Capitol-ism: from Bozo to The Beatles – 1

One of the the most controversial figures, and frustrating subjects, in the history of the Beatles is Dave Dexter, Jr. (1915-1990). Dexter hated the Beatles, both personally and professionally — as you’ll hear for yourself later — and yet he was in charge of their American releases on Capitol Records until the Yesterday and Today album, which was “prepared by Bill Miller” and was originally released with the infamous “butcher cover.”

Before I say anything more about Dave Dexter, Jr., listen to the recording on the player below. “The Chase” is exclusive to Dexter’s American version of “HELP!”, and it’s a noteworthy recording to be found on a Beatles record, but it isn’t by the Beatles.

“The Chase” is credited to Ken Thorne, who scored the soundtrack to “HELP!”, but it was performed by Pandit Shiv Dayal Batish (1914-2006). Click here to read his account of the recording session, and his subsequent involvement with George Harrison.

A splash of color

When the Boston Globe started printing its daily comics in color, there were complaints from some readers, claiming to be comic-strip purists, but my only complaint is when the color is printed off-register.

Here is Arlo and Janis from a few days ago, as it appeared in the Metrowest Daily News. Do the mouse-over thing to see how it appeared in the Boston Globe. The color adds a lot to the mood, don’t you think?

How much longer will there be printed newspapers? Ten years? Five?

Prue in the tub with a hat

“Prue, in the tub, with a hat” sounds like a solution to the board game ‘Clue’, but I couldn’t think of what else to call this post other than what it is — a picture of Prue Bury (when she was Prue Hooper) wearing a Halston straw Derby hat, while sitting in a bathtub full of water!

Prue says of this unusual pose,

I have the photo in my scrap book. That was an uncomfortable shoot. A bath full of water and a suit which grew to be very heavy and cold! The hat looked great!

Thanks go to Martha B. at Nibs for having this scan from a 1968 issue of Look magazine.

Don’t they know, it’s the end of the world?

Hey, this is great! The world is ending in six months, so I can do whatever I want without worrying about the consequences!

Ominous reports are leaking past the BP Gulf salvage operation news blackout that the disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico may be about to reach biblical [sic] proportions.

http://www.helium.com/items/1882339-doomsday-how-bp-gulf-disaster-may-have-triggered-a-world-killing-event

But there are, of course, naysayers, who deny the possibility of a Methane Doomsday in 2010.

http://io9.com/5585294/methane-bubble-doomsday-story-debunked

Didn’t the Mayans say we’re OK until 2012? Darn. ‘Guess that means we’re stuck carrying on with business as usual for a while longer.