Beatles News

On a recent night in San Diego, Tom Petty was doing what he's been doing for close to 40 years: leading his band The Heartbreakers on stage, playing the old hits and inaugurating new ones. He's just started touring behind Hypnotic Eye, the band's latest album in a prolific career — and if you ask Petty how it feels to still be kicking after all this time, you'll get an uncharacteristically bashful response. "It's actually kind of embarrassing now; it's such a love fest," the 63-year-old rocker says. "I don't think any of us pictured doing it at this level, at this age. "How could you?" Musically, Hypnotic Eye is a throwback to early Heartbreakers albums; it's driving rock with a bluesy vibe. But lyrically, Petty says, it's very much about what's going on in America today. Petty recently spoke with NPR's Melissa Block about his long friendship with a late Beatle and why it pays to hear one's own music on a bad car stereo. Hear the radio version at the audio link and read their conversation below.

Paul McCartney is getting back to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Sunday for the first time since he played there with The Beatles 48 years ago. This time around, let’s hope he has a better escape route planned. Back in 1966, his exit from Chavez Ravine went anything but smoothly. He and the rest of the Beatles — John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr — ended up trapped in a Lincoln Continental that was smothered fender-to-fender by a frenzied blanket of screaming, crying, pawing, clawing fans who desperately wanted to touch their idols. It was Sunday night, Aug. 28, 1966, and The Beatles were trying to make a break for it after playing for 45,000 people at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. It was the first concert booked at the 4-year old ballpark and, though no one knew it at the time, the second-to-last show The Beatles would ever perform. After another stadium gig the following night at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, their concert career was over. Westlake Village’s Bob Eubanks, who cut his teeth in radio at Oxnard’s KACY from 1958 to 1960 before jumping ship to powerhouse station KRLA in Los Angeles, is responsible for bringing The Beatles to Dodger Stadium. 

Inspiration, passion, enthusiasm, motivation, engagement. Call it whatever you want, but in business you need it. Without it your team or organization is roadkill. As mentioned in a previous post, the lack of employee engagement in the workplace is astounding. Gallup, which tracks this on a regular basis, reports that only 13% of global workers are engaged in their work. Even worse, 24% of workers are “actively disengaged”—who are “liable to spread negativity to coworkers.” (We’ll discuss the costs of this in a moment.) The “engagement factor” is something the top rock bands have understood and consciously applied. I have previously written about the night that Pete Townshend and The Who discovered the secret in a London tavern in 1964. Subsequently their passionate performances drew young fans by the busload to their early gigs. But how John Lennon and The Beatles discovered the power of engagement is an even better story.

Hindu leaders have joined fans of late Beatles starGeorge Harrison in calling for Los Angeles City officials to replant a tree tribute to the singer/songwriter after learning the pine that bore his name has died. The George Harrison Memorial Tree was planted in Griffith Park in 2004 in memory of Harrison, who was a follower of Hinduism, but the pine mysteriously died in June (14). U.S. Hindu leader Rajan Zed has urged Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to investigate the reasons of the death of the tree and plant another immediately. Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, tells Wenn, "I wonder why the City is taking so much time to replant a replacement tree in memory of such a well-known humanitarian and avid gardener, who lived in Los Angeles in his later years and died there.

The inaugural Sir Paul McCartney Day coincided with the former Beatles member's live show at the Target Field venue yesterday. The gig was only McCartney's fourth appearance in the state since 1965 and his first since a gig at the Metrodome in 1993. The Beatles first played Minnesota in 1965 at the Metropolitan Stadium. Governor of Minnesota, Mark Dayton, made the day official and an official proclamation of the occasion states that August 2 will see the state "come together to honour one of the most influential and inspiring musicians in history." In July McCartney resumed his Out There tour, after taking off almost two months following a virus.

It might not be made of Norwegian Wood, but Beatles fans are expected to pay out thousands of pounds for the chance to own this old front door from Sir Paul McCartney's childhood home. The door, from the former Beatle's home in Forthlin Road, Liverpool, is up for auction as part of Christie's Out of the Ordinary sale on September 3 and is expected to fetch around £8,000. McCartney's family moved to the council house in 1956 and it is where the band first rehearsed and where early hits including Love Me Do and I Saw Her Standing There were written. The door was removed when the house was refurbished in 1978 and has passed through several hands before being offered for sale.

An extra 300 seats have opened up for Paul McCartney’s much-anticipated performance at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. The newly available tickets are part of a block reserved by the former Beatle’s “Out There” tour that weren’t filled, said Brad Murphy, executive director of the Adams Center at the University of Montana. Most of the tickets are in the floor or bowl areas and cost $150 to $250, with a limited number of tickets still available at $49.50. Nearly 25,000 tickets sold the first day of availability, May 9. “We were down to just a few,” Adams Center executive director Brad Murphy said about ticket availability before. About half the tickets sold went to Missoulians, Murphy said, adding that everyone who stood in line at the Adams Center Box Office May 9 received a ticket. “Given the magnitude of this sale, we’ve had very few issues and I think that’s a real testament to our ticketing system and our staff,” he said.

The team behind a new rock musical about John Lennon and Yoko Ono called Rock & Roll's Greatest Lovers are seeking funding for a concept album, a bigger stage production and a film version. A sold-out condensed version of the show ran at the 2014 Hollywood Fringe Festival. The show's IndieGoGo page explains: "Many people have asked, 'Dear John, Why Yoko?' This musical answers that question while taking you through their psychedelic, swinging, Romeo and Juliet romance." Rock & Roll's Greatest Lovers was conceived and written by former J-pop star Anzu Lawson, with music by Lawson and Joerg Stoeffel. The score includes "everything from groovy 60s sounds to rock ballads to anthems." Half-finished recording the concept album, the team aims next to cast and produce a short film Rock & Roll's Greatest Lovers was conceived and written by former J-pop star Anzu Lawson, with music by Lawson and Joerg Stoeffel. The score includes "everything from groovy 60s sounds to rock ballads to anthems." Half-finished recording the concept album, the team aims next to cast and produce a short film 

AVALON, CATALINA ISLAND - Beatlemania swept the nation in 1964 after the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. Those crazed and hysterical fans - now in their sixties - continue to be as passionate about the Beatles today as they were in their teenage years. Two friends from Virginia recently proved how far they would go to view A Hard Day's Night and meet Pattie Boyd, former wife of George Harrison, when they traveled to Avalon for the Catalina Island Museum’s 50th anniversary screening of the film. For the record, the distance from Yorktown, VA to Catalina Island is approximately 2,357 miles. Linda Rody and her friend Billie spoke with Michael De Marsche, Executive Director of the Catalina Island Museum, during the book signing with Pattie Boyd that occurred after the screening of the film. The following is their story. "This past February my high school friend, Billie, reminded me of the fifty-year celebration of the Beatles arrival to the U.S.A. As I searched the Internet for news of the Beatles, I included Pattie Boyd in my search. I thought she might be interviewed somewhere in the media. To my delight, an article appeared announcing her appearance at the Catalina Island Museum on July 6th.

Star Wars actor Mark Hamill enjoyed a Magical Mystery Tour while he was in Liverpool as he visited a series of The Beatles' landmarks. The actor, who plays Luke Skywalker, visited the city while he is in the UK and Ireland filming for the new Star Wars film. Sporting a Jedi Knight beard, he was seen in the Cavern Club and the Beatles museum at the Albert Dock, with several surprised fans sharing photos of the star on social media. Bill Irwin, Cavern Club General Manager, said: "Mark arrived at the Cavern Club around 10pm last night and seemed really happy to be in the Cavern , he and his his wife and two children and his friend seemed to really enjoy the atmosphere. "His son took real interest in the Merseybeatles who were playing because I later found out he is a real keen guitarist himself!