WALRUSGUMBOOT BEATLE NEWS

Beatles catalog is temporarily banned from music website BlueBeat

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:29:00 +0000

A federal court in Los Angeles this week issued a temporary restraining order against a music website that recently had been offering the entire Beatles catalog for downloading at 25 cents per song. The Santa Cruz-based BlueBeat earlier in the week was hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit by EMI's Capitol Records, the group's U.S. label. The order set back a novel legal argument by BlueBeat that songs produced through digital regeneration are akin to songs performed by cover bands and therefore do not run afoul of copyright law. BlueBeat had argued in court filings that its downloads were legal because the company had created entirely new versions by computer through a process called "psychoacoustic simulations" that makes the re-created songs sound just like the original recordings. [read more]

Dhani Harrison: Rock Band 3 will Teach You to Play Music

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:21:00 +0000

Now Harrison is working on the inevitable Rock Band sequel. "I'm working on 'Rock Band 3' and making the controllers more real so people can actually learn how to play music while playing the game," he said. "Give me a couple years, it's going to happen." Rock Band 3 as both a party game and an educational tool? Sounds a little too convenient... Like Baconnaise. For the uninitiated, that's bacon flavored mayonnaise, and yes, it really exists. So would you want your videogames to teach you things, or should developers keep their learnin' out of your home? [read more]

Yoko Ono, forever a force for peace

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:12:00 +0000

Even before she married John Lennon, even before she embarked on a career as an avant-garde and conceptual artist, Yoko Ono was under scrutiny, first by her teachers and peers, later by people of a different region as her family fled the fire-bombings of Tokyo. When asked if it was discouraging to have her character questioned and her work strongly criticized after she became the wife of the beloved Beatle, Ono didn't even pause before responding. "I was not particularly affected by what people were saying about my work. It was kind of a normal procedure for my work in a way. I mean, I had been criticized all the time up until then." [read more]

Beatles German Tour

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:05:00 +0000

This is the first book dealing with the sole German tour! The Beatles took quite some time after they had said goodbye to Hamburg on January 1st,1963 after their last Star-Club engagement. It wasn‘t until June 23, 1966 that they returned to Germany for five days and six concerts in Munich, Essen and Hamburg. This book deals with this German tour in a chronological order. It explains the difficulties everybody had to pull the tour through as well as the actual preparations by the promoter and the police. Every little thing that happened in those hot five days is described in great detail in a minute-by-minute-coverage. [read more/pre-order signed book]

Eric Clapton Interview - Quotes on Addiction, Tears in Heaven, and Layla

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:48:00 +0000

One of the most beneficial things I’ve ever learned is how to keep my mouth shut. Up until I became a father, it was all about self-obsession. But then I learned exactly what it’s all about: the delight of being a servant. Olivier wrote that the greatest thing you could aspire to in life was to be a good servant. From the beginning, I knew intuitively that if nothing else, music was safe, and that nobody could tell me anything about it. Music didn’t need a middleman, whereas all the other things in school needed some kind of explanation. I don’t put something on tape until I’ve played around with it for a couple of weeks. I heard someone else say this -- it may have been Quincy Jones. That he gets an idea, but he doesn’t really act on it unless it keeps coming back and starts to annoy him. [read more - Esquire]

Emi Wins Injunction Over Beatles Tracks

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:48:00 +0000

Songs by THE BEATLES have been pulled from the internet after record label bosses at EMI won a temporary injunction against a U.S. website for allegedly selling the tracks without permission. A copyright violation lawsuit was filed at a Los Angeles court on Tuesday (03Nov09) to prevent the sale of "unauthorised content" after Bluebeat.com allegedly began offering Beatles' tracks for download at discounted prices. The Fab Four's music is not licenced for internet downloads, and last year (08) Sir Paul MCCartney announced he would like to see the band's songs available on Apple's iTunes store, but admitted negotiations had "stalled". Executives at EMI, the company that owns the Beatles' recordings, need to agree a deal with the surviving bandmates and Apple Corps before the catalogue can be made available online.
Now Bluebeat.com has been banned from streaming or selling tracks by the band, as well as other EMI artists. [read more]

Beatles fans blast outrageous fiction Nowhere Boy

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:46:00 +0000

A film detailing the early life of John Lennon has been condemned as "outrageous fiction" by Beatles experts. Nowhere Boy, directed by artist Sam Taylor-Wood, and premiered at the London Film Festival, depicts Lennon's famous Auntie Mimi as a domineering harridan. The screenplay by Matt Greenhalgh - who wrote the script for the 2007 Joy Division film 'Control' - is accused of distorting Lennon's childhood and adolescence. [read more]

Emi Sues Over Beatles Downloads

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:44:00 +0000

Record label bosses at EMI have filed suit against a U.S. website after a string of BEATLES tracks appeared online. The Fab Four's music is currently not licenced for internet downloads. Last year (08) Sir Paul MCCartney announced he would like to see the band's songs available on Apple's iTunes store, but admitted negotiations had "stalled". Executives at EMI, the company that owns the Beatles' recordings, need to agree a deal with the surviving bandmates' Apple Corps company before the catalogue can be made available online. But bosses filed legal papers to prevent the sale of "unauthorised content" after American website Bluebeat.com allegedly began offering Beatles' tracks - including recent digitally remastered versions - for download at discounted prices. The copyright violation lawsuit was filed at a Los Angeles court on Tuesday (03Nov09). SOURCE - Contactmusic News

Bootleg Beatles interview

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:43:00 +0000

He’s met Paul McCartney a couple of times and spent a happy two hours at a party with George Harrison once, but still his voice falters when I ask if he ever saw the Beatles in action during his childhood in Liverpool. “I could have seen them but I didn’t. I was living with my parents. I wouldn’t have gone on my own but I could have seen them at the Liverpool Empire. But my parents . . . I was up in boarding school when they were playing one time. So I didn’t actually see them live. I would absolutely love to have seen them.” His girlfriend, however did see The Beatles. “She saw them in Denmark. She’s Danish and she saw them when she was very, very young, 12 I think. But she said it was all screaming. She wanted everybody to shut up, she couldn’t hear the songs.” [read more]

US site selling Beatles' back catalogue despite EMI investigation

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:23:00 +0000

BlueBeat, an American website, continued selling MP3 files of every single Beatles track for 25 cents (15p), even though the group's record label, EMI, has launched an urgent investigation into the unauthorised sale. The site has also continued to stream each of the group's albums, including the recently released remastered versions, in their entirety, free of charge. [read more]

Former The Beatles drummer in India

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:21:00 +0000

Pete Best, the original drummer of The Beatles before they became famous, is in India. On Tuesday evening, Best was spotted in the Capital performing some hit nostalgic numbers for his fans. Ringo Starr had replaced Pete in 1962, just after two years of association with the band. "I basically played numbers from the 60s and 70s because I knew that's what my audience will look for and I hope they were not disappointed," Pete was quoted by a website, as saying. [read more]

Solving mystery of the John Lennon bench

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:20:00 +0000

OUR columnist Pete Chambers, who writes Backbeat each week, answers a query raised by reader Veronica Hammond about the disappearance of a garden seat John and Yoko placed at Coventry Cathedral in 1968. “John and Yoko felt they had something of a verbal mauling from then Cathedral Canon (Cannon Verney), who considered their planting of two acorns and placing a cylindrical bench in the Cathedral grounds was neither art or indeed appropriate. The couple returned to London, with a very angry Lennon in tow. Within a week the acorns had been stolen, and the bench was later removed by Les Anthony (Lennon’s chauffer) and taken back to Kenwood in Weybridge, Surrey, Lennon’s home at the time. [read more]

The Beatles offer catalog on USB drive without DRM

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:18:00 +0000

The Beatles on Wednesday surprised the music industry by offering their collection outside of a disc for the first time. The Limited Edition USB Stick carries the entire LP collection of the British band in a stereo mix along with the mini-documentaries, album art and liner notes from the remastered CDs. Significantly, all of the songs come both in unprotected 320Kbps MP3 as well as in a similarly unguarded, lossless FLAC and should work on most any computer or portable player. The 16GB, Apple Records-themed drive is for now only being sold in a 30,000-copy run and will ship December 8th for $280. Pre-orders start today. [read more]

Mccartney's Son To Make U.S. Musical Debut

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:14:00 +0000

SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY's son JAMES is set to make his U.S. music debut later this month (Nov09) - at a benefit gala hosted by filmmaker DAVID LYNCH. British musician James MCCartney - the son of the Beatles legend and his late first wife, Linda - accompanied his father on his American tour in 2005. And now the 32 year old is set to step into the spotlight himself with a solo set at Lynch's fourth annual Change Begins Within charity event, held at Iowa's Maharishi University. Proceeds from the 14 November benefit will go toward teaching at-risk kids to meditate, reports the New York Post.SOURCE

Vote For An Artist : How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:11:00 +0000

Two months after the assassination of President Kennedy--a sad, scary time for 13 year-olds like me -- The Beatles came to America, bringing fun, cheekiness, intelligence, and belief in the power of music to transform the then dreary landscape. When George Harrison wrote "Here Comes the Sun" years later, he might well have been writing about the four boys who lit and warmed the winter of 1964. No one inspired the baby boomers more than The Beatles. They gave us hope. [vote now/win the Beatles boxset]

Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and Julian Lennon Unite

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:38:00 +0000

To celebrate the unifying spirit and 40th anniversary of the Plastic Ono Band's universal anthem, "Give Peace a Chance," Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and Julian Lennon have partnered with EMI Music and Sony/ATV Music Publishing to donate net proceeds from the sale of a commemorative 40th Anniversary digital single to the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (PBF). Beginning today, iTunes will exclusively offer the single's special anniversary edition for download purchase, with net proceeds benefiting the PBF through December 31.

Says Yoko Ono, "I am thrilled that so many in the music business are readily supporting 'Give Peace a Chance' on its 40th anniversary. It is indeed a time when we are all getting more aware of the necessity of doing something to achieve world peace, no matter how small. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I feel deeply that we are all one, regardless of where we stand."

"I am delighted to see that a song so closely identified with the pursuit of peace, will shine a light on the United Nations' peacebuilding efforts and financially support PBF projects," the Chairperson of the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), Ambassador Heraldo Munoz of Chile said.
[read more]

Unreleased George Harrison lyrics about John Lennon turned into new song – video

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:33:00 +0000

Previously-unseen lyrics written by The Beatles' late guitarist George Harrison have been turned into a song by Wirral songwriter Dean Johnson. Watch a video of Johnson performing 'Silence (Is Its Own Reply)' live on BBC Radio Merseyside by scrolling down and clicking below. Harrison is said to have penned the lyrics to the song in the latter part of the 1960s before handing them to The Beatles' biographer Hunter Davies. After Davies referenced the lyrics – which he had forgotten about until recently – on a BBC Radio Merseyside interview, host Spencer Leigh decided to contact Johnson to get him to write the music for the track. [read more/watch video]

Dhani Harrison: The son of Beatle George

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:10:00 +0000

There was a bit of disconnect between the sleepy debut album by Dhani Harrison’s band Thenewno2, “You are Here” (Vagrant), and the galvanizing performance the band put on last summer at Lollapalooza in Grant Park. The album was slow-moving and introspective, tinged by psychedelic textures and electro rhythms, while Harrison’s vocals suggested the unhurried cadences of his late father, the Beatles’ George Harrison. At Grant Park, however, the sound morphed into a forceful, Technicolor swirl that rocked beneath the noon-day sun. “The first record is like [Thom Yorke’s] ‘The Eraser’ – it’s a laptop record with two people who played everything – and the live show is more like Radiohead. It’s a different feel, a different intent,” Dhani Harrison says. “When we translated that sound into more of a band thing on the road, it became bigger and more powerful. There are moments up there when I feel like Rage Against the Machine, and other moments when you feel you’re in a trip-hop band.” [read more]

Fashion Designer Stella McCartney Launches GAP Kidswear Collection

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:01:00 +0000

Stella McCartney, prominent Beatles scion and celebrated fashion designer, is fashion’s go-to girl for edgy, luxurious clothes that evoke a distinctive rock-star attitude. And now, she’s bringing her too-cool-for-school aesthetic to a brand-new demographic: the too-cool-for-elementary-school set. Today, McCartney will launch her first full children’s wear collection, a 70 piece line in collaboration with GapKids and babyGap, featuring everything from organic denim to grey cashmere hoodies to rain boots and self-customizable high-top sneakers. No stranger to creating lower-priced capsule collections, having designed for LeSportsac, Adidas, and H&M in the past, McCartney’s inspiration for the collaboration was her experience as a mother of three [read more]

Unfinished George Harrison track completed

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:23:00 +0000

An unfinished song by electric guitar player George Harrison has been completed by a contemporary songwriter. Beatles biographer Hunter Davies unknowingly had several lines of an incomplete Harrison song in his possession for over 40 years before he stumbled across the paper at his home. Spencer Leigh of BBC Radio Merseyside later suggested that Wirral-based singer-songwriter Dean Johnson would be the right person to finish the track and put the proposition to him. [read more]

Assistant opens up on 'sleeping with Mick Jagger'

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:51:00 +0000

A former personal assistant to the English rock band Rolling Stones has revealed that sleeping with frontman Mick Jagger was no less than part of her job profile during the rocker's wild years. Groupie Chris O'Dell embarked on an affair with Jagger during the rock legends' 1972 summer tour and insists having sex with the singer should have been a job description considering its frequency, reports femalefirst.co.uk. O'Dell details her relationships with several rock stars in new book Miss O'Dell: My Hard Days and Long Nights with The Beatles, The Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and the Women They Loved. [read more]

Young's Apology To Mccartney

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:49:00 +0000

WILL YOUNG is so embarrassed about his version of the BEATLES' track THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD, he apologised to SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY when the pair met earlier this year (09). Young came face to face with the veteran musician in July (09), when he was made a companion of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts - the stage school which MCCartney helped establish in 1996. But the Leave Right Now hitmaker was left red-faced when they discussed his 2002 duet with fellow Pop Idol contestant Gareth Gates, as he thinks the rendition of the song was dreadful. Young says, "I met him (MCCartney) recently and he was lovely. And all I could think about was me singing his song The Long and Winding Road. I was like, 'I'm so sorry. I f**king murdered that song.'" [read more]

John Lennon's days in the life

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:03:00 +0000

It is 18 October 1957 and the Quarrymen are experiencing their first modest taste of fame. This new musical partnership, between 17-year-old John Lennon and 15-year-old Paul McCartney, might be on to something. Over 50 years later, in April 2009, in a time-capsule Irish pub in the north-west London suburb of Sudbury Hill – standing in for the late 50s Liverpool social club – Sam Taylor-Wood is controlling the action on day 41 of the 45-day shoot for Nowhere Boy, the artist turned director's depiction of the early life of John Winston Lennon. The screenplay is by Matt Greenhalgh, writer of Control, the acclaimed biopic of Joy Division's Ian Curtis, and is adapted from the first half of the memoir Imagine This – Growing Up With My Brother John Lennon by Julia Baird. [read more]

Beatles fans slam use of song in Blackberry ad

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:25:00 +0000

Beatles fans have reacted angrily to the use of the band's hippie anthem "All You Need Is Love" to promote a range of £300 consumer gadgets. BlackBerry, the US technology company, is likely to have paid millions for the right to play a cover version of the 1967 "flower power" song in a series of TV adverts for its smartphones. One online critic wrote: "The idea of using this song to sell a product is distasteful enough, but BlackBerry uses a cover version with a whiny vocal that is so annoying that the song actually elicits hatred." Another complained: "It sounds horrible. It's disgusting that companies are trying to make money off the Beatles just because of the new release of their albums." "People should stop using Beatles songs (and bad covers at that) to commercialise their stupid products," said another. [read more]

Music Mogul Burn Dies

noreply@blogger.com (admin@beatlesnumber9.com) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:23:00 +0000

British record mogul COLIN BURN, who worked with the ROLLING STONES, THE BEATLES, THE SUPREMES and THE BEACH BOYS, has died at the age of 76. Burn enjoyed a 25-year career with EMI, peaking as General Manager of its pop division, during which time he worked with the label's biggest named acts. After quitting EMI in the early 1980s, Burn landed a job working with the Rolling Stones, before retiring from the music business. Confirming his death, friend and former colleague Paul Watts tells Music Week, "Sadly, I have to report the death on October 19 of Colin Burn at the age of 76. [read more]