2024

277: “Mike Tree” in Nutopia with Michael Medeiros

Listeners: you may recall my conversation with Robert Rosen (245), detailing the blocking of a pair of books by reputable authors that detailed the “househusband” years of John’s life; it evolved out of an essay Robert wrote. Well, one of those writers is here to tell his story himself.  Michael Medeiros was hired in 1977 to work on the indoor gardening at the Lennon’s Dakota apartments. But as he performed his assigned tasks, his role grew to ad hoc personal assistant and eventually, archivist. His memoir, Barefoot in Nutopia, remains unpublished – yet. But Michael wanted to share some stories and insights and we’re happy to have him, in what we project to be the first of at least two conversations. Subjects include day-to-day life, Yoko, Bermuda, Fred Seaman, and the night the unspeakable occurred, and its aftermath. 

276 Filmtrack Olympiad: Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine

Picking up where we left off (259: Sgt. Pepper Olympiad ), lecturer/professor Gary Wenstrup and I resume the Olympiad series with a pair of releases featuring film score music, the 1967 Magical Mystery Tour EP/album and 1969’s Yellow Submarine release. Owing to the unique issues, with the latter representing only four new Beatle songs and the former being a six-song double 7″ set, we got creative with the tracks reviewed.  Previous installments can be found here.Gary Wenstrup’s site is here. 

275: Anomalies in the Assassination of John Lennon with David Whelan

There’s no joy to be had in this subject, but it is an important topic for an open discussion. We have been fed a narrative for 43 years regarding the murder of John, yet there were aspects that either lacked detail or, upon closer inspection, made little sense. At least a couple of of authors have published books on the case, but documentary-maker David Whelan has approached the subject with fresh eyes, resulting in three years of research and interviews that he presents in Mind Games: The Assassination of John Lennon. He makes the case that virtually nothing we were ever told about what happened is supported by evidence and much is substantially contradicted. We managed to touch on only part of his research in this conversation, but you can learn more through the book, David’s Substack site, and his YouTube channel.  

274: George, The Reluctant Beatle with Philip Norman

The author of Shout: The Beatles In Their Generation has brought out his third Beatles individual biography, forty plus years after the publication of his group one. George Harrison: The Reluctant Beatle was put together tapping Norman’s body of old interviews (with witnesses now beyond reach) as well as fresh research and new conversations (including his star witness, Pattie Boyd). The complexity of the subject matter is matched by the complexity of the narrator, who through series of unforced errors has led many a Beatle fan to view him with scorn. But SATB has always been about opening doors rather than shutting them, and if one is prepared to listen without prejudice, one can make up one’s own mind on the value of what he has to say about George in this book. 

273: My Private Lennon with Sibbie O’Sullivan 

We have discussed the insights of 1st gen fans who, frankly, were screamers in the presence of The Beatles (Debbie Gendler, author of this upcoming memoir and Carol Tyler, author of this one); see thisfor a detailed discussion.     Then there’s Sibbie O’Sullivan – a high schooler when Deb and Carol were middle-schoolers. She too was swept up in the wave of mania in her native Maryland; like Deb, she witnessed an in-person Ed Sullivan Show taping, but unlike many girls, she did not scream. Her book, My Private Lennon: Explorations From A Fan Who Never Screamed, offers a series of essays, rich with insight and perceptive observations about her very personal fandom and what The Beatles meant to her, then and now. Leading the discussion is Dr. Allison Bumsted, who is cultivating a specialty in examinations of Beatles fandom.  An essay by Sibbie here.  Allison’s review of Sibbie’s book here. 

SATB
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