Category: Music

May is Beatless month

It had been my plan to be at an in-theater screening tonight of the Beatles concert from February 11, 1964 at the Washington Coliseum. Unfortunately, “last minute issues” came up, and the shows were postponed.

MAY 2012 LIMITED ENGAGEMENT OF “THE BEATLES: THE LOST CONCERT” POSTPONED

New York, N.Y., May 8, 2012 — Screenvision announces the postponement of the May 17 and 22 limited engagement of “The Beatles: The Lost Concert.”

The new 92-minute documentary charts the birth and impact of Beatlemania and includes, in its entirety, their first U.S. concert from February 1964 at D.C’s Washington Coliseum.

According to sources at Screenvision, the film’s distributor in the U.S., the postponement is the result of last-minute issues which are being resolved by the documentary’s producers. The distributor hopes the issues will be resolved in short order so the attraction can be rescheduled for an even longer theatrical run in late Summer 2012.

“It’s regrettable that these issues have caused the cancellation of our planned limited engagement” adds Darryl Schaffer, EVP of Exhibitor Relations, Screenvision. “We are looking forward to their resolution so we can bring ‘The Beatles: The Lost Concert’ to even more Beatles fans and theaters in the U.S.”

Anyone who purchased advance tickets can obtain a refund through Fandango, MovieTickets.com or their local exhibitor.

For updated information on the film and future screenings, please visit www.lostbeatlesconcert.com

Beatroute on the router

Here’s a super-duper instrumental I heard today on BBC Radio 2 that I meant to post when Paul O’Grady played it weeks ago. It’s Jools Holland’s Beatroute. He really captures the 60’s theme song sound.

[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Audio/2012/05/Beatroute.mp3|titles=Jools Holland – Beatroute]

Holland was in the British band Squeeze, later becoming a big band leader like his contemporary Brian Setzer did after the Stray Cats.

Having a ball with the Wrecking Crew

Friday on WBUR in Boston, Robin Young talked with legendary session drummer Hal Blaine, who is himself from Massachusetts.

[audio:http://audio.wbur.org/storage/2012/04/hereandnow_0420_musicians-wrecking-crew.mp3|titles=WBUR – Robin Young on Here and Now]

There’s a new book about the Hollywood studio musicians of the 60’s and 70’s who were collectively and informally called The Wrecking Crew.

http://youtu.be/jvXvTySfWMU

Elsewhere, at the same time that Blaine & Co. were plying their trade, in another recording studio there was a totally different but equally good sound being created. Having been a kid in the Sixties I’m prejudiced, but no other period of time has ever approached, let alone equaled, its variety and quality of music.

http://youtu.be/cu023iV_atg

Lost and Found Rock and Roll

I’ve been very busy and distracted lately, so a tip of the ol’ Dograt toupee to Samjay, for spotting this item about an upcoming special event at movie theaters. It’s the complete video of the Beatles’ first live concert after their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. The concert was at a rather shabby venue, the Coliseum in Washington, D.C. on February 11, 1964. It was taped by CBS and shown in movie theaters over closed circuit TV the following weekend.

As I wrote in late 2010, iTunes had the complete concert video available for viewing, and this new presentation is a return to the original intended format. Regarding the concert video having been lost, there is more background at this link. I don’t know if this alleged master tape was the source used for this latest presentation, but it seems possible.

http://youtu.be/t-pBqLGhMU0