2025

Hello all; Since the newsletter doesn’t aspire to serve as Grim Reaper, we’ll save the casualties for last, shall we? Instead, we go with the current Beatles-in-the-news story, RE that “find” in Canada of a reel containing the January 1, 1962 Decca audition. The 15-song set has only officially been made available in excerpted form on the 1995 Anthology 1 release (and with plenty of grey market issues along the way). By now, all rights should belong to Apple, if they decide to officially fill this Pete Best-sized hole in their canon, but it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.  As to the provenance of this tape, it appears to have been a dub made in the early 70s by someone with access to a first-gen copy and is said to sound stunning, though it’s an open question whether it sounds as good as this. Anything you could possibly want to know about the session and the context around it (drumroll, or maybe atom beat….) can be found in this newly-published book.  On the subject of Jerry Hammack’s new co-write, we just guested on the Booked On Rock podcast with Eric Senich. (Video here). Also, The Fest for Beatles Fans NJ edition begins this week –  I am happy to report that the signed book labels that were lost in transit arrived, my scribble was applied, and they should be on-site for anyone needing one. We won’t be on hand for this one but come August in Rosemont….. The new episode, number 301, should be up as you are reading this. The Beatles Bag of Tricks Vol. 2 features Cameron Greider and Jack Petruzzelli, whom you all know from previous shows, including Bag of Tricks the first. In this one, we examine the mystery of 6ths and minor 3rds. If that sounds insanely complicated, it isn’t – really! Instead, it puts a spotlight on two musical devices that the Fabs employed repeatedly, where they came from and where they were used. Once you hear them and become aware, it becomes an “A-ha!” for you and another way to appreciate their unschooled talents.  Jack and Cameron have been featured a number of times on the show, sometimes alongside musicologist Walter Everett, all of the RPM School. Their spring semester, on Sgt. Pepper, is coming up, and so is a songwriting tutorial that includes recording artist Freedy Johnston, so check out their site. Also, check out the Magical Mystery Camp site if you are interested/curious about the upcoming activities in the Catskills this June, featuring an immersive musical experience and summer fun in a stunning locale.     Remember Allison Bumsted? She’ll be the returning guest for 302, on the subject of her acclaimed book, TeenSet, Teen Magazines and Rock Journalism: Don’t Let The Name Fool You. And if anyone reading this is interested in her book but hasn’t yet purchased it, her publisher has a spring flash sale going on but it ends today (March 24).   We said goodbye to Badfinger’s Joey Molland last week in a lovely service that was live streamed worldwide. It was a worthy send-off, and on the subject of Badfinger, I can confirm an upcoming show is in the can on the subject; this may possibly be the first of two, depending on listener interest. (You’ll let me know, won’t you?) Also transitioning on: BBC broadcaster Andy Peebles. He famously hung out with John and Yoko during the weekend preceding his death, capturing an hours-long interview with a UK spin. (Not the last – that was of course the RKO one that occurred just hours before…) It is worth a listen if you never have; Andy made the news in recent years when he came forth openly questioning the circumstances of the shooting (and he therefore figures in David Whelan’s book).  So as not to end on a downer note: this reimagining of a White Album-era Harrisong was made public recently. Your appreciation of the work (recording and video) may vary depending on how much you like “Sour Milk Sea” or AI, but the toothpaste has left the tube. Let me know what you think!

Hello all; Since the newsletter doesn’t aspire to serve as Grim Reaper, we’ll save the casualties for last, shall we? Instead, we go with the current Beatles-in-the-news story, RE that “find” in Canada of a reel containing the January 1, 1962 Decca audition. The 15-song set has only officially been made available in excerpted form on the 1995 Anthology 1 release (and with plenty of grey market issues along the way). By now, all rights should belong to Apple, if they decide to officially fill this Pete Best-sized hole in their canon, but it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.  As to the provenance of this tape, it appears to have been a dub made in the early 70s by someone with access to a first-gen copy and is said to sound stunning, though it’s an open question whether it sounds as good as this. Anything you could possibly want to know about the session and the context around it (drumroll, or maybe atom beat….) can be found in this newly-published book.  On the subject of Jerry Hammack’s new co-write, we just guested on the Booked On Rock podcast with Eric Senich. (Video here). Also, The Fest for Beatles Fans NJ edition begins this week –  I am happy to report that the signed book labels that were lost in transit arrived, my scribble was applied, and they should be on-site for anyone needing one. We won’t be on hand for this one but come August in Rosemont….. The new episode, number 301, should be up as you are reading this. The Beatles Bag of Tricks Vol. 2 features Cameron Greider and Jack Petruzzelli, whom you all know from previous shows, including Bag of Tricks the first. In this one, we examine the mystery of 6ths and minor 3rds. If that sounds insanely complicated, it isn’t – really! Instead, it puts a spotlight on two musical devices that the Fabs employed repeatedly, where they came from and where they were used. Once you hear them and become aware, it becomes an “A-ha!” for you and another way to appreciate their unschooled talents.  Jack and Cameron have been featured a number of times on the show, sometimes alongside musicologist Walter Everett, all of the RPM School. Their spring semester, on Sgt. Pepper, is coming up, and so is a songwriting tutorial that includes recording artist Freedy Johnston, so check out their site. Also, check out the Magical Mystery Camp site if you are interested/curious about the upcoming activities in the Catskills this June, featuring an immersive musical experience and summer fun in a stunning locale.     Remember Allison Bumsted? She’ll be the returning guest for 302, on the subject of her acclaimed book, TeenSet, Teen Magazines and Rock Journalism: Don’t Let The Name Fool You. And if anyone reading this is interested in her book but hasn’t yet purchased it, her publisher has a spring flash sale going on but it ends today (March 24).   We said goodbye to Badfinger’s Joey Molland last week in a lovely service that was live streamed worldwide. It was a worthy send-off, and on the subject of Badfinger, I can confirm an upcoming show is in the can on the subject; this may possibly be the first of two, depending on listener interest. (You’ll let me know, won’t you?) Also transitioning on: BBC broadcaster Andy Peebles. He famously hung out with John and Yoko during the weekend preceding his death, capturing an hours-long interview with a UK spin. (Not the last – that was of course the RKO one that occurred just hours before…) It is worth a listen if you never have; Andy made the news in recent years when he came forth openly questioning the circumstances of the shooting (and he therefore figures in David Whelan’s book).  So as not to end on a downer note: this reimagining of a White Album-era Harrisong was made public recently. Your appreciation of the work (recording and video) may vary depending on how much you like “Sour Milk Sea” or AI, but the toothpaste has left the tube. Let me know what you think!

Hello all! Before getting to the fun stuff, I just wanted to make clear a couple of things RE the newsletter: first, I have sent these out every Monday since the start back in November 2024. It may be early in the day; it may be just as you are getting into bed, but always on a Monday. It has come to my attention that there are some of you who have received some newsletters, but then a week or two or three may go by and you are not seeing another. There will never be more than a week between mailings – maybe I shouldn’t say never – but that’s the norm and if there is a contingency, there will be an explanation. What I have heard from some of you is that they stopped coming, and for that, I have no explanation – nothing has changed on my end, you are still in the newsletter mail list, and if ever a week goes by without you hearing from me, let me know – it means something has glitched. And of course, you can always catch up on these – once we hit 20, I will probably move them to the SATB website and you can access them all there.  Second, the Ribbons of Rust site has a similar gateway, prompting an email sign-in to get on a mailing list to get updates on stuff related to the book Jerry and I just published. All info for the book, updates, podcast appearances, and so forth, will be handled through this newsletter, so that there is no duplication of energies. So if you signed up either on that site, or the SATB one, you are in good shape.  On the subject of the book, there have been several online reviews and more to come. (Bonus: some of them spell our names right!) Also, as alluded to, we will be appearing on some podcasts soon, among them Joe Wisbey’s fab Beatles Books, Jonathan and Julia Pretus’s Ranking The Beatles, and Eric Senich’s Booked on Rock. We’ll keep you posted here as they come up. Also, as a heads up for anyone attending the upcoming Fest For Beatles Fans: Mark Lapidos bought a quantity of books to have on hand – that’s the good news! He also likes to have signed copies, and neither of us will be there – that’s unfortunate. But – to remedy this – he requested sigs on bookplates to have on hand so that anyone who wants one can get a signed copy – that’s the good news! But the plates Jerry produced and signed apparently vanished en route between Toronto and Chicago – that’s unfortunate! But – I am told that they mysteriously returned to Jerry’s doorstep just this weekend – that’s the good/bad news. If they arrive overnight today as I expect, I will sign ‘em and send ‘em to Mark 🤞. Otherwise, I will be in Rosemont in August for sure – Jerry possibly too. And both of us will be in the Catskills come late June for the Magical Mystery Camp, presented by the RPM-School and starring the Fab Faux, Peter Asher, Joan Osbourne, Steve Forbert and Ken Womack, Scott Freiman, Walter Everett, and ourselves. Loads of music, open stage, lessons, presentations, and more, in the wonderful locale of the Catskills. (On-site hiking and swimming, plus attractions like Woodstock and the site of Peg Leg Bates’ former resort are within driving distance.)   On the subject of the RPM School: remember the Beatles’ Bag of Tricks episode with Cameron Greider and Jack Petruzzelli? We just convened for another dip into the bag – it’s coming next… Today is Pattie Boyd’s birthday, and I’m sure many of you can remember the conversation we had a year ago, on the occasion of her auction at Christies. (And if you ever wondered why “Pattie,” just look at the calendar.) Some backstage notes: I had been pursuing her as a guest for a while before her handlers acquiesced, in the spirit of publicizing the sale. She had recently published a book of photos and I really wanted to talk about that as well, but the sale was the focus and because she was doing a lot of media at the time, she could only give an hour. Fair enough, and I was well prepared, in case this was the only shot. She was great, of course, and a real pro, although apparently she was not accustomed to the idea of wearing headphones or earbuds, so that the computer mic recording her would not also pick up me – you want to keep these tracks separate for editing purposes. Anyway, at about 20 minutes into the talk, she was fiddling with one of the buds and inadvertently dropped the call…..completely gone. I frantically reached out to her handler, hoping she was in the next room or something, but found out nope, they were in two different places. Finally Pattie figured things out and got back on the call, but only after a good 15 minutes had passed, cutting into our hour.  So I made the most of the time we had and she genuinely seemed to enjoy it; in fact, I was hoping that the “great idea” she thought I had about turning photos of her auction items into another book, with her telling anecdotes about them, would be taken up. But in our follow up discussion, she’d decided that, having just turned 80, that she was just going to take it easy for the foreseeable and get out of the “Pattie Boyd” business. So this may end up as her last lengthy conversation, but I hope this is not the case. (Recently, she was the subject of a finger-wagging piece in the UK tabloid rag, the Daily Mail, for “disgracefully” using ayahuasca and copping to a recent one-and-done Botox experiment being a regret. I won’t post a link but you can find it easily enough.)   Did you

Hello all,  We’re now in March – a month not as heavy with Beatles anniversaries as other months I can think of but with some notable ones nonetheless. One that comes to mind is the start of the A Hard Day’s Night shoot back in 1964, on the heels of their triumphant return to the UK after that first US Visit. It is vaguely astonishing that right out of the gate, just as they lucked into finding the perfect visionary and frustrated creative-type to handle their studio recordings, they likewise connected with expat Dick Lester and producer Walter Shenson to get behind this project, originally planned as exploitation for some unknowns who hadn’t actually scored a US hit at the time the deal was inked. But possessing the talent to recognize opportunity and seize it was The Beatles’ hallmark and for that, we’re able to add cinema to their list of triumphs.  Seen here: a BBC documentary that aired in August 1964, Follow The Beatles. This invaluable short caught them behind-the-scenes at work on both the film as well as in the studio. (Chances are you’ve seen footage culled from this doc.)   I must admit I’m still reeling a bit from the passing of Badfinger’s Joey Molland. A Badfinger-themed episode was always in the cards for SATB, but now with heightened urgency. I was happy to see Sir Paul acknowledge the loss, though I am wondering how and when they crossed paths: he worked with The Iveys for the sessions that produced “Come and Get It” and music used in the Magic Christian film but that proceeded Joey’s tenure in Badfinger; George and John’s interactions are well-documented. (Speaking of, the Imagine sessions were filmed in part, but if any footage of “Joey and Tommy Badfinger” has ever surfaced, I’ve never seen it.)   I easily could’ve kept on going with the Joey playlist I put together but I figured that for the uninitiated a couple dozen tracks was plenty to get started with, and the hardcores have heard it all anyway. BUT – I did want to call out his final release, 2020’s Be True To Yourself. It was a collaboration with Mark Hudson, and for anyone who may be wondering what happens when some Beatles-influenced/adjacent artists get together for the love of music-making, this is your thing! Virtually any late career release will get hyped as “their best work since (whatever)…” but in this case, BTTY is a fine testament to the talents of Joey and Mark, making you wonder why they didn’t get together sooner. The supporting cast included Julian Lennon, Micky Dolenz and ex-Wings drummer Steve Holley. A number of music videos were produced for various tracks, but to offer a purely musical sample of the release, here’s one: the all-too-fitting “Heaven.” Onto more pleasant news: tonight the Ringo & Friends at The Ryman TV special airs on CBS and Paramount+. (I believe you can get it outside of the US as well.) I can’t say with certainty (and neither can he) whether or not episode 299 guest Gary Astridge appears in it or not but he was certainly on hand. (Someone has to look after the traveling peace sign statue). Guaranteed on hand for the two shows as part of tonight’s broadcast are Jack White, Sheryl Crow, Emmylou Harris, Molly Tuttle, and Billy Strings, among others. The event was profiled this weekend, and if you’re like me, you may be wondering about the shirts they depict…  LOADS of good suggestions for upcoming shows have been coming in, so keep them coming – thanks! (Subject line: “Topics”) Also, if you are so moved, anyone taking a moment to leave a podcast review on Apple iTunes is greatly appreciated, as it helps the algorithms get the show found. Very useful for the pending Spotify expansion.  Jerry Hammack and I will be doing a round of podcast interviews ourself starting next week, so we’ll keep you posted on those. (One is with Joe on Beatles Books – I forget what the other is.) We will also be doing an online book launch event for Ribbons of Rust Vol. 1 soon, with a couple of folks you listeners should know. We’re thinking of staging it like the one Allison and I did for her TeenSet book awhile back, with an opportunity for you the listener to come in on the call and ask questions. Details to come!   As always, share this with anyone you know who may be interested and send an email with subject line “unsubscribe” to get off this. Old newsletters always available (subject line “old newsletters”). 

Hello all; I hope everyone has had a chance to take a dip into 300. I am glad to have finished it up, but I think I would’ve been fine-tuning it to death, absent a deadline, to no one’s great benefit. But once again I am grateful to all who contributed their thoughts, input and support through the years and for this episode specifically. It was great to hear what you had to say, and also to remind me of things I’d forgotten about.  The biggest takeaway I have is that even as I included most every suggestion, I could easily have cut another show every bit as long without repeating a guest. It could have included Jenny Boyd, Alan Parsons, Randy Bachman, Tom Brothers, Tom Murray, Paul Saltzman, Jody Stephens, Dave Mirkin, Bruce Thomas, Ivor Davis, Chip Madinger, Walter Everett, Doug Sulpy, Vic Flick, Keven Harrington, Lon Van Eaton, Mike McCartney, Gary Weis, Spencer Leigh and many more. What it really tells me is that there is a ton to discuss and explore and therefore we can keep this going for the foreseeable.    As it is the start of a new month, here is another installment of the Seederman Chronology. Volume 5 begins in June 1971 with the Imagine sessions and ends with the February 1973 appearance of Badfinger on Midnight Special; along the way are excerpts from the Bangladesh and One to One shows, plus promos from Wings and Ringo, as well as more Badfinger and some Fab covers from Richie Havens and Faces. Even though we’re talking a window of less than two years, the former Beatles are still operating at a pretty high level of productivity with music, performances and film work. Pretty astonishing from the perspective of what we’re accustomed to these days.  Last week was the Teaflix conversation (not really an interview as such) with Angie and Ruth McCartney. You can see it here. Their show has hosted the usual suspects in recent months, including two who will be familiar to SATB listeners, Debbie Gendler and Allison Bumsted.  In case anyone is wondering what the McCartney connection is: Angie was a widow with a young daughter when friends introduced her to widower James McCartney, Paul’s father, in 1964. They were married in November that year and lived in Wirral until Jim’s death in 1976. There are stories connecting Angie and Ruth to compositions Paul wrote: some of you may be familiar with a circulating tape of “Blackbird” containing a number of false starts that Paul dedicates to “Edie” – according to Angie, Edie was her Mum and there’s a definite blackbird story behind it. Most fans are familiar with the “Golden Slumbers” backstory and how Paul found an open music book on the piano when visiting his father; the book was Ruth’s, who was studying piano at the time. Paul made up his own melody since, unlike Ruth, he couldn’t read music, but he did crib some of the lyrics. We talked off air about having them on the show to relate their side of things. Mike McCartney’s June 1968 wedding: that’s Angie at right (w/glasses) and Ruth to the left of her. Speaking of Sir Paul, word came of a new book and film project about Wings this week. One of the criticisms of the 2001 Wingspan project was that it was McCartney-centric to the point of shutting out pretty much every other POV. But at the time, Paul (and daughter Mary) said that it was more meant to present Paul and Linda’s story in a band, rather than an all encompassing history of Wings. So the fact that we are now getting something drawn from oral histories drawn from the key players is a good thing. We’ll withhold judgment until we see it, but in the meantime for anyone who didn’t see it, here’s Wingspan.     Other stuff: Dennis Diken plays drums with The Smithereens, as you all know. One of the beautiful unexpected side effects of producing this podcast has been meeting people who I have admired for years, who connect with me because they enjoy SATB. It is slightly surreal to spend time with a guy who, in a previous life, I was in a garage band copying his licks. But Dennis is far more than a terrific musician: he’s a rock historian/writer/researcher and also occasional radio show host.  The Smithereens with Marshall Crenshaw You’ve heard him on SATB on the Now and Then episode as well as the Sixty Years Ago in America show (285) with Lee Abrams and Elliot Easton. In any event, he’s a guest on the current episode of Discograffiti podcast, discussing the Beach Boys.  We’ve had a couple of sad passings to note: Joey Molland’s is a huge one and is addressed separately, but there was also David Johansen, known to all as a solo recording artist, as Buster Poindexter and of course for his tenure with the New York Dolls. Like so many others, there is a Beatles (or more specifically Lennon) connection: his legs appear in the 1971 LenOno film, Up Your Legs Forever, and he also appeared in 2014 at a NYC Lennon tribute concert (pictured here). David was 75.   Last: Magical Mystery Camp is coming up. You can check out the line-up here, and the events here. Know that there will be loads of music: some you can watch, some you can partake in, and a lot that’s discussed and analyzed. Tickets here. Thanks to everyone for being here. As always, you can unsubscribe at any time (subject line “unsubscribe”), request old newsletters (subject line “old newsletters”) or suggest topics (subject line “topics”) for the show. And turn your friends on to this show, please!   __________________________________________________________ Joey Molland March 3, 2025 This has, so far, been a year heavy with losses, many of them noted in this newsletter. But this one hits particularly hard, with someone I knew personally and reconnected with fairly recently. It is a measure of the