the beatles

Happy 80th Birthday, Ringo!

Jul 072020

I woke up today and was reminded on public radio that it’s Ringo’s birthday, his 80th! The first thing I thought was, “Wow, just thinking about Ringo makes me feel good! He’s the perfect antidote to these times.”

Last week, his song “Photograph” came on the radio, and as happens any time that song kicks in – pre-pandemic, pandemic, and eventually post-pandemic – I teared up. There’s so much empathy in that song, in Ringo’s delivery, in the arrangement. If I’m ever required to tear up, something that isn’t too hard to get me to do, play me “Photograph” or Elton John’s “Daniel.”

I’m a John Guy with a strong Paul Sensibility lurking in the background, but I’m going to let Ringo be my co-pilot today.

Early Arrivals From the Future or Secretariat?

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Apr 272020

Cassius Clay, after defeating Sonny Liston for the World Heavyweight title, calls up his friend Sam Cooke: “We both too pretty!” exclaims the soon-to-be Muhammad Ali.

Stick with me for a minute: I’m going to ask us to determine whether some musical phenomena were full-on early arrivals from the future or merely a musical equivalent of Secretariat‘s 1973 Belmont Stakes capper to his Triple Crown run. But first, a little background on what the hell I am talking about…

George Martin, Mind-Blowing Enabler, Dead at 90

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Mar 092016

He was a GREAT man.

Thanks, George, for adding the polish and enabling the mind-blowing trimmings on Beatles songs, so much of the stuff that has made me content to spend long stretches of my life holed up in a dark room, listening to records.

Cilla Black Mourned in the UK

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Aug 072015

As an American teenager, I first became aware of Cilla Black as a footnote to my all-encompassing Beatles education. When I got to college, long before the age of YouTube, let alone home computing and the Internet, I met a friend who owned the single of whatever song Paul McCartney threw her way. I remember it boring me, and I never heard another lick of Cilla Black until this week, when in London on vacation with my family and news broke that “Cilla,” as she’s known here, had died.

I had no idea she was so beloved in her home country. It was THE story on the news. There was some telemovie on her life that must have been made a few years ago that’s been running nonstop. In the pantheon of chubby-cheeked English singers, I figured she was a 1-hit wonder, nowhere near as beloved as likes of Lulu, Alison Moyet, the strawberry-blond Spice Girl, and all those other British women pop stars who run together in my mind, despite whatever decade in which they briefly burned brightest. Are the British more sentimental than I thought, or was Cilla Black really a relevant star beyond her footnote status in Beatles biographies?

She was a great…woman!

Once and for All: Bad Beatle Looks

Posted by cherguevara

Jul 072015

The mullet. The worst haircut of all time. What excuse can be made for sporting this atrocity? And on a Beatle, no less! I ask you: Is this the worst look ever sported by any Beatle, at any point in time? Was this a cool, cutting-edge look on Macca, before it filtered into the general population? Combining the mullet with the sleazy mustache brings the look down even further. I’m thinking, as far as Beatle looks goes, this is the bottom, the worst.

My goal here, however, is to be wrong. Can you find a photo of a Beatle sporting a worse hairdo than this? Can we, once and for all, determine the worst-ever style on John, Paul, George or Ringo?

The Limits of Fandom

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Oct 092014

One of my close, personal Facebook friends posted this clip on his feed today. I watch this every other year or so, which indicates how often I watch Beatles- and Lennon-related documentaries, not just this clip in particular. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t particularly attracted to the cult-worshiping aspects of this scene:

This footage never fails to give me chills – on many levels. What’s really got me going now is the link I followed from the YouTube posting to a Dick Cavett appearance of, possibly, the same guy. If that’s in fact the same guy you’ve got to wonder what was going through his mind when Mark David Chapman completed his twisted act of fandom.

Post-Beatles Gems?

Posted by funoka

Oct 072014

As I was trying to forget the Nationals’ 18-inning crusher of a loss the other night, I caught up on some old email accounts and see that iTunes has picked four post-Beatles songs for a free download. They chose:

John Lennon’s “Love” (Plastic Ono Band)
Paul McCartney’s “Call Me Back Again” (Venus and Mars)
George Harrison’s “Let It Down” (All Things Must Pass) and
Ringo Starr’s “Walk With You” (Y Not).

Not bad, but can Rock Town Hall do better than iTunes? My challenge “To You”: What are some of your favorite deep cuts from the Fab Four after the breakup?

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