Beatles News

The Beatles' first single, "Love Me Do," came out way back in 1962, and now that it's more than 50 years old, the song is currently out of copyright in the Europe. This has allowed Mischief Music to release a unique version of the single on heart-shaped red vinyl.

This remastered 12-inch will come out tomorrow (July 26), and can be purchased through www.fab4store.com. As with the original version of the single, it comes backed with "P.S. I Love You." See a picture of the record above
According to a report earlier this year by Complete Music Update [via Rolling Stone], the European Union has agreed to extend the copyright on sound recordings from 50 years to 70 years. The new law won't come into effect until later this year, however.

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Source: exclaim.ca
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NEW YORK (AP) — Paul McCartney says as long as he can walk and get about, he plans to keep performing. He tells Rolling Stone magazine he "can't imagine ever not" performing and touring. He says it's: "what I do, and it's what I've always done, and I love it so much." He says now that he's in his 70s, he realizes he doesn't have the energy he did 50 years ago. He says sometimes after a long performance, he tells himself: "You know, you're not 25." He says so far he hasn't found "some kind of physical limitation" that keeps him from performing. If and when he does, McCartney says he'll deal with the idea of doing something about it.

Source: Beatles Radio Exclusive

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The Fab Four are taking Broadway by storm with Let It Be, a spectacular concert experience at Broadway's St. James Theatre. Previews are now underway, with an official opening night set for tomorrow, Wednesday, July 24th. The show will play a strictly limited engagement through Sunday, December 29th. BroadwayWorld brings you just-released highlights below!

Direct from London's West End, where it continues its celebrated open-ended run, Let It Be features songs from The Beatles' greatest hits. Born as a West End production to celebrate the legendary band's 50th anniversary, Let It Be uses projections and surround sound to put audiences at the heart of The Beatles' meteoric rise from their humble beginnings in Liverpool's Cavern Club, through the heights of Beatlemania, to their later studio masterpieces with live performances of songs including "Twist and Shout," "She Loves You," "Drive My Car," "Yesterday," "Hey Jude," "Come Together" and, of course, "Let It Be."

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Plans for a major regeneration of the city’s derelict Welsh Streets have been approved – but the government may call a public inquiry. Dozens of people who have campaigned both for and against Plus Dane’s £15m plans to demolish hundreds of homes and build new ones turned out at the town hall for the meeting.

The approved plans would see the demolition of up to 280 houses and 152 new ones built in the Dingle. Passionate pleas were made by both sides, with pro-bid campaigners saying they had been forced to live in rat-infested, squalid conditions.In turn, objectors said they did not necessarily oppose the demolitions, but believed up to 40 or 50 homes extra to the 40 to be refurbished – including Ringo Starr’s former Madryn Street home – could be saved from the wrecking ball.

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Amnesty International says that more than 100 leading musicians are calling for release of jailed members of the Russian punk group Pussy Riot. Amnesty said on Monday that Adele, U2, Madonna, Yoko Ono, Radiohead, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Ke$ha, Sir Paul McCartney and Sting were among those who signed an open letter organised by the group.

The musicians say in the letter that the impact of Pussy Riot's "shockingly unjust trial and imprisonment has spread far and wide, especially among your fellow artists, musicians and citizens around the world".

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The longtime girlfriend of the late Beatles and Rolling Stones manager Allen Klein is in a tug of war with his son over at least $1 million in artwork she claims her beau gifted her before he died in 2009.

Iris Keitel lived with Klein — a gruff, aggressive businessman who some blame for the Beatles breakup as much as they blame Yoko Ono — for over 20 years in his E. 58th Street apartment, even though he was still married to his estranged wife. Now Klein’s son, Jody Klein, is accusing Keitel of hauling 15 pieces of pricey artwork and furniture to her new pad including a $120,000 painting by Jeanne Rij-Rousseau.

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Source: NewYork Post

One of the most recognized iconic and historic artifacts from the final days of the Beatles is now up for auction on eBay. It is the hat worn by John Lennon for the last official Beatles photo shoot on August 22, 1969, at Tittenhurst Park, two days after their final recording session.

The hat, borrowed by John Lennon from longtime Beatles friend Mal Evans, is black felt with an outer band decorated with six metal discs with arrow and dot motif. Its current owner obtained it in the fall of 2006 at a Bonhams Auction in England, it has been on display at the Youngtown Museum in Ontario Canada since 2008.

It comes with original signed letter from Mal Evans wife, the original high quality ornate hat box and literature as provided by Bonhams, and two original vintage 8" x 10" promotional Apple photos of the Beatles with John wearing the hat. It is expected to sell for over $5,000. The eBay auction runs for 6 more days.

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It's high summer and once more tourists are making the pilgrimage to meet Walter Smith in his Liverpool city centre workshop. But the visitors, who come from all over the world, aren’t necessarily there to purchase one of his finely crafted bespoke suits. Instead they come to see the man who suited and booted The Beatles.

The unassuming 79-year-old has crafted thousands of bespoke suits from his city centre workshop, but none  more famous than the ones worn by the Fab Four. When Brian Epstein, owner of the NEMS music store, walked into the shop one day in the summer of 1962, Walter had no reason to attach any particular significance to the visit. After all, he and his brother Clive were both very well-turned out and so were regular customers of Walter’s.

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Source: Liverpool Echo

FAMOUS Surrey residents are featured in a reworking of British pop artist Sir Peter Blake’s most famous piece of work – the picture adorning one of the most well-known albums of all time. Sir Peter took inspiration from his cover designed for The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band to create a new piece of artwork celebrating the British cultural icons of his lifetime.

Ripley-born rocker Eric Clapton, Weybridge artist Gavin Turk, Woking-born cookery expert Delia Smith, and former Surbiton County Grammar School pupil, photographer Martin Parr, are all featured on the updated 1967 work. The artist selected people who have inspired his creative career over the past six decades to mark his 80th birthday celebrations being held at fashion designer Wayne Hemingway’s Vintage Festival on July 13-15.

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The home where George Harrison, a former member of The Beatles, grew up is blooming with summer flowers after local organisations joined forces to give the home and surrounding area a facelift.

The guitarist’s childhood home, 25 Upton Green in Speke, received special treatment last week after staff from South Liverpool Homes (SLH), Liverpool City Council’s Neighbourhood Team and McDonald’s Restaurants worked tirelessly to plant flowers around the green which is a popular tourist spot for Beatles’ fans. All 22 homes on the green were given planters filled with begonias and pansies to put in the front of their homes as part of McDonald’s ‘Love where you live’ campaign. They also painted railings and BT boxes in the green that were in need of some attention.

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A previously unseen video clip of Paul and Linda McCartney paying a visit to the construction site of the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA) in 1992 was revealed to Beatles Examiner on July 21 by Dean Johnson, one of the authors of “The Beatles and Me.”

The 48-second clip shows McCartney looking over the site and chatting with sound recording student John Lunt, who, according to Johnson, discovered the tape again just last week. McCartney poses happily for the camera and refers to Lunt as “John with the hairy mic!” before reaching out to hold the soundman’s boom cover. He then says goodbye and acknowledges everyone in the area with waves while clenching his fist.

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Source: The Examiner

Photo Credit: YouTube/John Lunt