Beatles news from Steve Marinucci, a journalist with over three decades of experience in the newspaper business and a contributing writer to Billboard and AXS.com and host of the Beatles News Briefs podcast heard regularly on podbean.com, iTunes and Fab 4 Radio.com.
Chris Carter at the Fest For Beatles Fans in Los Angeles in 2014. (Photo by Steve Marinucci)
This from Chris Carter, host of "Breakfast With the Beatles" in Los Angeles.
Tomorrow (Feb. 26) on "Breakfast With the Beatles": Laurence Juber will be in-studio to play a few George Harrison songs (one from his new LP) and Olivia Harrison will call in to talk about the new George vinyl and I Me Mine Pop-Up store in LA on Sunday. Hope yer well…..!
The show airs on 95.5 KLOS-FM at 9 a.m. PT/noon ET. For those outside of L.A., it's streamed on their website.
(And be sure to check out our That's What I Want Beatles store on Amazon. It has the biggest selection of Beatles items -- and not all the usual stuff -- at the best prices.)
One of our favorite columns from the Beatles Examiner days was this one about our discovering Mike Geraghty's tribute to George Harrison. What was so great was his finished version sounded a lot like George. A lot!
Here's that column again. Mike contacted me tonight for another reason, but this seemed like a good time to bring this one back -- with the video. (Nice going again, Mike!):
Singer pens George Harrison tribute that sounds like him
Mike Geraghty says his tribute to George Harrison, “Still With You,” while not a George Harrison song, reflects as much of him as he could put in it.
“A little while after George Harrison's passing I wanted to compose a tribute to him and his music,” he told us by email. “I chose to approach the song as though George himself were writing it. What would he say to his family, friends and fans. I also wanted to include his deep spirituality and tongue in cheek sense of humor. Then to cap it all off I attempted to write it in Harrison's style.” The song, which you can hear in the video spot and which he says was done “pretty much one take with over dubbed harmonies,” has an amazing similarity to George Harrison.
“I have been a fan of the Beatles since I was a kid and also studied their solo material. I think I learned all that I needed to know about songwriting from them,” he said. “George Harrison was an amazing writer and performer and I feel like I know him though I've never met him. So, the vocal work on this track came from a place of love and an attempt to honor George's memory and perhaps reassure his family friends and fans...and myself that he lives on in his music and message. That idea that he is still with us.”
“Still With You” is his first tribute, though not the first song he's in the style of a recording artist. “I do like to try writing in the style of my favourite artists. Like a song called "I'll Be Loving You" that I wrote for James Taylor to perform.You
can see it on YouTube.” “Still With You (Tribute to George Harrison)” is available onAmazon.com
and iTunes.
In Beatlefan #224, Allan Kozinn of "Things We Said Today" examines the case of the late Magic Alex, the Beatles' controversial friend from the Apple era. Also, Tom Frangione tells why some fans aren't happy with either the deluxe reissue of "Flowers in the Dirt" or the George Harrison vinyl box set, Bruce Spizer looks back 50 years at the release of "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane," Candy Leonard recalls how fans reacted to the "psychedelic" Fabs and Reed Pitkunigis looks at Beatles-related releases issued in surround sound.
A sample issue costs $8 in the U.S. or $12 abroad. For more information, email goodypress@gmail.com.
Alan Aldridge, the artist who edited and did the artwork for "The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics" and "The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics 2" and also designed album covers for the Who, the Stones and Elton John, has died at age 73. His death was announced by his daughter Lily on Instagram. His designs included "It's Only Rock 'n Roll" for the Rolling Stones and "A Quick One" for the Who. In 2014, Aldridge's drawings were used for a Beatles Illustrated Collective Set that included a calendar along with a CD that featured Beatles and solo McCartney songs. A book on his work, "The Man With Kaleidoscope Eyes: The Art of Alan Aldridge," was published by Henry Abrams Books. (See a selection of Alan Aldridge Beatles products in our "That's What I Want Beatles" store.)
Shortly after the award was announced, Ringo tweeted, "Wow well done Ron Howard and all the production team and of course the fabs we actually got a Grammy for eight days a week peace and love,” followed by a second post with a flurry of emoticons." George Harrison's Twitter account also posted congratulations. (See below.)
None of the other five Beatles-related Grammy nominations were as lucky. Paul McCartney was up for two, one for his deluxe "Tug of War" and a remix of "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five." John Daversa was also up for three for his album "Kaleidoscope Eyes: Music of the Beatles" and two songs from it.
Wow well done Ron Howard and all the production team and of course the fabs we actually got a Grammy for eight days a week peace and love
We first were introduced to the voice of Dick Biondi many years ago in the great "Crusin'" audio series that had legendary DJs do special versions of their original shows complete with commercials and jingles. Biondi's, which was for 1960, was one of the best in the series.
Now Pamela Joy Pullice, Brian Kallies and Stephanie Serna are hoping to do a film about the career of "The Wild Eyetralian." They've started a Kickstarter campaign hoping to raise $30,000 in 36 days. It's a steep mountain, but Biondi is one of the best DJ voices there ever was and his film would be a great story. For Beatles fans, there is also evidence that it was he, not Carroll James, who played the first Beatles record in the U.S.
Here's Biondi talking after playing the Beatles:
And here's Biondi's wonderful Cruisin' 1960 re-creation:
Julian Lennon will sign copies of his soon-to-be published children's book, "Touch the Earth," at two U.S. Barnes & Nobles stores this spring. The first signing will take place at 11 a.m. ET April 15 in New York City at the Union Square store, 33 East 17th Street, New York, N.Y. (Phone: 212-253-0810). The second is at 3 p.m. PT April 22 at The Grove at Farmers Market, 189 The Grove Drive, Suite K-30 in Los Angeles (Phone: 323-525-0270). The book hits the streets April 11. (For those across the ocean, it also available for pre-order in the UK.)
And be sure to check out our That's What I Want Beatles store on Amazon. It has a huge selection of Beatles items -- and not all the usual stuff -- at the best prices.)
Beatles author Spencer Leigh who's the host of the BBC Radio Merseyside show "On the Beat" will have as his guest this weekend Tony Sheridan Jr., son of Tony Sheridan with whom the Beatles played and learned a lot from in Hamburg. Leigh says Sheridan Jr. will talk about his dad for the first time. Sheridan died in February of 2013 at age 72.
"I'd had my own run-ins with Tony Sheridan," Leigh says, "and I'd always assumed he was so awkward and bad-tempered because he could only get work because of his connection with the Beatles." Sheridan Jr. will talk about his father from his point of view.
Left-to-Right: Paul 'Wix' Wickens, Chris Whitten, Linda McCartney, Paul, Robbie McIntosh,
Hamish Stuart. Copyright MPL Productions. Photographer Kim Knott.
A Paul McCartney-Elvis Costello demo from "Flowers in the Dirt" was posted on VEVO today. The song is "Twenty Fine Fingers."
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