Paul McCartney and David Bowie's Isle of Wight sets to air on Absolute Radio

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Paul McCartney and David Bowie's Isle of Wight sets to air on Absolute Radio
Bang Showbiz
28 May 2020


Paul McCartney headlines Isle of Wight Festival 2010

In the place of The Isle of Wight Festival this year, iconic sets from the likes of Sir Paul McCartney, David Bowie and The Rolling Stones will air on Absolute Radio

Sir Paul McCartney, David Bowie and The Rolling Stones' legendary sets from the Isle of Wight Festival will be aired in place of the festival on Absolute Radio.

As the music extravaganza can't go ahead next month, some highlights from the archive, 22 sets to be exact, will be played on the station between June 12 and June 14.

As well as the Beatles legend, the late music icon's 2004 set and Sir Mick Jagger and co's performance, music-lovers can tune in to hear the likes of The Who, Fleetwood Mac, Coldplay, Depeche Mode, Biffy Clyro, Blondie, Iggy Pop and Sheryl Crow.

Absolute Radio's Andy Bush and Richie Firth said: "Everyone is missing live music right now, and while we're devastated we won't be back at The Isle of Wight Festival this year, we think this is the next best option. "With so many highlights from over the years, we believe this is the greatest festival line-up of all time.

"We know that people are going to be able to crack open a beer and pretend they're really in the front row! We can't wait."

The annual festival was due to return to Newport, Isle of Wight, between June 11 and June 14, and be headlined by Lionel Richie, Lewis Capaldi, Snow Patrol, The Chemical Brothers and Duran Duran.

However, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it was postponed until next year.

The team behind the legendary event vowed to come back "stronger than ever".

In a statement, the festival's organisers said: "The ​Isle of Wight Festival ​will no longer be taking place this year.

"This decision hasn't been taken lightly and we have tried our hardest to make it work, but it was unavoidable given the current status.

"The whole team was excited to welcome everyone to the island for another fantastic festival and we extend our sincere apologies to everyone who was looking forward to it as much as we were.

"The safety of our audience, artists, crew and the Isle of Wight community is paramount and we appreciate your patience whilst we've been working through this unprecedented situation.

"We'll be back stronger than ever in 2021 and we hope to see you all again next year."

The full line-up is:

Friday 12th June, 7pm – hosted by Sarah Champion and Ben Burrell

Paul McCartney

Fleetwood Mac

Foo Fighters

Depeche Mode

Snow Patrol

Blondie

James

Saturday 13th June, 7pm – hosted by Danielle Perry and Ross Buchanan

David Bowie

Coldplay

Iggy Pop

Biffy Clyro

Red Hot Chili Peppers

The Police

Texas

Supergrass

Sunday 14th June, 7pm – hosted by Andy Bush and Richie Firth

The Rolling Stones

The Who (1970 performance)

Kings of Leon

Sheryl Crow

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

Kasabian

Ocean Colour Scene

www.nme.com
Paul McCartney closes 2010 Isle Of Wight Festival with Jimi Hendrix tribute
Former Beatle tops the bill at Seaclose Park
By Paul Stokes
13th June 2010

Paul McCartney closed the 2010 Isle Of Wight Festival tonight (June 13), headlining the Main Stage.  

Taking to the stage after a pre-recorded video introduction from comedianJames Corden, he kicked things off with a medley of Wings‘ ‘Venus And Mars’ and ‘Rock Show’ before diving straight into ‘Jet’.  

“Good evening Isle Of Wight, we’re going to have fun tonight,” he told crowd before playing his first Beatles song of the night, ‘All My Loving’.

Isle of Wight Festival 2010 - Day 3
Source: Simone Joyner/Getty Images Europe

Playing a career-spanning set, McCartney also paid tribute to Jimi Hendrix, famed for stealing the show at the 1970 Isle Of Wight Festival, including a few bars from ‘Purple Haze’ at the end of ‘Let Me Roll It’.

“I was really lucky to know Jimi and hang out with him a little bit in the ’60s, he was a great guy,” he told the crowd afterwards. “The biggest tribute we had from him was we [The Beatles] released ‘Sgt Pepper’ on a Friday and then I went to see him on the Sunday and he learnt it, how cool was that for me? Very cool!”

Having performed the likes of Wings‘ ‘Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five’, McCartney, who was making only his second UK festival performance after headlining Glastonbury in 2004, played a run of crowd-pleasers including ‘Band On The Run’, ‘Back In The USSR’, ‘Let It Be’and ‘Hey Jude’.

Source : YouTube

He then rounded things off with ‘Yesterday’, ‘Helter Skelter’ and a medley comprising of the reprise of the aforementioned ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ and ‘The End’.

Paul McCartney played:

‘Venus And Mars/’Rock Show’
‘Jet’
‘All My Loving’
‘Letting Go’ 
‘Let Me Roll It’
‘The Long And Winding Road’
‘Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five’
‘I’m Looking Through You’
‘Blackbird’
‘Here Today’
‘Dance Tonight’
‘Mrs Vandebilt’
‘Eleanor Rigby’
‘Something’
‘Sing The Changes’
‘Band On The Run’
‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’
‘Back In The USSR’
‘Paperback Writer’
‘Let It Be’
‘Live And Let Die’
‘Hey Jude’
‘Day Tripper’
‘Get Back’
‘Yesterday’
‘Helter Skelter’
‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ (reprise)/’The End’

On The Beatles’ ‘Sgt Pepper,’ a minyan of notable Jews

forward.com
On The Beatles’ ‘Sgt Pepper,’ a minyan of notable Jews
By Seth Rogovoy
May 26, 2020

It was 53 years ago today – May 26, 1967 — that Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play, meaning that the Beatles’ landmark album was released. As it turns out, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’s lineup featured more than a minyan. More specifically, of the 58 people pictured on the cover of what is widely regarded as the greatest rock album of all time, eleven were Jewish.

Over time, Paul McCartney and John Lennon explained that the people they chose to be represented on the album jacket – which won a Grammy Award for Best Album Cover (along with three other Grammys, including Album of the Year, the first rock album to be so rewarded) — were those whom they judged to be the most personally influential. Hence, such obvious figures as Marlon Brando, Lewis Carroll and Marilyn Monroe. The Beatles were great comedy fans – in no small way the group was as much a comedy troupe as they were a rock band – and thus pride of place was given to W.C. Fields, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. The six gurus pictured were all suggested by George Harrison, who by this time was an ardent devotee of all things Indian, including music, meditation and religion. Other celebrities and historical figures included boxer Sonny Liston, Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis, Shirley Temple, Oscar Wilde, David Livingstone, George Bernard Shaw and James Joyce.

A close, careful examination of the cover reveals that approximately one out of every five characters pictured were Jewish or had Jewish ancestry. These were entirely the choices of Lennon and McCartney — Harrison limited his picks to the gurus and Ringo Starr declined to play the game.

The Minyan Honor Roll of the “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album cover:

1. Karl Marx: A descendant of rabbis on both sides of his family, Marx was the economist and philosopher whose writings formed the foundational works of Communism. As a comedy group, the Beatles tended more toward Groucho Marxism than Karl Marxism.

2. Albert Einstein: German-born theoretical physicist, peace activist, Zionist, and an accomplished violinist. Einstein’s general theory of relativity was the basis for the idea of black holes, possibly inspiring the song “Fixing a Hole” on the album.

3. Lenny Bruce: Born Leonard Alfred Schneider on Long Island, Bruce’s outspoken, political and boundary-pushing comedy and satire clearly influenced John Lennon. Bruce’s father, Myron Schneider, was British-born. The Bronx-born Jewish record producer Phil Spector is the connecting tissue between Bruce and the Beatles; he worked with both artists.

4. Bob Dylan: The rock poet and the Beatles were the Twin Peaks of 1960s rock ‘n’ roll, each influencing the other to a significant degree. Dylan allegedly introduced the Fab Four to the pleasures of pot-smoking; Lennon tried to adopt Dylan’s songwriting style in works including “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away.” Later on, Lennon would renounce Dylan (along with other idols, including John F. Kennedy, Buddha, and Elvis Presley) in his 1970 song “God”. George Harrison, on the other hand, would go on to write songs and perform with Dylan, the two finally teaming up to form a supergroup called the Traveling Wilburys in 1988, along with Tom Petty and Roy Orbison.

5. Tony Curtis: Born Bernard Schwartz to Eastern European Jewish immigrants in 1925, Curtis was a huge movie star in the 1950s, when John, Paul, George and Ringo were Liverpudlian teenagers soaking up American pop culture via radio and the silver screen.

6. Wallace “Wally” Berman:Born in Staten Island, N.Y., in 1926, Berman was an artist and experimental filmmaker closely associated with the West Coast Jazz and Beat poetry scenes in California in the 1950s and early ‘60s. Berman’s work was characterized by the use of the Hebrew alphabet; his lone film was called “Aleph.” Berman is one of four mid-century American Jewish artists featured on the cover of “Sgt. Pepper.”

7. Larry Bell: It’s hard to find much biographical background information about this Chicago-born and Los Angeles-raised artist and sculptor whose work straddles Abstract Expressionism and the West Coast Light and Space movement. So I called his gallery in Taos, N.M., and told the woman who answered the phone, “I’m making a list of all the Jews on the cover of ‘Sgt. Pepper.’ Should Larry Bell be on that list?” She excused herself for a minute, and I overheard her talking with someone – presumably Bell himself. She returned to the phone and solidly stated, “Yes.”

8. Richard Merkin: As with Bell, it’s hard to trace much biographical information about Richard Merkin, other than that he was born in Brooklyn. A deep search, however, located the gallery that represents his estate. Much to my surprise, the gallery is located three blocks from where I live, and I know the gallerist. “Hell yes,” she said when I asked her the same question I posed to Larry Bell’s gallerist. In addition to his heavily jazz-influenced painting, Merkin was a longtime teacher at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where among his students were Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, who went on to great fame as the rhythm section of Talking Heads.

9. Richard Lindner: Lindner was born and raised in Germany and got the hell out of there just in time in 1933. He moved to the U.S. in 1941 and became an influential painter who taught art at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. One might think that it was John Lennon, as the only Beatle who attended art school, who became so enamored of mid-20th century American painters who happened to be Jewish. Or that perhaps it showed the influence of Yoko Ono. But Lennon and Ono didn’t really strike up their relationship in earnest until after the release of “Sgt. Pepper.” Chances are it was Paul McCartney who chose these artists for the cover. Through his relationship with girlfriend Jane Asher from 1963 through 1968, McCartney was introduced to the London art gallery scene, which he took to quite fervently, becoming a collector and eventually taking up painting on his own.

10. Issy Bon: Born Benjamin Levin, Issy Bon was a British-Jewish vaudeville star and BBC Radio entertainer who gained fame for his recording of “My Yiddishe Momme.”

11. Bobby Breen: Born Isadore Borsuk in Montreal to Ukrainian-Jewish parents and raised in Toronto, Breen was a child singer in the 1930s who went on to perform in movies. He was also the first white performer signed to Motown Records.

There were a handful of other characters who were included in the original draft of the “Sgt. Pepper” cover who, for various reasons, didn’t make the final cut. Among them were three Jews: Jesus of Nazareth, Elvis Presley, and actor Leo Gorcey, the New York City-bred son of a Russian-Jewish immigrant, who played one of the Dead End Kids and leader of the movie and TV gang the Bowery Boys. Gorcey insisted that the Beatles pay $500 for the use of his image. The Fab Four politely declined the offer.

Here's What Paul McCartney's Children Are Doing Now

www.thethings.com
Here's What Paul McCartney's Children Are Doing Now
Having one of the most famous rock stars in the world as your dad had to be really interesting.
BY HANNAH WIGANDT
MAY 25, 2020

From across the dimly lit packed room of the Bag O’Nails nightclub, in Soho, London, and over the blaring rock music of Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, Paul McCartney saw his future wife, Linda Eastman, for the first time. They were with separate groups of friends, but they met, and decided to go ahead to another nightclub together. After that night in 1967, McCartney would go on to marry Eastman, and together they had three children. As far as Beatles children go, McCartney's children are very successful, just like their dad.

McCartney married Eastman in 1969, just as his band The Beatles, one of the biggest bands in the world (and they still are), were breaking up and going their separate ways and entering into solo careers. Before they had children of their own, McCartney adopted Eastman's daughter Heather, whom she had from her previous marriage. According to UltimateClassicRock.com, Heather gained the famous McCartney name and went on to become a notable photographer like her mother and a potter, which lead her to start a line of houseware items in 1999.

When the couple wed in 1969, they were already expecting their first child, Mary, who was named after McCartney's mother. Mary is the baby under McCartney's coat in the picture on the back cover of McCartney's self-titled first solo album, and the picture was taken by Eastman herself. According to The Times, Mary decided, most likely after seeing her mother's famous photography work, that she wanted to become a photographer as well, and phoned her mother about it. Her mother instantly gave her a Leica R, and ever since Mary has never stopped taking pictures.

Mary went on to become a renowned photographer. She was a photo editor at the music-book publisher Omnibus Press, and her first photography exhibit was called Off Pointe: A Photographic Study of The Royal Ballet After Hours. In 2001, she produced a documentary called Wingspan, about her father and Eastman's band Wings. She also runs the photo department of McCartney's company MPL Communications. Mary is also a firm charity worker, as she has had campaigns for breast cancer (which Eastman died of in 1998), and took photos for The Constellation Smile project.



She, like her father, is a firm vegetarian, and co-founder of Meat Free Monday and an ambassador of Green Monday, a non-profit organization that supports mean-free living. She has also produced two vegetarian cookbooks. Outside her work she has four children from two separate marriages.

In 1971, just before the McCartneys started Wings, they had their second daughter Stella, and if you've ever watched any red carpets, who'll recognize her name as one of the most famous fashion designers in recent years. Stella and Mary spent much of their childhood on the road with their parents on Wings tours around the world, but from an early age, Stella wanted to be a designer. From the age of 13, she started making her own clothes and continued on with it in school, going on to shadow Savile Row tailor Edward Sexton after she graduated.




Her designs are known for their simple feminine touch and have a wearable design. "It's not about what it looks like in the studio or on the runway," she told WWD. "It's what it looks like on a real person that matters. That isn't easy, but it's what's fun." In 2001, she launched her fashion house, and now has 51 freestanding stores all over the world. She has a perfume line, as well as lingerie, children's, and men's lines as well. She's had loads of collaborations over the years including one with Adidas, Disneym and even Taylor Swift. In 2010, she was chosen as Team GB's Creative Director for the 2012 Olympics by Adidas and designed the entire countries team outfits.



Like her older sister, she too is a firm vegetarian and doesn't use any leather or fur in her designs. She also formed a breast cancer charity called Stella McCartney Cares Foundation. She has designed for Meghan Markle and other high profile celebrities, and is married to British publisher Alasdhair Willis and they have four children.



After Stella, the McCartneys had their son James, named after McCartney's real name. James found an interest in music from an early age, but it wasn't because of his rock star dad. According to UltimateClassicRock.com, James actually wanted to become a musician after he saw Marty McFly play guitar in Back to the Future. He was given a Fender Stratocaster that was once owned by Carl Perkins by his father, and went on to play guitar and drums on his fathers albums like Flaming Pie and Driving Rain. The EP, Available Light was his first solo release, his The Complete EP Collection was released in 2012, and his first album, Me, was released in 2013. His newest album is The Blackberry Train, which was released in 2016. He is also a practicing vegetarian like the rest of his family.

The famous Beatles' youngest child is Beatrice, whom he had with his second wife, Heather Mills, in 2003. Following her parents' controversial divorce, she currently lives with both of them. She was the flower girl at her father's wedding to his third wife Nancy Shevell, but her parents have largely kept her out of the spotlight, and she lives a private life. She is now sixteen.

It goes without saying that McCartney's children have done well and made names for themselves. It's also really sweet that two of the children have followed in the footsteps of their parents, and still support great charities. McCartney loves his family and is constantly collaborating with them and supporting them.

'Lost' Beatles member Stuart Sutcliffe's romance that made John Lennon 'jealous'

www.mirror.co.uk
'Lost' Beatles member Stuart Sutcliffe's romance that made John Lennon 'jealous'
EXCLUSIVE: Trendy Astrid and Klaus befriended good-looking art student Stuart, but love soon developed between him and Astrid, leaving Klaus on the sidelines and John bereft when Stuart quit The Beatles to remain in Hamburg
By Emily Retter
Senior Feature Writer
22 MAY 2020


The Beatles 'lost' member Stuart Sutcliffe's romance that made 'John Lennon jealous'

Long before Yoko Ono made her brooding presence felt in The Fab Four’s studio, another woman might have been held responsible by territorial fans for breaking up The Beatles.

Astrid Kerchherr, who died last week at the age of 81, was the uber-cool German photographer who the fledgling band met in Hamburg when they travelled there in 1960 to perform at its seedy red light district clubs as they fought to make their name.

In fact, far from breaking up The Beatles, Astrid could be credited with creating them – or at least their style.

She took photos of them which became iconic and encouraged them to cut their hair into cool moptops like that of her boyfriend Klaus Voormann. She even wielded the scissors herself.

But, just like Yoko, the stylish young artist with film star looks also got together with a band member, triggering a complicated love triangle of sorts which could have finished the magic before it even began.

Back then, John Lennon’s best pal Stuart Sutcliffe, dubbed “The Lost Beatle”, was the bassist, alongside John, Paul, George and original drummer Pete Best.

Trendy Astrid and Klaus befriended good-looking art student Stuart, but love soon developed between him and Astrid, leaving Klaus on the sidelines and John bereft when Stuart quit The Beatles to remain in Hamburg.

Astrid Kircherr

As it turned out, Astrid and Stuart’s romance was cut tragically short just two years later when Stuart died of a sudden brain haemorrhage aged 21.

A grief-stricken John confessed to Astrid his inner conflict – both his initial envy of her attraction to Stuart over him, and his own, confusing, love for his friend.

Paying tribute to Astrid this week, film director Iain Softley revealed her moving words from his interviews with her when he made 1994 movie Backbeat about her and Stuart’s romance.

They hint at a complex relationship between her, Stuart and John. She said it was only after Stuart died that she and John “took a load of pills” and talked for 12 hours about “all the things on our minds about Stuart”. “‘He was jealous when Klaus and I fancied Stuart more, and took him home and left John out,” she told Iain.

“He told me he really loved Stuart, but was afraid of the feeling.”

Iain adds: “I think she thought he meant as a friend, I don’t think there was any suggestion they were in a relationship. But Stuart had always been John’s best friend, they shared a flat in Liverpool. John would write to Stuart as ‘Jesus Christ to John the Baptist’, in the sense Stuart was showing him the way. He looked up to him.

“There was a sense John didn’t want Stuart taken away from him, he didn’t want Stuart to stay in Hamburg.

“At the same time he was very fond of Astrid, but I think there was a conflict there.”

Astrid Kirchherr with Stuart Sutcliffe and Klaus Voormann

It was only after Stuart had died, that a normally chipper John revealed his vulnerable side.

“Astrid said John was very sweet and thoughtful after Stuart died,” Iain says and reads from his extracts: “So soft and sweet and holding my hand. It was love for a friend he knew was in pain.”

Astrid told him: “I was afraid to cry or show emotion when John was there, but at one point he said, ‘Come on cry, we’ll cry together’. The pain we both had over Stuart’s death just gave our relationship an enormous kind of freedom, suddenly we felt like we had known each other for years.”

Iain built a friendship with Astrid after tracking her down in Hamburg, to ask for her help in making Backbeat. By then, she was managing a bar.

He wanted to celebrate the strong woman and accomplished photographer, but also explore her pivotal role in Beatles’ history. He says she was the band’s “muse” for their 1960s’ style.

But her whirlwind relationship with Stuart also altered the original line-up of the then Fab Five who were green to the trendy European arts scene.

George Harrison was only just 17 and was later deported from Germany for being underage. The Beatles’ rough and ready gigs led to a first recording and their signing by Brian Epstein.

Astrid pictured with Ringo Starr and John Lennon

It was Klaus who first saw them at the Kaiserkeller bar. Iain says: “He was blown away. Klaus said to Astrid to ‘come down and see these guys’. She was fascinated, particularly by Stuart. She liked how he presented himself on stage, sometimes turning his back, adopting a James Dean-type pose.”

She and Klaus struck up a friendship with Stuart, and the moptop was modelled on him. “She cut his hair. I think George was next,” says Iain. “John and Paul were resistant, but by the time they came back after Stuart’s death I think she cut it then.” Astrid quickly realised the deep attraction she felt to the quiet Liverpudlian, who had attended art school with John.

Astrid asked to take arty photos of The Beatles in a fairground but soon requested to shoot Stuart individually.

Alone together, they kissed.

Iain recalls she was “distraught” because she loved Klaus, but couldn’t fight her feelings: “She couldn’t tell him for two or three days.”

Incredibly, Klaus was soon forgiving and became best mates with Stuart. But over in The Beatles’ camp, there was simmering, unspoken tension.

As John later divulged, he initially felt left out, and overlooked by Astrid.

Astrid with John Lennon

“Certainly he was attracted to her... she was like someone stepping out of a movie,” says Iain. “I think they were all attracted to her. But Stuart was his best friend, so that was that.”

More difficult was his attachment to Stuart. At that time, ‘Teddy Boy’ John struggled to express emotion. Stuart quickly moved in with Astrid and her mum, taking their attic as his art studio, and they got engaged.

“They wrote letters which they placed in the engagement ring boxes, – ‘I love you for ever and ever and ever’.” recalls Iain. “They drove to the beach where she first photographed him and threw them into the sea.” John quickly put aside envy and often joined the couple to hang out.

When The Beatles returned home, Stuart stayed in Hamburg, but the couple still influenced the band.

On a Christmas trip to see Stuart’s family in Liverpool, they stopped in London where Astrid encouraged him to buy a pair of Flamenco boots.

“When the band saw them they said, ‘We need to have these!’” says Iain. She even made the black scarves they wore on the cover of Revolver.

Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best with The Beatles

But tragedy was around the corner. Stuart was having severe headaches, painting intense abstract canvasses and not sleeping or eating well. It was due to a cerebral haemorrhage.

Emotionally, Astrid told Iain about the day her mother rang in April 1962 to say Stuart had fallen ill in his studio.

Iain says: “Her mother called her at work – ‘You’ve got to come home, Stuart’s not well’. She said ‘the dog’s in the room’ – the dog was never in the attic room, it had been trained not to, so Astrid knew something was wrong.

“When she got home, the dog was sitting there, teeth showing. It was almost like he was protecting Stuart.”

The Lost Beatle had collapsed. He died in the ambulance and devastated Astrid had to break the news to Stuart’s family, and The Beatles – who coincidentally were about to gig again in Hamburg. She met them at the airport. “John said, ‘Where’s Stu?’” says Iain. “He was just distraught.”

John went to her home to try to feel close to Stuart. He asked to have his photo taken there, in the same spot where she had photographed his pal.

That night he broke down to Astrid. Their friendship grew closer as they mourned the man they loved.

In 1964, amid Beatlemania, Astrid went to the UK to photograph the band making A Hard Day’s Night. She even ­holidayed with them in Tenerife.

Later, John and Yoko would send her a Christmas present every year. Astrid mar-ried and divorced twice, but never had children.

She and Klaus got back together briefly when Iain interviewed her, and they remained close. But she always told him Stuart remained ‘the one’.

Iain adds: “She lived in the moment. She was always very cool, ­sophisticated. But she talked about it as the love of her life.”