In our recent conversation regarding Revolver and Pepper the historical setting of The Beatles in general and those albums in particular have come up a lot. How much should historical context matter when judging an artistic work? Should it matter at all? Does something as squishy as historical importance trump more concrete metrics like sales or popularity, or even more nuanced ones like influence within important groups like fellow musicians? Back in the USSR, Beatles bootlegs were incised on x-rays, creating a secret Soviet flexi-disc. With that stuff swirling about, this evening I ran across a documentary called Soviet Hippies, about the [...]

Thousands of Greek citizens have gathered in Athens' Syntagma Square in front of the Greek Parliament, where they hope to prevent a continuation of austerity policies. The protest signs have a bit of a Beatle flavor. One, two, three, four, can I have a little more? Everybody's talkin' about ministers and sinisters Somewhere, John Lennon is smiling. You can read more about the situation here -- suffice to say that the government just passed a budget that pisses off both citizens who are tired of cuts to pensions and services, and lenders who wanted a quicker paydown. But [...]