Lennon Guitar Sale Story Shows Journalism Really Is A Dead Horse

Further proof that 'journalism' is a dead horse.

John Lennon's stolen Gibson acoustic guitar that he owned for barely a year and-a-half starting in 1962 was sold at auction for the ridiculous sum of $2.4 million. Some media outlets substituted the fact it was stolen with the catchy euphemism of "lost".

Almost all the major 'news' outlets reported the same egregious error by stating this guitar was used in the recording of the songs, "I Want To Hold Your Hand", "She Loves You" and "All My Loving". Did these 'journalists' ever listen to the songs? Apparently not, for the guitar Lennon used for those songs was his ELECTRIC Rickenbacker guitar! It's obvious! And has been for over 50 years for crying out loud. In fact, the sound Lennon got out of his guitar for "Hand" was used only a couple of more times during his entire recording career with The Beatles.

It truly is amazing mainstream media (MSM) totally screwed up by not listening to any of the songs, but must have also engaged in totally lazy journalism by using the same error filled press handout. CNN fired their fact checkers? Time at least hints this error was due to the auction house's handout. But, still. These idiots, I mean writers, must have listened to perhaps one of the songs. Oddly, The Guardian gets the basics about the guitar's Lennon history right! Even music magazines couldn't be bothered with facts, like Billboard and (gasp) NME.

ACK! Idiots who make money with lazy, non-fact checked writing bullshit make me want to spit!

 

John Lennon's Last Live Performance At "The Salute For Sir Lew Grade"

John Lennon's last public music performance was taped April 18th, 1975 (I know! Almost 40 years ago) at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. The occasion was a televised tribute (shown in the United States in June of that year) for entertainment impresario, Sir Lew Grade, which was called "A Salute For Lew Grade". Many other performers were involved in the tribute but the inclusion of John Lennon certainly must have raised some stuff-shirt eyebrows.

(John Lennon during his last live performance. All photos under Fair Use.)

Back in 1963, newly popular band The Beatles, were selling records at a phenomenal rate in Great Britain mostly due to the songwriting partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. A limited company, Northern Songs, was founded to publish the music of not only Lennon-McCartney, but George Harrison and Ringo Starr, too. The founders were The Beatles' music publisher, Dick James and his partner, the group's manager Brian Epstein, John Lennon and Paul McCartney. In an move to avoid paying high capital gains taxes, Northern Songs went public in 1965. This move also allowed Harrison and Starr to acquire some of their own stock in the publishing company.

There's the short version and now we flash forward to 1969. Less than eighteen months after the death of Epstein, Dick James and his partner sold their shares to Associated Television (ATV), which was run by Lew Grade. They sold without any warning to The Beatles, and Lennon and McCartney's attempts to retrieve a majority interest in the publishing rights to their own songs failed. Under the contractual obligations signed by Lennon and McCartney, any further songs they created whether together or separately would be controlled by ATV until 1973. With their song writing partnership all but dissolved and The Beatles as a band no longer in any real existence, both Lennon and McCartney sold their shares in Northern Songs in late 1969. Although they would continue to receive writer's royalties on their Beatle songs, Lennon and McCartney no longer had any control over the music publishing company they had help co-found.

Although Lennon was understandably bitter toward Dick James' actions in selling out without any notice, he was more upset with Sir Lew Grade and his deep pockets and influence which forced Lennon to relinquish his shares in Northern Songs. Lennon often referred to him as 'Sir Low Grade'. Why then, in 1975, would Lennon agree to appear on a TV special saluting the man? The first answer was the fact that Lennon had a new album on the market, "Rock And Roll Music", that he wanted to promote. This album was his last under his current recording contract, which he chose not to renew, allowing him to retreat from the music business until his return in 1980. The second answer was that appearing he and Grade's company wrapped up any pending litigation between the two. The third, and most important answer, was an opportunity to stick it to the man of which Grade was one who Lennon described as being, "...sick to death of being fucked about by men in suits sitting on their fat arses...!".

Although Lennon and his back-up band recorded three songs, only two made it onto the televised version, "Slippin' And A Slidin'" and "Imagine". Lennon sang live to a mostly pre-recorded music track and it is by far one his best live vocal performances. One line of the lyric to the former song was obviously directed to Grade, "oh big conniver, nothing but a jiver, I done got hip to your jive". More telling, however, was Lennon's choice of his back-up band and the make-up they wore. The band's name was Brothers Of Mother Fuckers which obviously could not be mentioned on television, so they were dubbed Etcetera for this occasion. In the existing video from the show, the kick drum still has the initials B.O.M.F. on it for all to see.

The prosthetic make-up pieces the band wore were designed and paid for by Lennon. As can be seen in the picture below, this gave the impression of two faces. None too subtly, Lennon was making his feelings known about Grade's well-known two-faced behavior.

(A close-up screen grab of the two-faced prosthetics worn by the back-up band and designed by John Lennon.)

Did Sir Low Grade get any of this? Unknown. There are some out there in interweb land that don't even get why Lennon appeared on the show to begin with. Some say he was at a low point in his career and succumbed to appearing on a schmaltzy tribute show as a next step to perhaps playing 40 weeks a year at some Las Vegas lounge. Nothing, of course, could be further from the truth. John Lennon retired from the music business for nearly five years to raise his son, Sean, recorded countless demos, travel and let Yoko Ono earn millions from shrewd investments. By 1980, he was ready to return to recording music under his terms and not some men in suits.

(John Lennon cavorts backstage with his back-up band, dubbed Etcetera for the television audience, but actually called Brothers Of Mother Fuckers.)

Below is a clip of John Lennon's performance. If you would like to view the entire program, click this link. Lennon makes his appearance at about the 22 minute mark.

 

HEY! There Are Three Living Ex-Beatles, Not Two

2014 is an all year celebration of all things Beatle because it's the 50th anniversary of the group's conquering of America. Some false or misleading stories are bound to get unfortunate repeats in the coverage, however, it's curious that the media continue to claim (without embarrassment) that there are only two living ex-Beatles. I don't want to spoil the party, but there are actually three living ex-Beatles.

Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, of course, are the people always cited as the "two living ex-Beatles"; but the band's original drummer, who was in the band for over two years is still alive, too, and his name is Pete Best. Probably nowhere in rock and roll history does the mere mention of one name, Pete Best, conjure up a synonym for unlucky. But, like most "reasons" given for Best's firing by The Beatles, thinking of Best as having the worst luck is too simplistic. Like it or not, Best was a member of The Beatles and that deserves his rightful place in history.

(1962, The Beatles (with Pete Best) pose for their first publicity photos wearing suits. Fair Use photo.)

The short story is that in 1960 while casting about (yet again) for a drummer, before an imminent gig in West Germany, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison learned their friend had recently purchased a drum kit. They asked Best to join the group and he agreed. After numerous gigs and apparently on the brink of stardom, The Beatles' new manager, Brian Epstein, fired Best in August, 1962. Epstein was reluctant to do the job, but the others insisted because they had decided to replace Best with Ringo Starr. The other Beatles had played with Starr before on several gigs that Best had missed. Whether or not Best was not as good a drummer as Starr is a moot point because for the sound The Beatles were creating (read: Lennon/McCartney) Starr was the drummer they believed suited it best (if you'll pardon the pun).

"We were cowards when we sacked him", Lennon said later. "We made Brian do it. But if we'd told Pete to his face, that would have been much nastier. It would have probably ended in a fight." Fight or no, out of guilt, Epstein put Best into his own band, which, of course, never gained any traction. By 1965, he was so depressed he attempted suicide, only to be saved by his brother. Although it took time, Best lost his bitterness toward his ex-band mates, and after a career in civil service, he got back behind the drums, where he seems pretty happy today.

(A recent photo of Pete Best. Reprinted under Fair Use.)

When The Beatles released their Anthology Vol. 1 album, many of the songs that Pete Best drummed on, rehearsal tapes, demos and even the EMI audition, were included. Were The Beatles who were still alive in 1995 finally owning up to some guilt? Doubtful, as they obvious made the correct decision in 1962, even though they didn't handle it well. More likely, it was a way of (finally) paying Best back some of his due for the over two years he was their drummer. So, cheers to you, one of the three living ex-Beatles!
 

Top Ten Blog Posts Of 2012

Yes, once again it is that time of year to do what Americans love to do: create and read top ten (or whatever) lists! For Random Thoughts Of A Random Guy From A Random Place Up In The Sky, 2012 was an outstanding year in the number of readers over the year previous, and I would think, also with the quality of the blog posts I wrote. But, not only do I digress, I boast.

(photo by Tammy Harrel-Fraley)

Here are the Top 10 blog posts of 2012 based on the number of reads per post and it is also my first full year of blogging. This list, of course, is not the same as a list of posts that I think were pretty damn fine (and didn't get too many readers), so I will include those afterward as "honorable mentions". Also note that not all of the Top 10 were written in 2012.

1. "The JFK Conspiracy: The Proof Is In The Warren Report"
This post was number one week after week for most of the first part of the year, having originally been published in November, 2011. It is also a favorite of mine, being a part of the narrative that is infrequently (if ever) brought up.

2. "The Beatles - 'John Is In Fact The Leader Of The Group'"
The surprise big hit of latter 2012, this post was part of a three part examination of John Lennon's songwriting within The Beatles. Part Three also appears on this list, but for whatever strange reasons, Part Two didn't come close in terms of readership.

3. "John Lennon - A Conspiracy Of Silence"
This post was the complete script for the documentary, which due to time constraints had to be under fifteen minutes.

4. "Attention Whores - What?"
This is the first of two blog posts which enjoyed a surge of readership within the last two months of the year. This one is especially curious as it had basically laid dormant for most of the year. Why? Who the holy internet knows. The presidential election, the news of another shooting? I dunno.

5. "Mitt Romney Eats Orphaned Children For Breakfast; Among Other Things"
Here is the second surging blog. This was actually one of my favorite satires written all year. Man, that was a bad and spendy election!

(photo by Tammy Harrel-Fraley)

6."JFK Assassination - The Correct Conclusion Regarding William Greer"
There was a surprising amount of comments against the conclusions in this blog post. I was trying to refute the notion that JFK's driver killed him, but, the idea, after all these years, is pretty strong in some people.

7. "Obama: Extra-Judicial Mass Murderer"
Here is another post from late 2011 that still had staying power this past year. That heartens me a bit, as the case of the minor boy assassinated is finally making some inroads in the MSM.

8. "Walter Cronkite Was The Source Of The Core JFK Conspiracies"
This post was something I ran across simply by watching the first hour or so of CBS-TV's news coverage of the assassination on November 22nd, 1963. It was simply astounding!

9. "New York City Police Kill Gunman AND Wound 9 Bystanders"
Here was a true breaking news story post. It could have been much worse - "kill gunman and nine bystanders". A true WTF kinda moment.

10. "Part 3 - The Beatles - 'John Was In Fact The Leader Of The Group'"
Part three of this post squeaks in at number ten.

Author's Honorable Mentions

Here are some honorable mentions (well, three) that I was quite fond of but didn't get nearly enough reads to even appear on a top twenty list.

"Handcuffed Suspect In Back Of Police Car Shoots Self - AGAIN!?!"
Ah yes. This post was a fool me twice moment.

"Blacks SHOULD Be Outraged Over Trayvon Martin Killing"
This post was my favorite of the year and, yes, I'm still outraged about the whole thing.

"WAKE UP!!! Facebook Censorship !!!"
I didn't think that in 2012, something like this post explains, would cause me to lose access to good old Facebook for three days. But it did and I was. So, Happy New Year and New World Order!

Part 3 - THE BEATLES- "John Is In Fact The Leader Of The Group"

PART 3

1968 -
single:
LADY MADONNA - PAUL
THE INNER LIGHT - GEORGE
Single number seventeen (and you know what I mean) is the first single released without a primarily written song by John. He wanted Across The Universe to be the single. The horns certainly help the A-side, along with some more Beach Boys style backing vocals. The B-side is maybe George's finest hour. Or, at least his best melody.

single:
HEY JUDE - PAUL
REVOLUTION - JOHN
Like the Hello Goodbye single before it, this is another head scratcher in the singles department. The original Revolution (found on "the white album") was deemed too slow by the other Beatles so John rewrote it with a fast tempo. Still, it wasn't accepted, instead the A-side is a slow song from Paul! What the hell? John must have been a tad confused by the whole affair. This single was the band's best selling one ever, in spite of the over seven minute A-side. John's rewrite features some of the dirtiest guitars they ever recorded.




(cover design by Richard Hamilton)

album:
The Beatles
After the colorful, eye-catching album covers of the previous years, this ninth album from the band was their first and only double album and adorned with a white cover (hence the nickname, 'the white album'). No singles were released from this album! 30 original songs! After the somewhat uneven nature of 1967's output, John, Paul and George rose to the fore with a delightful collection of songs that neatly ran the gamut of popular song genres. There were rules, too. Neither Paul or John could have more than two songs in a row on the album and their output restored a parity. The songwriters also should have shared producing credit.

Part 2 - THE BEATLES - "John Is In Fact The Leader Of The Group"

PART 2

1966 -
single:
PAPERBACK WRITER - PAUL w/JOHN
RAIN - JOHN
After taking a well deserved break early in 1966 and another one after their last tour in August, The Beatles released only 16 songs this entire year. Their twelfth single marks the beginning of Paul dominated singles. It would be over a year and a half between John's last A-side and his next in the summer of 1967.
Paperback Writer is notable for being a non-love song and Paul's new Rickenbacker bass guitar was quite an ear-opener for the time. The B-side certainly showed the advanced experimentation in John's work. The first use of backward vocals on a record.

single:
YELLOW SUBMARINE - PAUL w/JOHN + DONAVON
ELEANOR RIGBY - PAUL
The A-side has Ringo singing one of band's more catchable melodies written mostly by Paul with help from John and an uncredited Donavon, whose song Mellow Yellow may or may not have been a direct influence. The B-side features Paul backed by a string octet and a haunting refrain. Another #1 single and the only one starring Ringo.



(cover collage by Klaus Voormann)

THE BEATLES - "John Is In Fact The Leader Of The Group"

PART 1

In October, 1962 The Beatles gave their very first radio interview barely three weeks after the release of their first single, "Love Me Do/P.S. I Love You" on Parlaphone Records. While explaining to the interviewer that the lead guitarist is not the leader of the group, Paul McCartney says, "...John is in fact the leader of the group." In looking over the recorded output by the band it is clear that John Lennon was the leader of the group, writing a vast amount of the group's songs through 1966. Then, in 1967, his songwriting declined drastically as Paul took over the group with his songs until the following year when John began to reassert his dominance. This resulted in an uneasy alliance between Lennon-McCartney which could not be sustained, eventually leading to John leaving the group he had founded and was "in fact" the leader.

When The Beatles started out, the currency of their trade was records, specifically the coveted singles, the seven inch vinyl 45rpm discs that were the mainstay of the record industry. It was unusual at the time for a songwriting duo such as Lennon-McCartney to write a majority of their own output. It is no secret that Lennon and McCartney were very competitive and they actually co-wrote very few of the group's songs. The following is a chronological look at the rise of the leader of the group's songwriting output, it's sudden decline and eventual re-emergence.

1962 -
single:
LOVE ME DO - PAUL
P. S., I LOVE YOU - PAUL w/JOHN
Being neophytes to the big recording studio, John and Paul readily agreed with their new producer, George Martin's song choices for their first single. The A-side was a song Paul wrote back in 1957 and prominently features John's harmonica. The B-side was another Paul original with some help from John. The single peaked at #17 in the United Kingdom and #1 in America after the group made it big there in 1964.

My 1st Year Of Blogging - Here Are The Top 10

(photo by Tammy Harrel-Fraley)

As difficult as it is for me to contemplate, this marks my first year of blogging. After publishing some 60 posts, readers from all over the world have read enough of them for me to create a Top 10 list of blog posts. As I've said before, Americans love lists and nothing is better than reading lists than creating lists. I thought about creating my own personal Top 10 list, but I'll just stick with a list based on reader "views" with appropriate comments. Not surprisingly, the articles about conspiracies lead the way.

1. http://rod-harrel.blogspot.com/2011/11/jfk-conspiracy-proof-is-in-warren.html
"JFK CONSPIRACY-The Proof Is In The Warren Report" was one of two postings concerning the 48th anniversary of JFK's assassination. This one far outpaced the others on the list and is certainly in my personal top five.

2. http://rod-harrel.blogspot.com/2012/03/john-lennon-conspiracy-of-silence.html
"JOHN LENNON - A Conspiracy Of Silence" wherein I reprinted the original script for the documentary of the same name. Due to time limitations, the documentary was kept just under fifteen minutes, which meant some material was edited out. I felt some readers might enjoy the longer version and apparently they did. The article also includes a link to the video on You Tube.

3. http://rod-harrel.blogspot.com/2011/10/obama-extrajudicial-mass-murderer.html
"Obama: Extra Judicial Mass Murderer" was by far the most popular blog in terms of page views at the end of 2011. I'm pleased as I feel it is one of my best works.

4. http://rod-harrel.blogspot.com/2011/11/walter-cronkite-was-source-of-core-jfk.html
"Walter Cronkite Was The Source Of The Core 'JFK Conspiracies' came about after watching the original live broadcasts from CBS News on that fateful day in Dallas. I was amazed how many of the subsequent "theories" were originally reported as facts.

5. http://rod-harrel.blogspot.com/2011/08/presidents-who-owned-people.html
"Presidents Who Owned People" is still one of my personal favorites. Pictures and history! I got the idea after reading a well researched article about our Presidents.

JOHN LENNON - A Conspiracy Of Silence

©2010 by Rod Harrel

Author's Note: This is the original script for the documentary of the same (see link to video below).  

            Thirty years later there remains the accepted history of John Lennon’s death: a lone nut Beatle fan gunned down the pop culture hero. The songs, the tributes, the articles, the videos rarely mentioned the killer, and when they do, he was always alone. Or, perhaps, he did have company, but it was in the form of his demons, his misconceptions of Christianity, or his craving for infamy. A lone nut, a fan no less, had gunned down our dear, beloved, ex-Beatle John. It would seem all sewn up, except for what Sean Lennon said in 1998.

 

            “He was a countercultural revolutionary, and the government takes that shit really seriously historically,” Sean Lennon said of his father’s death. “He was dangerous to the government…These pacifist revolutionaries are historically killed by the government, and anybody who thinks that Mark Chapman was just some crazy guy who killed my dad for his personal interests is insane, I think, or very naïve, or hasn’t thought about it clearly. It was in the best interests of the United States to have my dad killed, definitely. And, you know, that worked against them, to be honest, because once he died his powers grew. So, I mean, fuck them. They didn’t get what they wanted.”1

Photo: Bob Gruen

The quote, from an interview, was an amazing thing to see in print: Sean intuitively lays out the groundwork for further investigation of his father’s death. Unfortunately, perhaps predictably, less than two weeks after the interview there was some serious backpedaling by Sean. Older half-brother, Julian Lennon, had publicly chastised Sean, saying that his remarks were “ill-advised” and that “if you’re going to say something like that, you need to have your facts.” Through a spokesman, Sean said that he regretted saying what he did immediately after the interview.2 In the world of celebrity, the word regret is apparently a synonym for “sorry that I told the truth.” All that is left is a brotherly debate, in public no less.

            Incredibly, in the conspiracy-strewn landscape of American pop culture, the Lennon brothers’ statements represent only the second public contradiction of the accepted history their father’s assassination. Only Fenton Bresler’s groundbreaking 1989 book, Who Killed John Lennon? stands as the first. The book caused nary a ripple in the mainstream media, the press corps, America’s fourth estate.

"JOHN LENNON WAS A CONSERVATIVE" - DISINFORMATION

Disinformation comes in all forms and from a variety of sources. Lately, folks on the interweb seem to be getting a bit of kick out of the proclamation that John Lennon was a conservative. Yes, the man President Nixon and his cabal tried so mightily to deport, was actually a dyed in the wool Republican! But it is disinformation, which in this case also doubles as a synonym for outright lies.

Iconic photo of John Lennon by Bob Gruen.

Real god fearing Republicans, who still haven't forgave or never bothered to research Lennon's statement about The Beatles being bigger than Jesus Christ, were able to squeal merrily that Lennon was a closet conservative.

JOHN LENNON - a conspiracy of silence

Now that the tea party is out of my system, I'd like to share with you all a documentary I did last winter about John Lennon's assassination.
I'm getting ready to shoot a new scary short film and this is a good way to clear the palette.