• Book: Do You Want to Know A Secret? The Story of the Official George Harrison Fan Club
• DVD: Come Together: A Night for John Lennon's Words & Music
• DVD: Desperately Seeking Paul McCartney
• DVD: Magical Mystery Tour Memories
• Book: We're Going to See the Beatles: An Oral History of Beatlemania as told by the fans who were there
• Book: Shoulda Been There: A Novel on the Life of John Winston Lennon
• Book: Instamatic Karma by May Pang
• CD: Ringo Starr: Liverpool 8
• Movie/DVD: Across the Universe
• Book: Imagine This by Julia Baird

I guess I'm what you'd consider a second generation Beatles fan. Maybe even a third, I don't know. I was born 9 years after the Beatles breakup. All my life I've thought I was born too late. I never got the chance to experience the Beatles when they first hit the US soil. Garry Berman's book "We're Going To See The Beatles: An Oral History of Beatlemania as Told by the Fans Who Were There", in a way allowed me to be transported back to 1964 through the eyes of the people who lived it.

The book "We're Going To See The Beatles" takes the stories of 42 fans and goes through the Beatles timeline starting at the onset of Beatlemania and The Ed Sullivan Show. We hear stories from the fans joy and elation at first seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan and instantly falling in love. They were hooked.

There is a neat story of a girl Linda Binns who actually met the Beatles and chatted with them during a train ride to Washington DC. Some of you may have even seen the then nine year old girl in the Maysles documentary film of the Beatles First US Visit. It was exhilarating to read her story and how close she got to them. There was even a marriage proposal, but you'll have to read the book to find out from whom.

After The Ed Sullivan Show, the Beatles then embarked on their first tour of the US. We read of several people's journey and experiences of those concerts. The constant and inevitable parallel is the sound. Nothing but deafening screams. Most couldn't hear a note of music, but that didn't matter. Just being able to breath the same air as the Beatles were breathing was enough for them.

The book then goes on to tell tales of the Beatles '65 and '66 tours with much of the same testimony. But now the fans have noticed how much the Beatles are changing in their music and attitudes. Especially by '66. It started with the backlash of the alleged snub of Imedla Marcos in Manila to the response of the US to John's now infamous Jesus statement. The fans could tell that these concerts in '66 might very well be the last chance they'd get to see the Beatles perform live and they were correct.

The book also delves into life after touring and how the Beatles continued to impact their lives. For some, the end of touring meant the end of interest in the Beatles. They had no room to grow and were content with the mop top memories. For many others, the albums Rubber Soul and Revolver brought the Beatles brand new fans. We start hearing more from the guys now. Times were changing and so were most of the fans. It was an evolution for the ages.

Overall this reader quite enjoyed "We're Going To See The Beatles". It gave me a chance to live a day in the life of a "real" Beatles fan who had the opportunity to experience the Beatles firsthand. I could feel the excitement of the girls getting ready for a concert and wanted to scream along when they first laid eyes on the boys coming onto the stage at Shea Stadium. I will forever be envious. So for the second generation fans like myself or the first generation fans who want to relive the mania, I highly recommend this nicely written and well told book.

-- Susan Fischer

On first glance, Jude Southerland Kessler's new novel, Shoulda Been There, seems like a daunting tome: it's s a huge, heavy paperback, 795 pages including the endnotes and appendices. Presented as a novel, but really more of a "factional" account of John Lennon's life from 1940 through 1961, it is also nowhere near as imposing as it seems to be, particularly once the reader can get past its sheer size and begin reading. This book is only Volume One of what the author promises to be a trilogy of novelized biographies covering the entirety of John Lennon's 40 years.

Kessler states that the effort to produce this book has consumed much of the last 20 years of her life, and it shows. The research is meticulous, down to the tiniest details, and as soon as one begins reading they are transported into the world that was John Lennon's young life. The story begins with his birth in 1940, and Kessler's insight into imagining the personalities of Lennon's mother, Julia, and Aunt Mimi, are remarkable. The reader can almost imagine oneself in the room as the young mother argues with a nurse during her labor and delivery, and running along the bomb-scarred streets of Liverpool with Mimi as she rushes to her sister's side to catch her first glimpse of the baby whom she would raise as a son.

Indeed, it is this "fly on the wall" approach that is most interesting and endearing about this book. For those fans who have spent years immersing themselves in the minutae of John Lennon's life, who know every nuance, every story, every episode, there is much to savor here. After all, what truly devoted fans have not envisioned these scenes in their heads since…well…forever, and wished they could have been there as it happened? It has often been said that the Beatles' story would read like fiction if it wasn't true, and there is, and has been since the beginning, a certain mystique attached to the story of the four boys from a grimy industrial city in the north of England who rose to unimagined heights of fame and fortune. Kessler manages to bring these people and places to vivid, colorful life with her charming narrative style and keen sense of the diverse personalities involved in the drama. It is here that her research pays off in huge ways -- the reader can "feel" these places, "know" these people -- and understand what made them tick.

The book goes on to discuss at great length the life lessons that made John Lennon into "John Lennon." All the characters are here -- his free-spirited mother, absent father, gentle Uncle George, stern Aunt Mimi, lifelong friends like Pete Shotton and Ivan Vaughn and Stuart Sutcliffe, and of course, most importantly, one Paul McCartney and one George Harrison. It goes into imaginative detail about every single tale that has become part of the myth -- sometimes even if the retelling manages to bust that myth. For instance, though there are various accounts of Lennon being born during an air raid, Kessler points out in her notes that, after researching the date and time extensively, there was no air raid in Liverpool on October 9, 1940. And so, though she tells the story of John's birth and Mimi's run to the hospital that day, the bombs are absent, as it really was that night. It is engaging storytelling like this, not meant to so much as squash the myths as it is to bolster them with researched facts, that make this book so much fun.

The story of the tragic deaths of Uncle George and Julia are here, as are retellings of Lennon's art college days, the formation of the Quarrymen, his meetings with Paul, George and Stuart, the early trips to Hamburg, and countless other anecdotes that are so well known. Kessler has used many sources for her research, some of them books that many fans probably own, and some of them personal interviews and recollections from the actual parties involved. The combination really does make for a unique kind of biography.

The book includes lengthy endnotes detailing all the source materials, a "who's who" enumerating all the real people who populate this story, plus personal photographs and information about Kessler's many trips to Liverpool to document the research. However, she also does one thing that this reviewer, at least, found to be somewhat unnecessary. After a lively and engrossing telling of an anecdote, she feels compelled to put copious amounts of documentation at the end of every chapter, disrupting the flow of the overall narrative. Frankly, since the book is being presented as a novel based in fact from the get-go, these justifications and constant disclaimers that "all conversation is conjecture" unceremoniously tear the reader back into the here and now when all they'd really rather do is remain in Kessler's fully realized world of 1940s and 50s Liverpool, and in fact, tend to become tedious overkill after a while, even seeming like apologetic justifications. If readers are able to skip the sometimes multi-paragraph end notes, this may not be much of an issue, but I found them personally quite distracting at times.

Generally, though, there is much to recommend in this book. The biggest issue is certainly not the fictionalized, "novel-style" approach to the material. Clearly this was, and is, a great labor of love by Kessler, and it shows in every highly documented, beautifully edited, lovingly constructed bit of this self-published book. This is absolutely engaging and absorbing, and well worth seeking out if Lennon-loving readers are looking for something a little bit different and a heck of a lot of fun to add to a collection on their Beatles bookshelf.

John Lennon used the phrase, "Lost Weekend" when referring to his eighteen month separation from Yoko Ono between 1973-1975. This infamous time period in his life has long been touted as an unfortunate experience full of drunken nights in Los Angeles where John was on his own and out of control, and further that he was depressed and lonely.

May Pang, his girlfriend and assistant during that time, has just published Instamatic Karma (St. Martin's Press), which successfully shatters long standing myths through beautifully reproduced photographs of their time together, with accompanying short stories that recall a very happy and productive time for John.

The title is a catchy word play on John's song title, "Instant Karma", and the 1970's "instamatic cameras" that were so often used back then. The cover shot features a 1973 photo of John with a camera. 141 pages long, and 7-1/2 by 9", May shares with the world 150 amazing and intimate shots with John during their time together.

While some of May's photos were published in her 1983 book "Loving John", (later reprinted under the title "The Lost Weekend"), over 100 of them are being published here for the first time, in full color, and much larger. Organized into four sections, at home, at play, at work, and away, May shows John actively engaged in all these different aspects of his life, very happily.

The evidence of John's productivity and playfulness is clear throughout the book. He swims with his son Julian--reunited for the first time since he left England with Yoko in 1971--in Long Island Sound, takes him to Disneyland in 1973 and then Disney World in 1974, and plays guitar with him. It is stunning to see pictures of John with Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney while in L.A., proving what May has long contended, that John did remain friends with his old mates after the split. May's photo of John signing the dissolution of the Beatles in December of 1974, documents one of the most monumental events in the band's history. Pictures of John with Harry Nillson during the production of Pussy Cats show John at the mixing board with Nillson, playing drums, and yes--even scarfing down pizza.

Candid shots of John in bed with their two cats, Major and Minor are extremely adorable, along with close-up pictures of John eating hot-n-sour soup and blowing his nose, shots that only a close friend would ever be allowed to take. Most will be surprised by the "Walls and Bridges" shots that May originally took of John "making faces." May explains that Bob Gruen reshot them with a camera that was better suited for the album cover, thereby forever attaching Gruen, not Pang, to those images.

The last two photos of John, and one of May, standing on the rocky beach at the Hamptons, in January of 1975 evoke a wistful sadness. May describes the Scottish style cottage John had found that day, that he loved and wanted to buy with May. At that point, the book's sudden ending, "some things just weren't meant to be…" gently reminds us without saying, what happened. John returned to the Dakota just weeks later. He pretty much disappeared there until he produced Double Fantasy in late 1980, just a month before his tragic murder.

May Pang's photos and stories provide an intimate glimpse into this era in John's life that is so often misrepresented or completely absent in historical biographies. This book will go far to correct those inaccuracies that have up to now tainted Lennon's legacy. It shows us a John that was much more "normal" than we thought; happy, healthy, and having fun. This book is a great addition for any Lennon fan.

LIVERPOOL 8: CD and Video Review

"Liverpool 8", the title track to Ringo Starr's new CD LIVERPOOL 8, is a GEM! To Beatles and Ringo fans, it may be one of the best songs Ringo's done since the '70s. It is a great song on so many levels-- It is a great tribute to Liverpool and serves as a great theme song for the city, it is an autobiographical song about Ringo's life and The Beatles career, and it also can appeal to anyone who has left their hometown to follow their dreams.

Ringo co-wrote and produced this song with Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame. During a TV interview on CBS, Ringo said the song depicts "a man's life. I worked on the railways before that, but we couldn't rhyme it with anything. You know. So it's not in! That was my first job and then on the boats. And then I was in a factory, like it says. ... And you know the rest."

While the song definitely tests Ringo's vocals (to his favor), it also was purposely designed as a great song to sing live with the "Liverpool" chorus at the end. Ringo and Dave obviously had this in mind when planning Ringo's live performance in 2008 to honor Liverpool as The European Capital of Culture.

Not only is the song Liverpool 8 great, but so is the music video. It is tasteful, well-done and actually conveys what the lyrics are saying, unlike so many music videos these days. It starts off with a little boy (with a Beatle-type haircut) looking through a kaleidescope, and then Ringo starts singing. There are flashbacks of footage from The Beatles as well as photos from Ringo's personal collection. The boy eventually passes the kaleidescope to Ringo which serves as a great link between the past and present.

The rest of the album is similar to Ringo's three previous solo efforts, Vertical Man, Ringo Rama and Choose Love. All songs except Liverpool 8 were co-written by Ringo and Mark Hudson and other Roundhead members. The CD offers songs in different flavors ranging from country to psychedelic to an old-time style tribute to Harry Nilsson. Higlights are the catchy "For Love", the inspiring "Give It a Try" and the slow melodic "Love Is".

I would have liked to see more photos in the CD booklet, but that won't be an issue for you if you order the album in the new computer-savvy USB wristband format. Ringo is one of the first artists to offer an album in this format. In case you're wondering, the pre-loaded wristband contains the entire studio album Liverpool 8, personal video message from Ringo Starr, interview footage & track-by-track commentary from Ringo Starr, ringtunes, photos & more.

Dear Liverpool, with this new release, Ringo definitely did not let you down.

--Trina Yannicos, Editor and Publisher, Daytrippin'

[Photo credit: Barbara Bach]

  Across the Universe: DVD Review
(posted March 2008)

I'm a Beatles fan. So when I heard about Julie Taymor's ambitious Beatles project I was elated and skeptical all at once. The Beatles were perfection. How can you improve upon that? Well, she figured it out. From the first film cell to the last, Across the Universe is beauty. The imagery is beyond. It took these Beatles songs and turned them upside-down in a brilliant way. I'm the kind of person where music moves me. Literally. It's easy for me to hear a piece of music and be in tears by the time its complete. And many of the Beatles songs, performed by the Beatles have done just that. Whether for musical reasons or personal reasons, they get to me. And because of that I've never really been a fan of other people doing...screwing up...Beatles songs. When these performers decide to take on masterpieces it comes across as a cheap imitation all to make a buck. I'm uber-critical. This movie has changed my tune.

The cast is a little green but its refreshing. It's great to see faces you've never seen before and doing such good work! I hope to see much more of them in the future. There are six main characters, all named from Beatles songs. The two main characters are Jude and Lucy. Jude a scouser from Liverpool and Lucy and all American girl. Max is Lucy's brother and becomes fast and steady friends with Jude. Jude and Max decide to head to the big Apple (coincidence??? I think not) where they meet Sadie, a singer and earth mother with a heart of gold. Soon after Jo-Jo comes into the picture after hitting a very hard patch in his home town of Detroit, and becomes Sadie's guitarist. The final character, Prudence, manages to sneak in through the bathroom window of the apartment they all share, rounding out the cast.

Now the music. The start of the film is so unassuming. But from the instant Jude opens his mouth, with his scouse accent, I'm hooked. I want to be that Girl. The plot follows the Beatles evolution. Starting with the happy, light times with easygoing love songs like Hold Me Tight, All My Loving, I Want To Hold Your Hand and If I Fell. But when tragedy hits, all we can do is Let It Be. Then they find a way to Come Together (love Joe Cocker) all Because All You Need Is Love. And no Beatles experience is complete without the trippy surrealism of I Am The Walrus (was that Bono??), Strawberry Fields Forever and Being For The Benefit of Mr Kite (Eddie Izzard is brilliant!).

One gem I really want to hit on is I Want You (She's So Heavy). I've adored this song from the moment I heard it at the tender age of 11. I had no clue what it meant but its brooding darkness intrigued me. What Julie Taymor did with this song is one of those upside-down moments. I Want You? Uncle Sam? Brilliant. Max has been called to duty and must report to a facility for an induction into the army. The Uncle Sam posters on the walls come alive and they want him so bad. Cut to a room full of military men initiating the next batch of soldiers, making sure they're all physically fit. Then for the She's So Heavy part. We see the group of would-be soldiers in their underwear and combat boots trampling over tiny palm trees indicating the jungles of Vietnam all while carrying the statue of liberty on their shoulders singing She's So Heavy. OH MY GOD. That just blew my mind. She's so heavy. How brilliant. An amazing interpretation of an amazing song.

I don't want to get into much of the plot because I don't want to spoil the party (couldn't resist), but you need to see this film if you have not done so. The story lines are great. You believe the love story. You feel it. For me, if I'm watching a love story and find myself kinda crushing on the lead character, it's done its job. I'm kinda crushin' on Jude! And the songs!! Each song is portrayed in such a unique way. It's moved me on a whole other level. The music is different but has truly brought out the emotion each song emits to a totally new place. You fall in love all over again.

--Susan Fischer

 

Across the Universe: Movie Review
(posted September 2007)

I just got back from seeing Across the Universe! I LOVED it. It was brilliantly done. Lots of 60's surrealism---like during Strawberry Fields, I Am the Walrus, etc-- while also telling a very realistic love story at the same time and portraying the time period very well. Emotional...Amazing how perfectly they were able to tell this story, with the Vietnam War and civil unrest from the 60's as a backdrop. I was really blown away by the true talent of the actors and how it was put together.

On first glance, you might think the screenplay sounds a bit "kistchy", since the characters' names are all from Beatle songs, like Jude, Lucy, Prudence, Sadie, etc. And there are other famous legends portrayed; Sadie is a Janis Joplin-type figure, while her guitarist is like Jimi Hendrix. The similarities are obvious. But somehow they pulled this off big time. It's really, really good.

Jude looks a lot like Paul McCartney but acts like John Lennon. The Liverpool accents are authentic, and some scenes are shot in Liverpool down by the docks. Some scenes will immediately remind you of the Free as a Bird video---the men walking to the docks, etc. and the place where Jude lives, off of a Liverpool alley. There's also a rooftop concert (New York) where they are singing Don't Let Me Down. But again, it's done very well. I didn't roll my eyes once.

Bono is Dr. Robert, and he did an amazing performance. And Joe Cocker portrays a street musician.

If it were a stage musical I might not have liked it, but the movie was done very well. The special effects and surrealistic graphics are great.

Anyway, LOVED It, Go see it for SURE. I've been hearing about how much Paul likes it too. The woman who wrote this, Julie Taymore, also produced The Lion King. She obviously knows what she's doing.

--Shelley Germeaux, West Coast Correspondent  

Official Movie Website: http://www.acrosstheuniverse.com/

Across the Universe Soundtrack

Imagine This, by John Lennon's half-sister Julia Baird, reveals what it was like growing up with John, as well as the harsher reality behind family myths. Her memories of the fun-loving mother that John immortalized in his song, "Julia" are heartwarming, but cut short by tragedy and confusion. Julia's long journey to discover the truth led her to an aging aunt's bedside who began to tell her how, among many other things, little John came to live with his Aunt Mimi instead of his mother.

Ms. Baird's previous book, John Lennon, My Brother, (Henry Holt & Co, 1988), contained some of the same stories, but the revelations in the new book are stunning. The additional research she has done is vast and includes genealogical information, as well as another 19 years of experiences with family members, many who have now passed on. This latest work by Ms. Baird renders most other biographies on John's childhood obsolete.

Imagine This describes John's Aunt Mimi as a bully whose constant intervention in her sister, Julia's life had a devastating impact. Her forcible removal of John from Julia's home when he was five years old did him irreversible emotional damage that he never recovered from. Julia was not the irresponsible waif that Mimi portrayed her to be, but a heartbroken mother steamrolled by a domineering sister. Ms. Baird asserts that Mimi went to great lengths to keep John and his mother apart throughout his childhood years, making Julia's untimely death when he was 17 all the more tragic.

One thing that will surprise most people is that Julia Lennon, John's mother, actually had four children, two of which were cruelly taken from her at the hands of Mimi and her father. Julia was one of five sisters. She first married Alf Lennon after a ten-year romance, in 1938. John was born October 9, 1940. When Alf seemed more married to the sea than her, the marriage fell apart, but his constant absence made it impossible to get a legal divorce.

In 1944 while Alf was at sea, during WWII, she had a brief affair with a Welsh sailor and became pregnant. Her father and sister Mimi were outraged at her behavior and insisted that the baby be given up for adoption. Victoria was born in June of 1945 and given to a Norwegian family. This fact was hidden from the other three children for many years, and Ms. Baird recounts the shock that overwhelmed her when discovering it.

Julia soon met and fell in love with a man named Bobby Dykins and she and young John moved in with him, into a tiny flat. Since they could not marry legally, Mimi and her father were once again enraged and demanded that Julia give John to Mimi, so he wouldn‚t be raised in a "house of sin". When she refused, they got the help of social workers who finally ordered that John be given to Mimi until the situation improved.

Julia and Bobby Dykins had a happy common law marriage for the next 12 years, having two daughters, Julia (Baird) in 1947, and Jackie in 1949. The children were never recognized as "real" family by the aunts because they were "illegitimate."

Tragedy struck in 1958 when Julia was struck by a car and killed. Her death was not revealed to her daughters, Julia and Jackie, for several months, creating a lifelong emotional struggle born of confusion and sadness. Subsequently, their father Bobby's death, also by car accident, left daughters Julia and Jackie nowhere to turn in their grief, as the aunts in town had closed their doors to them.

Ms. Baird discovered only recently that Mimi had a long-term affair after her husband's death with a student lodger over 20 years her junior. The relationship began while John was still living in the home, so the hypocrisy is apparent, given Mimi's condemnation of Julia's lifestyle. Ms. Baird met up with the man, now 72, for the complete story, which is quite fascinating.

Ms. Baird joyfully accepted a renewed relationship with John in 1975 after he tracked her down, and a series of phone calls and letters followed. But soon, wife Yoko Ono suddenly began intercepting the calls, cutting off communication with the brother she had missed throughout the busy Beatle years. She would also later discover that son Julian's calls had also been intercepted, leaving John to believe that Julian had stopped calling. As a result, she began to see Yoko as John's subconscious replacement for Mimi.

John's tragic death on December 8, 1980 caused yet another devastating blow in her life, especially since he had promised he would be "coming home" to Liverpool early in 1981. Her strained communications with Yoko after his death included an argument concerning a family home in Liverpool that became Yoko's after John died, and the awful discovery that even Mimi's home now belonged to Yoko. The frustrating battle is recounted in detail as Ms. Baird describes her attempts to prove to Yoko that John bought the houses for the family during the Beatle years.

In 1998 the long lost sister given up for adoption, Victoria, made herself known to the family, revealing that her name was changed to Ingrid. Ms. Baird shares the family's attempts to bring her into their lives.

Julia Baird's journey is one of great sadness, while acknowledging the great opportunity for her own healing through the writing of this book.

Imagine This restores truth to long-standing misperceptions about John Lennon's childhood and gives long awaited vindication to the mother that John, Julia, and Jackie adored. This should be the first book anyone reads on John Lennon's beginnings in Liverpool.