On This Day – Ladies and Gentlemen, I Give You The Nerk Twins!
Apr 23, 2010 On This Day
On this day in 1960 The Nerk Twins played a couple of gigs at the Fox and Hounds in Caversham. As these were the only bookings fulfilled by the Nerk Twins that in itself would merit an ‘On This Day’ mention, the more so that the location was the world famous Fox and Hounds.
However, the reason why there is some interest in the Nerk Twins was that they later became part of a local pub band called the Beatles. After the artistic peak of playing to 3 people in Paul’s cousin’s pub Paul and John took the almost precedented step of turning their back on fame for the obscurity of rock band mediocracy.
Tags: beatles, classic rock music, john lennon, love rock music, On This Day, paul mccartney, rock and blues, the beatles, the nerk twins
On This Day – I’m Not Dead, Honest.
Oct 22, 2009 On This Day
On this day in 1969 Paul McCartney said officially that he was not dead, unless the statement was issued by William Campbell after the surgery.
There had been persistent rumours that Paul had died in a car accident and that he had been replaced with a look-a-like called William Campbell.
The story begins on 9th November 1966 while the Beatles were working on Sgt. Pepper’s but things were not going well. In frustration Paul left the Abbey Road studios and jumped in his car. While driving he picked up a woman hitch hiker (called Rita). She became hysterical when she realised who he was and in the fracas that ensued he crashed the car. She was able to get out of the now burning car but Paul, sadly, died.
What happened then was a massive cover up. Local papers bribed, as were the police and ambulance services. In desperation to keep the Beatles’ brand alive Brian Epstein found William Campbell who had won a Paul Look-a-like competition. He was flown from Canada where he was living, given elocution lessons, plastic surgery, and taught to be left handed rather than right. Simple!
There followed years of lies and deceit. However there were clues. The Sgt. Pepper cover is full of clues; crashed cars, Shiva the destroyer pointing towards Paul, the wreath spelling out ‘Paul’, the open palm sign. In the gatefold Paul is wearing a badge that says ‘OPD’ which stands for ‘Officially Pronounced Dead’. It is all so obvious.
Look at ‘Revolver’. Who is the only Beatle not looking straight out of the cover? You’ve guessed it, Paul. Could that mean that the others are looking towards the future and Paul isn’t (‘cos he’s dead)? The open palm death symbol is there again.
Look at ‘Magical Mystery Tour’. On the back cover, how many band members do you see? (By the woman with the red dress one third of the way down) Five. Is the fifth, who looks like Paul, really William Campbell?
There is more. Remember that Paul was left handed and often said that there was nothing he could do about it, he could not ‘cure’ himself of being a lefty, and he had tried.
So, page 4 of the Magical Mystery Tour booklet with which hand is ‘Paul’ holding his wand? The right. During MMT film, the beginning of the ‘Fool on the Hill’ bit is smoking, using his right hand. During the same film the cast are on the bus, drunk and singing. In which hand does ‘Paul’ hold his beer bottle? His right.
‘Nuff said.
Tags: beatles, classic rock music, is paul dead, officially pronounced dead, On This Day, paul mccartney, rock and blues
On This day – The Beatles Hit our TV Screens
Oct 17, 2009 Uncategorized
On this day in 1962 The Beatles make it onto the small screen. They were on a local TV station “Granada” that broadcasts to the North West of England. The show is a local news programme with a magazine format called ‘People and Places’. On the programme they sang 2 songs live ‘Some Other Guy’ and ‘Love Me Do’. Sadly, there is no recording of the show or any of the other 4 appearances they made on local TV in 1962.
It now seems hard to believe that in 1962 singing 2 songs on a poxy little local TV show was a big deal for the Fab Four. 5 TV outings in 1962 then 30 in 1963, including their first on the BBC (13 April 1963, ‘625 Special’) things really began top pick up for the lads. By the way, their first appearance on US TV was not broadcast until 3rd January 1964. It was a performance of ‘She Loves You’ filmed by the BBC in August ‘64 and sold on to The Jack Paar Show.
Their second appearance on TV (for the same show) was recorded on 29th October and broadcast on 2nd November – by which time they were in Hamburg, for the second time.
Tags: beatles, beatles on tv, john lennon, On This Day, paul, paul mccartney, rock and blues
Beatlemania to Sweep The World! (again)
Sep 9, 2009 About and things, rock and blues
There is going to be a worldwide growth in fabness. Mop tops will be back in fashion and lovable Liverpudlian accents everywhere. At least according to the media including a simpering Sunday Times this week, the reason?
The Beatles’ albums have been remastered and reissued together with a magnificent box set. The box set contains all the albums and costs a paltry (!) £169 while the albums cost about £11 each making the box set the most cost effective choice if you want to replace all your existing CDs and vinyl.
Now, most remastered CDs are less than impressive, more of a marketing opportunity than a valuable addition to your collection. From everything that I have read these reissues are different. From the fawning Sunday Times to an anonymous commenter on Yahoo Answers the verdict is that the reissues are like new records.
The original dynamics have been retained (original from the master tapes, not the bland CDs of the past). The trend has been to make the softer bits louder and the louder bits softer to make the overall sound more even. That may sound good on radio but does lose the original attack of the recording.
Overall, these reissues are well worth the money. I will be replacing Revolver (the only Beatles album that I own currently) as well as investing in Sgt. Peppers, Rubber Soul, and Past Masters. Past masters is an interesting album. It contains all those singles that never appeared in albums – seems strange these days that anyone would not issue all their singles on albums – but that is what happened way back when. As well as She Loves You, I Want To Hold Your Hand (so innocent) etc. there are some rarities. Well worth the money even for those of use who are Beatles completists (and I am certainly not one of those). What CDs should you avoid? Yellow Submarine has to be at the top of this list, absolutley useless more Monkees than Beatles….. Also avoid Beatles For Sale. The 4th album in 2 years, whoever thought that would be a good idea?
I was never a huge Beatles fan, (my mother liked them, hated those dirty and loutish Rolling Stones so guess which band I favoured?) but it is true that they were a good band and did change a lot of things for those that came later. I do have some quibble (quite a lot of a quibble, in fact) with John’s statement that they were the best rock band in the world, at least when they were playing in Hamburg. As virtually no one saw them in Hamburg it is hard to argue with him though.
Tags: beatlemania, beatles, beatles remasters, george harrison, john lennon, love rock music, paul mccartney, ring, rock and blues, rongo starr
