This blogger, Richard Gehr, is not an employee of AARP. The opinions expressed in the blog are not necessarily the opinions of AARP and AARP assumes no liability for the content posted by Mr. Gehr or any other participant
Richard Gehr | August 27, 2007
Yoko Ono didn't break up the Beatles; the death of manager Brian Epstein did. As responsible for the group's success as at least two of its members, Epstein overdosed on barbituates in August 1967, two months after the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. After seeing the Beatles in Hamburg's Cavern in 1961, Epstein signed them, cleaned them up, and made history. Without Epstein at the helm, the Beatles made business decisions that ultimately tore them asunder. But things could have gone very differently without his attention, according to Glenn Frankel in The Washington Post.
"As far as I'm concerned, Brian Epstein was the man who destroyed Mersey Beat," [says former Liverpool bandleader Ted Taylor]. "He made London groups out of Liverpool bands. When you see the Beatles, their first TV appearance, all dressed up like tailors, well that wasn't Liverpool." Others were more sympathetic. "The whole of British popular culture at the time was controlled by people more than a generation older than us," says Bill Harry. "And, quite frankly, the Beatles as they were, the black leather and rough look, would never have made it in Britain. What he was doing was processing them and making them conform to the establishment." John, the self-styled rebel, performed with the top button of his dress shirt unfastened and his tie loosened as a protest.
The Beatles Story museum in Liverpool notes the anniversary of Epstein's death with an exhibition.
New Orleans musicians hit the streets yesterday in a silent "Solidarity March" for more money, respect, and support from clubowners and city government. According the to the president of the local musicians union: "Our musicians are suffering. We hate to come out here and beg, but we have no alternative at this point."
On October 16, Neil Young will release Chrome Dreams II, which contains three songs from Chrome Dreams, an album he began some thirty years ago but never released. He performs a live version of one of the three long original tracks, "Ordinary People" ("Ordinary people/ They're gonna bring the good things back./ Nose-to-the stone people/ Put the business back on track") in 1988 with his Bluenotes band here.
New York's Metropolitan Opera hosts a tribute to the late Beverly Sills on October 16. Singers Natalie Dessay, Anna Netrebko, and Nathan Gunn are scheduled to perform. Tickets will be distributed free beginning at 5 p.m. the day of the show. It will also be broadcast live on Sirius radio and streamed via Real Networks.
