Podcasting

292: The Comedy of The Beatles with Jeff Martin   An essential component of The Beatles’ appeal was their sense of humour, showcased not only in their two feature films (A Hard Day’s Night, Help!) but also their TV appearances, interviews and even their music. TV comedy writer Jeff Martin (Late Night with David Letterman, The Simpsons) returns to the show to discuss how this facet of their talents was not only exceptionally developed, but also an element that set them apart from their peers, as well as key to their enduring legacy.

291: December 8, 1980 with David Whelan   In the 44 years since John Lennon’s death, the trauma of that night is still as raw, so much so that, for most people, the facts of what went down are far too painful still to examine closely. But when one does, as returning guest David Whelan has, they depict somethng far more disturbing  and sinister than the story we thought we knew. Whelan’s research was presented in his book, Mind Games: The Assassination of John Lennon. Our earlier discussion this year (275) barely scratched the surface on what his research uncovered. Today’s discussion goes deeper, and is in part a response to the recent show with Robert Rosen (Nowhere Man). 

290: “Hey Jude” Reconstructed     In 2023, I hosted writer James Campion with Jeff Martin for a discussion of The Beatles’ 1968 mega-hit and Apple Records debut. This time, we’re drilling down deep for an analysis of the song’s composition (as well as possible sources of inspiration) with the musicologists of RPM School: Walter Everett (author of volumes one and two of The Beatles As Musicians) plus working musicians and recording artists Jack Petruzzelli and Cameron Greider. This is where we get deep into the weeds with musical theory and a breakdown of the song’s lyrical construction, as well as elements from other pieces of music that may have influenced the principal author, Paul McCartney.  RPM’s new semester (on Let It Be) begins soon – see their site for details: 

289: A Hard Day’s Night At 60   New to SATB guests Sarah Pleydell and Moya Luckett are joined by 1st-gen fans Carol Tyler, Debbie Gendler and Sibbie O’Sullivan for a panel of authors and fans with the standing to offer insights into the film that I guarantee you’ve never heard before.In this deep dive, we discuss the sociological, cultural, and class aspects depicted in the film, as well as an analysis of the humour and how…

288: Band On The Run (Hand Clapping) with Luca Perasi   With The Beatles’ film debut turning 60 this summer, the time was right for a deep dive into the cultural and cinematic significance of it all. Joining the conversation are two new guests: Sarah Pleydell and Moya Luckett. Both were born in the UK, one’s a first-gen fan, and both are authors and academics with cred particularly suited to the topic. Rounding out the talk are our three fave 1st-gen fans, Sibbie O’Sullivan, Carol Tyler and Debbie Gendler, authors all. 

SATB 287: The Historian and Get Back with Erin Weber   http://www.somethingaboutthebeatles.com/287 In the years since Peter Jackson’s epic re-imagining of the January 1969 saga landed, SATB has examined it through a number of angles: from Brits – women – musicians – authors – and so forth. But this will be the first time I have actually had a conversation about it with a professional historian, your friend and mine, Erin Weber. This conversation analyzes the film through the prism of (secondary) source material, and brings into focus how the work should be viewed by fans of a more serious scholarly bent. 

286: Nowhere Man ’24 with Robert Rosen    In this conversation, my returning guest (see episodes 189 – 245 – 266) discusses his recent visit to Spain, where a belated Beatlemania is in full swing. He also offers his insights on the recent May Pang documentary, The Lost Weekend: A Love Story, as well as his take on David Whelan’s investigation into John Lennon’s murder and the latter’s preoccupation with “lucid dreaming.” Check out Robert’s writings at https://www.robertrosennyc.com/index.htm Highlights of his evening in Sevilla (with Mary Lyn Maiscott) can be found here: 

286: Nowhere Man ’24 with Robert Ros285: Sixty Years Ago in America with Lee Abrams, Dennis Diken, and Elliot Eastonen    As part of the ongoing campaign in 2024 to look back at 1964, we present another conversation with first-gen fans, this time focusing on the Capitol issues as well as US Top 40 radio. Returning guests Elliot Easton and Dennis Diken (The Cars and The Smithereens respectively) are joined by Lee Abrams, radio visionary and co-founder of Sirius XM. We discuss their fandom as it unfolded in real time, the impact and influence of radio, as well as their takes on the US releases (and the Beach Boys too).  You can find Lee’s writings here: https://www.leeabramsmediavisions.com/blog Something About The Beatles is an Evergreen podcast. 

284: Sixty Years On with Ivor Davis    Returning guest (episodes 130 and 174) Ivor Davis is a British journalist who, in 1964, went on tour with The Beatles for the Daily Express, covering their North American dates while ghost-writing a column for George Harrison (having taken over the assignment from Derek Taylor). He did similar duties for the following year, and after which, he settled in California as west coast correspondent. His job saw him cover the Warren Commission findings, the gubernatorial campaign trail for Ronald Reagan (governor) and in 1968, Bobby Kennedy (whose murder Ivor was a witness to). The following year, Ivor was at the center of the Manson Family case when he became the first journalist to visit Spahn ranch, as well as the first writer to publish a book on the Tate-LaBianca murders, Five To Die. (We discussed this in the two previous shows.) In short, he’s been around.  He first published his memoir of The Beatles’ experience as The Beatles and Me On Tour ten years ago for the 50th; it’s now been expanded and republished for the 60th anniversary. In his conversation, Ivor offers his observations from the current perspective, post Get Back and “Now and Then,” as well as inner-circle personas he came to know along the way.  He also has a new true crime book out, The Devil in My Friend about a 1980s double murder in Malibu. You can find info on all at his website, https://ivordavisbooks.com/

283a: We Didn’t Start The Fire – British Beatlemania with Mark Lewisohn (Part I)     YEAH YEAH YEAH, we’ve been waiting 88 episode for this and it’s finally here!! In the 60s, The Beatles’ rise to fame would change the landscape of pop music and fandom forever. People were so excited to watch them, they’d urinate and scream so loud you’d struggle to hear the music. No one had ever seen fan culture or heard music like it. So it’s no surprise that we’re absolutely ecstatic to chat to Mark Lewisohn, arguably the world’s LEADING authority on the Beatles! So ecstatic that we’ve made a two part episode, so make sure you listen to that once you’re done with this one.

283: Giles on Trial – The Reissues Critiqued with John Leckie and Jerry Hammack     

282: The Women’s Revolution (Or: The Beatles’ Effect)     My guests are three very special ladies who have all appeared on the show before, but this time, all three have memoirs out. Debbie Gendler was the first to appear on SATB (121: New York Stories) and her story as the 1st US fan (as far as I’m concerned) was initially laid out there. But now HER memoir has been published, I Saw Them Standing There: Adventures of an Original Fan During Beatlemania and Beyond. Debbie joins returning guests Carol Tyler (146: Fab 4 Mania) and Sibbie O’Sullivan (273: My Private Lennon) as they react to each other’s books. What ensued though was something bigger than what we anticipated, as the notion of collating their stories and those of other 1st-generation fans into something bigger and grander took shape. Something About The Beatles is now an Evergreen podcast.

281: The Beatles and The Cars with Elliot Easton   It’s a pretty cool thing when an artist as accomplished as today’s guest also happens to be as big of a Beatles geek as the rest of us, but that’s what we have here. And as a first-generation fan, his memories of the exciting days of Beatlemania and how the phenomenon changed his life are fascinating. (Plus he’s just a cool guy to hang with.)Check it out!In this deep dive, we discuss the sociological, cultural, and class aspects depicted in the film, as well as an analysis of the humour and how…

280: All You Need is the Love You Make with Steven Gaines    As the first insider Beatles tell-all (not counting Francie Schwartz’s Body Count – because why would I) – 1983’s The Love You Make, a collaboration between Brian Epstein’s protege Peter Brown and today’s guest, shocked fans with what was perceived as an airing of dirty laundry. Drug use, infidelity, betrayal, wife-swapping, and overall bad behavior was chronicled in detail, and Brown’s insider status gave credence to the reporting. But many Beatle historians recognize the inaccuracies and questionable decision making, rendering what was once a best-selling book into something with considerably less esteem, to put it one way. But the original interviews with an array of insiders, many of them now dead, has arrived as a sort of unfiltered access to the source material. All You Need is Love is out now, and presents many witnesses, sum of questionable veracity, but with little comment, allowing the reader to judge their truthfulness for themselves.  Read it here – Erin Weber’s review of the earlier book (and Steven’s response in the comments): https://beatlebioreview.wordpress.com/2019/08/19/and-in-the-end-book-review-peter-browns-the-love-you-make/  

279: The Mal Evans Project Part One with Ken Womack   At last: the SATB conversation with the man who brought The Beatles’ road manager’s long missing manuscript to press. Living The Beatles Legend is the story Mal wanted to tell before his life ended at 40 in Los Angeles in a hail of gunfire in 1976. But perhaps the wait was worth it to get his insider eye-witness story augmented by research and interviews Ken has conducted to fully flesh out the story.  This talk covers the first volume of this must-read book. Another volume, presenting the Evans photo archive and diaries, is due out later this year     

278: An Hour With Pattie Boyd   Today is her 80th birthday, and given the attention being brought by the auction of some personal items through Christie’s (see https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/pattie-boyd-collection/lots/3508 ), the time was right for a conversation. We made the most of the hour, given the demand for interviews right about now, but among the things discussed were:  Meeting George on the set of A Hard Day’s Night Her views on how fans see her The Fool  Apple boutique Rishikesh  Get Back Philip Norman The happiest time and more…  

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.   

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. 

272: Born At The Right Time with Ray Connolly   My esteemed returning guest holds forth on The Beatles, Elvis, That’ll Be The Day (1973), “I’ll Be Seeing You,” and much more as he recounts his wonderful life, as presented in his new memoir.

271: Here and Now with “Now And Then” – A SATB Special   How else do you wrap your head around a “new Beatles single” being dropped in our laps 53 years after they disbanded but to gather together a group of knowledgeable pals to discuss. Hope you have five hours free to sit back and listen to a series of talks with guests ranging from age 83 to 24; from England and Canada to Australia and every corner of the states: east coast, west coast, Plains states, south and north. There are guests who knew the Beatles personally, as well as personas whose lives were changed at a distance by these guys, 1st gen to gen Z. Academics and authors, musicians and bloggers. There was too much gold to cut these talks down much shorter than I did, so ease in at your own pace. Today is a sad day – let’s make it better. In alphabetical order, my guests 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)

270: Top Ten Important/Influential Beatles Sources with Erin Weber   Beatles historian Erin Weber and I convened at The Fest in August to review our picks for the most important and/or influential Beatle sources, which can include any media. Some picks overlapped and some didn’t, but you’ll get a good sense here of what we thought should get more attention, and what DID, but maybe doesn’t deserve it.

269: George Harrison in the 70s with Eoghan Lyng   There are a lot of fans – too many, I’d say – that believe the time between All Things Must Pass (1970) and Cloud Nine (1987) constituted one big boring wasteland in George’s career. Knowledgeable fans beg to differ, and so rock writer/journalist Eoghan Lyng (see https://eoghanlyngwriter.wordpress.com/ ) and I sat down to review those 70s releases, with an aim to shed light on some overlooked artistry.Eoghan has a book out, George Harrison In The 1970s, that details his insights even further. 

268: Buddy Holly and The Beatles with Luther Russell   In which we explore the artistry, legacy and impact of Buddy Holly, in particularly on the Beatles.Is it fair to say, no Buddy no Beatles? Perhaps, but we’ll try to avoid sweeping declarations we can’t back up in this conversation.

267: Sgt. Pepper’s Guitars   There are some real layers to this album on every level, and in this conversation we focus on guitars. Who better than my returning guests, the musicians and musicologists of RPM School? Walter Everett (The Beatles as Musicians vol 1 and 2), Cameron Greider (Sean Lennon, etc), and Jack Petruzzelli (Fab Faux) provide details, examples and insights in this deep dive, a precursor to their upcoming Sgt. Pepper class that begins on October 2.