Cirque de Soleil today released a new video for the performance of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” from their The Beatles LOVE show. While I don’t care much about that music video — I never really “got” music videos, as I like to experience music as music — the Beatles released another video today, this … Continue reading The Making of LOVE’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
Tag: George-Harrison
Last week the Beatles released a new 3-part podcast that takes a look at Beatles Anthology project from twenty years ago — “British music journalists and Beatles experts Kevin Holwett and Mark Ellen discuss the classic Anthology releases, shining a light on the fascinating stories behind these albums which tell the story of the development … Continue reading The Beatles Anthology Podcast
Recently I’ve seen the traffic spike on some of my Beatles writings, specifically on alt-history Beatles, so I’m going to assemble a guide to things I written on the subject over the years. Post-Abbey Road Albums It’s an interesting game to imagine what the Beatles might’ve done had they soldiered on into 1970. There’s interesting … Continue reading Alternate Beatles
What if the Beatles didn’t get a record contract with Parlophone in 1962? That’s the subject of BBC Radio 4’s radio play, Sorry, Boys, You Failed the Audition, adapted by Ray Connolly from his novella of the same name. Originally broadcast by the BBC in 2013, it was rebroadcast again this week, and I streamed … Continue reading Sorry, Boys, You Failed the Audition
I haven’t seen Richard Linklater’s new film Boyhood yet, and despite the rave reviews I may not anytime soon, but there is an aspect of the film that touches on my interests. At some late point in the film, the character played by Ethan Hawke gives his son a 3-disc mixtape of post-Beatles songs. It’s … Continue reading Ethan Hawke’s “The Black Album”
Let’s talk about the Beatles’ White Album. Recording in 1968, after the Beatles went to India to study transcendental meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the White Album, thirty tracks long, is famously bloated. The band came back from India with a wealth of material and the intention to record it all. Then the recording … Continue reading A Single-Disc White Album
On Tuesday the Beatles issued their second major release of the year, after last month’s On Air: Live at the BBC Volume 2 — The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963. This was a surprise release. While we knew about On Air for a few months, Bootleg Recordings 1963 was quietly announced a few days before it … Continue reading The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963
Ten years ago today, George Harrison died of cancer. He was fifty-eight. I’m not sure that I can improve upon what I wrote in an e-mail to a friend at the time: My favorite Beatle depends as much upon what day of the week it is as it does upon my mood for that day. … Continue reading On George Harrison, Ten Years Gone
A few days ago I stopped at Barnes & Noble on my way home from work. Though it was a little early in the month, I wanted to see if they had the latest issue of MOJO with its cover story on George Harrison and the cover-mounted CD Harrison Covered. To my surprise, there was … Continue reading On MOJO’s Harrison Covered CD
It’s another International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and while I normally post a bootleg video of George Harrison’s performance of “The Pirate Song” on Eric Idle’s Rutland Weekend Television, this morning I found something far more interesting. A ukulele cover of “The Pirate Song”! Yes, the things that amuse me… This cover is by … Continue reading On George Harrison and “The Pirate Song”
This weekend at Shore Leave, on Saturday evening at 5 o’clock, I’ll be moderating a panel on the Beatles. It’s an odd topic for a panel for science-fiction convention, and I admit I put it down on my list of suggested topics as a kind of a lark, and I still have no idea what … Continue reading On Favorite Beatles Songs
A little more than a month ago, I began posting to Facebook and Twitter responses to the 30 Day Song Challenge. As I mentioned at the start of it, some friends of mine at work had been doing the challenge, one sent me the link to the “rules,” and I started answering the various questions. … Continue reading On Completing the 30 Day Song Challenge