The Beatles’ famous, bittersweet Savile Row rooftop concert on Jan. 30, 1969, drew me to London to pay homage to the group’s last performance and caused me to recall my own rooftop experience with the comedy troupe The Gramcrackers....
The Beatles’ famous, impromptu Savile Row rooftop concert on Jan. 30, 1969, drew me to London to pay homage to the group’s last performance and caused me to recall my own rooftop experience with the comedy troupe The Gramcrackers....
Ringo Starr, who became a rock and roll legend as drummer for The Beatles in the 1960s, has added his insights into the split between Zayn Malik and One Direction. They will survive, he says. Starr also delivered a bit of a backhand diss of the Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Niall Horan. “I don’t think it will stop the band, he said, before quizzically adding,”They’re not really a band are they? They’re singing boys who dance."...
George Harrison was unquestionably the Beatle I really wanted to meet. Who could forget his early songs like “Taxman” and “Blue Jay Way,” or his lasting contribution to human rights. He would have been 72 today had he survive lung cancer that took his life in 2001 at the age of 58. I met John Lennon, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, but Harrison eluded me. He was full of intrigue and complexity and almost dared you to like him. His brilliant 1970 Concert For Bangladesh set the standard for charity shows. Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Jim Keltner, Jesse Ed Davis, Klaus Vorman, half-of Badfinger, Ringo, Billy Preston and horn-men Tom Scott and Jim Horn were there, led by George....
Peter Frampton, who exploded on the music scene in the mid-70s, showed the same musical magic last night (July 20) at New Orleans’ Champions Square that has made him one of the best selling artists in pop music history, Frampton, who is now 64, played on a double bill with the Doobie Brothers, Oddly, Beyonce and Ja-Zay played a concert next door in the Super Dome. He's collaborated with such artists as Beatles George Harrison and Ringo Starr, composer Harry Nilsson, David Bowie, Jerry Lee Lewis and The Who’s John Entwistle....
Radio-vet Zach Martin, head of Creative Services for WFAN (66AM) in New York City, has seen a lot of radio history in his career. But even he’s surprised by the changes in modern radio. Today, many radio listeners are probably unaware that on-air announcers (called DJ’s) once actually programmed their own music. Nowadays, it’s all done by computers and focus groups....
Leon Russell made me a life-long fan when I heard Joe Cocker sing his song “Delta Lady” in 1969. I always wondered where Leon would end up, and now the question has been answered with his latest album, Life Journey. Leon Russells Road Less Traveled Ends in New Album Life Journey. I put it on and was immediately struck by it’s somewhat somber nature....
Guitar god Joe Walsh, most famously of The Eagles, rails against today’s digital world on “Analog Man,” the lead single off his new album, the first in 20 years. Now if he can only find an analog woman. Walsh, 64, hasn’t lost a thing from the heyday of his career with the James Gang and The Eagles. His new song is filled with zinging guitar rifts and lyrics that double as social commentary, something remarkably missing from most pop music today....
British actor-comedian Russell Brand will interview former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr for the Town Hall show on Sirius XM Radio, Jan. 30. Music producer Don Was will moderate, and Starr will perform. The next day, Starr will release his 17th solo album, Ringo 2012....
Mike Mitchell was just 18 when he caught the Beatles in his hometown on their inaugural tour in 1964, with camera in hand. He came away with 50 iconic photos that captured the explosion of Beatlemania....
Back in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, The Beatles had such a wealth of money and influence that they decided to launch their own record label, Apple Records. Some 40 years later this month, a new album, Come and Get It: The Best of Apple Records, will be released, including a lot of material that has never been available on CD, or digital download....