1969 Archives | Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

The Joshua Liquid Light Show

By Michael Gerber|2016-05-04T09:50:38-07:00May 4, 2016|1969|

The Joshua Liquid Light Show, invented by artist Joshua White, was a psychedelic staple at New York's iconic Fillmore East in the late Sixties. White and his colleagues would project their work on 30-40 foot screens behind bands like Jimi Hendrix and The Who, improvising in time with the music. I've found one of their Shows on YouTube, which I'm pasting below. This work is now part of the permanent collection at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. https://youtu.be/TW733Ut5zE0 It is a real shame that the Beatles didn't return to touring; their post-Pepper music, plus proper mic-ing and amplification, plus [...]

0

The Beatles Swan Song

By Michael Gerber|2016-02-16T11:25:02-08:00February 16, 2016|1969|

Where's John? Didn't really matter, did it? I'm delighted whenever Nancy gives us some Starostin news -- he's a brilliant critic, and a fluid writer as well. He is a guy I'd like to sit around listening to albums with, and that's not something I could say about a lot of music critics (Lester Bangs, for example). But I do, predictably, have a quibble -- and it's not just with Starostin, but with a lot of the appreciations of Abbey Road that I've read over the years. Here's how Starostin starts: While speculating on all the possible and probable causes [...]

105

Starostin reviews “Abbey Road”

By Nancy Carr|2016-02-15T17:29:07-08:00February 15, 2016|1969, Abbey Road, Beatles Criticism, Beatles on the Web, George Starostin|

George Starostin, who by my calculations must sleep four hours or less per night to work an academic job and find time to review as many albums as he does. Indefatigable reviewer George Starostin, of the Only Solitaire blog, has just posted a review of the Beatles' Abbey Road. This one is part of his "Important Album Series," in which he is offering critical considerations of the "Top Albums of All Time" on the Rate Your Music site. Abbey Road currently sits at #7 on that site. I prefer the more comprehensive review of the album that Starostin posted in 2012 on his regular [...]

0

The Meaning of Fun: The Paul is Dead Rumor

By Devin McKinney|2016-02-03T09:24:03-08:00February 3, 2016|1969, alternate history, Beatle myth, books, Paul Is Dead (PID)|

In Magic Circles: The Beatles in Dream in History, I wrote at length about the Paul is Dead (PID) rumor, attempting to weave it into a larger comprehension of the Beatles’ unprecedented, and exceedingly bizarre, effect on the private and public fantasies of the Sixties (and beyond). The rumor occurred at precisely the same time as the Manson Family murders, and my hunch for many years had been that their proximity beggared coincidence. That both were cults, both expressions—one benign, the other psychotic; one symbolic, the other brutally physical—of desires and fears accumulating at that instant in history; that those desires and [...]

10

Faul McCartney expert wanted

By Michael Gerber|2016-01-30T10:26:45-08:00January 29, 2016|1969, Each One Teach One|

"We Demand Justice" This morning, I received the following email: Hello, I'm Tatiana. I'm doing a project.. my class got to pick from 41 different topics and I chose one about "Faul McCartney." I was wondering if you had any information/ clues about this topic? If so could you email me back ASAP? Thank you very much! Who says doing a Beatles blog is all arguments about heroin and Yoko? I sent Tatiana to the Wikipedia for "Paul Is Dead." Is there anything more to the contemporary theory? How else can we help this youth? Besides reassuring her that Paul [...]

26

John and Paul, Friends and Rivals

By Nancy Carr|2015-10-15T12:42:31-07:00October 15, 2015|1969, Breakup, India, John and Paul, rishikesh|

This started as a comment on Mike's "Were John and Paul Lovers?" post. Though I wrote it before commenter Marcua's thoughts came in, we're expressing some similar ideas about the probable roots of John's post-India hostility toward Paul. I very much doubt that Lennon and McCartney were ever lovers. There's enough credible evidence that Lennon talked about and expressed interest in bisexuality for me to think he, at some point, recognized a degree of attraction to Paul. And there's enough from Paul ("he had beautiful hands," etc.) for me to think it might have gone both ways, if not as strongly. Could [...]

85

Starrtime: Defining Moments from Ringo’s non-Beatle movies (2)

By Devin McKinney|2015-10-21T20:21:59-07:00April 13, 2015|1969, comedy, Monty Python, Movies, Ringo, Ringo movies, Ringo Starr|

If you thought Candy sucked rubber, point your innocent eyeballs in the direction of The Magic Christian, a film with similar components—Terry Southern novel, Ringo Starr one face among many in a ridiculously eclectic, overqualified cast—and find yourself trapped in the Fourth Dimension of Suck. All that I remember of the novel from a high-school reading is that Ringo’s character, a homeless bum and adopted son of a billionaire, isn’t in it. That the role was created for the film and left to languish as an afterthought manifests in the marginality of Ringo’s presence, though he is top-billed among the eminent or [...]

0

Thank God for Abbey Road

By Michael Gerber|2015-01-14T18:17:51-08:00January 14, 2015|1969, Abbey Road|

The Beatles, not worrying about global warming, 1969. In the midst of a comment thread, I stumbled on an interesting thought which I wanted to open to the group: how do you think The Beatles' legacy would've been different if they'd never returned to the studio after Let It Be? My initial, instinctual thought is that the group's demise would've been even more mythic, even more shrouded by "what might have been." The rich sprawl of White seems to invite a follow-up of the quality of Abbey Road, and had the wet firecracker of Let It Be been The Beatles' [...]

12

A Dylan Beatles Stones Album In A Parallel Universe

By Michael Gerber|2014-11-11T19:58:00-08:00November 11, 2014|1969, alternate history|

These proportions would've been pretty accurate I think Eagle-eyed Dullblog commenter Hologram Sam writes us: "In 1969, Bob Dylan had the idea to form the ultimate temporary supergroup. He wanted to record an album with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. He told his idea to Glyn Johns, who immediately started making phone calls. Long story short: George Harrison and Keith Richards were in favor of the project. Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger were not interested. John Lennon didn't care either way. Ladies and Gentlemen: The Dylan Beatles Stones! Today's thought experiment: Try to imagine a parallel universe where this [...]

17

Deconstructing The Beatles: The End

By Michael Gerber|2016-01-18T11:04:00-08:00September 18, 2014|1969, Abbey Road|

Yukking it up in Studio Two. Thanks to a timely Tweet from The Fest for Beatles Fans -- LA Fest is coming and I will be there! -- I stumbled on this wonderful video, which lays out Abbey Road's climactic track in all its glorious pieces. Too juicy not to pass along. I have to say, as a non-musician, this is both very encouraging (I can hear how they made the finished song) and also demonstrates a way of thinking that I've never done myself, which makes music even more mysterious than before. http://youtu.be/P68IF-90WWU And here's the track in toto [...]

9