Category: Beatles

A Long Lost Weekend

Circa 1974, John Lennon went on a year-long bender with Harry Nilsson that Lennon later called his “Lost Weekend,” a reference to the 1945 movie. Most famously the two were thrown out of The Troubadour nightclub, but there was also an altercation outside of Ciro’s, as seen in these photos. Is that David Geffen with them?

[Note: The photo was mislabeled in the source material I used as having been taken outside of Ciro’s. Nicola Brown clarifies: Just wanted to clarify that in the photo of John Lennon and Harry Nilsson outside the Troubadour, the third person in it isn’t David Geffin, it is my ex-husband Louis Maiello aka James Oliver. He just happened to be there and he actually convinced John to go back to his house that night to chill out. Harry had been kicked out of the Troubadour for heckling the Smothers Brothers who where on stage that night.]

Harry Nilsson and John Lennon

Harry Nilsson and John Lennon

Harry wasn’t a nice guy when he was drunk, and he was often drunk. But he had his good side. Here’s an example, taken from an aged and well-worn piece of vinyl.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/SEP07/WithoutYou.mp3]

Thanks to the blog called AM, Then FM that I just found tonight, I know there’s a documentary called Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)? that hasn’t yet made it to DVD. Despite the difficulty of being a friend of Harry’s, Harry had a lot of friends, and seeing their famous faces in this trailer for the documentary has me looking forward to seeing it.

It’s interesting seeing the Smothers Brothers among the people interviewed about Harry, because Lennon and Harry were thrown out of the Troubadour for heckling the brothers.

More Help for HELP!

This is the trailer to the Beatles movie HELP! as posted on YouTube™.

Here it is as done by yours truly, taken (of course) from a 20-year-old LaserDisc. Better, yes? This is why I avoid YouTube when I can, although I must say the new, interactive Flash player is slick.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/SEP07/HELPtrailer.flv 400 300]

The narrator is Mason Adams. Didn’t have to look him up, I recognize his voice. Remember him on Lou Grant?

HELPed Back

The second Beatles movie, HELP!, first mentioned here nearly a year ago, is being re-re-released on DVD. The Beatles were terrorized by a fanatical eastern religion that was out for blood! I love this movie, it always makes me laugh, and I think it HELPed prime my generation for enjoying Monty Python.

John Lennon knocked HELP!, but it had much more influence on the 60’s as an era than A Hard Day’s Night. And, in fact, I think it had influence on the Beatles themselves, as seen in this video I spliced together.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/SEP07/HELP.flv 400 300]

“I can say no more” has been a running joke between me and D. F. Rogers for decades. Did you notice three things seen for the first time that would be seen again later?

  1. John’s wire-rim glasses
  2. Indian instruments
  3. The boys in Sgt. Pepper-ish garb

George Martin is also not particularly fond of HELP! because he didn’t score the incidental music. This is what Martin had to say about it in his book, All You Need Is Ears:

On the Beatle front, the next film was Help!, and that was done without my help! I produced all the Beatles recordings for it, of course, and they certainly thought I was going to do the film music; but since the director was Dick Lester again, it was hardly surprising that, to quote Sam Goldwyn, I was included out. The music was done by Ken Thorne, a buddy of Lester’s.

Sgt. Pepper 15 Years Ago

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is 40 years old. Fifteen years ago it was only 25 years old! Amazing.

From 1992, here is part 1 of a 45-minute TV special on the making of the album. It’s taken from VHS, and looks it.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/AUG07/MakingSgtPepper1.flv 400 300]

Note: I’m trying something new, by using the Dog Rat icon to label videos that I have transferred, edited, and converted myself. In this instance it runs for 60 seconds.

And here is part 2.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/AUG07/MakingSgtPepper2.flv 400 300]

Complete “Give Peace A Chance” On DVD

Previously on DogRat.com, I featured a video with a brief glimpse of Petula Clark at the infamous 1969 LennOno “bed-in.” The New Musical Express in England is reporting that a DVD of the complete recording session, Give Peace A Song, is being released at the end of the month. NME says…

‘Give Peace a Song’ also features over 35 minutes of bonus material including television interviews, a John and Yoko press conference and Petula Clark’s visit to the bed-in.

Give Peace a Song DVD

This is confusing, because Amazon.com lists the DVD as having been released in 2006. One of the DVD chapters is “Petula Clark Visits The Bed-In.”

I don’t know if the NME item is something old that was posted in error, nor do I know how much footage there is of Pet on the DVD, but it sounds like a video worth seeing.