October 31, 1974
An online Beatles fan club for and about Beatle fans
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Belmo's Beatleg News (The complete Anthology) volume two 1994-2001: A Book Review
If you recognize these two graphics and they have put a smile on your face, then Belmo's Beatleg News (the Complete Anthology) Volume 2 1994-2001 by Belmo is the book for you.
This book is primarily all of the Belmo Beatleg Newsletters that were published between 1994-2001. Starting in 1987, Belmo put out a newsletter with reviews of the latest Beatles Bootleg records, information about upcoming releases, photos of topless women, and various interviews that dealt with Beatles bootlegs( aka Beatlegs). This newsletter was well received among fans because it gave out good, honest information but didn't take itself too seriously. It ceased in 2001, and Belmo wisely decided to reproduce all of the old newsletters in a two-volume set of books.
I purchased Volume Two to start with. I personally started buying Beatlegs in 1994 and was heavily into buying, trading, and discussing Beatlegs in the late 1990s and into the early 2000s. The second volume of the book fits right into what I remember. I also wrote a short article for this volume of the book, so I wanted to have my name in print in my collection. I do plan on getting Volume One (19878-1992) in the near future.
I was never a subscriber of Belmo's Beatleg News, although I should have been. I think it would have saved me quite a bit of money from buying terrible Beatlegs. Either I was not aware of the newsletter at the time or thought I couldn't afford it. I do have some copies that I have gotten over the years after the fact, so I was familiar with the newsletter. If you ever subscribed to Belmo's Beatleg News, I am sure you'd really enjoy the book.
For me, as a former Beatleg a-holic, reading through Volume 2 was a trip down memory lane. It had been so long since I had thought about the Great Dane BBC box set that was THE best BBC bootleg known to man. I loved reading the review about it. I also had forgotten about the Artifacts box sets, which were the pre-cursor to the Anthology series. I had a boyfriend at the time they were released that had a lot more money than I did in those days and he copied his Artifacts discs for me. Great memories! I have always been a big fan of Vigotone's label and remember being called "Vigo-girl" as a joke. So many great titles that I know I have packed away and I need to dig back out. I haven't listened to my John Lennon bootlegs on the Vigotone label in at least 10 years. There are many little gems tucked away in the newsletters reproduced in the book. One I discovered was an article written by a guy who talked to Alf Bicknell directly about the tapes he auctioned off in 1988. I found the story behind those tapes to be fascinating.
Most of the book is taken up by the reproductions of the newsletters; there are also some new articles included (such as the one that I wrote) and an interview with Mirror Spock.
The book itself is a little pricy ($45). That is why I didn't buy both volumes at the same time, but it is worth the price because there is so much information in the newsletters. Unless you subscribed and still have all of your back issues, there is no way you'd be able to find all of the issues of the newsletters for a cheaper price.
If you never collected Beatlegs and have no interest in them, then this book will confuse and bore you, and you might as well skip this one. But if you are part of the Beatles underground back in the day, you need this for nostalgia, if nothing else.
The link below is the affiliate link to Amazon where you can purchase this book. 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
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
The Late Late Breakfast Show
On October 29, 1983, Paul and Linda appeared on a British show called "The Late Late Breakfast Show." The program was originally supposed to show the new video for Paul and Michael Jackson's song "Say Say Say." Let's face it -- it was 1983 and "Say Say Say" was an awesome video and everyone should see it. However, programs in England had some rule that they didn't show promotional clips for things that are slipping down the charts. The video for "Say Say Say" took longer to produce or something happened and it was out after the song had been on the charts.
Paul was unhappy about this and there was some back and forth and eventually a compromise was made that the program would show the video only if Paul came to the studio and did an interview. This was the first interview like this that Paul had done in 10 years. When you watch the interview, you can sort of get the feeling that Paul was ticked off. He came across as his normal chipper self, but with a little edge to him.
What makes me laugh is that Paul is wearing that strange green tie that he wore to his brother's wedding and the guy doing the interview is wearing the same shirt Paul would wear a year later when he was promoting "Broadstreet"
Monday, October 28, 2019
Happy 16th birthday to B!
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| B's birthday in 2012 |
Part of running this blog is to share photographs of not just their individual members of the Beatles, but also their wives and children. However, with Paul's youngest child being a minor, several places have been told by MPL to remove any current photos of B. I respect the child's privacy and I rarely post photos, although I do keep up to date on what is going on in the teen's life. I wanted to wish B a very happy birthday. I am glad to see that the 16 year old is involved in musical theater and seems to be a happy and healthy teen. Best wishes for a great year!
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Hell's Kitchen photo shoot (45 years old!)
45 years ago this weekend (October 25, 1974), John Lennon participated in what has become one of my favorite John photo shoots: The Hell's Kitchen shoot. When I was in NYC in April, my hotel was in "Hell's Kitchen" and I can say that in 2019, it did not look anything like it does in these photos. I think that makes this shoot even better -- not only does John look gorgeous in the photos (stop and allow me to fan girl every once in a while -- it will be O.K.) but the photos are a time capsule back to 1974 when that area of NYC looked a certain way.
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