McCartney wrote this song about his girlfriend at the time, Iris Caldwell, in 1958, when he was 17. He said that John Lennon co-wrote it with him and apparently, both he and John made time for songwriting by skipping school.

They had written songs before, but this was the first one they liked enough to record. ‘Love Me Do’ is the Beatles’ first single and was a No. 1 hit in 1964. The single features John Lennon’s prominent harmonica playing and duet vocals by him and Paul. John stole the harmonica used in this song in a music shop in a Dutch town called Arnhem while the Beatles were on their way to Hamburg. Apparently, John’s lips went numb from playing the harmonica at a session!

Do you still remember the lyrics?

Love, love me do

You know I love you

I’ll always be true

So please, love me do

Source: Stars at 60

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They were a world famous and controversial couple.

John Lennon, arguably one of the most famous current musicians in the world and artist wife Yoko Ono, had staged their first bed-in for peace in Amsterdam. That event was part performance art and part honeymoon for the couple who had been married on March 20, and was intended to promote their message for world peace at the height of the Cold War, and with the Vietnam War escalating.

The second week-long bed-in was planned for New York to get more North American coverage, but Lennon was barred from the US for a previous marijuana conviction. The next plan was to go to the Bahamas, but that proved too hot and humid, so it was that on May 26, 1969 the couple arrived at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal where they booked four adjoining rooms, including their room, 1742.

The scene was busy and confused to say the least as reporters crowded in for interviews, and fans crowded around outside the hotel hoping for a glimpse of the couple, or at least be part of the ‘scene’. A number of top celebrities were also invited, including then well-known cartoonist Al Capp who ended up in a somewhat heated exchange with the couple about a number of things. details

Sir Paul McCartney gets "frustrated" when fans just want to hear old Beatles songs.

The 73-year-old singer-songwriter gained worldwide fame as part of the four-piece group - which also featured Ringo Starr, John Lennon and George Harrison - but admitted to feeling annoyed when all people want to hear is the band's classic tunes, such as 'Love Me Do', and 'Yellow Submarine'.

Sir Paul said: "We give them what they want as long as they're songs we like. Occasionally we throw in songs and I'll say 'you are not going to like this, but we're going to do it anyway'. "You can tell in a big arena. When you do 'I Give Her All My Love' the cameras click, click, click and all the lights come on from the iPhones. Then you say 'here's one off our new album' and it's a black hole! But we do it anyway but it is a bit frustrating. You kinda hope they're going to catch on by the end of the tour."

However, Sir Paul admitted there needs to be a bit of give and take between himself and his fans. He told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "You always like to just do the songs you want to do whether they are hits or not.

Source: The List

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The Beatles legend John was murdered in December 1980 outside New York's Dakota Building, where he and Sean's mother Yoko Ono had an apartment He died two months after he had turned 40.

Sean, who was born on his father's 35th birthday, on October 9 1975, says he had difficulty assessing his feelings of guilt when he approached and passed the milestone last year (15).

"It was really difficult turning 40," he tells Britain's MOJO magazine. "I felt kind of guilty or something. But there's also something freeing in being older than he ever was because I feel like I'm in new territory."

The musician feels he is not as mature as his father when he died however, saying, "It's hard to believe actually because my idea of myself as an adult doesn't really correspond to how I viewed him when I was a kid. He seemed so grown-up to me, and I don't feel grown up at all."

He thinks his dad seemed older at a younger age because people of John's generation matured faster due to the harsher style of parenting when they were children in the 1940s and 50s.

"Post-Second World War, parenting and life was serious and I think people grew up faster. There's a sort of maturity that I notice in people of his generat details

Paul has teamed up once more with Jaunt - the leading producer and publisher of fully-immersive cinematic virtual reality experiences - and today release the first two episodes of 'Pure McCartney VR', a six-part series of virtual reality (VR) documentary shorts. As part of the upcoming launch of 'Pure McCartney', a career–spanning compilation album, each of these complementary immersive VR experiences delve into the stories behind some of Paul’s most iconic songs.

Filmed in his private home studio, fans will embark on a personal journey with Paul as he recounts memories and anecdotes related to various tracks, while sharing archival and never-before-seen footage. The 'Pure McCartney VR' episodes, which chronicle 'Dance Tonight', 'Coming Up', 'My Valentine', 'Mull of Kintyre' and 'Early Days', will be released episodically, starting today, and continuing through the coming weeks up to the release of ‘Pure McCartney'.

In building the series, the team sought out the creative expertise of some of the most innovative minds in the business, including award-winning Director, Tony Kaye; Producer and Soundscape Architect Geoff Emerick; and Executive Producers Cliff Plumer, Lucas Wilson and Doug Allenste details

SIR Paul McCartney has revealed he started drinking heavily and came close to quitting music after The Beatles broke up. The music superstar said he ended up forming Wings when he stopped enjoying the party lifestyle.

Reflecting on his life and career at a recording of Mastertapes for Radio 4, he said: "I was breaking from my lifelong friends, not knowing whether I was going to continue in music. I took to the bevvies. I took to a wee dram. It was great at first, then suddenly I wasn't having a good time. It wasn't working. I wanted to get back to square one, so I ended up forming Wings."

Sir Paul also acknowledged that some of the criticism levelled at Wings was fair but he doesn't regret collaborating with his wife Linda, who died in 1998. He said: "To be fair we weren't that good. We were terrible. We knew Linda couldn't play but she learned and, looking back on it, I'm really glad we did it. "I could have just formed a supergroup and rung up Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page and John Bonham but we graduated from playing universities to town halls, which was quite funny as I'd been at Shea Stadium quite recently.

But you still remember the names of the people who gave you really bad, vicious reviews: Charle details

Legendary pop star Ringo Starr was not amused when he learned that Indonesian company Asia Global Media - a Jakarta based information technology and services firm - registered a brand name at the Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DGIP) that is very similar to his own name. Former Beatles drummer Richard Starkey, known professionally as Ringo Starr, filed a lawsuit at the Commercial Court in Central Jakarta in February 2016 over the use of the 'Ringgo Star' brand that was registered by Asia Global Media.

Lawyer Nadia Am Badar, Director at Indonesia-based law firm Am Badar & Partners, was appointed by the management of Ringo Starr to represent his side in the court case and to demand the revocation of the 'Ringgo Star' trademark. Nadia Am Badar informed that Indonesian firm Asia Global Media has registered a total of five brands or trademarks at Indonesia's Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DGIP)

However, the 'Ringgo Star' brand is unacceptable according to Nadia Am Badar because it resembles the name of former Beatles member Ringo Starr too closely. The name of English musician Ringo Starr (born in 1940) is known across the globe and has an international reputation and legendary status details

Linda McCartney launched a career as a rock photographer after photographing The Rolling Stones in New York during the 1960s. Her daughter Mary, who is now a professional photographer, focuses on portraiture and candid reportage.

She was a guest speaker at Photo London, where she was in conversation with Philippe Garner, international head of photographs at Christie’s. Afterwards, Mary – daughter of musician Sir Paul McCartney– responded to a question from Amateur Photographer.

She was asked if there were one piece of advice her mother had given her that she has taken forward in her own career as a photographer. Mary, replied: ‘She didn’t give me a lot of advice, but I did have that time where we were both photographers… where I’d take her for lunch and I would grill her about her past career. ‘So, she didn’t give me advice as such – she wasn’t like that – but I would say that all the things she photographed she had real passion for, and when she didn’t have a passion for it she wouldn’t involve herself in it.’ Mary would say to her mother, who died in 1998, that she couldn’t believe she had taken all those pictures details

Few musicians are as revered as the great John Lennon from The Beatles. The Beatles are known as one of the best and most influential bands of all-time, with everything from their earlier, poppier music still being revered to their later, more experimental music being seen as masterworks. Lennon was one of the driving forces behind the band and their transition into more interesting musical horizons, penning many of their famous songs alongside Paul McCartney.

So how much would handwritten lyrics from John Lennon sell for on the open market? According to the BBC, they’d sell for a whopping $354,000. Auctioneer Julien’s sold the handwritten lyrics to The Beatles’ song Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite! from the album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The song, written by Lennon, is one of the many revered deep cuts from The Beatles that clocks in at a mere 2:37.

That wasn’t the only piece of musical memorabilia that was auctioned off recently, either, as Elvis Presley’s black Gibson Dove guitar — which was gifted to the singer and painted black after he earned his black belt in karate — sold for a hefty $334,000.

By: Dave Walsh

Source: UPROXX

BEATLES legend Paul McCartney has released a series of videos celebrating his late wife Linda and her vegetarian food empire.

In the short clip, Paul reflects on his life with Linda and their decision to go vegetarian. He said: “We decided to go vegetarian, then Linda said ‘Ok well I’m going to try and make this food.’ “She was a pioneer cos there was nothing else around at the time.” Paul is joined in the video by daughters Stella, who runs a global fashion empire, and Mary, a photographer and cookery writer.

Speaking about her childhood memories of her mother in the kitchen, Stella said: “Mum very much started it, she did the cookbooks. “She was probably one of the first ‘celebrity’ people to do cookbooks, that was totally unheard of.”

Linda went on to produce not only cookbooks but a range vegetarian meals that are still popular today. Discussing why Linda went down this route, Paul explained: “When you’re going to make a move like that and be so vocal about it, people are going to go ‘Oh, I see Paul and Linda have gone veggie’.

Paul reminisced on Linda’s skills in the kitchen and said: “With details

Ethan Russell uses a passage about himself that was published in the June 2012 Daily Beast to launch his multimedia performance “The Best Seat in the House”: “To tell the story of the now-famed rock photographer – known for shooting iconic images of ’60s music legends including the Who, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Cream, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones – is to strain the amount of luck you imagine any one human is allowed.”

The 70-year-old Grammy-nominated rock lensman, art director, video-film director and author will share his story Friday, May 20, at the Harris Center in Folsom. Russell’s show transports the audience back in time and into the veritable lap of rock royalty while on tour, in the studio and at home using a candid, intimate blend of about 275 photos, music, videos and live narrative. 

Russell serendipitously entered rock photography with a Nikon and no credentials, eventually shooting album covers for the Beatles, the Stones and the Who and becoming friends with many of rock’s key players. He went on the 1969 and 1972 tours with the Stones, stood next to the cameraman who filmed the stabbing at Altamont, was on the roof of the Apple St details

It is believed to be a cast-off song from one of The Beatles’ best-known albums, doomed to be forgotten without ever being heard in concert or recorded for the Fab Four’s fans.

Instead, the lyrics and chords for Pensioner’s Waltz, thought to have been omitted from the final running order of The White Album nearly 50 years ago, were curiously left hidden in an exercise book owned by a Hampstead schoolboy, who subsequently defaced the cover with a transfer of a cow.

The full, and bizarre, story of how Robert Barclay, then aged 10, ended up with Sir Paul McCartney’s makeshift manuscript has been revealed after the key pages were put up for auction with memorabilia hunters expecting the surviving notes to be sold for tens of thousands of pounds.

In a signed statement to prove its authenticity, Mr Barclay, now in his 50s, told of a chance meeting with Linda McCartney – Sir Paul’s first wife who died in 1998 – as well as Crosby, Stills and Nash at his mother’s shop at the Hampstead Antique Emporium in Heath Street, where he would head to at the end of his day at school.

“Around 1968/69 I was a pupil at St Anthony’s School in Hampstead and I wa details

A remarkable set of family photos that show John Lennon larking around and dressing as a woman in 19th century costume have emerged for sale. The five original black and white pictures offer a rare insight into the personal life of the Beatles legend and show Lennon, his wife Yoko Ono and their baby son Sean having fun in costume while on holiday in America. They were taken in a vintage clothing photography studio in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1977 - three years before the music icon was shot dead outside his New York apartment - and also feature Sean's nanny and a friend.

The unusual souvenir-style pictures are a far cry from the often serious portrayal of the singer in the media and at one point the famous couple switch roles with Lennon dressing as a woman and Yoko as a Civil War soldier. 

The photographer, Sanford Kreger, told a newspaper in 2005 that the family came into the studio when they visited a friend, the late George Maciunas. Maciunas was a founding member of Fluxus, an international community of artists, architects, composers and designers, that Yoko Ono was also a member of. He is believed to be the other man in some of the photos. Maciunas was diagnosed with pancreatic and liver cancer details

The Beatles' former press officer, who coined the term 'The Fab Four' to describe the band, has died. Tony Barrow represented the band between 1962 and 1968 and also wrote sleeve notes for their early albums, as well as the strip cartoon for the Magical Mystery Tour booklet.

Mr Barrow died on Saturday night, aged 80, at his home in Morecambe. He had also represented other Merseybeat acts such as Gerry and the Pacemakers and Cilla Black.

Born in Crosby in 1936, Mr Barrow was poached from the Decca record group in 1962 by The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein. Beatles expert Spencer Leigh said he was an unassuming cog in the band's success and had the "unusual" task for a press officer of reining in the publicity they received.

"The majority of press officers are trying to get publicity for their performers but The Beatles had so much publicity that he was trying to draw it back at times."

"He had to be with Brian Epstein, who was a very temperamental manager - Tony told me that he'd been sacked at least a dozen times by Epstein, but he always took him back the next day", he said.

Source: BBC News

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