May 31, 1979 - Wings record the video for "Spin It On."
An online Beatles fan club for and about Beatle fans
Thursday, May 30, 2024
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Wednesday, May 29, 2024
George Harrison The Reluctant Beatle - a Book Review
There is a popular trend on social media where you see a person walking, and they say something along the lines of "I'm a Beatles fan... of course, I watched Let it Be on Disney +" Or "I'm a Paul McCartney fan... of course, I spent half of my months' paycheck on Soundcheck..."
While I was reading Phillip Norman's latest Beatles biography, George Harrison: The Reluctant Beatle. I kept thinking of him saying, "I'm Phillip Norman...of course, my book is full of errors. Or ....of course, I make strange comparisons. Or even .... of course, I dislike George Harrison."
I try to keep an open mind and read all Beatles books that are available, even the ones by notoriously bad authors, because 1. How would I know that a book is bad if I had never read it? 2. You can learn something even from a bad book.
However, this book really did not have any new information. Most of the was taken from Norman's Beatles biography, Shout. One interesting piece of information that I don't recall ever reading before came from George's old girlfriend, Iris Caldwell. She stated that George actually auditioned for the Quarry Men at her home and not by playing Raunchy on the top of a bus. This was her recollection of events. She doesn't doubt that George played Raunchy on the bus, just that it wasn't the auction because he auctioned earlier. Norman then goes on to say how playing that song would not have impressed John because it was such an easy song to play.
Of course, I paid attention the most to my favorite topics when it came to George, and I was highly disappointed. The first was when it came to George's trip to Benton, Illinois. In one part, he states it happened in 1963 and in another in 1962. He glossed over most of the trip and didn't even mention being interviewed by the radio station. But what really was odd was that he told a story that I shared on this site in 2013 after I went to Benton and interviewed a man who went by the name "Honest Don." Don told me a story about when he worked at the A&W in town, and he and a female worker delivered food to Lousie's house. George asked the female out on a date, which she turned down. Norman tells this story almost exactly how I shared it on this site (and in my first book), except he made the food delivery people from a pizza place and not the A&W. Why? I don't mind that he used the story, but why change it? Is it because A&W typically doesn't deliver food, and pizza does? Don explained that to me as well, but I didn't share it because it didn't seem important.
The other issue is my dear Apple Scruffs. Norman used Carol Bedford's book extensively as a major resource for the book. He retells her stories and even calls her the "head" of the Apple Scruffs. If you look into Carol at all, you will quickly discover that her stories are not believable and reliable. Yet Norman re-told the juiciest parts of the book as if it were the truth. He claimed that George gave the Apple Scruffs their name THREE times in the book. He says that no one knows Scruff named Lucy's last name and then gives her last name later in the book. I could go on and on about all the misinformation he gave on the topic.
The part of George's life after The Concert for Bangladesh was not very detailed and contained nothing but basic information that you already know. I guess the one thing I read that was news to me was that George went to a George Formby convention, entered a sound-alike contest, and lost to a 7-year-old.
A great biography about George Harrison needs to be written, but this book isn't it. Is Phillip Norman currently working on the Ringo Starr biography? What will he get wrong next?
I am not sure who would be interested in purchasing this book (I would suggest borrowing it from the library if you are interested in it), but just in case, I am leaving my affiliate link for Amazon. Any purchase made through this link will allow this site to make a small amount of money that is used to help offset the cost of keeping it online. (P.S. Thank you to whoever bought some slippers through the link last time. I made a whole $1.00 from those!)
Tuesday, May 28, 2024
French Interview
In February 1979, George was in France and interviewed by Marc Toesca from the Monte-Carlo radio station. George stayed from February 15-25 in Plaza-Athene Hotel, where Elton John also stayed. Elton did several gigs in Theatre des Champs Elysees. George took this opportunity to go and listen to him on February 25. They ended the evening together. Elton confessed that George's LP was his favorite one at the moment.
MT: What's your opinion about New Wave?
George: I think that punk music like a gun in a car race; it's the wreck! You see, I'm not a punk fan. I like some people like Elvis Costello; there are more melodies in his songs and good lyrics.
MT: Is it difficult for a rock star to grow old?
George: No, it's very easy to grow old, it's the same thing for everybody. There's no problem. It could be different if I was the only one who grew old on earth, but everybody gets old at the same time.
MT: Would you like to act in a movie?
George: No. After the Beatles movies, people asked us to act in various other movies. But I'm not the kind of person who likes to act; it's very difficult. I think that to be a performer, you must wish to be several persons, and most of the good actors I'm acquainted with don't know who they are, really.
MT: Did you attend Elton John's concert?
George: Yes. I think it's one of the best gigs I saw in years. It's a striking concert -- and I think that Ray Cooper is really the star -- Elton John accompanies Ray Cooper.
MT: What's happening with Dark Horse Records?
George: Well, you know, everything is ok now, because Dark Horse Records, it's only myself. Formerly a few bands and singers were with Dark Horse but I found out that it was not for me to become a businessman. My own energy was reduced because people phoned me often to get more money for renting studios and so on...In the end, I had no time to spare for my own music. So I decided not to have any people with Dark Horse except me, and now it's really very cool; every time I want to record an LP, it's on Dark Horse Records, and that's all.
MT: It's 10 years since the Beatles split. In 1979 how do you feel about this breakup? Is it hard to bear?
George: No, I accept it. It was a good experience. It's something which happened at a precise moment and came to a halt. It was natural for us to break up. It was too hard for four guys so close to remain togetrher with as much energy as we had. It's like when you grow old, you're 18 or 19 and you leave your parents; for us it was the same thing. We grew togetherand then we decided to fend for ourselves.
Operation Big Beat
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| Left To Right: Harry Prytherch Remo Four?, John Lennon, Ringo Starr (Rory Storm Group) George Harrison, Pete Best (Behind of George) Two unknown girls, Rory Storm, unknown man and Iris Caldwell (Rory sister) in front. |
The Tower Ballroom November 10, 1961
Monday, May 27, 2024
Piccadilly Hotel
Manchester - Piccadilly Hotel
With a Little Help From My Friends
January 1980
By Susan Dilorenzo
I'd bought a Hershey's chocolate kiss to give to Paul. It was a large bit of chocolate in a pink box, and the blue lettering read: "A BIG KISS FOR YOU." I'd tried getting close enough to give it to him, but unfortunately, the opportunity never presented itself. Tonight, I was bound and determined for results! I was contemplating just what I'd say as we sat in the lobby of the hotel. He'd used the elevator yesterday and we expected him to do this again today. He surprised everyone by bopping down the stairs (to our right), and in less than a second, we flew over to the stairs. It was myself, Doylene, Marie, Barb, Mary Ann, George and Mar. And, of course, you know how it is when Paul enters the scene; everyone under the sun materializes! He was on the escalator then, in front of us, so we just hopped right on, too! The award-winning ham we all know and love was waving and posing for everyone at the bottom of the escalator. Once, he laid his head on the railing with his arms out and pretended to be sleeping. Linda had gone on ahead, which she'd been doing the whole of the tour. He started to walk down the tunnel to the coach, and it was here that I decided was the moment of truth.
Paul had been signing graphs, so when I trembled up to him, he smiled at me and stopped walking and posed his pen! I held the chocolate kiss out to him and asked " "Paul, could I please give this to you?" He smiled and looked me in the eye and replied, "You sure can," and looked down to take it from me. He looked up again and returned to looking at me dead in the eyes. It was like this through the whole encounter, and it was divine! He has these magical light brown eyes. I explained why the box was marked on the side (It had been in my camera case at the show, and forgetting, I stood on the case to see Paul better). "I accidentally stepped on it at the concert trying to see you, but I wanted you to have it. I'm sorry." You'd expect him to burst out laughing, but on the contrary, he was dearly sincere and very charming. He replied, "Well, don't you worry about it." I took just took a step back and smiled at him, and looked down, and he started to walk away. I couldn't move. I watched him walking with my hands to my mouth, half laughing from blissful hysteria, when I saw Paul look down at the kiss, reading the print on the box. He stopped walking and turned around, and looked at me. He smiled at me, that all-knowing smile, and winked, then continued outside. Further up ahead, Marie asked Paul to sign a mounted photograph of hers. He signed it on the mount at the top, and she said, "Oh Paul, I know beggers can't be choosers, but I wanted you to sign it on the lights." He drew an arrow to the lights and smiled, "How's that?"
I found my feet and charged outside with the others, my chin dragging on the pavement. He'd already got on the coach, and I heard Barb call out, "Susie, he's looking at it!" I ran next to her to get a look, and he was showing it to Laurence, who was sitting across from Paul and Linda. Laurence looked at it and smiled. Paul set it on the table in front of him and leaned back. A second later, he popped back up in his seat and opened it, closed it, and sat back. The coach was off to the concert hall then, everyone waving goodbye.
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Sunday, May 26, 2024
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