Podcasting

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. 

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.  

This British journalist/author/screenwriter/playwright is a SATB fave and was heard most recently among the 21 guests in the “Now and Then” discussion. But here he is alone in the spotlight, recounting his fabulous life as a chronicler of creators and a creator himself. Check out his website for a full accounting of his works – https://www.rayconnolly.co.uk/ – and this show for a discussion of his 2023 memoir.  Ray was friends with The Beatles and the screenwriter of THat’ll Be The Day (1973), Ringo’s finest film project. He discusses all and much more here. 

The release of a new Beatle recording in our lifetime warrants a special approach. To that end, I assembled a group of some of your favorite podcast guests, plus a few new ones to discuss, critique, and analyze the new Beatle record. Folks representing a number of geographical and generational perspectives weigh in with their insights and observations. In alphabetical order, they are: Nancy Lee Andrews (Photographer and Author, A Dose of Rock ‘n’ Roll) Dr. Allison Bumsted (Author, 1960s Teen Fan Magazines and The Beatles ) Ray Connolly (British journalist and Beatles insider, author of Born At The Right Time and Being John Lennon, etc.)Richard Courtney (Beatles radio host and author, From Me To You)Dennis Diken (The Smithereens)Dr. Duncan Driver (University of Canberra)Dr. Christine Feldman-Barrett (Author, A Women’s History of The Beatles) Debbie Gendler (Author, I Saw Them Standing There)Glenn Greenberg (Author of Beatles bookazines)Cameron Greider (Musician and musicologist, RPM-School.com )Jerry Hammack (Producer/Author, The Beatles Recording Reference Manuel series )Chip Madinger (Author, https://lennonology.com/ )Skylar Moody (Beatles content creator)Dr. Sibbie O’Sullivan (Author, My Private John Lennon) Dan Rivkin (Blogger, https://theymaybeparted.wordpress.com ) Luther Russell (Those Pretty Wrongs, solo artist) Arion Salazar (Founding member of Third Eye Blind)Pat Sansone (Wilco, Autumn Defense) Carol Tyler (Cartoonist/author, Fab 4 Mania) Erin Weber (Author, The Beatles and The Historians)Gary Wenstrup (Music lecturer/cowbell) 

The Beatles were the end result of an array of confluences, circumstances and influences. On the short list near the very top (if not THE top) was American rocker Buddy Holly. In his short career, he wielded his influence on the budding Liverpool rockers in an array of ways, which returning guest Luther Russell and I discuss here. Though his time on earth was brief, the impact he made casts a long shadow, as he provided an unwitting blueprint on what a successful rock artist looked like, sounded like and could aspire to.  

Conversations about a familiar subject with guys who know what’s what are invaluable, because the depth of knowledge shared will always shed new light and get you to listen with fresh ears. My guests are the returning trio of pro musicians and musicologists: Cameron Greider (Sean Lennon), Jack Petruzzelli (Fab Faux) and Walter Everett (The Beatles as Musicians Vol 1 and 2). You’ve heard their insights on previous shows, and this time they counter some myths that have grown about The Beatles’ most acclaimed album, focusing on the guitars.  Their Sgt. Pepper online class at RPM-School begins October 2 – you can see about registration and other details here.

The author of Nowhere Man (2000) returns for a conversation prompted by the book’s recent re-publication, augmented with an array of new material and appendices. Robert will also be making a rare personal appearance in St Louis on October 4th in St. Louis – details here.  Among the subjects we talked about this time round were:  Robert’s website and blog can be found here. 

Returning guest and renowned producer John Leckie is back on SATB and this time he brought his friends; colleagues from EMI with impressive credentials of their own, who also worked with The Beatles: Nick Webb and Roger Ferris.  It was a real delight to be a fly-on-the-wall as three guys who’ve known each other for decades spun stories about working at the most famous recording facility on earth, and the clients they supported. Among the topics that came up: 

As a follow-on to my last conversation with author Glenn Greenberg, we sat down to explore the Harrison-Lennon dynamic. A couple of things referenced in the show can be found below:  Here’s John’s 1974 note to George.  Here’s John’s 1976 Q&A.  Glenn Greenberg’s Making of the White Album bookazine can be found here.   “I Know It’s True” (end song) by Iamaphoney can be found here. 

My guest today has recently completed the first volume of an exhaustive study of Paul’s body of work in Paul McCartney: Music is Ideas 1970 – 1989. Luca Perasi is a Beatles historian who specializes in the group’s bassist, post-split. He was a consultant hired by MPL for the recent 7″ single box set, as well as the Italian translator for Paul’s The Lyrics book. For our first discussion, we focused on the broad parameters of Paul’s art, pre-Beatles through the first Wings album. Luca’s book discusses every McCartney session and the music it yielded, whether released at the time or not, for a greater context into Paul’s musical development. You can find out more at Luca’s site, and I encourage you to follow him on Twitter (@LucaPerasi ) for daily postings featuring amazing rare photos of Paul at work.