The humble yellow door that once served as the entrance to the McCartney family home at 20 Forthlin Road in Liverpool is for sale. Paul’s family used the door daily from 1955 to 1964, and it’s thought that over 100 of the Beatles’ early songs were written behind it.
The McCartneys left the house in 1964 and the property was taken over by Sheila Jones--who, during her time there, acted as an unofficial Beatles ambassador to fans who came from around the world to visit the home.
But in the late Seventies, Mrs. Jones decided to have the house refurbished and got rid of all of its doors, window fittings and tiles.
The door's current owner, Glen South, bought it from her through a mutual contact.
Auctioneer Chris Albury, who is handling the sale of the door at Dominic Winter Auctioneers in Gloucestershire, has given the door an estimate of between £3,000 and £5,000 or $7,600 US.
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Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake and Palmer fame says that as a member of Ringo's 2001 All-Starr Band, he learned that there was a lot more to the man than he expected.
“It was quite an extraordinary experience, partly because he wasn't the person I was expecting. He's a lot better player than I really thought,” Lake says. “He's a very disciplined person. You only have to listen and focus on the drum parts in the Beatles and hear that they're all flawless. But he's very disciplined. Even with my music, he would keep on and on and on until it was absolutely right.”
“I saw then the effect he must have had in the Beatles was very similar. He was quite a perfectionist. That was something I didn't realize about him. He's got this wonderful feel. He's an amazing person.”
The Los Angeles house where George Harrison wrote “Blue Jay Way” has sold for $3.8 Million.
As George told the story: “Derek Taylor got held up. He rang to say he'd be late. I told him on the phone that the house was in Blue Jay Way… So I waited and waited…To keep myself awake, just as a joke to pass the time while I waited, I wrote a song about waiting for him in Blue Jay Way. There was a little Hammond organ in the corner of this house [which George was renting] which I hadn't noticed until then... so I messed around on it and the song came.”
The single-family home is spread across an area of 4116 square feet sitting on a 0.4 acre lot. The residence has three bedrooms and three bathrooms.
detailsPaul McCartney says that while his perspective has changed since, he and the other Beatles were "cheesed off" by Yoko Ono's presence at Beatles recording sessions.
Paul tells Q Magazine: "Because we'd been such a tight-knit group, the fact that John was getting pretty serious about Yoko at that time, I can see now that he was enjoying his newfound freedom and getting excited by it. But when she turned up at the studio and sat in the middle of us, doing nothing, I still admit now that we were all cheesed off. But looking back on it - [Yoko and I] have talked about this - I think she realises it must have been a shock for us. But lots of things that went down were good for us, really. At the time, though, we certainly did not think that."
An original stereo copy of “Please Please Me” sold for 7,552 pounds, or $11,500 US—50 years to the day the record was released.
Presented in a frame with a set of autographs on a magazine page featuring the Fab Four, it was one of 280 lots of Beatles memorabilia being offered in an anniversary sale at Omega Auctions in Stockport, Lancashire, about 40 miles east of Liverpool. According to the company, the buyer was based in the UK.
The auction’s other stand-out result was the 27,140 pounds given for a collection of 64 color slides of the Beatles taken in August 1964 by Robert Beck.
The buyer was a prominent South American collector of Beatles memorabilia, based in Washington D.C., who also owns John Lennon’s Oscar for “Let It Be,” Omega Auctions said.
Musician John Power is set to play John Lennon in a new musical. Power – guitarist in the La's and singer in the group Cast – will make his theatrical debut in Rob Eaton's musical Lennon at the Royal Court Liverpool. The show follows Lennon's life from his childhood in Liverpool through to his later years in New York. Power will play the role of the older Lennon – who acts as the show's narrator. Having grown up in Penny Lane himself, Power went to the same schools as John (Dovedale and Quarry Bank).
As many as 40 songs are featured in the show, including 'All You Need Is Love', 'Lucy in The Sky With Diamonds', 'In My Life', and 'A Hard Day’s Night', and John’s own, 'Imagine'.
In the April issue of Q magazine, Paul McCartney says he had wanted to make “Yesterday” an early piece of electronica.
Paul says he approached electronica pioneer Delia Derbyshire from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, wanting to collaborate with her.
McCartney said: "I even found out where Miss Derbyshire lived, and went round to visit her. We even went into the hut in the bottom of her garden. It was full of tape machines and funny instruments. My plan in meeting her was to do an electronic backing for my song, 'Yesterday'. We'd already recorded it with a string quartet, but I wanted to give the arrangement electronic backing...The Radiophonic Workshop, I loved all that, it fascinated me, and still does."
Derbyshire was behind the experimental Doctor Who theme tune.
Celebrated producer Mark Ronson confirms that he is working with Paul McCartney on Paul's new album.
After DJing McCartney's wedding to Nancy Shevell in 2011, Ronson has now joined Paul in the studio to produce three new songs, according to an interview with the Associated Press. "It's really good. He writes really good songs," Ronson said.
Ronson, who has worked with the likes of Grammy winners Amy Winehouse, Adele, Bruno Mars and Christina Aguilera. But teaming with McCartney, he said, was "on another level."
"He understands that you're so nervous to be working with Paul McCartney, 'cause everyone is," Ronson said. "He gives you a lot of leeway, but then at the end of the day, you need to deliver the goods."
The Twitter account @BarackObama has retweeted Yoko Ono’s picture of John Lennon's bloody glasses from the day he was murdered.
The arresting photo, which includes text that more than a million people have been killed by guns since Lennon was shot in 1980, has been retweeted more than 11,000 times since it was posted Wednesday.
A retweet by the account associated with President Obama forwarded it to his more than 28 million followers. Retweets aren’t always endorsements in Twitter etiquette, but Ono’s activism comes at a time when President Obama and U.S. Democrats’ push for more gun control after the Sandy Hook tragedy seems to be struggling.
A proposed assault weapons ban was stripped from a bill headed to the Senate floor. And that bill, which would universalize background checks, doesn’t h details
Paul McCartney Is getting 'Out There!' Paul has announced his first live date of 2013, which will be part of an all new tour called ‘Out There!’.
Paul will play at the National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland on the 22nd of June, and a June 27 show in Vienna, Austria. Rumors are circulating that Paul will play over Memorial Day weekend in Las Cruses, New Mexico, possibly on May 26.
Earlier, Paul was confirmed as one of the headliners for this year's Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, which will be June 13-16 in Manchester, Tenn. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Bjork, and Mumford and Sons are also among that festival's performers.
Further announcements and dates will be added in the coming weeks so stay tuned to Beatles Radio for updates.
Imagine: 1Million (1.057.000) Americans killed by guns since we lost John Lennon. Stop it now.
detailsAn English Heritage “Blue Plaque” at the site of the Beatles’ Apple Boutique in London has been updated to honor George Harrison. The 94 Baker Street address once housed the short-lived boutique meant to be, in Paul McCartney’s words, "a beautiful place where beautiful people can buy beautiful things". John was commemorated at the address in 2003. The new plaque, including George’s name, was unveiled by original Quarryman bandmate, Rod Davis.
Regarding his new limited edition book, “My Time with the Beatles”, photographer Henry Grossman says: “This new book is the best of my many Beatles photographs. I’m happy to share some of my favorite work and thoughts on those scenes. These are souvenirs of places I remember and some very memorable friends.”
These had been lying dormant for maybe 40 years because after Life magazine sent back the negatives and slides, I put them in my archives,” says Grossman. “I was a busy working photographer so I had other assignments to work on.”
In his introduction to the book, Paul McCartney says: “Even though The Beatles had lots of photographs taken of them, occasionally one of the photographers would be out of the ordinary… Henry Grossman was one such photographer.”
“My Time with the Beatles” is limited to 1,200 numbered copies and costs $495. Books one to 250 are signed by Henry Grossman and are $795.
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French director Michel Gondry directed the video for Paul McCartney’s “Dance Tonight” in 2007, and now Paul has reportedly done some work as a guest musician on the score for the director's upcoming “Mood Indigo.” According to French site RTL, McCartney came in and played bass on at least two in
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