George has the champagne ready to pop. What do you hope the Beatles will bring to us in 2025? Happy New Year everyone!
An online Beatles fan club for and about Beatle fans
Tuesday, December 31, 2024
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Summerfest Upgrade
The previous version of this photo completely cut out little James McCartney -- nice to have the complete photo.
Happy Birthday Heather
Today is Heather McCartney's birthday! I believe she is now 62 years old. Heather has chosen to remove herself from the spotlight, and really, who can blame her? But that doesn't mean that we can't wish her all the best on her birthday!
Monday, December 30, 2024
Thinking of Maureen
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| Photos taken by Pamela Elijah |
Maureen left this world 30 years ago -- on December 30, 1994. She is a beloved person in the Beatles world, and I think that love has grown since we saw her in the "Get Back" documentary.
These are photos Pamela Elijah (who passed away this year) took of Maureen in 1971.
Paul's camera
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Who agrees with me? Paul needs to release ALL of his 1964 photos in a book -- the ones from the first American tour of February 1964 has been great, but now I want to see the rest!
Paul and Donovan
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| Photos by Linda McCartney |
Sunday, December 29, 2024
The last flight for Wings
December 29, 1979 - Concert for the People of Kampuchea
The last time Wings performed (although they sure were not aware of it at this time)
McCartney autograph
December 29, 1974 -
In these fan photo snaps taken outside of the Stanhope Hotel in New York City, you see Paul holding a card. That signed card can be seen in Paul's hands in these series of photos.
Al's Brain - Lost Media Now Found
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| This photo of Al and Paul has been around for years and we never know what video they were making -- we now know! |
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| Video Stills from "Al's Brain" |
I love learning about Lost Media. Pieces of video, audio, or video games that were seen or heard a few times and then have disappeared into time. And I love learning about the hunt to find that lost media and how it became rediscovered. I regularly watch a YouTube channel called "blameitonjorge" to learn about what is going on in the world of lost media. I was listening to his 2024 list of lost media that had been found when I discovered that a piece of lost Paul McCartney media was on the list!
Lost media is around in The Beatles' world. So many TV performances the Beatles were on were recorded over (I'm thinking about John and Paul's 1968 Tonight Show for example or 1966 Top of the Pops) and from time to time a little snippet that someone recorded with a home movie camera comes to light. This piece of lost media isn't as old as those, but I thought it was pretty cool. What was found in February of 2024 was a cameo Paul McCartney had in a Weird Al Yankovic short called "Al's Brian" from 2009.
"Al's Brian" is a 3-D educational short film written and directed by Al Yankovic, who is also the star of the 10-minute feature. The purpose of the film was to educate the viewer on how the brain works and he used a variety of live action and computer animation. For Paul's part, he is a "man on the street" and asks Al "How does the Brain work?" He is seen holding his guitar and he strums a chord before he talks, but he doesn't play or sing anything. At the end of the short, Al sings a song, "The Brain Song," but Paul does not appear again.
"Al's Brain" premiered at the Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa, California. It played there on a rotating basis from July 15 - August 5, 2009. From what I can tell, it did not cost extra to watch. Visitors would get a pair of 3-D glasses and sit in theater-style seats for the show. Merchandise was available to purchase. It was a popular attraction with 250,000 people coming through to see it during the time it was there. It then moved to the Puyallup Fair in Puyallup, Washington from September 11-27, 2009. It could have been shown in 2010 at an Expo in China because it was listed on a program, but there isn't any documentation that it was actually seen.
So basically after those two Fairs during the summer of 2009, "Al's Brain" disappeared. It is very strange to me that I never even heard about Paul's cameo during this on any of the Beatles' sites or publications at that time. Usually whenever Paul has a cameo in something we hear all about it.
In 2020 someone uploaded a copy of the film but it was from someone recording it live in the theater. Since it is a 3-D film, the copy was all blurry and almost impossible to watch. And then this past February the entire thing in perfect condition was shared online and is now living at the Internet Archives for all to enjoy. Check it out!
Does anyone have any idea what date Paul recorded this?
Thursday, December 26, 2024
The Beatle Beat
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| Jane Scott interviewing Paul in Cleveland in 1966 |
The Beatle Beat
By Jane Scott (Teen Time Editor)
The Plain Dealer
August 19, 1966
"What are they really like?" "Wow!"
Teen Time has been peppered with questions since the Beatle interview. Sunday. Here's the scoop. The fellows are friendly, warm, interesting, and easy to talk to.
"Would you like a cigarette?" Ringo offered as I sat down beside him on the parlor 51 couch in the hotel Sheraton-Cleveland. (He smokes king size filter tipped larks) The shortest Beatle looked a little like a jockey in his gold silk shirt, faded blue jeans, canvas shoes, and, surprise, only one ring on each hand.
How's Zach? His 11th-month-old son? "Oh, he's leaping about." Ringo said he calls his wife, Maureen, three times a week while he's on tour.
The mop top millionaires have more than six changes of suits for their tour. They wore the same dark green suits in Cleveland that they had worn in Chicago on August 12, and they wore light gray suits with pink-red shirts in Detroit.
"How do we decide? It depends on which ones have creases," Ringo explained. They buy their suits at Hung On You in Chelsea. He said, "Carnaby Street, it's fine, but it's too popular for us to go there."
Ringo, who rang out with the Old Dark Town Skiffle Group and Rory Storm and the Hurricanes years ago, wants to learn the piano someday. He expects it will take at least 20 years.
And don't believe any yarns about his being conceited. "The greatest drummers in the world today are Americans," he said.
Paul McCartney is the personality Beatle. He's the most boyish, the most expressive. He uses his cigarette to make points when he talks, occasionally rubbing his chin. He wore a striped shirt, was the nattiest dresser of the four.
Paul was popping with opinions about British and American TV. "I love American TV," he said, in answer to a question. "They should make BBC more slick. They waste time on the BBC. There's too much light music in only one category." He added, "The big danger is that they could take off good plays from TV and will lose part of our culture," he feels.
Paul's eyes twinkled when he talked about Jane Asher, his steady date for three years. They both want to be perfectly sure before they settle down to marry anyone.
Would marriage help or hurt him? "It doesn't make a blind bit of difference I don't think. It might help in lots of ways. He said, incidentally, he once was blinded temporarily by a fan in England. "I was got once by a cigarette lighter. In fact, it clouded me in the eye and closed my eye for the stay."
In Chicago, a purple and yellow stuffed animal, a red rubber ball, and a jump rope were plopped up on the stage. Paul had to kick a carton of Winston cigarettes out of the way; as he played, he saw a cigarette lighter flying past him in Detroit Olympia stadium. "It's okay, as long as they throw the light stuff," Paul says, "like paper, for instance."
Lean, dark George Harrison, with those hollow cheeks, was in deep conversation about lyrics with WIXY 1260, disc jockey Al Gates, George's yellow rib shirt hung out over his brown corduroy pants. "It doesn't matter about prejudice people," George was saying.
John Lennon didn't mind the big question (what about your Jesus statement?) And answered in a calm, unhurried manner. He was sorry. He said it about the way it turned out. John, the first Beatle to be a bridegroom, seems the most mature.
He's known as the best all-rounder, being a composer, painter, and writer as well. Does he care if others record his music? "No, not if they do it well," he said.
Is he writing another book? "Not yet. I haven't time. I want to think about the next one for a long time," he said.
The Liverpool limelighters should start their next film in January.
Yes, the Beatles bobs were a little longer than their recent pictures have indicated. "Longer? I have no idea,"joked Paul, "I haven't looked at it lately," he said, ruffling up the back of his hair.
I might add that getting in to talk to the Beatles is almost as difficult as going along on the Lucy and Pat Nugent honeymoon. The plainclothes policemen even stopped Beatle manager Brian Epstein as he walked down the hotel corridor. Only persistent pleading by WIXY, 1260, station manager Norman Wayne broke down press manager Tony Barrow's refusal, and I became the only Cleveland gal at the tape session. WI XY sponsored the August 14 concert here.
This was not a regular press conference. Tony Barrow feels that it is sufficient for newspaper reporters to cover the concert and not necessarily to meet the Beatles personally. Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles will be the only exceptions; even the powerful Associated Press was refused in Detroit.
Which Beatle would I take home? Surprise! John Lennon! Told you he was the most mature.
Remembering Richard Perry
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We think of Richard Perry as the amazing producer that got to work with all four Beatles on the Ringo album. Thank you Richard for what you did on that album. You will be missed.
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Dreams can come true
But Dominic had a dream for his giant bass: to have Paul McCartney sign it. Paul has announced that he no longer signs things for fans. Many people thought it was crazy for Dominic to think that Paul would sign a gigantic replica of his instrument. But he would not give up and was determined to get that signature.
He took the bass to the limo-watch in Manchester, which got Paul's attention! He motioned for him to bring the bass inside! But he couldn't get past the security because it didn't happen in Manchester. But he did not give up -- on the Paul concerts in London, and guess what? Paul signed it before the last concert. Success!!!
Wednesday, December 25, 2024
Happy Christmas Beatle People!
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Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas! I hope you all are as happy today as this boy was in 1964 when he received the Hard Day's Night album from Santa.
Tuesday, December 24, 2024
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