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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!