Is U2 as big as The Beatles?

Beatles have it all over U2
                       By Gary Stein
 You can talk all the numbers you want about the Beatles vs. U2 and who sold more records, who was No. 1 more weeks, etc., and the Beatles will win. But numbers aren't what's important here.
Ask yourself this — 25 years from now, will anybody be thinking about U2's music? Will people still be playing U2 music, and have their lyrics memorized? No way.
Also, any kid can name all the members of the Beatles. Can you name the members of U2? End of story.
The Beatles haven't made music for over 40 years, yet they had such a profound impact on music and people's lives that they still are all over the radio. They are still downloaded. They are a part of the American culture, almost as much as they are in England.
The Beatles aren't just about nostalgia. They changed music forever, and people will be listening to them forever. Tony, you can't say that about U2.

Yes, U2 is as great as the Beatles
                              By Antonio Fins

 Gary, if the key criteria is who changed rock music, that would be Elvis Presley.
But you have to take into account longevity, changing styles, collaborations and the footprint beyond the stage. Plus the diversity of faces in the crowd, from Baby Boomer to whatever the euphemism for today's teens.
U2 isn't just by far the most popular band around today — Forbes recently calculated it's racked up close to $200 million in sales in the past year. The Irish rock quartet has been at the top for decades. In 1987, a Time magazine cover called them the hottest rock band.
Then there's the activism. Lead singer Bono's work in anti-poverty campaigns makes him a legit contender for a Nobel Peace Prize. Lead guitarist Edge has been a proponent of music education.
I know I'll lose this debate. But I'll lose on nostalgia, because people never want to accept that the icons from their youth can be matched. But let it be.


----sunsenteniel.com

John Lennon a Reagan Republican?

He loved Ron, yeah yeah yeah…
That’s right – peace and love uber hippie John Lennon was a closeted Reagan Republican at the time of his death, according to the Beatle’s last personal assistant.
Fred Seaman, who worked for Lennon from 1979 until he was gunned down in the street outside his apartment in 1980, said the singer admired Reagan, who was running for president against Jimmy Carter at the time.
“John, basically, made it very clear that if he were an American he would vote for Reagan because he was really sour on Jimmy Carter,” Seaman says in a new Beatles documentary. “He’d met Reagan back, I think, in the 70s at some sporting event.”
“I also saw John embark in some really brutal arguments with my uncle, who’s an old-time communist,” Seaman said. “It was pretty obvious to me he had moved away from his earlier radicalism.”
“He was a very different person back in 1979 and 80 than he’d been when he wrote ‘Imagine,’ Seaman said. “By 1979 he looked back on that guy and was embarrassed by that guy’s naivete.”

----foxnews.com

This Day in Music Spotlight: The Beatles Play Live to 400 Million

On June 25, 1967, the BBC put on the world’s first global satellite television broadcast. The program was called Our World, and consisted of five different segments from five continents, a tremendous technological undertaking in 1967.
Selected countries were to produce two items that best symbolized the their life and culture. The BBC chose to produce a four-minute report on Scottish town Cumbernauld and also asked The Beatles to come up with a special song that would reflect the times and the occasion and be understandable by all watching nations. As an incentive, The Beatles would receive £2,000 for their performance.
John Lennon, always good for a slogan, as he’d show consistently post-Beatles, came up with a perfect summer of love peace anthem, “All You Need is Love.”
The ambitious satellite link-up was devised by the BBC and executed by the pioneering producer Aubrey Singer, who pulled in an incredible lineup of contributing countries and networks: Australia (ABC), Austria (ORF), Canada (CBC), Denmark (DZR), France (ORTF), Italy (RAI), Japan (NHK), Mexico (TS Mexicana), Spain (TVE), Sweden (SRT), Tunisia (RTT), United Kingdom (BBC), United States (NET) and West Germany (ARD). Our World was also shown Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Switzerland, although those countries did not provide content. It would have been more, but just a week before the planned broadcast, the Soviet Union and several Eastern Bloc countries backed out.
The Beatles showed up at EMI’s Studio One in the early afternoon of June 25 for a camera rehearsal. On this day in 1967, at 9:36 p.m. U.K. time, The Beatles and a 13-piece orchestra played live to a pre-recorded backing track.
The band sat on stools for the historic performance. Behind The Beatles, a menagerie of famous friends gathered to lend support. Beatle buddies included Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Marianne Faithfull, Keith Moon, Eric Clapton, Pattie Harrison, Jane Asher and Graham Nash.
The wildly ambitious project was a huge success, although the BBC did receive several letters of complaint, proof that in the U.K. in 1967, Lennon was becoming an increasingly polarizing figure as the lovable mop-tops continued their path to hippie weirdness. Comments from unimpressed viewers included: “This country has produced something more meritorious and noteworthy than The Beatles (much as I admire them)”; “We did not do ourselves justice”; “Have we nothing better to offer? Surely this isn't the image of what we are like. What a dreadful impression they must have given the rest of the world”; and “after all the culture etc. shown by the other countries, The Beatles were the absolute dregs (incidentally I am a Beatles fan), no wonder people think thing we are going to the dogs!”
Not that the BBC told The Beatles, instead thanking manager Brian Epstein in a letter for a performance had been “highly regarded” by the BBC and the audience. The negative comments were buried until released recently when they surfaced via the U.K.’s Freedom of Information Act.
But despite the reticence of some at having the Liverpool foursome represent the United Kingdom, the Beatles had the last laugh. This was 1967 after all; the summer of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (which had been out for just three weeks) and the band were un-Beatle-able. “All You Need is Love “went straight to #1 in the U.K. and, naturally, topped the charts in the U.S.
Quoted in The Beatles Anthology, Epstein summed it all up perfectly: “It could hardly have been a better message. It is a wonderful, beautiful, spine-chilling record.”
 ----gibson.com

Paul Simon Ranks McCartney Above Lennon In Best Songwriter List

Sorry, John Lennon, but Paul Simon thinks Paul McCartney had the best songwriting chops amongst The Beatles. In a recent interview the musician addressed who he'd put in the pantheon of popular songwriters, saying: "I'd put Gershwin, Berlin and Hank Williams. I'd probably put Paul McCartney in there too. Then I'd have Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. Then, in the second tier, Lennon is there, Dylan is there, Bob Marley and Stephen Sondheim are there, and maybe I'm there, too. It's about whose songs last." In that case, he forgot Rebecca Black!

----gothamist.com

Paul McCartney Unloads on John Lennon; Blames Lennon for Beatles' Breakup

There are as many theories about what caused the Beatles to split up as there are stars in the sky. Now more than four decades after the fact, Paul McCartney is finally speaking candidly about the Beatles' breakup, and he's laying the blame squarely at the feet of band mate John Lennon.

Sir Paul made his remarks Thursday night, during a wide-ranging interview with British radio presenter Geoff Lloyd. McCartney recalled how, after recording the Let It Be album, he had pleaded with Lennon to reconsider his decision to dissolve the Fab Four.

"Basically me, George and Ringo said, 'Does this have to be final? Could we do a couple of gigs or can we think about this tomorrow?' But John was off with Yoko and he was saying 'No, no, it's great -- I feel a release,' and all that. So that was kind of final."

Many have held that John Lennon's infatuation with Yoko Ono was instrumental in the band's breakup, but this was the first time that McCartney has ever indicated that John alone was responsible.

Revealing as his words were, McCartney had quite another issue on his mind. It seems that while all four Beatles were made Members of the Order of the British Empire, only Paul McCartney has actually been knighted. According to NME, Paul thinks it's high time that Beatles drummer Ringo Starr received the same honor. When asked if he would take the matter up personally with the Queen, McCartney quipped, "The last time I went by she was out. Otherwise I would have popped in and said 'Look, love, Sir Richard Starkey.'"
So... Does Ringo deserve a knighthood? Starr, who is currently touring with his "All Starr" Band, may not be as gifted a musician as his band mates, but he was still an integral part of the band that changed popular music forever. Considering how many lesser Englishmen have been knighted, it doesn't seem like too much to ask.

---Ian Marks
    entertainment.gather.com

Beatle finally plays Poland

Ringo Starr, everybody’s second favourite Beatle, finally took to a stage in Poland when he played the Congress Hall in the centre of Warsaw last night.

The Liverpudlian legend appeared, shades intact, and proceeded to treat his Polish fans to a two-hour banquet of tracks, old and new.
The former Beatles drummer and singer of such Fab Four hits as Yellow Submarine and Octopus's Garden, performed in Warsaw with his longstanding All-Starr Band.
Looking decidedly younger that his seventy-one years, Ringo didn't disappoint his fans, with 23 tunes from both The Beatles' and the All-Starr Band's back catalogues.
As well as early Beatles numbers like “I Wanna be your Man”, he raised the roof with a rendition of “A Little Help from My Friends”, rounding things off with a cover of John Lennon's “Give Peace A Chance.”
And of course, there was room for Yellow Submarine.
“If you don't know these you're in a bad place,” the ex-Beatle quipped.
Ringo is the first of the Fab Four to play on Polish soil. Now, only Paul McCartney is able to follow in his footsteps.
Virtually no British or American rock stars performed in Poland during the sixties. A notable exception was The Rolling Stones, who played one gig - at the very same venue that Ringo played – in 1967.
However, Professor Jerzy Eisler, head of the Warsaw department of the state-sponsored Institute of National Remembrance, says that the communist authorities had considered hiring the Beatles in 1966, as a means of sabotaging the 1000th anniversary of Poland's adoption of Christianity. The focus of that event was at the historic monastery at Czestochowa.
“There was even an idea that there would be a concert in Czestochowa on the very same day,” the professor has said, although he claims that the authorities bottled out owing to fear of two separate crowds to contend with. (nh)
----thenews.pl

Paul McCartney ‘Not a Popular Bunny’

Coming up on his 69th birthday and busily preparing for his wedding to girlfriend Nancy Shevell, Paul McCartney has also been looking back at the Beatles breakup.
According to the Huffington Post, McCartney realizes he was “not a popular bunny” with his Beatle cohorts at the time of the split. The terse “press statement” questionnaire he delivered containing news of his debut solo album, McCartney, was probably a mistake in retrospect.
"It's possible to read all sorts of other things into it, read all sorts of motives of mine into it, which is I think what happened," McCartney said. “For me, it was simply a way to answer some questions I might have been asked if I had done interviews.”
Looking back, he just wanted to get his new music released: “I've been accused of not thinking things through enough. I get enthusiastic about something and say I'd like to do it, so let's do it. And that's mainly a good thing, because you get things done. It can occasionally create difficulties because you don't think of the implications. And to me, I hadn't thought of the implications. I was just putting out an album of some stuff that I liked.
“If I had been entirely honest, I just would have said that John has folded the group. But I'm not sure that would have gone down well, either.”
Paul McCartney handled all the musician chores on his McCartney album, something he sees becoming the norm in 2011. “It's easier in retrospect to look back and say I was doing something that laid the ground rules for people to follow. When you think about it, that's how an awful lot of records get made now – people are in their bedrooms or their garages – because the equipment's better. So I was actually starting a bit of a trend, without knowing it or really intending to.”
---gibson.com
     Andrew Vaughn

Yoko Ono brings John Lennon's artworks to Manayunk

'John never expected anything like this would happen - yet he would have loved the fact that it's happening."
The speaker is Yoko Ono. "John" is, of course, her husband, John Lennon, Beatle, peace activist, and artist, who was murdered in 1980.
It's a shock to reflect that Lennon would have turned 70 last Oct. 9. An exhibition of his artwork, titled "Yoko Ono Presents 'Imagine Peace': A Visual Tribute to John's 70th Year," runs in Manayunk Friday through Sunday, to raise funds for North Light Community Center, on Green Lane.
Yoko and John are among the most famous couples in pop history. She was and is a serious conceptual and performance artist who had a big impact on his art, social activism, and music. His art is itself a great story - as is the tale of how "Imagine Peace" made its way to Manayunk.
"John's drawings were like a security blanket," Ono says, by phone. "At a lot of our endless meetings with lawyers and accountants, John would be there, just drawing, listening with one ear, but mostly drawing whatever. Afterward, a lawyer might ask, 'Can I have it?' and John would say, 'Sure, here, take it.' "
Those drawings, sometimes deceptively naive, range from the silly (An Elephant Counting) to the satirical, from the erotic to the political (Give Peace a Chance). "He was not one of these serious-face artists, making a big statement," Ono says, "but he did care about what he was doing. He'd show me something and ask, 'What do you think of this one?' And if he didn't like it, he'd crumple it up and throw it in the wastebasket. Although" - this said with a chuckle - "some of them somehow made their way out of the wastebasket again. It's an opportunity to have a conversation with him, to see where he was, and to see where you are."
The Manayunk exhibition features more than 100 artworks, four of them only recently made public, and lyric sheets. (Some are not originals, but lithographs or reproductions.) "Imagine Peace" has traveled the country for 20 years, benefiting selected local charities. Founded as a boys' club in 1936, North Light has undergone several expansions, and now includes art and recreational offerings and children's and family programs.
How did "Imagine Peace" find Manayunk and North Light? Legacy Productions works with Ono and the Lennon estate to do 25 of these exhibitions a year. "We get a lot of requests," Ono says, "and we check the town and set it up." In past years, the show has come to places such as New Hope, Haddonfield, and Rittenhouse Square. "I do select the art works to be used," Ono says, "but the actual curator of the individual shows can make changes."
Rudy Siegel, a producer at Legacy, says, "The folks from the Manayunk Development Corporation [MDC] gave us the heads-up about North Light. That's usually how it happens around the country: Someone local will turn us on to a worthy nonprofit that's in the community where we can raise funds and awareness for them through the exhibit."
The Manayunk people involved are Beatles fans. Karen Smith, director of marketing and communications at North Light, says: "Obviously, I'm thrilled North Light was chosen, and I'm also thrilled because I love John Lennon's work, and his music and art, and I just think Yoko is brilliant."
Jane Lipton, executive director of the MDC, has also been on the board of North Light, and she helped put Legacy and North Light together. The challenge, she says, was finding a building big enough to house such a large show.
Enter real estate guy Sam Kroungold, who owns the former Propper Brothers furniture building. He gave the show a great deal: free space.
"I'm a Beatles maniac from way back," says Kroungold. "I spent a lot of time enjoying John Lennon's music and life, and that of all the Beatles. And this is for the kids. How can you not feel blessed to be a part of something like that?"
Lennon met Ono in 1966, when he was already a published writer and artist (In His Own Write, 1964, and A Spaniard in the Works, 1965). She, in turn, was already a well-established performance artist. She's also someone drawn to collaboration, having worked with everyone from Ornette Coleman to Lady Gaga. That collaborative bent also has led to her recent resurgence as a disco phenom, with a string of No. 1 dance hits in recent years, including a remix of "Move On Fast," which hit No. 1 the week of March 17.
"I think of this exhibit as a chance to keep collaborating with John," Ono says. "In my own work, I've always made things, and then made a point of inviting people to come up and show their own creativity. It's much the same here." Lennon, she says, liked the idea of his art circulating, becoming a meeting point for people.
Which feeds into the notion of this being for children, and for peace. "Right now, the world is pretty bleak, a lot of violence going on," Ono says. "If you go to John's exhibit, it's a tiny thing, but it's an oasis for many people to come check it out, weigh what they are thinking, find like minds there. He'd love knowing that, in a world very different from the one John and I lived in, his art can still have impact."

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/123980584.html#ixzz1PReWllvS
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Paul McCartney to Play Yankee Stadium July 15

After a three-night sweep of Citi Field in 2009, Paul McCartney, former member of rock leviathan The Beatles, will finally take his talents to the Bronx for a one-night gig at Yankee Stadium.
The July 15 concert will kick-start his 2011 On The Run Tour, a play on his 1973 album Band On The Run.
The tour title is especially fitting for the 68-year-old musician who will complete his 38-show 2010/11 Up And Coming Tour with a performance at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas on Friday.
Tickets for the Yankee Stadium show will go on sale Monday, June 13 at 11 a.m. and will range from $34 to $280. They can be purchased online at livenation.com or by calling Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000.
“Yankees full and partial-season ticket licensees, Yankees Universe members, Yankees Group Leaders and Yankees.com subscribers will have the opportunity to take part in a special pre-on-sale, the details of which can be found at www.yankees.com/mccartney,” according to the announcement.
McCartney has amassed a colossal catalog of hits that range from Beatles’ classics like “Let it Be” and “Hey Jude” to solo material like “Live and Let Die” and “Maybe I’m Amazed.”
This will be the second ever concert at the new Yankee Stadium. Last year, Eminem and Jay-Z did two shows.
In September, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax will play at Yankee Stadium.
McCartney has not announced any other shows for the On The Run Tour and there is no word if he will add more Yankee Stadium dates if the initial show is sold out. The Yankees are on the road from July 11-21.
---longislandpress.com