Today In Beatles History: Two men change the world 
[Posted by Dave Haber on Friday, 05/09/08 11:07 am] [Permalink] [Digg This]Today, 46 years ago, two men who changed the world, met for the first time.
On the morning of May 9, 1962, Beatles manager Brian Epstein first met Parlophone Records producer George Martin at his office in EMI Studios at Abbey Road in London. It was during this meeting that George Martin agreed to give the Beatles an audition recording session.
As George Martin worked with them in the studio, and Brian was seen mostly with them out on tour, you very seldom see them in pictures together. This is a rare photo of Brian Epstein and George Martin together in the studio, along with George Harrison, from the original edition of Epstein's autobiography, A Cellarful Of Noise . (The 1998 reprinting of the book included different pictures.)
Would the Beatles have happened with either of these men? George Martin, who heard something in them when nobody else in the business did, and brought his classical musical training to their arrangements and recordings. And Brian Epstein, who got them into bigger performance venues and onto TV, into suits and eventually a recording contract with EMI. It's impossible to know if the Beatles wouldn't have become Beatlemania, but it's impossible to imagine the Beatles without them.
Click here for more Today In Beatles History.
Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Spock
[Posted by Dave Haber on Wednesday, 05/07/08 10:09 am] [Permalink] [Digg This] The Bad Spock Drawings Blog came about, according to its creator, during a period of "mindless doodling," which yielded a very bad drawing of Mr. Spock from the Star Trek TV show. The blog invites readers to send in their own bad Spock drawings, and we thought this one, submitted by Oda and Sami Lill from Sweden, was particularly interesting.
But, what would be on a Vulcan Beatles album? All You Need Is Logic, Lucy In The Sky With Dilithium Crystals, Eight Days A Week (correct for the Vulcan calendar) and, of course, Across The Universe.
(More bad Spock drawings can be seen here.)
Paul McCartney calls for cluster bombs ban
[Posted by Dave Haber on Tuesday, 05/06/08 1:01 pm] [Permalink] [Digg This] Today on his official site, www.paulmccartney.com, Paul McCartney is calling for fans to join him in the petition to ban cluster bombs.
Paul said, "Cluster bomblets, like anti-personnel mines, are unacceptable when they kill and injure innocent civilians including children. I call upon individuals, organisations and politicians to do all they can to remove and reduce the impact of these weapons for future generations."
Cluster bombs are containers which release several hundred smaller "bomblets" when fired. Opponents point out that they pose unacceptable harm both during and long after conflicts, and remind us that the bombs have killed thousands of people and 98% of the victims are innocent civilians, one third of these are children. Paul is asking his fans to join him in signing the No More Landmines petition to Ban Cluster Bombs.
In his message, Paul also said, "Numerous countries, including the United Kingdom, continue to use or produce and export cluster bombs. Given the current and potential scale of the damage, it is urgent that new international law prohibits the further use, production, transfer and stockpiling of these weapons."
The petition calls for a ban on the production, use, transfer and stockpiling of all cluster bombs, a commitment from the UK government in favour of an international agreement on this ban, and the rapid destruction of any existing stocks.
For more information and to sign the petition go to www.landmines.org.uk.
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Rare Beatles photo still missing
[Posted by Dave Haber on Monday, 05/05/08 8:13 pm] [Permalink] [Digg This] A prized photo of The Beatles standing at the bar of an Oxford University drinking club has still not been recovered since it went missing after the annual Varsity boxing match against Cambridge.
For nearly two months, police and university officials hoped the picture, which also features a youthful Jeffrey Archer, would be returned to Vincent's, the hearty university sportsman's bar where it has hung for 44 years.
Archer was involved back then in bringing the group to the university to celebrate Oxfam's 21st birthday. But despite public appeals and police inquiries, the photo has not been returned.
Says boxer Stuart Garman, "While I would avoid pointing the finger at anyone, I would like to think no member of Oxford University who was present at the match would have taken the picture."
(Thanks to Richard Kay's column in the Daily Mail.)
The Beatles Show talks to May Pang this weekend
[Posted by Dave Haber on Friday, 05/02/08 7:19 am] [Permalink] [Digg This] May Pang, John Lennon's companion during his most prolific, most commercially successful period during his solo career and author of the new book, "Instamatic Karma" has an exclusive conversation with The Beatles Show this weekend.
The interview offers new information regarding relationship between the ex-Beatles during this period. In addition, Ms. Pang and host Casey Piotrowski discuss the book, a collection of photos from their time together, and Lennon's work in the studio during the mid-70's for himself and with Ringo Starr, Elton John and David Bowie.
The Beatles Show can currently be heard on 23 stations across the country, including WLNG in Sag Harbor, NY, WAKY in Louisville, KY, KKAY in New Orleans, LA, and KINY in Juneau, AK. For more information about The Beatles Show and a list of stations carrying the program, send an email to The Beatles Show.
For more information about "Instamatic Karma, please go to www.instamatickarma.com.
Separated at birth?
[Posted by Adam Kane on Thursday, 05/01/08 9:23 pm] [Digg This] 
Is Paul McCartney turning into Roy Orbison? It's sort of spooky, isn't it?
Baby You're A Chip Munk
[Posted by Dave Haber on Wednesday, 04/30/08 2:22 pm] [Permalink] [Related Posts] [Digg This] On the heels of the success of the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie late last year and the recent re-release of The Chipmunks Greatest Hits: Still Squeaky After All These Years, which contains three Beatles songs, Capitol Records has now made all of the Chipmunks Beatles recordings available with the re-release of the iconic The Chipmunks Sing The Beatles Hits.
This album was originally released in 1964 by Liberty Records, and contains basically all the Beatles hits that you'd expect from that time, from Love Me Do through A Hard Day's Night. The album was re-released by Liberty on vinyl (minus two songs) in 1982, and was then released on CD and Cassette by Capitol Special Products in 1995. The album has been out of print for about a decade.
According to reports, the original Chipmunks tracks have been remastered for this new release. Great! They can remaster this, but they can't remaster the Beatles!
Click here for more info on the new CD.
(By the way, I wanted to title this entry "Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Chipmunk" but unfortunately that's too long for a blog entry title...)
One of Norman Smith's last interviews this weekend on XM
[Posted by Dave Haber on Tuesday, 04/29/08 7:49 pm] [Permalink] [Related Posts] [Digg This] The next broadcast of Ken Michaels' Beatles show "Every Little Thing" will include one of the last interviews conducted with Norman Smith, the Beatles engineeer who worked with the group from their earliest recordings at EMI through their Rubber Soul album.
Norman discusses the first time he met the group at their EMI audition, and a song that Norman wrote that the group considered recording for their "Help!" album. Also, a cover of a classic Beatles song from Jeff Healey, and a Beatles' set for Mother's Day.
"Every Little Thing" show airs Saturday, May 3 at 9pm (est) on XM's Fine Tuning channel (#76.) For thoughts, comments or suggestions for the show, listeners can reach Ken Michaels at everylittlething@att.net.
Stig sues himself, accidentally
[Posted by Dave Haber on Monday, 04/28/08 7:29 pm] [Permalink] [Digg This] In a case that's very reminiscent of rumors from 1969 that if you play certain portions of Beatles records backwards they reveal that Paul Is Dead, we have learned that last September, a man filed a handwritten (!) suit against Google, asking for $5 Billlion (with a B!), because he claims that (let me make sure I'm getting this right...) if you turn his Social Security number upside down, it spells "Google".
The case was dismissed by a judge without a hearing.
See what you started, Yoko?
Rocky Raccoon checked into his room
[Posted by Doc Sminking on Friday, 04/25/08 8:22 pm] [Permalink] [Digg This] This year is the 100th anniversary of placing free in rooms. Their presence was so ubiquitous in America and around the world that Paul McCartney mentioned one in his White Album Wild West tale, Rocky Racoon.
Nearly 1.4 billion, translated into 83 languages, have been distributed worldwide, 500 million in the last decade alone and 70.7 million last year. All 105,731 rooms in the Hyatt chain carry. So do Motel 6's 91,000 rooms.
Left there, no doubt, to help with good Rocky's revival...
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