Let it Be 50 -- May 8, 2020

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50 years ago today, 08-May-1970, the Beatles released Let it Be, their last released studio album but not their last recorded. The recording sessions were a muddle and the processing after may have been worse. The album featured lots of Billy Preston.

White Album 50 -- November 21, 2018

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Fifty years ago tomorrow, on 22-November-1968, the Beatles released the double album The Beatles, which everyone calls The White Album.

I heard it on the radio and at the houses of friends whose families could afford it.



I loved the airplane sounds.

George Harrison 75 -- February 25, 2018

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Happy 75th birthday to the late George Harrison, who was the favorite Beatle of very few people, but those people really care.

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George was the youngest Beatle and the quietest.  He wrote songs, but John Lennon and Paul McCartney never treated him as an equal.  He was a seeker.  I admired him for all that.

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I heard a lot of his post-Beatles stuff on the radio and liked  it.

I was very sad when he died.  Before I started writing this, I didn't remember that it was so long ago.

Magical Mystery Tour 50 -- December 8, 2017

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50 years ago today, on 08-December-1967, the Beatles release Magical Mystery Tour as a double EP in the UK.  It had been released as an LP in the US the month before, on 27-November-1967.  The television film premiered on the BBC on 26-December-1967.  I think I first saw the movie around 2012, but my sister had the album and I often borrowed it and her record player.  I particularly liked "I Am the Walrus."

Sir George Martin, RIP -- March 10, 2016

I was sad to learn of the death of Sir George Martin, who produced most of the Beatles' records.  He served in the Royal Navy during the war.  He studied classical music, then went to work for Parlophone, recording classical music.  He recorded comedy albums with Peter Sellers and the goon Show gang.

Martin met a Liverpudlian band, the Beatles, and invented the modern job of record producer.  He provided the arrangements for the orchestral instruments.

John Lennon 75 -- October 9, 2015

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Happy 75th birthday to the late John Lennon, who was the favorite Beatle of many people.  I went to school with people who tried to look and dress like him.  Many of them made fun of me.  Despite that, I have always liked his music.

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He could draw and write poetry and act and sing and play and write music.  Despite his many talents, people always seemed to be trying to tear him down.  I recently read an essay claiming he wasn't a very good musician.  People get jealous.

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He certainly did bad and selfish things, but so have lots of other artists, and other human beings.

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I suppose some of the disdain comes from people who don't like Yoko Ono.  But I remember when that jerk murdered him.  I saw people more hurt and upset by the death of Elvis Beatle than they were when Elvis Presley died.

Ringo Starr is my favorite Beatle:
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2015/07/ringo-starr-75-july-7-2015.html

Ringo Starr 75 -- July 7, 2015

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Happy 75th birthday to my favorite Beatle, Ringo Starr.  People forget that he is a great drummer.  I thought he was the best actor in their movies. 

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Beatles on Ed Sullivan 50 Years -- February 9, 2014

I remember watching the Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.   I think my sister was already a fan.  My mother didn't like all the screaming.  I don't remember my father's reaction.  I liked it.  I thought it was interesting that the neck of Paul's instrument pointed the opposite way from George and John's.  Until I read it recently, I didn't remember that they had been signed to make three appearances on the Sullivan show.  I must have seen the other two as well.  Ed Sullivan featured some good music.  And Topo Gigio.