Beatles News

Two companies behind a Beatles musical revue claim in court that proceeds from the "Rain - A Tribute" tour should not be "held hostage" by their partners because of a separate copyright dispute. MagicSpace Entertainment and Rain Corp. claim they are owed nearly $410,000 from ticket and merchandise sales for performances in April and May 2013 and for taxes paid in 2012.

But defendants Jeff Parry, Nirenna Productions LP and 2468 Nevada LLC "wrongfully conflated the withholding of the money owed plaintiffs ... with resolution of the issues at the heart of the copyright action," the companies claim in a complaint in Westchester County Supreme Court. "The instant action is a simple case regarding the failure by the defendants to make payment of monies owed the plaintiffs for services provided from the 'Rain - A Tribute' tour of April and May 2013 pursuant to New York State law," the plaintiffs say. Rain Corp., of Reno, Nev., and MagicSpace, of Salt Lake City, are in the business of producing live entertainment events. In "Rain - A Tribute to the Beatles," they stage details

All Things Must Pass – celebrating The Music Of George Harrison - comes to the Under Ground Theatre in Eastbourne. A powerful 10-piece band, recruited by some of the finest and most experienced musicians in South England, plays exclusively songs written by the ex-Beatle,

The programme consists of the obvious hits he wrote for the Beatles (Something, Here Comes The Sun, Taxman etc.), but also many great songs he recorded after the Beatlesʼ break up (My Sweet Lord, All Those Years Ago…). The show is named after his first solo album, which is considered by many music critics as a masterpiece. David Hentschel, who worked as a sound engineer with David Bowie, Elton John, Genesis and George Harrison himself, said: “I thoroughly enjoyed Alex Eberhard’s concert. Beyond music from that album, the show was a celebration of all of George Harrison’s music, all professionally and faithfully performed with love, respect and enthusiasm.”

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An abused elephant is still living in horrendous conditions in captivity almost two years after Sir Paul Mccartney spearheaded an apparently successful campaign to save it.

The Beatles legend was among a number of stars, including Baywatch actress Pamela Anderson, who took part in a 2012 drive to re-house Sunder the elephant in a sanctuary after he was discovered being abused in a temple near Mumbai, India. The celebrities believed they had succeeded in securing the beast's transfer after sending personal letters to Indian officials, and they were told the elephant would soon be roaming free in a rescue centre near Bangalore, India. However, bosses at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) have now revealed Sunder remains in the same poor conditions at the temple, where they recently filmed him being harshly beaten yet again.

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More than 18,000 people – including Yoko Ono – are backing a campaign to save the ‘bombed out church’ from being handed over to a private company.

They mobilised over the weekend in response to the news the council was in talks with a local business that was looking to take on St Luke’s for weddings. St Luke’s Church at the bottom of Leece Street is currently owned by the council, which says it is struggling to afford the cost of maintaining it. But the news it could end up in private hands caused uproar, with more than 18,000 people signing on an online petition between Friday and last night.

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A rare drawing by John Lennon which sold Friday in a celebrity auction brings to mind a hair-raising story of when the ex-Beatle took a ride on the famous Palm Springs aerial tramway in California. The ballpoint pen drawing shows Lennon, girlfriend May Pang and Harry Nilsson sitting on a tramcar thousands of feet off the ground in midair.

This rare drawing was auctioned off along with several other John Lennon sketchesfrom the 1970s on Friday March 21 by CooperOwen Auctions in London. The drawings were given to guitarist Jesse Ed Davis from Lennon. Davis was a session musician who played lead guitar on Lennon’s albums “Walls and Bridges” and “Rock and Roll”.  In March of 1974, John Lennon was in the midst of his “Lost Weekend” with girlfriend, May Pang, on the West Coast. He had temporarily split from wife, Yoko Ono, and was partying and carousing with friends like Harry Nilsson in Los Angeles. On a weekend getaway, Lennon, Pang, Nilsson and his girlfriend, along with former Beatles’ roadie, Mal details

The largest private collection of John Lennon's artwork could fetch more than $800,000 (£500,000) at auction later this year. The works, featuring poems, doodles and drawings, were created by the Beatles legend and published in his two books, In His Own Write and A Spaniard In The Works. They will be put up for sale as 89 lots at the auction, which is taking place in New York on June 4. 

The collection, titled, 'You Might Well Arsk', is owned by Tom Maschler, who published both of Lennon's books in 1964 and 1965 respectively. Mr Maschler, who also founded The Booker Prize, described the Liverpool-born singer's artworks as 'extraordinary'. 'Many are scrawled on the back of hotel notepaper, he said. 'I thought they were extraordinary and asked "who wrote these?" 'I was told "John Lennon" and soon after I met with John and suggested that he should produce John Lennon In His Own Write. 'I then had to inspire in him the confidence to write and produce the drawings.

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On Sunday's episode of The Simpsons, all the bullies in town took the subway to the Bully Summit, giving us a look at Springfield's mass transit system (and sort of Vignelli-esque map... or is it more like Boston's?). We get a look at the platforms (where the bully gangs assemble a la The Warriors... or Michael Jackson's "Bad" video), along with the interior of the cars, and the whole thing is pretty 1980s NYC (with boomboxes, but less graffiti).

We also get to see the various Springfield neighborhoods and attractions on the map, like like Giant Magnifying Glass, Guidopolis, Unauthorized Beatles Museum, Jerk Circle, and the Varmint District. As Atlantic Cities points out, the system has evolved: "Last we knew, the city's subway system was mostly inoperative because its creaky, vibrating trains were damaging the foundations of buildings. In terms of routes, it was a simplistic loop." And of course, before that there was a brief flirtation with a monorail, but that was always more of a Shelbyville idea...

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YOU may well have hummed along to one of his songs. Perhaps you have dropped a few coins into his guitar case. But you probably haven't realised just how popular busker Danny McEvoy is. A regular sight in East Grinstead town centre, he may well be Britain's best-loved busker as his YouTube videos have just passed two million views.