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Posts Tagged “the beatles”

videodrone

Paul McCartney Brings Shea Stadium Full Circle


After trotting out Tony Bennett, John Mellencamp, Don Henley, and John Mayer during what was supposed to be the last concert at Shea Stadium on Wednesday night, Billy Joel brought out perhaps the biggest gun in his cameo arsenal for Friday night's final last show: Paul McCartney, who performed "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Let It Be" (above) with the Piano Man. McCartney, of course, played at Shea with his old band the Beatles back in 1965 and 1966, and Wednesday's show was actually marked by Joel thanking the Beatles for letting him play "their room." (Everybody: Awww.) [YouTube]

9:30 AM on Mon Jul 21 2008
By Maura Johnston
226 views, 7 comments

Latest by Maura Johnston: @Reidicus: Oh you better watch it ;) more »

give cash a chance

They're Only In It For The Money: "Sgt. Pepper" Drum Head Fetches $1.067M

Well, someone out there still has discretionary income: The drum head that appeared on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band went up for auction yesterday at Christie's London outpost, and it realized a price of £541,250, or $1,067,346. Imagine if that money had been used to, you know, buy actual Beatles albums—I'm sure the halls of EMI are filled with people fantasizing that exact scenario. The price of the drum almost makes the £421,250 ($830,706) that John Lennon's handwritten lyrics for "Give Peace A Chance" went for seem quaint, no? Details on the drum skin's measurements and materials after the jump. More »

9:30 AM on Fri Jul 11 2008
By Maura Johnston
240 views, 1 comment

Latest by Big Gray.: I've always thought that there was a missed licensing opportunity out there with that drum head. Hell, I'd buy one for my bass drum. more »

unchecked boomer nostalgia, cont.

Whoever's Auctioning Off The "Sgt. Pepper" Drum Head Is Definitely In It For The Money

The latest bit of '60s nostalgia to be sold off to the highest bidder: The title-emblazoned bass drum skin that appeared on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which Christie's of London will auction off next month as part of a popular-culture-themed extravaganza. According to the Times of London, Christie's is hoping to fetch some £150,000 for the skin, which is a pretty penny considering that it doesn't even come with the drum. Those of you hoping to get some Beatles memorabilia for your home without laying out cash in the six-figure range shouldn't fret, though: An upcoming auction at Christie's NYC outpost is offering up the script for Paul McCartney's 1984 film Give My Regards To Broad Street, for which the auction house is only expecting to fetch about $1,500. Maybe we should all put our money together for the cause... or at least have a group listen to "No More Lonely Nights"! More »

1:30 PM on Fri Jun 13 2008
By Maura Johnston
236 views, 3 comments

Latest by Oldboy: There IS a good rocker on that album: "No Values." Appropriate, non? more »

the girl is mine?

New Macca Doc Shows The High Cost Of Flippant Answers To The Media


In 1965, Paul McCartney told a Ruth Anson, a teenage interviewer, that he'd only have wedding plans in the future "if you'd marry me." More than 40 years later, Anson, now a married professor with kids, wants to get in touch with the newly single Macca and see if this aside still haunts him as much as it haunts her. Desperately Seeking Paul McCartney, a documentary about her plight, will have its LA debut at the 2008 Mockfest Film Festival on May 18. The trailer reveals a documentary that's as much as about the attempt to make a movie about Anson as it is about the woman herself, with the filmmakers wrestling with whether to treat her as a crazed stalker or a sympathetic figure. More »

10:45 AM on Wed May 7 2008
By Anthony Miccio
554 views, 5 comments

Latest by n/a: I would give my first born for a Jan Terri bio-doc. Maybe clean up Mindy McCready for the lead single from the soundtrack, have her really channel the inherent pathos in "Baby Blues". more »

people who have more money than you

The Young Music Millionaires List: Being The Son Of A Beatle Really Gives You That Added Boost

I'm not sure what the motivations behind making these lists were—maybe they just want to turn everyone off of feeling like they need to pay for music ever again?—but the UK's Sunday Times has released its lists of Young Music Millionares and Britain's Top Music Millionaires, and boy do they make me feel crummy about my bank balance. Perhaps fittingly, given these tough times for the biz, topping the Young list is George Harrison's son/Wu-Tang collaborator Dhani (pictured), who seems to have something of a head start on his competition and is worth £160 million, while behind him is Vanessa-Mae Nicholson (£32 million), a violin player who calls her music "techno-acoustic fusion" and who turns 30 this year so if this list was made after her birthday she wouldn't even make the big list, where the bar for entry is £125 million. Also in the top ten of the under-30 list: the three non-Chris Martin members of Coldplay, each of whom is worth £30 million (Martin is 31 so he's disqualified from the big board, alas); Karen Elson and Jack White, who bring in a combined £25 million; Katie Melua, who I mainly know as "that woman who did that stupid underwater concert stunt" but who parlayed that into an £18 million fortune; Amy Winehouse, whose presence on the list causing everyone to break out the "at least crack is cheap" jokes; and, separately, Joss Stone and Craig David, which just goes to show you that at least the Brits are loyal. Both lists after the jump, if you want to get really depressed (just thinking about how big the pile of money Andrew Lloyd Webber is sitting on is not helping my morning). More »

10:00 AM on Fri Apr 25 2008
By Maura Johnston
627 views, 4 comments

Latest by Chris Molanphy: Craig David?! I loved that guy's 2001 album and all, but...what in Her Majesty's name is that guy doing in 2007-08 to earn him 10 million pounds? Are the publishing royalties on "Rewind" and "Fill Me In" really that lucrative? more »

videodrone

Three Hours Of Classic Rock Radio (And A Few Primates) Boiled Down To Five Minutes Of Mind-Bending Video


If the hoary introduction-to-the-Beatles videos from the two American Idol episodes devoted to the band earlier this month had a twin that was raised on Concrete TV and lots of sugar, it might be this clip, which turns pasted-onto-each-other mook-rock cliches—and a few shots of the guys from Home Improvement—into a concise distillation of how people talk about the band and their ability to invent music, make it rain on command, and move mountains with the power of their collective mind. (Even the dead ones.) [YouTube; HT Matthew Perpetua]

4:30 PM on Wed Mar 26 2008
By Maura Johnston
154 views, 2 comments

Latest by Chris Molanphy: I think I'm high now. more »

before long, emi will consist of the beatles catalog and mims

The Rolling Stones Look To Escape EMI's Sinking Ship

Let's say you're the Rolling Stones. Your contract with EMI is up in June, and you can take your post-1971 catalog with you wherever you go. So do you stick around and see what happens with the Guy Hands regime, or pack up and get a gigantic deal elsewhere? Yeah, they're probably doing the same thing. More »

3:30 PM on Tue Mar 25 2008
By Dan Gibson
744 views, 3 comments

Longtime Beatles associate Neil Aspinall, who left his post as the CEO of Apple Corps last year, has passed away, according to a statement from the surviving members of the band. "As a loyal friend, confidant and chief executive, Neil's trusting stewardship and guidance has left a far-reaching legacy for generations to come. All his friends and loved ones will greatly miss him but will always retain the fondest memories of a great man," the statement read. Aspinall was 66. [Times Online / Photo: AP]

2 comments

settlements

Even After His Divorce Settlement, Paul McCartney Has More Money Than Everyone Who Reads Music Blogs Put Together

Friend-of-the-kangaroo Paul McCartney is all settled up with his ex-wife Heather Mills, and though you'd imagine $48.6 million changing hands in a divorce proceeding would put a damper on a man's fancy come springtime, no one should be surprised that Sir Paul won't be emergency stocking-up at Big Lots this weekend to see him through the fallow early days of studio-apartment bachelorhood. Look upon his post-settlement bank balance, ye white-collar workers, and despair. More »

3:30 PM on Mon Mar 17 2008
By Jess Harvell
788 views, 5 comments

idolator's american idolatry

The "American Idol" Beatles Songbook Will End At "Revolver"

Tomorrow's episode of American Idol will be the first time this season that the male and female contestants will compete head-to-head, and as previously reported, it'll feature songs from the Lennon/McCartney songbook. But those of you hoping that David Archuleta's mom would let him bust out "The Long And Winding Road" are going to be disappointed; according to Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe, the songbook made available to the hopefuls will only be made up of "the early songs—from 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' to 'Got to Get You Into My Life.' These fantastic songs. It's one of the few areas that everybody knows." Why do I have a feeling Jason Castro is bummed out that he won't be able to sing "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"? [Reality TV World via MJ's Big Blog]

12:00 PM on Mon Mar 10 2008
By Maura Johnston
1,513 views, 12 comments

Latest by Charles A. Hohman: So "Why Don't We Do It In The Road" is out then. Shit. more »

Apple (the good one, not those hippies who put out Badfinger and James Taylor records) has said that the UK press' recent speculation that the Beatles' catalog will make its digital-music-store debut on the iTunes Store soon is, in fact, only speculation. How will we ever hear the Beatles' music now? [Billboard]

3 comments

videodrone

Your Sadie Hawkins Day Dance Playlist: The No. 1 Hits Of Leap Days Past


The chart geeks among you might be interested by the above clip, which some intrepid YouTube user put together as a salute to the last 50 years of songs that were sitting pretty on the Billboard charts come Feb. 29. While it's making me a little wistful to think about what songs were already in the pantheon that Flo Rida's "Low" has just been added to—"Father Figure," "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay," shoot, even "Theme From S.W.A.T."!—it's also kind of neat to watch the way this clip serves as a broad-stroke picture of what musical trends were at American culture's forefront, from the Beatles' early-'60s dominance to the arena-rock highs of the early '80s to the late '90s/early '00s slow, slow sink into adult-contemporary treacle. (Savage Garden and Lonestar in 2000. Yipes.) [YouTube]

11:05 AM on Fri Feb 29 2008
By Maura Johnston
310 views, 8 comments

Latest by PopIsNotDead: soooo.... that means Flo Rida is as good as the Beatles, right? more »

idolator's american idolatry

"Idol" Contestants To Get A Little Help From The Beatles

Apparently the run of themed nights that American Idol has been throwing at singers and viewers will continue after the contestant pool has been winnowed down to the top 12, and one in particular will be a doozy: The first single-elimination episode will feature music by the Beatles, or at least the Lennon & McCartney songbook. Sony ATV, the publishing company that controls licensing of the Beatles' catalog, has agreed to license those songs to the talent show, an outcome that's been the result of seven years of cajoling, begging, and cramming together a few Fab Four songs into a very awkward medley during the "Idol Gives Back" telcast, according to executive producer Nigel Lythgoe. More »

11:05 AM on Thu Feb 28 2008
By Maura Johnston
548 views, 3 comments

Latest by Chris Molanphy: In recent years, the stuff that's been permitted with the old Northern Songs catalog would have been unthinkable just a decade or two ago -- think Love and Across the Universe. (The '78 Sgt. Pepper movie only exists because the more »

obituaries

Guy Named Paul Who Appeared On The Cover Of "Abbey Road" Is Dead

And from that headline, you probably figured that the Paul of whom I speak is not the freedom-loving guy who's currently tussling with his ex-wife in court. Paul Cole, also known as "the guy who was in the background while the Beatles were crossing the street in 1969," passed away last week in Pensacola, Fla. Cole was on vacation in London the day that the cover shoot happened, and he'd taken time out to chat up a policeman when the Fab Four took their walk across the street. As Cole recalled in 2004: "I just happened to look up, and I saw those guys walking across the street like a line of ducks.... A bunch of kooks, I called them, because they were rather radical-looking at that time. You didn't walk around in London barefoot." Imagine what he'd think of today's shoeless, braless, everything-elseless tabloid targets! [TCPalm.com]

12:30 PM on Tue Feb 19 2008
By Maura Johnston
3,035 views, 3 comments

Latest by Jfrankparnell: Death: 3 Abbey Road Cover: 2 Mwahahahahahahahahahaha more »

The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi died in the Netherlands yesterday at "around" the age of 91, because when you're a wizened spiritual leader your age gets to be vague and mysterious. He did a lot of stuff other than mentor the Beatles in their declining years, of course, but there's a reason the the word "Beatles" appears eight words into the AP's 816-word obit. [AP]

8 comments

space jams

In Space, No One Can Hear Beatles Haters Scream

In a fantastic use of government dollars, NASA is going to beam the Beatles song "Across The Universe" into space on Monday. Get it? Because it's going across the universe? Ho ho! According to the NYT, "at precisely 7 p.m., E.S.T. the song will be beamed by the agency's Deep Space Network of antennas at the North Star, Polaris, which is 431 light years away." Noted astronomer Brian May has yet to comment on this little stunt, which is commemorating the 40th anniversary of the song and the 50th anniversary of NASA, but no matter what he says, I'm sure the world's baby boomers are thrilled that even before we've made interplanetary contact, we're teaching beings that live on other planets about what "real music" truly is. [NYT]

11:20 AM on Fri Feb 1 2008
By Maura Johnston
369 views, 14 comments

Latest by Big Gray.: @raihala: 48 to 62 is technically it. But that's if you put the end of the Baby Boom at 1964. A lot of people stop at 1960. Regardless, I talk to very few writers and editors that are more »

unchecked boomer nostalgia, cont.

The Hard Days Night Hotel: For Those Trips When Bringing Your Beatles CDs Along Just Isn't Enough

This Friday marks the opening of the Hard Days Night Hotel in Liverpool, a Beatles-themed retreat that is billing itself as the first hotel in the world to be based around the Fab Four. The hotel's been ten years in the making—and developers have sunk about £20 million into the project over that time—but the Times Online isn't all that impressed, despite Beatles sheet music hanging from the reception area's ceiling, an on-site wedding chapel, and lots of "exclusive and unique artwork" that should warm the hearts of Velvet Elvis painters worldwide: More »

3:00 PM on Mon Jan 28 2008
By Maura Johnston
501 views, 5 comments

Latest by DrSpaceman: I wonder if they offer different McCartney themed wedding packages: McCartney Marriage #1 and then the severely discounted McCartney Marriage #2. more »

Imagine All The People ... Willing To Pay $48K For John Lennon's Hair

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