Beatles News

Composer Ludwig van Beethoven may not seem to have much in common with four musicians named John, Paul, George and Ringo, but a concert on Saturday will bring them all together for a fun musical time. The Anthracite Philharmonic will present "Beethoven to The Beatles" at 7 p.m. Saturday at First United Methodist Church, 330 W. Market St., Pottsville.

The concert is under the direction of Mark P. Thomas, artistic director, conductor and one of the founders of the orchestra. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for seniors and students. The first part of the concert features Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor, usually referred to as his "Fifth Symphony" and recognized by its opening notes. The second half involves a mixture of Beatles classics from all stages of the band's career. "We wanted to make the symphony more friendly-oriented with music that people would recognize," Thomas said. "People recognize The Beatles. People recognize Beethoven, especially the Fifth Symphony. 

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17-year-old Dylan Gardner says: "In honor of the Beatles breakup on April 10, 1970, I decided to cover the entire second side of their last album, Abbey Road, with different instruments for 15-second intervals. Abbey Road has always stuck with me as an incredible ending note for a great career that the Beatles have put together. It's just me around the house having a blast covering my heroes!"

I asked Dylan how he made these videos (which will appear on hisInstagram feed). He answered: "The Beatles have been such a huge part of my musical upbringing, so I couldn't think of a better afternoon than stealing my parents' new video camera and running around my empty house covering the better side of Abbey Road in Instagram-sized videos. I'd tie a zip tie around the camera to hold angles as I grabbed as many miscellaneous instruments as I could. I made a mess of the house, but the bright side is this isn't the last time I'll do that..."

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The Bombay High Court has ordered the release of elephant Sunder who was held captive and beaten up mercilessly at the Jyotiba temple in Kolhapur. As Mail Today reported in January 2014, the elephant was presented as a 'gift' to the temple by MLA Vinay Kore, but was repeatedly chained and abused. The cruelty was even caught on videotape.

The tusker was in captivity despite orders passed by the joint secretary (forests), Maharashtra, and also by the Project Elephant division of the environment ministry. He was removed from the site at the behest of Kore and hidden in an old poultry shed, where he remained chained. On Monday, the court allowed the writ petition filed by Peta and dismissed the appeal filed by the MLA against it. The campaign for Sunder's release spanned 21 months as people in India and around the world worked to save him from his abusers, including famous names such as Paul McCartney, Amitabh Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit, Pamela Anderson, Arjun Rampal and R. Madhavan.

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HAVANA TIMES — In December of 1990, I took part in one of the most beautiful music events I can recall. I am referring to the first, great concert held as tribute to John Lennon in Havana, at the park located on the intersection of 17 and 6th streets in Vedado. Years later, a statue of Lennon would be unveiled there and the park would officially come to be named after the legendary English musician.

The first homage to Lennon began to be organized months before as an initiative of Cuban musicians Carlos and Ele Alfonso and the band Sintesis. They were later joined by the renowned singers Carlos Varela, Santiago Feliu, Pepe Piñeiro (a former member of Los Pacificos), Dagoberto Pedraja, the band Gens, Pablo Menendez and his band Mezcla, Gerardo Alfonso and, of course, a group of filmmakers, writers, painters, technicians and other passionate friends who shared the half-baked dream of paying tribute to Lennon and the Beatles, as well as right the injustice that the banning of the Liverpool Four in Cuba during the details

Beatles Signed Let It Be US Stereo LP Cover (Apple AR-34001, 1970) in a Framed Display, the Only Example Known to Exist Bearing all Four Signatures. The Beatles 12th studio album, a soundtrack for the motion picture of the same name, and the last Beatles LP to be released. Since this album was released soon after the announced breakup of the band, there was never an occasion to get a Let It Be LP signed by all at the same time. 

This particular example has a great and well-documented history. John Lennon autographed a Let It Be LP cover for a fan in May 1975 at the WFIL "Helping Hands Marathon." In the early 1990s, George Harrison signed a separate album; Ringo Starr's signature was added to that one on June 4, 2006, in Toronto. Soon thereafter, the John-signed and the George & Ringo-signed covers were perfectly "melded" together by a top-notch paper restorer. The resulting cover with three signatures was then made com details

Following an incredible 2013 which saw Paul’s universally acclaimed ‘Out There’ tour launch in Brazil and visit 23 cities across South America, Europe, North America and Japan, today Paul confirms he’ll be getting back out there in the U.S. by announcing his first Stateside dates of 2014.

In addition to his dates this month in Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Costa Rica, and his return to Japan and first ever performance in Korea in May, Paul has confirmed the first stop of an upcoming summer trek through North America: On June 19, Paul will return to New Orleans to play The Smoothie King Center, his first visit to the city since his 'Driving USA Tour' in 2002. Paul will play his first shows ever in Louisville KY and Albany NY, respectively, June 26 at the Yum! Center and July 5 at the Times Union Center. July 7 will see Paul returning to Pittsburgh’s Consol Energy Center for the first time since opening the arena with a pair of instantly sold out shows August 18 and 19, details

Richard Marx’s second songwriting intersection with Ringo Starr, following the 2010 track “Mystery of the Night,” has allowed him far more latitude in creating with the former Beatles star. Marx, who had a number of late 1980-era hits before turning his focus to songwriting, says Starr only needed some additional melody and lyric help with “Mystery of the Night” for Y Not. (Marx added some backing vocals, too.)

The same went for the initial song they worked on for an as-yet-untitled forthcoming Starr release that also features work from Toto’s Steve Lukather. This will be Starr’s first original project since Ringo 2012, another guest-packed album that included contributions from Dave Stewart, Joe Walsh, Benmont Tench, Charlie Haden, Richard Page, Edgar Winter, Van Dyke Parks and others. Now, Starr’s level of trust has grown to the point where, as Marx tells Matt Wardlaw of Cleveland Scene, Starr is letting Marx come up with his own ideas. < details

Monkees fans will remember that “Good Morning, Good Morning,” from the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, appears as part of the Micky Dolenz-directed final episode of their television show, called “The Frodis Caper.” Turns out the song has always had special meaning for Dolenz.

Long before the Summer of Love release of Sgt. Pepper, Dolenz visited the studio and heard an early playback of “Good Morning, Good Morning.” “I listened to the track, and I’m trying to be so cool,” Micky Dolenz said, during aMonkees convention Q&A. The song stuck with him and later, while at work on “The Frodis Caper,” he was able to secure a snippet of the song — making for the perfect opening, as the Monkees roll out of bed. Dolenz — who says John Lennon used to call him “Monkee Man” — says he overdressed for the occasion, thinking that there would be a party atmosphere during the Sgt. Pepper sessi details

In London, at the office of Apple Corps, a little man sits at his desk day and night, working out yet more ways to fleece money out of a totally suspecting but totally addicted group of sad, ageing people. These people have spent thousands of dollars (or pounds or euros or yen, or maybe even Bulgarian lev) on a band that hasn't existed for more than 40 years, and of whose original six members only three are still alive.

Ordinarily, such a band would be well and truly history, but of course the Beatles were anything but ordinary. We've just had the 50th anniversary of one of their greatest triumphs, for it was on April 4, 1964 that saw the band with the top five singles in the Billboard chart. The songs Can't Buy Me Love, Twist and Shout, She Loves You, I Want to Hold Your Hand and Please Please Me created a record that has never been equalled or seriously threatened. For many older folk (and for many of their children, especially mine) these songs are known off by heart, back to front and up details

Each week, Yoko Ono opens the floor for fan questions of any stripe, from her philosophy on art and outlook on life, to her music career and that of her husband John Lennon — both solo and with the Beatles. This week, she confirmed something that’s long been perculating among conspiracy theorists who think Lennon’s former bandmate Paul McCartney was killed at the height of their fame.

“I just spoke with Paul a few days ago,” Ono says, in the newly posted fan Q&A. “He is definitely alive and well.” This particular urban legend dates back to 1967, when some believe that McCartney died in a car accident and was replaced by a body double. A few particularly resourceful sleuths even sorted out a series of clues, buried in the songs and album sleeves of the Beatles’ next few albums. The group’s press office was forced, at one point in 1969, to actually rebuke the rumors. And yet for some — though clearly not Ono — the question persists. Ono, also discus details