Podcasts about Brian Epstein

This is a Special Episode called THE BRITISH INVASION SHOW. It features the seven following stars from this magical era of the 1960s when English artists ruled the pop world and the charts. Each was previously a guest on the podcast.Peter Noone - Herman of Herman's Hermits. They had a spectacular run of hits including “No Milk Today”, “There's A Kind Of A Hush”, “Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter”, “I'm Henry VIII” and their first smash “I'm Into Something Good”.Rod Argent was the keyboard wizard of The Zombies. The band had two massive hits in the ‘60s, “She's Not There” and “Tell Her No”.Allan Clarke was the lead singer for The Hollies, another band that had a string of hits including “On A Carousel”, “Pay You Back With Interest” and “Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress”.Jim McCarty was the drummer for The Yardbirds, whose hits included “For Your Love” and “Heartful Of Soul”. The band had three famous guitarists in succession: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.Billy J. Kramer was the lead singer of Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas. They were managed by Brian Epstein, the manager of The Beatles, and were given several Lennon/McCartney songs to record including “Do You Want To Know A Secret”, “I Call Your Name” and “Bad To Me”.Kenney Jones was the drummer for the Small Faces of “Itchycoo Park” fame, then the Faces starring Rod Stewart, and then joined The Who after the death of Keith Moon.John Lodge was the bassist and a singer and composer for The Moody Blues. Their big hits included “Go Now” and “Nights In White Satin”. John's hits included “Ride My See Saw” and “I'm Just A Singer In A Rock And Roll Band”.---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here.To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.—----------------------------------------ROBERT'S RECENT SINGLES:“MOON SHOT” is Robert's latest single, reflecting his Jazz Rock Fusion roots. The track features Special Guest Mark Lettieri, 5x Grammy winning guitarist who plays with Snarky Puppy and The Fearless Flyers. The track has been called “Firey, Passionate and Smokin!”CLICK HERE FOR THE OFFICIAL VIDEOCLICK HERE FOR ALL LINKS____________________“ROUGH RIDER” has got a Cool, ‘60s, “Spaghetti Western”, Guitar-driven, Tremolo sounding, Ventures/Link Wray kind of vibe!CLICK HERE FOR THE OFFICIAL VIDEOCLICK HERE FOR ALL LINKS—--------------------------------“LOVELY GIRLIE” is a fun, Old School, rock/pop tune with 3-part harmony. It's been called “Supremely excellent!”, “Another Homerun for Robert!”, and “Love that Lovely Girlie!”Click HERE for All Links—----------------------------------“THE RICH ONES ALL STARS” is Robert's single featuring the following 8 World Class musicians: Billy Cobham (Drums), Randy Brecker (Flugelhorn), John Helliwell (Sax), Pat Coil (Piano), Peter Tiehuis (Guitar), Antonio Farao (Keys), Elliott Randall (Guitar) and David Amram (Pennywhistle).Click HERE for the Official VideoClick HERE for All Links—----------------------------------------“SOSTICE” is Robert's single with a rockin' Old School vibe. Called “Stunning!”, “A Gem!”, “Magnificent!” and “5 Stars!”.Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------“THE GIFT” is Robert's ballad arranged by Grammy winning arranger Michael Abene and turned into a horn-driven Samba. Praised by David Amram, John Helliwell, Joe La Barbera, Tony Carey, Fay Claassen, Antonio Farao, Danny Gottlieb and Leslie Mandoki.Click HERE for all links.—-------------------------------------“LOU'S BLUES”. Robert's Jazz Fusion “Tone Poem”. Called “Fantastic! Great playing and production!” (Mark Egan - Pat Metheny Group/Elements) and “Digging it!” (Peter Erskine - Weather Report)!Click HERE for all links.—----------------------------------------Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com 

This is an Encore Presentation of my February 2024 episode featuring Bert Berns and Nat Weiss, two giants of the music industry, yet both relatively unknown to the public. Bert Berns was one of the foremost songwriters and producers of pop and rhythm and blues in the ‘60s. His hits include “Twist And Shout”, which The Beatles took to international fame; “Piece Of My Heart”, Janis Joplin's gigantic hit; “Hang On Sloopy”, the mega-hit for The McCoys; “Cry To Me”, a hit for Solomon Burke and later for The Rolling Stones; and “Tell Him”, a great early ‘60s hit for the Exciters. His producer credits include “Brown Eyed Girl”, Van Morrison's first smash hit. Nat Weiss was a lawyer by training. He became the U.S. business partner of Brian Epstein, the manager of The Beatles, and was Brian's right hand man in America for the band, including for all the merchandising opportunities coming their way. Nat expanded this relationship and began suggesting artists for Brian to manage, including The Cyrkle (“Red Rubber Ball”). They formed a management company together and, after Brian's death, Nat continued the business, managing artists like James Taylor.---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here.To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.“Dream With Robert”. Click here.—----------------------------------------ROBERT'S LATEST SINGLES:“ROUGH RIDER” is Robert's latest single. It's an instrumental with a Cool, ‘60s, “Spaghetti Western”, Guitar-driven, Tremolo sounding, Ventures/Link Wray kind of vibe!CLICK HERE FOR THE OFFICIAL VIDEOCLICK HERE FOR ALL LINKS—--------------------------------“LOVELY GIRLIE” is a fun, Old School, rock/pop tune with 3-part harmony. It's been called “Supremely excellent!”, “Another Homerun for Robert!”, and “Love that Lovely Girlie!”Click HERE for All Links—----------------------------------“THE RICH ONES ALL STARS” is Robert's single featuring the following 8 World Class musicians: Billy Cobham (Drums), Randy Brecker (Flugelhorn), John Helliwell (Sax), Pat Coil (Piano), Peter Tiehuis (Guitar), Antonio Farao (Keys), Elliott Randall (Guitar) and David Amram (Pennywhistle).Click HERE for the Official VideoClick HERE for All Links—----------------------------------------“SOSTICE” is Robert's single with a rockin' Old School vibe. Called “Stunning!”, “A Gem!”, “Magnificent!” and “5 Stars!”.Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------“THE GIFT” is Robert's ballad arranged by Grammy winning arranger Michael Abene and turned into a horn-driven Samba. Praised by David Amram, John Helliwell, Joe La Barbera, Tony Carey, Fay Claassen, Antonio Farao, Danny Gottlieb and Leslie Mandoki.Click HERE for all links.—-------------------------------------“LOU'S BLUES”. Robert's Jazz Fusion “Tone Poem”. Called “Fantastic! Great playing and production!” (Mark Egan - Pat Metheny Group/Elements) and “Digging it!” (Peter Erskine - Weather Report)!Click HERE for all links.—----------------------------------------Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.comFollow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com

Frankie Leigh worked in Music Managment and got her start working for The Beatles manager Brian Epstein; the subject of the new film "Midas Man". We talk Epstein and...of course....The Beatles.

Listener Paul Hayden suggested creating some episodes on the music of the Bee Gees before they hit the disco floor and caught Saturday Night Fever and here they are! In the first episode, Paul and Patrick chart the band's upbringing and early career, including the role Brian Epstein played in getting them signed and recording their first album.  Rockin' the Suburbs on Apple Podcasts/iTunes or other podcast platforms, including audioBoom, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon, iHeart,Djinn RecordsStitcher and TuneIn. Or listen at SuburbsPod.com. Please rate/review the show on Apple Podcasts and share it with your friends. Visit our website at SuburbsPod.com Email Jim & Patrick at rock@suburbspod.com Follow us on the Threads, Facebook or Instagram @suburbspod If you're glad or sad or high, call the Suburban Party Line — 612-440-1984. Theme music: "Ascension," originally by Quartjar, next covered by Frank Muffin and now re-done in a high-voltage version by Quartjar again!  Visit quartjar.bandcamp.com and frankmuffin.bandcamp.com.

Brian Epstein and Albert Grossman were two of the most important managers in the history of rock music. Brian was of course the manager of The Beatles and was their guiding force taking them from a scruffy Liverpool existence to the top of the entertainment world. He went on to manage a number of the British Invasion stars including Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black and the Moody Blues. Albert Grossman was the hard charging manager of Bob Dylan and a number of other artists who were an integral part of the folk music scene in the 1960s including Peter Paul and Mary, Janis Joplin, The Band, Odetta, Gordon Lightfoot and Richie Havens.---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here.To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.“Dream With Robert”. Click here.—----------------------------------------ROBERT'S SINGLES:“LOVELY GIRLIE” is Robert's new single. It's a fun, Old School, rock/pop tune with 3-part harmony. It's been called “Supremely excellent!”, “Another Homerun for Robert!”, and “Love that Lovely Girlie!”Click HERE for All Links—----------------------------------“THE RICH ONES ALL STARS” is Robert's single featuring the following 8 World Class musicians: Billy Cobham (Drums), Randy Brecker (Flugelhorn), John Helliwell (Sax), Pat Coil (Piano), Peter Tiehuis (Guitar), Antonio Farao (Keys), Elliott Randall (Guitar) and David Amram (Pennywhistle).Click HERE for the Official VideoClick HERE for All Links—----------------------------------------“SOSTICE” is Robert's single with a rockin' Old School vibe. Called “Stunning!”, “A Gem!”, “Magnificent!” and “5 Stars!”.Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------“THE GIFT” is Robert's ballad arranged by Grammy winning arranger Michael Abene and turned into a horn-driven Samba. Praised by David Amram, John Helliwell, Joe La Barbera, Tony Carey, Fay Claassen, Antonio Farao, Danny Gottlieb and Leslie Mandoki.Click HERE for all links.—-------------------------------------“LOU'S BLUES”. Robert's Jazz Fusion “Tone Poem”. Called “Fantastic! Great playing and production!” (Mark Egan - Pat Metheny Group/Elements) and “Digging it!” (Peter Erskine - Weather Report)!Click HERE for all links.—----------------------------------------“THE RICH ONES”. Robert's sublime, atmospheric Jazz Fusion tune. Featuring guest artist Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears) on flugelhorn. Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------------Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com 

Debbie Gendler is the author of a Beatles book called “I Saw Them Standing There”. Debbie was a Superfan who, at age 13, met Brian Epstein, their manager, met the Beatles, became the President of a Beatles Fan Club, received a ticket to see them play live for the first time in the U.S. on the Ed Sullivan Show, saw them perform at Shea Stadium, and was even asked to help promote the opening of “A Hard Day's Night”. She went on to have a career in broadcasting with CBS. She's a 4x Emmy nominated content creator and producer. She helped to launch HGTV and The National Geographic Channel.My featured song is my reimagined version of “I Wanna Be Your Man”. Spotify link.---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here.To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.“Dream With Robert”. Click here.—----------------------------------------Connect with Debbie:www.debbiegendler.com__________________________ROBERT'S SINGLES:“LOVELY GIRLIE” is Robert's new single. It's a fun, Old School, rock/pop tune with 3-part harmony. It's been called “Supremely excellent!”, “Another Homerun for Robert!”, and “Love that Lovely Girlie!”Click HERE for All Links—----------------------------------“THE RICH ONES ALL STARS” is Robert's single featuring the following 8 World Class musicians: Billy Cobham (Drums), Randy Brecker (Flugelhorn), John Helliwell (Sax), Pat Coil (Piano), Peter Tiehuis (Guitar), Antonio Farao (Keys), Elliott Randall (Guitar) and David Amram (Pennywhistle).Click HERE for the Official VideoClick HERE for All Links—----------------------------------------“SOSTICE” is Robert's single with a rockin' Old School vibe. Called “Stunning!”, “A Gem!”, “Magnificent!” and “5 Stars!”.Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------“THE GIFT” is Robert's ballad arranged by Grammy winning arranger Michael Abene and turned into a horn-driven Samba. Praised by David Amram, John Helliwell, Joe La Barbera, Tony Carey, Fay Claassen, Antonio Farao, Danny Gottlieb and Leslie Mandoki.Click HERE for all links.—-------------------------------------“LOU'S BLUES”. Robert's Jazz Fusion “Tone Poem”. Called “Fantastic! Great playing and production!” (Mark Egan - Pat Metheny Group/Elements) and “Digging it!” (Peter Erskine - Weather Report)!Click HERE for all links.—----------------------------------------“THE RICH ONES”. Robert's sublime, atmospheric Jazz Fusion tune. Featuring guest artist Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears) on flugelhorn. Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------------Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com

A Tribute to Jim Reeves, and a tribute to Dennny Laine (Go Now entered the British Charts in December 1964) lead side B (British charts, part two). Brian Epstein and NEMS continue their role, as does Cliff Richard. I Feel Fine, do you? Support this podcast at the $6/month level on patreon to get extra content! Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr

In this very special Christmas episode of VRP Rocks, Paul Stephenson sits down with Merseybeat legend Billy J. Kramer to reflect on his incredible career and enduring passion for music. As one of the key figures of the British Invasion, Billy shares unforgettable stories about his early days on the Liverpool music scene, being discovered by John Lennon—who personally championed Billy's career and even helped shape his iconic stage name - and the influence of Brian Epstein. Billy talks about his chart-topping hits like “Do You Want to Know a Secret” and “Bad to Me”, performing alongside The Beatles, Roy Orbison, James Brown and more, and the surreal experience of conquering America during the height of Beatlemania. We also discuss his latest project, a heartwarming new Christmas song, “Christmas Kind of Feeling” and the emotional return to Abbey Road Studios to record his recent album. At 80 years old, Billy's love for music remains as strong as ever and his stories from the golden age of rock 'n' roll are the perfect way to close out the year. Join us for this festive celebration of music, memories and Christmas cheer with one of the greats from rock's most transformative era. Don't forget to subscribe for more interviews with rock legends in the new year! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rick Flynn Presents - Annual Christmas Show 2024 gladly welcomes, from Liverpool, the star of BILLY J. KRAMER and the DAKOTAS, mega-hit vocalist BILLY J. KRAMER. Website: BillyJKramerMusic.com Live Concert ALERT - Go See BILLY J. KRAMER LIVE Billy will be performing old and new hits including his new originalChristmas song, "Christmas Kinda Feeling" show on:December 22, 2024 at 3pmat The Moonlight Theatre in St. Charles, IL  Billy J. Kramer, is an English pop singer. With The Dakotas, Kramer was managed by Brian Epstein during the 1960s and scored hits with several Lennon–McCartney compositions never recorded by the Beatles, among them the UK number one "Bad to Me" (1963). Kramer and the Dakotas had a further UK chart-topper in 1964 with "Little Children" and achieved U.S. success as part of the British Invasion. Kramer has continued to record and perform. His autobiography, Do You Want to Know a Secret, was published in 2016. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rick-flynn/support

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out!Welcome back to Bad Dads Film Review! This week, we've got a special treat lined up. We're thrilled to present an exclusive interview with the talented Milo Parker, an actor known for his captivating performances in family and fantasy films. Following our conversation with Milo, we'll delve into the world of Midas Man, a film that's been generating buzz for its intriguing take on a legendary figure in music history.Milo Parker has captured the hearts of audiences with his roles in various critically acclaimed films. In our interview, we'll explore Milo's journey in the film industry, discussing his experiences on set, his approach to developing his characters, and what he enjoys most about acting. Expect insights into his current projects and perhaps a sneak peek into what the future holds for this rising star.Following our interview, we'll review Midas Man, a biopic that chronicles the life of Brian Epstein, the visionary manager of The Beatles. The film dives into Epstein's profound impact on pop culture and his complex personal life, exploring how his Midas touch helped catapult The Beatles to stardom, all while he navigated the challenges of his era.Why It Stands OutCompelling Narrative: Midas Man offers a captivating look at the man behind one of the biggest success stories in music history. It provides a nuanced portrayal of Brian Epstein's professional achievements and personal struggles.Stellar Performances: The cast delivers powerful performances that bring depth to this iconic story, capturing the essence of the era and the personalities involved.Historical and Cultural Impact: The film not only entertains but also educates viewers about the significant role Epstein played in shaping modern music and the entertainment industry.This episode promises to be a rich blend of personal insights from Milo Parker and a deep dive into the musical legacy featured in Midas Man. Whether you're a film aficionado, a music history buff, or simply a fan of compelling biopics, there's something in this episode for everyone.So, tune in as we chat with Milo Parker and review Midas Man, exploring the art of cinema and the beats of history.

The Big Beatles Sort Out Presents: The Big 60s Sort Out! Yes, for season 4 we are taking a look at the decade that made (or was made?) by The Beatles, by ranking every UK number one, looking for sneaky Beatles links, and generally putting ourselves in the world where they crafted their legacy. This week we are taking a break from the 60s number 1s to talk about the recently released 'Midas Man' Brian Epstein biopic, available now on Amazon Prime (in the UK at least). We will be back with more specials before XMAS and continue our ranking into 1967 in the New Year! If you want to view the chart up to the latest episode, you can do so⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ here! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Paul has a new music biopic Instagram feed you can check out here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/Music_Biopic/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Below are links to our respective music projects! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Smiles On Lonely Souls | Garry Abbott (bandcamp.com)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://goodgriefliverpool.bandcamp.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

BILL MEDLEY: “This is one of the most unbelievable interviews I've ever done in my life, and I appreciate it, and I thank you—I can retire now.  It's been an honor, it's been a lot of fun. You've asked me a lot of questions that I've never been asked before, and probably brought more out of me than I wanted to give--or should give--but hey, it is what it is, and I love you for it.” Here's just some of the many things Bill and I touch on in this podcast:  An in-depth discussion about their plan to have Phil Spector produce only the singles, while—believe it or not—Bill himself produced absolutely everything else; How they dealt with a management proposal from Brian Epstein after leaving The Beatles tour; A tremendous kitchen-sink-deep-dive into “You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'”; The Righteous Brothers song that we share as our all-time favorite;  And an explicitly candid conversation about the damage Phil Spector did to the Brothers' relationship. Listen: https://podfollow.com/1592182331⁠⁠ I support a wife and a five-year-old son with Discograffiti as my sole source of income.  If you're a Righteous Brothers superfan like me, you'll want THE DIRECTOR'S CUT of this episode. It's ad-free and features a veritable boatload of essential additional material! You can purchase it as a one-off from our Patreon Shop: www.patreon.com/discograffiti/shop/ Better yet, SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PATREON and receive a ceaseless barrage of must-hear binge-listening! Discograffiti's 4-show-a-week release schedule can be yours for the price of a cup of coffee a week. Patreon.com/Discograffiti TIPS: VENMO GEBROE @David-Gebroe PayPal @davidbgebroe@gmail.com Even a $1 tip will be massively helpful. Thank you. CONNECT Join our Soldiers of Sound Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1839109176272153 Patreon: www.Patreon.com/Discograffiti Podfollow: ⁠⁠https://podfollow.com/1592182331⁠⁠ YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClyaQCdvDelj5EiKj6IRLhw Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/discograffitipod/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Discograffiti/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Discograffiti Order the Digital version of the METAL MACHINE MUZAK 2xLP (feat. Lou Barlow, Cory Hanson, Mark Robinson, & W. Cullen Hart): www.patreon.com/discograffiti/shop/197404 Order the $11 Digital version of the MMM 2xLP on Bandcamp: https://discograffiti.bandcamp.com/album/metal-machine-muzak Order the METAL MACHINE MUZAK Double Vinyl + Digital package: www.patreon.com/discograffiti/shop/169954 Merch Shop: https://discograffitipod.myspreadshop.com/all Venmo Dave A Tip: @David-Gebroe Web site: http://discograffiti.com/ CONTACT DAVE Email: dave@discograffiti.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hooligandave Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/davidgebroe/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaveGebroe #billmedley #righteousbrothers #bobbyhatfield #unchainedmelody #littlelatinlupelu #music #ghost #philspector #therighteousbrothers #ghostfilm #dirtydancing #fredmollin #unchainedmelody #ebbtide #pop #ghostmovie #elvispresley #lovesongs #metalmachinemuzak  #discograffiti #creem #offthebeatenpath #soldiersofsound  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/discograffiti/support

Lonnie and I review "Midas Man".   We discuss the good (production and set design), the bad (dancing around the relationship the NEMS acts including the Beatles had with Brian's homosexuality), and the downright odd (the height difference between Jonah Lees' "smaller-than- John Lennon" and Jacob-Fortune Lloyd's "taller-than-Brian Epstein".

Join host Rob Fredette on HODGEPOD as he welcomes back Gene Popa, the author of a new book exploring a fascinating period in The Beatles' history. In this episode, Rob and Gene dive into the transformative years of The Beatles, from the end of their touring in 1966 to the iconic Summer of Love. The name of Gene's book is " The Color of Your Dreams" and can be purchased at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, through his publisher baremannermedia.com as both hard cover and paperback. Gene shares insights from his book, shedding light on lesser-known events and personal transformations of the band members during this pivotal time. Discover how The Beatles evolved musically and personally, moving away from their mop-top image and embracing new artistic expressions. Learn about the significant roles of Brian Epstein and George Martin, often considered the "fifth Beatles," in shaping the band's trajectory. Explore the challenges and triumphs The Beatles faced, including the infamous 1966 tour and their time in Memphis. Gene also reveals intriguing stories about potential collaborations and missed opportunities, such as the possibility of recording at Stax Records. Delve into the evolution of The Beatles' sound, the internal dynamics within the band, and the cultural impact they left on music history. Whether you're a die-hard Beatles fan or new to their legacy, this episode offers a captivating look at a transformative era that redefined The Beatles and left an indelible mark on the world. Don't miss this engaging conversation and uncover the untold stories behind one of the greatest bands of all time. Thank you for listening. :) HODGEPOD can be heard on APPLE,SPOTIFY, AUDACY, TUNEIN AND PODBEAN APP.  Please give a listen, follow and share. Email hodgepodallin@yaoo.com. RECORDED NOVEMBER 7 2024

Join host Rob Fredette on HODGEPOD as he welcomes back Gene Popa, the author of a new book exploring a fascinating period in The Beatles' history. In this episode, Rob and Gene dive into the transformative years of The Beatles, from the end of their touring in 1966 to the iconic Summer of Love. The name of Gene's book is " The Color of Your Dreams" and can be purchased at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, through his publisher baremannermedia.com as both hard cover and paperback. Gene shares insights from his book, shedding light on lesser-known events and personal transformations of the band members during this pivotal time. Discover how The Beatles evolved musically and personally, moving away from their mop-top image and embracing new artistic expressions. Learn about the significant roles of Brian Epstein and George Martin, often considered the "fifth Beatles," in shaping the band's trajectory. Explore the challenges and triumphs The Beatles faced, including the infamous 1966 tour and their time in Memphis. Gene also reveals intriguing stories about potential collaborations and missed opportunities, such as the possibility of recording at Stax Records. Delve into the evolution of The Beatles' sound, the internal dynamics within the band, and the cultural impact they left on music history. Whether you're a die-hard Beatles fan or new to their legacy, this episode offers a captivating look at a transformative era that redefined The Beatles and left an indelible mark on the world. Don't miss this engaging conversation and uncover the untold stories behind one of the greatest bands of all time. Thank you for listening. :) HODGEPOD can be heard on APPLE,SPOTIFY, AUDACY, TUNEIN AND PODBEAN APP.  Please give a listen, follow and share. Email hodgepodallin@yaoo.com. RECORDED NOVEMBER 7 2024

Desperate for a new series to binge-watch or heading to the cinema for date-night? Gayle Edmunds shares her top picks of things to watch on the big and small screen.  This week we're watching: Midas Man on Prime  Cast:  Jacob Fortune-Lloyd plays Epstein Plot: Amazon Prime Video released the biopic `Midas Man' on 30 October.  It looks at the life of  The Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein. He started out as a record store manager in Liverpool and ended up influencing music history.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ian goes solo this week, reviewing the biggest new films and bingeable shows on UK streaming services for the week beginning Friday 1st November 2024, including:In 1960s Liverpool, Brian Epstein encounters a rock band that would take the world by storm. Starring Blake Richardson, Midas Man is on Amazon Prime Video.Four flight attendants work, live, and commit espionage in the classic drama about iconic American airline Pan Am on ITVX, starring Christina Ricci and Margot Robbie.When an army truck crashes outside a care home and infects the residents, four teenage friends must deal with the deadly consequences in Channel 4's zombie horror comedy Generation Z.Follow Bingewatch on all major podcast players for your weekly rundown of the best binge-worthy shows across Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ and more.Remember to leave a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts, Podchaser and Goodpods AND you can now show your support and leave a tip for Ian and Hannah.You can also stay in touch with the team via Twitter AND if you like Bingewatch but you're looking for a specific review, check out BITESIZE BINGEWATCH, our sister show making it easier to get the bits you want!If you're a brand interested in sponsorship or collabs, email hello@podcastsbyliam.com and chat to us now!

Elliot Mintz, then a West Coast radio presenter, met the Lennons in 1971, the start of a close, unique and extraordinary friendship and hours of late-night phone calls. And he's finally written a book about it, We All Shine On: John, Yoko & Me, which records the isolated, complicated life they led imprisoned by their celebrity, at times joyous and outlandish, at others bleak and uncomfortably revealing. All bases covered here, among them … … “his view of Paul changed with days and temperature – brotherly love, jealousy, discomfort …” … how they dealt with the FBI bugging their apartment. … being present at John and Paul's eventual reunion and what might have happened if they'd picked up guitars.  … how he heard the news of Lennon's death. … booking hotels as ‘Fred and Ada Gherkin'. ... the Lost Weekend and Lennon reverting to his Hamburg days. … how it felt to sort and catalogue John's possessions. … abandoned by his father, abandoning his son: Lennon going on holiday with Brian Epstein two weeks after the birth of Julian.   … ordering in pizzas from across the road in New York's most exclusive restaurants. … “all he could see onstage was McCartney's face when they shared a microphone”. … John's thoughts about the competition – Dylan, the Stones, McCartney. … “a friendship to the exclusion of all else”. Order Elliot's book here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/We-All-Shine-extraordinary-friendship/dp/0857506072Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elliot Mintz, then a West Coast radio presenter, met the Lennons in 1971, the start of a close, unique and extraordinary friendship and hours of late-night phone calls. And he's finally written a book about it, We All Shine On: John, Yoko & Me, which records the isolated, complicated life they led imprisoned by their celebrity, at times joyous and outlandish, at others bleak and uncomfortably revealing. All bases covered here, among them … … “his view of Paul changed with days and temperature – brotherly love, jealousy, discomfort …” … how they dealt with the FBI bugging their apartment. … being present at John and Paul's eventual reunion and what might have happened if they'd picked up guitars.  … how he heard the news of Lennon's death. … booking hotels as ‘Fred and Ada Gherkin'. ... the Lost Weekend and Lennon reverting to his Hamburg days. … how it felt to sort and catalogue John's possessions. … abandoned by his father, abandoning his son: Lennon going on holiday with Brian Epstein two weeks after the birth of Julian.   … ordering in pizzas from across the road in New York's most exclusive restaurants. … “all he could see onstage was McCartney's face when they shared a microphone”. … John's thoughts about the competition – Dylan, the Stones, McCartney. … “a friendship to the exclusion of all else”. Order Elliot's book here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/We-All-Shine-extraordinary-friendship/dp/0857506072Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elliot Mintz, then a West Coast radio presenter, met the Lennons in 1971, the start of a close, unique and extraordinary friendship and hours of late-night phone calls. And he's finally written a book about it, We All Shine On: John, Yoko & Me, which records the isolated, complicated life they led imprisoned by their celebrity, at times joyous and outlandish, at others bleak and uncomfortably revealing. All bases covered here, among them … … “his view of Paul changed with days and temperature – brotherly love, jealousy, discomfort …” … how they dealt with the FBI bugging their apartment. … being present at John and Paul's eventual reunion and what might have happened if they'd picked up guitars.  … how he heard the news of Lennon's death. … booking hotels as ‘Fred and Ada Gherkin'. ... the Lost Weekend and Lennon reverting to his Hamburg days. … how it felt to sort and catalogue John's possessions. … abandoned by his father, abandoning his son: Lennon going on holiday with Brian Epstein two weeks after the birth of Julian.   … ordering in pizzas from across the road in New York's most exclusive restaurants. … “all he could see onstage was McCartney's face when they shared a microphone”. … John's thoughts about the competition – Dylan, the Stones, McCartney. … “a friendship to the exclusion of all else”. Order Elliot's book here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/We-All-Shine-extraordinary-friendship/dp/0857506072Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Beatles' rise to fame (1962-63): The podcast covers their signing to EMI, recording their first single, and early TV appearances. https://youtu.be/Go4X-3aZDv0 Context matters: Early 1960s Britain shaped The Beatles' development, with the podcast highlighting the social and cultural factors at play. Personality & charisma: The Beatles' humor and charm were as crucial as their music in winning over fans and the industry. Collaboration: Brian Epstein, George Martin, and others were instrumental in The Beatles' success, which the podcast examines in detail. Historical accuracy: The podcast stresses credible sources and distinguishes facts from myths when exploring The Beatles' history. The Beatles' Early Days Hamburg's influence: Their time in Hamburg was transformative, improving their music and stage presence. Quote: “Hamburg very much unlike Liverpool… they don't know how to do Beatles tourism.” The podcast contrasts Hamburg's handling of Beatles history with Liverpool's. Early rejections: The podcast recounts labels like Decca and EMI turning them down, showcasing their uncertain early career. The Decca Audition: It analyzes the audition's recordings, providing insight into their pre-fame sound. Brian Epstein's role: As their manager, he refined their image and secured a record deal, remaining honest even under pressure. The Beatles and EMI George Martin's initial reaction: Martin was initially skeptical but grew interested after meeting the band. Quote: “Martin didn't know it, but he was as lucky as The Beatles were.” This reflects the chance nature of their collaboration. June 6th recording session: A pivotal moment in Martin's perception, marking a turning point in the band's journey. Recording dynamics: The podcast explores how The Beatles and Martin created a shared vision and changed industry practices. Methods of Historical Research Primary sources: The podcast relies on interviews, letters, and news articles for authenticity. Fact vs. fiction: It emphasizes being critical of sources and separating myths from reality. Avoiding presentism: The podcast warns against modern interpretations of past events, stressing historical context. Quotes of Note • “The interwebs are full of empty infotainment in the same old, same old about Beatles trivia. You deserve the real story.” - Ariana Grande • “The Beatles didn't quite achieve their stylistic target. It was their failure that made them succeed.” • “They wanted their live and studio set of songs to sound something like American Pop R&B… but they failed. They sort of created their own genre.” • “Think of Jed Clampett out shooting at some food… He missed what he was aiming at… but up from the ground, he found oil under his land to make him very rich.” • “There would be no Beatles without R&B. In fact, there would have been no rock and roll at all.” - John Lennon • “Black music is my life. The Beatles and Sergeant Pepper and all that jazz—it doesn't mean a thing. All I talk about is 1958 when I heard Little Richard's ‘Long Tall Sally' and when I heard Chuck Berry's ‘Johnny B. Goode' and when I heard Bo Diddley. That changed my life completely.” - John Lennon • “The Beatles are like rock and soul men singing their pop with boy-man energy that matches girl-group energy.” • “They weren't whitening the music like a bunch of Pat Boons. It becomes a thing of its own but it remains soulful.” • “For us in the group, all that matters is that we try to get it right. If we make an error, we don't dig in. It's really just the opposite. We love to get corrections.” • “We treat ourselves and each other as knowers who might know something, to have something to offer, have some insight that's worth hearing potentially. We're all students… there are no teachers. We're all fallible. We're all students.” • “So much of Britain was black and white and bleak until The Beatles came along.”

William Kentridge is one of the major figures in the contemporary art world with an award-winning body of work that includes drawings, films, theatre and opera productions. His latest creation -Self Portrait As A Coffee Pot - is a nine part televisual work of art which, filed with images, music, dancers, and actors, explores the joy and power of making art.Robert Laycock, CEO of Marlow Film Studios and Isabel Davis, Executive Director of Screen Scotland discuss the challenges of expanding the studio capacity in the UK for the British film industry.Jacob Fortune-Lloyd on playing Brian Epstein in new film, Midas Man, which looks at the life and career of the man who turned The Beatles from a scruffy band in Liverpool into international superstarsPresenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu

In this week's episode, McKay explores the concept of the life thermostat, showing how people set internal limits and how they can reset those limits to achieve personal and professional growth. Through the stories of individuals who faced significant challenges on their journey to achieving greatness, our host highlights themes of resilience, breaking through barriers, and resetting your thermostat. David Goggins' journey, from surviving childhood abuse and battling a learning disability to transforming his life through Navy SEAL training and ultra-marathon running, showcases the power of resetting one's mental thermostat. McKay also shares Simu Liu's story of defying his parents' expectations to pursue an acting career, eventually landing a role in a Marvel superhero film. He also documents Brian Epstein's rise from working in his family's record store to managing one of the greatest bands in history, The Beatles. Each story presented here today emphasizes the importance of perseverance, embracing change, and shedding old identities. McKay concludes with a powerful message: by resetting our internal thermostat and refusing to settle for mediocrity, we can unlock our true potential and lead ourselves and others to new heights.Main Themes:Understanding the life thermostat and how it governs behaviorThe power of resetting your mindset to overcome past traumas and personal limitationsDavid's inspiring journey from hardship to becoming a Navy SEAL and ultra-marathon runnerThe role of resilience and commitment in achieving personal transformationHow great leaders model change and set the tone for their teamsPractical tips on making small adjustments to realign with your personal and professional goalsThe importance of shedding old labels of self-doubt and stepping into new identitiesTop 10 Quotes:"Every breakthrough you want to make in this life requires a break with your old identity.""We live in a society where mediocrity is often rewarded, but I wanted to be like those guys who detest mediocrity.""I've been scared to death of this guy, but this time, I stood up and started helping my mother.""I realized no one was coming to help me, and that was the moment I decided to change.""Change is a daily activity that, if practiced, becomes easier the more you do it.""When you set your thermostat, you establish a range in which you operate—it's up to you to reset it when needed.""I knew I could be something special, but I was afraid of the work it was going to take.""Momentum in life and leadership is easier to maintain than to recreate.""Hope remains for you and me, and it is hope that helps us create a new belief of who we are and can be.""Reset your thermostat and find the life and person you've hoped for—you can change and rise to your true setting."Show Links: Open Your Eyes with McKay Christensen

In this episode, we take a deep dive into The Beatles' lesser-known track "I Call Your Name" and explore its fascinating backstory. From its roots as an early John Lennon composition to its surprising ska influence, we uncover the hidden layers of this song. Along the way, we delve into the vibrant 1960s music scene and the intriguing story of Brigitte Bond, a figure deeply connected to ska and mod culture, whose resilience and trailblazing career provide a unique lens through which to view the era. Join us as we journey through music history, uncovering stories that go far beyond the surface. Full Brigitte Bond documentary at https://www.youtube.com/@MissUpsetterDesigns/videos After that, the Deep Dive hosts delve deeper into 1964, continuing the immersive experience that followers of (and participants in) the "Beatles 60" Facebook group experience. The group takes followers beyond the randomness found in typical fan spaces, offering a structured, day-by-day exploration of The Beatles' journey. This time, they focus on the rise of Blue Beat (ska) music and how it influenced the cultural backdrop of The Beatles' evolving sound. https://beatles60.group/group The episode highlights how the group's chronological approach allows followers to experience history as it unfolded, creating a connection to the band's story that is deeper and more immersive than what most other platforms offer. Key moments, such as The Beatles' return to London or the behind-the-scenes challenges faced by Brian Epstein and George Martin, are brought to life with an attention to buildup and context, offering insights that make even familiar stories feel fresh. Listeners who are already fans of the daily dives will appreciate how the "Beatles 60" group brings history to life in a way that balances both structure and discovery. The Beatles60 Facebook group stands out due to its highly structured, day-by-day approach to exploring the Beatles' journey in 1964. Each day, the group focuses on what the Beatles were doing 60 years prior, creating a "daily soap opera" experience for members. This sequential approach allows for a deeper understanding of how events unfolded and influenced each other. In contrast, most Facebook groups have a more random, less structured approach to content sharing. Beatles60 leverages this chronological framework to create a sense of "living in the history" with the band. By experiencing the events as they happened 60 years ago, members can immerse themselves in the era and gain a unique perspective on the band's journey. This immersive experience is further enhanced by the group's use of historical media, such as photos, articles, and interviews from 1964. The project goes beyond simply presenting facts and employs an "interpretive approach" to Beatles research. This means that the group encourages members to analyze the events, consider the broader context, and explore the motivations and emotions of those involved. The goal is to offer a deeper understanding of the band's journey, going beyond a simple recounting of facts. This interpretive approach, which involves drawing conclusions based on available evidence, is central to the Beatles60 project and distinguishes it from groups that may simply present information without offering analysis or interpretation. Beatles60 cultivates a strong sense of community among its members. Participants are encouraged to share their own memories, perspectives, and insights on the events of 1964. This collective engagement creates a shared experience of "living in the history" together, fostering a deeper connection between fans and the band's legacy. In essence, the Beatles60 Facebook group offers a unique and immersive way to explore the Beatles' story. By combining a structured chronological approach with an interpretive lens and a strong sense of community, the project allows fans to engage with the band's history in a way that goes beyond typical fan groups.

Of all the people in the Beatles' inner circle, Jane Asher is perhaps the most mysterious. Not because she's reclusive--far from it, in fact. Jane Asher has spent lots of time on stage and on screens large and small from the time she was a  child. But other than newspaper and magazine articles, and maybe a few video clips which survive from the 1960s, there isn't a lot of first-hand knowledge about her relationship with Paul McCartney. For about five years she was his girlfriend, and she had a front-row view of the beginnings of Beatlemania, the madness of touring, the changes in the band's sound, the death of Brian Epstein, the psychedelic period, even the visit to India. But she finds it insulting when people ask her about those days. And even though she's written several books, both fiction and non-fiction, none of them are about The Beatles. She may be the only person who's had prolonged contact with the band who hasn't written a book about it. But Paul McCartney, tunesmith that he is, wrote several songs about Jane Asher. In later years, he'd mostly concede only that they were songs of a personal nature rather than saying something like "It's about Jane," possibly as a means of respecting both her and his late wife Linda, but a pretty straight line can be drawn between some of the events in their respective lives and the subject matter of his songs. Click here for a transcript of this episode.  Click here to become a Patron of the show. Paid-level Patrons get a newsletter about 48 times per year (I do take the occasional week off); Free-level Patrons get it two weeks later. So why not join? What's to lose?

Midas Man tells the story of Brian Epstein, the man who discovered the Beatles and changed the world. Starring Jacob Fortune-Lloyd (The three musketeers) as Brian, with cameos from Eddies Marsan and Izzard, Emily Watson and talkshow host Jay Leno as Ed Sullivan.

The Wolf spent 3+ years just a stone's throw from Abbey Road in NW London, just six blocks from the studio that goes by the same name. The studio was EMI for decades until it was renamed in the 1970s after the final album recorded by The Beatles (Let It Be was released later but those sessions took place earlier and at different studios). After throwing out exotic locales for the album cover, George Harrison suggested they walk across the street and the most iconic album cover was born. The boys may not be the world's biggest Beatles fans but to love rock n roll, one must have an appreciation for them. The Wolf remained largely unfamiliar with Abbey Road until he realized he had to pick up a copy if he was going to walk down that street everyday for 3 years. As it turns 55, the boys go track x track, discuss the famous cover and dive into the state of The Beatles in their final days. Paul was trying to manage the band since the death of Brian Epstein and still deliver the goods in the studio. John was getting deeper into heroin and Yoko Ono. George was growing up and saving some of his best for his debut solo album. And Ringo just wanted the boys to stop fighting in meetings all the time. But George brought the goods with Something and Here Comes The Sun. John offered up Come Together and the pre-heavy metal I Want You (She's So Heavy). Paul put together some of his and John's best new melodies for the epic medley on the 2nd side. And dear Ringo gave us Octopus's Garden, a place he'd rather be than haggling with the band all the time. We dive deep into each song, where each member of the band was at the time and where they were going. This may not be our favorite album but it is an important document of a band that had had enough but could still bring the most amazing harmonies to life. Ugly American Werewolf in London Website Ugly American Werewolf in London Store - Get your Wolf merch and use code 10OFF2023 to save 10%! Visit our sponsor RareVinyl.com and use the code UGLY to save 10%! Twitter Threads Instagram YouTube LInkTree www.pantheonpodcasts.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dear Beatle People, it's time for a very fab, gear, and overall special episode of Fans On The Run: The Podcast Made By, For, And About Beatles Fans!   Today's episode has been a long time coming, but as they say, "good things come to those who wait". Our guest today was a member of The Beatles inner circle, in various roles for ten whole years, from 1962 to 1972. From the Cavern Club and the early days with Brian Epstein, to the Magical Mystery Tour of the days of Apple Corps. Please give a big Fans On The Run welcome to Freda Kelly!   This is a very special episode, so you won't want to miss it!   This episode is available to stream wherever good podcasts can be heard!   Follow us elsewhere: https://linktr.ee/fansontherun   Contact: fansontherunpodcast@gmail.com 

The Wolf spent 3+ years just a stone's throw from Abbey Road in NW London, just six blocks from the studio that goes by the same name. The studio was EMI for decades until it was renamed in the 1970s after the final album recorded by The Beatles (Let It Be was released later but those sessions took place earlier and at different studios). After throwing out exotic locales for the album cover, George Harrison suggested they walk across the street and the most iconic album cover was born. The boys may not be the world's biggest Beatles fans but to love rock n roll, one must have an appreciation for them. The Wolf remained largely unfamiliar with Abbey Road until he realized he had to pick up a copy if he was going to walk down that street everyday for 3 years. As it turns 55, the boys go track x track, discuss the famous cover and dive into the state of The Beatles in their final days. Paul was trying to manage the band since the death of Brian Epstein and still deliver the goods in the studio. John was getting deeper into heroin and Yoko Ono. George was growing up and saving some of his best for his debut solo album. And Ringo just wanted the boys to stop fighting in meetings all the time. But George brought the goods with Something and Here Comes The Sun. John offered up Come Together and the pre-heavy metal I Want You (She's So Heavy). Paul put together some of his and John's best new melodies for the epic medley on the 2nd side. And dear Ringo gave us Octopus's Garden, a place he'd rather be than haggling with the band all the time. We dive deep into each song, where each member of the band was at the time and where they were going. This may not be our favorite album but it is an important document of a band that had had enough but could still bring the most amazing harmonies to life. Ugly American Werewolf in London Website Ugly American Werewolf in London Store - Get your Wolf merch and use code 10OFF2023 to save 10%! Visit our sponsor RareVinyl.com and use the code UGLY to save 10%! Twitter Threads Instagram YouTube LInkTree www.pantheonpodcasts.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marv, Lonnie and I sit with Nashville HOF songwriter, author and man who worked with a Beatle about his lifelong love of the Fabs, touring (and writing!) with Carole King, his Brian Epstein-themed song on the new Billy J. Kramer record, collaborating (and recording) with Ringo and the forthcoming Ringo country album.     We also dig into his new novel ("Reunion"), which imagines a universe where John Lennon's fate changed, and all four were still present when Paul (at the urging of his daughters) decides to approach the others, as "the right four people" is one of the ways he might be able to overcome his heartache.

Martin Lewis is a multi-faceted player in the spheres of the arts and entertainment. With a fabled five-decade history working in music, comedy, film, stage, TV, radio & books. He has been a cultural alchemist with many of the leading musicians and comedic artists of the last half-century. Bruce Vilanch is iconic for, among other things, the best jokes at the Academy Awards. He has been writing for the star-studded event for over 25 years, and has been the head writer since 2000. Bruce is much more ingrained into our culture than a single award show, however-- he. has written jokes for Bette Midler, Elizabeth Taylor, Lily Tomlin, and even..The Brady Bunch.   They each have been world-changing "influencers" decades before the concept of "influencers" was even a thing. Today they join us to talk about yet another cultural force, artist manager, Brian Epstein. It has been said of Epstein: "If there had been no Epstein, there would be no Beatles."  Brian Epstein is the man responsible for taking the Beatles from unknowns to worldwide phenomena in just under 50 days. Martin led a 15-year campaign to induct Epstein into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Friday, August 23rd marks the exact 60th anniversary of the Beatles' landmark first appearance in Los Angeles in 1964. Their L.A. debut was a sold-out concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Celebrating that historic occasion Martin  - considered one of the world's foremost Beatles scholars - will be debuting a special ‘TED-Talk' style illustrated presentation in L.A. - titled "The Greatest Beatles Story NEVER Told! The Untold Tale Of How The Beatles Beguiled America" The event will take place on the exact same date and time as the Beatles Hollywood Bowl concert in 1964 - at the historic building of the Philosophical Research Society in Los Feliz.

Martin Lewis is a multi-faceted player in the spheres of the arts and entertainment. With a fabled five-decade history working in music, comedy, film, stage, TV, radio & books. He has been a cultural alchemist with many of the leading musicians and comedic artists of the last half-century. Bruce Vilanch is iconic for, among other things, the best jokes at the Academy Awards. He has been writing for the star-studded event for over 25 years, and has been the head writer since 2000. Bruce is much more ingrained into our culture than a single award show, however-- he. has written jokes for Bette Midler, Elizabeth Taylor, Lily Tomlin, and even..The Brady Bunch.   They each have been world-changing "influencers" decades before the concept of "influencers" was even a thing. Today they join us to talk about yet another cultural force, artist manager, Brian Epstein. It has been said of Epstein: "If there had been no Epstein, there would be no Beatles."  Brian Epstein is the man responsible for taking the Beatles from unknowns to worldwide phenomena in just under 50 days. Martin led a 15-year campaign to induct Epstein into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Friday, August 23rd marks the exact 60th anniversary of the Beatles' landmark first appearance in Los Angeles in 1964. Their L.A. debut was a sold-out concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Celebrating that historic occasion Martin  - considered one of the world's foremost Beatles scholars - will be debuting a special ‘TED-Talk' style illustrated presentation in L.A. - titled "The Greatest Beatles Story NEVER Told! The Untold Tale Of How The Beatles Beguiled America" The event will take place on the exact same date and time as the Beatles Hollywood Bowl concert in 1964 - at the historic building of the Philosophical Research Society in Los Feliz.

Bob Sirott is celebrating The Beatles' 60th anniversary of visiting America. Former president of the Beatles’ Fan Club, Freda, Kelly, joins Bob to talk about how many time she saw The Beatles at the Cavern Club, how Brain Epstein hired her, and the story of how she collected their hair for fans! She also remembers […]

The month of August has historically been full of significant changes for the Beatles. In August 1962, Pete Best was fired, and Ringo joined the band, completing the lineup and creating the chemistry that propelled them to worldwide stardom. August 1966 brought the backlash against John's “more popular than Jesus” comments and marked the end of their touring career. And the death of Brian Epstein, in August 1967, was a tragic loss that in many ways, signified the beginning of the end for the Beatles.  But August of 1960 was more like the beginning of the beginning, with the Beatles heading off to Hamburg for the very first time. These intense experiences honed their skills and permanently transformed them as musicians and as people. This year represents incredible an incredible transition in the band, laying the groundwork for everything the band became in the coming years.  We're taking a couple of weeks off for the summer and we'll be back with new episodes later this month. So in the meantime, and in honor of this transformative month in Beatles history, we're re-releasing an encore episode of Mach Schau: The Beatles in 1960.  And there's still time to enter our giveaway to win your own copy of the new Mind Games remixes! --------------------- Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter/X for photos, videos, and more from this episode & past episodes — we're @bcthebeatles everywhere. Follow BC the Beatles on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you're listening now. Buy us a coffee! www.ko-fi.com/bcthebeatles Contact us at bcthebeatles@gmail.com

Host Rich DiPaolo welcomes Brian Epstein, a regular contributor to PC&D, current carwash consultant and former operator based in Phoenix, Arizona. In this episode, we're discussing new pricing trends that we've been noticing in the carwash industry. We start by delving into Epstein's background and how he got started in carwashing. We then explore some of the traditional pricing strategies that have proven most effective over the decades, as well as the worst mistakes operators make when it comes to menu pricing. Epstein shares insights on how memberships have influenced market prices. We also discuss when operators should absorb price increases versus passing them onto customers, the best way to introduce new prices to customers, and how operators can make retail customers feel welcomed and valued amidst the growing emphasis on membership programs.

The trailer for 'Midas Man' — the new film about Beatles' manager Brian Epstein — dropped this week, and we couldn't be more excited! Scheduled for release on August 29, 'Midas Man' follows Brian's career from 1963 through his death in 1967. It delves deep into Brian's family life, the Liverpool music scene, and his struggles as a closeted gay man in a world where homosexuality was still considered a felony. After noticing how Brian's last name is pronounced in the film (hint: you get bleeped for saying it that way on our podcast), the second half of the show is an encore episode, where we presented our case for the RIGHT way to pronounce his name. Plus, we bring back one of our favorite listener contributions, a delightfully clever way to help us all remember it. Watch the 'Midas Man' trailer More on Brian: our "Eppy-sode"   --------------------- Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter/X for photos, videos, and more from this episode & past episodes — we're @bcthebeatles everywhere. Follow BC the Beatles on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you're listening now. Buy us a coffee! www.ko-fi.com/bcthebeatles Contact us at bcthebeatles@gmail.com

Billy J. Kramer, of Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, was a huge Rock Star during the British Invasion era of the 1960s. They had massive hits with a string of songs written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney including “Do You Want To Know A Secret”, “Bad To Me”, “From A Window”, “I'll Keep You Satisfied” and “I Call Your Name”. But their biggest hit was “Little Children”. They were managed by Brian Epstein and were part of Brian's stable of artists including Gerry and the Pacemakers and Lulu. He's got a new album out called “Are You With Me”.My featured song is “This Time” from the album Bobby M and the Paisley Parade. Spotify link.---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here.To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.“Dream With Robert”. Click here.—----------------------------------------“LOU'S BLUES” is Robert's new single. Called “Fantastic! Great playing and production!” (Mark Egan - Pat Metheny Group/Elements) and “Digging it!” (Peter Erskine - Weather Report)!Click HERE for all links.—----------------------------------------“THE RICH ONES”. Robert's recent single. With guest artist Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears) on flugelhorn. Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------------“MILES BEHIND”, Robert's debut album, recorded in 1994, was “lost” for the last 30 years. It's now been released for streaming. Featuring Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears), Anton Fig (The David Letterman Show), Al Foster (Miles Davis), Tim Ries (The Rolling Stones), Jon Lucien and many more. Called “Hip, Tight and Edgy!” Click here for all links.—--------------------------------------“IT'S ALIVE!” is Robert's latest Project Grand Slam album. Featuring 13 of the band's Greatest Hits performed “live” at festivals in Pennsylvania and Serbia.Reviews:"An instant classic!" (Melody Maker)"Amazing record...Another win for the one and only Robert Miller!" (Hollywood Digest)"Close to perfect!" (Pop Icon)"A Masterpiece!" (Big Celebrity Buzz)"Sterling effort!" (Indie Pulse)"Another fusion wonder for Project Grand Slam!" (MobYorkCity)Click here for all links.Click here for song videos—-----------------------------------------Intro/Outro Voiceovers courtesy of:Jodi Krangle - Professional Voiceover Artisthttps://voiceoversandvocals.com Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with Billy at:www.billyjkramermusic.com Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com

The journey of "No Reply" is a curious one. A song John seemed to not think much of, and originally offered to another Brian Epstein-managed artist, it was possibly slated to be the final song recorded for A Hard Day's Night. If not for Ringo's tonsillitis, who knows what would've happened with it. After spending some time with it though, and working it into a bit more interesting arrangement, it turned out to be the lead off track to the band's 4th album, and a real signpost to where the band was headed. More introspective than what had come before it, and a much less energetic album opener than Beatles fans were expecting, No Reply is a real sneaky song. It's filled with great melody and harmony, possibly one of the best bridges the band ever recorded, and it's all done very economically. Not a second is wasted on this song. It shows a real growth that the band is starting to go through, with John painting a brilliant scene throughout the song. It's a fantastic and unique way to start a Beatles record, and a song that doesn't get nearly enough love. Joining us this week is musician and journalist Jeff Slate. You may have read his articles in Rollling Stone, Billboard, or the New Yorker, or heard him as guest DJ on Sirius XM or KLOS. He's got a brand new record out, The Last Day of Summer with a laundry list of great players joining him. It's a fantastic pop rock album, we can't recommend it enough. He'll be on the road this November supporting the Wallflowers on the East Coast so don't miss it! Check out all things Jeff at www.jeffslatehq.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook! What do you think about "No Reply" at #88? Too high? Too low? Or just right? Let us know in the comments on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Be sure to check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.rankingthebeatles.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and grab a Rank Your Own Beatles poster, a shirt, a jumper, whatever you like! And if you're digging what we do, don't forget to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy Us A Coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rankingthebeatles/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rankingthebeatles/support

“I thought Dave Davies of the Kinks was a girl. When I discovered he was a boy, that's when I got interested.” Jon's an old friend of the podcast and the author of some highly regarded and influential books about pop and its repercussions, ‘England's Dreaming' and ‘1966: the Year The Decade Exploded' among them. His latest is ‘The Secret Public: How LGBTQ Performers Shaped Popular Culture 1955-1979' which looks at five particular moments and the pivotal people in the mix at the time. We couldn't recommend it more highly and cover seven decades in this conversation, stopping off at … … how “homosexuality was a career-killer” until Bowie's spectacular Melody Maker interview in 1972. … new male identities - Valentino, Nureyev, Sinatra and the “subversive” stage act of Johnnie Ray. … does pop drive change or reflect it? … Andrew Loog Oldham, Kit Lambert, Simon Napier-Bell and the supposed “gay managers mafia” and how Oldham used camp as a weapon. … Dusty Springfield and the Gateway Club. … how Brian Epstein invented a new type of manager. ... Andy Warhol at the Factory, pop art, the launch of the Velvet Underground and his jukebox time-capsule of ‘60s gay pop taste. … was Tom Robinson the first out gay British pop star? … Mary Whitehouse v the Gay Times. … the Clash (“hurt, vulnerable boys”), Siouxsie, Poly Styrene, the Slits, Vic Godard and punk's other new stage identities. Order ‘the Secret Public' here …https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Public-Resistance-Popular-1955-1979/dp/0571358373 … and Jon's 2-CD soundtrack here …https://www.roughtrade.com/en-gb/product/various/jon-savages-the-secret-public-how-the-lgbtq-aesthetic-shaped-pop-culture-1955-1979?channable=409d9269640032313931333434ec&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwvIWzBhAlEiwAHHWgvQetjeRXO03PVnpFYq75PMG_pmDd42hKBO8VytbDerJqZw3ycIY7pxoCFxIQAvD_BwE#cd-x2Find out more about how you can help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“I thought Dave Davies of the Kinks was a girl. When I discovered he was a boy, that's when I got interested.” Jon's an old friend of the podcast and the author of some highly regarded and influential books about pop and its repercussions, ‘England's Dreaming' and ‘1966: the Year The Decade Exploded' among them. His latest is ‘The Secret Public: How LGBTQ Performers Shaped Popular Culture 1955-1979' which looks at five particular moments and the pivotal people in the mix at the time. We couldn't recommend it more highly and cover seven decades in this conversation, stopping off at … … how “homosexuality was a career-killer” until Bowie's spectacular Melody Maker interview in 1972. … new male identities - Valentino, Nureyev, Sinatra and the “subversive” stage act of Johnnie Ray. … does pop drive change or reflect it? … Andrew Loog Oldham, Kit Lambert, Simon Napier-Bell and the supposed “gay managers mafia” and how Oldham used camp as a weapon. … Dusty Springfield and the Gateway Club. … how Brian Epstein invented a new type of manager. ... Andy Warhol at the Factory, pop art, the launch of the Velvet Underground and his jukebox time-capsule of ‘60s gay pop taste. … was Tom Robinson the first out gay British pop star? … Mary Whitehouse v the Gay Times. … the Clash (“hurt, vulnerable boys”), Siouxsie, Poly Styrene, the Slits, Vic Godard and punk's other new stage identities. Order ‘the Secret Public' here …https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Public-Resistance-Popular-1955-1979/dp/0571358373 … and Jon's 2-CD soundtrack here …https://www.roughtrade.com/en-gb/product/various/jon-savages-the-secret-public-how-the-lgbtq-aesthetic-shaped-pop-culture-1955-1979?channable=409d9269640032313931333434ec&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwvIWzBhAlEiwAHHWgvQetjeRXO03PVnpFYq75PMG_pmDd42hKBO8VytbDerJqZw3ycIY7pxoCFxIQAvD_BwE#cd-x2Find out more about how you can help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Getting Ringo Starr don't come easy, but we did it! Ringo is here to chat about his new Crooked Boy EP (written and produced by Linda Perry), while also sharing some Beatles memories about the Get Back / Let It Be documentaries, his love of Country music and why he'll still be touring on his 84th birthday. We also brought in Abe Laboriel, Jr., who for the last 23 years as drummer in the Paul McCartney band, has been playing many of the ingenious drum parts first created by Ringo. And I Saw Them Standing There author Debbie Gendler talks about being one of only 728 audience members in the theater when the Beatles made their debut on the Ed Sullivan Show, and working with Brian Epstein as one of the first American Beatles fan club presidents. And RSD co-founder Carrie Colliton remembers Plan 9 Records fixture and Richmond VA punk musician Bob Schick (from Honor Role). The Record Store Day Podcast is a weekly music chat show written, produced, engineered and hosted by Paul Myers, who also composed the theme music and selected interstitial music.  Special thanks to Bob Hunt for expert audio assistance with this week's Ringo segment. Executive Producers (for Record Store Day) Michael Kurtz and Carrie Colliton. For the most up-to-date news about all things RSD, visit RecordStoreDay.com) Sponsored by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (dogfish.com), Tito's Handmade Vodka (titosvodka.com), RSDMRKT.com, and Furnace Record Pressing, the official vinyl pressing plant of Record Store Day. Please consider subscribing to our podcast wherever you get podcasts, and tell your friends, we're here every week and we love making new friends. This episode is dedicated to Paul's dear departed Liverpudlian father Eric Myers, who shares a July 7th birthday with Ringo.   

A puskásos tripla Azahriah-koncertről. (Május 28-án rögzített, 29-én publikált felvétel.) 00:00 A stúdióban két Tóth. 01:30 Kedden is csütörtök van. 02:00 Hogyan került Azahriah a Supermanagementhez? Wellhello, Follow the Flow, Anna and the Barbies, Dzsúdló… és aztán. 03:30 A „bebasztam a fejem a kredencajtóba” szerintem József Attila. 05:30 Váratlanul eljutunk a nürnbergi náci fölvonulásokig. 08:45 A menedzserkedés nem aljamunka? 11:00 Mi csináljuk az életük Excel-részét. 12:30 Vaníliás mandulatej a rájderben. 13:30 Bohóc, komornyik, ügyvéd. 14:45 Brian Epstein, Colonel Parker, Malcolm McLaren – a szemét, lenyúlós, pénzéhes menedzser mítosza. 16.00 Betonhofit elengedtétek volna a Kiskegyed-fotózásra? 18:00 Fásy Ádám nem egy Lombardo. 20:00 Másfélmilliárd költség egy hosszú Excel-táblában. 22:20 A közönség küldött minket mindenhova. 24:00 Azi rajongói együtt élnek a művésszel. Résztvevőnek érzik magukat. Közös siker. Kikövetelték a Puskást. 26:00 Az ország összes hangcucca elfogyott, Németországból kellett hozni.  32:00 138 000 ember a vége. 32:30 Az ukrán háború miatt hiánycikk a pirotechnika. Nagy láng, nagy koncert. 37:00 A zongorista végül nem ázott el. 41:00 A Puskásban 35 000 nézőnél van nulla.  42:45 A Hungáriával lehetett csökkenteni a költségeket. 47:45 24 óra alatt elfogyott a sold out. 50:30 12 nap a Népstadionban. 51:30 Frabato menedzsere: Winkler. 53:00 A művész túlzottan be volt öltözve. 55:45 Azi minden egyes nap köszöntötte az önkénteseket. 56:15 A Supermanagement másik alapítója, Ferich Balázs nem érhette meg a koncertet.  62:00 Uj Péter fölteszi a legkreténebb újságírói kérdést. 65:00 AR-trükkök élőben. 67:00 A Holdról is látszott a show. Koncertfilm lesz a Youtube-on. 71:30 Miért játszanak huszonéves előadók stadionokban? A covid miatt? 73:15 Újra divat lett koncertre járni. Robbantak a fiatal repperek. 74:15 Jobb lett a popzene. A sötét kilencvenes évekhez képest mindenképpen. 79:00 Az olasz Azahriah romantikus slágereket nyom, és minden városban stadionban játszik. 81:00 Azahriah öt évre tervezte a projektet. Három már letelt. 84:00 A következő lépés: Hortobágy. Talán két év múlva újra Puskás. 85:30 Lesz nagy anyag a New York Times-ban és a Le Monde-ban. 88:00 Pressman irányítja a magyar könnyűzenét. Mikrocsipet tett a vacsorába. 88:45 Magyar Péter és Vitézy Dávid ott volt. Rebesgették Szijjártót és Orbánt. 90:15 Jah, man! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

WHO is talking?    You might not know, as we get a quick flyby from "Toppermost of the Poppermost" hosts "Queen of All Beatles Media" Kit O'Toole and "Yeah, he is also among the co-hosts of the show" Martin Quibell.    (In baseball terms, they are "openers").     The bulk of the show features BC the Beatles co-host Erika White, and "Writer, Occasional Troublemaker and Full-Time Whovian" Jim Ryan.      We talk the intersections of "Doctor Who" and the Beatles (who knew Brian Epstein hung with Verity Lambert), and review/discuss "The Devil's Chord", the recent episode featuring actors portraying Cilla and JPGR.

Our very, very special guest today is the great Kevin Harrington, who most Beatles fans will recognize as the “redhead on the roof” in the Let It Be and Get Back films. At the time, Kevin was only 18 years old(!) but had been working for the Beatles, in some capacity, for years, first as an errand boy at NEMS and then as an assistant to Brian Epstein. He worked alongside Mal Evans as the Beatles' “roadie,” as he's billed in the Let It Be credits. After the Beatles broke up, Kevin stayed closely in the fold, even living at Friar Park with George and Patti during the recording of All Things Must Pass. Then, he finally struck out on his own in the ‘70s and beyond and was a roadie with some of the biggest names in music, including Wishbone Ash, Motorhead, Petula Clark, Ted Nugent, Tina Turner and more. To learn more about Kevin's time with NEMS and the Beatles, check out his memoir, Who's The Redhead on the Roof? --------------------- Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter/X for photos, videos, and more from this episode & past episodes — we're @bcthebeatles everywhere. Follow BC the Beatles on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you're listening now. Buy us a coffee! www.ko-fi.com/bcthebeatles Contact us at bcthebeatles@gmail.com.

“Look at any photo from a moment of supposed zeitgeist in American history, and it will be clear that not everyone in that moment represented the cutting-edge of culture.” –Rolf Potts In this essay episode of Deviate, Rolf talks about why he enjoys listening to Rob Harvilla’s podcast 60 Songs That Explain the ’90s at double-speed, but that he’s disappointed Rob has never alluded to Rolf’s own 1990s grunge band, Swizzlefish (1:45); Rolf describes his move from Kansas to the Pacific Northwest in the year 1990, at a very specific moment in America’s cultural zeitgeist (10:30); the origins of Swizzlefish, and how its formation with Rolf’s friends Ryan and Steve was compromised by the fact that Rolf and Steve were in no way musical virtuosos (18:30); the circumstances of the first Swizzlefish live show, and how it caused an immediate controversy on Rolf’s small Christian college campus (30:00); what Portland’s indie-rock scene was like in early 1993, and what kinds of bands Rolf and his friends saw there (35:00); how the second Swizzlefish concert resulted in the band getting banned from playing on its own college campus (42:00); Swizzlefish’s spring 1993 performance at Portland’s X-Ray Cafe, and how the middle-class normalcy of its fans evoked something true about grunge music (49:00); Rolf’s eventual move to Seattle to work as a landscaper, his experiences at a 1993 Nirvana show there, and the curiously enduring legacy of Swizzlefish more than 30 years later (57:30); and Rolf talks to music journalist Rob Harvilla about Rolf’s brief appearance in the 1992 horror movie Dr. Giggles, their respective experiences with 1990s music, and whether or not Kurt Cobain would have liked them (1:06:25). The 1993 Swizzlefish album Big Time Loser is available for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music. Rob Harvilla (@harvilla) is the creator of 60 Songs That Explain the ’90s, a book and a podcast that explore the pop culture of the decade through music. , Bands, musicians, and songs mentioned: “Love Buzz” (Shocking Blue song covered on Nirvana’s Bleach) Elliott Smith (singer-songwriter from Portland, Oregon) Heatmiser (Portland indie rock band) “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (Nirvana song) Jane’s Addiction (alternative rock band from LA) Mother Love Bone (Seattle rock band) Kurt Cobain (lead-singer of Nirvana) Jackyl (American hair-metal band) “Princess in a Cobweb” (song by Drunk at Abi’s) Sprinkler (Portland indie-rock band) “Should I Stay or Should I Go” (song by The Clash) Carrie Brownstein (musician and comedian) Bikini Kill (pioneering “riot grrrl” punk band) Big Daddy Meat Straw (Portland indie-rock band) “Smells Like Nirvana” (parody song by Weird Al Yankovic) “Holiday of Sparks” (song by Dimbulb) “Rock Collection” (song by Pond) Everclear (Portland rock band) Mia Zapata (Seattle punk singer murdered in 1993) “Scentless Apprentice” (1993 Nirvana song) Kim Deal (Ohio-born musician for The Pixies and The Breeders) Dookie (1994 Green Day album) 924 Gilman Street (all-ages punk-rock club in Berkeley) Rancid (Berkeley punk band) Avail (melodic hardcore punk band from Virginia) Other links: Malcolm McLaren (promoter and manager of the Sex Pistols) Hype! (1996 music documentary directed by Doug Pray) Twin Peaks (TV drama created by David Lynch) Grunge (alternative rock genre known as “Seattle sound”) George Fox College (pre-1996 name of George Fox University) Jumping freight trains in the Pacific NW (Deviate episode) Van Life before #VanLife (Deviate episode) Brian Epstein (manager of The Beatles from 1962-1967) Sub Pop (Seattle-based indie-rock record label) X-Ray Cafe (1990s all-ages venue in Portland) Rap rock (hybrid music genre) Hardcore (punk rock subgenre) Portlandia (sketch-comedy TV show from the 2010s) This Present Darkness (Christian novel by Frank E. Peretti) Satanic ritual abuse (conspiracy theory and moral panic) Newberg (small Oregon college town) 1993 TIME Magazine grunge issue (featuring Eddie Vedder) Dr. Giggles (1992 horror movie) Singles (1992 Cameron Crowe movie)   The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel's 2017 album Lumber.  Note: We don't host a “comments” section, but we're happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.

TW: Suicide Today, celebrated author Ken Womack joins me to unpack his extraordinary new definitive biography of Beatles road manager Mal Evans, 'Living the Beatles Legend'. Ken talks about the incredible access given to him by the Evans family, including Mal's unpublished memoirs and diaries, the digital warehouse he built to sort through the incredible archival material, how much of the Beatles story is Mal's story, how the Beatles invented the pop superstar industry as they went along, how Mal managed to take on roles that would now be filled by dozens of individuals, how the Beatles laid the template for every rock'n'roll narrative that has followed, the friction between Mal and Brian Epstein, how Mal compartmentalised his life, how Mal championed and produced Badfinger in the face of Allen Klein's opposition, Mal's friendship with Paul McCartney, the upcoming quartet of Sam Mendes directed Beatles movies, the myth of the solitary genius, how important every member of the Beatles inner circle was to their success, and the conterfactuals in Beatles history, including how Mal's story might have unfolded over the past decades if it hadn't been so tragically cut short.

As the first insider Beatles tell-all (not counting Francie Schwartz's Body Count – because why would I) – 1983's The Love You Make, a collaboration between Brian Epstein's protege Peter Brown and today's guest, shocked fans with what was perceived as an airing of dirty laundry. Drug use, infidelity, betrayal, wife-swapping, and overall bad behavior … 280: All You Need is the Love You Make with Steven Gaines  Read More »

When we first started this podcast way back in 2018, one of the reasons we called it “BECAUSE the Beatles” was because we wanted to be able to not only talk about the Beatles, but anything adjacent to them in any way … hence "because" the Beatles. And one of our original reasons was because we wanted to do the episode we're FINALLY doing today — an episode on Cilla Black!  Cilla is unique in the Beatles' story — the only woman managed by Brian Epstein, and, as we'll discuss, she was one of his favorite artistes and close to him personally too. Later in her life, she became known as a TV presenter and the recipient of an OBE for her contribution to entertainment. She had 19 Top 40 singles in the UK, including two #1 hits - “Anyone Who Had a Heart” and “You're My World” — and recorded 15 studio albums. And this past year she became one of the best memes on TikTok. This episode focuses on the beginnings of her fame and hitmaking — and of course, references the spectacular made-for-TV miniseries Cilla, which we highly recommend.  Learn more about Cilla Cilla biopic on iTV "Surprise Surprise" on TikTok --------------------- Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter/X for photos, videos, and more from this episode & past episodes — we're @bcthebeatles everywhere. Follow BC the Beatles on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you're listening now. Buy us a coffee! www.ko-fi.com/bcthebeatles Contact us at bcthebeatles@gmail.com  

Debbie Gendler Supnik is with us to chat about her new book, I Saw Them Standing There: Adventures of an Original Fan During Beatlemania and Beyond. Debbie received an album by an unknown (in the US) British band named the Beatles and nothing was the same ever again! She said, “Yes!” to the opportunities that presented themselves, ending up in the audience of The Ed Sullivan Show, meeting Brian Epstein, attending the 1965 press conference welcoming the Beatles to America, visiting the Abbey Road Studios, staying with George's parents in Liverpool, becoming friends with Paul's brother Mike McCartney, and ending up working for the Ed Sullivan Show as an adult. Debbie is a four-time Emmy-nominated television executive and producer with CBS and ABC. She served as Women in Film's first Los Angeles-based Executive Director and was VP of Development for Weller/Grossman Productions. She currently works as a co-producer at SOFA Entertainment, owner of The Ed Sullivan Show.   DEBBIE'S LINKS: Website Buy the book   Women Beyond a Certain Age is an award-winning weekly podcast with Denise Vivaldo. She brings her own lively, humorous, and experienced viewpoint to the topics she discusses with her guests. The podcast covers wide-ranging subjects of importance to older women.   SHOW LINKS: Website Join our Facebook group Follow our Facebook page Instagram Episode archive Email us: WomenBeyond@icloud.com Denise Vivaldo is the host of WBACA. Her info lives here More of Denise's info is here Cindie Flannigan is the producer WBACA. Her info lives here Denise and Cindie's books

Episode 171 looks at "Hey Jude", the White Album, and the career of the Beatles from August 1967 through November 1968. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a fifty-seven-minute bonus episode available, on "I Love You" by People!. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Errata Not really an error, but at one point I refer to Ornette Coleman as a saxophonist. While he was, he plays trumpet on the track that is excerpted after that. Resources No Mixcloud this week due to the number of songs by the Beatles. I have read literally dozens of books on the Beatles, and used bits of information from many of them. All my Beatles episodes refer to: The Complete Beatles Chronicle by Mark Lewisohn, All The Songs: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Release by Jean-Michel Guesdon, And The Band Begins To Play: The Definitive Guide To The Songs of The Beatles by Steve Lambley, The Beatles By Ear by Kevin Moore, Revolution in the Head by Ian MacDonald, and The Beatles Anthology. For this episode, I also referred to Last Interview by David Sheff, a longform interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono from shortly before Lennon's death; Many Years From Now by Barry Miles, an authorised biography of Paul McCartney; and Here, There, and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles by Geoff Emerick and Howard Massey. This time I also used Steve Turner's The Beatles: The Stories Behind the Songs 1967-1970. I referred to Philip Norman's biographies of John Lennon, George Harrison, and Paul McCartney, to Graeme Thomson's biography of George Harrison, Take a Sad Song by James Campion, Yoko Ono: An Artful Life by Donald Brackett, Those Were the Days 2.0 by Stephan Granados, and Sound Pictures by Kenneth Womack. Sadly the only way to get the single mix of “Hey Jude” is on this ludicrously-expensive out-of-print box set, but a remixed stereo mix is easily available on the new reissue of the 1967-70 compilation. The original mixes of the White Album are also, shockingly, out of print, but this 2018 remix is available for the moment. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Before I start, a quick note -- this episode deals, among other topics, with child abandonment, spousal neglect, suicide attempts, miscarriage, rape accusations, and heroin addiction. If any of those topics are likely to upset you, you might want to check the transcript rather than listening to this episode. It also, for once, contains a short excerpt of an expletive, but given that that expletive in that context has been regularly played on daytime radio without complaint for over fifty years, I suspect it can be excused. The use of mantra meditation is something that exists across religions, and which appears to have been independently invented multiple times, in multiple cultures. In the Western culture to which most of my listeners belong, it is now best known as an aspect of what is known as "mindfulness", a secularised version of Buddhism which aims to provide adherents with the benefits of the teachings of the Buddha but without the cosmology to which they are attached. But it turns up in almost every religious tradition I know of in one form or another. The idea of mantra meditation is a very simple one, and one that even has some basis in science. There is a mathematical principle in neurology and information science called the free energy principle which says our brains are wired to try to minimise how surprised we are --  our brain is constantly making predictions about the world, and then looking at the results from our senses to see if they match. If they do, that's great, and the brain will happily move on to its next prediction. If they don't, the brain has to update its model of the world to match the new information, make new predictions, and see if those new predictions are a better match. Every person has a different mental model of the world, and none of them match reality, but every brain tries to get as close as possible. This updating of the model to match the new information is called "thinking", and it uses up energy, and our bodies and brains have evolved to conserve energy as much as possible. This means that for many people, most of the time, thinking is unpleasant, and indeed much of the time that people have spent thinking, they've been thinking about how to stop themselves having to do it at all, and when they have managed to stop thinking, however briefly, they've experienced great bliss. Many more or less effective technologies have been created to bring about a more minimal-energy state, including alcohol, heroin, and barbituates, but many of these have unwanted side-effects, such as death, which people also tend to want to avoid, and so people have often turned to another technology. It turns out that for many people, they can avoid thinking by simply thinking about something that is utterly predictable. If they minimise the amount of sensory input, and concentrate on something that they can predict exactly, eventually they can turn off their mind, relax, and float downstream, without dying. One easy way to do this is to close your eyes, so you can't see anything, make your breath as regular as possible, and then concentrate on a sound that repeats over and over.  If you repeat a single phrase or word a few hundred times, that regular repetition eventually causes your mind to stop having to keep track of the world, and experience a peace that is, by all accounts, unlike any other experience. What word or phrase that is can depend very much on the tradition. In Transcendental Meditation, each person has their own individual phrase. In the Catholicism in which George Harrison and Paul McCartney were raised, popular phrases for this are "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner" or "Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen." In some branches of Buddhism, a popular mantra is "_NAMU MYŌHŌ RENGE KYŌ_". In the Hinduism to which George Harrison later converted, you can use "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare", "Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya" or "Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha". Those last two start with the syllable "Om", and indeed some people prefer to just use that syllable, repeating a single syllable over and over again until they reach a state of transcendence. [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Hey Jude" ("na na na na na na na")] We don't know much about how the Beatles first discovered Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, except that it was thanks to Pattie Boyd, George Harrison's then-wife. Unfortunately, her memory of how she first became involved in the Maharishi's Spiritual Regeneration Movement, as described in her autobiography, doesn't fully line up with other known facts. She talks about reading about the Maharishi in the paper with her friend Marie-Lise while George was away on tour, but she also places the date that this happened in February 1967, several months after the Beatles had stopped touring forever. We'll be seeing a lot more of these timing discrepancies as this story progresses, and people's memories increasingly don't match the events that happened to them. Either way, it's clear that Pattie became involved in the Spiritual Regeneration Movement a good length of time before her husband did. She got him to go along with her to one of the Maharishi's lectures, after she had already been converted to the practice of Transcendental Meditation, and they brought along John, Paul, and their partners (Ringo's wife Maureen had just given birth, so they didn't come). As we heard back in episode one hundred and fifty, that lecture was impressive enough that the group, plus their wives and girlfriends (with the exception of Maureen Starkey) and Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull, all went on a meditation retreat with the Maharishi at a holiday camp in Bangor, and it was there that they learned that Brian Epstein had been found dead. The death of the man who had guided the group's career could not have come at a worse time for the band's stability.  The group had only recorded one song in the preceding two months -- Paul's "Your Mother Should Know" -- and had basically been running on fumes since completing recording of Sgt Pepper many months earlier. John's drug intake had increased to the point that he was barely functional -- although with the enthusiasm of the newly converted he had decided to swear off LSD at the Maharishi's urging -- and his marriage was falling apart. Similarly, Paul McCartney's relationship with Jane Asher was in a bad state, though both men were trying to repair their damaged relationships, while both George and Ringo were having doubts about the band that had made them famous. In George's case, he was feeling marginalised by John and Paul, his songs ignored or paid cursory attention, and there was less for him to do on the records as the group moved away from making guitar-based rock and roll music into the stranger areas of psychedelia. And Ringo, whose main memory of the recording of Sgt Pepper was of learning to play chess while the others went through the extensive overdubs that characterised that album, was starting to feel like his playing was deteriorating, and that as the only non-writer in the band he was on the outside to an extent. On top of that, the group were in the middle of a major plan to restructure their business. As part of their contract renegotiations with EMI at the beginning of 1967, it had been agreed that they would receive two million pounds -- roughly fifteen million pounds in today's money -- in unpaid royalties as a lump sum. If that had been paid to them as individuals, or through the company they owned, the Beatles Ltd, they would have had to pay the full top rate of tax on it, which as George had complained the previous year was over ninety-five percent. (In fact, he'd been slightly exaggerating the generosity of the UK tax system to the rich, as at that point the top rate of income tax was somewhere around ninety-seven and a half percent). But happily for them, a couple of years earlier the UK had restructured its tax laws and introduced a corporation tax, which meant that the profits of corporations were no longer taxed at the same high rate as income. So a new company had been set up, The Beatles & Co, and all the group's non-songwriting income was paid into the company. Each Beatle owned five percent of the company, and the other eighty percent was owned by a new partnership, a corporation that was soon renamed Apple Corps -- a name inspired by a painting that McCartney had liked by the artist Rene Magritte. In the early stages of Apple, it was very entangled with Nems, the company that was owned by Brian and Clive Epstein, and which was in the process of being sold to Robert Stigwood, though that sale fell through after Brian's death. The first part of Apple, Apple Publishing, had been set up in the summer of 1967, and was run by Terry Doran, a friend of Epstein's who ran a motor dealership -- most of the Apple divisions would be run by friends of the group rather than by people with experience in the industries in question. As Apple was set up during the point that Stigwood was getting involved with NEMS, Apple Publishing's initial offices were in the same building with, and shared staff with, two publishing companies that Stigwood owned, Dratleaf Music, who published Cream's songs, and Abigail Music, the Bee Gees' publishers. And indeed the first two songs published by Apple were copyrights that were gifted to the company by Stigwood -- "Listen to the Sky", a B-side by an obscure band called Sands: [Excerpt: Sands, "Listen to the Sky"] And "Outside Woman Blues", an arrangement by Eric Clapton of an old blues song by Blind Joe Reynolds, which Cream had copyrighted separately and released on Disraeli Gears: [Excerpt: Cream, "Outside Woman Blues"] But Apple soon started signing outside songwriters -- once Mike Berry, a member of Apple Publishing's staff, had sat McCartney down and explained to him what music publishing actually was, something he had never actually understood even though he'd been a songwriter for five years. Those songwriters, given that this was 1967, were often also performers, and as Apple Records had not yet been set up, Apple would try to arrange recording contracts for them with other labels. They started with a group called Focal Point, who got signed by badgering Paul McCartney to listen to their songs until he gave them Doran's phone number to shut them up: [Excerpt: Focal Point, "Sycamore Sid"] But the big early hope for Apple Publishing was a songwriter called George Alexander. Alexander's birth name had been Alexander Young, and he was the brother of George Young, who was a member of the Australian beat group The Easybeats, who'd had a hit with "Friday on My Mind": [Excerpt: The Easybeats, "Friday on My Mind"] His younger brothers Malcolm and Angus would go on to have a few hits themselves, but AC/DC wouldn't be formed for another five years. Terry Doran thought that Alexander should be a member of a band, because bands were more popular than solo artists at the time, and so he was placed with three former members of Tony Rivers and the Castaways, a Beach Boys soundalike group that had had some minor success. John Lennon suggested that the group be named Grapefruit, after a book he was reading by a conceptual artist of his acquaintance named Yoko Ono, and as Doran was making arrangements with Terry Melcher for a reciprocal publishing deal by which Melcher's American company would publish Apple songs in the US while Apple published songs from Melcher's company in the UK, it made sense for Melcher to also produce Grapefruit's first single, "Dear Delilah": [Excerpt: Grapefruit, "Dear Delilah"] That made number twenty-one in the UK when it came out in early 1968, on the back of publicity about Grapefruit's connection with the Beatles, but future singles by the band were much less successful, and like several other acts involved with Apple, they found that they were more hampered by the Beatles connection than helped. A few other people were signed to Apple Publishing early on, of whom the most notable was Jackie Lomax. Lomax had been a member of a minor Merseybeat group, the Undertakers, and after they had split up, he'd been signed by Brian Epstein with a new group, the Lomax Alliance, who had released one single, "Try as You May": [Excerpt: The Lomax Alliance, "Try As You May"] After Epstein's death, Lomax had plans to join another band, being formed by another Merseybeat musician, Chris Curtis, the former drummer of the Searchers. But after going to the Beatles to talk with them about them helping the new group financially, Lomax was persuaded by John Lennon to go solo instead. He may later have regretted that decision, as by early 1968 the people that Curtis had recruited for his new band had ditched him and were making a name for themselves as Deep Purple. Lomax recorded one solo single with funding from Stigwood, a cover version of a song by an obscure singer-songwriter, Jake Holmes, "Genuine Imitation Life": [Excerpt: Jackie Lomax, "Genuine Imitation Life"] But he was also signed to Apple Publishing as a songwriter. The Beatles had only just started laying out plans for Apple when Epstein died, and other than the publishing company one of the few things they'd agreed on was that they were going to have a film company, which was to be run by Denis O'Dell, who had been an associate producer on A Hard Day's Night and on How I Won The War, the Richard Lester film Lennon had recently starred in. A few days after Epstein's death, they had a meeting, in which they agreed that the band needed to move forward quickly if they were going to recover from Epstein's death. They had originally been planning on going to India with the Maharishi to study meditation, but they decided to put that off until the new year, and to press forward with a film project Paul had been talking about, to be titled Magical Mystery Tour. And so, on the fifth of September 1967, they went back into the recording studio and started work on a song of John's that was earmarked for the film, "I am the Walrus": [Excerpt: The Beatles, "I am the Walrus"] Magical Mystery Tour, the film, has a mixed reputation which we will talk about shortly, but one defence that Paul McCartney has always made of it is that it's the only place where you can see the Beatles performing "I am the Walrus". While the song was eventually relegated to a B-side, it's possibly the finest B-side of the Beatles' career, and one of the best tracks the group ever made. As with many of Lennon's songs from this period, the song was a collage of many different elements pulled from his environment and surroundings, and turned into something that was rather more than the sum of its parts. For its musical inspiration, Lennon pulled from, of all things, a police siren going past his house. (For those who are unfamiliar with what old British police sirens sounded like, as opposed to the ones in use for most of my lifetime or in other countries, here's a recording of one): [Excerpt: British police siren ca 1968] That inspired Lennon to write a snatch of lyric to go with the sound of the siren, starting "Mister city policeman sitting pretty". He had two other song fragments, one about sitting in the garden, and one about sitting on a cornflake, and he told Hunter Davies, who was doing interviews for his authorised biography of the group, “I don't know how it will all end up. Perhaps they'll turn out to be different parts of the same song.” But the final element that made these three disparate sections into a song was a letter that came from Stephen Bayley, a pupil at Lennon's old school Quarry Bank, who told him that the teachers at the school -- who Lennon always thought of as having suppressed his creativity -- were now analysing Beatles lyrics in their lessons. Lennon decided to come up with some nonsense that they couldn't analyse -- though as nonsensical as the finished song is, there's an underlying anger to a lot of it that possibly comes from Lennon thinking of his school experiences. And so Lennon asked his old schoolfriend Pete Shotton to remind him of a disgusting playground chant that kids used to sing in schools in the North West of England (and which they still sang with very minor variations at my own school decades later -- childhood folklore has a remarkably long life). That rhyme went: Yellow matter custard, green snot pie All mixed up with a dead dog's eye Slap it on a butty, nice and thick, And drink it down with a cup of cold sick Lennon combined some parts of this with half-remembered fragments of Lewis Carrol's The Walrus and the Carpenter, and with some punning references to things that were going on in his own life and those of his friends -- though it's difficult to know exactly which of the stories attached to some of the more incomprehensible bits of the lyrics are accurate. The story that the line "I am the eggman" is about a sexual proclivity of Eric Burdon of the Animals seems plausible, while the contention by some that the phrase "semolina pilchard" is a reference to Sgt Pilcher, the corrupt policeman who had arrested three of the Rolling Stones, and would later arrest Lennon, on drugs charges, seems less likely. The track is a masterpiece of production, but the release of the basic take on Anthology 2 in 1996 showed that the underlying performance, before George Martin worked his magic with the overdubs, is still a remarkable piece of work: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "I am the Walrus (Anthology 2 version)"] But Martin's arrangement and production turned the track from a merely very good track into a masterpiece. The string arrangement, very much in the same mould as that for "Strawberry Fields Forever" but giving a very different effect with its harsh cello glissandi, is the kind of thing one expects from Martin, but there's also the chanting of the Mike Sammes Singers, who were more normally booked for sessions like Englebert Humperdinck's "The Last Waltz": [Excerpt: Engelbert Humperdinck, "The Last Waltz"] But here were instead asked to imitate the sound of the strings, make grunting noises, and generally go very far out of their normal comfort zone: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "I am the Walrus"] But the most fascinating piece of production in the entire track is an idea that seems to have been inspired by people like John Cage -- a live feed of a radio being tuned was played into the mono mix from about the halfway point, and whatever was on the radio at the time was captured: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "I am the Walrus"] This is also why for many decades it was impossible to have a true stereo mix of the track -- the radio part was mixed directly into the mono mix, and it wasn't until the 1990s that someone thought to track down a copy of the original radio broadcasts and recreate the process. In one of those bits of synchronicity that happen more often than you would think when you're creating aleatory art, and which are why that kind of process can be so appealing, one bit of dialogue from the broadcast of King Lear that was on the radio as the mixing was happening was *perfectly* timed: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "I am the Walrus"] After completing work on the basic track for "I am the Walrus", the group worked on two more songs for the film, George's "Blue Jay Way" and a group-composed twelve-bar blues instrumental called "Flying", before starting production. Magical Mystery Tour, as an idea, was inspired in equal parts by Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters, the collective of people we talked about in the episode on the Grateful Dead who travelled across the US extolling the virtues of psychedelic drugs, and by mystery tours, a British working-class tradition that has rather fallen out of fashion in the intervening decades. A mystery tour would generally be put on by a coach-hire company, and would be a day trip to an unannounced location -- though the location would in fact be very predictable, and would be a seaside town within a couple of hours' drive of its starting point. In the case of the ones the Beatles remembered from their own childhoods, this would be to a coastal town in Lancashire or Wales, like Blackpool, Rhyl, or Prestatyn. A coachload of people would pay to be driven to this random location, get very drunk and have a singsong on the bus, and spend a day wherever they were taken. McCartney's plan was simple -- they would gather a group of passengers and replicate this experience over the course of several days, and film whatever went on, but intersperse that with more planned out sketches and musical numbers. For this reason, along with the Beatles and their associates, the cast included some actors found through Spotlight and some of the group's favourite performers, like the comedian Nat Jackley (whose comedy sequence directed by John was cut from the final film) and the surrealist poet/singer/comedian Ivor Cutler: [Excerpt: Ivor Cutler, "I'm Going in a Field"] The film also featured an appearance by a new band who would go on to have great success over the next year, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. They had recorded their first single in Abbey Road at the same time as the Beatles were recording Revolver, but rather than being progressive psychedelic rock, it had been a remake of a 1920s novelty song: [Excerpt: The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, "My Brother Makes the Noises For the Talkies"] Their performance in Magical Mystery Tour was very different though -- they played a fifties rock pastiche written by band leaders Vivian Stanshall and Neil Innes while a stripper took off her clothes. While several other musical sequences were recorded for the film, including one by the band Traffic and one by Cutler, other than the Beatles tracks only the Bonzos' song made it into the finished film: [Excerpt: The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, "Death Cab for Cutie"] That song, thirty years later, would give its name to a prominent American alternative rock band. Incidentally the same night that Magical Mystery Tour was first broadcast was also the night that the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band first appeared on a TV show, Do Not Adjust Your Set, which featured three future members of the Monty Python troupe -- Eric Idle, Michael Palin, and Terry Jones. Over the years the careers of the Bonzos, the Pythons, and the Beatles would become increasingly intertwined, with George Harrison in particular striking up strong friendships and working relationships with Bonzos Neil Innes and "Legs" Larry Smith. The filming of Magical Mystery Tour went about as well as one might expect from a film made by four directors, none of whom had any previous filmmaking experience, and none of whom had any business knowledge. The Beatles were used to just turning up and having things magically done for them by other people, and had no real idea of the infrastructure challenges that making a film, even a low-budget one, actually presents, and ended up causing a great deal of stress to almost everyone involved. The completed film was shown on TV on Boxing Day 1967 to general confusion and bemusement. It didn't help that it was originally broadcast in black and white, and so for example the scene showing shifting landscapes (outtake footage from Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, tinted various psychedelic colours) over the "Flying" music, just looked like grey fuzz. But also, it just wasn't what people were expecting from a Beatles film. This was a ramshackle, plotless, thing more inspired by Andy Warhol's underground films than by the kind of thing the group had previously appeared in, and it was being presented as Christmas entertainment for all the family. And to be honest, it's not even a particularly good example of underground filmmaking -- though it looks like a masterpiece when placed next to something like the Bee Gees' similar effort, Cucumber Castle. But there are enough interesting sequences in there for the project not to be a complete failure -- and the deleted scenes on the DVD release, including the performances by Cutler and Traffic, and the fact that the film was edited down from ten hours to fifty-two minutes, makes one wonder if there's a better film that could be constructed from the original footage. Either way, the reaction to the film was so bad that McCartney actually appeared on David Frost's TV show the next day to defend it and, essentially, apologise. While they were editing the film, the group were also continuing to work in the studio, including on two new McCartney songs, "The Fool on the Hill", which was included in Magical Mystery Tour, and "Hello Goodbye", which wasn't included on the film's soundtrack but was released as the next single, with "I Am the Walrus" as the B-side: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Hello Goodbye"] Incidentally, in the UK the soundtrack to Magical Mystery Tour was released as a double-EP rather than as an album (in the US, the group's recent singles and B-sides were added to turn it into a full-length album, which is how it's now generally available). "I Am the Walrus" was on the double-EP as well as being on the single's B-side, and the double-EP got to number two on the singles charts, meaning "I am the Walrus" was on the records at number one and number two at the same time. Before it became obvious that the film, if not the soundtrack, was a disaster, the group held a launch party on the twenty-first of December, 1967. The band members went along in fancy dress, as did many of the cast and crew -- the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band performed at the party. Mike Love and Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys also turned up at the party, and apparently at one point jammed with the Bonzos, and according to some, but not all, reports, a couple of the Beatles joined in as well. Love and Johnston had both just met the Maharishi for the first time a couple of days earlier, and Love had been as impressed as the Beatles were, and it may have been at this party that the group mentioned to Love that they would soon be going on a retreat in India with the guru -- a retreat that was normally meant for training TM instructors, but this time seemed to be more about getting celebrities involved. Love would also end up going with them. That party was also the first time that Cynthia Lennon had an inkling that John might not be as faithful to her as she previously supposed. John had always "joked" about being attracted to George Harrison's wife, Patti, but this time he got a little more blatant about his attraction than he ever had previously, to the point that he made Cynthia cry, and Cynthia's friend, the pop star Lulu, decided to give Lennon a very public dressing-down for his cruelty to his wife, a dressing-down that must have been a sight to behold, as Lennon was dressed as a Teddy boy while Lulu was in a Shirley Temple costume. It's a sign of how bad the Lennons' marriage was at this point that this was the second time in a two-month period where Cynthia had ended up crying because of John at a film launch party and been comforted by a female pop star. In October, Cilla Black had held a party to celebrate the belated release of John's film How I Won the War, and during the party Georgie Fame had come up to Black and said, confused, "Cynthia Lennon is hiding in your wardrobe". Black went and had a look, and Cynthia explained to her “I'm waiting to see how long it is before John misses me and comes looking for me.” Black's response had been “You'd better face it, kid—he's never gonna come.” Also at the Magical Mystery Tour party was Lennon's father, now known as Freddie Lennon, and his new nineteen-year-old fiancee. While Hunter Davis had been researching the Beatles' biography, he'd come across some evidence that the version of Freddie's attitude towards John that his mother's side of the family had always told him -- that Freddie had been a cruel and uncaring husband who had not actually wanted to be around his son -- might not be the whole of the truth, and that the mother who he had thought of as saintly might also have had some part to play in their marriage breaking down and Freddie not seeing his son for twenty years. The two had made some tentative attempts at reconciliation, and indeed Freddie would even come and live with John for a while, though within a couple of years the younger Lennon's heart would fully harden against his father again. Of course, the things that John always resented his father for were pretty much exactly the kind of things that Lennon himself was about to do. It was around this time as well that Derek Taylor gave the Beatles copies of the debut album by a young singer/songwriter named Harry Nilsson. Nilsson will be getting his own episode down the line, but not for a couple of years at my current rates, so it's worth bringing that up here, because that album became a favourite of all the Beatles, and would have a huge influence on their songwriting for the next couple of years, and because one song on the album, "1941", must have resonated particularly deeply with Lennon right at this moment -- an autobiographical song by Nilsson about how his father had left him and his mother when he was a small boy, and about his own fear that, as his first marriage broke down, he was repeating the pattern with his stepson Scott: [Excerpt: Nilsson, "1941"] The other major event of December 1967, rather overshadowed by the Magical Mystery Tour disaster the next day, was that on Christmas Day Paul McCartney and Jane Asher announced their engagement. A few days later, George Harrison flew to India. After John and Paul had had their outside film projects -- John starring in How I Won The War and Paul doing the soundtrack for The Family Way -- the other two Beatles more or less simultaneously did their own side project films, and again one acted while the other did a soundtrack. Both of these projects were in the rather odd subgenre of psychedelic shambolic comedy film that sprang up in the mid sixties, a subgenre that produced a lot of fascinating films, though rather fewer good ones. Indeed, both of them were in the subsubgenre of shambolic psychedelic *sex* comedies. In Ringo's case, he had a small role in the film Candy, which was based on the novel we mentioned in the last episode, co-written by Terry Southern, which was in itself a loose modern rewriting of Voltaire's Candide. Unfortunately, like such other classics of this subgenre as Anthony Newley's Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?, Candy has dated *extremely* badly, and unless you find repeated scenes of sexual assault and rape, ethnic stereotypes, and jokes about deformity and disfigurement to be an absolute laugh riot, it's not a film that's worth seeking out, and Starr's part in it is not a major one. Harrison's film was of the same basic genre -- a film called Wonderwall about a mad scientist who discovers a way to see through the walls of his apartment, and gets to see a photographer taking sexy photographs of a young woman named Penny Lane, played by Jane Birkin: [Excerpt: Some Wonderwall film dialogue ripped from the Blu-Ray] Wonderwall would, of course, later inspire the title of a song by Oasis, and that's what the film is now best known for, but it's a less-unwatchable film than Candy, and while still problematic it's less so. Which is something. Harrison had been the Beatle with least involvement in Magical Mystery Tour -- McCartney had been the de facto director, Starr had been the lead character and the only one with much in the way of any acting to do, and Lennon had written the film's standout scene and its best song, and had done a little voiceover narration. Harrison, by contrast, barely has anything to do in the film apart from the one song he contributed, "Blue Jay Way", and he said of the project “I had no idea what was happening and maybe I didn't pay enough attention because my problem, basically, was that I was in another world, I didn't really belong; I was just an appendage.” He'd expressed his discomfort to his friend Joe Massot, who was about to make his first feature film. Massot had got to know Harrison during the making of his previous film, Reflections on Love, a mostly-silent short which had starred Harrison's sister-in-law Jenny Boyd, and which had been photographed by Robert Freeman, who had been the photographer for the Beatles' album covers from With the Beatles through Rubber Soul, and who had taken most of the photos that Klaus Voorman incorporated into the cover of Revolver (and whose professional association with the Beatles seemed to come to an end around the same time he discovered that Lennon had been having an affair with his wife). Massot asked Harrison to write the music for the film, and told Harrison he would have complete free rein to make whatever music he wanted, so long as it fit the timing of the film, and so Harrison decided to create a mixture of Western rock music and the Indian music he loved. Harrison started recording the music at the tail end of 1967, with sessions with several London-based Indian musicians and John Barham, an orchestrator who had worked with Ravi Shankar on Shankar's collaborations with Western musicians, including the Alice in Wonderland soundtrack we talked about in the "All You Need is Love" episode. For the Western music, he used the Remo Four, a Merseybeat group who had been on the scene even before the Beatles, and which contained a couple of classmates of Paul McCartney, but who had mostly acted as backing musicians for other artists. They'd backed Johnny Sandon, the former singer with the Searchers, on a couple of singles, before becoming the backing band for Tommy Quickly, a NEMS artist who was unsuccessful despite starting his career with a Lennon/McCartney song, "Tip of My Tongue": [Excerpt: Tommy Quickly, "Tip of My Tongue"] The Remo Four would later, after a lineup change, become Ashton, Gardner and Dyke, who would become one-hit wonders in the seventies, and during the Wonderwall sessions they recorded a song that went unreleased at the time, and which would later go on to be rerecorded by Ashton, Gardner, and Dyke. "In the First Place" also features Harrison on backing vocals and possibly guitar, and was not submitted for the film because Harrison didn't believe that Massot wanted any vocal tracks, but the recording was later discovered and used in a revised director's cut of the film in the nineties: [Excerpt: The Remo Four, "In the First Place"] But for the most part the Remo Four were performing instrumentals written by Harrison. They weren't the only Western musicians performing on the sessions though -- Peter Tork of the Monkees dropped by these sessions and recorded several short banjo solos, which were used in the film soundtrack but not in the soundtrack album (presumably because Tork was contracted to another label): [Excerpt: Peter Tork, "Wonderwall banjo solo"] Another musician who was under contract to another label was Eric Clapton, who at the time was playing with The Cream, and who vaguely knew Harrison and so joined in for the track "Ski-ing", playing lead guitar under the cunning, impenetrable, pseudonym "Eddie Clayton", with Harrison on sitar, Starr on drums, and session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan on bass: [Excerpt: George Harrison, "Ski-ing"] But the bulk of the album was recorded in EMI's studios in the city that is now known as Mumbai but at the time was called Bombay. The studio facilities in India had up to that point only had a mono tape recorder, and Bhaskar Menon, one of the top executives at EMI's Indian division and later the head of EMI music worldwide, personally brought the first stereo tape recorder to the studio to aid in Harrison's recording. The music was all composed by Harrison and performed by the Indian musicians, and while Harrison was composing in an Indian mode, the musicians were apparently fascinated by how Western it sounded to them: [Excerpt: George Harrison, "Microbes"] While he was there, Harrison also got the instrumentalists to record another instrumental track, which wasn't to be used for the film: [Excerpt: George Harrison, "The Inner Light (instrumental)"] That track would, instead, become part of what was to be Harrison's first composition to make a side of a Beatles single. After John and George had appeared on the David Frost show talking about the Maharishi, in September 1967, George had met a lecturer in Sanskrit named Juan Mascaró, who wrote to Harrison enclosing a book he'd compiled of translations of religious texts, telling him he'd admired "Within You Without You" and thought it would be interesting if Harrison set something from the Tao Te Ching to music. He suggested a text that, in his translation, read: "Without going out of my door I can know all things on Earth Without looking out of my window I can know the ways of heaven For the farther one travels, the less one knows The sage, therefore Arrives without travelling Sees all without looking Does all without doing" Harrison took that text almost verbatim, though he created a second verse by repeating the first few lines with "you" replacing "I" -- concerned that listeners might think he was just talking about himself, and wouldn't realise it was a more general statement -- and he removed the "the sage, therefore" and turned the last few lines into imperative commands rather than declarative statements: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "The Inner Light"] The song has come in for some criticism over the years as being a little Orientalist, because in critics' eyes it combines Chinese philosophy with Indian music, as if all these things are equally "Eastern" and so all the same really. On the other hand there's a good argument that an English songwriter taking a piece of writing written in Chinese and translated into English by a Spanish man and setting it to music inspired by Indian musical modes is a wonderful example of cultural cross-pollination. As someone who's neither Chinese nor Indian I wouldn't want to take a stance on it, but clearly the other Beatles were impressed by it -- they put it out as the B-side to their next single, even though the only Beatles on it are Harrison and McCartney, with the latter adding a small amount of harmony vocal: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "The Inner Light"] And it wasn't because the group were out of material. They were planning on going to Rishikesh to study with the Maharishi, and wanted to get a single out for release while they were away, and so in one week they completed the vocal overdubs on "The Inner Light" and recorded three other songs, two by John and one by Paul. All three of the group's songwriters brought in songs that were among their best. John's first contribution was a song whose lyrics he later described as possibly the best he ever wrote, "Across the Universe". He said the lyrics were “purely inspirational and were given to me as boom! I don't own it, you know; it came through like that … Such an extraordinary meter and I can never repeat it! It's not a matter of craftsmanship, it wrote itself. It drove me out of bed. I didn't want to write it … It's like being possessed, like a psychic or a medium.” But while Lennon liked the song, he was never happy with the recording of it. They tried all sorts of things to get the sound he heard in his head, including bringing in some fans who were hanging around outside to sing backing vocals. He said of the track "I was singing out of tune and instead of getting a decent choir, we got fans from outside, Apple Scruffs or whatever you call them. They came in and were singing all off-key. Nobody was interested in doing the tune originally.” [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Across the Universe"] The "jai guru deva" chorus there is the first reference to the teachings of the Maharishi in one of the Beatles' records -- Guru Dev was the Maharishi's teacher, and the phrase "Jai guru dev" is a Sanskrit one which I've seen variously translated as "victory to the great teacher", and "hail to the greatness within you". Lennon would say shortly before his death “The Beatles didn't make a good record out of it. I think subconsciously sometimes we – I say ‘we' though I think Paul did it more than the rest of us – Paul would sort of subconsciously try and destroy a great song … Usually we'd spend hours doing little detailed cleaning-ups of Paul's songs, when it came to mine, especially if it was a great song like ‘Strawberry Fields' or ‘Across The Universe', somehow this atmosphere of looseness and casualness and experimentation would creep in … It was a _lousy_ track of a great song and I was so disappointed by it …The guitars are out of tune and I'm singing out of tune because I'm psychologically destroyed and nobody's supporting me or helping me with it, and the song was never done properly.” Of course, this is only Lennon's perception, and it's one that the other participants would disagree with. George Martin, in particular, was always rather hurt by the implication that Lennon's songs had less attention paid to them, and he would always say that the problem was that Lennon in the studio would always say "yes, that's great", and only later complain that it hadn't been what he wanted. No doubt McCartney did put in more effort on his own songs than on Lennon's -- everyone has a bias towards their own work, and McCartney's only human -- but personally I suspect that a lot of the problem comes down to the two men having very different personalities. McCartney had very strong ideas about his own work and would drive the others insane with his nitpicky attention to detail. Lennon had similarly strong ideas, but didn't have the attention span to put the time and effort in to force his vision on others, and didn't have the technical knowledge to express his ideas in words they'd understand. He expected Martin and the other Beatles to work miracles, and they did -- but not the miracles he would have worked. That track was, rather than being chosen for the next single, given to Spike Milligan, who happened to be visiting the studio and was putting together an album for the environmental charity the World Wildlife Fund. The album was titled "No One's Gonna Change Our World": [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Across the Universe"] That track is historic in another way -- it would be the last time that George Harrison would play sitar on a Beatles record, and it effectively marks the end of the period of psychedelia and Indian influence that had started with "Norwegian Wood" three years earlier, and which many fans consider their most creative period. Indeed, shortly after the recording, Harrison would give up the sitar altogether and stop playing it. He loved sitar music as much as he ever had, and he still thought that Indian classical music spoke to him in ways he couldn't express, and he continued to be friends with Ravi Shankar for the rest of his life, and would only become more interested in Indian religious thought. But as he spent time with Shankar he realised he would never be as good on the sitar as he hoped. He said later "I thought, 'Well, maybe I'm better off being a pop singer-guitar-player-songwriter – whatever-I'm-supposed-to-be' because I've seen a thousand sitar-players in India who are twice as better as I'll ever be. And only one of them Ravi thought was going to be a good player." We don't have a precise date for when it happened -- I suspect it was in June 1968, so a few months after the "Across the Universe" recording -- but Shankar told Harrison that rather than try to become a master of a music that he hadn't encountered until his twenties, perhaps he should be making the music that was his own background. And as Harrison put it "I realised that was riding my bike down a street in Liverpool and hearing 'Heartbreak Hotel' coming out of someone's house.": [Excerpt: Elvis Presley, "Heartbreak Hotel"] In early 1968 a lot of people seemed to be thinking along the same lines, as if Christmas 1967 had been the flick of a switch and instead of whimsy and ornamentation, the thing to do was to make music that was influenced by early rock and roll. In the US the Band and Bob Dylan were making music that was consciously shorn of all studio experimentation, while in the UK there was a revival of fifties rock and roll. In April 1968 both "Peggy Sue" and "Rock Around the Clock" reentered the top forty in the UK, and the Who were regularly including "Summertime Blues" in their sets. Fifties nostalgia, which would make occasional comebacks for at least the next forty years, was in its first height, and so it's not surprising that Paul McCartney's song, "Lady Madonna", which became the A-side of the next single, has more than a little of the fifties about it. Of course, the track isn't *completely* fifties in its origins -- one of the inspirations for the track seems to have been the Rolling Stones' then-recent hit "Let's Spend The Night Together": [Excerpt: The Rolling Stones, "Let's Spend the Night Together"] But the main source for the song's music -- and for the sound of the finished record -- seems to have been Johnny Parker's piano part on Humphrey Lyttleton's "Bad Penny Blues", a hit single engineered by Joe Meek in the fifties: [Excerpt: Humphrey Lyttleton, "Bad Penny Blues"] That song seems to have been on the group's mind for a while, as a working title for "With a Little Help From My Friends" had at one point been "Bad Finger Blues" -- a title that would later give the name to a band on Apple. McCartney took Parker's piano part as his inspiration, and as he later put it “‘Lady Madonna' was me sitting down at the piano trying to write a bluesy boogie-woogie thing. I got my left hand doing an arpeggio thing with the chord, an ascending boogie-woogie left hand, then a descending right hand. I always liked that, the  juxtaposition of a line going down meeting a line going up." [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Lady Madonna"] That idea, incidentally, is an interesting reversal of what McCartney had done on "Hello, Goodbye", where the bass line goes down while the guitar moves up -- the two lines moving away from each other: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Hello Goodbye"] Though that isn't to say there's no descending bass in "Lady Madonna" -- the bridge has a wonderful sequence where the bass just *keeps* *descending*: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Lady Madonna"] Lyrically, McCartney was inspired by a photo in National Geographic of a woman in Malaysia, captioned “Mountain Madonna: with one child at her breast and another laughing into her face, sees her quality of life threatened.” But as he put it “The people I was brought up amongst were often Catholic; there are lots of Catholics in Liverpool because of the Irish connection and they are often religious. When they have a baby I think they see a big connection between themselves and the Virgin Mary with her baby. So the original concept was the Virgin Mary but it quickly became symbolic of every woman; the Madonna image but as applied to ordinary working class woman. It's really a tribute to the mother figure, it's a tribute to women.” Musically though, the song was more a tribute to the fifties -- while the inspiration had been a skiffle hit by Humphrey Lyttleton, as soon as McCartney started playing it he'd thought of Fats Domino, and the lyric reflects that to an extent -- just as Domino's "Blue Monday" details the days of the week for a weary working man who only gets to enjoy himself on Saturday night, "Lady Madonna"'s lyrics similarly look at the work a mother has to do every day -- though as McCartney later noted  "I was writing the words out to learn it for an American TV show and I realised I missed out Saturday ... So I figured it must have been a real night out." The vocal was very much McCartney doing a Domino impression -- something that wasn't lost on Fats, who cut his own version of the track later that year: [Excerpt: Fats Domino, "Lady Madonna"] The group were so productive at this point, right before the journey to India, that they actually cut another song *while they were making a video for "Lady Madonna"*. They were booked into Abbey Road to film themselves performing the song so it could be played on Top of the Pops while they were away, but instead they decided to use the time to cut a new song -- John had a partially-written song, "Hey Bullfrog", which was roughly the same tempo as "Lady Madonna", so they could finish that up and then re-edit the footage to match the record. The song was quickly finished and became "Hey Bulldog": [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Hey Bulldog"] One of Lennon's best songs from this period, "Hey Bulldog" was oddly chosen only to go on the soundtrack of Yellow Submarine. Either the band didn't think much of it because it had come so easily, or it was just assigned to the film because they were planning on being away for several months and didn't have any other projects they were working on. The extent of the group's contribution to the film was minimal – they were not very hands-on, and the film, which was mostly done as an attempt to provide a third feature film for their United Artists contract without them having to do any work, was made by the team that had done the Beatles cartoon on American TV. There's some evidence that they had a small amount of input in the early story stages, but in general they saw the cartoon as an irrelevance to them -- the only things they contributed were the four songs "All Together Now", "It's All Too Much", "Hey Bulldog" and "Only a Northern Song", and a brief filmed appearance for the very end of the film, recorded in January: [Excerpt: Yellow Submarine film end] McCartney also took part in yet another session in early February 1968, one produced by Peter Asher, his fiancee's brother, and former singer with Peter and Gordon. Asher had given up on being a pop star and was trying to get into the business side of music, and he was starting out as a producer, producing a single by Paul Jones, the former lead singer of Manfred Mann. The A-side of the single, "And the Sun Will Shine", was written by the Bee Gees, the band that Robert Stigwood was managing: [Excerpt: Paul Jones, "And the Sun Will Shine"] While the B-side was an original by Jones, "The Dog Presides": [Excerpt: Paul Jones, "The Dog Presides"] Those tracks featured two former members of the Yardbirds, Jeff Beck and Paul Samwell-Smith, on guitar and bass, and Nicky Hopkins on piano. Asher asked McCartney to play drums on both sides of the single, saying later "I always thought he was a great, underrated drummer." McCartney was impressed by Asher's production, and asked him to get involved with the new Apple Records label that would be set up when the group returned from India. Asher eventually became head of A&R for the label. And even before "Lady Madonna" was mixed, the Beatles were off to India. Mal Evans, their roadie, went ahead with all their luggage on the fourteenth of February, so he could sort out transport for them on the other end, and then John and George followed on the fifteenth, with their wives Pattie and Cynthia and Pattie's sister Jenny (John and Cynthia's son Julian had been left with his grandmother while they went -- normally Cynthia wouldn't abandon Julian for an extended period of time, but she saw the trip as a way to repair their strained marriage). Paul and Ringo followed four days later, with Ringo's wife Maureen and Paul's fiancee Jane Asher. The retreat in Rishikesh was to become something of a celebrity affair. Along with the Beatles came their friend the singer-songwriter Donovan, and Donovan's friend and songwriting partner, whose name I'm not going to say here because it's a slur for Romani people, but will be known to any Donovan fans. Donovan at this point was also going through changes. Like the Beatles, he was largely turning away from drug use and towards meditation, and had recently written his hit single "There is a Mountain" based around a saying from Zen Buddhism: [Excerpt: Donovan, "There is a Mountain"] That was from his double-album A Gift From a Flower to a Garden, which had come out in December 1967. But also like John and Paul he was in the middle of the breakdown of a long-term relationship, and while he would remain with his then-partner until 1970, and even have another child with her, he was secretly in love with another woman. In fact he was secretly in love with two other women. One of them, Brian Jones' ex-girlfriend Linda, had moved to LA, become the partner of the singer Gram Parsons, and had appeared in the documentary You Are What You Eat with the Band and Tiny Tim. She had fallen out of touch with Donovan, though she would later become his wife. Incidentally, she had a son to Brian Jones who had been abandoned by his rock-star father -- the son's name is Julian. The other woman with whom Donovan was in love was Jenny Boyd, the sister of George Harrison's wife Pattie.  Jenny at the time was in a relationship with Alexis Mardas, a TV repairman and huckster who presented himself as an electronics genius to the Beatles, who nicknamed him Magic Alex, and so she was unavailable, but Donovan had written a song about her, released as a single just before they all went to Rishikesh: [Excerpt: Donovan, "Jennifer Juniper"] Donovan considered himself and George Harrison to be on similar spiritual paths and called Harrison his "spirit-brother", though Donovan was more interested in Buddhism, which Harrison considered a corruption of the more ancient Hinduism, and Harrison encouraged Donovan to read Autobiography of a Yogi. It's perhaps worth noting that Donovan's father had a different take on the subject though, saying "You're not going to study meditation in India, son, you're following that wee lassie Jenny" Donovan and his friend weren't the only other celebrities to come to Rishikesh. The actor Mia Farrow, who had just been through a painful divorce from Frank Sinatra, and had just made Rosemary's Baby, a horror film directed by Roman Polanski with exteriors shot at the Dakota building in New York, arrived with her sister Prudence. Also on the trip was Paul Horn, a jazz saxophonist who had played with many of the greats of jazz, not least of them Duke Ellington, whose Sweet Thursday Horn had played alto sax on: [Excerpt: Duke Ellington, "Zweet Zursday"] Horn was another musician who had been inspired to investigate Indian spirituality and music simultaneously, and the previous year he had recorded an album, "In India," of adaptations of ragas, with Ravi Shankar and Alauddin Khan: [Excerpt: Paul Horn, "Raga Vibhas"] Horn would go on to become one of the pioneers of what would later be termed "New Age" music, combining jazz with music from various non-Western traditions. Horn had also worked as a session musician, and one of the tracks he'd played on was "I Know There's an Answer" from the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album: [Excerpt: The Beach Boys, "I Know There's an Answer"] Mike Love, who co-wrote that track and is one of the lead singers on it, was also in Rishikesh. While as we'll see not all of the celebrities on the trip would remain practitioners of Transcendental Meditation, Love would be profoundly affected by the trip, and remains a vocal proponent of TM to this day. Indeed, his whole band at the time were heavily into TM. While Love was in India, the other Beach Boys were working on the Friends album without him -- Love only appears on four tracks on that album -- and one of the tracks they recorded in his absence was titled "Transcendental Meditation": [Excerpt: The Beach Boys, "Transcendental Meditation"] But the trip would affect Love's songwriting, as it would affect all of the musicians there. One of the few songs on the Friends album on which Love appears is "Anna Lee, the Healer", a song which is lyrically inspired by the trip in the most literal sense, as it's about a masseuse Love met in Rishikesh: [Excerpt: The Beach Boys, "Anna Lee, the Healer"] The musicians in the group all influenced and inspired each other as is likely to happen in such circumstances. Sometimes, it would be a matter of trivial joking, as when the Beatles decided to perform an off-the-cuff song about Guru Dev, and did it in the Beach Boys style: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Spiritual Regeneration"] And that turned partway through into a celebration of Love for his birthday: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Spiritual Regeneration"] Decades later, Love would return the favour, writing a song about Harrison and their time together in Rishikesh. Like Donovan, Love seems to have considered Harrison his "spiritual brother", and he titled the song "Pisces Brothers": [Excerpt: Mike Love, "Pisces Brothers"] The musicians on the trip were also often making suggestions to each other about songs that would become famous for them. The musicians had all brought acoustic guitars, apart obviously from Ringo, who got a set of tabla drums when George ordered some Indian instruments to be delivered. George got a sitar, as at this point he hadn't quite given up on the instrument, and he gave Donovan a tamboura. Donovan started playing a melody on the tamboura, which is normally a drone instrument, inspired by the Scottish folk music he had grown up with, and that became his "Hurdy-Gurdy Man": [Excerpt: Donovan, "Hurdy Gurdy Man"] Harrison actually helped him with the song, writing a final verse inspired by the Maharishi's teachings, but in the studio Donovan's producer Mickie Most told him to cut the verse because the song was overlong, which apparently annoyed Harrison. Donovan includes that verse in his live performances of the song though -- usually while doing a fairly terrible impersonation of Harrison: [Excerpt: Donovan, "Hurdy Gurdy Man (live)"] And similarly, while McCartney was working on a song pastiching Chuck Berry and the Beach Boys, but singing about the USSR rather than the USA, Love suggested to him that for a middle-eight he might want to sing about the girls in the various Soviet regions: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Back in the USSR"] As all the guitarists on the retreat only had acoustic instruments, they were very keen to improve their acoustic playing, and they turned to Donovan, who unlike the rest of them was primarily an acoustic player, and one from a folk background. Donovan taught them the rudiments of Travis picking, the guitar style we talked about way back in the episodes on the Everly Brothers, as well as some of the tunings that had been introduced to British folk music by Davey Graham, giving them a basic grounding in the principles of English folk-baroque guitar, a style that had developed over the previous few years. Donovan has said in his autobiography that Lennon picked the technique up quickly (and that Harrison had already learned Travis picking from Chet Atkins records) but that McCartney didn't have the application to learn the style, though he picked up bits. That seems very unlike anything else I've read anywhere about Lennon and McCartney -- no-one has ever accused Lennon of having a surfeit of application -- and reading Donovan's book he seems to dislike McCartney and like Lennon and Harrison, so possibly that enters into it. But also, it may just be that Lennon was more receptive to Donovan's style at the time. According to McCartney, even before going to Rishikesh Lennon had been in a vaguely folk-music and country mode, and the small number of tapes he'd brought with him to Rishikesh included Buddy Holly, Dylan, and the progressive folk band The Incredible String Band, whose music would be a big influence on both Lennon and McCartney for the next year: [Excerpt: The Incredible String Band, "First Girl I Loved"] According to McCartney Lennon also brought "a tape the singer Jake Thackray had done for him... He was one of the people we bumped into at Abbey Road. John liked his stuff, which he'd heard on television. Lots of wordplay and very suggestive, so very much up John's alley. I was fascinated by his unusual guitar style. John did ‘Happiness Is A Warm Gun' as a Jake Thackray thing at one point, as I recall.” Thackray was a British chansonnier, who sang sweetly poignant but also often filthy songs about Yorkshire life, and his humour in particular will have appealed to Lennon. There's a story of Lennon meeting Thackray in Abbey Road and singing the whole of Thackray's song "The Statues", about two drunk men fighting a male statue to defend the honour of a female statue, to him: [Excerpt: Jake Thackray, "The Statues"] Given this was the music that Lennon was listening to, it's unsurprising that he was more receptive to Donovan's lessons, and the new guitar style he learned allowed him to expand his songwriting, at precisely the same time he was largely clean of drugs for the first time in several years, and he started writing some of the best songs he would ever write, often using these new styles: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Julia"] That song is about Lennon's dead mother -- the first time he ever addressed her directly in a song, though  it would be far from the last -- but it's also about someone else. That phrase "Ocean child" is a direct translation of the Japanese name "Yoko". We've talked about Yoko Ono a bit in recent episodes, and even briefly in a previous Beatles episode, but it's here that she really enters the story of the Beatles. Unfortunately, exactly *how* her relationship with John Lennon, which was to become one of the great legendary love stories in rock and roll history, actually started is the subject of some debate. Both of them were married when they first got together, and there have also been suggestions that Ono was more interested in McCartney than in Lennon at first -- suggestions which everyone involved has denied, and those denials have the ring of truth about them, but if that was the case it would also explain some of Lennon's more perplexing behaviour over the next year. By all accounts there was a certain amount of finessing of the story th