Sunday, August 1, 2010
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Fretful Friday
The song "This Boy" has been a longtime favorite of mine. Though a lot of critics dismiss it as "early Beatles fluff", I think it was one of the first songs that showed us the magic of what was to come.
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney in a hotel room, "This Boy" was the result of their desire to write a close-harmony song. Especially for John, a particular inspiration was the Smokey Robinson and the Miracles song “I’ve Been Good To You,” which has a similar chord pattern, melody and arrangement.
"This Boy" was the first song John and Paul wrote with a three-part harmony.
With John playing his now-iconic Gibson J160E, here they are performing it during their second appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show:
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney in a hotel room, "This Boy" was the result of their desire to write a close-harmony song. Especially for John, a particular inspiration was the Smokey Robinson and the Miracles song “I’ve Been Good To You,” which has a similar chord pattern, melody and arrangement.
"This Boy" was the first song John and Paul wrote with a three-part harmony.
With John playing his now-iconic Gibson J160E, here they are performing it during their second appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show:
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Thought for Thursday
"Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King are great examples of fantastic nonviolents who died violently. I can never work that out. We're pacifists, but I'm not sure what it means when you're such a pacifist that you get shot. I can never understand that." ~John Lennon
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Whatsoever Wednesday
According to a man who's been "on the case" since the death of John Lennon, Stephen King is really the man responsible for John's murder in 1980.
Steve Lightfoot, a California native, is convinced that Stephen King shot John Lennon. Not only that, but Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and various police departments were in on it too. Lightfoot even attended a Sarasota City Commission meeting in February of 2009 to rant about how King is "the worst criminal the state has ever harbored" - King owns a home in nearby Casey Key.
He swears he has the evidence to prove it if only people would listen. The evidence consists of "government codes" in magazines and the fact that he believes Mark David Chapman was really a hired lookalike to help King get away with the crime.
He once spent several months in Bangor, Maine hanging around the outside of King's main residence, gaining some media attention as a celebrity stalker.
King obviously was not the man who killed John Lennon, though he is a fan. His popular novel, The Shining, was inspired by the Lennon song "Intant Karma" and was originally titled "The Shine". When King learned that the term "the shine" was derogatory to black people, he changed it to "The Shining". We all shine on..
Steve Lightfoot, a California native, is convinced that Stephen King shot John Lennon. Not only that, but Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and various police departments were in on it too. Lightfoot even attended a Sarasota City Commission meeting in February of 2009 to rant about how King is "the worst criminal the state has ever harbored" - King owns a home in nearby Casey Key.
He swears he has the evidence to prove it if only people would listen. The evidence consists of "government codes" in magazines and the fact that he believes Mark David Chapman was really a hired lookalike to help King get away with the crime.
He once spent several months in Bangor, Maine hanging around the outside of King's main residence, gaining some media attention as a celebrity stalker.
King obviously was not the man who killed John Lennon, though he is a fan. His popular novel, The Shining, was inspired by the Lennon song "Intant Karma" and was originally titled "The Shine". When King learned that the term "the shine" was derogatory to black people, he changed it to "The Shining". We all shine on..
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday Minutiae
John Lennon helped make Rolling Stone history - twice.
The first issue of Rolling Stone magazine was published on November 9, 1967.
It featured John on the front page (there was no cover then) during filming of the black comedy How I Won The War, in which John played "Musketeer Gripweed", a soldier in a fictional regiment called the "4th Musketeers" in WW2.
John was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone many times, with and without the Beatles, but it was his last cover that would be most poignant.
Annie Leibovitz went to John and Yoko's apartment for a cover shoot on the morning of Dec 8, 1980. John insisted that Yoko be in the picture. Annie begrudgingly agreed. The photo that made the cover, featuring John nude and clinging to Yoko like a child, was breathtaking and is one of the most recognized John Lennon pictures today. John was killed in front of his apartment that night.
The first issue of Rolling Stone magazine was published on November 9, 1967.
It featured John on the front page (there was no cover then) during filming of the black comedy How I Won The War, in which John played "Musketeer Gripweed", a soldier in a fictional regiment called the "4th Musketeers" in WW2.
John was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone many times, with and without the Beatles, but it was his last cover that would be most poignant.
Annie Leibovitz went to John and Yoko's apartment for a cover shoot on the morning of Dec 8, 1980. John insisted that Yoko be in the picture. Annie begrudgingly agreed. The photo that made the cover, featuring John nude and clinging to Yoko like a child, was breathtaking and is one of the most recognized John Lennon pictures today. John was killed in front of his apartment that night.
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