Nothing's Gonna change my world

This is one of my all time favorite John photos. I am so happy that I won it off ebay (along with the photo of John in profile that I posted a couple of days ago) so that I now have it in beautiful color and in my Beatles photo album. Of course, this photo was taken on Feb. 4, 1968 the day when two amazing fans sang background on the song, "Across the Universe." Lizzie and Gayleen are the mega-super fans as far as I am concerned!

Lizzie's vest

I find it sort of interesting that this blog discusses the Beatles clothing as much as it does meeting the Beatles. Not that discussing Beatles clothing is a bad thing, because I actually think it is fun! Here is the vest that Lizzie had made in the 1960's to look like the one that Paul frequently wore. Just for good measure, I threw in a color photograph of Paul wearing the vest. It is really adorable! (I mean the vest, not Paul although Paul isn't bad to look at either!)

Bearded Lennon

There is one of our favorite Beatles fans, Lizzie Bravo in the yellow dress, taking photos of her favorite Beatle!

Lizzie's gift to John and Yoko

Here are some photos from Lizzie's files. Obviously she did not take these photographs because she is in them. Lizzie knitted some baby items for Yoko (who sadly lost the baby) and John's new child and they are smiling because of the gifts.

It is also worth mentioning that today marks 42 years since Lizzie and Gayleen sang with the guys on "Across the Universe." What a wonderful day to remember!

Cavendish

Lizzie allowed a young reporter to borrow her camera and he  took this wonderful photo of John sitting on the back steps of Paul's house.

And this photo (sent to me by Guus) shows Paul sitting in the same spot as John, just many years later.

I was so happy this summer when my mom and I ditched our walking tour (sorry Richard!) and ventured out into St. John's Wood on our own to find Paul's home on Cavendish Avenue. So many stories have been told about fans waiting for Paul outside of those wooden gates. So my mom and I found the house and stood there in awe, took some photos and went back on the tube for more fun in London. We knew we wouldn't have the opportunity to see those doors open and go inside. Not very many people have.....

Lizze and Gayleen on the One Show

Way before I actually had the chance to "talk" to Lizzie Bravo here online, I was fascinated by the story of how she and Gayleen were chosen to sing the background one "Across the Universe." I remember thinking after I first heard their story, "Oh my goodness...that could have been me!" I am a singer and I am sure that if I had been outside that day and was asked who can hold a high note, I would have jumped up and said, "me sir! me sir!" And then move over Lizzie and hello Sara! hahahaha! But really it is so neat because it is something Beatle fans DREAM about and it really happened to two of our very own. Lizzie and Gayleen weren't musicians. They were fans who were fortunately enough to be there and get the amazing once in a lifetime opportunity to sing with the Beatles on a really awesome song!

Lizzie emailed me this link to of her and Gayleen's recent interview with the One show in England. I really love it! Check out the awesome fan photos that are shown! And see the love and excitement these two ladies still share when talking about The Beatles.

Thanks Lizzie and Gayleen for allowing us to live through your experience once again. Wishing you both all the best. From Sara....the 2nd gen fan in Illinois.

A little more Paul

Paul and Lizzie

I hope Lizzie doesn't mind me sharing this photo. I really do enjoy seeing it! Paul is wearing his "anchor" shirt.

Lizzie and John

I can't belive that I haven't posted this photo of Lizzie and John before, but I have searched the archives and hadn't found it, so here it is! Wonderful photo, even if it is a little fuzzy. It still puts a big smile on my face (and after the difficult day I had at work, I need a smile!)

Sgt. Pepper era

I LOVE this fan's haircut. I think I might try to get my hair to look a little more like that. It is simliar right now, but I think I might get it to work! Alright Ringo fan!!!

Hey! Is that Lizzie in the background there? I never noticed anyone behind Paul before....

What does John have here? A magazine???

I was looking through my collection of Sgt. Pepper photos tonight and I was especially enjoying the ones that were taken by the fans outside of the studio. I am sure that I have posted these before and maybe even more than once, but I figured that since I enjoyed looking at them again, you all might enjoy it as well.

Sgt. Pepper autograph sale...

Through Tracks and ebay, a Beatles fan named Janet has been trying to auction off her copy of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club band autographed by all 4 Beatles! For the price of what I make in about a year as an elementary school teacher, it could be yours! (Meaning that I will never be able to afford such a neat item.) Janet had been a fan that hung around the Beatles studio since 1964, and the guys had gotten to know her through the years. After the Sgt. Pepper's album was released in 1967, Janet wanted to be the first person to have her copy signed by the boys. And so on June 7, she stood outside EMI and accomplished such a feat! Little did she realize at that time that autographed copies of Sgt. Pepper by all four Beatles would be a rare and hot item in 2010. The photo of John signing her copy of the album was taken by Lizzie. I guess the rest were taken by Janet herself. It is a really neat collector's item and if I owned it, I would treasure it. But since I can't afford it, I will just enjoy the photos.

Look what I found on ebay....

I found this photo tonight on ebay. According to the seller, it was taken by our own Lizzie! What I do not like about the auction is that they are trying to sell this photo of John for $150!!! That is just outrageous if you ask me! And what is even worse is that Lizze does not even get to enjoy any of that money from the sale of her photo, yet the seller is using her name to advertise what he/she considers "The holy Grail of Lennon photos." Here is the seller's discription of the photograph:

An outstanding photo from 1967 of John outside EMI (Abbey Road) during the Sgt. Pepper Sessions by Lizzie Bravo, one of the original Apple Scruffs. Lizzie is one of the two girls who got to sing backing vocals on "Across the Universe"... This is from her original negative and was circulated amongst the fans just after the break up of the Beatles. i have just the one obviously so if you are a serious John fan this is for you - the Holy Grail of photos.

Beautiful large format 6 3/4" x just over 4 3/4 " and in very good conditon with just the surface wear you would associated with a photo of this age, shown low res and with writing across to discourage copying - and has no writing in real life. Printed on old, old Kodak paper.

Postage UK £5 Special Delivery, Europe £9, US £10 for international signed for and tracked/insured service.

Now that I say what I don't like about the photo, let me say what I do like about it. It is a photograph of John Lennon in 1967! Swoon!!! He looks so gorgeous here, doesn't he??? I love the clothes. Lizzie will your photos in your book be in color or black and white. I know color photos in books are very expensive, but the color really adds to the feel of the Beatles clothing from that era.

The 1967 Pepper Sessions

It is strange how I get some of the fan photos I have obtained. Let's see if you can follow this one. A couple of weeks ago someone who is a friend of mine on facebook had a friend who posted photos of his Beatles collection. Even though I didn't know this guy, I clicked on his Beatles collection photos and looked at them. One of the item in his collection was an Beatleg LP called "The 1967 Pepper Sessions." From his small facebook photo, it looked like the cover had fan photos that I didn't have on it along with a few that I did have. So...I went to the bootlegzone to see if I could find more about the album. Well....they had the cover in a high quality large photo, so I took that photo and then cropped the Beatles fan photos that I didn't have out it. I also posted the two photos in their complete version that I already had, the one of John in the stripped pants is one of Lizzie's photos (I believe she took the photo...but it is one of my top 5 favorite John photos of all times).

Do any of you have this album?? It supposedly comes with a large booklet. Can someone check out that booklet for me and see if there are any more fan photos inside??

Lizzie with that McCartney fellow

Lizzie found this wonderful photo at the Beatles livejournal site and sent it to me. It has was published in the Beatles 365 Days book that was out a few years ago, but that copy cropped Lizzie out of the photo! (How could they!) So here is the uncropped version. I really like how happy Paul looks here.

Some items for sale that I found online...

More stealing going on from me. But then again, maybe I am not stealing, maybe I am advertising for www.pioneerhardware.com so that you can buy some of these cool John Lennon items! I really enjoy the photos of John from 1975 Helping Hands Marathon. I love his hair and the hat and the scarf. And since I hadn't seen the photo on the top before, I was excited to see it. The bottom photo is one that I have shared before. However....what is interesting is the John Lennon autograph that is also for salw with it. Lizzie was this once YOUR John Lennon autograph? I know you were there when this photo was taken (did you take it yourself? Regardless it is one of my favorites of John in 1967). Whoever the fan was, I LOVE how she wrote on the notebook page the date and time of the autograph. I totally would do that myself!

Lost on ebay

Well I tried to win some great photos on ebay and I lost. Oh well...better luck next time. The photo of George with John in the background really interested me because I am pretty sure it was taken the same day as the photo of John and Lizze B. (John appears to be wearing the exact same clothes). Does anyone have these photos???

Thanks to blog readers!

Thank you Bruno for sending me this photo without marks on it. And thank you Lizzie for taking this photo in the first place! I really like it!


Thank you Dr. O'Boogie for send me this photo which has been posted previously. He cleaned it up and made it a little more clear.

All of you Beatles blog people are amazing and cool.