Pete Bennett -- Promotional Man of the Year (1983)

In 1983, Billboard Magazine declared Pete Bennett to be the Promotional Man of the Year.  They had a big article about him full of photographs of everyone he promoted throughout his career and he wrote a little bit about songs he promoted.  I pulled out the Beatles related content to share with you. 

Pete Bennett:  Promoting the Music of the Stars

By Pete Bennett

Billboard Magazine

October 8, 1983

The Beatles

 "Hey Jude:" You couldn't go wrong with such a record. The name reminded me of Saint Jude, and the record was destined to be a hit with the right promotion. 

"The Ballad of John and Yoko:" Because I liked John and Yoko, this record was very special to me, and the record went all the way to the top of the charts.

 "Come Together:" This was the number one record that I believed in very much. However, the B side of the record turned out to be another A side entitled "Something." Both sides turned out to be top records.

 "Let It Be": This album and single had special meaning to me because I was present at most of the recording sessions that took place at Apple Recording Studios in London. First time I heard "Let It Be" with its reference to Mary Virgin Mother, made a deep impact on me, and I was very proud to promote the album and single to the number one position. 

"The Long and Winding Road:" This particular cut was recorded during the "Let It Be" sessions in London by the great American producer Phil Spector. Having spent numerous hours and days during the editing process, the song made a long and winding impression on me. During the editing process, everybody was eating banana sandwiches and celery. However, Phil Spector and myself decided to eat out at a regular restaurant at the hotel where we were staying.

 John Lennon

 "Give Peace a Chance:"  This was John Lennon's first release as a solo artist. It was an extremely important record for him because it was not a Beatles record. The record was important to me because I was national promotion manager for the Apple label, and John Lennon was the label's president. John wanted to know if this record would make it to number one and if I liked it. I told him that I liked the record because it was a good sing-along song. I told John to sing the song with Yoko at the concert in Toronto. The song went over very well and became a national hit within a month.

 "Imagine:"  "Imagine" was a song I first heard at Phil Spector's house in California. My instant reaction to both Phil and John, was that if properly recorded, "Imagine" and the rest of the album would skyrocket to the top of the charts. My prediction turned out to be quite accurate as a result of my commitment to John, Phil, and Yoko to make this a top record. 

Paul and Linda McCartney.

" Another Day:" This was Paul McCartney's first solo effort outside of the Beatles. This was not an easy record to promote, but it was on me to make this a hit because John Lennon already had three top singles before Paul's first solo single on Apple. The record was promoted all the way to the top.

 "My Love:" I first heard this song when a tape was shipped to me from London, and my gut feeling was that Paul McCartney did not feel that it would be a number one record. I was so excited about this record's potential that I had acetates made that were sent to every major radio station in the country. I received a call from the Eastmans asking me what I thought of the record. I told them that this was a number one record. The record went to number one.

 George Harrison.

 All Things Must Pass: From this album, George Harrison's first solo effort, "My Sweet Lord", well produced by Phil Spector, came out as a single. George felt very apprehensive about coming out as a solo artist and not as a member of the Beatles. He was very nervous and was willing to do any type of interview and promotion in order to secure a number one album and single. While in New York City, George, Phil Spector, and I were mixing the All Things Must Pass album at Media Recording Studio. After the mixing was completed, I requested 50 acetates, which would be sent to all the key radio stations across the country, on an exclusive basis, even after all this, George was still concerned about being out as a solo artist. He asked me whether he would have a number one album and single like John Lennon did. I told him number one all the way.

 Concert for Bangladesh: While promoting the concert, the album, and concert film, as I promoted the records, I gave exclusive album and concert film to every number one radio station in every big city, which was a phenomenon to the motion picture business, one which I was the first to start. 

Ringo Starr

"It Don't Come Easy" Ringo was the last of the Beatles to come as a solo artist. When Ringo sent me the record on tape for reaction, I told him I loved it. He was very concerned whether I thought it was a hit record. I replied, "Yes, we will make it a hit." So I started on my heavy promotion again. I received a call from Ringo two weeks after the release, wanting to know what was happening with it. I told Ringo that the record had gone on 50 top radio stations. Ringo couldn't believe it. Two days later, I received another call from Ringo, and I told him the record had a bullet. He started to get convinced that he had a hit record. Ringo continued calling from London every two days to find out about the record's progress. Even John Lennon started calling. We did not miss, and I promoted this record.

Sessons for How Do You Sleep

 May 22-24, 1971 

Brain Damage Control (2009)

 Brain Damage Control

By Paul Krassner

High Times

2009

    When Phil Spector was sentenced 19 to life in prison for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson, I had a flashback to 1971 at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse.

     I was a guest of John Lennon and Yoko Ono for the celebration of Yoko's show, This is Not Here. The Videofrex, a counterculture video commune, was there to shoot a documentary titled, You're Not Here, Yoko 

    Nancy Kane recalls, "We were all going up for the opening, which would be jammed because John Lennon and Ringo Starr were going to be there too. And it was true.  In the crush of people, there went Ringo. He was being swept past us into the main gallery. There he goes, "Hi, Ringo!", he was gone, but we could play our video as much as we wanted to. There he goes, "Hi Ringo". There he goes again, "Hi Ringo."

     It was, in fact, Ringo's birthday, [sic] and I found myself sitting on the floor in a large room where a group of friends and associates sang "Happy Birthday" to him, and then "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" with each individual singing a chorus. The Women's Liberation Movement was flourishing at the time, and I sang, " She's Got the Whole World in Her Hands."

     Later, I was about to enter another large room with John and Yoko. It was quite crowded. As I walked through the door, Phil Spector stood up at the far side of the room, pointed at me, and shouted,  "You killed. Lenny Bruce!"  I was stunned. Lenny and I had been close friends, and I was the editor of his autobiography, How to Talk Dirty and Influence People.  

    Rather than ratchet up the sour vibe that  Specter had just created, I immediately turned around and left the room. John and Yoko ran after me, apologizing profusely for Spector's insane outburst.  A A couple of years later, at the A &M recording studio, he pointed a gun at Lennon, chasing him through the corridors. 

    That incident at the museum wasn't the only occasion I've been falsely accused. I was also accused of being an accessory to an attempted assassination of Andy Warhol by Valerie Solanas, author of The SCUM Manifesto (SCUM =  the Society for Cutting Up Men).

     Warhol cohort Paul Morrissey said in a 1996 interview with actor Taylor Mead that in the spring of 1968, "Solanas approached underground newspaper publisher Paul Krassner for money, saying, "I want to shoot Olympian press honcho Maurice Grandis." He gave her $50, enough for a .32 automatic pistol."

     Actually, she asked me to lend her $50 for food, which I did, sympathizing with the anguish of a poor pamphleteer. But that was on Friday. On Monday, I took my four-year-old daughter, Holly, out for lunch. On the way, we bumped into Valerie just a block from Warhol's loft. We talked a little. Then Holly and I went to Brownies, a vegetarian restaurant.

     Minutes later, we were seated at a table, and Valerie walked in. "Do you mind if I join you?" She asked. " Yeah, I do mind, actually, but only because I don't get a chance to see my daughter that often." "Okay, I understand," she said and left. 

    Five hours later, she shot Warhol, seeking revenge out of the paranoid belief that he had ruined her literary career. Valerie could have bought the gun with that $50, but if I had known that her intention was to kill Warhol, I might have been able to talk her out of it. Then again, she could have shot me and Holly right there in that restaurant. What do you mean? I can't join you for lunch. Bang, bang. That easy. That's horrible. That's absurd.

Try Some Buy Some

February 1971
 

Big Red Apples

 

This photo must not have been taken on May 30, 1970 (more likely early May) but it was published on this date in Cash Box. 

Power to the People Right On

 

Traveling with the Beatles

 

War is over

 

The Lost Weekend is now in full swing

 

November 7, 1973 

Spector and Lennon

 

Bangala Desh Film Premiere in NYC

 

Bangla Desh Film Premiere in NYC

By Marcy Reichback

Mrs. Lennon’s Apple Farm newsletter

April 1972

Well, tonight was the first showing of Bangla Desh.  My friends and I decided to go (of course).   I got out of work at 5:30, there were 2 shows, 6:30 and 8:30.  We were hanging out by the front of the theater.  People were in line, everyone had tickets (invite only).  We thought we were never going to get in.  It’s now 6:00, Phil Spector arrives, so that’s a start, then at 6:15 Allen Klein comes.  I said to my friends, “I’m going to talk to Klein.”  They looked at me like I’m crazy.  “You don’t just talk to Klein.”  Well, I got my nerve up, walked over, and said, “Excuse me, Mr. Klein, I have 2 tickets for the show, but I have an extra friend.”  He stopped me and said to the doorman, “let them in.”  I didn’t have the 2 tickets, I just thought I’d try it.  Well, it worked.  They didn’t ask for the tickets which was lucky.  We got in after Ravi finished.  Just in time for George.  The movie was great, the close-ups were too much.  The sound is great.  The audience in the movie was in four speakers in the back and the music and talking up front.  TOO MUCH!  The movie was fabulous. 

Getting back to us, after the movie we went upstairs to look around.  We hid in the bathroom.  Meanwhile downstairs they were letting the people in for the 8:30 show.  So, we took a chance and went into the lobby and my friends were looking a different way when I saw a whole lot of flashes going off.  I said, “Someone is coming.”  It was John and Yoko.  We got some really great shots.  He was wearing a hat sideways, long army coat, his cowboy boots, and jeans.  Yoko was wearing a black short fur jacket and jeans, her hair tied back.  We followed them upstairs to the first balcony.  We sat (again) one row behind them. 

I got really upset at these young girls (about 13 or 14 years old) who asked him if they can shake his hand, and they really took advantage of his good mood.  Yoko looked like she was in a bad mood.  Phil Spector started to push them (the girls) away after a while.  I don’t blame him.

 

The movie took a while to begin.  John yelled out “Let’s see the movie!”  10 seconds later the movie started.  Oh, before that happened some really stupid girls asked him to say “hello.”   He said “hello.”  Then they asked him to say “George.”  He said “George.”  I really felt bad for him.  I know how The Beatles felt when all those cripples used to touch them.  He looked and sounded like a trained puppy.  It was really bad.  When the movie started, Yoko and him asked Jerry Rubin to buy some popcorn and candy, and soda for them.  So, he disappeared for a while.  John smiled when Rich did “It Don’t Come Easy” and when George sang “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”  He was toe-tapping and bopping his head when Leon Russell did his songs.  John also pointed out Klaus for Yoko.  Why – I don’t know. She knows him.   They smoked ciggies like they were going out of style.  Then Jerry Rubin came back and gave something to John.  I couldn’t see what it was, but my friend turned to me and said really seriously, “Jerry just passed John and joint.”  I was so upset.  Plus why smoking pot in the movie?  It stunk the whole place up.  They looked so stupid and everyone knew exactly what they were doing.  They (John, Yoko, etc) thought they were being really cool about it, but they really weren’t.   After Dylan finished his songs (before George did Something and Bangladesh), John, Yoko and Jerry left.  Oh, Phil Ochs was with them also.  We beat them downstairs to their car, took some more pix, and went out to eat.

 

Note from Mar (editor of the newsletter):  Thanks for this, Marcy.   I know a lot of people have a lot of ideas about pot, but John doesn’t have to smoke it to be cool.  I for one don’t’ go into that thing, but I don’t’ condemn anyone who wants to do it.  People here always smoke it in the theaters.  As a matter of fact, the guy in front of us at the showing of Bangladesh was smoking it.   The girl next to him asked if he would put it out because if he was caught it would ruin it for the rest of us.  He was nice enough to do so.  The only real beef I have about it in the theater is it (the smell) gives me a big headache.  So, let’s not condemn, but accept.

 

Premiere of the Concert for Bangladesh Film

 March 23, 1972 

George & Phil

 

Farewell Ronnie

 

Sadly we have lost the first person with a Beatles connection in 2022.   Ronnie Spector passed away after a short battle with cancer.    Ronnie was an Apple artist who recorded the song "Try Some Buy Some."   She also had a flirtatious relationship that might have been intimate with John Lennon. Ronnie denied that anything ever happened between her and John. 

I reviewed her autobiography a few years back.   If you are interested in Ronnie Spector and her incredible life, I highly recommend it. 

http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2015/04/be-my-baby-by-ronnie-spector-book-review.html

When Halloween was Christmas

October 31, 1971 -  50 years ago today, on Halloween,  John Lennon, Yoko Ono and the Harlem Community Choir recorded one of the best Christmas songs of all time (well in my opinion), "Happy Xmas (War is Over).   
 

John's birthday party

 

October 9, 1971 -  John Lennon's 31st birthday party (aka Happy Happy Happy Happy Birthday John)

Work on the live album

 

Remember Phil Spector's work on John Lennon's Imagine album ?

 Music producer, Phil Spector passed away from Covid today.   Phil is a very strange individual, to say the least.  Most music fans admire his music production and the famous Wall of Sound.   At the same time, he was found guilty of murder and had been accused of holding people hostage, shooting guns to intimidate, and being emotionally abusive to his wife.   Phil Spector is one of those people that you have to attempt to separate his work from the actual person.    And even then, many Beatle fans do not like his work, saying that he ruined the original Let it Be album.  

At the announcement of his death, many people were unaffected.   He has been in prison for some time and we haven't heard from Phil besides Christmas time when the famous songs he produced are played nonstop.    

Nonetheless, Phil Spector is part of The Beatles story and part of John Lennon's life.   One thing that always stands out in my mind is John and Phil at the microphone singing "Oh Yoko."   The guy behind the board keeps playing the wrong verse of the song and John gets really annoyed at him and then Phil is supposed to sing the harmony on the chorus with John and he can't get it right.   John then is trying to teach Phil Spector the harmony.   That little part of Imagine always seemed funny to me.  John was just not having a good day.  

I am not sure how history will remember Phil Spector.  Somehow I don't think it will be for not being able to learn the harmony on Oh Yoko.   

Backstage photo

 

John's birthday party 1971

October 9, 1971