On This Day – Johnny and The Moondogs
Nov 15, 2011 On This Day
On this day in 1959 Johnny and The Moondogs played an audition for a talent show. Sadly they did not win.
Why should we be bothered about a failed band? Simply because they later became The Silver Beetles, then The Silver Beats and eventually The Beatles. It seems that Lennon took names seriously as The Beatles had some 8 names, including The Beatles (twice!).
Carroll Levis was Canadian born but moved to the UK to work for the BBC. In 1958 and 1959 he ran talent shows and the prize was to appear on either his radio or TV shows both called “Star Search” (some sources say it was called “Search for a Star”). The set up was that the acts performed and later reprised their act while the audience applauded. Using a clapometer it was decided which act was most popular and so the winner.
On 15 November 1959 (or possibly 26th November) The Quarrymen morphed into Johnny and the Moondogs for the talent show. Their line up was John, Paul, George, Colin Hanton (drums), and John Lowe (piano). The auditions took place in The Hippodrome Theatre, Manchester and the band turned up to play. However, they did not have enough money to stay overnight if they had progressed to the next heat and returned to Liverpool without knowing whether they has won or not (they didn’t).
There are several questions about this whole episode. The 15th November 1959 was a Sunday, would the theatre be open on a Sunday in those days? Possibly not. An alternative date given for their performance is the 26 November 1959. There is also some question as to what, if anything Lennon was playing at the time. There are reports that Lennon was singing but notplaying at this time. There are other reports that Lennon was indeed playing guitar, a Hofner Club 40. It is known that Lennon was playing this guitar a little later when the Quarrymen (they had changed the name back) played the Casbah club. This is the guitar that Lennon’s aunt Mimi bought for him. The photo above is from 1958 and shows Lennon without a guitar, but obviously that proves nothing. There are also reports that Lennon actually stole a guitar to play at the competition. (It has to be said that I was told that some time ago but I have not been able to corroborate this story).
So what do we know? The proto-Beatles took part in a talent show, did not win but did not give up. It is hard for us to look back now and appreciate the change that was happening to society. In post war Britain skiffle had roused something among the youngsters. They became enamoured of the energetic music that was coming from the States, then rock and roll took their desire to express themselves further. There were difficulties and deprivations but a generation was beginning to reject the old staid mores of their parents and the existing society. From such small beginnings………..
Tags: beatles, Blues, classic rock, classic rock music, Colin Hanton, george harrison, john lennon, John Lowe, johnny and the moondogs, love rock music, On This Day, paul Mcartney, real rock, real rock and blues, rock, rock and blues, rock music, the beatles
Wanna be in The Beatles?
Oct 18, 2011 Uncategorized
There is a letter going to be actioned that shows that The Beatles were looking for a drummer who would have replaced Pete Best.
In 1960 a drummer placed an advert in the Liverpool Echo the advert said “Drummer-Young-Free.”
McCartney replied and the letter that going to auction is his reply; It is interesting because the letter invited the (unknown) drummer to an audition. It also said that the drummer should be prepared to drop everything and go off to Hamburg for 2 months. The letter said that the pay would be £18 per week. (Not too shabby in 1960).
So, this was not someone to replace Ringo – he replaced Pete Best a couple of years later. It was was someone to take to Hamburg instead of Pete Best. It is known that PB was in The Beatles, not so much because he was a great drummer but more that he had a drum kit!
Bruce Spicer, a well known Beatles Scholar said “This shows that Pete wasn’t the only person they were interested in,” Spizer said. “They needed a drummer and Pete was convenient. It makes sense that they would have responded to some drummer in Liverpool looking for work. My speculation is that two months in Hamburg intimidated him, maybe he didn’t want to go and never replied. If he had responded, and if he was good, it might have changed everything.”
It was in Hamburg that The Beatles grew into a tight and professional unit ready to take the world by storm. Years later Lennon said that The Beatles were the best rock band in the world at the time when they were playing in Hamburg. (He probably meant the later stints in Hamburg in ‘62 rather than the first one). He also said, “I might have been born in Liverpool – but I grew up in Hamburg”
Somewhere there is a man who was a drummer in his youth, who might have, just might have become the best known drummer in the world. Who he was we will probably never know. There are lots of unanswered questions; Did he have an audition? Was he offered the job? Did not bother to reply to Sir Paul ‘cos he did not fancy Hamburg? How did this letter turn up being used as a bookmark in a book at a car boot sale? Why do I never find things like this when I go to car booties?
Tags: beatles, Blues, classic rock music, john lennon, love rock music, paul mccartney, real rock, real rock and blues, rock, rock and blues, rock music, the beatles, the beatles in hamburg, the best rock band in the world, unknown drummer in the beatlesl
On This day – The Beatles Entertain The Royals
Nov 4, 2010 On This Day
On this day in 1963 The Beatles topped the bill at The Royal Variety Show at The Prince Of Wales Theatre, London. The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret were in the audience. The event was made famous by John Lennon with his famous remark “In the cheaper seats you clap your hands. The rest of you, just rattle your jewellery”.
The rest of us plebs watched the show when it was broadcast on UK television on the Nov 10th 1963.
Tags: beatles, john lennon, love rock music, real rock and blues, rock and blues, rock blues music, royal variety show, the beatles
On This Day – The Beatles in Hamburg
Nov 1, 2010 On This Day
On this day in 1962 the beatles started a 2 week run at the Star Club in Hamburg.
By This time Ringo had replaced Pete Best after he left Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. It was on this trip that the Beatles found out that btheir original bass player Stuart Sutcliffe had died of an aneurysm. He had been suffering from headaches and a sensitivity to light for some time but his condition had never been diagnosed and treated.
Sutcliffe had left the band the previous time that they had been in Hamburg to pursue a career in art and to stay with his german girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr. It was Surtcliffe’s departure that prompted McCartney to pick up the bass, and so become the most famous bass player in the world, though certainly not the best (my vote goes to Mike Watt I love his Ball-Hog or Tugboat album – but then what do I know?)
By the time they arrived in Hamburg their reputation was growing. It was of this time that Lennon was commenting when he later said that The Beatles were once the best rock group in the world. The set included “I saw Her Standing There” (which appeared on their debut album), “Hippy Hippy Shake (written by Chan Romero in 1959 and a hit for the Swinging Blue Leans a year later) as well as Roll Over Neethoven, Sweet Little Sixteen, Red Sails in the Sunset (!) and “You Feet’s Too Big” (made famous by the great Fats Waller).
There is no doubt that The Beatle learnt their trade (like the majority of great bands) when playing live over a period of time. These days most people just want to be famous………………………….
Tags: astrid kirsherr, classic rock music, fatts waller, john lennon, mike watt, On This Day, paul mccartney, real rock and blues, ring starr, rock and blues, stuart sutcliffe, the beatles
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 – The Beatles Jam with Elvis
Aug 27, 2009 On This Day
On This Day in 1965 the Beatles were on their second US tour. Brian Epstein was able to arrange a visit to meet Elvis in his Bel-Air home. The visit lasted some 4 hours and while Col Tom Parker an Epstein played pool the Fab Four and The Hips told stories and chatted. They also jammed together. Want a copy of that recording? Well, tough luck no one thought to turn a tape recorder on!
Here is an excerpt from the book The Beatles Anthology talking about meeting Elvis.
PAUL We met Elvis Presley at the end of our stay in L.A. We’d tried for years to, but we could never get to him. He was our greatest idol, but the styles were changing in favor of us. He was a pretty powerful image to British people. You’d look at photos of him doing American concerts, and the audience would not even be jumping up and down. We used to be amazed, seeing them sitting in the front row – not even dancing.
JOHN LENNON : When I first heard “Heartbreak Hotel,” I could hardly make out what was being said. It was just the experience of hearing it and having my hair stand on end. We’d never heard American voices singing like that. They’d always sung like Sinatra who enunciated well. Suddenly, there’s this hillbilly hiccuping with echo and all this bluesy background going on. We didn’t know what the hell Presley was singing about or Little Richard or Chuck Berry. It took a long time to work out what was going on. To us, it just sounded like great noise.
PAUL We tried many times to meet Elvis, Colonel Tom Parker, his manager would just show up with a few souvenirs, and that would have to do us for a while. We didn’t feel brushed off we felt we deserved to be brushed off. After all, he was Elvis, and who were we to dare to want to meet him? But we finally received an invitation to go round and see him when he was making a film in Hollywood.
GEORGE HARRISON Meeting Elvis was one of the high-lights of the tour. It was funny, because by the time we got near his house we’d forgotten where we were going. We were in a Cadillac going round and round along Mulholland, and we’d had a couple of “cups of tea” in the back of the car. It didn’t really matter where we were going – it’s like the comedian Lord Buckley says, “We go into a native village and take a couple of peyote buds, we might not find out where we is, but we’ll sure find out who we is.” Anyway, we were just having fun, we were all in hysterics. (We laughed a lot. That’s one thing we forgot about for a few years – laughing. When we went through all the lawsuits, it looked as if everything was bleak, but when I think back to before that, I remember we used to laugh all the time.) We pulled up at some big gates and someone said, “Oh yeah, we’re going to see Elvis,” and we all fell out of the car laughing, trying to pretend we weren’t silly, just like a Beatles cartoon.
JOHN It was very exciting, we were all nervous as hell, and we met him in his big house in L.A. – probably as big as the one we were staying in, but it still felt like “big house, big Elvis.” He had lots of guys around him, all these guys that used to live near him (like we did from Liverpool, we always had thousands of Liverpool people around us, so I guess he was the same.) And he had pool tables! Maybe a lot of American houses are like that, but it seemed amazing to us. It was like a nightclub.
RINGO STARR I was pretty excited. We were lucky because it was the four of us and we had each other to be with. The house was very big. We walked in, and Elvis was sitting down on a settee in front of the TV. He was playing a bass guitar, which even to this day I find very strange. He had all his guys around him, and we said, “Hi, Elvis.” He was pretty shy, and we were a little shy, but between the five of us we kept it rolling. I felt I was more thrilled to meet him than he was to meet me.
PAUL He showed us in. He just looked like Elvis – we were all major fans, so it was hero worship of a high degree. He said, “Hello, lads – do you want a drink?” We sat down and watched telly, and he had the first remote any of us had ever seen. You just aimed it at the telly and – wow! That’s Elvis! He was playing Charlie Rich’s “Mohair Sam” all evening – he had it on a jukebox.
JOHN He had his TV going all the time, which is what I do; we always have TV on. We never watch it – it’s just there with no sound on, and we listen to records. In front of the TV, he had a massive amplifier with a bass plugged into it, and he was up playing bass all the time with the picture up on the TV. So we just got in there and played with him. We all plugged in whatever was around, and we played and sang. He had a jukebox, like I do, but I think he had all his hits on it. But if I’d made as many as him, maybe I’d have all mine on.
PAUL That was the greatest. Elvis was into the bass, So there I was, “Well, let me show you a thing or two, El…” Suddenly he was a mate. It was a great conversation piece for me. I could actually talk about the bass, and we sat around and just enjoyed ourselves. He was great. Talkative. Friendly and a little bit shy. But that was his image. We expected that, we hoped for that.
JOHN At first we couldn’t make him out. I asked him if he was preparing new ideas for his next film and he drawled, “Ah sure am. Ah play a country boy with a guitar who meets a few gals along the way, and ah sing a few songs.” We all looked at one another. Finally Presley and Colonel Parker laughed and explained that the only time they departed from that formula – for Wild in the Country – they lost money.
PAUL She came in, and I got this picture of her as a sort of a Barbie doll – with a purple gingham dress and a gingham bow in her very beehive hair, with lots of makeup. We all said hello, and then it was, “Right, lads, hands off – she’s going.” She didn’t stay long. I can’t blame him, although I don’t think any of us would have made a pass at her. That was definitely not on – Elvis’s wife, you know! That was unthinkable – she didn’t need to be put away quite so quickly, we thought.
GEORGE I don’t remember even seeing Priscilla. I spent most of the party trying to suss out from the gang if anybody had any reefers. But they were uppers and whiskey people. They weren’t really into reefer smoking in the South.
JOHN It was nice meeting Elvis. He was just Elvis, you know? He seemed normal to us, and we were asking about his making movies and not doing any personal appearances or TV. I think he enjoys making movies so much, We couldn’t stand not doing personal appearances, we’d get bored – we get bored quickly. He says he misses it a bit.We never talked about anything else – we just played music. He wasn’t bigger than us, but he was “the thing.” He just wasn’t articulate, that’s all.
Tags: classic rock music, elvis presley, love rock music, On This Day, real rock and blues, rock and blues, the beatles
