2025.13 Gab Four March - Beatles Character and Story Songwriting, Pt.1

Following on from "One to One", Martin and I spend this week and next discussing the politics of Paul (and Linda) McCartney.     This week, the Beatle years.    How Paul brought John into the peace movement (and possibly why he deserves that credit on "Give Peace a Chance"), McCartney and Bertrand Russell, Blackbird, Commonwealth and on through the early solo years.    Next week, a rundown on solo McCartney's political songs! #madeonzencastr

Lonnie Pena and I (separately) saw "One to One: John & Yoko" in IMAX from Magnolia Pictures during it's recent run (it is still available in selected theaters, and pay streaming in May).     Our first thought?     They really should have emphasized that "Year in the Life" subtitle a bit more.    Other than that?     Tune in and find out!

More from Lonnie's Scrapbook as we shoot back to the late nineteen seventies and consider the Knack (the band, not the noun or the film), George Harrison's wedding to Olivia, the 1979 fire at Ringo's residence, the aftermath of Paul McCartney / January 1981, and  the farms of John and Yoko - including their Holstein cattle (Mango the cow!).    

More from the Gab Four!    Lonnie, Jon, Martin and I wander from Revolver through the Beatles era, passing by landmarks including "Teddy Boy", "Ms. L.", "Goodnight Vienna", "Lavatory Lil", Mr. Double-It-Up", and the "Dark Sweet Lady".    Stories and characters you know and love, and maybe some you should discover!    Who doesn't want two girls [or young men] in the back, calling them Daddy?

A Gab Four spectacular!    Jon Stone, Lonnie Pena, Martin Quibell and I gathered to talk about the characters and stories in Beatles songs.     They started with covers of folks like Long Tall Sally, and this episode takes us through Rubber Soul, where the band gives us Michelle, the Nowhere Man, and asks about the possibility of exchanging golden rings in favor of getting behind the wheel to "Drive My Car!"

George was quite busy between "All Things Must Pass" and "The Concert for Bangladesh".      However, many of the things he played on were not under his own name!    We look at two projects where George was a significant contributer: Gary Wright's "Footprint", and Billy Preston's "I Wrote a Simple Song".      Excellent playing, and a link between George's Beatles guitar-playing, his work on "All Things Must Pass", and his turn on John Lennon's "Imagine" (when he finally turned back to his own projects with "Living in the Material World!")

Lonnie and I chat about the CBS version of "Ringo and Friends at the Ryman" which aired on Monday, March 10, 2025.     Jack White, Sheryl Crow, and even Larkin Poe honor the man, the music, the COUNTRY legend that is Ringo Starr.

Marv and I sit down to talk the first disc of the new 2024 edition of the Internet favorite "Spot the Looney".    Ever wondered where you could find those rarities George Harrison played on that are not readily available from Apple (records or Music)?     Try this box.     Harry, Derek and the Dominoes, the Remo Four, the Silkie, Bobby Whitlock, Ashton Gardner & Dyke and MORE can be found on just the first disc of this set      Nine more to come, but don't worry, they will be spread out over the next year or maybe more!

Kit O'Toole and I are honored to speak with Sally Martin Katz, the Photo Curator for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco as Paul McCartney's "Eyes of the Storm" photo exhibition comes to the deYoung museum in the Bay Area.    We talk about the exhibition, the photos, and the role photography and photographers weave around the life story of Paul McCartney.

What ties Studio Two, the Casbah Coffee Club, the Bahamas, Rishikesh, and an airplane returning to London with the Beatles?      George Harrison's birthday!      After the news (where Kit once again drops in her mellifluous tones), we consider the changes in George and the Beatles as he moved from his nineteenth birthday to his twenty-second.