When They Was Fab: Electric Arguments About the Beatles

This week brings part three of our visit with Dr. Ken Womack (dean of the Wayne D. McMurray School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Monmouth University in New Jersey), closing out this series.      The main topic this week is the future of Beatles releases, particularly in comparison to the overwhelming output from "his Bob-ness."    Why did so many fans have mixed feelings about the "Eight Days a Week" film?    Is there justification for the even larger percentage that are downright hostile toward the "new" edition of "Hollywod Bowl"?    Given those issues, is there a way to satisfy fans of all ages (boomers, GenX and millenials), or will there always be a Generation Gap for Beatles fans.     Tune in and find out our opinion!  

This week brings part three of our visit with Dr. Ken Womack (dean of the Wayne D. McMurray School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Monmouth University in New Jersey), closing out this series.      The main topic this week is the future of Beatles releases, particularly in comparison to the overwhelming output from "his Bob-ness."    Why did so many fans have mixed feelings about the "Eight Days a Week" film?    Is there justification for the even larger percentage that are downright hostile toward the "new" edition of "Hollywod Bowl"?    Given those issues, is there a way to satisfy fans of all ages (boomers, GenX and millenials), or will there always be a Generation Gap for Beatles fans.     Tune in and find out our opinion!  

Part two of our visit with Dean Ken Womack of Monmouth University.    This week, we look into the value of interpreting and analyzing Beatles lyrics as poetry and the thin line between popular culture and "high art" (and whether such differences should exist).    Once that line is established, the Beatles walk all over it with their pantomime version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream."     We then discuss how "the brand" plays today, as young people hear the music in a piecemeal fashion, with the chronology we all once though so essential ending up as merely another bit of the story.

Part two of our visit with Dean Ken Womack of Monmouth University.    This week, we look into the value of interpreting and analyzing Beatles lyrics as poetry and the thin line between popular culture and "high art" (and whether such differences should exist).    Once that line is established, the Beatles walk all over it with their pantomime version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream."     We then discuss how "the brand" plays today, as young people hear the music in a piecemeal fashion, with the chronology we all once though so essential ending up as merely another bit of the story.

Welcome to "When They Was Fab" (WTWF), the podcast formerly known as "Beatling About."    This week, the first part of our interview with Dean Ken Womack of Monmouth University about the commercial rerelease of his "Beatles Encyclopedia", and his forthcoming two-volume George Martin biography "Maximum Volume".      Along the way, we touch on George Martin's 1962 visit to the Cavern, whether "Please Please Me" could have been a live album, that other sixties icon, the Houston Astrodome and whether Sonny and Cher blocked a Beatles appearance in 1964.      From there to here, Happy New Year!  

Welcome to "When They Was Fab" (WTWF), the podcast formerly known as "Beatling About."    This week, the first part of our interview with Dean Ken Womack of Monmouth University about the commercial rerelease of his "Beatles Encyclopedia", and his forthcoming two-volume George Martin biography "Maximum Volume".      Along the way, we touch on George Martin's 1962 visit to the Cavern, whether "Please Please Me" could have been a live album, that other sixties icon, the Houston Astrodome and whether Sonny and Cher blocked a Beatles appearance in 1964.      From there to here, Happy New Year!  

Yes, 2017 doesn't start officially for almost two weeks, but we are ending 2016 early.      This week we hear about how John met Paul, Paul met Linda, and John met Yoko.    Meanwhile, y'all - the audience gets to meet the new co-host - Mr. Lonnie Pena.      Stay tuned, as after the holiday break, we will be kicking 2017 off with some additional fireworks you are sure to enjoy!

Yes, 2017 doesn't start officially for almost two weeks, but we are ending 2016 early.      This week we hear about how John met Paul, Paul met Linda, and John met Yoko.    Meanwhile, y'all - the audience gets to meet the new co-host - Mr. Lonnie Pena.      Stay tuned, as after the holiday break, we will be kicking 2017 off with some additional fireworks you are sure to enjoy!

This week, an appreciation of Malcolm Gladwell and Howard Goodall!    No, not really.    However, watching the second disc for "Eight Days a Week" can sometimes feel as if the filmmakers wanted to ensure every scrap of footage from those two was included in the package.     Once one gets past that perception, it is possible to examine the content of the extras.     On the whole, they are inconsistent but worth watching.     Most probably won't be revisited, but I would rather have them than not.     In  particular, interviews with crucial Liverpool figures, and the featurette covering the 1966 Japan trip (included in the Japanese edit of the film) do round out the package nicely!

This week, an appreciation of Malcolm Gladwell and Howard Goodall!    No, not really.    However, watching the second disc for "Eight Days a Week" can sometimes feel as if the filmmakers wanted to ensure every scrap of footage from those two was included in the package.     Once one gets past that perception, it is possible to examine the content of the extras.     On the whole, they are inconsistent but worth watching.     Most probably won't be revisited, but I would rather have them than not.     In  particular, interviews with crucial Liverpool figures, and the featurette covering the 1966 Japan trip (included in the Japanese edit of the film) do round out the package nicely!

This week, we return to the "Million Dollar Quartet" and take our own deep dive to investigate two figures well-known to the Beatles: Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins.     We theorize on the distribution of Sun Records throughout Europe in the fifties, how many times Carl Perkins was in the studio with the Beatles, and solo encounters between one or more of these rock icons.  In one show, we manage to touch down in New Jersey, Hamburg, London, Jamaica, Tennessee before returning home to Houston.     Enjoy the trip!

We finish our review of Ron Howard's magnum opus on the Beatles touring years "Eight Days a Week"    Despite the occasional complaints, no discs (or fingers) were burnt during the recording or production of the show.      We hope you will enjoy the show.

Listeners have asked for it, so while we wait for our early Christmas or Hanukkah present of the DVD and Blu-Ray, here is the first part of our review of "A Ron Howard Film - Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years - The Beatles."     We mostly dug it, and our favorite snippets are included within.      However, Beatles fans are never completely satisfied, so we also dig into some of the shortcomings, and provide some audio that we think probably should have been included over precious minutes devoted to "A Hard Day's Night" (not touring, and better covered on that separate release!), or the Kennedy assasination redux.

We end this road trip covering the solo Beatles and their trips through the Bayou city through the years.       Considering John Lennon was not given the chance to undertake a tour of the United States, it is fortunate that three Beatles have made live appearances.  Join us as we travel back to the seventies (Dark Horse, Wings Over America), nineties (The New World Tour, RASB), aughts (Driving USA), up through "On the Run" and the current "All Starr Band!"

For many, Houston was simply another show on the 1965 North American tour.     However, in many ways it was both a microcosm of that whirlwind month, and a turning point in their touring career.     Years later, George Harrison would recall Houston (and Dallas the prior year) as one of the more frightening bits of "the mania".    Likely courtesy of the rival "Top 40" station, the expected crowd swelled by thousands of extra kids, who quickly overwhelmed an underprepared police force, and actually surrounded the airplane.     The Beatles and their entourage had to be removed by a food catering truck, and Brian was to suffer a serious injury to his back courtesy of the unorthodox method of egress.