Beatles News

This documentary explores the evolution of the Beat Generation to the ʼ60s counterculture in England—an underground revolution sparked by LSD and led by Paul McCartney and the Beatles.

With innovative songs like “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “Strawberry Fields Forever,” McCartney is credited with exploring electronic sounds that helped take these cutting-edge concepts to the next level. Key players and scenesters of the time tell the story, including Barry Miles, editor of the International Times and a longtime friend of McCartney’s; John “Hoppy” Hopkins, founder ofInternational Times and organizer of the UFO Club (perhaps the British counterpart to the Avalon Ballroom); Joe Boyd, founder of the UFO Club and producer of Pink Floyd; and Soft Machine drummer Robert Wyatt, just to name a few. This revolution, led by a loose collective of young radicals who introduced new social, sexual and aesthetic perspectives, helped produce the most creative period the world has ever seen in popular music!  details

It’s 50 years since the Fab Four first played in our capital. Nathan Bevan talks to one fan who is keeping the rock ‘n’ roll spirit going. This year marks a half century since The Beatles first played Cardiff – a momentous, cacophonous riot of a gig in which South Wales’ Fab Four fanatics packed the city’s Capitol Cinema to become part of music history.

And, while almost a decade would pass before Julian Pugsley was born, that short but historic seven-song set would go on to make an indelible impression on his life. Well, that and his father getting into bed with John Lennon. “The Beatles had split before I’d even arrived in this world, but I’ll never forget my journalist dad Calvin telling me about the time in ‘69 he got to interview Lennon in bed at the Amsterdam Hilton,” says the frontman with tribute act All You Need Is The Beatles. “John and Yoko had just started staging their two-week lie-in in opposition of the Vietnam War.” And how did he feel to have been present at such a signi details

Beatles memorabilia worth more than £2,500 have been bought by a colourful former councillor and pirate radio DJ. Colin Dale, 74, successfully bid for a gold disc commemorating one million single sales of We Can Work It Out and a velour cloth previously owned by Michael Jackson at an auction in Liverpool. Colin, a Wendover resident for 25 years, said:

“I saw an advert in the Antiques Traders Gazette and decided to go for it. I only buy good stuff. “I was up against a few from Liverpool but sorry boys it’s gone south!” Bidding for the framed gold disc, which celebrates the 1965 double A-sided single with Day Tripper, began at £350 before Colin secured the item for £1,620. The 5ft by 4ft velour cloth, one of only five made, previously belonged to Beatles manager Brian Epstein, then Michael Jackson and now Colin for a cost of £744. He said: “I did rather well there. “But it’s so big I’m thinking where does it go?” Colin, who has always been passionate about antiques, bought 12 Rolling Stones details

A BOOK autographed by The Beatles has been sold at an auction in Wareham for more than £3,000. Previously owned by a young fan who met the fab four backstage during a recording of Thank Your Lucky Stars, the scrapbook has now been sent on to an anonymous American bidder who paid £3,200 for it on November 12.

It also contained magazine and newspaper clippings, and several publicity photos and postcards of the group, featuring Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. The winning bidder said: “I have never bid in an auction before, but have loved the Beatles since I was three. “I will never sell them and intend to leave them to my niece if anything happens to me.” Before the auction, the un-named owner spoke to the Daily Echo to say that the item had been her ‘pride and joy for many years.’ She added: “A friend gave me a second set of autographs from the official Beatles fan club that were signed by Neil Aspinall, the road manager who died a few years ago.” It is believed that signed Beatles p details

The connection between the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the eruption of Beatlemania in the U.S. a little more than two months later when the group showed up on “The Ed Sullivan Show” has long been established.

The joy in the group’s new sound and look, played out on the faces of Sullivan’s audience full of screaming teenagers, gave a grieving nation a much-needed reason to smile once again. What’s less well-remembered is that the Sullivan show was not the group’s first TV exposure in the U.S. In fact, before that historic night, even before talk-show host Jack Paarshowed a performance clip of the Fab Four on his show a month before they arrived in the States to play live for Sullivan, Mike Wallace and CBS News were the first to tell a national audience about the phenomenon of Beatlemania then sweeping England.

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The album beat off competition from Keane and Wooden Shjips to land the top spot.The Official Record Store Chart reflects sales in the UK's independent record shops.

It was launched as part of last year's Record Store Day, the annual celebration of independent record shops. Elsewhere in the Top 10 there is a new entry for Celine Dion's latest album 'Loved Me Back To Life', which arrives at Number Four in its first week on sale. Lady Gaga's 'ARTPOP', meanwhile, is new at Number Eight. Elsewhere, albums from Eminem, Arcade Fire and Cate Le Bon stay strong in the Top 10 alongside Cliff Richard's 'The Fabulous Rock 'N' Roll Songbook' and 'Muscle Memory' by Jamie Lenman. 

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Julian Lennon appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Thursday November 21, 2013. Debuting his new album "Everything Changes"

Although his appearance was  brief , Jullian sang a song from his new album called Someday. Julian had a full band with him including violins and a cello, Julian was playing a beautiful Acoustic Guitar with the most amazing graphics on it. The song was sang and played wonderfully. Everything Changes is a stunning achievement. It's stately and intimate, and thoughtfully paced. Lyrically, it covers romance, introspection, and humanitarian concerns with artistic concision, mixing clever wordplay with emotional directness. The poignancy and poise of "Everything Changes" opens the album and sets a universally spiritual tone. The beautifully crafted lead off single "Someday" features mystical Eastern melodic motifs and boasts guest vocalist Steven Tyler.

Source: Beatles Radio Exclusive

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A Beatles expert has called for the auction of the John Lennon school detention records to be called-off until ownership rights can be properly established.

Documents revealed the Fab Four icon's antics at Quarry Bank High School, now Calderstones in Allerton, Liverpool where he was dubbed the "class clown". Teachers noted that Lennon was punished for fighting in class, being a nuisance and showing "just no interest whatsoever". The documents will go under the hammer on TracksAuction.com on Friday but an expert is urging for the auction to be called off so the ownership rights can be established. Phil Coppell, who is a leading Beatles Tour Guide in Liverpool, said: "These documents were clearly the property of the school authorities and how they got into private hands should be the subject of a proper investigation. "If the current keeper of the documents claims to have found them, or rescued them when they were being thrown away, that does not mean that he automatically owns them and can sell them at auction. 
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Plans for a permanent memorial to George Harrison at a community hospital in Oxfordshire are under way. Townlands Hospital in Henley-on-Thames is undergoing an £8.7m upgrade after campaigners fought to keep it open.

A spokeswoman for the late Beatle's family said it was in talks with the hospital's League of Friends to "create a lasting memorial to George Harrison within the proposed redevelopment". Harrison lived in the town until his death in 2001. The spokeswoman added: "It will very much be something to support and aid the local community rather than a statue or plaque." A petition started by resident James Lambert in 2012 to erect a statue in the town was halted after a response from the star's widow, Olivia. Mr Lambert said: "The Harrison family were reticent to have a more formal landmark, but what better initiative to get involved in than the redevelopment of Townlands. "It's great news, and it will be very welcomed and embraced by the whole of Henley.

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Living in Japan is often a magical mystery tour. Many things are counter-intuitive: the most popular attraction in a nation with 17 World Heritage Sites is Tokyo Disney Land; and the Hakone Open-Air Museum has more than 300 items by Picasso. So, in this vein, it was perfectly reasonable that the only (official) John Lennon museum in the world was located in Omiya, about 40 minutes from either Shinjuku or Tokyo stations.

John never set foot in Omiya, so let’s deal with the 900-pound walrus in the room: General Manager Junichi Mizusawa told me that he was always asked why the museum wasn't located in Liverpool, London, New York or even Hamburg – cities which have varying degrees of legitimate connections. According to Mr. Mizusawa, in the late 1990s, the Saitama Prefectural government was developing a large area of land near Omiya Station. The centerpiece of this project was Saitama Shintoshin(Stadium). It was thought that the stadium would bring in weekend crowds for concerts, sports events and business exhibitions, details

A new report has emerged that reveals some of the stars who will be featured on the recently-announced CBS special celebrating the 50th anniversary of the night The Beatles first performed on the legendary TV variety program, The Ed Sullivan Show.

 According to the Australian television blog TV Tonight, surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr both will appear on the show, which is titled The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to The Beatles. In addition, John Lennon‘s and George Harrison‘s widows, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, reportedly will be featured on the program, as will pop superstars Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, Adele, Bruno Mars,Pink and Katy Perry.  TV Tonight claims that an Australian cable TV executive revealed the lineup while announcing the special. As previously reported, The Night That Changed America will feature today’s top artists performing the sam details

Around 300,000 residents were evacuated from the area around the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in March, 2011 after a deadly earthquake and tsunami caused equipment failures at the site and led to the release of radioactive material.

McCartney is currently touring Japan, and he met with 10 survivors of the Fukushima disaster after inviting them to watch his concert at the Tokyo Dome on Monday night (18Nov13). The Beatles star shook hands with the lucky attendees and listened to their stories, while also insisting he hopes his music can help the country heal. He says, "At this time, we are focused on a lot of the problems that Japan has had, particularly in the last year or two. So, I always like to think that our concerts can have a healing effect, that they can help people through crises."

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Yoko Ono has been slapped with a breach of contract lawsuit from a disgruntled designer amid allegations she blocked a licensing deal for JOHN LENNON-branded products.

Larry Myerson claims he was approached about licensing the late Beatle's artwork for Bag One Arts Inc., the company Lennon's widow Ono created to promote the late icon's work, by representative Susan Valero in 2007. He spent the next two-and-a-half years creating and developing a vast collection of items from "pet products to jewelry and everything in between" for the line, and poured more than $55,000 (£36,700) into the venture, which won rave reviews from Valero at a trade presentation in 2008. He was also allegedly referred to as a "licensee" in an email from Bag One's vice president Lynn Clifford, but according to the legal papers, Myerson was subsequently informed that Ono would not approve his licensing agreements because he had been in business for less than three years.

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It’s been over forty years since the Beatles recorded their last music video. But a previously unseen clip of a cover of Words of Love by Buddy Holly is set to delight and intrigue fans. The video was recorded live at the BBC Radio studios a year before the band released the song on the album Beatles for Sale.

The video, which mixes psychedelic animations with black-and-white footage, features the Fab Four as they perform on stage and in the recording studio. The boys are seen driving in a van through the countryside, in the city and and watching fireworks, with a glimpse of the Queen Mother. The video also evokes Beatlemania, with screaming fans and a girl passing out after glimpsing her idols. She also reveals that she used to take the band's castoff clothing to give to fans. She said: 'I didn't steal them but if a shirt was ripped and they didn't want it, I'd go round there and take it. I'd always say to Louise Harrison [George's mother] 'Can I have that?' and I'd just cut the shirts up and send them out.'

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Some families form a special bond through a common interest  --  whether it's over a meal, a sport or a hobby. In the case of Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Jere Hester and his family, their bond is a love for all things related to the Beatles.

After all, it was the music of the Fab Four that connected Hester with his then-girlfriend Theresa Wozunk, who later became his wife. And when they gave birth to their only child, Ella, the couple introduced to her to the Beatles' music and she got hooked -- it led her on the path towards being an aspiring musician. How the Liverpool legends touched the lives of Hester and his family forms the basis of his recently-published book, "Raising a Beatle Baby." Both a personal memoir and a travelogue, the book documents such things as Hester's love for the music from his youth; the trip that he, Theresa and Ella (who was then 8) took in London and Liverpool in 2005 to visit several Beatles-related sites, including Ringo Starr's former house; and Ella's brush with fame when she met Paul McCartney at a details