An online Beatles fan club for and about Beatle fans
Tuesday, May 19, 2026
.jpg)
Fake article about Brian from 1966
People complain about "fake news" today as if it is something new. Nope. Take a look at this story from 1966. Brian was NOT in the United States on May 18-19.
Beatles Will Slip in a Few Years
No Writer Listed
Star Telegraph (Richmond, Indiana)
May 19, 1966
"I would rather you didn't take a picture, because I'm promoting the Beatles," said Brian Epstein in an interview here Wednesday night. Epstein, manager of the mop-haired singing group, is in the United States making final plans for a nationwide tour by the Beatles in August. He was staying in the Leland Motor Inn.
He said he prefers not to have his picture taken because he wants to stay in the background. Even so, the London businessman with no prior experience in show business is well known and was being asked for autographs.
Epstein's quiet manner contrasts with the four singers, noted for their long hair, wild gyrations, and loud beat. Of the Beatles, he admits they will fade from the top in perhaps two years. He said, "People will say the Beatles, 'oh yes, they are good', but they will not be the tops in the popular singing groups." He said that one reason the Beatles have slipped from the top is because there are so many other groups using the same style.
Epstein said that before meeting the Beatles in August of 1963, he had made some money and lost some on the stock market. "It was a gamble," he said of putting his money into the Beatles when he first saw the group in Liverpool, England. The four - Ringo-Star, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and John Lennon - were making $56 per night. When they appear at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, Ohio, this August, they will make $200,000. "Quite a difference", Epstein said.
He said Paul McCartney is the most serious of the group, and Ringo Starr is the least serious. Paul owns the firm, which makes all the group's records in England, and licenses US firms to make them. "Ringo spends all his money," he said.
Epstein said Paul McCartney is the jokester of the group, and one of his favorite stunts is to stop at a hotel desk as the group is going out to dinner and tell the clerk that "If a call comes through from Defense Secretary McNamara, to tell him I had to step out."
Epstein said the Beatles owe all their success in America to Ed Sullivan, the New York television personality who first introduced them to American audiences. They will do another Sullivan Show during the upcoming tour. Epstein said tickets for the tour are all sold, but they did not sell as fast as the tour did last year. When asked if he gets tired of the Beatles music, Epstein said, "I'm 42 years old."
Monday, May 18, 2026
Wing Concept Extends Beyond Beatles Magic (Atlanta 1976)
Wings Concert Extends Beyond Beatles Magic
By Jerry Schwartz & Sally Smith
The Atlanta Constitution
May 19, 1976
Paul McCartney hammered down the opening three piano chords of "Lady Madonna," and the Omni roared. Until that instant, McCartney and Wings had been cruising through the repertoire of Wings material to an enthusiastic but less than overwhelmed response from the jammed arena, but the instantly recognizable Beatles tune galvanized the 1000s of rock fans at the Omni and showed the unmistakable power the Beatles still exert over rock music nearly a decade after their demise.
After "Lady Madonna," the Wings concert took flight. There were two more Beatles numbers, but the rest of the material was strictly Wings. There was clearly more power and a heavier rock line in the live performance than the Wings recordings have shown. And that pleased the crowd.
Tuesday night was the first of two Atlanta Wings concerts. The second is Wednesday night. Both were sold out within hours after the tickets went on sale.
The crowd Tuesday night was enormous. The chicly dressed young people began arriving as early as 5:30pm. Three hours later, just before the music began, the crowd had jammed every seat in the Omni and was beginning to spill over into the aisles
Wings burst onto the stage as clouds of purple smoke whooshed across the platform, and millions of bubbles floated from the ceiling. It was not the only theatrical effect. Flash pots exploded, strobes winked wildly, and a green laser cut patterns through the auditorium as the band performed the title song from the James Bond movie "Live and Let Die."
But the theatrics were secondary to the music, and the music was crystal clear thanks to an incredibly engineered audio system with the power of 75 awesome 600-watt Crown amplifiers. Every instrument and every vocal could be heard with a clarity unique for rock concerts. Even horn solos, usually drowned in rock concerts, came through perfectly.
The middle section of the concert was devoted to numbers performed on an acoustic guitar left alone on stage. McCartney said to the audience, " See if you remember this," and started to sing, " Yesterday, all my troubles seem so far away." And what is perhaps the nearest thing to a classic rock music has produced. After the group did an extended version of "Band on the Run", accompanied by a movie in which the Band on the Run album cover came to life, Wings left, but they were called back by the screaming, jumping audience for two encores.
In the audience, opinion was divided on just what Wings' drawing power is. It is Wings' music alone that would have brought the 1000s to the Omni? Some, like Lisa Cowley of Marietta, said, "I doubt it. It's really McCartney and the Beatles. It's great to see Paul. It would be even better if John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr were here." But others were there strictly for Wings. "I think McCartney is fantastic. It's not the Beatles that brought me here. It's McCartney," said one young woman. "It's obvious he was the real talent in the Beatles."
Immediately after the concert, Paul and his wife, Linda, collapsed, flushed and exhausted, in their dressing room backstage. "The reception's been wonderful everywhere," McCartney said, "and we're really pulling together, working tight. It's fine. In fact, when we first set out on the tour, it felt like a holiday. Everybody was so high, but...." He rubbed his eyes and shook his head. "Now the traveling is starting to get to us."
McCartney was enthusiastic about the future of rock. "I suppose a lot of people do get blase about rock music about the age of 30, but I've always felt that rock was a mating thing, a physical thing, and there's a certain age group that's always going to do that."
Setting up the show
Paul with the Shoco people who set up everything for the Wings Over America tour
Reunited or Not -- Beatles like to keep hungry fans guessing (1981)
 |
| Photo taken by Linda McCartney |
Reunited or Not -- Beatles Like to Keep Hungry Fans Guessing
By Kim Tyson
Austin American-Statesman
May 19, 1981
The new Beatlemania. It has hit the country, supported by rumors about a new Beatles record. The latest controversy to stir hardcore fans' memories is whether the Beatles have really joined again in tribute to the late John Lennon, and if the record is really by the Beatles.
The record company says it can't even substantiate that all of them sing on it. "All Those Years Ago", a single by George Harrison, is already being played by radio stations and is expected to be available in some record stores this week.
Whether it represents the long-awaited Beatles reunion has been left up to Beatles fans. Most of those associated with the industry deny it's anything like a reunion and focus their debate on the quality of the music.
In Austin, Texas, both K98 and KLBJ began playing the three-minute 42-second single immediately after it was released for promotional purposes on May 7. The song is also a cut on Somewhere in England (Dark Horse Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros).
Robb Stewart, program director for K98, called the record "a sentimental favorite" and said the station has received a "massive reaction" to it. He said the station has been receiving 5 to 6 requests an hour, and they play the single every 5 to 6 hours. "The Beatles have been famous for letting people say it's them ---no, it's not. The end product is making people talk about the Beatles.
"The Beatles like to cause a lot of talk about themselves, dead or alive. Beatlemania will be with us forever," Chuck Dunaway, program director for KLBJ, said. "The station has been playing it every 10 to 12 hours; it's the closest thing I think you'll get to a Beatles reunion record.
"It's just a good commercial song, but there's nothing wrong with being commercial. It's gotten a great response, a super response," he said.
San Antonio's top 40 station, KTSA, played the single for three days that first week, then took it off the playlist to give it more time to prove itself. Station manager Lee Randall said, "We're debating whether to start it up again."
"My judgment is the record is only being played because it's got three of the four remaining Beatles on it," said Randall, who added that his station had received a few calls for the song. "It sounds like a typical George Harrison record to me. The world was waiting for a Beatles record, and this is a George Harrison record. I think."
The record has Harrison singing the lead and playing lead guitar. In the background are reputed to be Paul McCartney and his wife Linda on backup vocals, and Ringo Starr on drums, but a casual listener may have trouble picking out the background voices.
" All Those Years Ago" has a soft rock beat and Harrison's sweet-sounding slide guitar. The lyrics contain references to John Lennon's songs, such as "All You Need Is Love", "Walls and Bridges", and "Imagine".
"I'm shouting all about love, while they treated you like a dog. When you were the one who had made it so clear all those years ago," Harrison sings.
Local record stores said last week they hadn't received it, but Record Town Manager Charlie Caldwell said he anticipates a shipment today of the single. "We had several people a week come in and ask for it," he said.
"It's really not that big of a deal," said Jack Cantor, manager of Inner Sanctum Records. He called the reaction "practically nil."
"In no way is it a Beatles reunion cut," Cantor said, giving his opinion of its quality. "It's just another pop song. It's a good method for Warner Bros. to stir up some media hype on it," he said. He has heard from his customers. "Oh, it's okay, it's nothing like the Beatles."
As for national reaction, the May 15 Radio and Records weekly tabloid, considered one of the most respected trade publications for radio and records, showed that the single set a new record in the tabloid's history for the first week acceptance. 87% of their 231 reporting stations across the country added it to their playlist the first week.
Cal Rudman, a Cherry Hill, New Jersey, publisher of a popular radio station tip sheet, Friday Morning Quarterback, predicted it to be a hit, no question. "Absolutely, it will be very big." Rudman, famous for forecasting the success of Christopher Cross, called the Beatles reunion idea overblown, but said the song's acceptance record is terrific. "It's a good George Harrison record", said Rudman, who views it as a quality sounding, quality produced song.
He added that he believes some of its popularity has been buoyed by rumors. "The word is, it was supposedly written for Ringo to do. I don't think it's fair for the American public to bill it as a Beatles reunion record. The point is, if you can't make out Paul McCartney's voice, if it's not featured predominantly, then what does it all mean?"
Bob Merlis, publicity director for Warner Bros. Records, says the single was in some stores across the nation as early as Wednesday, and the Harrison LP is expected to be out by the first of June. The album Merlis says lists no studio information other than to say it was recorded entirely in England and gives no musician credits to Paul and Linda McCartney, who are believed to be singing background vocals on "All Those Years Ago." However, it does thank them for their help with the song.
"Ringo Starr is listed as one of four drummers on the album, but not listed for that specific song," Merlis said. "I've been trying to track this down for two weeks," Merlis said. About the publicity that the three remaining Beatles have gotten together for the song. "They may all three be on it, I just don't have any hard evidence," he said.
Harrison and his manager won't comment.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)