Thass boy...

The Beatles when they're not so fab.

The Unseen Beatles-1963

As the truth of Beatlemania and all that it meant began to dawn on The Beatles, home movies such as these became increasingly important to them, not as rockstars, but as normal guys in their early twenties from ugly, dirty Liverpool, England. Videos such as these shed light on the people behind the swollen name and brand of The Beatles, and offer a fascinating look into a group of very extraordinary friends who simply loved music. Some of the videos above can be seen in the early episodes of The Beatles Anthology. I love watching footage such as this. Everyone has seen their performance at Shea Stadium in 1965 or their Apple Studios Rooftop performance in 1969 countless times, but home footage really brings it home who they were as people, not as musicians. So enjoy!

The new Mojo magazine this month

For those of you who aren't familiar with Mojo magazine, it's a British music magazine that usually comes with a CD. Out of all the various magazines that do articles on The Beatles (Life, Time, Newsweek) Mojo is by far the best. There is virtually a Beatles Mojo out constantly, and they are incredible. Instead of monotonously detailing the information about the Beatles we all know (like, "Ringo was in fact not the original drummer." Come on, we all know that) the various authors of the article, or in this case, whole magazine, closely analyze their social effect, which I think is the most interesting point of study with regards to the boys. Anyway, I have quite a few Mojo Beatles or Beatles-related magazines, but this is the first one that is literally all about them. This one goes in depth to their psychedelic years, from their first experimentation with marijuana in 1964 to the conclusion of the band in 1970. It's absolutely fascinating and might just get you into a subscription to his analytically rich magazine all for the love of great music. Way to go Mojo!

Sick Day

For the past few days I've been sick. I hadn't posted in a while and I thought I could connect my situation with the Beatles. Well, I succeeded.

In 1964, Ringo, who had often been sick as a child, had tonsillitis and was in the hospital for 10 days. During the hectic schedule The Beatles led from 1963 to 1966, it was a serious problem for the band. To make up for their lack of a drummer, they invited another drummer (I don't know what band) named Jimmy Nichols to play with them on their non-stop touring. He actually turned out to be something of a jerk as he criticized Ringo for his drumming. The other three were not impressed by his lack of charisma, something that Ringo had quite a lot of. Nichols' attitude caused John to lash out angrily that Ringo was a great Beatle, even if he wasn't the best drummer, which made him all the more valuable. I think that's kind of weird, as Ringo was and is a fantastic drummer, but whatever. John said weird things like that from time to time. Ringo has reminisced that he hated being stuck in a hospital room and watching news reports on the other three and was quite glad to get back on the road. But then again, everybody was happy to have Ringo back. It's clear that while people call Ringo the "disposable Beatle" people would be very sorry indeed had he not been a part of it.

Why does this not exist in at every crossing, in every town, in every country around the world?

The Beatles-Vultures in the Jungle Book

I haven't seen the Jungle Book in years and definitely before my obsession with the Beatles started. So, I had absolutely no idea who or what these vultures in the movie were supposed to be. Recently, my dad told me they were supposed to be the Beatles. Then I basically freaked out. So I looked up the history of it and thought I'd share it. The Jungle Book, which came out in 1967, was the last movie Walt Disney worked on before he passed away in 1966. The period in which the animators were working on this was at the very end of the Beatles touring period, their last concert taking place at San Francisco's Candlestick Park in 1966. Thus, Beatlemania was still in full swing. Disney asked the Beatles and their manager, Brian Epstein, if they would volunteer their voices to a group of four vultures that happened to have Liverpool accents and mop-tops. I'm not entirely sure if it was the boys who said no or Epstein, but either way, some random British guys were used for their voices instead. I was instantly infuriated. The Jungle Book, had they said yes, would have instantly become the most legendary of Disney classics!! WHY did someone say no?! Man, I'm getting worked up. This is the clip in which John, Paul, George, and Ringo would have been in had they been a part of the movie.

"I'm Down" at Shea Stadium 1965

This is the Beatles' last song of the Shea Stadium concert in Queens, New York in 1965. Yesterday was the 47th anniversary of this legendary rock concert, which I posted about earlier. I mentioned John playing the keyboard with his elbow in this song, so I thought I'd post it so you could see for yourself. Sorry about the so-so quality, but it was one of the only videos I could find that specifically had this song on there.