February 2025

Hello folks;  I had hoped to have the much-touted 300th episode finished by now, but it’s still – at this hour – in progress. Fingers crossed, I am hoping to give it that final push in the next 36. Your input was fab: listeners and past guests both, so I am hoping to honor your kind words and support by delivering something worthy of your input.  This note likely reaches you on what would’ve been George‘s 82nd birthday. I am happy to note that he has been the subject of many a SATB show, either directly or indirectly:  125: The Traveling Wilburys 131: The Beatles and Randy Bachman (In part a tribute to George) 171: Handmade Films (plus 188 Handmade Redux) 229: “Something” Deconstructed 191: Jenny Boyd 219: John, George, Eric and Layla 232: Concert for George with Sam Brown 254: George and Paul 261: Making All Things Must Pass 264: George and John 269: Solo George Harrison 274: Philp Norman’s George 278: Pattie Boyd And this doesn’t count the “George-adjacent” shows on Rishikesh or the Maharishi. There will be more to come, of course, so stay tuned.  In sad news, the death of Roberta Flack came today. She’d only just turned 88 years old recently; in addition to her career as a Grammy-winning recording artist (known for “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” “Killing Me Softly With HIs Song,” “Feel Like Makin Love,” and “The Closer I Get To You,” among others), she interests us because of her ties to the Lennons. She was a neighbor at the Dakota for many years (here’s a look inside). But she also shared a stage – the Madison Square Garden, to be specific – at the 1972 One to One show, alongside Stevie Wonder and Sha-Na-Na. She also performed a Yoko cover – “Goodbye Sadness” – for the 1984 Every Man Has A Woman compilation album.  Speaking of, Yoko turned 92 last week. She reportedly left the Dakota awhile back, living in one of the Lennon properties outside of NYC. Sean has essentially taken over her duties administering LenOno business and she is rarely seen publicly these days.    Tomorrow (or today) February 25th, I will be talking with Angie and Ruth McCartney for their Teaflix series, which streams live in Facebook. Afterward, it will be posted on YouTube and as a podcast everywhere else. If you get on while it’s happening (1:30PM Chicago time/2:30PM east coast/11:30AM Pacific/7:30pm London), you will be able to chime in with a question if you are so moved. We will be talking about the new book, sans Jerry Hammack, I’m afraid, but I’ll keep you posted on all other upcoming appearances (being scheduled now) as they come up.  On the subject of books with red covers, I did that one about Revolver awhile back. I got a request from Jude Kessler of the John Lennon series to submit a summation of said album for a blog she runs on The Fest for Beatles Fans site. Jude’s a longtime friend, so I can’t say no, and it was just posted this weekend.  Before the month ended, I wanted to mention the February 1969 “Mystery Session” at Apple Studio that Dan Rivkin and Peter Jackson kicked around back when we had our talk. What makes it a mystery is that the session, photographed by Ethan Russell, came off the heels of the Get Back project and depicts the band conspicuously in recording mode (they are mic’ed up), yet no documentation exists as to what exactly they were doing. February 20 is likely the day, but there’s little else known with certainty. Perhaps some unseen document or diary or letter may one day be uncovered and spell it all out, but until then, it’s just one more mystery.   As always, all past newsletters available upon request (subject line “old newsletters”) and you can also unsubscribe anytime (subject line “unsubscribe”). Thanks to all for the 300th input and continued support!

Greetings all;  Let’s get the sad news out of the way first before moving on: first, the passing of EMI engineer John Kurlander. He began working with The Beatles while still in his teens; a class field trip when he was 13 saw him witness a bit of the Help! sessions, but he found employment there at 16 and it was when he was brought on board the Abbey Road sessions that he became a key player.  The Kurlander story concerns what happened inadvertently: he was on hand when The Beatles, or at least Paul, were listening to a playback of “The Long One” as the side two medley was called. As originally designed, the medley alternated between John and Paul songs. Following “Mean Mr. Mustard” was Paul’s “Her Majesty,” but upon hearing it fully realized, he declared that it didn’t work and asked Kurlander to excise it. It was Kurlander’s job to fulfill any Beatle’s wish, but he was also mindful of standing Parlophone rules (by 1969) not to discard anything the group recorded. Faced with this, he opted for what he saw as the best option: remove the song but splice it to the end of the master reel, following a suitable length of silence. This would be how the world came to hear the song, as a “hidden track.” (Those who believe it to be the world’s first apparently never listened to 1967’s Their Satanic Majesties Request, for starters.)  Kurlander went on to work on other Apple projects (Mary Hopkin’s Post Card and Badfinger’s No Dice), as well as with the four ex-Beatles. His greater achievements came with the soundtracks he worked on at the Abbey Road facilities in later years, including three Grammy wins for – ironically – Peter Jackson’s Lord of The Rings film trilogy. Here’s a terrific article on Kurlander’s work with The Beatles. He was 73.  Another sad farewell – for now at least – is to Erin Weber from the world of Beatling. When I first solicited feedback from you listeners for the 300th episode, asking for your favorite moments or conversations, hands down she came up at top of the list. It’s not hard to see why: her book, The Beatles and The Historians was a game-changer, showing us all how to read a book about the group, and how to judge them by the solid criteria employed by historians. Personally, I can’t look at history – any history – the same way again, and for that I thank her. I am happy that we had the opportunity to meet in person at The Fest a couple of years back, and look forward to the day when we cross paths again. But there is nothing more important than family and, for now, her energies must be directed elsewhere. But we owe her all a big thanks for what she’s given us and how it has impacted our enjoyment of Beatles history going forward.  Says Erin: “When McFarland published The Beatles and the Historians, I fully expected it to be little more than an obscure textbook for college history historical methods classes. (To be honest, I was trying to corner a small and uncompetitive academic market: there aren’t too many books on historical methodology and historiography, but history students still have to take those classes). I would have been fully happy in my little historian’s niche. Instead, I was given the great opportunity to discuss the greatest band in music history with a number of amazing authors, fans, and musicians. I’ve attended conferences and had incredible discussions with some excellent podcasters, and made some fab friends, too.”  Erin, if you never publish another word on The Beatles, your esteemed place in every SATB listener’s heart is indelible.     In good news: first, the recent Ringo shows in Nashville, taped for broadcast, have been announced as coming on March 10 – details here. Second: the amazing surprise Paul shows at Manhattan’s Bowery Ballroom – three in all. Here’s a write-up, but if anyone reading this was there, please contact me (subject line “Bowery”) if you’d like to serve as a stringer for the show. We’d love to hear your impressions. (Not sure how long this link will be working but here you go.) And then to follow it all up, Paul came on live as show closer for the Saturday Night Live 50 special on Sunday night. These are the things to savor while we can.  Does it seem odd when we are in the Ed Sullivan Show anniversary mode to consider that we are only 58 years out from the issue of the “Strawberry Fields Forever”/”Penny Lane” single? The lightning quick speed in which The Beatles evolved is staggering to consider in this day and age. Here, via the AdamBound channel, is a collection of all the footage shot for the SFF promo, directed by Peter Goldmann. He’d been recommended to the group by Klaus Voormann; given the staggering results of the collaboration, it is surprising that they never again worked with him. It was shot at Knole in Kent at Sevenoaks. Here is some background from folks who were there.  Last: here’s where the value of this Newsletter as a direct pipeline for your feedback has proven most helpful. Jerry Hammack and I knew in advance that using so much color in the new book, Ribbons of Rust, meant certain limitations: in addition to being a more costly printing process, Amazon – in certain Pacific markets (Australia and Japan specifically) – were not set up to produce a color print run. Personally, I am not so presumptuous to assume that surely there’d be a demand for this book absolutely everywhere, but hearing back from some of you was motivation enough to find a solution, and Jerry and I believe we have…  Essential  in our thought process when putting this book together was placing the reader into The Beatles’ world as best we could. That meant the sights and the sounds, which

Hey there folks,  Welcome to the working week. We just now passed the anniversary of the Ed Sullivan Show debut on February 9 (aligning with the 1964 calendar on a Sunday). I am thinking that the tardy arrival of Beatles ’64 in November rather than the actual 60th anniversary months earlier may make the milestone seem a little tired by now, but on the other hand, I do feel like we are really lucky to have so many 1st-gen fans around whose lives were changed that night, utterly, that share their stories. We’ve had quite a few on the show, and most recently, again with 299. Speaking for my own generation (as well as that of my kids), we didn’t get a unifying and impactful event of our own (that I can think of), experienced by millions that likewise touched our lives for the better, so consider the importance of that day: they don’t come along every generation.  This week has milestones of its own to recognize. February 11 must rank as surely one of the most auspicious days in Beatles history, and I have often wondered whether they themselves were aware of it. (Doubtful!)  1963: The Please Please Me album sessions. (Which began that morning with “There’s A Place”  1964:  The Washington DC concert (shared in newsletter #3.5) 1965: Ringo and Maureen were married (60 years if only…) 1966: The McCartney-penned “Woman” released by Peter and Gordon in the UK. (Beating John to the title by 14 years, Klaatu by 22.)  1968:  Filming day for the “Lady Madonna” promo, capturing instead The Beatles tracking “Hey Bulldog.”  1970:  The Plastic Ono Band taped appearances to promote “Instant Karma” on Top of the Pops. The entourage, besides John and Yoko, included Klaus, Alan White, Mal Evans, and journalist BP Fallon. The “crocheting” take aired the next day, followed a week later by the “cue card” one. (Apparently The Beatles spent 1967 and 1969 OTD slacking off.)  So let’s unpack this a bit. You cannot do better for completeness in curating all known footage together than the AdamBound channel on YouTube. Here’s his Bulldog compilation.   Ringomania continues this week unfettered. Son Zak must be sitting on an enormous pile of unseen photos; remember it was he who shared the first photo taken in 1979 at the Clapton-Boyd nuptials jam, showing himself onstage along with Uncle Paul and Jim Capaldi. (More recently, Pattie shared another, this one including her ex at around the same moment.) Anyway, in a now-deleted post on Instagram, Zak shared a fast-moving reel of never-before-seen pics, including Beatles and other well-known personas. He’s since deleted it, saying it was meant only for private sharing, but one day he will have a fabulous book to publish, should he so decide to. (Did anyone else think his mother was one of the best things never before seen in the Get Back film?)  There was a Record Store Day (April 12, 2025) announcement this past week: a Plastic Ono Band EP of newly-remixed performances from the 1972 One-To-One show. George will have one out too, and on the subject of vinyl, Paul recently announced the release of a 50th anniversary Venus and Mars 180-gram double issue.  If you want to say anything about SATB for the 300th show (next in line), this is the place to send it, and honestly, there’s been a bunch of submissions (thanks!) but this is last call – say by this weekend.  Finally, February 11 is the publication day of the book Jerry and I wrote. This was not contrived, it was just the way the calendar fell, so for those who believe in portents, I’ll take it. This was just launched into cyberspace.

Hey there Beatle folk;  For this week’s edition, we’ll lead with actual news: the Grammy Awards handed out last night yielded one win for team Beatles (“Now and Then”); one for the John Lennon’s Mind Games reissue and two acceptances by one person, Sean Lennon. (Per Sean, Giles was supposed to be the one to collect for NAT.) The Beatles’ award was not without some controversy, being an AI-assisted recording, which now sets a precedent. Also interesting was what Giles told the Los Angeles Times:  “‘Now and Then’ as the last record, to me, is incredibly poignant, a song that John wrote to Paul,” Martin said. “Paul lost his best friend. Whatever differences they had, they lived an incredibly close life. I think Paul missed him, like he missed my dad. He missed him creatively, and he wanted to work with him again, to collaborate again. This technology was a pathway towards that.” I wonder how it is that Giles thinks he knows this with such certainty?  Also in the news last week was the passing of Marianne Faithfull at 78. She was another one that got away: when I spoke with journalist Sylvie Simmons back in 2020, she mentioned Marianne in passing as someone she spoke with regularly. I made the effort, but Marianne sustained a near-fatal bout of COVID not long after and it sapped her energies to the point where sitting for a Beatles-centric conversation just wasn’t in the cards. It would’ve been interesting: she and The Fabs were intertwined socially at least during the 60s; when they took up TM with the Maharishi, Marianne and then-boyfriend Mick Jagger went along for the ride.  (That’s her top left, along with John and Cyn; Jenny Boyd, Pattie and George, Ringo, then Paul and Jane. Maureen had just given birth to Jason.) George was at the notorious party at Keith’s Redlands home in February 1967 and departed before the cops swooped in, making Marianne a casualty with their salacious (and embellished) description of how they found her. The next year, she appeared on the same bill as John with the Dirty Mac at the Rock and Roll Circus. Marianne’s comeback album, 1979’s Broken English was hard-sledding for most yet finally won her the critical acclaim her talents warranted. It was a monumental statement, reclaiming a legacy as something considerably more than Mick’s bird, featuring a sound as brutal as the then-current punk scene (which she certainly had an affinity for), delivered with a rasp far removed from her Andrew Oldham presentation so many years before. The set included a cover of “Working Class Hero” that many compared favorably to the original. Unfortunately, her subsequent 1980 appearance on SNL did her no favors with the public (back story here), but to those who appreciated what she was putting across, with the ravages of a hard-lived life pouring out of every note, it was intoxicating stuff.  It’s another new month and therefore another serving of Seederman’s Simple Chronology. Part 4 begins, fittingly, during the January 1969 sessions at Twickenham and ends in June 1971, with John and Yoko onstage with Zappa at the Fillmore East.  Other things: Ribbons of Rust Volume 1 1954 – February 1954 written with Jerry Hammack will officially be out on February 11. There will be an array of interviews and other promotional stuff going on, and as soon as I know what’s what, I’ll let you know.  I do hope that most of you gave a listen to the conversation with Gary Astridge (299), because in my mind, it’s something really special – as is Gary. I’ve been getting some really awesome feedback, for which I am most grateful.  This leaves 300 next… I am thankful to all who have passed along messages and contributions to the show. I am thinking that February 11 makes a nice cut-off for anyone else wishing to send a note describing fave moments on the show or else submit audio contributions. Everything submitted will get used.  Once again: Thanks all of you for signing up and for the continued support for the show. I hope that these newsletters remain welcome additions to your in-box (and if not, just reply to “unsubscribe” and we’ll fix that). All past newsletters available upon request (subject line “old newsletters). Be sure to share this with any like-minded friends – thanks!