john lennon was murdered 30 years ago today :(

it's hard to believe that it was 30 years ago today, december 8, 1980, that john lennon was brutally murdered outside his apartment building here in new york city. as with millions of other fans, i'll never forget that day. i was a college freshman at the time and i remember that night as someone ran down the hall in our dorm shouting "john lennon's been shot!" i remember how we sat around glued to the t.v. coverage of his grisly murder at the dakota. it was a very, very sad moment in time.

john lennon was only 40 years old (8 years younger than i am right now). he was in the middle a creative rebirth, so to speak, having been working to get out the "double fantasy" album with yoko ono when chapman shot him. he had retreated from the music scene to be a dad and raise his son, sean. lennon had weathered an incredible effort by the u.s. government to deport him - and he was a proud nyc resident. he had reemerged in the public eye.

but the murder tragically ended an incredible life. just imagine how much richer the world would have been with 30 more years of john lennon's creative spirit coursing through it.

rest in peace john lennon

the beatles last concert held at candlestick park, 44 years ago today!

with paul mccartney still going strong with concerts, albums, and appearances, it's hard to believe that the beatles last concert, before a paid audience, took place 44 years ago today on august 29, 1966 - at san francisco's candlestick park. the concert wasn't the beatles' last live performance, however. in 1969, three years and one day after candlestick park, as part of the sessions that ultimately produced the "let it be" album, the beatles performed on the roof of apple studios!

as for the candlestick park concert, it was very short - just 11 numbers. here is the set list:

1. Rock And Roll Music
2. She's A Woman
3. If I Needed Someone
4. Day Tripper
5. Baby's In Black
6. I Feel Fine
7. Yesterday
8. I Wanna Be Your Man
9. Nowhere Man
10. Paperback Writer
11. Long Tall Sally

the concert ended an intense 4 year period where the beatles performed more than 1,400 shows in venues of various sizes. it also capped a tour in which the beatles were attacked by angry mobs in the philippines (for refusing to meet with the marcos) and angry fans in the united states (over john's "we're more popular that jesus" remarks).

freed from touring... the beatles went into the studio and followed up with some of the greatest albums of all time!!

"paul mccartney: a life," by peter ames carlin: book review

peter ames carlin's "paul mccartney: a life" is the latest addition to the canon on mccartney biographies. it's a fresh take on the 67 year old rock legend, but doesn't break new ground on the well-told "good" beatle story. carlin was unable to secure an interviews with paul mccartney during the two years he spent writing the book. most of the material is taken from familiar secondary sources, but carlin did interview many acquaintances who knew mccartney throughout the arc of his career. carlin succeeds in putting together a more complex and earthier view of the man (this book is certainly not haliographic).

for someone who comes to the beatle saga via phillip norman's "shout" - a decidedly john lennon centric view of all things beatle - carlin's book may seem like another effort a mccartney revisionism. but carlin does an excellent job of drawing the significant distinction between the beatles as john's "band" and the beatles's creative output strongly indebted to paul and his work ethic. it's tragic to read of paul's futile efforts in late 1969 to get the other beatles to consider going back on tour - performing live before their fans again - while the group was imploding.

one thing carlin does is lay blame not at the classic villian, yoko, for the beatles' breakup and long running litigation. instead he pointedly focused on the insidous and divisive impact allen klein, the beatles' manager after brian epstein died, had on the group. klein's relationship with mccartney was strained at best - and non-existant for the most part. paul was increasingly ostracized and outvoted as a result of klein's cozy relations with the other three beatles (and, significantly, yoko).

but the real highlight of the book was the post-beatles material (and in some respects, is far from flattering to paul mccartney). carlin does a great job of discussing the music - album by album, almost song by song, breakdowns of mccartney's output (solo, wings, post-wings). it's good stuff - and eye-opening. paul won't stand for any criticism from anyone! he barely tolerated hearing negative comments from none other the george martin when the two reunited in the early 1980's for martin to produce "tug of war."

carlin also paints a great portrait of paul and linda's relationship. paul went to great lengths to raise his children as "ordinary" kids - far from the trappings of a lavish lifestyle. linda's death and paul's reaction to it is probably the most poignant part of the book. but, afterwards, carlin seems to sour on the older paul - taking a harder line on his increasingly autocratic view of the world around him. but that certainly dovetailed with the complex character study carlin sought to evidence in his telling of the mccartney life.

"paul mccartney: a life" is a not a definitive biography, nor an exhaustive one. but it is a solid one that paints a more accessible, earthy paul mccartney - rather than the rock legend image that has surrounded him for decades.

cheap trick, "sgt. pepper live" album review

i've purchased only a few albums this year; cheap trick's "sgt. pepper live" is the fourth one of 2009. it was released tuesday, and i'm listening to it now, for the 3rd time, as i write up this brief review. cheap trick performed the entire album in 2007 (at the los angeles bowl), to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the beatles' release of "sgt. pepper's lonely hearts club band," in 1967.

in an extraordinary coup (or, maybe, a neat trick - ha), cheap trick enlisted geoff emerick, the producer and engineer (together w/george martin) of the beatles' release, to supervise the sound for "sgt. pepper live." the cheap trick release includes the backing of the new york philharmonic orchestra, the indian sitar band, and various guest artists on select tracks (notable is joan osborne on "lovely rita").

the cd and dvd were recorded at a special benefit performance here in new york city (it's not the 2007 los angeles performance). next month, cheap trick will again recreate the "sgt. pepper live" performance in las vegas. the group is no stranger to beatles' covers - the last cut on their "greatest hits" album is "magical mystery tour." and as a "live" band, they hardly need introduction (w/"cheap trick at budokan" one of the greatest live albums of rock).

the cheap trick "sgt. pepper" performance is intense. it's definitely an edgier, harder driving version than the beatles. but the beatles soul permeates each song covered by cheap trick. the band definitely captured (reproduced) the beatles' sound without skipping a beat. it's all the more impressive since lennon himself is reported to have said the beatles were recording an album that could never be played live (because of all the effects).

while lennon made that remark after the beatles had stopped touring (and their last public appearance would be a 15 minute concert on top of the apple studios building), modern technology and the desire to get that incredible sound on a stage drove the production. listening to this album reminded me of the movie, "across the universe," the george martin released "love" and the cirque du soleil show of the same name - each brought the beatles back with a fresh and contemporary twist.

paul mccartney on david letterman show at the ed sullivan theatre!

last night paul mccartney returned to the ed sullivan theatre to appear on the david letterman show. while it wasn't his first time back since the beatles' iconic appearance on the ed sullivan show in 1964 (he had been back there once before for an mtv related appearance), it lost none that homecoming like quality.

after a top ten list "what's bruce willis doing this summer" - read by willis himself - paul sat down next to david and they briefly went down memory lane (the beatles very early days). while this was interesting - instead of two segments on the "couch" - the second one would have been better spent playing more music!

in a scene remarkably reminiscent of the beatles' last public performance on the apple studios roof - mccartney performed on the theatre's marquee! but, sadly, he only did 2 songs: "get back" (which the beatles did, in fact, perform on that rooftop oh so many years ago) and a new song, "sing the changes" (off his new "fireman" series album, "electric arguments"). he left us wanting more...

check out more great photos from the cbs gallery.

it was 42 years ago today... the beatles released "sgt. pepper's lonely hearts club band"

on june 1, 1967, the beatles released the "sgt. pepper's lonely heart's club band" album. among its countless accolades, it is considered the first "concept" rock album - weaving together a string of songs focused on a particular theme. while commonplace today, when the beatles released "sgt. pepper's" it was a revolutionary concept.

not only was the themed album concept a departure from their earlier work, the music itself - with its elaborate production, variety of instruments, and studio sound effects - was a major change in direction for the group. "sgt. pepper's" was the first album released by the beatles following the group's decision to stop touring and focus on recording music in the studio (this album had a whopping 120+ day studio gestation period).

the album also saw the introduction of indian influences following george harrison's return from studying the sitar with ravi shankar. harrison's "within you without you" was the most notable display indian influence (the sitar) on the album. but he incorporated indian instruments and influences in a few other songs (including "lucy in the sky with diamonds") as well.

40+ years removed from its release, "sgt. pepper's lonely hearts club band" is consistently ranked as one to the greatest albums of all time.

celebrate its anniversary - listen to a few tracks today :D

the beatles released their last album, "let it be," 39 years ago today

on may 8, 1970, the beatles released "let it be" - it followed on the heels of their announcement the at the band officially broken up. to some fans "let it be" is not considered the last beatle's album because the sessions (which included the bands last public appearance - an impromptu rooftop concert at the apple studios) were recorded a year earlier. there was such acrimony among the band members that the tapes were shelved because they didn't want to deal with the task of producing an album from the tapes!

in the interim, "abbey road" was recorded and released that summer - and represents the beatles' last recording sessions. that fall, the beatles hired phil spector to assemble the "let it be" tapes into an what would ultimately become the last album released by the beatles. it which would be released concurrently with the film of the same name that documented those sessions (which at the time had the working title "get back").

twenty three years later, in 2003, paul mccartney released "let it be... naked." mccartney had never been pleased with phil spector's work on album. the beatles had wanted to "get back" to a more basic rock and roll sound. mccartney's version stripped all of all the overdubs introduced by phil spector to create his legendary "wall of sound" and returned, according to paul, the music to what the beatles had originally intended

the beatles played the ed sullivan show 45 years ago today!

it was on february 9, 1964, that the beatles found themselves on t.v. sets across america when they took the stage at the ed sullivan show! approximately 74 million people watched the program that night (almost half the population of the united states at the time)! from that "really big show," the rest is history.

the beatles, of course, went on to become rock music legends. even more amazingly, after almost 5 years, a tumultuous period where they redefined rock music, they performed in public for the very last time on the rooftop of apple studios building in london on january 30, 1969. then, just over a year later, the group officially called it quits.

check out a clip of that historic performance!

the beatles last public performance, a rooftop concert at apple studios, was 40 years ago today!

it was 40 years ago today, january 30, 1969, that the beatles took to the roof of the apple studios building in london and performed live to the lunchtime crowds below. it was their first concert performance since 1966 - and would, sadly, be their last. the impromptu rooftop appearance was recorded as part to the "let it be" sessions.

while still together in name, the band members were into their own individual projects and the final break-up was just around the corner. interestingly, the beatles recorded and released the studio album, "abbey road," that summer. the "let it be" album was finally released a year after these sessions, appropriately titled it seemed, it became the "last" official beatle album.

a beatles tribute band is recreating the concert on a seattle rooftop today!

check out this youtube clip:



check out the expressions and comments of the surprised londoners in this clip: