Stumbled upon this in the Wall Street Journal this morning and thought you would all like to read the review of tonight’s airing on PBS of Magical Mystery Tour Revisited:
WSJ Review: Magical Mystery Tour Revisited
Have a happy holiday, Beatles Freaks!
Best,
Jenn
‘The John Lennon Hour‘ premiers tonight, Sunday, October 7th at 5 pm (est), 8 pm (pst) on Beatles-A-Rama!!! radio. It’s a weekly show tracing the life of John Lennon from birth until his untimely death. The show is being hosted by Beatles author Jude Southerland Kessler. Ms. Kessler is the author of the John Lennon Series.
Here’s is a link to the press release about this radio show. If you get a chance to listen, feel free to offer your own reviews in the comments section of this post:
Beatles Expert and Author to Host Weekly Radio Show about John Lennon | PRLog.
I look forward to your opinions.
Filed under Uncategorized
I’m not going to offer any reviews for these two books that recently were released on Kindle. Instead, I’ll just give you a quick note on what they are.
Please Please Me by Alan Hendler is a 39 page novella on the making of The Beatles ‘Please Please Me’ album. Great detail is written about the recording of the album but, the best way to describe this work of fiction is, “The names are the same, but the story has been changed to protect the innocent.”
It costs 99 cents on Amazon.com
She Loves You (excerpt) is a 44 page excerpt from Jude Kessler’s upcoming book by the same name. The 3 chapters contained in this section of the expanded biography contained a detailed, blow by blow account of the writing and recording of the Beatles’ song, “She Loves You” in 1963.
This book is 99 cents at Amazon.com.
If anyone would like to post their reviews of these two books, feel free to do so in the comment section of this post.
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After a four year battle with prostate cancer, internet radio station owner needs a little help from his friends through an online fundraising campaign.
Patrick Helmstetter (aka Pat Matthews) has two great passions: the Beatles and radio. His professional foray into radio began in the summer of 1970, as a part-time DJ in Harvey, Louisiana and since then, he’s never looked back. In early 1964, Pat attended a party where they played The Beatles’ I Want To Hold Your Hand over and over…no one had even heard of The Beatles at the time, but he knew he was hooked on the Fab Four! With the take-off of Internet radio in the late 90’s, Pat eventually found his niche in Beatles-A-Rama!!!, the internet radio station he created in 2001, which over the past decade has grown to over 30,000 listeners. In July 2006, Beatles-A-Rama!!! was included in a write-up about internet radio in Rolling Stone magazine and it’s been called “brilliant” and an easy way to get a PhD in music by listening.
In 2008, as Pat Matthews was growing Beatles-A-Rama!!! – a completely self-funded venture – he was faced with a personal health crisis when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Over the next four years and throughout the subsequent surgeries, medical bills, insurance premiums plus deductibles, and the physical and emotional stress of the illness, Pat continued to find solace in his work at Beatles-A-Rama!!! He continued to produce the daily programming, and the weekly 2 hour Sunday morning program that streams to listeners all over the globe 24-hours/day. For the past 3 years, he has continued to be the sole financial backer of the radio station, covering streaming and domain fees. As medical bills have begun to take precedence, the funding is becoming harder for Pat to cover on his own.
In late 2011 Beatles-A-Rama!!! was lined up to receive a private investment of $250,000 however at last minute the investors vanished without a trace, leaving Patrick devastated. Now, he’s been forced to turn to the Beatles fans themselves for support to keep over a decades worth of his life’s work at Beatles-A-Rama!!! alive and playing the greatest music for many years to come. He is aiming to raise at least $150,000 through the fundraising website – Indiegogo.com. The funds will go towards paying off the credit card that has been maxed out because of streaming charges over the past 10 years, and also to a pay for future streaming, licensing fees, etc. during Pat’s time of need.
Supporters can view Pat Matthews’ personal video and find out more about Pat, his story, and Beatles-A-Rama!!! at http://www.indiegogo.com/beatlesarama and www.BeatlesARama.com . Help spread the word by sharing his fundraising site to every Beatles fan you know!
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This holiday, I got myself a Kindle Touch…thanks to the generosity of a friend who gave me an Amazon gift card. Wanting to put this new device to use immediately, I did a search for ‘Free books beatles’ under Kindle books. The ebook, ‘Paul McCartney’s Coat and Other Stories’ came up first on a very short list of only 3 books.
Let me first inform my readers that only the Forward is free. You can get a Sampler for 99 cents, but the entire book is $4.50. So…I ended up spending $5.49, but I have now learned a valuable lesson on what not to download to my Kindle.
Now for my review of just the first short story in this ebook:
If you’re a fan of short stories and/or fan fiction, you’ll enjoy reading this tall tale about a Beatles fan having a close encounter with the Fab Four at a pub in 1967 and his short ownership of Paul McCartney’s coat that was left behind in the pub and the discovery of Julian Lennon’s drawing of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds!
The author, Michael White, gives a footnote at the end of the his story saying that on the original drawing by Julian, the words “Lucy with diamond eyes” were crossed out and the words, “Lucy in the sky with diamonds” were written underneath. After doing a search on the interent, I couldn’t come up with any confirmation of this…even though it plays a huge part in telling of this story and I found it quite amusing how the author may have taken this fact and turned it into his own story! (Note: I’d appreciate it if anyone can confirm the story about the original picture.)
The story does contain quite a lot of typos, but I’ve been told this can happen when books are converted to Kindle editions. The reader may become impatient with several missing quote marks, run-on sentences and other small publishing errors.
Also, I guess one way to get attention for your new book is to put one of the Beatles names in the title or ‘Beatles’ itself. It got my attention and no, I didn’t read any of the other Mr. White’s other short stories, but I now have them handy in case I find myself waiting at a dentist office or such.
This book is available in it’s full Kindle editon at Amazon.com, but is only available in it’s free edition of the Forward from Barnes and Noble.
Because this story is fan fiction (and I’m not a fan of that genre) and because I felt that the author gets sidetracked on other topics to the point of feeling like he was just adding ‘filler’ to his story:
I rate this story in this book: 2 out of 4 Beetles
Filed under Beatles books, Fan Fiction, George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, reviews, Uncategorized
What a delight this book was to read! I had seen this book mentioned on BeatlesNews.com and decided to find the author and ask for a review copy. Ms. Carpenter said she’d contact her publisher about getting a copy to me, but after several weeks my mailbox was still empty, so I just bought my own. I prefer buying my own copies to review anyway so I don’t feel obligated to the authors/bands/producers.
Though not really a Beatle book, this fictitious murder mystery takes place in 1993 at a Beatles convention in southern Indiana. When a member of the local Beatles tribute band is murdered, Sandy Fairfax becomes suspect #1 in the eyes of the local police. Sandy is a childhood TV star turned popstar in the 70’s. Pulling from his four years on TV as Buddy Brave, Boy Sleuth, Sandy sets out to clear his name and find the real killer.
This is author Sally Carpenter’s first book in her ‘Sandy Fairfax Teen Idol Mystery Series’ and I think she’s done a great job depicting the nuances of a Beatles fan convention. Throughout the book, we Beatles fans will find many similarities to the well-known Fest for Beatles Fans that take place every year in NY and Chicago. In fact, Ms. Carpenter even mentions Mr. Lapidos’ conventions in her book. Another nice touch is the chapters are named for Beatles songs and Beatles lyrics are hidden within the text of the book.
I find this book to be a great little easy and leisurely read. I only wish Ms. Carpenter were going to write more stories with the Beatles as a theme.
By the time I was halfway through this book, my review copy showed up in the mail! So, I’d like to share this copy with my readers. Anyone posting a comment in the comments section of this post will be entered to win a copy of ‘The Baffled Beatlemaniac Caper’! Contest entries will only be accepted until 11:59 pm on Saturday, October 29, 2011. I will use the random number generator at Random.org to pick the winner and post it on Sunday, October 30th. Good Luck!
You can read another review of this book and an interview with the author here.
This book is available on Amazon.com.
I rate this book: 3 out of 4 Beetles
Filed under Beatles books, Fan Fiction, Uncategorized
I’m not going to sugarcoat this…this post is going to be a plea for help! This project has just 26 days left to be financed or the entire deal will fall through…and as Beatles Freaks, I just can’t IMAGINE any of us letting that happen.
This is about Freda Kelly, The Beatles’ secretary from the early Cavern Club days when they were playing to audiences of 30 people at lunchtime, all the way through their years of international popularity and stardom, and until they eventually broke up in 1970. Freda was only one of a handful of employees for The Beatles who lasted for the entire “Beatles Era.”
Freda has kept quiet all these years and is only now starting to come forward and tell her stories about all those years ago with the Fab Four. She wants her grandchildren to know what their grandmother did in her youth…and what a great story she must have to tell. I know I want to hear about it.
In order to make her documentary, the filmmakers must raise $50,000 by November 12, 2011 at 2:59 am. Currently, the total donated is $13,390 from 117 donors.
So, let me break this down for you: If the next 7,324 fans gave just $5 to this cause, they could make this film! And you can’t tell me that they aren’t 7,324 Beatles Freaks out there that are dying to hear the inside stories from Freda! You can give more if you’d like…you can give less…that’s up to you. But I believe that we are capable of raising this money in the next 26 days. And there are bonuses…such as, if you give $25, you will get a copy of the DVD when it’s made (there are more gifts for different donation levels, but I thought this was the most enticing for those with limited income).
All together now….come together, right now…
Donate here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1215635909/good-ol-freda
Please share this post on Twitter, Facebook and other social media to help this cause.
Filed under Beatles-freak, Documentary, George Harrison, John Lennon, movies, music, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Uncategorized
My seventeen year old son just popped this CD in my car stereo. The obvious Beatles influence immediately caught my ear. The song is called ‘Aftermath‘ by a local band named Missing Palmer West. Great song!
Listen here: Aftermath
Then you be the judge on it’s Beatlesque qualities:
I rate this song: 4 out of 4 Beetles
Filed under Uncategorized
I love this band.
Wait…that wasn’t strong enough…
I LOVE THE VALS!
Okay…that was much better.
Phew…now on with the review.
The Vals are from Belfast, Ireland and appeared in my inbox about 2 years ago when they told me what huge Beatles fans they were and how influenced their music has been by the Fab Four. At first, I thought they were just another band looking for attention, but I went to their site and gave their single “Yesterday Today” a listen. The song will give you chills! They soon released their first album “Sticks and Stones” in October 2009 which I had fully intended on reviewing but for some reason, I never found the time. The album is amazing for a debut album…there is no doubt it is on my list of favorite albums along with my Beatles collection. There is no mistaking that these guys too are Beatles freaks!
Now this band has released a new single, “Look to the One” and I’m not going to miss this opportunity to let the world know exactly how talented this group of musicians is. An upbeat song, with a sound reminiscent of John Lennon. I’ve embedded the video to this new song into this review, but I highly recommend taking a listen without the visual imagery if you want to truly get into this song. These are the types of songs you pop into your car stereo and all your friends ask, “Who’s this?!”
Did I say I love this band? I LOVE THE VALS! I just wish I could give them more support and bring them to the U.S.. The people at SXSW Festival in Austin, TX, actually turned The Vals down last year to appear at the festival. I think this was a huge mistake on their part and a big loss for the fans that attend the festival. Hey…SXSW! Get on the ball and bring The Vals to the U.S.A.!
You can become a fan of The Vals on Facebook.
I rate this song, this band and all their music: 4 out of 4 Beetles
Filed under Beatles influence, Beatles-freak, music, reviews, Uncategorized
I have the honor of getting an advance copy of Paul McCartney’s 9/11 documentary’The Love We Make’. This movie will debut on Showtime on September 10th.
This film isn’t what I thought it was going to be. Done in black & white, the camera follows Paul in New York City in his travels from October 11, 2001 to October 23, 2001 and his day-to-day dealings to organize and prepare for The Concert for New York, a benefit concert that was held on October 20, 2001. If you were expecting a 90 minute film on Paul’s reaction to 9/11, then you will be truly disappointed. If you’re a McCartney fan that wants to see what it’s like to be Sir Paul, then this film is for you.
During TV and radio interviews leading up to the concert, Paul touches on issues dealing with how he’s dealt with grief in his life, how he deals with the conflict of being a pacifist after the devastation of 9/11 and how he came to the realization that he needed to do something while sitting in a plane on the tarmac watching the twin towers burn.
Mixed in with the interviews are Paul and his band rehearsing for The Concert for New York with many guest cameos as Paul discusses debuting his new song, “Freedom” for the first time at the show. Celebrities to watch for in this documentary: Ozzy Osbourne, Howard Stern, Barbara Walters, Pete Townsend, Bill Clinton, Harrison Ford, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jim Carey…along with many more.
There are moments when Paul reminisces about the days with the Beatles and is even asked at one point, “Wouldn’t this be a perfect opportunity for the remaining Beatles to get back together”. (Watch the movie for the answer!) And it was interesting to see Paul once again trying to outrun his fans in NYC.
Though not a true post 9/11 documentary, I believe this is a must see for more than just McCartney fans. There are moments that will just give you goosebumps.
Check the Showtime website for their multiple scheduled airtimes over the next week…you won’t want to miss this! This movie will also be available On-Demand starting September 11th.
On December 6, 2011, this documentary became available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
So how would I rate a documentary by an actual Beatle? You’d be crazy if you think I’d give it anything less than…
I rate this movie: 4 out of 4 Beetles
Filed under movies, Paul McCartney, reviews, Uncategorized
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