Another word on Sir George Martin

We've heard from a source that Sir George Martin was buried Monday in the UK in a private ceremony attended by his family. 

Hear a bit of the Beatles 78 RPM disc being auctioned

Omega Auctions

This two-sided 78 RPM is being auctioned, as we've reported. Well, the BBC's "5 Live Drive" program played a clip of "Hello Little Girl." We've reported that it's from The Beatles' Decca sessions, but this clip is at a faster speed. But we think it's the Decca tapes at the wrong speed. Anyway, judge for yourself by listening here. Listening to it slowed down shows it's Decca. 

Beatles book alert: Special price for Apple devices on Allen Klein book

Fred Goodman's biography, "Allen Klein: The Man Who Bailed Out the Beatles, Made the Stones and Transformed Rock 'n' Roll" is now only $2.99 in the Apple iTunes store. It's not as critical as it should have been, in our view, but it does go behind the scenes of what he did. Since Amazon's Kindle price is higher, I suspect this won't last long. Get it while you can.

Big collection of original Beatles Monthlies for sale

Eil.com is advertising a collection of 59 original issues of the Beatles Monthly for sale. The list of issues starts with No. 2 (no Number 1, unfortunately) and goes up to issue No. 55 with only issue 37 missing. There is a second copy of issues 64 through 69. They describe the condition of the issues as "fantastic" (their word), though they say a few issues have the original price written in hand by the news dealer. The price is $596 USD or £395 UK. The link to the full listing is here.

The original magazine published 77 issues from 1963 to 1969. It was revived in 1976 with all the originals reprinted with added content, then continued on until it ended again with issue 321 in 2003. 

The mystery of the missing podcast

Early in November, a podcast began appearing online called "Beatles Anthology Revisited." The series consisted of 18 parts with new shows appearing each few days ranging from 1 1/2 to over 2 hours and paid tribute to the 20th anniversary of "The Beatles Anthology". It was incredibly well-done with interviews woven in the shows throughout from the Beatles and others. 

Well, of course, this series was completely unofficial. And it got noticed by the powers that be because now it's disappearing. At least one site that did have it no longer does. If you're interested, find it where you can. As soon as you can. 

And we'd love to hear from the person behind it. 

One million Beatles albums and counting ...

The holiday season has been a joyful one for Amazon.com, which released its holiday sales statistics Dec. 29. The company said that worldwide, its AutoRip feature, which gives its CD buyers free digital copies of physical albums purchased directly from Amazon, provided its customers with over 1 million free digital Beatles albums into their libraries in a single day on Dec. 24. The AutoRip feature has a part of Amazon since 1998.   

New Beatles 'Let It Be' bootleg coming (but not with this cover)

Early in 2016, there will be a new bootleg DVD of "Let It Be," a reliable source has told us. There's been no exact description what the new DVD will have, but one thing that is certain is that this won't have this cover, which has been changed once already and will likely change again, we're told. It's hard to imagine, though, that the new DVD will be more loaded than the Blu-ray version already out there that has four different versions of the film.

Twenty years ago, it all started with Abbeyrd's Beatles Page

It was just over 20 years ago that yours truly put up the first four pages of what would become Abbeyrd's Beatles Page. It was started as sort of a protest on my part. I'd applied for jobs as the pop music writer at the paper I worked at and twice got turned down. Both rejections really hurt because this was something I really wanted to do. 

So I decided to jump into the new world of the internet on Dec. 19, 1995 B.F. (before Facebook) where I could do music writing (and on the Beatles) on my own. The site started out with four pages which I coded myself in HTML 3. It was my way of forcing myself to learn it. 

My initial motive for the site was not to just do a Beatles page, but do something a little different. News wasn't part of it initially. But I realized soon after that given my connections with my newspaper, I figured I could get some news from there as well as elsewhere. 

It worked, and a lot better than I expected. It was (and still is) the very first online Beatles news site. I had original news about the Beatles. And this was stuff I wrote or others contributed to me. It wasn't like the link-driven stuff on Facebook and social media today. 

And there were some wonderful highlights and memories for me. One of my favorites was getting a tip in 2002 about a series of Jools Holland shows in November that year at the Royal Albert Hall and that the shows had a mysterious break in the middle of them. A little bit of investigation discovered the answer – it was for something to be called “The Concert for George” which I was the first to report about a week before anyone else. 

I also can't forget my coverage of George Harrison's health problems. We tracked it for quite a while. And I remember the night my friend Joe Caldwell called me about 3:30 a.m. PT to tell me George had passed. I got up and started writing and never went back to bed even though I had to work the next day.

Then there was my tribute to Derek Taylor after his passing in 1997. I rounded up statements from those who knew him, many of them famous. Some of those statements were sent to me directly, such as those from Roger McGuinn of the Byrds and Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders.

At one point, I had an idea to see if the Beatles U.S. albums could be released on CD. It started with a page on which I discussed the arguments for and against putting them out. I got Bruce Spizer and Martin Lewis to discuss the pros and cons of such a move and got people to put their own pros and cons. I guess I can take some of the credit for the release of "The Beatles Capitol Albums Volume 1" and "The Beatles Capitol Albums Volume 2" and maybe some of the blame (ha ha) for "The U.S. Albums" box. (I still get people asking about Capitol Albums Volume 3.) I also had the texts of the original CBS press releases for the Beatles' first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

I asked Joseph Self, a practicing attorney, to analyze the George Harrison plagiarism lawsuit, the Star Club suit and the "Roots" suit against John Lennon. Over the years, they've been referred to again and again as the most in-depth and authoritative works on the subjects. Thanks, Joey!

I also did exclusive interviews with many people: Yoko Ono, May Pang, Pete Best, Bob Spitz (author of “The Beatles”), Francie Schwartz, Lon and Derrek Van Eaton, Hugo Cancio (who'd been involved in a lawsuit regarding the Beatles Hamburg tapes) and authorKeith Badman, among others. And I'm very proud to say I had contributions by a very distinguished group of Beatles friends and experts, such as Louise Harrison, Jody Denberg, Allan Kozinn, Arno Guzek, saki, Joey Self, Dave Persails, Catherine E. Doyle, Allen J. Wiener, Claudio Dirani, Ken Michaels, Bill De Young, Paul Cashmere and others (and I apologize for anyone I didn't mention.) 

It was a very satisfying experience. It was great to get notes from people who appreciated what I was doing. I'll never forget getting one of those from the great Roger McGuinn.

For the last few years, I've been on Examiner.com doing Beatles Examiner (and several other Examiner columns) and, more recently, have been part of the “Things We Said Today” radio show. And having lots of fun. But it all began at Abbeyrd's Beatles Page and I'm damn proud of it. Thanks to everyone who helped add to the site and all of you who have visited it.

The Beatles' music is still with us. And I'm still here doing the write thing. Twenty years. It doesn't seem like it. (Thanks to Dave Persails for the idea for the logo.)

Another preview from the Ringo Starr "A Lifetime of Peace and Love" CD

Photo by Steve Marinucci

Here's Ben Folds singing "Oh My My." The CD will be released Dec. 4 digitally only. You can hear another track on our Ringo Starr Examiner column.



And here's Ringo singing "Boys" from the TV broadcast of the show.

New Beatles singles lithograph: "Hey Jude, don't make it bad ..."

Dennilu Corp. today announced the latest in the series of Beatles singles lithographs is "Hey Jude" and "Revolution." The cost is $60 unframed (measuring 20" x 20") and $129 framed (measuring 22.5" x 22.5"). As with previous entries, they are limited to 400 and were issued on the day of the record's anniversary.  (All images courtesy Dennilu Corp.)

Previously announced were 
"A Hard Day's Night"/"I Should Have Known Better,"
"Paperback Writer"/"Rain" and
"The Long And Winding Road"/"For You Blue".

Fifty years ago: 'The Beatle Cracker Suite'

Fifty years ago in November, 1965, Billboard reported that an EP with seven Lennon and McCartney songs played in the style of classical composer Tchaikovsky would be released and the costs for it would be shared by the Beatles' publishing company Northern Songs Ltd. The EP was to be titled "Beatle Cracker Suite," and was eventually issued by the Arthur Wilkinson Orchestra on EMI Records. The EP was to be issued throughout the world and was to be followed by an album if it did well enough, but it appears there was none.

The seven songs were "From Me To You," "Help!," "It's For You" (written for Cilla Black), "Can't Buy Me Love," "She Loves You," "Ticket To Ride" and "All My Loving." The last song is available on Amazon digitally.

The full vinyl EP is offered by several sellers on eBay.

How to see the ITV Beatles special outside the UK

Wikipedia

Since our article published Sunday on Beatles Examiner about last week's UK ITV “The Nation's Favourite Beatles Number 1” TV special that had some things people outside of the UK would love to see, there have been several inquiries from people wanting to know if there were any options to see it streamed. 

Well, actually, there is, but only if you live on certain continents. ITV has a pay-per-view site for Europe called ITV Essentials that allows you to watch their shows in Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Gibraltar, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Spain. The cost is 4.99 Euros. You can either subscribe month-to-month or get a 30-day pass for the same price.  A similar service, called ITV Choice, is available for over 100 countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. 

But unfortunately, there's nothing similar for the U.S. As a viewer services rep. from the channel told us today:

"ITV is a UK broadcaster and the rights for many of our programmes dictate that they can be screened in the UK only. We do not have a licence to transmit our domestic family of ITV channels (ITV, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, ITVBe, ITV Encore and CITV) outside the UK and we do not seek to promote these services elsewhere. 

"The ITV channels on satellite are designed to reach all corners of the United Kingdom for domestic viewers watching via Sky and Freesat using a small satellite dish. The channels listed above are not aimed at other European countries or farther afield. 

"As part of the satellite operator's on-going renewal programme, our domestic services have transferred to new satellites with a tighter beam. The satellite footprints have been designed to meet the requirements of broadcasters who distribute their channels in the UK and hold broadcasting rights for the UK but not for other countries. As a result of the transfer, viewers outside the UK may no longer be able to receive some channels via satellite." 

She did, however, make a suggestion that U.S. viewers can do.  "If your region isn’t listed in the links above you may like to contact the local broadcasters in your area to let them know about the programmes you would like to see."

The full show hasn't yet been posted on YouTube, though a short clip has. 







Be sure to check out our That's What I Want Beatles Store (U.S) and That's What I Want Beatles Store UK. 

Hollywood Vampires to market clothing, art, collectibles

 Three years ago, Hollywood Vampires founding member Alice Cooper and his good friend Johnny Depp decided the time was right to revive the camaraderie and spirit that defined Hollywood Vampires (minus the drinking), creating an environment for great artists to hang, laugh and play together. Cooper and Depp were joined by Aerosmith's Joe Perry, along with producer Bob Ezrin, and soon the recording began.  The new album, "Hollywood Vampires," which featured an appearance by Paul McCartney, was released on September 11. It was followed by two live performances at The Roxy in Hollywood and an international appearance at "Rock in Rio" in Brazil.  

The Hollywood Vampires have partnered with Epic Rights and Global Merchandising Services ("Global") to create rock-themed apparel, collectibles, wall art and more through their network of licensees.  The all-new merchandise, licensing, e-commerce and digital media agreement encompasses concert merchandise, brand opportunities, fan experiences and licensing and retail strategies. In addition, Epic Rights and Global will manage the band's official online merchandise shop.

Beatles "1+" ad in Los Angeles

Reminds me of the old days with the billboards on the Sunset Strip. Thanks to Dave Morrell for the use of the pic. 

Great photo of Ringo posted on Twitter

There's something very wonderful about this photo. Peace and love. Peace and love.

Just got back from Brooklyn on my yellow submarine bike peace and love 😎✌️🌟💖🙈🙉🐵🌻🌺🍁🌹⛄️🍓📸☮🕉💖 pic.twitter.com/wfridue93h

— Ringo Starr (@ringostarrmusic) November 8, 2015

Beatles "1" DVD release day around the world, part 4

Photos from HMV Liverpool (Thanks to Paul Dean)