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© COPYRIGHT JORIE GRACEN
Beatlefan #171 is out, and in it readers will find:
-- Back in 1978, Ron Schaumburg caught the imagination of fans with "Growing Up With The Beatles," his book about how the Fab Four influenced him as he was growing up in the 1960s. We caught up with Schaumburg and asked him and Beatlefan readers and writers to relive what that experience was like, and we received an overwhelming response. In this issue, we have our chat with Schaumburg and reminiscences from both original fans and those who came along after The Beatles had broken up. Rick Glover and Wally Podrazik take it a step further by pondering growing OLD with The Beatles.
-- Also in this issue we have two of our ace interviewers talking with John Lennon's onetime girlfriend, May Pang, who has a new photo book out. Ken Sharp discusses "Instamatic Karma" with Pang and, in the first of two parts, Howie Edelson dishes nitty gritty details with her. Plus we have some of her photos of a relaxed Lennon away from the public eye.
-- And our paper collectibles
series looks back at things to do with your hands while listening
to The Beatles - that is, participatory Beatles publications such
as punch-out and coloring books and fun kits. Also in this issue
are reviews of the new "Tomorrow" DVD of Tom Snyder's
interviews with John, Paul and Ringo; Ringo's new "5.1"
surroundsound disc; and "Instamatic Karma".
-- And this issue's Beatlenews Roundup has news of Paul McCartney's
recording sessions, the All Starr Band, the Rutles reunion and
the Fest for Beatles Fans, and we preview new and upcoming Beatle
books. Plus we have fresh Beatlejuice from Norm and Shake in Devil's
Radio about just who Nancy Shevell would like to pair Macca with.
A sample issue costs $5.50 in the U.S. or $6.50 abroad. U.S. funds only. If you want the latest issue, be sure to specify #171. Send to P.O. Box 33515, Decatur GA 30033.
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COMING
IN ISSUE #172:
An interview with an Apple
insider and more memories of Growing Up With The Beatles! Check it out!
THE BRITISH BEATLES FAN CLUB MAGAZINE is a full color professionally printed publication, published quarterly. The magazine is produced by and includes regular contributions from former Beatles Book Monthly news editor Pete Nash, Craig Smith, Richard Porter, Lucy Carter, David Bedford, Stan Williams (schoolmate of John Lennon & George Harrison), Merseybeat founder Bill Harry and Quarryman Rod Davis.
Issue #28 of
The British Beatles Fan Club magazine is now available with articles
on:
· The Beatles Live in Croydon
· Ringo Live in Liverpool 08
· Ken Mansfield Interview
· Day By Day Diary
· Upcoming Events
· Bootlegs, books, CD, DVD releases
· Crap Photo Of The Month
· News, reviews and more...
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APPLE CORPS LTD PROUDLY ANNOUNCE THE DVD RELEASE OF THE BEATLES FILM 'HELP!'
Apple Corps Ltd have announced the eagerly
anticipated DVD release of The Beatles' second feature film 'Help!'
marketed and distributed by EMI Music.
Directed by Richard Lester, who also directed the band's debut
feature film 'A Hard Days Night', 'Help!' made its theatrical
debut in 1965.
The story follows The Beatles as they become passive recipients of an outside plot that revolves around Ringo's possession of a sacrificial ring, which he cannot remove from his finger.
As a result, he and his bandmates John, Paul and George are chased from London to the Austrian Alps and the Bahamas by religious cult members, a mad scientist and the London police.
In addition to starring the Beatles, 'Help!' has a witty script, a great cast of British character actors and features 7 classic Beatles tracks, including:
* 'Help!'
* 'You're Going To Lose That Girl'
* 'You've Got To Hide Your Love Away'
* 'Ticket To Ride'
* 'I Need You'
* 'The Night Before'
* 'Another Girl'
The DVD will be a 2-disc set. Disc 1 will feature the original film digitally restored with a newly created 5.1 soundtrack, while Disc 2 contains an hour of extra features, including:
* The Beatles in Help! - 30
minute documentary about the making of the film with Richard Lester,
the cast and crew. Includes
exclusive behind the scenes footage of The Beatles on set.
* A Missing Scene - interview and photographs, featuring Wendy
Richard
* The Restoration of Help! - an in depth look at the restoration
process.
* Memories of Help! - the cast and crew reminisce
* Theatrical Trailers - 2 US trailers and 1 Spanish trailer.
* 1965 US Radio Spots - hidden in disc menus.
There are 2
editions of the DVD - a standard
digipack and a deluxe boxed set that will contain a reproduction
of Richard Lester's original annotated script, 8 lobby cards and
a poster, plus a 60-page book with rarely seen photographs and
production notes from the movie.
ORDER Standard digipack (US)
ORDER Deluxe Boxed Set (US) LIMITED EDITION
ORDER Standard digipack (UK)
ORDER Deluxe Boxed Set (UK) LIMITED EDITION
Both the deluxe book and the standard booklet feature an introduction by Richard Lester and an appreciation by Martin Scorsese.
CLICK HERE to watch the preview.
THE BEATLES
AS YOU'VE NEVER HEARD THEM
BEFORE
CLICK ALBUM COVER TO ORDER STEREO CD ONLY (1 disc)
or CLICK to
order the
"SPECIAL" AUDIO CD/DVD Version (2 discs)
The new album "LOVE" is coming - and to coincide with the release, you can hear an exclusive preview of four of the tracks at TheBeatles.com!
Strawberry
Fields Forever
Lady Madonna
Octopus's Garden
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
As a registered member of thebeatles.com,
your email address will give you access to the music - just click
HERE for the homepage and follow the
on-screen instructions.
ABOUT THE
ALBUM
The album features 26 tracks re-worked by George and Giles Martin for the "LOVE" show in Las Vegas, an incredible music and visual experience created out of the collaboration between The Beatles and Cirque Du Soleil. The result is an unprecedented approach to the music.
The stereo CD will contains 78 minutes of music, and features 26 tracks.
Simultaneously released will be a special 2 disc edition that will include the stereo CD and an Audio only DVD containing a slightly extended version in amazing 5.1 surround sound.
CLICK HERE TO PREVIEW THE FOUR EXCLUSIVE TRACKS
You can order the album from your local retailer or from the official online store here now:
Many thanks.
May 4, 2008
-- ANI
Beatles' bootlegged products soar following business manager's
death
The Beatles' company Apple Corps
is reportedly suffering following the loss of the band's business
manager Neil
Aspinall who died of cancer
last month.
Aspinall, who died at the age of 66, was at the helm of the group's business empire from 1968 until his retirement last year.
And now industry insiders claim that Apple Corps has failed to crack down on a string of illegal sales of the Fab Four's work, amid rumours the company is failing to cope without Aspinall's expertise.
"Neil Aspinall had a reputation for really keeping his eye on the ball when it came to protecting the band's interests," The Daily Express quoted a source, as saying.
"But there's a worry Apple has really taken its eye off the ball of late, as there are a number of essentially bootlegged products using The Beatles' music and film footage, being bizarrely sold in the shops and on the internet.
"One obvious example is their film Let It Be, which has never been released on DVD or video by Apple but is openly for sale on the Internet as a pirate copy. The feeling is Apple really needs to get its act together," the source added.
Apple Corps refused to comment on the matter.
Liverpool is to celebrate the greatest ever pop band with the world's first Beatles Day.
The event on July 10 will mark the 44th anniversary of the Fab Four's triumphant homecoming to Liverpool after they conquered America in 1964.
Organisers say Beatles Day will give Liverpudlians the chance to show the world what an amazing city we have.
It will also generate funds for Alder Hey children's hospital and the ECHO's Liverpool Unites which is raising money for a community centre in memory of murdered schoolboy Rhys Jones.
ECHO editor Alastair Machray said: "This is a fantastic way of celebrating our musical heritage and doing something positive for the next generation at the same time."
Thousands of Beatle-style mop-top wigs and inflatable guitars will be on sale, while shops and businesses will be encouraged to decorate their buildings with Beatles memorabilia.
Radio stations will play Beatles music and ask for Fab Four memories or anecdotes. There will be a Beatles parade and quizzes, and organisers hope everyone from schoolchildren to TV presenters will spend the day as a mop-top.
Neil Aspinall, who died at age 66, was one of only two people of any importance in The Beatles saga who never told their story. Which is strange, when you think we've had a thousand Beatles books these last 40 years, from people who never met them, to lawyers who did in passing, chauffeurs who once drove them and scruffs who stood outside their offices hoping for autographs.
Neil knew everything, everybody, and now, alas, has taken it all to the grave. Unless there is a posthumous memoir, waiting to be released, which I doubt. I asked him countless times, saying he should get it all down, before it's too late, if just for his children. He always said no. Neil was there from the very beginning, a constant friend and associate, never leaving the magical mystery circle, until a few months ago when he retired as head of Apple Corps, looking after their business interests. Quite a job, when you think of all the legal dramas after the Beatles split, and the personality differences at one time between Paul and Yoko.
Born in Prestatyn in 1941, Neil was in the same year at Liverpool Institute as Paul, and the year above George. His first memory of George was George asking him, behind the bike shed, for a drag on his ciggie. He studied to become an accountant but came back into contact with Paul and George through his friendship with Pete Best, at one time the Beatles drummer.
Neil was living at the house of Pete's mother, Mona, who ran the Casbah, the little club where the Beatles then played as the Quarrymen. Neil started working for them as a part-time roadie in 1961, running them to local gigs in an old van for five shillings per man per gig - £1 a night.
One of the more dramatic events in early Beatles history, known well by all true believers, occurred in 1962 when Pete Best was sacked as drummer and Ringo took over. There were demonstrations on Merseyside, fans campaigning for Pete who was looked upon as much handsomer. Pete went on to slice bread for a few pound a week while the Beatles went on to be the most famous group in the world.
What never came out at the time was that Neil was having an affair with Mona, Pete's mother. In fact they had a son who was born that same year. Neil, only 19, was caught in a terrible emotional turmoil, with Pete sacked by his new best friends and Mona, his lover, furious at how Pete, her son was being treated. John did tell me this gossip, sniggering, in 1967 when I was doing their biography, but said don't repeat it. I only half believed it anyway. John also told me that he, John, had a one-night stand with Brian Epstein, their manager, which I now believe was true.
That same year, 1962, Neil gave up his accountancy studies and joined the Beatles full-time. Later, when they had started national touring, he was joined by another roadie, Mal Evans. Mal was big and beefy and unflappable. Neil was lean, rather neurotic, always seemed worried.
He was with them through all their years of fame. He would get shouted at, told to fetch impossible things, fix ludicrous arrangements. In 1968, Paul decided on the spur of the moment to come and visit me in Portugal with his new girlfriend Linda, and her daughter Heather. Neil was told to get them on a plane to Faro. The last flight had gone. So, late at night, Neil secured a private jet and off they went.
But Neil was more than a roadie and fixer - he was their friend and confidant, helped with words of songs when they got stuck, with personal relationships when they wanted them unstuck.
His accountancy training proved invaluable when he came to run Apple. As the years went on, he masterminded much of the group's professional affairs and back catalogues. On the whole, Neil won most of the battles, helping them make further millions. He did also have a creative streak, acting as the producer of the film Let it Be and organising the Beatles Anthology.
Neil was totally loyal and faithful to them - and yet not at all starstruck. He was more than aware of their foibles, greed, stupidities, unreasonableness, would readily slag them off. It was clear he was part of the family, so while moaning, as all family members do, he would never betray their secrets.
When I pressed him for inside stories, he used to say he couldn't remember. Mick Jagger always says the same. In Neil's case, it could be because he wasn't really much interested in the personal stuff. His mind didn't quite work that way. He had a dry, austere, rather resigned, cynical view of most people, more interested in facts and figures than tittle tattle. He was there, but was somehow floating above it all. The Beatles were very fortunate to have him.
· Hunter Davies is author of The Beatles, WW Norton and Co
Neil Aspinall, who left an accounting job to become The Beatles' road manager when the group was still a local dance band and who went on to manage its production and management company, Apple, died Sunday night in Manhattan. He was 66 and lived in Twickenham, England.
Neil Aspinall, left, who managed the Beatles' company, Apple, with Paul McCartney and John Lennon in November 1965.
Geoff Baker, a spokesman for the family, said the cause was lung cancer. Mr. Aspinall had been undergoing treatment at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He retired from Apple last year.
Of all the people in the Beatles' orbit, Mr. Aspinall had the most durable relationship with the group; he had already been a crucial member of the Beatles' entourage for about 18 months when Ringo Starr became the drummer. When the Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 1988, George Harrison made a point of saying that Mr. Aspinall should be considered the fifth Beatle.
In November 1967, when the Beatles formed Apple to oversee their creative and business interests, they asked Mr. Aspinall, by then a trusted assistant of long standing, to manage it. He never took a formal title, but he ran a company that, in its first years, included a record label, a film production company, and electronics, publishing and retailing divisions. He also quickly put the Beatles' complicated contractual commitments in order.
But when expenses at Apple spun out of control and the American manager Allen Klein was brought in to sort out the Beatles' finances, Mr. Klein fired much of the staff but was told by John Lennon, "Don't touch Neil and Mal, they're ours," referring to Mr. Aspinall and his assistant, Mal Evans, who had also been with the group since its Liverpool days.
Mr. Aspinall oversaw a succession of lawsuits at Apple. In 1969, the Beatles sued EMI Records in a royalties dispute that took 20 years to settle. Apple also sued the Broadway show "Beatlemania" for unauthorized use of the Beatles' name and logo, and it fought several court battles against Apple Computer for trademark infringement. The last was settled in 2006, in favor of the computer company.
Mr. Aspinall was often blamed for the slow pace at which Beatles archival projects were released. There was something to that: Several projects have never been released, including a home video of the Beatles' 1965 concert at Shea Stadium and a remastered version of the film "Let It Be" as well as both CD and digital download versions of all the Beatles' studio recordings.
What the complaints did not take into account is that Mr. Aspinall could release only what Apple's principals - Paul McCartney, Mr. Starr, Olivia Harrison and Yoko Ono (the widows of George Harrison and John Lennon) - unanimously agreed should be released. And the interpersonal politics at Apple are such that unanimity has been hard to come by.
Even so, Mr. Aspinall did oversee several important releases since 1993. These include "Live at the BBC," a two-disc compilation of the group's radio performances; "Yellow Submarine Songtrack," a remixed version of the music from the "Yellow Submarine" cartoon film, which Apple also restored and reissued; "1," a single-disc hits compilation; and "Love," a multimedia collaboration with Cirque du Soleil (and a matching recording).
His biggest achievement was "The Beatles Anthology." The idea was to use performance film and interview clips to let the Beatles tell their own story. Originally meant to be a theatrical film, the project was begun in 1970 but shelved until the final EMI lawsuits were settled in 1989. By then, Mr. Aspinall had proposed that instead of making a film, the Beatles should contribute new interviews (with archival interviews with John Lennon, who was murdered in 1980) to a six-hour television series and a nearly 13-hour home video edition.
When the Beatles agreed, he assembled an extraordinary archive of television and concert film, photograph collections and other materials for use in "The Beatles Anthology" and other potential Apple projects. He was credited as executive producer.
Mr. Aspinall also ran a film production company, Standby Films. Among its productions is a 1999 film, "Jimi Hendrix: Band of Gypsys."
Mr. Aspinall's history with the Beatles reached back to their earliest days as a band, when he hung fliers around Liverpool advertising their performances. In February 1961, with the group's popularity in Liverpool soaring, Mr. Aspinall gave up his job as an apprentice accountant and began driving the group from job to job, often three performances a day.
On international tours, he left the business of equipment setup to Mal Evans and became the Beatles' principal aide. One of his later jobs was to round up the pictures of the celebrities and other influential crowd members for the cover of the 1967 album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."
On occasion, he was drafted as a performer. He was among the singers in the celebratory chorus of "Yellow Submarine," and he played tambura (an Indian drone instrument) on "Within You Without You," harmonica on "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" and percussion on "Magical Mystery Tour."
Mr. Aspinall was born in Prestatyn, Wales, on Oct. 13, 1941, and grew up in Liverpool, where he attended the Liverpool Institute with Mr. McCartney and Mr. Harrison. He became friendly with the Beatles through Pete Best, their drummer from 1960 to 1962.
Mr. Aspinall, originally a boarder in Mr. Best's house, had started a romantic relationship with Mona Best, Mr. Best's mother. Their son, Roag Best, was born in 1962. Mr. Aspinall accompanied Pete Best to the meeting with the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein at which the drummer was fired, but he decided to continue working for the group.
In 1968, Mr. Aspinall married Suzy Ornstein, whose father, Bud Ornstein, was head of European production for United Artists, the company for which the Beatles made the films "A Hard Day's Night," "Help!" and "Let It Be." She survives him, as do their daughters Gayla, Dhara and Mandy; their son, Julian; and Roag Best.
During his years as the Beatles principal aide, Mr. Aspinall made several films for the Beatles. One was a promotional clip for Ringo Starr's 1970 single, "Sentimental Journey"; another film accompanied the group's 1969 single "Something," for which Mr. Aspinall showed the Beatles and their wives walking placidly through an English garden (or, in Mr. McCartney's case, the grounds of his farm in Scotland). What the film avoided showing was that the Beatles were at that point barely on speaking terms; in the film, no two Beatles are seen together.
Virtually alone among Beatles insiders, he resisted the temptation to publish his memoirs, but joked that if he did write them, he would arrange to have them published only after his death. He is not known to have undertaken the project.
Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr today paid tribute to the man known as the "Fifth Beatle".
Music label legend Neil Aspinall, 66, died yesterday in New York after suffering from lung cancer.
Today in a statement released by the remaining Beatles, Sir Paul and Ringo called him a "loyal friend" and "great man".
Aspinall had been friends with Sir Paul and George Harrison since they met as schoolboys at the Liverpool Institute grammar school.
Mr Aspinall was expected to build a career as an accountant, but his friendship with the Beatles saw him rise from road manager, personal assistant, minder, spotlight operator, confidante and fixer, to controlling the vast Apple brand.
A statement on behalf of Sir Paul, Ringo, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, and Apple Corps said: "All his friends and loved ones will greatly miss him, but will always retain the fondest memories of a great man."
Sir Paul is understood to have flown to
New York on Friday night to be at his friend's bedside.
Mr Aspinall fell ill with lung cancer two months ago and was being cared for at Sloan-Kettering hospital in New York.
He leaves behind his wife Suzy and five children who were with him when he died.
They said: "He was the centre of our universe and still is."
An unassuming man, as the head of the Beatles' empire for more than 40 years, he ensured the Apple trademark lasted far beyond the 60s. Mr Aspinall remained the chief of Apple Corps until last year.
During the last 20 years of his time at the helm, it is reported that The Beatles sold more than 70 million albums.
Along with Paul and George at the Liverpool Institute, he formed the "Mad Lad" gang, sharing cigarettes behind the bike sheds, "doing ridiculous things together" and, as teenagers, adding John Lennon to their circle.
Stephen Bailey, manager of The Beatles Shop, said: "If anyone has the right to call themselves the Fifth Beatle it was Neil.
"He was right there where it all started. He was always a wonderfully nice person."
Mr Aspinall was also one of the co-founders of LIPA.
The ECHO's Peter Grant says . . .
THE question is always asked - who was the Fifth Beatle?
I believe he just passed away.
In January Ringo Starr told me there was no fifth Beatle. But then with a smile he mentioned three key Beatle people: Brian Epstein; Sir George Martin and Neil Aspinall.
Those who knew the deeply private Liverpudlian Neil Aspinall acknowledge his crucial part of the Beatles' inner circle - a close-knit group that few could penetrate and most of that collective were from Liverpool.
Neil was with the Beatles years before Brian Epstein and George Martin. He was initially their driver and then their accountant and then he took over the reins of Apple Corps - to many a poison chalice. But he succeeded in this as he did at the Liverpool Institute School.
He was loyalty personified.
Neil was there to console his mate Pete Best after he was sacked. Look on any Beatle archive photo and you will see Neil blending into the background. He witnessed the magical history story first hand.
Neil The death of his Liverpool pal Mr Fix It, Mal Evans.
He watched on TV the news reports of Lennon's death and he was there when press guru and former ECHO journalist Derek Taylor died of cancer.
He was also there to say goodbye to George Harrison.
Neil was the man who oversaw the mammoth television, book and DVD project The Anthology which was the Beatles in their own words and in which he appeared in rare interviews.
He was respected throughout the whole music industry. I recall going to the Apple HQ in London to set up the Liverpool ECHO Beatle web pages. We needed Neil Aspinall's blessing.
I last saw him at Paul McCartney's 1999 gig at the Cavern.
Neil shook my hand, smiled and said in a soft Scouse accent: "Hello - Goodbye."
I now wonder whether the man who looked after all their archives, their business and personal interests ever wrote his own account.
If such a book exists - and many believe it does - it will be a best seller from someone who was there on the long and winding road.
Neil Aspinall was the Fifth Beatle.
Neil Aspinall, the confidant described as the "Fifth Beatle" who became mastermind of the Fab Four's business empire, has died, aged 66.
A schoolfriend of Sir Paul McCartney and George Harrison, Aspinall drove the Beatles' battered blue Commer van. The bespectacled accountant advised the band for 40 years, overseeing the often chaotic finances of their Apple company.
Sir Paul visited Aspinall in a New York hospital days before he died from lung cancer.
In the early days Aspinall's job was to fend off screaming girls. He took part in many of the Beatles' pranks and even sang backing vocals on Yellow Submarine. He became guardian of the Beatles' shambolic business interests at Apple Corps in 1968, on the condition that he would do it "only until they found someone else". He quit the position last year.
Aspinall reinvented the Beatles brand for new audiences. He persuaded Sir Paul and Ringo Starr to take part in the 1995 Beatles Anthology series. The 2000 singles compilation album One, which sold 30 million copies, was also his idea. In a statement from Apple Corps, Sir Paul and Starr described Aspinall as a great man who would be missed. The Beatle widows Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison also put their name to the statement. It read: "As a loyal friend, confidant and chief executive, Neil's trusting stewardship and guidance has left a legacy for generations to come."
Mrs Harrison and the couple's son, Dhani, added: "He was our constant and avuncular caretaker for so many years; there is no way to measure how much he will be missed."
Hunter Davies, the author of a number of books on the Beatles, said: "Neil Aspinall was the most important person in the whole saga of the Beatles. It is extraordinary that he gave up his studies to work with them, and never qualified to be an accountant, and yet he ended up representing them in talks with people from Sony and other companies.
"It was also amazing that, just as the Beatles grew from being this little band at a time when nobody realised what a talent they were, he also developed alongside them into this great figure who ran Apple for 30 years."
Aspinall struck up a friendship with the young McCartney and Harrison at the Liverpool Institute for Boys. They bonded over cigarettes smoked behind the school's air-raid shelters. "By the time we were ready to take the GCE exams, we'd added John Lennon to our 'Mad Lad' gang," Aspinall said.
He had an eight-year affair with Mona Best, the mother of the Beatles's ousted first drummer Pete Best, which produced a son in 1962. As road manager, he drove the van for £1 an hour and was with the band when they conquered America. He stood in for Harrison when the guitarist fell ill during the rehearsals for a television show.
Aspinall also played percussion on Magical Mystery Tour as well as singing on the Yellow Submarine chorus.
John Lennon claimed that they smoked marijuana in the lavatories at Buckingham Palace when they collected their MBEs in 1965. But Aspinall never revealed the band's secrets, despite numerous "kiss and tell" offers, and sought to find common ground between Ono and the other band representatives in discussions over their legacy.
Aspinall had begun work on remastering the Beatles catalogue with a view to its digital release on iTunes before quitting. He was said to have had disagreements with members of the Apple board over the future exploitation of Beatles material.
Last month Sir Paul said: "Neil was our mate for a long, long time and nobody could replace Neil because he was so special. He's a great guy."
Geoff Baker, a former adviser to Sir Paul, said: "Neil was the man who was closer to all of the Beatles than anyone. Although he would deny it, he was long considered to be 'the real Fifth Beatle' by the music and entertainment industries which respected him as one of the wisest men in the record business."
Friends said that Aspinall used to smoke but gave up years ago. He is survived by wife, Suzy, and five children..
Beatles' guru
Neil Aspinall dies
Neil Aspinall, a close friend of The Beatles
and the man who ran the Apple music empire, has died aged 66,
a spokesman has announced.
A childhood friend of Paul McCartney and John Lennon, Neil Aspinall was the group's road manager before overseeing the creation of Apple Records.
In a statement, Sir Paul McCartney,
Ringo Starr and
Yoko Ono said: "Neil's trusting stewardship
and guidance has left a far-reaching legacy."
For more than 40 years, Neil Aspinall controlled the vast empire of the Fab Four.
A quiet, bespectacled accountant, he was their chief confidant and business adviser, took part in some of their more rebellious pranks and even sang backing vocals on Yellow Submarine.
But Mr Aspinall, 65, is believed to be suffering from lung cancer and has flown to New York from his London home for treatment at Manhattan's prestigious Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre.
A family friend said that Sir Paul had been to visit. "I understand that Paul saw him in hospital in New York," the friend said. "Paul will be devastated if he doesn't beat this. They have been mates ever since they were schoolboys in Liverpool."
The news of Mr Aspinall's condition will have come as a shattering blow for Sir Paul who has seen several loved ones and friends lose battles with cancer.
In 1998, breast cancer claimed his first wife Linda at 56, then George Harrison died of lung cancer at the age of 58 in 2001.
Cancer also claimed the life of the Beatles' long-time Press agent Derek Taylor in 1997 and Ringo Starr's first wife, Maureen Starkey, died from leukemia in 1994 when she was 47.
The family friend said Mr Aspinall used to smoke, but gave up years ago.
Mr Aspinall was expected to build a career as a conventional accountant when he struck up a friendship with the young McCartney and Harrison after they all gained places at the Liverpool Institute.
Mr Aspinall once joked that they initially bonded over the illicit cigarettes that they would smoke behind the school's air-raid shelters.
"By the time we were ready to take the GCE exams, we'd added John Lennon to our 'Mad Lad' gang," he said.
Once they became the Beatles, they also experimented with drugs. Aspinall observed: "Quite a bit of marijuana was being smoked. It made recording a bit slower, but it didn't affect the quality of the work."
John Lennon claimed they smoked marijuana in the lavatories at Buckingham Palace when they collected their MBEs in 1965.
Mr Aspinall started work for the band as the £1 ($2)-an-hour driver of their battered blue Commer van.
He had an affair with Mona Best, mother of the band's first drummer Pete Best, and in 1962 they had a son.
He was with The Beatles now with Ringo Starr as drummer as they conquered America and even stood in for Harrison when the guitarist fell sick during the rehearsals for their first major TV show.
He also contributed to some recordings, playing percussion on Magical Mystery Tour and belting out the Yellow Submarine chorus.
But his real genius was as a money man and in 1968 he took over Apple Corps, the company the Beatles had set up to manage their business interests.
He took computer giant Apple Inc to court three times over image infringement and, in winning two of the suits, the Beatles' company was awarded more than £13. 5million ($27 million).
Just 11 months ago, he finally quit his job as Apple chief executive to run a small film company, Standby Films, from his home in Twickenham, Middlesex.
Lawyers for The Beatles sued Friday to prevent the distribution of unreleased recordings purportedly made during Ringo Starr's first performance with the group in 1962.
The dispute between Apple Corps Ltd., the London company formed by the Beatles that helps guard their legacy, and Fuego Entertainment Inc. of Miami Lakes stems from recordings the Fab Four apparently made during a performance at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany.
Eight unreleased tracks are said to be among the recordings, including Paul McCartney singing Hank Williams' "Lovesick Blues" and McCartney and John Lennon singing "Ask Me Why."
Apple Corps claims that the songs were taped without the consent of the band and that Fuego and sister companies Echo-Fuego Music Group LLC and Echo-Vista Inc. have no right to distribute them.
"This appears to us to be a garden-variety bootleg recording," said Paul LiCalsi, an attorney for Apple Corps.
But Fuego Entertainment says the recordings were legally made. "Don't claim that these were just bootlegged," said Fuego president Hugo Cancio. "It's not like today, that you just go in with a phone or a blackberry and you record."
The lawsuit contends that the recordings are of poor quality and that circulating them "dilutes and tarnishes the extraordinarily valuable image associated with the Beatles."
Cancio said that he had not been served with a copy of the lawsuit, but that the filing demanding at least $15 million in damages was not expected.
"I'm surprised because up to a few weeks ago, we were in good-faith conversations with Apple," he said.
Also named in the lawsuit is Jeffrey Collins, a partner of Cancio who obtained the recordings. It's unclear how Collins obtained the recordings.
Cancio intended to release the songs as "Jammin' with The Beatles and Friends, Star Club, Hamburg, 1962."
"It's unfair to millions
of Beatles fans not to allow this recording to be put out. The
world deserves to hear these tracks," he said. "The
fact is that we have it; they don't, and that is what's bothering
them."
March 10 , 2008 -- BeatlesMovies.co.uk
First ever free to read online Beatles book is launched
The first ever free to read online Beatles
book has just been launched. Bob Neaverson, author of The Beatles
Movies (Cassell, 1997) and co-author (with former Apple Film boss
Denis O'Dell) of At the Apple's Core, has just launched a Beatles
Movie website, www.beatlesmovies.co.uk.
The site is dedicated to celebrating the importance of the group's five forays into film, and includes a re-vamped version of his first book, the highly acclaimed The Beatles Movies, a critical history of the band's films, which includes interviews with such key movie personnel as former Apple boss Denis O'Dell, film director Richard Lester, and the group's favourite actor, Victor Spinetti.
This is the first time a major Beatles book has been made available completely free to read online to fans.
Along with the book, there is much else for Beatles film fans to enjoy, including videographies, quizzes, a discussion of the group's promo output and other items of fascinating trivia.
Bob explains that, "I
want the site to blossom and grow and have a strong interactive
element. Rather than simply re-publishing the book in hard copy
form, it seemed more exciting to put it out on the web, where
it can be read by everyone for free. I'm not getting any royalties,
so I'm hoping that the site will eventually sustain itself through
advertising, but there really is no catch... It's the world's
first free to read Beatles book!"
March 10 ,
2008 -- Pop Go The Beatles
In the news today there is a report in the Pepperland Bugle that Pop Go the Beatles, the radio show that was banned in the U.S. will be rebroadcast in it's original form on REAL MUZIC WEB RADIO.
www.myspace.com/realmuzicwebradio
Every Tuesday night at 9:00 you can hear one hour of the alternate studio takes and mixes plus live in-concert & BBC radio performances that made this show infamous.
According to our source, Ronnie of Ear Candy Magazine in his review of the show:
"I can honestly say that Pop Go the Beatles is probably THE best Beatles radio series that I've heard - especially from a Beatle fan's perspective and what THEY would expect from a Beatles show."
You can find out more about the Pop Go the Beatles through the show's website.
March 8, 2008
-- The Guardian
Beatles songs to go online? Not so, says Apple (Corps)
You'll have to wait a little longer for the Beatles' back catalogue
online, says a spokesman - even if another paper says it's imminent.
The Evening Standard splash (as journalists call it; front-page lead as most other folks do) today is "MACCA'S £200m iTUNES PAYDAY" which is remarkable for two things: first, they bothered to put the 'i' of iTunes into lower-case; second, that according to the spokesperson for Apple Corps, which still retains publishing rights to The Beatles' back catalogue, its suggestion that the songs will go online later this year is wrong.
The story says that McCartney "is to release the Beatles back catalogue online - helping pay for his multi-million pound divorce from Heather Mills." Later it says that
The catalogue's online release has been hampered by legal wrangles that have now been settled. The divorce is thought to be the final obstacle. A source close to the musician told the Evening Standard today: "I reckon the Beatles catalogue will go on this year."
OK, well, that would certainly be nice - I've been ringing up Apple Corps since about 2003 asking when the Beatles' catalogue would join pretty much the rest of the world by going online. No date was ever given.
And that remains true, according the Apple Corps spokesperson who I spoke to after seeing the story. "There's no date set," she said. "The story isn't correct. I can't tell you if it's this year or next year or when." (The Standard did call Apple Corps for a response before publishing its story, and decided to go with its own sources.)
So what then are the obstacles to the Beatles catalogue, which would be enormously valuable, and would (as the Standard suggests) probably dominate the download charts for months if not weeks (might they become the first band to have No.1s four decades apart)?
Well, look to the publishing rights. The publishing rights to the Beatles songs are owned jointly by Sony, EMI Publishing and Apple Corps.
Sony has songs online. EMI Publishing has songs online and would love to have more. Apple Corps. doesn't. It is owned by, among others, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Its chief executive since April 2007 is Jeff Jones; he replaced Neil Aspinall - who fought against the Beatles' music being on CD until there was a higher royalty, and wouldn't allow it onto compilation albums.
Jones sounded excited about the job when he took it up:
The multiple opportunities to reach music lovers, both new and old, with the Beatles' spectacular body of work makes this position incredibly challenging and exciting.
Well, OK, excite us then, Mr Jones. It's been kinda lacking just lately. But is it me, or is there no very visible reason for the holdout? And what Beatles tracks (or albums) would you definitely buy that you don't already have?
Update: I put three questions
to Apple Corps's PR:
1) Can you confirm if this [the songs going online this year]
will happen?
2) Any details on dates?
3) Which online stores? Will it be all of them, or will any be
excluded?
And the answer? "No comment."
There. Clear as mud, eh?
WEBMASTER'S
NOTE: From Bill King of Beatlefan
Magazine: "The Beatles publishing is jointly owned by
Sony and Michael Jackson. EMI and Apple do not have any ownership
of it at all."
March 8, 2008
-- Mp3.com
Idol: 12 finalists to tackle Beatles
With four more sent home, final dozen will be the first to take on the Lennon/McCartney songbook.
On American Idol next week, a motley cast of characters will get up close and personal with what is widely hailed as music's greatest songbook.
The popular Fox singing contest
whittled down its contestants to a dozen finalists Thursday night,
and those 12 will be the first in Idol history to be allowed to
perform The
Beatles' songs. Executive
producer Nigel Lythgoe announced the long-rumored deal with the
Fab Four late last month on host Ryan Seacrest's
Los Angeles radio show, calling it "incredible news"
and something that "we've waited for [for] seven seasons
now."
February
27, 2008 -- Contact Music
BEATLES - MARTIN APOLOGISES TO REPLACED BEATLES DRUMMER
Legendary producer SIR GEORGE MARTIN has made a public apology to replaced BEATLES drummer PETE BEST. The
66-year-old musician was part of the Fab Four from 1960 to 1962,
before Ringo
Starr was drafted into the
band to take his place - and the music mogul now insists he feels
"guilty" over the dismissal.
Martin authorised the change just before the Beatles shot to fame,
with Best going on to work as a civil servant for 20 years before
establishing his own band years later.
Martin says, "I felt guilty. Maybe I was the catalyst that
changed his life."
February 26,
2008 -- Courant.com
This Should Mess With The Aliens' Heads
Beatles' 'Across The Universe' Will Arrive Before Voyager's Bach,
Beethoven And Berry
Earlier this month, NASA transmitted The Beatles song "Across the Universe," well, across the universe.
This was the brainchild of a die-hard Beatles fan to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the song's recording. Lovely, yes? A lovely song, with a lovely theme. All you need is love, so what's not to love? Well, there's the timing.
Because it was 30 years ago today (or so) that NASA sent a different dedication to our best alien friends forever in the form of a gold-plated, copper 12-inch long-playing record album, which was affixed to the Voyager 1 spacecraft.
Voyager, according to NASA's itinerary, is due to escape the bounds of our solar system soon. This expensive intergalactic jukebox is destined to wander the heavens until it crash-lands, light-years away, on the back patio of a family of very startled aliens. Voyager's LP features the music of Bach, Beethoven and everyone's favorite modern composer, Chuck Berry.
The problem?
The Beatles song is shooting straight toward the North Star, 431 light-years away, at 186,000 miles per second. The Voyager "album," however, won't "drop" on Planet X until the year - well, whatever year it will be when it gets there at a rate of only 38,000 miles per HOUR! Even with its considerable head start, this gold-plated tortoise won't arrive until well after that little warp-speed iTune out of Abbey Road Studios.
In other words, we may have doomed our effort to get an interplanetary groove on. If the aliens who find the wreckage of the Voyager live anywhere near the North Star, they will have long since downloaded the Beatles hit onto their inter-cranial hard drives. Even though they'll still be puzzling over the lyrics, just like most humans ("Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup ...." Huh?), they'll nevertheless concur that this auditory sensation was created by something intelligent.
Then, after carefully examining the Voyager recording for obscenities or references to illegal drugs, they'll conclude that this "newer" artifact from Planet Earth shows that, naturally, the Beatles must have influenced the work of Bach, Beethoven and Chuck Berry.
This means that aliens will become even bigger Beatles fans than anyone on Earth! And that will be on the basis of only one song. Wait'll they hear the White Album!
John, Paul, George (and, to a lesser degree, Ringo) - yes, echoes of their genius are easy to hear in the repetitive movements of the Brandenburg Concertos or the Moonlight Sonata. And not only is "Johnny B. Goode" just a sped-up version of "Across the Universe" - they'll think that because they're aliens - it's obviously an homage to Johnny Lennon.
But the chronological order in which our extra-terrestrial friends will be introduced to this music will also make them sad, because they'll know immediately what became of our great civilization on Earth. We went backward, in a technological devolution.
How else to explain why intelligent beings would go from digital to LPs? That, plus our failure to send thanks for the thousands of tunes they beamed to Earth during the Pleistocene Epoch, will discourage them from any further attempts at file-sharing.
The Grammys just can't let The Beatles let it be.
The Fab Four were honoured at the 50th annual Grammy Awards, just two years after the pioneering rock band was last feted at the record industry's biggest awards ceremony.
"Today we celebrate the power of the Beatles," said actor Tom Hanks in introducing the Las Vegas cast of the Cirque du Soleil show Love and stars from the movie musical Across the Universe, singing the Beatles' classic hit Let It Be.
Paul McCartney, who has not won a Grammy since 1980, was nominated three times this year, but lost out in all those categories during the non-televised ceremony that preceded the main event.
Beatles-related tunes also figured in other categories.
Punk band Green Day's cover of John Lennon's Working Class Hero and U2's cover of Lennon's Instant Karma, both recorded for the charity record Instant Karma - The Campaign to Save Darfur, were nominated for best rock performance by a duo or group with vocals. They lost out to the White Stripes.
Beatles producer Sir George Martin had more luck. He and his son Giles won the surround sound Grammy for Love, an album of remixed Beatles tunes that form the musical basis for the Cirque du Soleil show.
The Martins also won for best compilation soundtrack album, and were accompanied by ex-Beatle Ringo Starr as they strode onstage to accept their trophy.
"Hi. My name is Ringo," the Beatles drummer announced, drawing laughs from the audience.
"A long time ago, we made these records with John, Paul and George (Harrison), and now George Martin is involved again," he said.
McCartney performed on the Grammys two years ago with Jay-Z and Linkin Park.
Beatles space broadcast 'risks alien attack'
Fears that malevolent aliens will tune into this week's broadcast of The Beatles' song "Across the Universe" have been voiced by scientists.
Nasa started to beam the song towards the North Star, 431 light years from Earth at midnight GMT on Monday, drawing congratulations from former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney and John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, who mused that it marked "the beginning of the new age in which we will communicate with billions of planets across the universe."
But today's New Scientist asks whether such signals could expose us to the risk of attack from mean spirited aliens.
Scientists considered this question at the "Sound of Silence" meeting at Arizona State University in Tempe this week.
"Before sending out even symbolic messages, we need an open discussion about the potential risks," says Douglas Vakoch of the Seti (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) Institute, Mountain View, California.
Humankind has already given away our position in the solar system and information about human biology on the Voyager and Pioneer probes, and in a message sent from the Arecibo observatory in 1974.
"It's very charitable to send out our encyclopaedia, but that may short-change future generations," Vakoch tells New Scientist, calling for caution.
"I have no fear that NASA's latest transmission exposes Earth to any danger from aliens," he tells The Daily Telegraph.
"However, I do believe that even symbolic transmissions from Earth deserve broad-based discussion before hitting "send."
"Although one-time transmissions to distant stars stand little chance of being intercepted, they do set a precedent for intentionally making ourselves known to other civilizations.
"I think the more important question is what we would want to say about ourselves to other worlds, and that's something deserving of global input," he says.
However, fellow Seti Institute researcher Seth Shostak is not worried and writes off the fears as paranoid, given that "the one thing we know about aliens - if they do exist - is that they are very, very far away."
He adds that we have been announcing our presence for decades. "Military radar signals have already penetrated deep into space, and early broadcasts of Star Trek and I Love Lucy are washing over one star system a day," says Shostak. "If they're listening, they already know we're here."
The meeting - aptly titled "Sound of Silence" - was told that after half a century of combing the skies, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence hasn't heard a peep from any little green men and women, and it may be time for a rethink.
"Have we been looking in the wrong place, at the wrong time, in the wrong way?" asks conference organiser Prof Paul Davies of Arizona State University. "The purpose of this meeting is to brainstorm some radically new thinking on the subject. "
One idea is to focus on the cosmic microwave background, the relic radiation left behind by the Big Bang that contributes to the white noise in a poorly tuned television. Intelligent aliens are likely to be "tuned" to this. Other debates concerned the type of alien signals being sought.
"What other signatures of alien technology might we look for, such as anomalously depleted resources, or debris from waste products?," he tells the Telegraph.
"Could a message be buried in DNA? But we have also heard from sceptics, for example, that it could be a fallacy to suppose that "intelligence" is a biological niche waiting to be filled by evolution. It may be just a quirky trait, like the elephant's trunk."
Efforts to date have not covered
much ground in scouring the skies. However last year, the first
of the 42 dishes of the Allen Telescope Array began operation,
which will be dedicated entirely to SETI. And the proposed Square
Kilometre Array telescope will be sensitive enough to pick up
signals such as alien TV and radio.
February 6,
2008 -- Daily Mail
Guru who inspired the Beatles dies aged 91
Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi, the Indian guru
whose teachings were adopted by The Beatles and
millions of other followers, died last night.
Maharishi, who founded and developed the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique, died on Wednesday at his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop.
Bob Roth, a spokesman for the movement said: "He died peacefully at about 7pm".
Maharishi introduced TM - a Hindu practice of mind control - to the West in the late 1950s. Initially dismissed as hippie mysticism, the movement has gradually gained medical respectability, and is now followed by millions across the globe.
The cause of death has yet to be established, but it appeared to be "natural causes, his age", according to the group's spokesman.
The yogi was believed to be 91 when he died
Born around 1917, the Maharishi was believed to be 91.
He began teaching TM in 1955 and brought the technique to the United States in 1959.
But the movement hit the headlines after the Beatles visited his ashram in India in 1968, although he had a famous falling out with the rock stars when he discovered them using drugs at his Himalayan retreat.
John Lennon, who left the course with a "bad taste", was allegedly inspired to write the song "Sexy Sadie" about the Maharishi, with the refrain "what have you done? You made a fool of everyone".
Other famous practitioners of TM include the Beach Boys and singer-songwriter Donovan, who befriended Maharishi and put his picture on the back cover of his A Gift from a Flower to a Garden album.
Comedian Andy Kaufman and magician Doug Henning were also students of Maharishi, while Hollywood directors Clint Eastwood and David Lynch have both practiced the technique.
With the help of celebrity endorsements, Maharishi - a Hindi-language title for Great Seer - turned his interpretations of ancient scripture into a multimillion-dollar global empire.
Since his first global tour in 1958, Maharishi's techniques for human development have been taught worldwide, with the help of hundreds of trained teachers who passed on their knowledge through structured courses to millions.
Throughout his life, he continued to focus on making all aspects of the Vedic Literature widely available. His technique simplified meditation, and involved using a monosyllabic mantra to help the mind quieten down.
Last month, the Maharishi announced the retirement from his normal activities, saying: "Invincibility is irreversibly established in the world. My work is done. My designated duty to Guru Dev is fulfilled."
It's amazing what was hiding on Betamax...
Online music channel Rockworld.TV has announced that they have purchased footage of Led Zepplin, Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles that was rescued from obsolete Super 8 and Betamax formats. RockWorld.TV and the Infernal Machine music archive have reached a deal to digitally clean up such lost 1960s TV broadcasts as the German music show "Beat Club", among other rarely seen shows. The remastered footage will appear sometime this year on Rockworld.TV along with additional performances from Aerosmith, The Who, and the Greatful Dead.
Pete Hadfield, co-founder and joint CEO of Carnaby Media, who own Rockworld.TV, has said: "We are getting access to some of the most exciting music footage in existence, a great deal of which has rarely if ever been seen before, which make our broadcast offering even stronger than it is already."
March 29th and 30th
At the Hamburg Museum
Both days from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm
After a big success in 2006, Hamburg is going to celebrate his second "The Hamburg Sound Festival"! Lots of talk shows, autograph sessions with artists and contemporaries of the sixties as well as live acts will be part of the programme on the 29th and 30th of March at the hamburgmuseum. Beatles memorabilia are going to be dealt and valued on the international vendor's and collector's market and the programme will be moderated by Julian Dawson and Kuno Dreysse.
Numerous supporter of the Hamburg Sound are going to perform in the neighbouring "Fliegende Bauten" and the "Downtown Bluesclub". For the first time, the prestigious band-contest of "Wir suchen die Kings of Beat" (Searching for the Kings of Beat) will be held and the "Hamburg Sound Lifetime Award" bestowed upon an individual who has gained merit by promoting the Hamburg Sound.
Confirmed guests include Beatles Manager Allan Williams, Astrid Kirchherr, Tony Sheridan, Ian and the Zodiacs, Lee Curtis & The Bonds, Kingsize Taylor & The Brotherhood of Rock'n'Roll, The Eddie Hardin/Ray Fenwick-Band, "the" Beatles Chronolgist Mark Lewisohn, Uschi Nerke and many more.
Enclosed please find the up-to-date programme as well as on www.hamburgmuseum.de
Contact:
Booking for the international
vendor's market:
Tanja.Lehmitz@hamburgmuseum.de
Tickets are available on www.eventim.de or by phone at + 49-(0)1805-57 00 81, from all regular pre-sale counters and at the Hamburg Museum.
Best regards,
Your Hamburg Sound-Team
January 31, 2008 -- PRNewswire
NASA and The Beatles Celebrate Anniversaries by Beaming Song "Across
The Universe" Into Deep Space
For the first time ever, NASA will beam a song -- The Beatles' "Across the Universe" -- directly into deep space at 7 p.m. EST on Feb. 4.
The transmission over NASA's
Deep Space Network will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the
day The Beatles recorded the song, as well as the 50th anniversary
of NASA's founding and the group's beginnings. Two other anniversaries
also are being honored: The launch 50 years ago this week of Explorer
1, the first U.S. satellite, and the founding 45 years ago of
the
Deep Space Network, an international network of antennas that
supports missions to explore the universe.
The transmission is being aimed at the North Star, Polaris, which is located 431 light years away from Earth. The song will travel across the universe at a speed of 186,000 miles per second. Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney expressed excitement that the tune, which was principally written by fellow Beatle John Lennon, was being beamed into the cosmos.
"Amazing! Well done, NASA!" McCartney said in a message to the space agency. "Send my love to the aliens. All the best, Paul."
Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, characterized the song's transmission as a significant event.
"I see that this is the beginning of the new age in which we will communicate with billions of planets across the universe," she said.
It is not the first time Beatles music has been used by NASA; in November 2005,
McCartney performed the song "Good Day Sunshine" during a concert that was transmitted to the International Space Station. "Here Comes the Sun," "Ticket to Ride" and "A Hard Day's Night" are among other Beatles' songs that have been played to wake astronaut crews in orbit.
Feb. 4 has been declared "Across The Universe Day" by Beatles fans to commemorate the anniversaries. As part of the celebration, the public around the world has been invited to participate in the event by simultaneously playing the song at the same time it is transmitted by NASA. Many of the senior NASA scientists and engineers involved in the effort are among the group's biggest fans.
"I've been a Beatles fan for 45 years -- as long as the Deep Space Network has been around," said Dr. Barry Geldzahler, the network's program executive at NASA Headquarters, Washington."What a joy, especially considering that 'Across the Universe' is my personal favorite Beatles song."
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., operates the Deep Space Network. For information about the Deep Space Network, go to:
http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn/index.html
January 31, 2008 -- Business Wire
Special Beatles Grammys Segment to Feature the Casts of "The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil" and Across The Universe
Natalie Cole, Juanes, Cyndi Lauper, Bette Midler and Bonnie Raitt Are First Announced Presenters for Music's Biggest Night® on CBS Sunday, Feb. 10
Nominees Feist, Alicia Keys, Brad Paisley and the casts of "The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil" and Across The Universe in a special Beatles segment are the latest performers announced for the 50th Annual GRAMMY® Awards telecast, it was announced today by The Recording Academy®. Eight-time GRAMMY winner Natalie Cole, 12-time Latin GRAMMY winner Juanes, GRAMMY winner Cyndi Lauper, three-time GRAMMY winner Bette Midler and nine-time GRAMMY winner Bonnie Raitt will appear as presenters. Previously announced performers include Beyoncé; Foo Fighters (with special guest conductor John Paul Jones); Carrie Underwood; 2008 MusiCares® Person of the Year Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige, the Clark Sisters, Israel And New Breed, and Trin-I-Tee 5:7 in a special gospel segment; and Rihanna with a reunited the Time in a special 50th anniversary segment.
The music industry's premier event will take place live on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008, at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles and will be broadcast in HDTV and 5.1 Surround Sound on the CBS Television Network from 8-11:30 p.m. (ET/PT). The show also will be supported on radio via Westwood One worldwide and XM Satellite Radio, and covered online at GRAMMY.com. Additional performers, presenters and special segments will be announced soon.
In the Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media category, both Across The Universe (Various Artists) and "Love" (the Beatles) are nominated.
THE BEATLES
AND LEE COOPER
The Perfect Partnership
The
Beatles are back!
Lee Cooper, 'The original fine English denim company' and Apple
Records (The Beatles) announce their Spring/Summer 08 collection
of Beatle T-shirts and accessories.
Within the 3-year agreement, Lee Cooper will release three small and perfectly complete collections per year, using the iconic and classic imagery from the Beatles back catalogue to produce their line of t-shirts, sweats and bags.
Lee Cooper is proud of its long-term association with British music and culture and excited with the work produced with Apple Records to make The Beatles Tops collection. Apple Records also expressed their enthusiasm: "When Lee Cooper approached us to do the deal we were so pleased. Their coverage in over 70 countries in the world and the quality of the range will give it great exposure, bringing the Beatles products to new fans as well as original fans".
Not just your typical Beatles top, the SS 08 collection of tees and sweaters for men and women have greater attention paid towards the fit, detail and comfort of the shirt while maintaining their high quality graphic prints that are guaranteed to last. Each top is carefully crafted to maintain a true vintage feel with a treated wash ensuring originality.
This year's menswear collection
features a range of t-shirts, sweaters, and hoodies with varied
colour tones of black and grey to sky blue and yellow.
The T-shirts available feature
the classic The Beatles inscription in the use of fabric embellishments
of Beatles symbols, LOVE, Back in the 
USSR,
and Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (also available on sweater
knits of subdued bright shades of baby blue with lemon yellow
stripes and also brown with blue pin stripe); the four Beatles
in an Andy Warhol like screen print of bright eye-catching contrasting
colours on black; a B&W illustration comprising the four Beatles
profiles transforming into their figures on a white tee; and also
on a white tee, the fab four represented in their iconic '70's
cartoon form.
Lightweight soft cotton hoodies carry classic Back in the USSR graphics and Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (also available without hood).
The womenswear collection entertains a bright pastel palette of colours in a feminine fitted profile. The t-shirts featured are the classic The Beatles inscription in the use of fabric embellishments of Beatles symbols, LOVE, Back in the USSR, and St. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band on white; The Magical Mystery Tour replicating album artwork, on a lilac purple tee; the fab four represented in their iconic '70's cartoon form on a raspberry tee; a B&W illustration comprising the four Beatles profiles transforming into their figures on a pastel yellow tee; Love Me Do written in red with heart inscribed and nicely contrasted in daffodil yellow tee; and the four Beatles in an Andy Warhol like screen print of contrasting colours on baby pink.
The T-shirts are priced at £20 ($40.00) retail and are available nationwide for Spring Summer 2008.
www.leecooper.com
January 17, 2008 -- Billboard
Early Beatles live recordings targeted for release
An independent Miami label says it plans to release never-before-heard Beatles live recordings made in 1962 at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany.
Fuego Entertainment has partnered with British producer/promoter Jeffrey Collins to put out his catalog holdings. They say those include a live Beatles performance of 15 songs at the club.
No release date has been set for the recordings, which the label claims are the first to feature drummer Ringo Starr as part of the group. Other Beatles recordings from the Star Club have been released, but Fuego says its collection includes previously unheard tracks, such as covers of Hank Williams' "Lovesick Blues" and Maurice Williams' "Do You Believe."
Other live Beatles tracks the label says it holds include "Twist and Shout," "I Saw Her Standing There," "Hippy Hippy Shake," "A Taste of Honey," "Money," and "Ask Me Why," which can be heard in other recorded Beatles performances at the Star Club.
Collins, who now lives in Florida, says he got the original tapes at the time from a DJ he had booked for the club the night of the Beatles' performance.
When he got the tapes, which the label says were recorded with the club's permission, "they were in terrible condition," says Collins. Decades later, he was able to digitally remaster them "to make them sound coherent," but says the Beatles' Apple Corps. rebuffed his 1996 overture to release the tracks.
The lack of a release date illustrates the obstacles involved in releasing Beatles-related product. "Through legal channels, we will be making these albums available for release," says Collins. "The Beatles know these tapes exist and their lawyers know these tapes exist. It's a matter of certain legalities."
"We don't have a comment
as such but not surprisingly are looking into the claim,"
says an Apple spokesperson.
January 17,
2008 -- What Goes On
U.S. artist's work on the walls of first ever Beatles hotel
When it comes to their beloved Beatles, English audiences and countless, dedicated fans around the world do not dole out praise for just anyone attempting to capture the essence of the iconic band. After decades of documenting the many successes and hardships of the Fab Four, the US artist known as Shannon, won the attention and adoration of Beatles fans everywhere - leading the English people to hail her as "The World's Greatest Beatles Artist." Now, Shannon, chosen out of millions of artists from all over the world, has been commissioned to paint over 110 murals for the highly anticipated Beatles Hotel, appropriately titled, A Hard Day's Night.
Opening soon in Liverpool, UK (the birthplace of the Beatles), the 110-bedroom Hard Day's Night Hotel is primed to be the ultimate homage to the Beatles and their music. Each floor is dedicated to a phase in the Beatles lives, chronologically from their births, to Beatlemania, to their solo careers. Said to be the last piece in the jigsaw puzzle of the Beatles legacy, every room will tell a different part of the Beatles story.
"Each room will have a picture, which will try to capture the theme of that room. Every painting has a story to tell," said Shannon. "I want each person that sets foot in the hotel to feel as if they know exactly what was going on in the Beatles lives at that particular time."
The Beatles
were known for placing subliminal messages in their lyrics, and
like the mystical legacy left behind by her favorite band, Shannon
will place hidden images and messages in various pieces she will
create for the hotel. Controversial to some and down-right delightful
to others - regardless of where one lies on the decorum spectrum
- Shannon's work will attest to the divisive and timelessly admired
quintessence that was The Beatles.
In addition to being the major art contributor to the soon-to-be historic Beatles Hard Day's Night Hotel, and earning the illustrious title as "The World's Greatest Beatles Artist," Shannon has also managed to amass an impressive repertoire of celebrity clientele. As a result of Shannon's international popularity, her art has become as familiar as the celebrities she showcases in her paintings. Her highly acclaimed "Rocky" postage stamp tribute led to other successful stamp design projects depicting numerous pop culture icons like James Dean, Jackie Kennedy, Muhammad Ali, Elvis Presley, Diana / Princess of Wales, JFK Jr. and many more in between.
After winning numerous prestigious awards in the fields of fine art and illustration, in 2004, Shannon's art was praised on Good Morning America, and caught the attention of King Features (Betty Boop, Popeye, etc.). Together with the cartoon giant, Shannon has launched her latest creations, Phantasy Choppers® Shannon's Bakery® and now Smoky Burnouts®. These miniature collectable sculptures are timeless, themed collectibles sold all over the U.S.
Shannon's artwork has been televised on The Tonight Show, David Letterman, Regis and Kathy Lee, Good Morning America, Drew Carey, Oprah, Rosie O'Donnell, Leeza, Comedy Central, Hard Copy, Entertainment Tonight and more. She has also famously worked with the likes of the Spielbergs, Sly Stallone, Aerosmith, and KISS, No doubt, Billy Idol, Cheap Trick, Joan Jett and many others. Admiration at her shows has come from Billy Bob Thornton, Armande Assante, John Paul DeGoria, Jon Voight, Tommy Shaw (Styx), Curb Your Enthusiasm's Jeff Garlin, Tommy Lee, Pamela Anderson and comedian Jeffrey Ross.
Utilizing her innovative eye, strong sense of design, and inspiring creativity, Shannon has developed and perfected her painting style and in the process has amassed legions of loyal fans. Creative design, vivid depictions and luminous images are well-known characteristics of art that is purely...Shannon.
The Hard Day's Night Hotel opens in Liverpool on
February 1, 2008.
January 17,
2008 -- Liverpool Echo
It's been a hard day's fight for Beatles themed hotel
Staff have been working eight days a week to make sure the Hard Day's Night Hotel welcomes its first guests next month.
The only Beatles-themed hotel in the world is due to open its doors for business on February 1. And the ECHO was given an exclusive advance view of the 110-bedroom, four-star hotel housed in a five-storey Grade II listed building in North John Street.
General
manager Mike Dewey, who lives in West Kirby, has worked in the
hotel industry for the last seven years and says the Hard Days
Night Hotel has caused considerable global interest.
He said: "There is nothing quite like it. It is a Beatles-themed hotel in their home town, so everything has to be authentic."
The 118 staff, full and part-time, have been recruited from Merseyside and started work on Monday. There are four classic bars, a brasserie and a restaurant called Blake's, named after the artist who created the legendary Sgt Pepper album cover.
Hari's Bar will feature memorabilia
from India in glass display cases, in recognition of The Beatles'
love of Indian culture.
Artworks of all four Beatles were commissioned from New York-based
artist Shannon and each bedroom will have an exclusive painting
on the wall.
There are other imaginative Fab Four attractions throughout the building, which used to house De Coubertin's Sports Bar. Work started on the Hard Days Night Hotel in 2004.
Mr Dewey, originally from Guildford, has been in charge since May last year. He says that already one couple have booked the hotel chapel for their wedding. Mr Dewey said: "The chapel is called The Two Of Us, named after a Beatles track.
"The only other star with enough global appeal to have a chapel is Elvis Presley."
There are other original ideas throughout the hotel, such as a sweeping ornate staircase leading to the reception, which has Beatles sheet music hanging from the ceiling.
There are two extra-special rooms the Lennon suite, all in white with a baby grand piano, and the Paul McCartney suite, which features a suit of armour signifying Sir Paul's real-life knight status. Those two luxurious rooms will each cost £650 ($1,300) per night.
Another key attraction is a Wall of Fame, featuring world-famous stars such as Elton John, Bryan Ferry and Tom Jones holding covers of their favourite Beatles albums.
Mr Dewey added: "This
is a hotel with total respect for The Beatles and the people who
will stay with us.
"It is unique and it's in Liverpool."
December 24, 2007 -- EDP24
How I taught
the Beatles to dance
Forget Strictly Come Dancing - a Norfolk woman told last night
how she taught the biggest stars in pop history to dance 40 years
ago this Christmas.
It was Boxing Day, 1967 when the Beatles unveiled their long-awaited surreal TV musical, Magical Mystery Tour, including scenes of the Fab Four gliding effortlessly in a spectacular white-tie and tails routine.
And it
was dancing legend Peggy Spencer, of King's Lynn, who taught them
the fancy footwork - and made Paul McCartney's
dream come true.
The call to turn the Beatles into ballroom hoofers out of the came out for the blue and Peggy couldn't quite believe it when the voice at the other end of the line said he was Paul McCartney and asked if she could give them dancing lessons.
During that summer the group had released Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and appeared on a satellite broadcast singing All You Need is Love to 350 million viewers world wide.
The Beatles wrote, directed and starred in Magical Mystery Tour, which was the most anticipated TV treat that Christmas.
A whole new generation of Beatles'
fans will be able to see the film next year when it is released
on DVD.
Now aged 87, Peggy, vividly recalls that phone call and the challenge
she was given by McCartney.
He asked Peggy if she could choreograph the scene, provide 100 dancers and teach the Beatles how to dance and she only had two days to arrange it all.
In the 1960s, Peggy Spencer was a well-known personality in own right running a successful dance company in South London with her late husband, Frank.
They appeared regularly on the original BBC TV series Come Dancing. The couple had 21 winning formation teams and trained more than three thousand dancers each year in their ballroom.
Last night she recalled what Paul had said to her in that phone call.
"For some reason Paul called me Pegotty and told me he had had a dream of a white staircase going to heaven with a white piano at the top and dancers in beautiful dresses coming down the stairs with The Beatles in immaculate white tail coats. He asked me if I could make this become a reality".
"I remember it very well because I had to get all my teams' dresses out of the cupboard and arrange for the dancers to be rehearse