An online Beatles fan club for and about Beatle fans
Thursday, November 29, 2018
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Above Us Only Sky -- a movie review
This past weekend in the UK, a new documentary was shown on television called "John and Yoko: Above Us Only Sky." Once all of my Facebook friends saw the documentary, they jumped online and couldn't stop raving about it. Luckily, the film has been "leaked" online to those of us outside of the U.K. and so tonight I sat down and watched it.
Above us Only Sky goes right along with the Imagine box set that was released earlier this year. It shows the making of the entire Imagine album. A lot of the footage is obviously taken from the film that John and Yoko were making called Imagine. We have seen a lot of this footage before. The 1988 Imagine documentary, numerous videos Yoko made for John's songs over the years, Gimme some Truth, etc. However, countless hours of footage was recorded during that time in 1971, and we haven't seen it all. Many of the things shown in this documentary are NEW to Lennon fans around the world! It all starts with John teaching George the song "How." John sitting at the piano and sharing with George this new song will make you smile.
Most of this footage was shot in and on the grounds of Tittenhurst Park. I enjoyed the footage of young Julian playing in the pool and in the gardens, mixed with him telling his memories of his time there. However, Julian says something towards the end of the film that is just heartbreaking.
All of the footage from the recording sessions are great. Klaus Voorman gives his memories, and so does Alan White, Jim Keltner, and others that were there. The footage of Jealous Guy was my favorite.
I am sure all of you will enjoy learning more about Claudio, who is famous for being the hippie guy who meets John outside his house and then gets invited in for breakfast. There is extended footage of that and a little background of who the young man is and why he was there.
The strangest part is when they show footage of John and Yoko doing this photo shoot:
There is some film of them in New York in 1971, including shots of the infamous "clock" at the St. Regis Hotel. I have the bootleg audio of "Clock" and always believed that none of the footage of it survived. But there it was in this documentary!
Fair warning to those who love John Lennon -- this is an emotional film, and they don't even go into John's death. I am not a huge Yoko fan, but I do appreciate the love John had for her, and it is shown in this documentary. Yoko gives the reason why she believes she met John, and it is pretty amazing.
Look out for this film because it is one of the best John documentaries pertaining to his solo years I have seen since the NYC one from several years ago.
The link below is the affiliate link to Amazon where you can purchase/rent this film. I get a small percentage of anything purchased through this link. Money made from the Amazon Afflication is used to pay the annual fee to keep this site online. Thank you for your support. Sara
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Monday, November 26, 2018
Peace and love in the studio
Would you purposely wear a Beatles t-shirt if you knew you were going to meet Paul or Ringo? I didn't. I just thought it would be awkward, even though I assume they see Beatles t-shirts all the time. I know that Ringo wears a Revolver shirt regularly.
Sunday, November 25, 2018
Ringo and a friend
This photo is simply captioned "Ringo and a friend that came with Harry Nilsson." Isn't that Harry's wife?
Ravi and George
This has officially become my favorite photo shoot of George Harrison and Ravi Shankar.
Thursday, November 22, 2018
So much to be Thankful for...
I want to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving. I am taking a break from the blog tonight to spend time with family.
No matter where you live, I am sure you have a lot to be thankful for. I am thankful for God, my parents, my students and of course I am thankful for The Beatles! I am also thankful for this blog and each of you that come here. I hope you enjoy the photos and stories as much as I do.
Peace and Love,
Sara S.
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Furore magazine (Beatles edition) - A Review
One of the most interesting Beatles literature I have read this year is the December 2019 issue of Furore Magazine, which is a special Beatles issue.
The articles in this magazine are full of little nuggets of Beatles information that will make even the geekiest of us Beatles geeks smile. The two biggest articles are about finding the location where the Beatles made the "Twist and Shout" EP jump photo. For a long time, the photographer wasn't even known and now not only has she been found, but this article shows how they were able to pinpoint where the photograph was taken as well as the story behind the photos.
Likewise, the story of where The Beatles played on the beach in old-time swimming suits for Dezzo Hoffman's camera is told. The author of the article, Piet Schreuders, tells the story about how he and Mark Lewisohn went to Weston-super-Mare in 1986, found the exact spot on the beach, and discovered the photos were taken in Berean.
Other articles worth reading and learning from include An article about the Mr. Kite poster and how it has been reproduced over the years, various Beatles photo locations in London, The story of Beatles autographs obtained by the former president of the Dutch Beatles Fan Club, a list of all the photographs that make up the White Album collage poster (I helped a tiny bit with this article and was excited to see my name in the acknowledgments), an article about John, Paul, George and Jimmie's canal ride in Amsterdam and stories of the fans that jumped onto the boat and into the water to meet them. The only article I didn't read all the way through was about re-making Revolution #9.
This magazine is just as valuable information-wise as any Beatles book. I highly recommend it.
Where can I get this magazine, you may ask. It originates from the Netherlands so I would guess it would be easier to find in Europe than anywhere else. In the United States, I would check any of the large bookstores that carry foreign magazines. You can also order it from the Furore Magazine website:
http://www.furoremagazine.com/category/blog-en/
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
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