Re: the “friend from Philly” Derek Taylor refers to, it’s not specified. Somebody better-versed in fan/groupie/Beatlemania-era dalliance stories may be able to connect the dots, but as far ...
“ The phone rang again. The Princess, now at her home phone and reduced to saying that she was a friend of The Animals, hoped very much she could speak with The Beatles and invite them to an i...
“ Taylor came back from a conference with Aspinall about whether or not he should leave his post as publicity chief and go back to being a newspaperman (“The Beatles are fine,” said Taylor...
“But the one that really got me was Rubber Soul, which came out at the end of 1965. Rubber Soul is probably the greatest record ever. Maybe the Phil Spector Christmas record is right up there w...
John Lennon waits for art dealer Robert Fraser in Fraser’s Gallery office, London, colourised. (End-1967) (Note: WIP, because this is kind of difficult for me to recreate at the moment. On t...
— Alan Walsh for Melody Maker: Has Apple gone rotten? (December 7th, 1968)
Thank you, anon, and I think I really needed to hear this, in recent days more than usual. I can never sit entirely comfortably with my presence here, and I often worry about how much my more sub...
The Beatles pose for the camera in the ABC Cinema, Huddersfield. (November 29th, 1963)
“ I met Paul McCartney later in the ’60s, in a studio. I was almost always in a studio back then. He came by when we were at Columbia Square working on vocal overdubs, and we had a little ch...
The Beatles with Capitol Records US President Stanley Gortikov at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, London. (August 10th, 1968) - At the conclusion of the meetings at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, the ...
Top: The Beatles with Capitol Records US president Stanley Gortikov to sign contracts for Apple Records at Royal Lancaster Hotel, London. Below: Stanley Gortikov’s itinerary for the day, (proba...
JUNE 13TH, 2001 (GREEK THEATRE, LOS ANGELES): While Brian Wilson is performing ‘God Only Knows’ on stage, he (and the audience) notices Paul McCartney has come by to see him. More than thir...
SEPTEMBER 19TH, 2019: On BBC Newsnight, Emily Maitlis asks Paul (with Stella and Mary) about hearing his music being made into muzak. MAITLIS: But when you step into a lift now in a hotel, an...
My thoughtful (if disorganised and near-hysterical) answer: I remain cautiously ambivalent. In a way I feel the same I’ve felt about the recent Super Deluxe Edition releases, where I am “happ...
Oh, thank you so much! I can’t with good conscience call this an “active” blog in the healthiest sense of the word, currently; I can only say that I do try to make up for my lapses and abse...
“ In fact, you didn’t even need to go out to have a berserk night in John’s company. One evening in New York, we were holed up in my suite at the Sherry-Netherland hotel, determinedly maki...
“ I first met John Lennon through Tony King, who had moved to LA to become Apple Records’ general manager in the US. In fact, the first time I met John Lennon, he was dancing with Tony King....
“ Bob Wooler: “John Lennon announced one Cavern lunchtime that everyone must behave, which was rich coming from him. Aunt Mimi was coming with a friend and she wanted to see him play. He wou...
Ficbits in Quarantime! Warning for period-typical, John-typical attitudes. #3 is timestamped in Lost Weekend-era 1974, and #1 in Barcelona-trip 1963. Which is one of the tried and tested tropes (...
FEBRUARY 16TH, 1965: Brian Epstein appears on teen music show Hullabaloo to introduce the Band of Angels and chat with Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham. BRIAN: You manage the Rolling S...