Nothing like watching "an oldie" this time of year. This was originally broadcast Wednesday, January 30, 1980. All four Beatles were alive, and Paul McCartney was just released from imprisonment in Japan.
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This is your life, George Martin
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European copyrights
There's apparently a hole in the copyright protection in Europe. It used to be 50 years, but will be extended to 70 years. But the extension will not be validated until November. Meanwhile, recordings from 1962 are out of copyright protection.
And first to seemingly capitalise on that fact is a company called Digital Remasterings, which has included ‘Love Me Do’ on a compilation of very early Beatles recordings, mainly live recordings from their time working at Hamburg’s Star Club. Meanwhile a company called Pristine Classical, which specialises in releasing remastered versions of out-of-copyright classical recordings, has issued its own remaster of ‘Love Me Do’, seemingly in protest at the copyright extension.
So...Digital Remasterings seems to think that the Star Club tape is now legal to release. But there's a snag: Copyrights start the year of release, not the year of recording, and the 1962 Star Club recordings weren't released until 1977.
Source
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Heart of The Country revisited
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Videos from The Beatles
There's been some activity on the official YouTube account of the Beatles recently. 18-20 hours ago no fewer than 31 short clips were uploaded, most of them from the promo films (=music videos). The clips were around 40 seconds long, and are probably there to be used on TheBeatles.com site. Two longer clips from the Shea Stadium film were among the new uploads, clocking in at 2:17 and 1:53. Is there hope for a long overdue release of this film for the home cinema market?
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Rubber Soul uncropped
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Wings Over America deluxe in June?
If true, the inclusion of the "RockShow" movie on DVD in the deluxe edition is contrary to earlier reports which indicated that fans would have to buy "RockShow" separately. We can only speculate about the other "bells and whistles" included, but what we'd really like to see is the "Wings Over The World" TV movie about the tour, and the 1975 Wings concert from Melbourne that was filmed to compensate for the tour not being able to travel to Japan. Paul's drug problems again, I'm afraid. There used to be a book from the American leg of the Wings tour as well, a photo book in black and white by Hipgnosis, called "Hands Across The Water". But I'm sure they'll make another book for this release.
Of course, they'll just have to reproduce the posters that used to be included with the triple vinyl album in some form or other.
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Beatlemania Memorabilia Pack
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Heart of the country session
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Fun at the wrong Abbey Road
Finally, London Transport reacted and put up a poster at the Abbey Road station to help the people figure out what had happened. It was an amusing poster, borrowing quotes from Beatles lyrics, and photos of the poster travelled the internet and went "viral" on Twitter.
Today, the cover band Bootleg Beatles went to Abbey Road Station to play a few songs, probably as a stunt for London's Time Out magazine. These are some of the photos Richard Porter, Beatles walking tour guide, took today.
Here they are at the 'wrong' Abbey Road!
They later went to cross the 'Wrong' Abbey Road crossing!
Here's Richard with the band in the final picture.
All photos © Richard Porter 2013
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This Guitar video
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Rare candid photos
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| Paul McCartney, producer George Martin, engineer Phil McDonald and John Lennon |
Some very rare photos from 1969 showed up today on Miss Tammy's excellent Beatle Photo Blog. It is rumoured that these photos are from a camera that was stolen from Yoko Ono at the time. Some of them are obviously taken in the studio, like the one below:
The infamous bed, brought in by Lennon/Ono for the Abbey Road sessions has never before appeared in photos, but there it is. This is Studio Three at Abbey Road, late July, probably at a recording session for "Come Together". Lennon had the bed installed in Studio Three for Yoko to recover after the motor accident in Scotland. Now, head on over to the Beatle Photo Blog for the rest of the photos, including a few of John and Paul taken by Yoko from her perspective in the bed!
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Upcoming 1962 recordings
Disc 1
1. My Bonnie 2.41
2. Skinny Minnie 3.07
3. Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On 2.09
4. I Know Baby 2.56
5. You Are My Sunshine 2.26
6. Ready Teddy 2.00
7. The Saints 3.18
8. Hallelujah, I Love Her So 2.08
9. Let's Twist Again 2.40
10. Sweet Georgia Brown 2.27
11. Swanee River 2.54
12. Top Ten Twist 2.52
13. My Bonnie (German Intro) 2.42
14. Ich Lieb' Dich So 2.44
15. Der Kiss-Me Song 2.32
16. Madison Kid 2.47
17. Let's Dance 2.33
18. Ya Ya Part 1 & 2 5.10
19. Sweet Georgia Brown 2.04
20. Cry For A Shadow 2.24
21. Why 3.00
22. Dream Baby 1.59
23. Memphis Tennessee 2.24
24. Please My Postman 2.20
25. Ask Me Why 2.25
26. Besame Mucho 2.41
27. A Picture Of You 2.36
28. What'd I Say (With Gene Vincent) 1.31
Tracks 1-21 Tony Sheridan & The Beatles / Beat Brothers, Tracks 22-24 Teenagers Turn, 7.3.1962, Tracks 25-27 Here We Go, 11.6.1962, Track 28 Cavern Club Summer 1962
Disc 2
1. Money (That's What I Want) 2.17
2. Till There Was You 2.51
3. To Know Her Is To Love Her 2.29
4. Take Good Care Of My Baby 2.21
5. Memphis Tennessee 2.14
6. Sure To Fall (In Love With You) 1.58
7. Crying, Waiting, Hoping 1.57
8. Love Of The World 1.46
9. September In The Rain 1.50
10. Besame Mucho 2.33
11. Some Other Guy 2.01
12. Some Other Guy 2.15
13. Kansas City .58
14. Radio Interview 7.17
15. I Saw Her Standing There 3.09
16. One After 909 3.13
17. One After 909 (Alternate Version) 3.18
18. Catswalk 1.24
19. Catswalk (Alternate Version) 1.24
20. Love Me Do (First Version) 2.22
21. Ps I Love You 2.02
Tracks 1-10 Decca Demos, Recorded 1.1.1962, Track 11 Cavern Club, 22.8.1962 Tracks 12-13 Cavern Club 5.9.1962, Track 14 The Beatles First Radio Interview, 27.10.1962 Tracks 15-19 Cavern Club, October 1962 (sic) Tracks 20-21 Recorded 4.9.1962 (Ringo Starr, Drums).
Source: Spin CD's
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Goodbye, Mister Twist!
Sheridan performed on the "Oh Boy!" TV-show in 1958 and 1959, and was reportedly the first who played the electric guitar while singing on British TV.
He was a one man band at the Top Ten Club at the Reeperbahn when the five Beatles first appeared on the scene. Often accompanying Sheridan on stage, their guest appearances at the Top Ten severed their association with their boss at the time, Bruno Koshmieder, and likely cost them their engagement at the Kaiserkeller Club in Grosse Freiheit.
As you all know, their involvement with Sheridan led to their first recording sessions and subsequent record release on Polydor. In early 1962, Ringo took a leave from Rory Storm and The Hurricanes to join Tony Sheridan's Beat Brothers in Hamburg for a few weeks. He didn't really like it and soon returned to The Hurricanes.
Richard Porter, Beatles London tour guide tells that Sheridan once took the Beatles London tour, accompanying a group of German tourists. Porter asked Sheridan who the better drummer was, Ringo or Pete Best? Sheridan looked straight at him and replied "Ringo, by a mile!".
I've had the pleasure of meeting Sheridan during several of his visits to Norway, the first time in 1985. He used to perform with the Norwegian Beatles cover band, "The Betales", and they toured in 2006.
Tony Sheridan was a proud man, who no one could tell what to do. You will find him talking about The Beatles' Hamburg days in several DVD documentaries, and he was a welcome guest at various Beatles festivals around the world
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Klaus Voorman's last visit with George
From Klaus Voormann’s book "Warum spielst du Imagine nicht auf dem weissen Klavier, John?" (not available in English), we just got this translated extract in.
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[Klaus talks about the last photo he took of George and how sad it makes him to look at it…]
“After our little expedition [around the garden] we sat around together for a long time and he wanted to know how my family was doing. He always asked about them, it was important to him to know if everything was really alright. “What’s Christina doing, does she still have her help organization with the Sioux?”
George knew about the problems of the Native Americans in the USA. Olivia’s brother worked as a teacher with the Navajos and both knew about the catastrophic conditions in the Indian reservations.
“Yes, it seems to be something like a destiny in her life.” George nodded. “Yes, that happens to some people, they can’t do anything else then. Actually, every one of us has a role to fulfill on this planet, but only a few people know that. Most think that we’re only here to get a lot of money very quickly and to walk on the sunny side of the street. What Christina is doing surely isn’t easy but it’s admirable. Where does the money for the project work come from?” I was always amazed how deeply George delved into a subject when he was interested in it. I told him about the momentary problems in getting enough money, and that Christina wanted to go the reservations in four weeks with a team of experts to build another building for the youth. I told him that the Indians grow hash. George chuckled. “You don’t mean the kind you smoke, do you?”
He knew exactly that I meant that kind. We talked about how much one can make with this environmentally friendly material: clothing, building materials, paper. When I told him the story about how the FBI had mowed down the fields a few days prior to the harvest the summer before, he couldn’t believe it. “That’s impossible. I thought the reservations were not connected to them. The DEA and the FBI shouldn’t be mowing anything down?” Unfair things could drive him crazy. “Yes, and that’s why she wants to insulate this youth building with hash. In Germany, near Karlsruhe, there is a company that makes finished hash mats. They would donate all the material, but the organization is lacking money for the transport.” “How much?” asked George. “We have an offer from a moving company. Around five thousand dollars. That’s a lot of money, but it has a symbolic value to the Indians, to show what would be possible if the fields were left to them.” “Call Christina. She should fax me the offer. I have some good contacts to English moving companies. Maybe I can help you and get a better offer.” I called Christina right away and she was of course elated. Any cheaper offer would be more than welcome.
When I arrived home, Christina already greeted me with a huge smile on her face. What had happened? Christina had, as discussed, faxed the offer to George. Two hours later, his assistant called with the request to be sent to bank account number of Christina’s organization Lakota Village Fund. “George wants to pay for the shipping costs.” “But he only wanted to find a cheaper moving service for us?” Christina was speechless. “I don’t know anything about that. He told me to send over the money for the shipping right away. Good luck, Christina.”
Well, that was George. And not just him, that’s how all the four members of the Beatles have always been. They help and support things which the public doesn’t even know about.
Only a few weeks later, George called again. He was in Going, but this time not in a hotel, but at the house of his friend Gerhard Berger. I had been very worried, because there had been many reports about his poor health in the press. I knew he was in Switzerland a lot, at a specialist, but no one could really tell me what my friend was going through. His call relieved me, because it was the same old voice, filled with his typical dry, humorous comments.
So I drove to Austria again, but this time with a strange feeling in my stomach. What could I expect? In Going there was a relatively long stretch up a small mountain road, until I reached a typical house in the pseudo-Alpine style. I was brought into the house by an employee. Olivia was working on the computer. When she saw me, she came toward me. She seemed sad and asked me to follow her out onto the terrace. It was a wonderful sunny and warm day, and we had a beautiful view of the massive “Wilder Kaiser” [mountain] right in front of our eyes. Olivia tried to prepare me for everything gently. We waited for more than an hour for George.
He came out of the house and had a hat on his head. His face and body looked puffed up. The result of all the therapies. His laughter and shining eyes didn’t make you think of a very ill man. He sat down next to me and I avoided the usual silly “how are you”. It wasn’t necessary to ask him. He started talking about his health without any prompting.
“It’s half as bad, Klaus. I’m okay. The doctors got everything and it’s going uphill again. Believe me. Except I think I should change hairdressers.” Laughing, he took off his hat and displayed his head, which was only covered with a few chunks of hair of different lengths. “What kind of camera is that you’ve got there, I think I have the same one. Let me see.” As if he hadn’t even noticed my speechlessness, George kept talking and took the digital camera out of my hand, which I had bought a few weeks earlier in London. We talked about that for a while and George showed me a few tricks as to what one could do with it.
George wasn’t just an excellent driver, he was also devoted to car racing. He had a lot of friends in the scene. But he couldn’t stand Michael Schumacher. He always complained at the television when Schumacher drove in a race. On this day as well, as we watched a live show of a Formula 1 race in Gerhard Berger’s house. “Kick him off the road!” he would yell every time Schumacher passed one of his colleagues. I was always amused at that. George, usually quiet and peaceful, with Formula one and especially Schumacher, he became enraged. Nothing could move him away from the television screen. He barely looked up when I accidentally knocked over a huge flower vase and flooded Gerhard Berger’s living room.
The longer I spent with George that afternoon, the more he convinced me that he was on his way to getting better. He had big plans, wanted to make some necessary changes at Apple. “It annoys me to see that the whole world makes money with our heads, and we can’t manage to get a decent merchandising concept together.”
I knew what he meant. The subject merchandising has been a problem since Brian Epstein. He underestimated it back then. After a few hours, we both felt like taking a leisurely walk. We walked over the fields of the smooth mountains, but George could only walk slowly. We had to stop several times. His strained breathing gave away that he was actually too weak for this, but we wanted to keep going. Or did he just pretend to be the energy-laden man? His invitation was his secret goodbye to me. He wanted to have some nice hours with me, laugh, plan and give me advice for the future.
“When are you going to finally write your own book? You experienced so much. Every idiot who only shook our hands feels the need to write a book about us. Why not you, Klaus?”
“Because every idiot does it. It would like a betrayal to me. Everyone would say: Of course, now here comes Voormann too.”
George looked at me in disbelief. “Don’t talk bullshit, Klaus. You don’t have to write about how big my dick is. Anyway, what do you think we do? Or all the people at Apple? Neil for example. There are so many people that make money off of the Beatles myth. That’s why it bothers me that we can’t finally organize our merchandising concept.”
George was breathing like a locomotive, and we had to sit down in the field again, so he could recuperate again. We were both laying in the grass looking at the sky. “You know, death isn’t really that special, not nice or bad. It’s just a vehicle to get us to the next step or level.”
He spoke about death the way others speak of food and drink. “I’ve been here long enough. What more do I want. I’ve lead a privileged life. I’ve pretty much experienced everything one can experience. If I get called away now, then the time’s right. Believe me, I’m not scared.” And while he talked about this, we both looked at the clouds moving past us in the blue sky. The mood was peaceful and also a bit happy.
We walked back slowly, and he told me about his newly bought house in Switzerland and the little studio in which he could work. Back at the house, we both looked forward to a cup of “good old English”. “Come”, he said after a while, “I’ll show you my newest video production.”
He put a tape in the video recorder and grinned cheekily. It was unbelievable. George had filmed himself. Cross-eyed, bald and with a missing tooth, he sang into the camera. “How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people.” We laughed until we cried.
We listened to George Formby songs until late into the night, and when were hungry later that night, we went into the kitchen, where he made cheese sandwiches and each of us a cup of Horlix. If I had know that this would be the last times with George, I would not have gone to bed, but would have stayed up all night by his side.
But George didn’t want me to know. He let me drive off believing that he was healed and that there were great things in store for us.
In October, one heard through the media that he had been admitted into a clinic, that the doctors didn’t have much hope and so on.
I didn’t want to believe it and told every caller that George was doing well, since I had just seen him a few weeks before in a good condition. I talked about all of his many ideas and that he wanted to record a new LP. Today I know that I talked myself into that. I wanted to prevent, with all my strength, that my dear friend was dying.
Beginning of November, I tried to reach Olivia and sent an e-mail. Her answer confirmed that George was in a special clinic. He was very weak, but they were not giving up hope. Suddenly the phone was always ringing. Editors and journalists wanted to secure interviews with me in case George died. That everyone believed it was plain to see. I felt horrible and couldn’t understand this attitude. My little George was dying and they were trying to get the suitable people for his eulogies. I didn’t answer the phone anymore and hide away in the basement to play piano for hours. Christina successfully kept everyone away.
On November 29, it happened. A ZDF editor called us after he had received the news over the ticker. For me if was one of the worst moments in my life. John’s death hit me very hard, but George? The news of his death shocked me. I didn’t want to speak to any journalist about it, not on the phone, not in any TV show. For days I was bombarded with phone calls, but I couldn’t say anything. Only a very minimal amount respected my feelings and understood. Some were tactless, that hurt. Not because of me, because of George.
In mid December, a package arrived from California. The return address was Olivia’s office. It was the last Christmas present and the last Christmas card from George and Olivia. Even that he had organized before his death. It showed an angel with a lotus in its hand and the words Love and Peace.
The first summer after George’s death, Dhani and Olivia invited close friends to a little ceremony for George. It was a very emotional event, very positive and very delicate, completely without the press and all the usual attention. There it met, the small “gang”, that pulls itself through George’s life noticeably: Eric, Paul, George Martin, his first wife Pattie, Astrid, brother Harry, Neil Aspinall and the loyal Joan, who already worked at Friar Park before George bought it. And again the fascination of this park was felt. The weather permitted the event to take place in the garden. Small burning candles floated in the pond, and at the end, Dhani played a piece of the tape with George’s last guitar sounds, his planned new LP. It was an instrumental piece, George’s voice was missing and he was still there. While George’s typical guitar playing wafted through the park quietly, the visitors walked around almost meditatively. Everyone was saying goodbye in their own way, nobody spoke and many let their tears flow freely. Me too. Oh George, I miss you so much!”
The book (in German) is available from the Klaus Voorman Shop.
[Klaus talks about the last photo he took of George and how sad it makes him to look at it…]
“After our little expedition [around the garden] we sat around together for a long time and he wanted to know how my family was doing. He always asked about them, it was important to him to know if everything was really alright. “What’s Christina doing, does she still have her help organization with the Sioux?”
George knew about the problems of the Native Americans in the USA. Olivia’s brother worked as a teacher with the Navajos and both knew about the catastrophic conditions in the Indian reservations.
“Yes, it seems to be something like a destiny in her life.” George nodded. “Yes, that happens to some people, they can’t do anything else then. Actually, every one of us has a role to fulfill on this planet, but only a few people know that. Most think that we’re only here to get a lot of money very quickly and to walk on the sunny side of the street. What Christina is doing surely isn’t easy but it’s admirable. Where does the money for the project work come from?” I was always amazed how deeply George delved into a subject when he was interested in it. I told him about the momentary problems in getting enough money, and that Christina wanted to go the reservations in four weeks with a team of experts to build another building for the youth. I told him that the Indians grow hash. George chuckled. “You don’t mean the kind you smoke, do you?”
He knew exactly that I meant that kind. We talked about how much one can make with this environmentally friendly material: clothing, building materials, paper. When I told him the story about how the FBI had mowed down the fields a few days prior to the harvest the summer before, he couldn’t believe it. “That’s impossible. I thought the reservations were not connected to them. The DEA and the FBI shouldn’t be mowing anything down?” Unfair things could drive him crazy. “Yes, and that’s why she wants to insulate this youth building with hash. In Germany, near Karlsruhe, there is a company that makes finished hash mats. They would donate all the material, but the organization is lacking money for the transport.” “How much?” asked George. “We have an offer from a moving company. Around five thousand dollars. That’s a lot of money, but it has a symbolic value to the Indians, to show what would be possible if the fields were left to them.” “Call Christina. She should fax me the offer. I have some good contacts to English moving companies. Maybe I can help you and get a better offer.” I called Christina right away and she was of course elated. Any cheaper offer would be more than welcome.
When I arrived home, Christina already greeted me with a huge smile on her face. What had happened? Christina had, as discussed, faxed the offer to George. Two hours later, his assistant called with the request to be sent to bank account number of Christina’s organization Lakota Village Fund. “George wants to pay for the shipping costs.” “But he only wanted to find a cheaper moving service for us?” Christina was speechless. “I don’t know anything about that. He told me to send over the money for the shipping right away. Good luck, Christina.”
Well, that was George. And not just him, that’s how all the four members of the Beatles have always been. They help and support things which the public doesn’t even know about.
Only a few weeks later, George called again. He was in Going, but this time not in a hotel, but at the house of his friend Gerhard Berger. I had been very worried, because there had been many reports about his poor health in the press. I knew he was in Switzerland a lot, at a specialist, but no one could really tell me what my friend was going through. His call relieved me, because it was the same old voice, filled with his typical dry, humorous comments.
So I drove to Austria again, but this time with a strange feeling in my stomach. What could I expect? In Going there was a relatively long stretch up a small mountain road, until I reached a typical house in the pseudo-Alpine style. I was brought into the house by an employee. Olivia was working on the computer. When she saw me, she came toward me. She seemed sad and asked me to follow her out onto the terrace. It was a wonderful sunny and warm day, and we had a beautiful view of the massive “Wilder Kaiser” [mountain] right in front of our eyes. Olivia tried to prepare me for everything gently. We waited for more than an hour for George.
He came out of the house and had a hat on his head. His face and body looked puffed up. The result of all the therapies. His laughter and shining eyes didn’t make you think of a very ill man. He sat down next to me and I avoided the usual silly “how are you”. It wasn’t necessary to ask him. He started talking about his health without any prompting.
“It’s half as bad, Klaus. I’m okay. The doctors got everything and it’s going uphill again. Believe me. Except I think I should change hairdressers.” Laughing, he took off his hat and displayed his head, which was only covered with a few chunks of hair of different lengths. “What kind of camera is that you’ve got there, I think I have the same one. Let me see.” As if he hadn’t even noticed my speechlessness, George kept talking and took the digital camera out of my hand, which I had bought a few weeks earlier in London. We talked about that for a while and George showed me a few tricks as to what one could do with it.
George wasn’t just an excellent driver, he was also devoted to car racing. He had a lot of friends in the scene. But he couldn’t stand Michael Schumacher. He always complained at the television when Schumacher drove in a race. On this day as well, as we watched a live show of a Formula 1 race in Gerhard Berger’s house. “Kick him off the road!” he would yell every time Schumacher passed one of his colleagues. I was always amused at that. George, usually quiet and peaceful, with Formula one and especially Schumacher, he became enraged. Nothing could move him away from the television screen. He barely looked up when I accidentally knocked over a huge flower vase and flooded Gerhard Berger’s living room.
The longer I spent with George that afternoon, the more he convinced me that he was on his way to getting better. He had big plans, wanted to make some necessary changes at Apple. “It annoys me to see that the whole world makes money with our heads, and we can’t manage to get a decent merchandising concept together.”
I knew what he meant. The subject merchandising has been a problem since Brian Epstein. He underestimated it back then. After a few hours, we both felt like taking a leisurely walk. We walked over the fields of the smooth mountains, but George could only walk slowly. We had to stop several times. His strained breathing gave away that he was actually too weak for this, but we wanted to keep going. Or did he just pretend to be the energy-laden man? His invitation was his secret goodbye to me. He wanted to have some nice hours with me, laugh, plan and give me advice for the future.
“When are you going to finally write your own book? You experienced so much. Every idiot who only shook our hands feels the need to write a book about us. Why not you, Klaus?”
“Because every idiot does it. It would like a betrayal to me. Everyone would say: Of course, now here comes Voormann too.”
George looked at me in disbelief. “Don’t talk bullshit, Klaus. You don’t have to write about how big my dick is. Anyway, what do you think we do? Or all the people at Apple? Neil for example. There are so many people that make money off of the Beatles myth. That’s why it bothers me that we can’t finally organize our merchandising concept.”
George was breathing like a locomotive, and we had to sit down in the field again, so he could recuperate again. We were both laying in the grass looking at the sky. “You know, death isn’t really that special, not nice or bad. It’s just a vehicle to get us to the next step or level.”
He spoke about death the way others speak of food and drink. “I’ve been here long enough. What more do I want. I’ve lead a privileged life. I’ve pretty much experienced everything one can experience. If I get called away now, then the time’s right. Believe me, I’m not scared.” And while he talked about this, we both looked at the clouds moving past us in the blue sky. The mood was peaceful and also a bit happy.
We walked back slowly, and he told me about his newly bought house in Switzerland and the little studio in which he could work. Back at the house, we both looked forward to a cup of “good old English”. “Come”, he said after a while, “I’ll show you my newest video production.”
He put a tape in the video recorder and grinned cheekily. It was unbelievable. George had filmed himself. Cross-eyed, bald and with a missing tooth, he sang into the camera. “How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people.” We laughed until we cried.
We listened to George Formby songs until late into the night, and when were hungry later that night, we went into the kitchen, where he made cheese sandwiches and each of us a cup of Horlix. If I had know that this would be the last times with George, I would not have gone to bed, but would have stayed up all night by his side.
But George didn’t want me to know. He let me drive off believing that he was healed and that there were great things in store for us.
In October, one heard through the media that he had been admitted into a clinic, that the doctors didn’t have much hope and so on.
I didn’t want to believe it and told every caller that George was doing well, since I had just seen him a few weeks before in a good condition. I talked about all of his many ideas and that he wanted to record a new LP. Today I know that I talked myself into that. I wanted to prevent, with all my strength, that my dear friend was dying.
Beginning of November, I tried to reach Olivia and sent an e-mail. Her answer confirmed that George was in a special clinic. He was very weak, but they were not giving up hope. Suddenly the phone was always ringing. Editors and journalists wanted to secure interviews with me in case George died. That everyone believed it was plain to see. I felt horrible and couldn’t understand this attitude. My little George was dying and they were trying to get the suitable people for his eulogies. I didn’t answer the phone anymore and hide away in the basement to play piano for hours. Christina successfully kept everyone away.
On November 29, it happened. A ZDF editor called us after he had received the news over the ticker. For me if was one of the worst moments in my life. John’s death hit me very hard, but George? The news of his death shocked me. I didn’t want to speak to any journalist about it, not on the phone, not in any TV show. For days I was bombarded with phone calls, but I couldn’t say anything. Only a very minimal amount respected my feelings and understood. Some were tactless, that hurt. Not because of me, because of George.
In mid December, a package arrived from California. The return address was Olivia’s office. It was the last Christmas present and the last Christmas card from George and Olivia. Even that he had organized before his death. It showed an angel with a lotus in its hand and the words Love and Peace.
The first summer after George’s death, Dhani and Olivia invited close friends to a little ceremony for George. It was a very emotional event, very positive and very delicate, completely without the press and all the usual attention. There it met, the small “gang”, that pulls itself through George’s life noticeably: Eric, Paul, George Martin, his first wife Pattie, Astrid, brother Harry, Neil Aspinall and the loyal Joan, who already worked at Friar Park before George bought it. And again the fascination of this park was felt. The weather permitted the event to take place in the garden. Small burning candles floated in the pond, and at the end, Dhani played a piece of the tape with George’s last guitar sounds, his planned new LP. It was an instrumental piece, George’s voice was missing and he was still there. While George’s typical guitar playing wafted through the park quietly, the visitors walked around almost meditatively. Everyone was saying goodbye in their own way, nobody spoke and many let their tears flow freely. Me too. Oh George, I miss you so much!”
The book (in German) is available from the Klaus Voorman Shop.
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Beatles in India (again)
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Beatlemania
Beatlemania was a Broadway musical revue focused on the music of The Beatles as it related to the events and changing attitudes of the tumultuous Sixties. A "rockumentary", advertised as "Not the Beatles, but an incredible simulation", it ran from 1977 to 1979 for a total of 920 performances.
Originally conceived and produced by Steve Leber and David Krebs, Beatlemania began previews on May 26, 1977 in Boston. It premiered on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre on May 31, 1977, (after previewing from May 26) and ran until October 17, 1979, for a total of 1006 performances.
During its New York run, the show moved to the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre and finally the Palace Theatre. The production was nominated for the 1978 Tony Award for Best Lighting Design by designer Jules Fisher, while the sound engineer was longtime industry veteran William (Bill) Rofot.
After closing on Broadway, the "Beatlemania Bus and Truck tour" began, running until 1983 and touring across the United States and worldwide.
A lawsuit by the Beatles company Apple Corps officially ended the show for a period of time but revival tours still continue today.
In 1978, Beatlemania released a self-titled original cast album of the show. Released on Arista Records, the album received warm audience reaction even placing on the Billboard 200 for several weeks before falling into vinyl obscurity.
After three years of production USA Video Productions took an interest in making a film version of the Beatlemania stage show. After a brief contract negotiation, Beatlemania: The Movie began production in late 1980 (shortly before the murder of John Lennon).
The film's cast featured Mitch Weissman (bass guitar), David Leon (rhythm guitar), Tom Teeley (lead guitar), and Ralph Castelli (drums).
The reactions to Beatlemania: The Movie were cold and plans for a follow-up film were immediately shelved after several poor reviews of the way the film was produced (several critics complained of the film being too art based and not worthy of being associated with the stageshow Beatlemania).
The movie was released on VHS and Betamax for the home movie market in the USA, in Japan it was also out on laser disc.
Never released on DVD, here's a YouTube adaptation.
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White album collector
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The original 1982 mono boxed sets
While we're waiting for the announcement of the new remastered mono Beatles vinyl albums, I thought I'd reminisc about the original vinyl mono boxed sets.
The original 10 album vinyl mono box sets were produced between 1982 and 1986 in the UK. The black boxes were intended for export markets (primarily the USA) and the boxes were numbered to 1,000. The red boxes were intended for domestic (UK) sales.
These red boxes were not numbered. Both boxes were for sale here in Norway. It is rumoured that the total number of boxes (inclusive of red and black sets) was 10,000. The black boxes sent to the USA quickly became scarce with demand still high; so the red un-numbered box sets, originally intended solely for the UK market was exported to the USA. Since stereo was the preferred format in the seventies, the mono versions of the albums slowly sold out and were all out of stock from EMI's storage shelves but they were still somewhat in demand by Beatles collectors, because of the small changes in the mixes. Thus, the ten mono Beatles albums were repressed in 1982. The records themselves were new pressings on lighter vinyl than the original sixties pressings.
The albums included were: PLEASE PLEASE ME, WITH THE BEATLES, A HARDS DAY'S NIGHT, BEATLES FOR SALE, HELP!, RUBBER SOUL, REVOLVER, SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND, THE BEATLES (AKA WHITE ALBUM) and YELLOW SUBMARINE. The mono "A COLLECTION OF BEATLES OLDIES" was not repressed in 1982.
What was different about these LPs from their sixties counterparts were the labels (from "Please Please Me" to "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was a retro-variation of the Yellow and Black labels from the '60s; while "The Beatles" and "Yellow Submarine" were on Apple labels, which were also slightly varied from their original label. Also, the sleeves did not have the front cover flaps glued to the back, like they had in the sixties - but this was also the case for the stereo albums.
The 1982 mono boxed sets are now very sought after collector's items and command high prices.
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New Hamburg Beatles Film
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| Tanya Day with her backing band, The Beatles |
Here is their official press statement:
It is with great excitement that we at Future Artists are letting the world know we intend to make a feature length documentary film about ‘The Beatles’, following their exploits during the Hamburg years from 1960 through to 1962.
The Beatles ‘ Young and Reckless in Hamburg’ (working title)
A project that has been 6 months in development thus far at Future Artists HQ, we feel it is the right time to let the world know what we are up to and why, and we need your help!
Mark Ashmore the films producer has this to say:
I grew up as a second generation Beatles fan, with the stories of my parents, listening to Beatles record, and hearing about the Beatles legacy. But any music fan will always seek out more knowledge and stories about the people behind the music and how they developed as artists. It’s this ‘creative development’ that is at the centre of the Beatles story we want to tell.
With no manager, PR team or record label bosses standing over them, how did the Hamburg Beatles evolve into the band the world still celebrates today, - this film will hopefully act as an entry point for the 3rd and 4th generation Beatles fans around the world, to get to know the legends behind the music in their formative years.
The documentary film, produced by Future Artists, will also be like no other before it, for the past 6 months the Future Artists collective have been talking with Beatles fans around the world, gathering insights, stories, images, memorabilia, art and collaborators, which will enable the team to create a unique film that is thought provoking, insightful and a re-imagining of Hamburg in the early 1960s.
We are approaching this project with complete independence from the traditional film industry, instead we are working with Beatles fans around the world to crowd fund and crowd source the production.
It's our intention at Future Artists to allow the true fans of an artist to enable that artist to grow via collaboration. We now live in an interconnected world of social media, for us this gives unlimited scope for new ways of working with members of our audience who are also artists and media savvy.
Future Artists have done several productions in this manner, but nothing as big as the Beatles Hamburg story, this is a really exciting project to be working on, and to have the chance to collaborate with millions of Beatles fans world-wide.
So far we’ve had a huge response from Beatles fans across the world, people who are keen to work with us and keep us heading in the right direction, we are much appreciative of the help we’ve received so far!
Here are some great examples of fan collaborations:
- Luc Porte, a Beatles record/rarities collector from Belgium, has given us a sneaky peek of his original Stuart Sutcliffe painting.
- Andrea from Hamburg has directed us to her massively informative website loaded with Hamburg Beatles archive information - Another Girl
- Mark Rehkopf from Adventure Visuals, Ontario, Canada, has allowed us to use some of his stunning Beatles artwork, as well as creating our first fan-made poster!
- We’ve been talking to Eric Krasker, author of ‘The Beatles - Fact and Fiction’ and Hans Olof Gottfridsson, author of ‘The Beatles - From Cavern to Star Club’, both offering their help and wisdom towards the project, which is welcomed and appreciated.
Join the discussion - https://www.facebook.com/
We look forward to hearing from you,
The Beatles Hamburg Team - Future Artists, Manchester, UK
You can also Tweet us - @BeatlesHamburg
Or get in touch via email - TheBeatlesHamburg@gmail.com
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Ringo at the Ryman
Due out on March 26th, 2013
Ringo At The Ryman, filmed on July 7, 2012, celebrates Ringo’s birthday with an extra special lineup touching on some unforgettable hits spanning four decades – from Steve Lukather (Toto), Richard Page (Mr. Mister), Mark Rivera (Billy Joel), Gregg Rolie (Journey, Santana), Todd Rundgren and Gregg Bissonette. The set list is undeniably familiar: “It Don’t Come Easy,” “Act Naturally,” “Photograph,” “I Wanna Be Your Man,” “Yellow Submarine,” and his bandmates’ contributions “Roseanna,” “Black Magic Woman,” “Kyrie Eleison,” “Bang the Drum All Day,” and so many more.
During the show at the Ryman, the All Starrs weren’t the only stars out that night. Joe Walsh makes a special guest appearance to play “Rocky Mountain Way” and is then joined for the encore, “With A Little Help From My Friends,” by his daughter Lucy and some of Nashville’s finest players such as Brendan Benson, Kix Brooks, Gary Burr, Vince Gill, Brad Paisley and former All Starr alums Felix Cavaliere and Richard Marx.
Ringo at the Ryman is a musical journey featuring great players and great classic hit songs, all-in-all a momentous celebration, and a heck of a birthday party.
“RINGO AT THE RYMAN”
The 2012 All Starr Band
1. Open / Matchbox – Ringo Starr
2. It Don't Come Easy – Ringo Starr
3. Wings – Ringo Starr
4. I Saw The Light – Todd Rundgren
5. Evil Ways – Gregg Rolie
6. Rosanna – Steve Lukather
7. Kyrie Eleison – Richard Page
8. Don't Pass Me By – Ringo Starr
9. Bang The Drum All Day – Todd Rundgren
10. Boys – Ringo Starr
11. Yellow Submarine – Ringo Starr
12. Black Magic Woman – Gregg Rolie
13. Band Intro / Happy Birthday
14. Anthem - Ringo Starr
15. I’m The Greatest - Ringo Starr
16. Rocky Mountain Way – Joe Walsh
17. You Are Mine – Richard Page
18. Africa – Steve Lukather
19. Everybody’s Everything – Gregg Rolie
20. I Wanna Be Your Man - Ringo Starr
21. Love Is The Answer – Todd Rundgren
22. Broken Wings – Richard Page
23. Hold The Line – Steve Lukather
24. Photograph - Ringo Starr
25. Act Naturally - Ringo Starr
26. With A Little Help From My Friends / Give Peace A Chance - Everybody and then some
The All Starr Band:
Ringo Starr: Drums, Vocals
Steve Lukather: Guitar, Vocals
Todd Rundgren: Guitar, Vocals
Richard Page: Bass Guitar, Vocals
Gregg Rolie: Keyboards, Vocals
Gregg Bissonette: Drums
Mark Rivera: Saxophones, Percussion, Vocals
Special Guest:
Joe Walsh: Guitar, Vocals
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