10

Jan

My Unexpected Beatles Weekend

I had an unexpected and amazing Beatles weekend. Friday night, while surfing rock documentaries in Netflix, via my Roku, I came across a documentary entitled George Harrison: A Beatle in Benton, IL. I grew up 30 minutes from Benton and was familiar with this story, but I had no idea this documentary existed. I watched and learned more about this amazing story of George visiting his sister, Louise, in Benton during September of 1963 (pre-Ed Sullivan Show) and that the first performance by a Beatle on U.S. soil occurred in my hometown of Eldorado, Illinois, at the VFW, Post 3479.

As of tonight, I have already had the privilege of interviewing that documentary’s creator, Bob Bartel, for my upcoming book.

In the mid-90s, Bob (these are my words) single-handedly helped save Louise’s house that George visited in 1963, which was days from being torn down when he looked up the house and stopped by in late 1994.

Soon I am going to begin work to have the VFW, in Eldorado, recognized on the National Register of Historic Places.

There is so much more to this story. I am beyond excited to continue to learn, and share, more.

13 years ago Short URL Comments

Music History

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11

Jul

Pete Best: The Pre-Ringo

There’s no question The Beatles would have been equally as successful with a different drummer. Frankly, even with a different George Harrison. McCartney and Lennon were the magical nucleus. Of course millions of Beatles fans fell in love with Ringo and George individually, and they each (especially George) have/had their own talents, but they were along for the ride.

Regardless, there will never be another band in all of the world where the entire line-up was so vastly known, recognized and exalted. Nor should there be.

Anyway, there’s this guy named Pete Best who so narrowly missed one of the most magical existences conceivable, that on some level you almost feel bad for him. Almost. He was the original drummer of The Quarrymen, eventually called – The Beatles.

Don’t underestimate the importance of Pete Best. The guy played with The Beatles for over 2 years, a significant amount of time in band years. He was let go in 1962.

Best still continues to perform to this day on his own. I highly recommend visiting his website to learn more about this interesting and circumstantially-mysterious character.

Do not miss the opportunity of your current situation. You never know when it may be gone, and you never know when it may become wildly successful.

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Here’s a video from Ringo Starr, posted in 2008. I don’t know its full context, but it really doesn’t need any.

14 years ago Short URL Comments

Book Post/Music History

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24

May

Some Thoughts on Lennon

John Lennon has always been my favorite Beatle. Mainly because he was a little different than the rest. He was mysterious, appeared more “artistic,” was the hippie that took political stands and was the one that wrote “Imagine,” “Instant Karma,” “Give Peace A Chance,” and “Working Class Hero.”

Although the Yoko stuff was goofy and didn’t seem to help anything related to The Beatles, looking back it’s a bizarre and fascinating story. I’m not saying that’s part of why Lennon is my favorite; I’m trying to process through exactly why Lennon is my favorite.

The more I learn, I’m not so sure Lennon is my guy.

Most pick Paul, so that’s out.

Ringo’s Ringo.

George is definitely next up for me.

I wanted to share a story about Mr. Lennon during his stint in Los Angeles in the mid-1970s. The following quotes are from Paul Body, a musician and doorman at the Troubadour, pulled from Michael Walker’s book, Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock And Roll’s Legendary Neighborhood.

Troubadour waitresses were legendary for brooking no bullshit from the clientele, as Lennon discovered on his fabled ‘lost weekend’ in L.A. during his separation from Yoko Ono. “Ann Peebles was playing and she had that hit, ‘I Can’t Stand the Rain’,” says Body. Lennon, sitting in the club’s VIP section, called the Arena, “was way past drunk. And he was yelling, ‘Annie! I wanna suck you!’ Then he goes to the bathroom and comes back with a Kotex on his head and that was that.” Lennon, Kotex still stuck to his forehead, asked a waitress, “Do you know who I am?” “And Naomi, the waitress, says, ‘Yeah, you’re an asshole with a Kotex on your head’,” says Body…”The opinion of him was pretty low on the streets at that time, because he was just pretty much a drunk and a loudmouth.”

We all deserve a second chance, but based on the above and other stories I’ve read recently, it’s making sense why a lot of people really don’t have fond memories of John Lennon.

Either way, I’m still absolutely fascinated by the man and will continue to learn as much about his life as possible (and share it here).

In the meantime, check out Green Day’s powerful version of “Working Class Hero.”

14 years ago Short URL 6 Comments

Music History/Social Behaviors in Music

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