Abbey Road honored!

Abbey Road is being designated as a place of 'national importance,' says the British Government.
It's one of the top toursit attractions in London and is near EMI Studios, where the Beatles recorded!
There a thousands of people who try to cross the zebra crossing and recreate the album cover. They even have an Abbey Road online webcam! I also heard that more accidents occur there than anywhere else.
Unfortunately, while Abbey Road was saved, Ringo's original home at 9 Madryn Street. is being destroyed.
Many fans tried to save it and it just doesn't seem fair since all three of the other Beatle's homes are still around. Apparently, it's not in good condition nor safe. At least we can remember it as Ringo does w/ Ringo's song, "Liverpool 8."

Here are some alternate shots of the famous photo shoot to make the Abbey Road Cover. I also recently heard that John's white suit sold for a lot of dough

WKNR Keener 13...old school Michigan station!

A buddy of mine who has a show also on WXOU posted up this link and I couldn't resist sharing.
WKNR Keener 13 was a station out of Dearborn, Michigan back in the day and was the start for one of Michigan's finest, Dick Purtan!
I love the site because it has really cool pictures including a young Bob Segar. It also had radio jingles, commercials, and airchecks. They put their music charts up and what was hot on the airwaves.
I was most impressed with the audio coverage of the Beatles in Detroit. This was from 1964, when they played Olympia Stadium. My mom and my aunts were all in attendance. My mom says that her sisters were screaming and throwing hair clips down off from their seats in the balcony. My mom just remembers seeing them and saying that she actually wanted to listen! She didn't really 'get' the craziness. She said that could've been anyone up onstage....she was excited to see George though, who was her favorite.
Anyways, WKNR was inside Olympia and recorded a small clip of the concert which I was so excited to hear. To think that my aunt's and my mom are probably in those droves of screams is really cool. Plus, the 16 minute press conference about being in Motown wasn't too bad!
Link: www.keenerpodcast.com

Jonas Brothers the next Beatles?!

Here's an article that was posted in my Beatlepics. community and it made me personally want to throw up. I can't believe that the Jonas brothers would even be compared to the Beatles because to me they are WAY uncomparable. I also say give them a few more years to become better. Anyways, here's the article:
Source: http://www.timesoftheinternet.com/1167.html


We knew the Jonas Brothers were hot, but we had no idea that anyone out there regarded them as being on par with The Beatles, but we found one music expert who did just that. Ray Worley, owner of "Throwback Music" in Hatsfield, Maryland thinks the JoBros are superior to the Fab Four on a number of accounts.

"The Jonas Brothers beat the Beatles on 5 out of 6 criteria I use to judge bands"

"You gotta understand," said Worley. "I lived through the Beatles era and saw them perform live many times, so I think I've earned the right to speak on the subject."

Worley is a large man with an engaging smile. He really warms up to the subject of this comparison. In the 1960s, Worley attended over 20 Beatle's concerts, and has kept meticulous records that detail his experiences. More recent in his memory is the 20 Jonas Brothers concerts he's been to. For him, the Jonas Brothers are ahead of the Beatles in a number of important categories.

"First off, there are three Jonas Brothers and there were four Beatles. The Jonas Brothers are outmanned yet they still come out ahead," said Worley. "Keep in mind the Beatles were together 10 years but much of their success hinged on the mystique surrounding them. The Jonas Brothers are making it big in music in much different times."

Worley conceeds that the Jonas Brothers will probably not catch up to Beatles in number of records sold, but he thinks that's more a product of the times than a reflection on the group.

"There is no one alive right now who will come close to selling a billion records, but that's mainly because the record industry has changed. If you had a time machine and could put Nick, Joe, and Kevin back in time they would sell 2 billion records."

Worley says that the Beatles probably had the edge on songwriting skills, but they were way behind in charisma.

"If you have ever been to a JoBros show you would know what I mean," he said. "They electrify the crowd with their performance in an almost supernatural fashion. Now John Lennon and McCartney were good, but they just lacked that connection with their audience."

Worley says very people share his opinion, but that's largely because they're misinformed.

"People argue with me all the time," said Worley. "They say a 68 year old man shouldn't even be going to a Jonas Brother show. I fire right back at them that I will go where I want and that's to see the greatest band ever assembled, the Jonas Brothers. If they persist in giving me a hard time I kindly tell them to keep their opinions to themselves."

END of article
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Now I have some questions of my own:
1) What exactly where that man's criteria (Worley) because it is never made clear in the article at all and I would think that would be an important part of the article.
2) I think this guy wants publicity for his record store and what isa 68 year old man doing at Jobro's concert? It's kinda creepy. Now a 68 year old man at a Beatles show...not so much.
3)How does he even have the credentials to decide who is bigger than whom?
4) Why are songwriting skills compared? There can only be one Lennon/McCartney as far as I'm concerned and lets not forget George here and the very rare but fun Ringo.
5)Okay so the Beatles had 4 members who each did specific things in the band and not only that, could play so many instruments. The Jonas Brothers can't do that and there are 3 MAIN Jobro's but I've seen some other guys in the backing band.
6) The charisima thing is bull shit because the Beatles had plenty of that because if they didn't, they would'nt have sold over a billion records! I think the thing is though is that it was hard for them to tour when girls were screaming and they couldn't hear but they never seemed to annoyed or phased by it to me. They controlled that crowd. Also go back to the earlier days before Beatlemania and you'll see what I'm talking about.
The Jonas Brothers phenomana can be compared to early beatlemania because it's a bit similiar. There are so many girls just screaming but I think the Jonas Brothers are sweet and do have some charisma.

Alright well, this article pissed me off a little bit because to me it's uncomparable and I know the Jonas Brothers must like the Beatles because they do have similiarities to them but as far as them being the next Beatles? I don't think it will happen, no one's ever come close and no one ever will.

Get Back! The cast of Beatlemania

So today on a whim, my mom and I decided to go to Meadowbrook to go see "Get Back! the cast of beatlemania.
"
Now it was my 3rd time going, the first time I was about 12 or 13 and don't remember too much except it catapulted my love for the Beatles. The 2nd time was at Arts, Beats, and Eats, when I was like 15 and I wore my John Lennon shirt and the John Lennon impersonator liked me and Ashley and I sat in the front row but it was a very short show.

Then there's the Disney tribute band that I saw about 4 times for their different sets and got my picture taken with them and that was fun but NOTHING compares with this.

My mom and I wore our Beatle t-shirts and turned in our $10 pavillion seat vouchers and got row b! They were excellent seats.
The first half of the show was actually pretty loud that we needed earplugs!
Then we saw a guy backstage that looked so familiar and it turns out that it was my brother's friend Steve who knew me and my mom of course as well.

He let us BACKSTAGE for the second half where we saw Sgt. Pepper's and onward. It was pretty awesome! I got to keep the set list and the layout as well as the input guide for the audio board.
It was cool to see the band from backstage and also to watch Steve run the audio board and what was great was that I understood it!
So now I really want to work at concerts and be like a roadie but still do the radio job at the same time.

The only thing is I wish I had picutres but I have photographic memory. Lol.

I lost my voice from singing and I danced! It was a blast and the band was much better than I anticipated.

They are the closet thing that I'll ever get to the real deal and their level of musicanship was amazing! I think I liked their George the best.

I've seen Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and this was almost right up there with them.

I'm definatlely going back next year and I want to meet them and ask them how they got to even be in the band.

They sounded so much like the Beatles it was uncanny!
I thank the Beatle God's for my evening! Lol.

I would recommend this tribute band for everyone because I think they are great!
Here's their website link: http://www.getbackbeatlemania.com/gbframe3.html

Ringo Starr and Ben Harper

Here's an interview that I found that came up on Myspace when I checked in today. It's been a while since a post and I'm sorry about that. I started broadcasting school which takes up a ton of time but I promise to try to update this as much as possible.
Anyways, I love this interview! Ringo is so open and I love when he says, "I'm a drummer, not a plumber!" It just made me laugh and I also thought it was interesting that he had played on "Imagine" which I didn't know about but he also mentioned "Come Together" and "Rain" as the song where his playing seemed to change.
Enjoy this because it put a smile on my face!
Artist on Artist Ringo Starr - Ben Harper