www.philebrity.com
Dept. Of Let It Be: Dress Like A Beatle For A Mere $200
Monday, January 19th, 2015
We read Craigslist today, oh boy, and came across the following ad:
"I previously performed in a Beatle tribute band, and have retired. I am offering my high quality costumes for sale. I am 5’8″ and weigh 155 lbs, with a 31′ waist. The Sgt Pepper costume was made by Rubies in New York. It is very well made, with high quality materials. The Abbey Road costume is made by Liz Claiborne."
Along with the pictured Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band costume, the ad also features a photo of Abbey Road-inspired duds. We’re into it. Maybe we should start a GoFundMe to raise the $200 needed for these jawns, we need new outfits for the Philebrity Awards.
www.stuff.co.nz
Reissue magic
BY SIMON SWEETMAN
20/01/2015
Those double-disc and multi-set reissues where a "classic" or "forgotten" album is re-released, under the tag-line of improved sound, a whole new "re-mastered" experience...with a slew of extras, the demos of songs in their earliest shape, a handful of moments not good enough for the finished album, live versions of the same songs from the album - and alternate takes or remixes (and sometimes you can't at all spot the difference)...yes, they're designed to milk money, to get people to buy albums they already have, or buy into hype around something long forgotten. Most obviously anniversary editions...
But every now and then a reissue of an old album comes along and does the job - not merely because the bells and whistles and shiny things attached make it seem nice/r - sometimes it's about the timing, all of a sudden the chance (presented right in front of you) to hear an album again and maybe - somehow - hear it properly means you're sold when previously you weren't.
That's a long, awkward intro when all I wanted to say was the Wings album Venus and Mars never meant much to me but now I love it! There's an extensive Paul McCartney/Wings reissue project underway and in most cases I've been collecting up the reissues because I loved the original albums but am left with scratchy old vinyl from my parents. The first time the post-Beatles work of Paul McCartney was put on CD it was, in most cases, totally botched. Weak-sounding, thin, those lazy transfers - and in the case of Venus and Mars I could never really get on board with the original album because it didn't sound great to me. Sonically, I mean - not so much song-wise. But I just never gave it a chance at any rate.
Venus and Mars was recently reissued in tandem with Wings At The Speed of Sound - that was a Wings record I always liked; the reissue is good too, fine, happy to have it but it was no revelation to hear it (although there's a track with John Bonham on, so that's of interest). But all of a sudden Venus and Mars feels like a brand new album, like a record I never gave anywhere enough time.
There are the sweet, twee, nearly hokey songs that Macca does, there are soulful tunes and some flat-out rockers, it's a great survey of almost all of the songwriting styles he had to offer post-Beatles.
Maybe I was just hooked on Band on the Run as a kid and wrote this off as an inferior follow-up. I don't know what it was - can't answer it actually - but this was always the weakest Wings album in my mind. Now it's some long-lost gem, shining jewel in the crown, one of Sir Paul's finest - complete - albums. It also really cements the idea of Wings as a band, a unit, an entity, not just the new name that Paul McCartney was using. The perfect bridge between Band on the Run and Speed of Sound.
Anyway, I'm sure I've lost many of you at the mention of Wings or McCartney - and that was never the point of today's (hoped) discussion.
The point, simply, was to get you discussing similar examples - times when, even if it's some sort of record-company con-job, you've suddenly discovered an album 20, 30, 40 years old that you never gave the time of day all those years ago and the thing that sold it to you was the chance to hear it again, maybe the shiny new package lured you in, maybe the bells and whistles weren't, in the end, anything special, but you saw through those, ignored them even, and heard the magic of the original album - finally.
It's sometimes just about timing. I guess an enthusiasm towards this Wings/McCartney reissue program had me curious to finally sit down - properly - with the Venus and Mars album. Anyway, I found songs likeWings Letting Go to be magic, where previously they had just passed me by, meant nothing.
It's nice to find something new out of something old like that.
What examples do you have of a reissue of a classic or perhaps cult-classic/underrated/forgotten album finally making sense to you - or seeming like the greatest new discovery - when you bought (into) the reissued version?
Postscript: Tom Doyle's excellent book about Paul McCartney's 1970s work first sold me on the idea of going back to Venus and Mars, a really great book. Thoroughly recommended.
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- Stuff
www.theargus.co.uk
Helicopter carrying Sir Paul McCartney came within seconds of crashing at his Sussex estate
by Siobhan Ryan
Monday 19 January 2015
A HELICOPTER carrying Sir Paul McCartney and his wife came within seconds of crashing as it tried to land at his Sussex home.
The star, 72, and his wife Nancy Shevell were making their way to Peasemarsh, near Rye, from an event in London when the drama unfolded.
A report published by the Department of Transport’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch found The Beatles star’s pilot missed two urgent warnings the aircraft was too close to the ground and missed hitting treetops near the home by about 2ft.
The helipad on the estate has trees all around it and the weather conditions were poor.
The first attempt to land was abandoned after rain forced the pilot to turn off the landing lights and it became unsafe.
With the second attempt, the helicopter came too close to the trees and the pilot was forced to sharply pull the Sikorsky S-76C around to safety.
The landing was aborted and the helicopter went on to nearby Lydd Airport instead.
The report said that during the second attempt: “The co-pilot, who was monitoring the instruments, saw that the helicopter was descending and began to speak to highlight this to the commander when he saw the radio altimeter winding down towards zero extremely quickly.
“The co-pilot found himself momentarily unable to continue speaking, expecting the helicopter to crash.”
The investigation concluded: “The descent from above the minimum safe altitude was conducted in reduced visibility and low cloud conditions into an area with limited visual references.
“The helicopter was therefore brought close to terrain in an environment in which situational awareness could become degraded easily.
“In the course of the orbit, the commander became spatially disorientated and the helicopter descended towards the tops of trees.”
The report said although two warnings were given that the helicopter was approaching contact with the ground, the flight crew were not aware of them.
The incident happened in May 2012.
Sir Paul McCartney
www.telegraph.co.uk
Japanese fan to build replica of John Lennon's childhood home
Local historian wants to recreate semi-detached house as a 'memorial hall' to 'apostle of peace' Lennon and Yoko Ono
By Julian Ryall, Tokyo
16 Jan 2015
A Japanese fan of The Beatles wants to create an identical replica of John Lennon's childhood home to promote love and peace.
Tatsuro Hara, the head of a local historical and cultural study group in the town of Yanagawa in southern Japan, has proposed that a plot of land that belonged to the grandfather of Yoko Ono, the late musician's wife, be turned into a park with a replica of Lennon's home as a "memorial hall".
"I was born in 1943 so I grew up as part of the 'Beatles generation', so of course I am a fan," Mr Hara told The Telegraph.
"The Beatles made the greatest contribution to the musical revolution and I believe that Mr Lennon is an apostle of peace," he said.
"I want to make a 'Yoko Ono and John Lennon Memorial' in Yanagawa as a monument to love and peace and to disseminate the idea of peace around the world," he added.
Mr Hara said he had ruled out the possibility of buying Lennon's home, at 251 Menlove Avenue, in Woolton, pictured. Photo: Getty
Mr Hara said he had ruled out the possibility of buying Lennon's home, at 251 Menlove Avenue, in Woolton, and shipping it to Japan to be rebuilt in Yanagawa.
The semi-detached house dates from the 1930s and was purchased by Yoko Ono before being donated to The National Trust in 2003.
"If I am allowed to make a replica of Mr Lennon's home, I would like to give it all the identical details, including the interior and the furniture," he added.
The city government of Yanagawa set aside 30 million yen (£167,256) to purchase the land last year from a relative of Yoko Ono. The plot has been empty since the home of her grandfather, Eijiro Ono, was demolished 40 years ago.
The local authority stepped in after a company announced plans to turn the land into a nursing home.
Kenji Kaneko, the mayor of Yanagawa, has said he is in favour of using the land for a museum to promote the achievements of Ono and her husband, while others have said it should be used for a museum dedicated to world peace.
"The area is already one of Yanagawa's tourist destinations and we expect many tourists will visit the park," an official in the city's planning division said.
Throughout the rest of his childhood and adolescence, Lennon lived with his aunt and uncle, Mimi and George Smith, at Mendips, 251 Menlove Avenue, Woolton.
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk
Welsh Streets: Mayor Joe Anderson condemns decision to block demolition
By Liam Murphy
Jan 16, 2015
Campaigners opposing council's regeneration plans say they are 'delighted'
Voelas Street in Dingle
Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson has condemned a decision by the government to block council plans to demolish and rebuild some of the houses in Welsh Streets.
Following an inquiry last into the council’s regeneration plans for the Welsh Streets – including a house where Beatle Ringo Starr once lived as young child – a planning inspector ruled the scheme could be given the go-ahead.
But despite this the communities secretary Eric Pickles stepped in to block the proposals in what Mayor Anderson has described as a “politically motivated” and “perverse” decision.
Residents pictured on Treborth street
Mayor Anderson said the Government’s decision was “yet another kick in the teeth for the long-suffering residents”.
He said: “The residents of the Welsh Streets have already waited far too long for regeneration. They have shown real determination, resilience and fantastic community spirit, to fight for modern, family homes.”
He said the council will be “looking straight away at how we can challenge this dreadful decision.”
In his letter the Secretary of State said he “disagrees with the Inspector’s recommendation and refuses planning permission”.
In September 2013 the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, called an inquiry into the council’s plan to demolish and rebuild some of the houses in the Welsh Streets, held last summer.
Liverpool city council and Plus Dane Housing Group were behind the joint scheme which opposed by SAVE Britain’s Heritage, who think the houses should be kept and refurbished.
Following the decision by Eric Pickles to block the council’s plans, director of SAVE Clem Cecil said: “We are really pleased, we have been campaigning for this for ten years.”
She added: “This decision letter from the Secretary of State is really visionary and is one that allows empty homes to be brought back into use. Now it’s important to get the homes back into use and not let them decay further. I really hope this doesn’t descend into politics between the Mayor and the Government.”
Last summer’s public inquiry last summer looked at plans by the council to compulsorily purchase the last eight of the 311 sites needed to deliver phases one and two of the £15m scheme.
The council says that under its proposals the new homes for the local community and new residents would have been built to a high standard and will be available for affordable rent and sale, providing a diverse mix of housing for the area designed to be energy efficient and spacious, with many including gardens.
Liverpool’s Mayor said he had prepared to abide by the decision of an independent inspector “even if it had gone against us” and said Eric Pickles intervention was “absolutely appalling and smacks of the very worst type of political interference from Whitehall”.
The scheme was approved by the council’s planning committee in August 2013 but called in for public inquiry by the Secretary of State.
Treborth Street in Dingle
www.24dash.com
Liverpool fury as Pickles uses Ringo Starr to block Welsh Streets regeneration
Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Communities, Local Government
Friday 16th January 2015
The Mayor of Liverpool has reacted with fury to a decision by Eric Pickles to use Beatles legend Ringo Starr to block the regeneration of the city's Welsh Streets.
Joe Anderson has accused Pickles of "political posturing" after the Department for Communities and Local Government overturned a planning inspector's recommendation to approve the council's plans, saying the regeneration project posed a threat to the Beatles' heritage in the city - with specific reference to the birthplace of the band's drummer.
Under the plans, which were backed by 70% of the local community, the council would have demolished 271 "damp and run down" homes and replaced them with 154 new houses while another 37 would have been refurbished, including the Beatle's former home in Madryn Street.
But the Secretary of State has decided that the decision to preserve that particular property but demolish the rest of Madryn Street would "significantly harm the ability to understand and appreciate this part of Liverpool’s Beatles heritage".
Mayor Anderson said: “This is yet another kick in the teeth for the long-suffering residents of the Welsh Streets, who have now been waiting more than a decade for new homes.
“I was prepared to abide by the decision of an independent inspector even if it had gone against us, but it is unacceptable, dishonourable and completely perverse for Eric Pickles to continue to ignore local leadership, local people and then hold and pay for an independent public inquiry using taxpayers money, which he then ignores for naked political posturing.
“Yet again, this government talks about localism but then interferes in the wishes of local people. It is absolutely appalling and smacks of the very worst type of political interference from Whitehall.
“This scheme was carefully developed and supported by the vast majority of local people in a thorough and detailed consultation.
“The residents of the Welsh Streets have already waited far too long for regeneration. They have shown real determination, resilience and fantastic community spirit, to fight for modern, family homes.
“I would like to reassure them that we stand shoulder to shoulder with them in finding a way through this to deliver the new homes that they long for, and deserve.
“We will be looking straight away at how we can challenge this dreadful decision.”
Assistant mayor councillor Ann O’Byrne, said: “Some people have been living in damp, cold conditions for far too long and it is having a major impact on their health.
“This decision is absolutely nonsensical and heartbreaking, but we are committed to finding a way forward.”
The DCLG's decision follows a public inquiry last summer which looked in detail at plans by the council to compulsorily purchase the last eight of the 311 homes needed to deliver phases one and two of the £15 million scheme. Three have already been cleared, two are residential properties and three are commercial units. Five are already vacant.
Under the proposals, the new homes would have been built to a high standard and available for 'affordable rent' and sale, providing a mix of housing for the area designed to be "energy efficient and spacious, with many including gardens".
The Welsh Streets plans formed part of the wider regeneration of the Princes Park neighbourhood, with more than 80% of the 2,500 properties in the renewal area being retained.
The scheme was approved by the council’s planning committee in August 2013 but called in for public inquiry by the Secretary of State.
In its decision letter, the DCLG wrote: "Having taken account of the differing views expressed at the inquiry, the Secretary of State agrees with the SAVE’s assessment of heritage matters.
"Specifically with regard to ‘The Beatles’, although Ringo’s birthplace at No. 9 Madryn Street would be retained together with part of Madryn Street, only a stub of this terrace would be saved.
"The Secretary of State does not agree with the inspector that the significance of Ringo Starr’s house would not be lost as a consequence of the proposals.
"The Secretary of State agrees with SAVE and the National Trust that the demolition of much of Madryn Street will significantly harm the ability to understand and appreciate this part of Liverpool’s Beatles heritage, which he considers to be of importance to the city.
"Although there are many other surviving terraced streets in the area where visitors could go to see a similar environment to the one where Ringo Starr was born, the Secretary of State places importance on the actual street where he was born and he agrees with SAVE that the proposals would be short sighted as regards the future tourism potential of Madryn Street.
"For the above reasons, although the Welsh Streets are non-designated heritage assets the Secretary of State does not agree with the Inspector’s conclusion that these streets are of low significance for Liverpool’s heritage.
"The Secretary of State considers that the surviving built and cultural heritage in the Welsh Streets is of considerable significance for the above reasons, and that the proposal wold have a harmful effect on the significance of the Welsh Streets as a non-designated heritage asset."
Ringo Look-alike Max Frudd in Madryn Street
www.vox.com
When Elvis met Nixon, one of his goals was to take down the Beatles
Updated by Phil Edwards on January 14, 2015
The iconic meeting between Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon on December 21, 1970, has drawn a lot of attention over the years. Pundits have analyzed Elvis's bizarre gifts to the president (a mounted Colt .45), his unique obsessions (Communist brainwashing), and, of course, his outfit. The meeting spawned fictional interpretations too, from Drunk History to a TV movie (and a possible future film starring Kevin Spacey as Nixon).
But beneath the sideburns, there lies a darker truth about the time Elvis and Nixon met: the King wanted to take down the Beatles.
Elvis and Nixon meet.
NARA
Elvis sounded more paranoid than Richard Nixon
The National Archives maintains a record of the historic meeting, and the records show the meeting notes taken by lawyer Egil "Bud" Krogh.
First, Elvis said, "The Beatles had been a real force for anti-American spirit." He then claimed that "the Beatles came to this country, made their money, and then returned to England where they promoted an anti-American theme."
Those comments put Richard Nixon in the atypical position of being the less-paranoid person in the conversation. Krogh writes that while the president nodded in agreement, he "expressed some surprise." The conversation quickly transitioned to general complaints about drugs and protest culture.
Elvis's anti-Beatles tirade wasn't just a one-off, either. In early 1971, Presley took a tour of the FBI offices, and had some words to pass on to J. Edgar Hoover. After calling the FBI director the "greatest living American," Presley targeted the Beatles yet again. According to notes, Elvis said that "the Beatles laid the groundwork for many of the problems we are having with young people by their filthy unkempt appearances and suggestive music." He also criticized the Smothers Brothers, Jane Fonda, and other entertainers.
Elvis and the Beatles were, at best, frenemies
Elvis's insults in the White House are a sad coda to the relationship between the pop stars.
At best, Elvis and the Beatles had a strained relationship. There's only one well-publicized meeting between the two, which occurred on August 27, 1965 when the Beatles visited Presley in his Beverly Hills home. Some reports make the meeting sound like a lovefest (John Lennon dug the King's sideburns!) while others focus on tense moments (Paul McCartney later revealed that "I don't like [Elvis's] new stuff half as much — we told him that last night"). Most reports recount a jam session between the King and the band, though some dispute this claim.
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The Beatles, a couple of days after they met Elvis. (Getty)
But either way, Elvis and the Beatles never remained close after that. Their culture clash mixed with the inevitable tension between a group on the rise and a singer with an uncertain future, and the relationship frayed completely in just five years. That rapid breakdown makes Elvis's anti-Beatles stance a highlight of an already unusual meeting.
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Elvis and Nixon meet. (NARA)
