Available online until Saturday from BBC Radio 2 is The Songs The Beatles Gave Away. Of particular interest, I think, is Cilla Black and her explanation of how she came to have such a “big voice.”
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/DEC/SongsBeatlesGaveAway.mp3]Today, former Monkee Peter Tork is at the BEATexpo Beatles show in Connecticut. Last weekend, along with Mickey Dolenz, Peter was at the SuperMegafest show in Framingham, MA, west of Boston. Peter took the stage Saturday night, first solo and then backed by a local Monkees tribute band called Loose Salute, named after a Mike Nesmith album. Mickey joined Peter during the concert to do a set, and here is Mickey’s entrance…
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/NOV/MickeyPeter.flv 512 384]
Denro was quick to point out to me that Mickey was stretching the truth about hearing “Oh, Darling!” at Abbey Road studios. Mickey hung out with the Beatles at EMI in ’67, but there’s no way he was there two years later. I’d neglected to swap the nearly-full SDHC card in my camera, so I missed the rest of the song, but somebody else who was there has posted the whole thing.
Tech note: That thin column in the middle of the stage is probably a Bose L1 speaker. The Bose corporate headquarters is right behind the Sheraton hotel where the convention was held.
The History Channel is showing “The Beatles on Record,” an official Apple Corp. documentary. It’s sort of a mini-Anthology, focused solely on their studio work. Parts of it appear as the mini-documentaries on the remastered Beatles CD catalog. For a knowledgeable Beatles fan there’s nothing new in “The Beatles on Record,” but the movie clips are in the best possible quality, and there are some fun studio audio outtakes.
If I’d been paying better attention, I would have noticed that back in September somebody posted the program as it had appeared on the BBC. The American version is exactly 45 minutes without commercials, whereas the British version is a smidgen under one hour. Once again we Americans get an abridged version of a Beatles product! When will it end? I’ve collected the parts into a single YouTube player. It’s window-boxed within a letterbox, but the quality is otherwise excellent.
For comparison, here’s how it looked on the History Channel. This segment covers the middle period, from “Beatles for Sale” through “Sgt. Pepper.” Along the way, the title of Engineer was passed from Norman Smith, whose stint ended with “Rubber Soul,” to Geoff Emerick, who took over the console starting with “Revolver.”
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I had told Prudence Bury-Fuchs a while ago that she should be prepared to sign autographs at the Beatles Weekend in France. Prue thanked me for the thought, but she sincerely doubted that anybody would ask her!
Hi Doug,
You were right, I did not stop signing autographs. People were “thrilled” to meet me!!! So it was most enjoyable. You will have to organise a “Beatles Weekend” across the pond!
Of course I was right! Who wouldn’t be thrilled to meet her? In flawless French, Prue had no trouble charming the audience.
Prue must be the last person with a legitimate connection to the Beatles to make a first appearance at a fan event. I don’t have experience organizing shows, but now that Prue has come out of hiding from Beatles fandom, it is indeed time for her to make an appearance stateside, as well as in her native England, of course.
This is Prue with a gent named Yvon…
…and here she is with a fan named Jean-Claude. You lucky guys!
By now, the Beatles Weekend in Ouistreham, Normany, with Prue Bury as a guest of honor, must be winding down. I hope somebody has been taking pictures. I would love to get hold of some.
I found thumbnails of other photos with Prue and Pattie from “A Hard Day’s Night,” seen nowhere else, that apparently are sealed in the Disney Vault.
I found this “Hard Day’s Night” dress on the Beatles Web site, which looks as though it were made for Prue:
![](http://www.dograt.com/WordPress/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/bea45757.jpg "\")
When I pointed it out to her, Prue replied…
“That is a great dress!! Can’t think why I haven’t got one!!”
I’m in the middle of helping Prue with a Christmas project she has in the works, by trying to secure performance rights for songs that aren’t in the Public Domain. So far I’ve found only limited success, but I’m hoping for better results this week. I would like to thank Mr. Lawrence S. Kartiganer for his help. He is a Hollywood attorney in the great and grand tradition, and a true gentleman. If there were more like him the world would be a better place.
The Beatles, June 22 or 23, 1961
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/NOV/AintSheSweet.mp3]The Beach Boys, September 15, 1961
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/NOV/Surfin.mp3]