Maccaspan Finetune Playlist

Beatles' Sgt. Pepper Designer Slams Apple Attitude

The designer of THE BEATLES' SGT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND album has slammed record company Apple for denying him copyright of the infamous image. SIR PETER BLAKE was paid GBP200 ($390) for his iconic 1967 cover creation, which features life-size cut outs of the band among an array of celebrities, but is barred from using the image on a new artistic project.

He says, "I'm doing a limited edition set of prints of the album covers I've done but Apple won't let me do Sgt Pepper. "They probably think 'Stop moaning' - but somebody along the line should have thought I deserved a share, like a bonus, or even acknowledgement that I was hard done by. "I don't blame the Beatles. I wouldn't expect them to suddenly give me a thing but EMI (who distributed Apple) should have."

George Martin said the Beatles were AWFUL!

Sir George Martin thought The Beatles were "awful" and "crap" when he first heard them perform.

The legendary performer - later dubbed 'The Fifth Beatle' - auditioned the Fab Four after they had been rejected by label Decca. And he took a lot of convincing to take them on.

Martin says, "They were pretty awful.

"I wasn't impressed with their music. They were crap. I saw them in the Cavern after I signed them and they could hold an audience. What made me sign them was their charisma.

"They had this wonderful quality that when you were with them, you felt enriched by their presence and, when they left you, you felt diminished. There weren't many people who do that collectively."

The Beatles - Love or Hate it!

SOUNDS FAMILIAR By BABY GIL

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Purists may howl that this is not the way the Beatles intended these songs to be heard. But nobody really knows that for sure and Martin is probably the closest we can get to knowing how those boys felt about their music.


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The Philippine Star

Two years ago the famous performing troupe, The Cirque du Soleil decided to come up with a show using the music of the Beatles. Fine. Might make something interesting on stage with Lucy sailing through the sky with diamonds and dancers traipsing through an octopus garden. But no great shakes really. Everybody uses Beatles these days and we have the authentic, the bootleg and the horrendous like The Beatles Go Reggae available in the market. But the Cirque, in keeping with its top-notch reputation, wanted something truly special and called in George Martin to work on the old recorded tracks of the Beatles and come up with a soundtrack.

Now Martin is no ordinary producer. Way back in the mod ’60s, he was the guy who helped John, Paul, George and Ringo put together their famous albums. Martin helped shape Beatles music and we all know nothing was ever the same again. I do not know how long it has been since he tinkered with Beatles tracks in the studio. Probably 40 years or more. But it must have felt like Christmas morning when he got the offer from the Cirque du Soleil. He was given access to all the original Beatles tracks and clearance to do what he wanted with them. Wow!

The show entitled Love opened last June in Las Vegas. Lucky you if you caught the show at the Mirage. Those who did not, even the big Beatles fans just wrote off Love as something too way off their reach. Then something extraordinary happened. Somebody listened to the Love soundtrack made by Martin and his son Giles and told friends about their incredible experience. Those friends told others and others.

The combination of the familiar melodies, the sound of the Beatles and the work Martin did to rearrange, remix, cut, strip, splice and meld the old tracks has resulted in something incredibly exciting. Love became a must for all Beatles fans, music lovers and those interested in recording technology. Junk the Cirque du Soleil! All you need now is the CD, a player and your imagination.

Love is one case where you have to bless technology, both old and new. The old one because it wonderfully preserved the Beatles recordings. The crisp vocals, the energy of a young band and the feel of genius at work, daring conventions and breaking down limitations are all there. And this is despite the fact that most of those songs were recorded live on a single track.

As for the new, the unique takes on these old songs would never have been possible without the latest equipment. Martin probably had the time of his life creating a mind-blowing medley of For the Benefit of Mr. Kite, I Want You and Helter Skelter, using Blackbird to put a new spin to Tuesday or Julia for Eleanor Rigby or simply enhancing the originals.

Purists may howl that this is not the way the Beatles intended these songs to be heard. But nobody really knows that for sure and Martin is probably the closest we can get to knowing how those boys felt about their music. I’ve listened to Love several times and I love the fact that everything sounds new again. I am also happy to find proof for what I have always believed, that George is every bit as great a songwriter as John and Paul. His Something and While My Guitar Gently Weeps are two of the best cuts in the album. As for Ringo, Martin made full use of his drums from start to finish and he is very good.

Sgt. Pepper album sign by a 4 Beatles plus more up for sale

The John Galt Gallery Presents "The Tom Fontaine Collection" February 9th from 6 to 10pm; February 10th from 2 to 10pm. Tom Fontaine, one of the world's foremost collectors of rock & roll and movie memorabilia is sharing his collection with the public. Items include: Grammy Guitar signed by several artists including Paul McCartney, 1970 Fan Club Beatles Poster signed by John Lennon at the Helping Hand Marathon in May 1975, Sgt Pepper LP cover signed in Centerfold by all 4 Beatles, Elton John’s 1970s performance outfit , signed items by Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper(The Day The Music Died), and much more. For more information call 773-404-8000. 5% of all sales will benefit the Make-A-Wish foundation of Illinois with a $5,000 minimum guaranteed contribution by Tom Fontaine himself.

McCartney steps out for Ewan's Burns Night

Sir Paul McCartney stepped out arm in arm with a glamorous brunette for a Burns Night charity dinner at the St Martin's Lane Hotel hosted by Ewan McGregor.
It was, of course, his daughter Mary.
Like her sister Stella, Ms McCartney is a passionate anti-fur campaigner. So Mary must have been alarmed to see at least three fellow guests wearing fur - notably Yasmin Le Bon, Lulu and Bianca Jagger.
Guests were treated to haggis and Irn-Bru while being entertained by the amusingly named Red Hot Chilli Pipers. Partygoers also received a specially-made glass bottle featuring a portrait of Scotland's national bard.
The annual supper raises cash for children's charities Clic Sargent and Children's Hospice Association Scotland.
Guests were treated to haggis and Irn-Bru while being entertained by the amusingly named Red Hot Chilli Pipers. Partygoers also received a specially-made glass bottle featuring a portrait of Scotland's national bard.
The annual supper raises cash for children's charities Clic Sargent and Children's Hospice Association Scotland.

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Jenny Wren on Grammy Album

'JENNY WREN' ON GRAMMY ALBUM - 08.01.2007
Paul's 'Jenny Wren' has been included on the Grammy Nominations 2007 compiation album that is released on January 29th in the UK. 'Jenny Wren' has been nominated in the Best Male Pop Vocal category.

The full tracklisting is as follows:

Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
Be Without You - Mary J. Blige
Put Your Records On - Corinne Bailey Rae
Waiting On The World To Change - John Mayer
Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Sexyback - Justin Timberlake
Not Ready To Make Nice - Dixie Chicks
Jesus Take The Wheel - Carrie Underwood
Hide And Seek - Imogen Heap
Ain't No Other Man - Christina Aguilera
Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield
You Can Close Your Eyes - Sheryl Crow
Stupid Girls - Pink
Black Horse And The Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall
You're Beautiful - James Blunt
Save Room - John Legend
Jenny Wren - Paul McCartney
Bad Day - Daniel Powter
My Humps - The Black Eyed Peas
I Will Follow You Into The Dark - Death Cab For Cutie
Over My Head (Cable Car) - The Fray
Is It Any Wonder - Keane
Stickwitu - Pussycat Dolls

Beatles` LOVE grabs top spot as CD sales slump

Canadian music stores suffered from the post-Christmas blues after album sales took a typical tumble in the last week of 2006.
According to figures compiled by Nielsen SoundScan, every artist in the top 10 saw their sales decrease significantly, with Sarah McLachlan's latest effort taking the biggest hit on the album charts.
Her Christmas disc Wintersong dropped out of the No. 1 spot after one week on top, falling down to No. 27, with sales of the album dipping from 46,000 last week to just under 5,000 this week -- a drop of almost 90%.
Grabbing the top spot this week was the Beatles remix collection LOVE on sales of 15,000. Eminem's mixtape-style showcase The Re-Up (14,000) was not far behind in second, and Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds jumped 10 spots to No. 3.
The compilation MuchDance 2007 climbed one notch to No. 4, Gwen Stefani's The Sweet Escape moved up two positions to No. 5, and Nelly Furtado's Loose claimed No. 6. Il Divo's Siempre slipped three to No. 7, Akon's Konvicted rocketed up nine spots to No. 8, Mes Aieux's Tire-Toi Une Buche occupied the No. 9 slot, and U2's U218 Singles hung onto the No. 10 position, after placing 11th last week.
There were no new entries in the top 100, an indication of how new CD releases completely shut down over the holidays.
In the U.S., Omarion's 21 (119,000) debuted in the No. 1 spot, followed by Akon in second, the Dreamgirls soundtrack in third, Nas's Hip-hop Is Dead in fourth, and Young Jeezy's The Inspiration in fifth.

Brown Wants To Team With McCartney

Rocker Ian Brown has asked Sir Paul Mccartney to play bass guitar on his new album.
The former Stone Roses frontman promises his new solo effort will be "something really beautiful, with violins, dead sharp beats, socially conscious lyrics" - and he wants the former Beatle to help him top the charts.
Brown says, "I'm trying to get Paul McCartney. I spoke to his assistant. I was like, 'Me name's Ian Brown and I'm a singer,' and she was like, 'Yeah, I've heard of you.'
"I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I don't mind waiting for him. I'd put it back for him. I just think in the last 40 years, no-one's touched McCartney on the bass. It's a bit of a pipe dream, but if you don't ask, you don't get, so I'm going for it."

McCartney Eyes One Last Beatles Song

Sir Paul Mccartney is planning to reunite with his late Beatles bandmate John Lennon and finish an unreleased track the pair sang together.
The Fab Four abandoned Now And Then during their prime. McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr tried to resurrect the track when they put together their Beatles Anthology albums ten years ago, but guitarist Harrison claimed it was not good enough.
But McCartney wants to go back and finish the job.
A source tells newspaper the Daily Express, "It has always niggled a bit with Paul that they didn't finish Now And Then.
"While George wasn't keen, Paul always though the song had a lot of potential. He is now hoping to complete it after all, with him singing the harmonies to John's lead vocal. It would obviously be very moving to hear the pair of them singing together one last time."
McCartney himself recently said of the song, "It needed a bit of reworking but it had a beautiful verse."

Celebrating One YEAR of the MaccaSpan forum!

Celebrating One YEAR of the MaccaSpan forum!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

I hope you all enjoyed the year as much as we have and here's to many more just like it!

2006 was great for MaccaSpan, but it was a little rough for Paul, so we want to wish Paul McCartney a Happy New Year and we hope he has a much better year in 2007!

Remember not to drink and drive! Let's have everybody have a safe and happy new year. So again, Happy New Year Maccaspanians, and a special Happy New Year to Paul, for without him MaccaSpan would never exist!

CHEERS!!!

Beatles covers to be on UK stamps

Six of the Beatles' album covers are to feature in a special set of UK stamps, to be issued next month.
Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Revolver are among the sleeves which will be reproduced on 9 January.

TV show The Sky at Night, in its 50th year, will also be commemorated by the Royal Mail in 2007, with six celestial images chosen by Sir Patrick Moore.

Other subjects for sets will include UK inventions which changed the world and the abolition of the slave trade.

The diamond wedding anniversary of the Queen - whose image appears on traditional British stamps - and the Duke of Edinburgh will be marked in October.

Underwater life, British Army uniforms and the centenary of the Scout Association will also feature on stamps in the UK during the next 12 months.

Paul McCartney Planning Stage Show Based on His Life

Sir Paul McCartney is planning a stage show based on his life, according to the Telegraph.
The UK paper quotes the former Beatle's cousin, the actress Kate Robbins, as saying that McCartney will approve the music and serve as musical director. The music is based on The Liverpool Oratorio — McCartney's first classical work, which he composed with Carl Davis in 1991 to commemorate his home city's 150th anniversary.

Robbins is also working on the adaptation, along with the writer Steve Brown.

The paper reports that McCartney's much-publicized divorce proceedings with his second wife, Heather Mills, have delayed the project.

The story will follow a character named Shanty (a fictionalized McCartney) from his childhood in Liverpool up through his first marriage to Mary Dee (standing in for McCartney's first wife, Linda) and the birth of a child. The couple attempts to balance their family life and their careers.

The paper speculates that the show could go up in Liverpool in 2008 — the city's year as the European Capital of Culture.

McCartney's latest classical album, "Ecce Cor Meum" — Latin for "Behold My Heart" — was released this year. His latest pop album, "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard," was released in 2005.

Merry Christmas from MaccaSpan

Wishing all the best to you and your family. Have yourself a Merry MaccaSpan Christmas!

Remember not to drink and drive this holiday.

Cheers,

McCartney, the MaccaSpan Admin

Signed Beatles Album Cover Auctioned For $115K

An album cover signed by all four Beatles as a gift for George Harrison's sister sold Friday at auction for more than $115,000.
The sale, to an unidentified buyer, was believed to set a record price for a signed Beatles album purchased at a public sale, said Mark Zakarin, president of the online auction company ItsOnlyRockNRoll.com. The exact price, with the buyer's commission, was $115,228.82. Bidding on the album began at $25,000. The copy of "Meet The Beatles," the band's first U.S. release on Capitol Records, was put up for sale by Harrison's sister, Louise. "To Lou with love from `Brother'!!," wrote George above his signature. John Lennon's inscription read, "To Lou many love from John Lennon X." Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr expressed similar feelings when all four signed the album cover while aboard a train to Washington for a 1964 concert.

Beatles still popular in Japan after all these years

TOKYO — Although the Beatles split up in 1970, the Fab Four's music continues to attract new generations of fans in Japan.
"I could hardly believe my ears," said Hidenobu Kondo, 44, recalling the day two summers ago when he heard his then 2-year-old son, Ryuichi, suddenly sing part of the Beatles song "We Can Work It Out."
"It really blew me away, because I didn't teach him English or music," said Kondo, a Beatles fan who often listens to the band's CDs as his son plays nearby. "Even a little child must have understood by intuition that the Beatles were good."
Ryuichi took the stage to belt out "I Want Hold You Hand" recently at a club in western Tokyo's Kunitachi city called "Liverpool." The venue, which is named after the port city in England where the Beatles rose to fame, features Japanese bands covering Beatles hits. An audience of about 60 people ranging from university students to a couple in their 70s clapped as young Ryuichi sang away.
The Beatles — John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr — caught the imagination of Japanese baby boomers in the second half of the 1960s.
Japanese musician Yosui Inoue, 58, still remembers the day in 1967 when "All You Need Is Love" was broadcast live around the world. It was a time of "flowers and peace," he said, recalling how young people protesting against the Vietnam War would hand out flowers as a symbol of peace.
Writer Masanori Oe, 64, lived in the United States in the latter half of the 1960s and took part in antiwar rallies. He said that in the face of the draft, young Americans felt the only way they could change the world was by changing themselves.
Picture book author and singer Cocco, 29, of Okinawa, appeared at the "Dream Power" music festival held Nov 4 at Nippon Budokan hall in Tokyo, where the Beatles performed 40 years ago.
The event has been held for the past five years to support children in poor parts of Asia and Africa. The money raised is used to build schools.
Cocco, who sang the Beatles number "Norwegian Wood," said she initially had her doubts about the legitimacy of the fund-raising effort, and traveled to Vietnam to see if the money was really being used for its intended purpose.
What she found warmed her heart. Children at the school she visited gave her necklaces and flowers they had made from bamboo leaves and tissue paper, and convinced her to take part in the event.
Also performing at the festival was Naoki Sato, 33, of singing duo Love Psychedelico. Sato hailed Lennon's influence on him, saying that at a time when it was thought cool for rock musicians to say "no," Lennon's music conveyed the message that it was also cool to say "yes."
Says musician Inoue, "What is so remarkable about the Beatles is the sense of the positive they exuded."
"Love and peace are eternal," he commented. "I took them for granted when I was young, but at my age talk of such things becomes much more serious."
Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, said it was the word "Yes" written on the ceiling of an art gallery as part of her exhibition that drew her and her future husband together. Together they launched their campaign for peace in 1969. Ono says the power of love is incredible and she remains convinced that it will bring about peace one day.

Sixties London to Be Explored in Kennedys' How Did You Meet the Beatles?

By Andrew Gans
Mom, How Did You Meet the Beatles? is the title of a new work from Adrienne Kennedy and her son, Adam P. Kennedy.
Subtitled "A True Story of London in the 1960's," the theatre piece will be presented Jan. 15, 2007, at Joe's Pub. In the production playwright Adrienne Kennedy, according to press notes, "chronicles her search for fame and fortune in 1960's London, where she encountered Laurence Olivier, James Baldwin, Ricki Houston, various British writers and, of course, the Beatles." Show time is 7 PM.
Adrienne Kennedy is the recipient of three Village Voice Obie Awards for her plays Funnyhouse of a Negro, June and Jean in Concert and Sleep Deprivation Chamber. She co-authored the latter with son Adam P. Kennedy, who is the CEO of Kennedy Promotions LLC. The Signature Theatre Company also devoted its 1995-1996 season to Adrienne Kennedy's work.
Joe's Pub is located within the Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street. Tickets, priced at $20, are available by calling (212) 967-7555 or by visiting www.joespub.com.