On April 1 it was revealed that after Paul met John, cosmic forces were unleashed, so powerful they warped space and time, and were detected by ESP in Vermont.
Category: Music
No Laughing Matter
I mentioned Jim Dawson a few weeks ago, and today on Facebook he posted this picture. That’s Jim in back. Is that comic actor Martin Short in the middle, looking like Harpo Marx? Jim likes to joke, so I assumed it was an April Fool gag.
But no, it wasn’t a joke. Jim wanted to note the passing of Warner/Reprise Records A&R executive and producer Andy Wickman, on the right wearing glasses. Standing in front was Phil Spector.
Five Years
Five years ago today I retired from the company where I had worked for 36 of the 40 years since graduating from college.
Magazine Writer
Posting the New Yorker piece about Stu Sutcliffe reminded me of something I meant to put here last October. It didn’t happen because that was when I went on hiatus, due to WordPress technical difficulties.
This piece by Paul McCartney should be readable without a subscription, assuming you haven’t already run out of free articles this month.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/25/paul-mccartney-writing-eleanor-rigby-beatles
The copy of “Eleanor Rigby” above is from the one-of-a-kind Yellow Submarine Songtrack project. It’s explained here. Note the color-coordinated nod to Ukraine.
The Fifth Beatle
Before they were four, they were five — John, Paul, George, Pete and Stu. This week’s New Yorker has a remembrance of Stu Sutcliffe.
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/essay/the-beatle-who-got-away
Birds of a Feather
“Frank is a singer who comes along once in a lifetime, but why did he have to come in mine?” — Bing Crosby
Rudy Vallee could have just as well said the same thing about Bing. Both of their careers were made possible by the innovation of electrical recording technology, singing into microphones rather than yelling into acoustic horns.
The rivalry between Bing and Frank, which was really more of a mutual admiration society, was parodied a couple of times in Warner Brothers cartoons. First in Frank Tashlin’s memorably zany Swooner Crooner. The complete cartoon isn’t available on YouTube, but here’s a bit of it.
Catch As Cats Can was directed by a lesser known Warner name, Art Davis, who was Bob Clampett’s successor at the studio. I like the ending of this one.
https://youtu.be/nYDt5QmNGsk