www.independentnews.com Program Focuses on Differences Between The Beatles and Rolling Stones Livermore Independent Posted: Thursday, January 25, 2018 Abbey Road performs Beatles tribute The debate between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones has been going on ever since they first crossed paths on the charts 53 years ago. The argument at the time, and one that still persists, was that the Beatles were a pop group and the Stones were a rock band: the boys next door vs. the bad boys of rock. These two legendary bands will engage in an on-stage, throw down - a musical 'showdown' on February 21 at the Bankhead Theater courtesy of tribute bands Abbey Road and Satisfaction - The International Rolling Stones Show. Taking the side of the Fab Four is Abbey Road, one of the country's top Beatles tribute bands. With brilliant musicianship and authentic costumes and gear, Abbey Road plays beloved songs spanning the Beatles' career. They face off against renowned Stones tribute band Satisfaction - The International Rolling Stones Show, who offer a faithful rendition of the music and style of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and the bad boys of the British Invasion. “Music fans never had a chance to see the Beatles and the Rolling Stones perform on the same marquee,” said Chris Legrand, who plays “Mick Jagger” in the show. Now, music aficionados can watch this debate play out on stage.” The International Rolling Stones Show focuses on the Rolling Stones The Livermore show is part of a 110 stop tour of the U.S., Australia and Canada and has been touring since 2011. The production includes some of the more popular songs from the two rock pioneers and covers the scope of their musical careers, although the set list for Satisfaction usually includes Rolling Stones songs up to the 1980s. During the two-hour show, the bands perform three sets each, trading places in quick set changes and ending the night with an all-out encore involving both bands. The band members have their outfits custom-made. There’s a lot of good-natured jabbing between the bands as well. “Without Beatlemania, the Stones might still be a cover band in London,” said Chris Overall, who plays "Paul". “There’s no question that the Beatles set the standard.” “It’s just a fun time and a cool back-and-forth nonstop show,” Overall added. The 8 p.m. show will be held at the Bankhead Theater, 2400 First Street in downtown Livermore on February 21. Tickets may be purchased at the box office, online at www.bankheadtheater.org or by calling 373-6800.
www.postandcourier.com Former McCartney drummer and Beach Boys bassist join star-studded Music Hall show By Kalyn Oyer Jan 23, 2018 Mike Allen will be joined by 13 world-class musicians on stage at The Charleston Music Hall. Provided The Charleston Music Hall stage will be graced this weekend with a star-studded lineup that includes Steve Holley, former drummer of Paul McCartney and Wings, and Bryan Stanley, former bassist for dozens of big acts such as The Beach Boys, Bryan Adams, Tommy Shaw and Garland Jeffries. Mike Allen, Charleston engineering consultant by day and Nashville songwriter by night, will be performing original music with these back-up rock stars for the concert. He'll be joined by 13 musicians. The group includes two Charlestonians: award-winning Latin congo player Gino Castillo and former RCA Records producer and session guitarist Joe Taylor. "Joe and I met late in 2015 and began exploring my portfolio of original compositions to select a handful for production," says Allen. "My aim was to write songs for a music publisher in Nashville to promote them to record companies and recording artists for their records. We selected 10 songs and arranged them for recording. Then, Joe tapped into his vast Rolodex of great studio musicians." Through Taylor, Allen has connected with musicians from here and all over, with McCartney's Holley and The Beach Boys' Stanley hailing from England and several others from New York, Philadelphia and beyond. "I am a local Charleston businessman with a serious songwriting hobby with connections in the Nashville songwriting scene," says Allen, who has written hundreds of songs for other musicians over the years. This Music Hall show will be a chance for him to showcase and perform some of his favorite original music. The concert, which will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 27, will be in support of Allen's new original album, "Why, Why, Why." "The songs are mostly stories — love stories, war stories, patriotic ballads, silly random songs," says Allen. Two cuts off the disc were written by request to be featured in an indie movie starring Sandra Bullock and Greg Kinnear. Allen just needed a little help from his friends to make a live performance happen. "This ain’t no group of buddies who play a little guitar or piano," he says. "I’m talking serious professional musicians, many with legendary pedigrees." Tickets are just $15 and available at charlestonmusichall.com. STEVE HOLLEY
Woman who inspired The Beatles' 'Dear Prudence' www.hindustantimes.com American author recalls Beatles’ visit to Rishikesh ashram It was no less than an emotional sojourn for American author Prudence Farrow as on Tuesday she visited the ashram at Chaurasi Kutia in Rishikesh where members of the English rock band ‘Beatles’ learned transcendental meditation from Mahirishi Mahesh Yogi Anupam Trivedi & Abhinav Madhwal Hindustan Times Jan 23, 2018 Prudence Farrow at Beatles Ashram on Tuesday.(HT Photo) It was no less than an emotional sojourn for American author Prudence Farrow as on Tuesday she visited the ashram at Chaurasi Kutia in Rishikesh where members of the English rock band ‘Beatles’ learned transcendental meditation from Mahirishi Mahesh Yogi. Prudence, 70, is the younger sister of Mia Farrow, a Hollywood actor who featured in more than 50 films. The Farrow sisters visited Rishikesh to learn transcendental meditation from Mahirishi in 1968. Beatles also visited the ashram in 1968 to learn yoga. Beatles, Rishikesh, India 1968 by Paul Saltzman The Uttarakhand government is set to showcase the 50 years of Beatles visit to Rishikesh next month, as a major tourism event. In several accounts it was mentioned that Prudence was so involved in yoga and meditation that she would lock the room and stay inside the room practising meditation. The Beatles, who wrote over 40 songs during their Rishikesh stay, had dedicated a song to Prudence in one of the best seller albums - White Album. “Dear Prudence won’t you come out to play” is the opening line of the song. Raju Nautiyal, a forest ranger, said Prudence visited the every corner of the ashram. “She shared the place where Beatles jammed, the place where they had food. It was whole new experience to us as well,” Nautiyal said. Prudence Farrow in India in 1968 Tourism minister Satpal Maharaj said some businessmen in London have expressed interest in investing in Uttarakhand and also promoting Rishikesh as a key tourist destination. “Some 229 investors, hotel professionals and tour operators showed interest in a meeting held in London,” Maharaj told reporters on Tuesday. He said a museum of the memorabilia associated with the Beatles would be made at the ashram in Rishikesh. It is learnt that igloo shaped huts where Beatles and Ferrow sisters stayed were abandoned since 80s. Now, the place is a part of Rajaji Tiger Reserve. The tourism and forest departments have joined hands to promote the place ahead of the 50 years of Beatles visit.
www.billboard.com Adele, Yoko Ono, Natalie Portman & More Support Women's March 2018: 'Power to the Peaceful, Power to the People' by Ashley Iasimone Jan 20 2018 Eva Longoria speaks as she is joined by Natalie Portman and Constance Wu at a Women's March against sexual violence and the policies of the Trump administration in Los Angeles on Jan. 20, 2018. Jae C. Hong/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Artists and actresses across the United States took part in and voiced their support on social media for the second annual Women's March on Jan. 20, one year after millions of people gathered to protest the inauguration of President Donald Trump.
This year's Women's March was spurred by the political climate as well as the innumerable recently surfaced accounts of men abusing women, and the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements that have resulted.
Celebrities joined activists in cities like Los Angeles and New York, where Halseygave a powerful reading of a poem she wrote about her own experiences with sexual abuse and rape.
"The most influential people in my life have always been women," Adele posted on Instagram, alongside a photo of herself with Jennifer Lawrence and Cameron Diaz, among rally signs. "My family, my friends, my teachers, my colleagues, and my idols. I am obsessed with all the women in my life. I adore them and need them more and more every day. I am so grateful to be a woman, I wouldn't change it for the world. I hope I'm not only defined by my gender though. I hope I'm defined by my input to the world, my ability to love and to have empathy. To raise my son to be a a good man alongside the good man who loves me for everything I am and am not. I want what's best for people, I think we all do. We just can't agree on what that is. Power to the peaceful, power to the people."
In a tweet featuring photos of herself at the Women's March in New York City, Yoko Ono simply wrote: "PEACE IS POWER."
Natalie Portman, Alyssa Milano and Amy Schumer were among the famous women who also posted about the day. See a roundup of tweets and Instagram updates from this year's Women's March below.
Donovan’s Friends, Gypsy Dave And His Sweetheart, Yvonne, Came To The Ashram For A Few Days To Visit Donovan. John And Paul Were Just Finishing Playing And We All Headed Off For Dinner. Photograph: Paul Saltzman www.theguardian.com Revealed: lucky break that led lovelorn traveller to a fling in India with the Beatles A broken heart took a young Canadian to the river Ganges’ banks – and the shots of a lifetime Vanessa Thorpe Sun 21 Jan 2018 Ringo Starr, John Lennon and Paul McCartney at the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram in Rishikesh, India in January 1968. Photograph: Paul Saltzman/Contact Press Images Trees and vines grow through the crumbling terraces of Rishikesh. Yet 50 years ago the former ashram above the Ganges was the fulcrum of a major shift in popular culture.
It was here the four Beatles joined other western travellers, including the Beach Boys’ Mike Love, the singer Donovan, the actress Mia Farrow, and the Beatles’ wives and girlfriends, Cynthia Lennon, Maureen Starkey, Jane Asher and Pattie Boyd, to seek enlightenment through meditation.
The trip to India is famous today chiefly because of the music that came out of it; Lennon, McCartney and Harrison each produced many songs there, including Revolution, Back in the USSR, Long, Long, Long and Dear Prudence, inspired by Farrow’s sister. But the reason the influential visit remains so firmly lodged in popular memory comes down to the chance arrival at the ashram of a lonely Canadian traveller, Paul Saltzman.
“I did not even know the Beatles were there. For me it was bad news when I was told at the gate, because it meant the ashram was closed and I might not get in,” Saltzman told the Observer this weekend. “But in the end it was an experience that changed everything.”
A 24-year-old sound engineer working for the National Film Board of Canada, Saltzman was in search of solace after a relationship break-up. But the candid photographs he was to take over the next few days have become among the best known of the Beatles. “I brought my own camera out only a couple of times over the week, but those images, along with the more famous ones I took with the Beatles’ own cameras of the group sitting together wearing garlands, have been seen all over the world.”
The Beatles and their wives and girlfriends at the Rishikesh in India with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The group includes Ringo Starr, Maureen Starkey, Jane Asher, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Pattie Boyd, Cynthia Lennon, John Lennon. Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images Many of the best shots are about to be shown again in a book Saltzman has put together with co-author Tim B Wride called The Beatles in India and published on 13 February.
Half a decade on, the dilapidated site of the commune formerly presided over by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has opened as a tourist attraction and a museum to celebrate the Beatles’ visit is planned.
Back in Liverpool, The Beatles’ Story museum will mark the 50th anniversary of the trip with an exhibition which opens on 16 February, the day Lennon and Harrison arrived in Rishikesh in 1968. Saltzman’s photographs are to feature, as will the memories of Boyd, the former Mrs Harrison, and her sister Jenny, a model who joined her at Rishikesh and inspired Donovan to write his hit song Jennifer Juniper.
It was Boyd who in London in 1967 first introduced the Beatles to the mystical teachings of the Maharishi, prompting them to visit his transcendental meditation seminar in Bangor, Wales, in the same year. Harrison’s blossoming interest in eastern music and philosophies led to his study of the sitar under master musician Ravi Shankar.
George Spoke Softly, “Like, We’re The Beatles After All, Aren’t We? We Have All The Money You Could Ever Dream Of. We Have All The Fame You Could Ever Wish For. But It Isn’t Love. It Isn’t Health. It Isn’t Peace Inside, Is It?”
Photograph: Paul Saltzman
“I went to Rishikesh because I was desperate,” said Saltzman. “I had just received a letter telling me my girlfriend was moving in with someone else. Someone in India suggested I should try meditation. I had seen the Maharishi talk in New Delhi and remembered him promising, ‘Meditation takes you beneath and below your daily worries and concerns to a place of rejuvenation from which you will come back renewed and refreshed,’ ” Saltzman recalled.
“While I was waiting to go into the ashram a man called Rag Vendra brought me some tea, telling me there was no room inside. When I asked if I could wait, he pointed to two tents. One was for a tailor who had come up to make bespoke clothes for the guests. The other was empty, so I stayed there.”
Ringo Starr shows Paul Saltzman how to use his film camera. Photograph: Larry Kurland, courtesy of the artist Saltzman had seen the Beatles play in Toronto in 1964 and enjoyed their music, but had no plan to speak to them. After his first meditation session however he walked over to Lennon and McCartney who started to tease him about his “colonial” background. “John talked with that wonderful wry wit, asking me if I worshipped the Queen. His wife, Cynthia, then told them to leave me alone, as I had only just arrived.”
Saltzman sat with them as they worked on many new songs during their stay. “I watched them playing Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da and they were so playful and joyous,” he said. “Ringo also showed me how to use his film camera because he was making a film about the Maharishi and he wanted to appear in it as well. Ringo and I left Rishikesh at the same time, well before the problems at the end, when John and Paul were told the Maharishi had behaved badly and decided to go.”
Back in Canada, Saltzman put the photographs aside and returned to his career in film and television production. He began hunting for the pictures 30 years later when his daughter, a second generation Beatles’ fan, asked if it was really true he had once met them in India.
“I searched my house twice and called my dad to ask him to search his. Finally I found them in a box under a couch,” said Saltzman.
Ringo Was Calm, Quiet, Almost Motionless As I Took This. Of The Four Beatles, He Appeared The Most Serene, The Most Grounded, The Most At Ease With Who He Was. I Find Ringo’s Gentle Shyness Endearingly Revealed In This Photograph.
Photograph: Paul Saltzman
He was advised to take the images to Sotheby’s in London, but decided not to sell. Instead he brought out a book in 1999, followed by a high-end art book with better colour reproduction. These improved prints will illustrate his new book.
In 1955 Mahesh Prasad Varma, a physics graduate, adopted the name Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and founded the Spiritual Regeneration Movement, setting up transcendental meditation (TM) centres in London and Los Angeles, where pupils paid £2,500 for a five-day course.
Ringo Starr left the 1968 retreat early – some accounts say he complained about the food. TM grew and more than six million people have taken classes. The Natural Law party, based on TM, contested 310 seats in the 1992 general election. George Harrison recalled that the Maharishi asked the surviving Beatles to stand for seats in Liverpool. The Maharishi died in 2008, aged 90.
Paul Was Looking Down At Words He Had Scribbled On A Scrap Of Paper, Sitting One Step Below, As He And John Started To Sing. It Was The Refrain To Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da. They Repeated It Again And Again, And Then Paul Looked Up At Me With A Twinkle In His Eyes And Said, “That’s All There Is So Far. We Don’t Have Any Of The Words Yet.” Photograph: Paul Saltzman
beatlesblogger.com McCartney – Eight Coloured Vinyls Arrive by beatlesblogge Posted on January 20, 2018
Like a lot of collectors around the world, we have been waiting patiently for Universal Music to sort out the delays and confusion around the supply and delivery of the recent Paul McCartney vinyl re-issues on coloured vinyl.
We ordered ours last year, weeks before the advertised shipping date – but it is only in the new year that they have finally arrived, and in two separate shipments.Ram clearly was in very short supply and it is pretty obvious that a pressing of more copies had to be hurriedly arranged. That LP came in a separate package a few following the main batch.
Having said all that, these look absolutely fantastic. Here are some images of the collection – the front “hype” stickers and record labels:
