SEAN ONO LENNON DIRECTS ANIMATIONS FOR "JOHN LENNON/PLASTIC ONO BAND" REISSUE

Sean Ono Lennon Directs Animations For ‘John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band’ Reissue On Spotify

 

‘My dad loved cartoons and drawing so we wanted to honor him by taking a page from his illustrations and life story.’

Sean Ono Lennon has teamed up with the people behind the Emmy Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated animated short, I Met The Walrus and Spotify, for a series of animations to accompany the eleven album tracks and three singles of the Enhanced Spotify release of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band – The Ultimate Mixes.

Written and directed by Ono Lennon, “I Am the Egbert” is a series of short looping scenes that tell the story of a character named Egbert, whose life experiences mirror the sentiments in the sequence of songs on the album tracks and the encores, “Give Peace A Chance,” “Cold Turkey,” and “Instant Karma! (We All Shine On).”
“When it comes to creating something new for someone like my dad, it’s challenging because so much of the footage and photos of him have been used so much over the years and they already evoke certain feelings and memories with people, and of course the music is so classic,” said Ono Lennon.

“Animation is a great medium because it allows us to recontextualize the music in a new way for both new audiences and longtime fans. My dad loved cartoons and drawing so we wanted to honor him by taking a page from his illustrations and life story.”

Ono Lennon worked closely with producer Jerry Levitan, illustrator James Braithwaite and Director of Animation Josh Raskin on the animations. They were Executive Produced by Yoko Ono Lennon and produced by Simon Hilton on behalf of Lenono.

Sean Ono Lennon has teamed up with the people behind the Emmy Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated animated short, I Met The Walrus and Spotify, for a series of animations to accompany the eleven album tracks and three singles of the Enhanced Spotify release of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band – The Ultimate Mixes.

Written and directed by Ono Lennon, “I Am the Egbert” is a series of short looping scenes that tell the story of a character named Egbert, whose life experiences mirror the sentiments in the sequence of songs on the album tracks and the encores, “Give Peace A Chance,” “Cold Turkey,” and “Instant Karma! (We All Shine On).”

“When it comes to creating something new for someone like my dad, it’s challenging because so much of the footage and photos of him have been used so much over the years and they already evoke certain feelings and memories with people, and of course the music is so classic,” said Ono Lennon.

“Animation is a great medium because it allows us to recontextualize the music in a new way for both new audiences and longtime fans. My dad loved cartoons and drawing so we wanted to honor him by taking a page from his illustrations and life story.”

I Met The Walrus is a short animated film based on a 1969 interview with Lennon by Jerry Levitan who was a 14-year-old kid at the time. Having heard that John and Yoko were staying at Toronto’s King Edward Hotel, Levitan, armed with a reel-to-reel tape recorder and a Super 8 camera, found their room and charmed Lennon into doing a 30-minute interview.

“On May 26, 1969, I spent a most perfect day with John Lennon and Yoko Ono,” said Levitan. “Being 14 in 1969 in the days of the Beatles was magical. I met my hero, he treated me with kindness and generosity, and he exceeded my dreams of what he was like. That day changed my life forever.“

Nearly four decades later in 2007, Levitan brought Lennon’s musings about peace, politics, music, the USA, life and the Bee Gees to life by enlisting director Josh Raskin and an animation team who created the surrealist illustrations.

“I’ve always loved ‘I Met The Walrus” and for years have been interested in working with Jerry, James, and Josh who made the short film,” said Lennon Ono.

“There’s something about what they created that stands out about everything I’ve ever seen about my dad; it nailed his relaxed vibe and the animation was aesthetically on point with the style he liked. It’s as if they ate everything that my dad did and then digested it, it really absorbed the language of John Lennon.”

📀John and Yoko Ono’s John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band – The Ultimate Collection is out now and available for purchase.... H E R E . 

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THE WAY PAUL MCCARTNEY COMPOSED "ALL MY LOVING"

While the band was famed for the central songwriting partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, there was one song that saw Paul work largely on his own.
 ‘All My Loving’, one of the band’s iconic pieces, was created differently.

John Lennon remembered the song when speaking to David Sheff in 1980: “‘All My Loving’ is Paul, I regret to say. Ha-ha-ha. Because it’s a damn good piece of work. [Singing] ‘All my loving…’ But I play a pretty mean guitar in back.” While it’s true that Lennon’s guitar work within the track is admirable, it’s one song that can be traced straight back to Paul McCartney’s songwriting nouse. It arrived as a tune that would typify their only sound and came in a strange way for Macca.

“It was the first song I’d ever written the words first,” recalled the songwriter when speaking to Barry Miles for Many Years From Now. “I never wrote words first, it was always some kind of accompaniment, I’ve hardly ever done it since either. We were on a tour bus going to a gig and so I started with the words. I had in mind a little country and western song.”

The band were on their way to perform when inspiration struck: “We played the Moss Empire circuit a lot, and there were always these nice big empty backstage areas. The places have all become bingo halls now. We arrived at the gig and I remember being in one of these big backstage areas and there was a piano there so I’d got my instrument. I didn’t have a guitar, it was probably with our road manager, and I remember working the tune out to it on the piano. It was a good show song, it worked well live.”

For Paul though, despite his appreciation for the song, he only ever heard it as a track to feature on an album and never saw it as a single until one DJ changed his mind. “You know, that was on the album and the first person I heard single it out was the disc jockey David Jacobs, who was pretty hip,” Paul told Mark Lewisohn. “He was always quite an expert, for one of the older generation. I remember him singling it out on his radio show and I think from that moment it did become a big favourite for people. And I heard it differently.

“Till then, I’d heard it as an album track. But when he played it on his radio show, and it went over to however many million people on network BBC, it was like ‘Woah! That is a good one’. I always liked it.”

 

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THE BAND RINGO STARR CALLED THE "ULTIMATE 1960´S FLOWER POWER" GROUP

That latter half of the 1960s was a momentous time for cultural exploration, specifically within music and art. The hippie counter-culture exploded during this time, finding a big part of its existence in protest of the Vietnam War and as well as protesting the cultural norms of the time left over from past generations. While the true hippies carried on to retain the integrity and the lifestyle, the movement as a cohesive whole had largely died by the early ’70s.

 

Music was one of the bigger representations of the movement, however. 1967 was the year that Flower Power developed fully through the prism of psychedelia. Pink Floyd released their debut masterpiece, Piper at the Gates of Dawn. The Beatles released both Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and The Magical Mystery Tour. Jimi Hendrix released Are You Experienced? Love’s Forever Changes and Cream’s Disraeli Gears both came out and The Doors made their debut – and that is just scratching the surface. This is why they call 1967 the year of the ‘Summer of Love’.

Many regard The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band as the quintessential summer of love record, and therefore The Beatles are regarded as the flower power band of the time. To say the least, the competition is fierce, and it is not an easy decision if one were to have to make it. 

 

What did The Beatles themselves think about this?
“I was getting a bit crazy there for a while because it was sounding not so much Beatles-ish but just like that flower-power period,” Ringo said. “And with that period you can’t help think about us,” Ringo reminisced in an interview in Rolling Stone with David Wild. Ringo would go on to name his choice for the quintessential flower power group, adding: “Personally, I always think of Procol Harum. Everyone else thinks of me and the Fabs, but I think of Procol Harum, because to me ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ is the ultimate ‘60s record.”

It is important to remember that the Flower Power movement started as an underground action. While a lot of these acts associated with the movement did find success in the mainstream, the most popular record of the ’60s Chubby Checkers ‘The Twist’, from earlier in the decade.

Procul Harum’s most successful charting single was ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’, and it reached number five in the charts. The song reached number one in the UK, but as far as the mainstream is concerned, the ’60s were not characterised by the Flower Power movement, but instead the early pop of the decade. The Beatles’ ‘She Loves You’ was the most successful song of the ’60s, according to The Official Charts Company.

THE LOST ROBERT ZEMECKIS REMAKE OF YELLOW SUBMARINE

Disney and Robert Zemeckis were once set to remake The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine as a 3D CG-animated movie for a 2012 release – here’s the story.

 “We all live in a yellow submarine” is not one of The Beatles’ most relatable lyrics. Nevertheless, the track ‘Yellow Submarine’ did inspire an acclaimed animated feature of the same name in 1968. When the Fab Four were looking to satisfy a three-film contract with United Artists after A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, they hit upon the idea of adapting the Lennon-McCartney-authored children’s song into an animated film instead of making another live-action outing.

Yellow Submarine sees John, Paul, George, and Ringo travel to Pepperland, an underwater paradise that’s fallen under the yoke of the music-hating Blue Meanies. Designed as a film in the style of Disney’s Fantasia, the uniquely stylised film plays out in a succession of weird and wonderful setpieces accompanied by Beatles tunes, as the characters set out to restore Pepperland to all its colourful, musical glory.

The film was a modest commercial hit upon its release, but it was lauded by critics and has long been considered an animation landmark. Some 40 years after its original release, there was a brief period where Robert Zemeckis was working on revamping the film as a computer-generated 3D extravaganza.

This came on the heels of his previous performance-capture animated films of the 2000s, The Polar Express, Beowulf, and A Christmas Carol, which we’ve covered in a previous feature.

The latter of those was the inaugural project for Zemeckis’ ImageMovers Digital, an animation unit set up at Disney, and the studio was also set to distribute the Yellow Submarine remake. So, what went wrong?

A few months before A Christmas Carol hit cinemas worldwide, Disney held its first-ever D23 Expo, a biennial event for members of the studio’s official fan club, where many projects are announced or previewed. It was here that Disney confirmed it was partnering with Apple Corps Ltd, the rights holder for the Beatles’ original songs and recordings, to make Zemeckis’ Yellow Submarine.

The project was announced by Dick Cook himself, towards the end of his run as Disney chairman. In the subsequent press release, Zemeckis enthused: “Yellow Submarine is one of the greatest fantasy films of all time and making this new 3D performance capture movie is a dream come true for me.

“With the latest advances in technology, we will be able to take moviegoers on a voyage unlike any other and bring new excitement and dimension to Pepperland and the various sea worlds they encounter.”

The deal with Apple got the film over the licensing hurdle that tends to bring down smaller films about The Beatles and their songs and by the following January, development was well underway, and some casting was announced.

In retrospect, the most notable casting is Peter Serafinowicz as Paul McCartney, as he’d already played all four Beatles in a sketch for his (brilliant) 2007 series on BBC Two, which you can see above. But even having previously cast Tom Hanks, Jim Carrey, and Gary Oldman in multiple animated roles, Zemeckis never intended to have Serafinowicz reprise all of those roles.

Rounding out the main cast were Dean Lennox Kelly as John Lennon, Cary Elwes as George Harrison, and Adam Campbell as Ringo Starr. Although the Beatles’ original vocals were to be used for the songs, Zemeckis also enlisted The Fab Four, a California-based Beatles tribute band to do some additional motion-capture work for the band’s performances.

The other casting nugget we’ve gleaned is that David Tennant auditioned to play the film’s villain, the Chief of the Blue Meanies. The aim was to get the remake in cinemas for summer 2012, riding on the anticipated wave of Anglophilia that would accompany the Summer Olympics in London.

Judging from what we’ve seen of concept art for the remake, the plan was to be faithful to the art style of the original, rather than the “uncanny-valley effect” for which previous mo-cap outings had been criticised. And so, Zemeckis was casting for vocal and physical performances, rather than likenesses.

Courtesy of The Lost Media Monsters, (a Twitter account well worth following if you’re interested in cancelled projects like this one) we recently caught a glimpse of test footage, dated July 2010, that shows what the CG version might have looked like.

In the end, it didn’t take Blue Meanies that stopped the project in its tracks. Cook had stepped down as chairman in late 2009, before A Christmas Carol came out. The underwhelming performance of that film would catch up with Yellow Submarine in the year that followed, with Disney announcing in March 2010 that it would shutter ImageMovers Digital after the completion of its second and final project for the studio.

That project wasn’t Yellow Submarine, but a sci-fi adventure called Mars Needs Moms. Directed by Simon Wells, the film would score a $6 million opening weekend in March 2011 on a $150-million budget. When all was said and done, the film was said to represent the biggest financial loss in Disney’s history.

Support for Zemeckis’ Beatles remake was already waning within the studio, due to concerns about budget, the oft-repeated criticism of “creepy” performance-capture visuals, and a long-delayed filmmakers’ presentation for the two surviving Beatles (and the estates of John and George) that was repeatedly postponed and eventually never happened.

The failure of Mars Needs Moms spurred Disney to confirm it was no longer backing the remake. Whether the deal with Apple was still in place or not, the project’s turnaround status enabled Zemeckis to take Yellow Submarine to other studios, but nothing came of it.

Whether related to the remake or not, a remastered version of the original 1968 feature was ready around the same time that Disney and Zemeckis intended to bring the story to a new audience, and Yellow Submarine duly got a limited re-release in cinemas in May 2012.

Later that year, while doing the press rounds for his return to live-action filmmaking with Flight, Zemeckis told Total Film Magazine that he was no longer pursuing the remake.

He added: “That would have been a great one to bring the Beatles back to life. But it’s probably better not to be remade – you’re always behind the 8-ball when do you a remake.”

After a couple of further live-action projects in the shape of The Walk and Allied, Zemeckis has returned to performance-capture techniques, (which played a big part in 2018’s Welcome To Marwen) remakes, (with last year’s The Witches) and even Disney, (the forthcoming Pinocchio) but there’s no sign of him going back to Yellow Submarine.

RINGO STARR CELEBRATES 40th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY TO BARBARA BACH: ”I’M BEYOND BLESSED THAT SHE LOVES ME AND WE’RE STILL TOGETHER”

Ringo Starr celebrates 40th wedding anniversary to Barbara Bach:  ”I’m beyond blessed that she loves me and we’re still together.”

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RINGO STARR has celebrated his 40th wedding anniversary with a picture from their big day with Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
It was 40 years ago today that Ringo married his second wife, Barbara Bach. Celebrating their Ruby wedding anniversary, the 80-year-old music legend shared a photo from the big day in 1981 with the happy couple by their wedding cake. But also of note in the special snap are Paul McCartney and George Harrison with their wives Linda and Olivia.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ringo captioned the wedding photo: “It was 40 years ago today The love of my life said yes yes yes. And I said it right back peace and love.”

Of course, the wedding took place just over 4 months after John Lennon’s murder, so sadly The Beatles couldn’t be fully reunited.

Nevertheless, the John Lennon estate commented on the picture with three love heart emojis on his behalf.

While George’s widow Olivia Harrison commented: “What a day that was.”
Olivia continued: “I’m stunned by the passing years and each day of the love you have shared not only with each other but with the world around you. “I love you both dearly. Happy Anniversary dear Rich and Barb.”

Posting the snap on her own account, she wrote: “Barbara and Ringo. Where did forty years go?
“Happy Anniversary. What a life! What a day that was and is.”
Tragically cancer took her husband George in 2001 and Paul’s wife Linda in 1998.

Ringo met his wife Barbara in 1980 on the set of slapstick prehistoric comedy Caveman, in which they both starred.

Barbara was best known for playing Bond girl Anya Amasova opposite Sir Roger Moore in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me; often considered one of the best 007 movies by fans.

The couple were married a year on from shooting Caveman on April 27, 1981 at Marylebone Register Office in London.
The early 1980s saw a tough time for Ringo’s solo career, with The Beatles drummer finding himself without a record label for the first time in 1982.

So during the early years of their marriage, he and Barbara would indulge in their luxurious Hollywood lifestyle.

In the forward of former Beatles press officer Derek Taylor’s book Getting Sober…and Loving it, they wrote: “We used to go on long plane journeys, rent huge villas, stock up the bars, hide and get deranged.”
The couple are vegetarians to this day.
As their 35th wedding anniversary approached, Bach told People: “I love the man, and that’s it.”
Ringo added: “There’s no escape … I think I love Barbara as much [today] as I did [when we met]. And I’m beyond blessed that she loves me and we’re still together.”

CLASSIC ROCK Magazine - June 2021 | Issue #288 PAUL MCCARTNEY - THE BEATLES

CLASSIC ROCK magazine - June 2021

 

 

 

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Issue #288 

Paul McCartney - The Beatles

Paul McCartney Cover Story and Feature Length article with portraits.

RINGO STARR REMEMBERS JOHN LENNON IN TRIBUTE

Ringo Starr joined Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and fans worldwide  for a live listening party for the new Plastic Ono Band Ultimate Collection. Ringo shared extraordinary memories of recording with Lennon, their friendship and paid tribute to Yoko Ono.

 

 
In December 1970 the albums John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band were released to huge critical acclaim. The Beatles had shocked fans with the announcement they were splitting up on April 10 that year, but the reality was the band had gone their separate ways the previous year. John entered an intensely creative period that resulted in his first Plastic Ono Band release, swiftly followed by Imagine in September 1971. Although he was determined to estabish his new solo identity (with Yoko) Beatles bandmate Ringo played drums on the first album (with Klaus Voorman on bass guitar), while George Harrison would later play bass guitar on Imagine.
As he joined the worldwide Twitter listening party at 6pm, Ringo immediately told everyone: "It's so incredible, the emotion on this record, just mind blowing. The sparseness of the band, the force of John Lennon. That's why he's one of the greats. This record proves it more than most...

"John was just incredibly great and I think the simplicity of what Klaus and I played with him gave him a great opportunity to, for the first time, really use his voice and his emotion how he wanted."

At the end of an incredible global shared experience Ringo added: "It is an incredibly cool record. It's a beautiful record and he was a beautiful man and I'm privileged to feel he was my friend. Great to be a part of Plastic Ono Band."
Ringo addressed the persisted reports that John had doubts about his own voice:

"John always wanted a lot of echo on his voice. He had a great voice and when he was singing, he gave all of that. I don't feel personally he was insecure about his voice. Everybody wants to be someone else, to be different."

The album had followed John and Yoko's exploration of 'Primal Scream therapy" as a way to unleash their inner selves, and the new music introduces a raw, uninhibited edge to teh former Beatles voice.

Ringo added: "I can't say enough about this record because there's no downside to it. I think it may have had something to do with the Primal Scream, because there's quite a bit of screaming on it. That was the emotional place I feel he was at, at that time."

Both Ringo and Yoko today paid tribute to John's honest soul-searching on the album.
Ringo said: "It was a very big thing with John. He was going through a hard, heavy time of finding himself, dispelling a lot of his childhood and putting it into a real space and searching, like the rest of us, for the meaning of life."

From songs like Cold Turkey to Mother, Isolation and God, John tackled everything from the loss of his mother to his addictions, his spiritual awakenings and his pacifism, which was viewed with distrust and often disgust by the establishment and conventional society.

 

Ringo added: "John was always brave. I could always say that about John. He would put it out there, and the consequences sometimes were very harsh. But he would always put it out there. That's why you couldn't not love him, you know?"
Yoko said today: "It was a revolution for a Beatle to say, ‘Listen: I’m human, I’m real.’ It took a lot of courage for him to do it.

"Cold Turkey was something that reflected our life. And that’s the kind of thing that always brings you trouble. So, from around Cold Turkey, we started to really pay our dues for being honest.

"John was a brilliant writer, a brilliant artist and a brilliant man, who believed in being truthful. More people should get down to being truthful to themselves. That is the most adventurous thing anybody can do.

"You may not know it at the time, but truth is setting you free."
While Yoko is often viewed as one of the central catalysts for the break-up of the Beatles, Ringo paid tribute to her today.

He said: "John and Yoko were this incredibly close couple. And so, you know, like in the song, 'Hold on Yoko, it's gonna be alright,' they supported each other in that love way, musically."

He also gave a fascinating glimpse into the magic created in the recording studio between John, Ringo and Klaus.
Ringo said: "John would just sit there and sing them (the new songs). We would just jam and then we would find out how they would go, and we did 'em. It was very loose, actually, and it being a trio also was a lot of fun.

"John was the best rhythm-cum-lead guitarist because his style of lead was pure. Very raw. And he was the rhythm guitar - that's what he was. George was lead, but John would throw in lead bits, and so they always had such passion."

PETER FRAMPTON PAYS TRIBUTE TO GEORGE HARRISON WITH "ISN´T IT A PITY" COVER

The Peter Frampton Band has released a new instrumental cover of George Harrison’s “Isn’t It a Pity,” along with a music video that offers a peek into Frampton’s life in quarantine.

The cover finds Frampton recreating and interpolating the lead vocal melody of “Isn’t It a Pity” with his always deft guitar playing while his band provides a steady back-up.

Accompanying the cover is a music video that opens with Frampton playing a show in 2019, returning home and getting ready for his next run of dates, only to have the tour canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Throughout the rest of the clip, Frampton goes through all the typical lockdown activities: counting the frozen pizzas in his freezer, playing coin games with himself, rolling around on the floor out of boredom, exercising, and Zooming with family members. The clip ends on a sweet note with Frampton excitedly telling his family he just got his second Covid-19 vaccine shot.

“We have all been in the same boat for over a year now,” Frampton said in a statement. “Our video lets you into my world of lockdown and possibly yours too. I think we can all relate.”

The Peter Frampton Band’s cover of “Isn’t It a Pity” will appear on their upcoming album, Frampton Forgets the Words, out April 23rd via UMe. The album boasts instrumental versions of some of Frampton’s favorite songs, including Radiohead’s “Reckoner,” Roxy Music’s “Avalon,” Lenny Kravitz’s “Are You Gonna Go My Way,” and David Bowie’s “Loving the Alien.”

Here the video

WHEN THE BEATLES CAME TO MICHIGAN: 1964 , 1966

Out of the flurry of live shows The Beatles performed worldwide, they only made it to Michigan twice: two shows on September 6, 1964 and two shows on August 13, 1966.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I remember that 1964 evening show: my sister's best friend was squealing through the house, 'cause she had her Beatle tickets and was on her way to the show. I'll never forget how giddy she was.

On that night The Beatles performed at Olympia Stadium to 30,000 screeching fans, who drowned The Beatles out so you couldn't hear a thing. If one of the band members (usually George Harrison) did a quick wave to the audience, it brought even LOUDER screeching.

 
One of the most fortunate Michigan deejays ever was Bob Green from WKNR in Detroit...he was the lucky slob that got to introduce The Beatles onstage. However, it wasn't all rosy for Bob onstage. Sure, he was thrilled to intro the band, but possibly he walked offstage somewhat bummed. Why? According to MichiganRadio.org, Bob and someone else had to stand onstage and kill some time 'til it was time for The Beatles to come out. So they bantered and talked about their station until the girls in the audience got fed up and started yelling to “get the hell off the stage – we want to see The Beatles!!!”

Other acts on the bill included Bill Black's Combo, Clarence 'Frogman' Henry, Jackie DeShannon, and The Exciters.
The Beatles' setlist for the 1964 Olympia shows was as follows:

Twist and Shout
You Can't Do That
All My Loving
She Loves You
Things We Said Today
Roll Over Beethoven
Can't Buy Me Love
If I Fell
I Want to Hold Your Hand
Boys
A Hard Day's Night
Long Tall Sally

The second time The Beatles arrived in Michigan was August 13, 1966, also at Detroit's Olympia Stadium. 

Again, they did two shows: one in the afternoon, another in the evening. For these shows, they wore red pin-striped suits, which always seemed to me to be out of character for them...it just didn't seem to look right. This would be their last time in Michigan, and it took place just two weeks before they stopped touring altogether.

 
Other groups that preceded The Beatles for the two shows included Bobby Hebb, The Cyrkle, The Remains, and The Ronettes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The playlist for the 1966 Olympia shows was as follows:
 

Rock and Roll Music
She's a Woman
If I Needed Someone
Day Tripper
Baby's in Black
I Feel Fine
Yesterday
I Wanna Be Your Man
Nowhere Man
Paperback Writer
Long Tall Sally

 

 

So at the end of August, touring was a thing of the past for The Beatles. Fans and the press wondered: Is that it for them? Are they gonna break up? The public didn't hear much out of the group for the rest of the year. But nine months after they quit touring, they unleashed something on the world that they spent all that time working on: Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.

 

 

BEATLES - LINKED ART DECO CINEMA SAVED FROM DEMOLITION

A former cinema in Liverpool that gave John Lennon many “happy hours” has been saved from demolition thanks to a campaign by locals.

 

 

The Abbey Cinema, built in 1939, has been granted grade II listed status by Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden following calls to protect it from SAVE Britain’s Heritage and local residents group Love Wavertree.

Lidl announced their plans to demolish the building and build a new store on April 7 2021, which prompted a backlash from residents and the heritage charity.

A petition created by Wavertree resident Clare Devaney reached almost 7,000 signatures before the listed status was announced.

Marcus Binney, executive president of SAVE Britain’s Heritage, said: “This recognition of the Abbey’s importance sets a positive precedent for Britain’s remaining interwar art deco cinemas.

“They are among the most beloved buildings in popular feeling, yet over two thirds have now been lost, and many of the survivors were crudely converted.”

The cinema is referenced in the original lyrics to John Lennon’s song, In My Life, as giving him “happy hours”, and bandmate George Harrison was born directly opposite the building.

Henrietta Billings, director of SAVE Britain’s Heritage, said: “We are very grateful to the experts who supported our application, and especially to everyone who shared and signed Love Wavertree’s petition.

“We hope Lidl will now work with us on a design which brings out the glamour of this elegant old movie star.”

Lidl had stated that the building was not financially viable for them to use and they had “considered all options for the site” before coming to their decision to demolish it.

However, the historical value that the building holds has been highlighted by Historic England on their listing website.

It reads: “It has strong group value with the nearby listed Lock Up (1796), Picton Clock Tower (1884), and the Lamb Hotel (mid-C19 with late-C19 alterations) in highlighting the evolution, development and changing face of Wavertree village from a small rural village into a suburb of Liverpool.”

MOJO THE COLLECTORS’ SERIES: LENNON & McCARTNEY BUNDLE

Mojo The Collectors’ Series: Lennon & McCartney bundle

- Part 1 John Lennon
- Part 2 Paul McCartney

As the songwriting partnership behind The Beatles, in the 1960s John Lennon and Paul McCartney changed the language of pop music – and in doing so transformed the world that so eagerly embraced their magical and timeless songs. Later, John and Paul would reveal their very different personalities and approaches to their art through their solo careers – in Lennon’s case, one cut tragically short when his life was taken by a deranged fan outside his New York home in 1980. To celebrate these two musical giants, MOJO has brought together its finest writing on Lennon and McCartney in two lavish 132-page bookazines, packed with exclusive interviews, insightful features, and iconic and rarely seen images.

This first issue salutes John Lennon, the elder of the pair and the man viewed as music’s ultimate rebel. It begins with his teenage years as a quick-tempered rock’n’roller in Liverpool, then journeys through his time as The Beatles’ outspoken ‘leader’ during their mid-’60s heyday, to his adventures in revolutionary politics with wife Yoko Ono in the early ’70s that led to a campaign to deport him from the United States.

Even his five-year reclusion as a ‘house husband’ in late ’70s New York proved to be full of unexpected drama and emotional complexity, eventually inspiring the superlative, mature songcraft of 1980’s Double Fantasy album.

 
Among the fascinating features and interviews you’ll find inside the magazine’s covers are an account of his art school days and the early Beatles by his friend Bill Harry, the story of his ‘Lost Weekend’, and an examination of the impact of his death on The Beatles’ legacy.

 

MOJO The Collectors’ Series: LENNON & McCARTNEY – Part 2 PAUL McCARTNEY turns the spotlight on the younger of the pair’s eventful life and gift for pop genius, following Paul’s journey from humble Liverpudlian roots to his millennial status as one of music’s all-time greats, via his exhilarating and turbulent days as a Beatle, his creative ’70s rebirth in Wings, dramas and some of the finest pop songs ever written.

 

 

SCHWENKE AUCTIONEERS APRIL 25th SPRING SALE FEATURES PAUL MCCARTNEY´S GOLD RECORD AWARD

Schwenke Auctioneers April 25th Spring Sale Features Paul McCartney’s Gold Record Award 

 

 

 

 
 

 

On Sunday, April 25th Schwenke Auctioneers will hold its Spring Fine Estates Auction comprising over 600 lots of estate property including a broad selection of estate jewelry and watches, Asian decorative arts, American, English and Continental decorative arts, outsider art, folk art and American country and formal furniture, sterling silver, fine art, miscellaneous decorative arts, estate oriental rugs and books.

The auction is a live online sale with absentee and phone bidding, plus live internet bidding on multiple platforms. The auction begins at 11:00 am on April 25th. 

 

One of the featured lots is the gold record presented to Paul McCartney for “Let It Be”, which was gifted to McCartney’s manager, the late Vincent Remeo. The award is being sold along with a black and white studio portrait of Paul McCartney, also from the collection of the late Mr. Remeo.

YOU GAVE ME THE ANSWER: MCCARTNEY III IMAGINED

You Gave Me The Answer - McCartney III Imagined

 

This time last year, we were celebrating an incredible 50 years since Paul’s debut solo album McCartney was released. Little did we know that at the same moment Paul was quietly working away on a new self-titled solo album in ‘Rockdown’, and McCartney III was beginning to take shape…

Now, not only is McCartney III out in the world, but McCartney III Imagined has just dropped on digital and streaming platforms. All eleven tracks have been remixed, reworked and reimagined by a range of recording artists, some of whom are old friends of Paul’s, and some of whom are brand new acquaintances, with an extra track by Idris Elba arriving exclusively with the physical release later in the year (and you can pre-order your vinyl or CD copy here  and here.).

We previously spoke to Paul about the concept of reimagining albums and what it’s like to write for other artists, but this time we wanted to know his thoughts on this new album in particular – how it came to be, what the process was like, and if there are any tracks that surprised him (in a good way!). So, in Paul’s own words, here’s what happened when McCartney III became McCartney III Imagined…

PaulMcCartney.com: Firstly, what is it like turning an album that is essentially a solo album by you, and handing it off to other artists to interpret? Is it quite an interesting process to see how they will take on your babies, if you like?

Paul: Yeah, it started by people asking me if I had any bonus tracks and I said ‘No, not really, McCartney III is like a giant bonus track!’ Because they were mostly songs I was finishing up, I didn’t have anything left over. But then I thought it might be a nice idea to just ask some other people to remix and just reimagine them, and in truth I didn’t think about much more than that at the time. In the spirit of McCartney III – which had arrived by surprise - I thought I’d see what happened.

It was a delight when the tracks started coming in. The first one that arrived was Beck, and it was great! When Nancy and I were having dinner that evening, that was the song we played. So, it was fabulous the way they just came in out of the blue, and I listened to them straight away.

In answer to your question - I loved people reimagining these songs. Every time one came in it was like a Christmas gift! I’m really glad that the artists had a free shot at what they wanted to do with it. Nobody was given any strict briefs, so it was really interesting to see who did what, and I rang a lot of them personally and said ‘Wow, I love your track and thank you for doing this!’. And it turned out that a lot of them were in lockdown too, and were really enjoying having something to do, and having a bit of fun.

The person I spoke to out of Khruangbin was Laura Lee, the bass player. I said ‘Well, first of all, how do you pronounce that name, Khruangbin?’ Apparently, it is something like ‘crown-bin’, without pronouncing the ‘g’. Then I said, ‘Second question, what does it mean? Is it like someone’s name or something?’ and she told me it’s Taiwanese for ‘aeroplane’. This is the kind of interesting thing you learn from people. I just rang them and told them how much I liked the song and asked a bunch of questions – I felt like a journalist!

PM.com: Where there any moments where you were surprised at how the songs had been reimagined by the artists? Were there any that really shocked you, because they were unexpected?

Paul: Some shocked me in a very pleasant way, because I had no feelings as to what they ought to do. The Dominic Fike track was really surprising, because he’d really reimagined it and added his own lyrics and everything, which I think if it’d been strictly controlled someone might have said to him ‘No, stick to the script!’ But I thought it was really good. He went beyond it, and the video he’s done is terrific. So, I think his was the most surprising. Then the others were great, too. Each one of them had got something very special about them. Strangely enough when you play them all together, they all work. Even though you’ve got Josh Homme doing a sort of raw, rock ‘n’ roll thing with ‘Lavatory Lil’, and 3D doing an even longer version of ‘Deep Deep Feeling’, then Phoebe Bridgers doing her version, St Vincent doing hers, Khruangbin theirs which I love… it’s like, ‘Wow’! Listening to it in the evening at home, it turns the place into a disco! 

DENNY SEIWELL: "I WENT OVER TO SEE PAUL IN ENGLAND AND WE TALKED ABOUT A WINGS REUNION"

Former Wings musicians Denny Seiwell and Laurence Juber say Paul McCartney’s post Beatles band — formed 50 years ago — is overdue for induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Just don’t expect them to perform as Wings without the late Linda McCartney.

 

 
Seiwell and Juber spoke to the New York Daily News via Zoom from their respective West Coast homes last week, where they agreed Wings should be honored as its own thing.

 
“It was not Paul’s band — it was ‘a’ band called Wings,” Seiwell said. “That’s exactly what Paul wanted of us. We were in on everything.”
Guitar player Juber, a Wing from 1978 to 1981, also said Sir Paul regarded Wings’ successes as a collective effort.
“We were encouraged to think of it as a band,” he said. “It wasn’t just Paul McCartney’s backing group.”

According to Seiwell, who formed Wings with McCartney in 1970 and left the group in 1973, he’d love to drum with Sir Paul again and has told him so. But he said McCartney has made clear that Wings can’t exist without his keyboard-playing wife, who died 23 years ago Saturday of breast cancer at 56.
“Right after Linda passed away, I went over to see Paul in England and we talked about a Wings reunion and he had me get together with some of the guys, get their contact information, (and) see if anybody was interested,” Seiwell recalled. “When I called him back and said ‘Yeah, it’s a go, let’s see what we can do here ...’ he said, ‘On second thought, having a reunion without Linda in the band would be like having a Beatles reunion without John (Lennon).’”

 
Seiwell recalls critics being harsh on Linda after The Beatles split and she went on the road to become a “very important” piece of her husband’s new band.
“She was scared to death before the first big European show,” he said. “She literally cried on my shoulder on the bus going there. It was awful. But she gave a really brilliant effort to learn.”

 
Juber said that McCartney also told him there could be no Wings shows without Linda when the greatest hits album “Wingspan: Hits and History” was released in 2001.
“She was integral to the band,” Juber said. “As much as all the flack she got, she was the core of it — at least in my experience.

Dashow tells the Daily News that McCartney could have played with anyone he wanted after the Beatles split up, but formed Wings, which he “100%” believes should be in the Hall of Fame. McCartney, like his fellow Fab Four mates, is in the hall as a Beatle and a solo act.

Seiwell and Juber joked that if invited, they’ll gladly head to Cleveland for induction.

“Why not? It’s a free trip to Ohio,” Seiwell joked. “Are you kidding me.”

Juber suggested they should “Probably get some tips from Steve Miller before we go.”

The Steve Miller Band founder infamously ripped the hall of fame over its nomination process at his 2016 induction ceremony. The Hall’s 2021 class will be inducted on Oct. 30 in Cleveland. Foo Fighters, Tina Turner and the Go-Gos are on the ballot.

PAUL MCCARTNEY TALKS SONGWRITING, THE BEATLES AND MORE

Paul McCartney never forgot a song he should have remembered. 

In the early days, he and John Lennon would work on songs for a few hours and write down some lyrics on a “bit of paper” then forget what the song was by the next morning. But nothing was ever truly lost.

“Me and John were very excited to work with each other,” said McCartney, during a recent chat with Annie Clark (St. Vincent) on Instagram Live. “I could fill in anything he needed, he could fill in anything I needed, so I don’t really think we had too many forgettable songs.”

On the eve of the release of his McCartney III Reimagined, McCartney took to Instagram for two impromptu chats with St. Vincent and Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien, two artists handpicked to remix the original tracks off McCartney III, his 18th solo album, released in 2020, and ended up reminiscing on The Beatles, his deep connection to Lennon, and the power of a song.

Remembering the earliest days writing for The Beatles, McCartney says there was never anything lackadaisical about the songwriting process. “There was none of this ‘well, I’ll see you tomorrow, and we’ll see what we can do,’” said McCartney to St. Vincent, who remixed McCartney III track “Women and Wives” for Reimagned. “I’d go around with my guitar and write the song. It was very concise. I often say to young bands now ‘just get the song done before you go in the studio, then you’re a cheap date, [and] the producer is going to love you. You’re not going to waste anybody’s time. Just go and bang the song out with all the energy.”

McCartney added “It’s not the way you record these days, but I still think it’s a good idea.

“If the song is written, then you’ve already done the reconnaissance” said McCartney. “You’ve done all the things to put it together in a nice way, so the recording of it gets to be a lot of exclamation points and confetti,” he adds. “It’s just a lot of fun instead.”

 

Crafting the energy around The Beatles’ songs, McCartney said it was easy because he and Lennon were simpatico when it came to music. 

“If you’re sleeping in the same bed as someone, you’re gonna get to know them quite well,” said McCartney to Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien, who reworked “Slidin’” on Reimagined. 

Remembering a time he and Lennon hitchhiked to McCartney’s cousin Betty’s house in Reading, England, he says was just one of their memorable bonds. “They only had one guest room, so that was our room,” says McCartney. “I have very fond memories, because we’d be chatting. We’d be talking about music. We brought a guitar, so we were always playing.”

When O’ Brien’s teenage daughter Oona joins the chat, McCartney shares the story behind her favorite Beatles song “Let It Be.”

“I had a dream about my mother, who had died when I was probably about 10,” says McCartney. “I was a bit shocked… because here I was in the same room with this woman I love, and she said to me ‘don’t worry, it’s gonna be okay.’ She said, ‘Just let it be,’ and I woke up. It’s really magical.”

O’Brien added, “What an amazing song. Music and magic are five letters and two letters different.”

Shifting gears back to McCartney III Reimagined, featuring 11 tracks remixed by Beck, Phoebe Bridgers, Dominic Fike, Josh Homme, Anderson .Paak, and Massive Attack’s Robert De Nada (3D RDN), who extended McCartney’s longest track (previously running over eight minutes) into an 11-plus minute remix, McCartney handed each song, giving each artist complete freedom… to reimagine it.

Referencing previous remixes—Questlove’s take on a “Paperback Writer” at a party years earlier or hearing “Twist & Shout” at a club—McCartney says The Beatles unknowingly breached the dance genre.

“I’ve been to some parties where it’s mainly club music and a bunch of young people… and then suddenly they’ll put on ‘Twist & Shout,’ but it works,” says McCartney. “It’s a good dance song.”

Always working around new bass chords or learning different arrangements, McCartney still sees himself as a student of music. “That’s what I love about music,” said McCartney. “I’m still discovering all that stuff.”

He’s still moving. After his chat with O’Brien, McCartney reveals he’s going to the studio with a producer he just met, Andrew Watt (Post Malone, Justin Bieber), to play around with a track. There’s never an end to the magic of making music for McCartney.

“You feel like someone’s going to catch you any minute and say ‘what are you doing?’” McCartney said. “I’ve ended up as a songwriter. This is my job. How did I get this lucky? What a great job.”

 

 

 

 

 

HARROGATE MARKS BEATLES VISIT WITH GIANT WINDOW DISPLAY AS BID PUTS EMPTY SHOP FRONTS TO BETTER USE

Harrogate BID (Business Improvement District) is using empty shops to tell the tale of the spa town’s connection to famous people - including The Beatles, Louis Armstrong and, coming up, Sir Winston Churchill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A shopper stops to read the story of the Beatles’ visit to Harrogate on Friday, 8 March, 1963.

The organisation, whose remit is to drive footfall into the retail heart of the town, has installed its first ‘well known’ window vinyl, in the former Hotter store on the corner of Cambridge Street and Market Square.

Led by the BID, the ‘well known’ windows is a collaboration between Harrogate historian Malcom Neesam, creative agency The Lift Agency, and signs and graphic experts, De-signs.

Hotter windows features Sir Edward Elgar, The Beatles and Louis Armstrong. Composer Elgar was a regular visitor to the town, staying at both the Crown Hotel and Majestic Hotel, whilst the Beatles and jazz trumpeter Armstrong played at the Royal Hall.

Over the coming weeks a further three empty units, including Debenhams on Parliament Street and Swarovski, on James Street, will see their windows displaying more famous faces, including Agatha Christie, Sir Winston Churchill and Charles Dickens.

Harrogate BID chair Sara Ferguson said: "What we are doing is bringing these empty shop units back into life, by telling tales of famous people who all have a connection with Harrogate.

“I think the first ‘well known’ window looks absolutely fantastic, and will help instil pride in our town, and also give people another reason to visit.

"There is nothing worse than seeing empty shops and what we are doing is helping to create a town that is a fabulous place to shop, eat and drink, one that is interesting, and one that is proud of its history and heritage.

“I would like to thank Malcolm Neesam for penning the words, and our two other partners in this project, De-signs, and The Lift Agency for creating these superb vinyl graphics."

A FAB FOUR FIND WITH A STORY TO MATCH

The Beatles’ Sept. 3, 1964, concert in Indianapolis inspired a lifetime of collecting Beatles memorabilia by Steve Smith, a part-time resident of Naples. 

 

 

That performance was a life-changing event for Mr. Smith.
It cost him more than the $4 face value. Witness this story:

“It was Sept. 3, 1964. I was 11 years old and breathless with anticipation,” writes Steve Smith, a resident of Naples and Indianapolis. “At 5 p.m. that evening, The Beatles were performing at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis at a cavernous building called the Coliseum.”

“My father worked at a local television station and was able to secure three of the approximately 12,000 tickets available. I was to attend the concert with my mother and 9-year-old brother. My father did not accompany us as he was busy producing a documentary of The Beatles’ visit for his TV station that became known as “Our Fair Beatles.”

“I remember standing in line at the front entrance of the Coliseum while a large crowd milled about outside anxiously waiting to go in,” Mr. Smith writes. “Finally, the time arrived to enter, and we took our seats. There were four warm-up acts before The Beatles took the stage. After what seemed forever, the moment arrived, The Beatles appeared, and a deafening explosion of screams erupted. I saw girls sobbing and tearing at their clothes.”

“The lads from Liverpool put on quite a show,” he writes. “I was mesmerized. I had never seen or heard anything like it. The concert ended all too quickly, lasting only 30 minutes and 12 songs.”

“I became a Beatles fanatic and eventually began a lifelong hobby of collecting vintage Beatles memorabilia,” he writes. “Unfortunately, the three tickets that my family possessed were lost to history. I have no idea what happened to them. When I began collecting, I was determined to purchase a ticket to that concert.”

“Many years later, I finally found one that I wanted,” he writes. “It was in great condition. Back then, tickets were not scanned, of course, but instead were torn by ticket-takers to prove that the holder of the ticket had legitimately passed through the turnstile. The ticket I found had been torn only slightly at one end, thus preserving full headshot pictures of all four Beatles on the front of the ticket. I paid $580 for the ticket, substantially more than the $4 original face value. I’m reasonably confident that it’s worth more than $1,000 today.”

“I ended up selling my vast collection of Beatles memorabilia in anticipation of our move to Florida, but one item I did not part with was the State Fair ticket, which I still have,” Mr. Smith writes. “That 11-year-old pre-teen is now a 68-year-old senior citizen. Whenever I gaze upon that ticket, it brings back fond childhood memories of a momentous occasion when I personally witnessed a phenomenon that changed popular culture and popular music forever.”