On June 18th, Paul McCartney will turn 75 years old, a milestone in a remarkable life that has been chockfull of the things. It is perhaps even more daunting to realize that the lion’s share of his most significant cultural output had been completed by 1970, when he reached the ripe old age of 28. […]
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“No One Was Saved”: The Beatles and Organized Religion
Since the mid-1960s, much has been made in the popular press about the Beatles’ ostensible godless nihilism. This notion clearly finds its origins in March 1966, when the London Evening Standard published journalist Maureen Cleave’s wide-ranging interview with John Lennon. Having recently read Hugh J. Schonfield’s bestseller The Passover Plot(1965), Lennon was anxious to share his views regarding […]
Everything Fab Four: A Splendid Time Is Guaranteed For All!
The 50th-anniversary remix version of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, conducted by Giles Martin and Sam Okell, is a revelation. This is a remarkable feat, given that the 2009 remasters would seem to have offered the last word on the Beatles’ catalogue. But what sets this new collection apart is a welcome […]
Everything Fab Four: Celebrating the First Half-Century of “Sgt. Pepper” Launch Parties
On Friday, May 19th, 1967, the Beatles turned up at Brian Epstein’s house at 24 Chapel Street in London for one of the most incredible coming out parties of all time. The occasion was a press launch ahead of the June 1st release date for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Beatles’ manager pulled […]
Everything Fab Four: The Last Days Of Lennon And McCartney
One of the saddest facts of John Lennon’s senseless murder in December 1980—and there are many, to be sure—is that his killer robbed him of the opportunity to grow old, to rethink his relationships and perspectives as we all inevitably do with the passage of time. Yesterday marks the 41st anniversary of John and Paul’s […]