• An animated short based around the audio from a 14-year-old’s 1969 interview with John Lennon snagged an Emmy at the 36th annual Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony on Saturday (August 29th) in L.A. Examiner.com reported that I Met The Walrus — “(a) five-minute, 10-second film, won in the category ‘New Approaches — Daytime Entertainment,’ which honors films from the Internet and otherwise outside the sphere of television.” I Met The Walrus was nominated from You Tube and beat out ABC’s All My Children video podcast, among other entires.
  • Check out I Met The Walrus: http://tinyurl.com/5g5btw
• Paul McCartney was spotted at New York’s Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night (August 26th). McCartney, who’s been attending Yankees games since 2001, was frequently spotted sitting behind home plate with girlfriend Nancy Shevell, Lorne Michaels, and Jack Nicholson.
• The Beatles will be going an alternate route in publicizing the September 9th release of their Beatles: Rock Band game and the CD reissues of their catalogue. According to brandweek.com, the band’s products will be sold at Restoration Hardware, Starbucks, Whole Foods, Ralph’s, Pathmark, 7-Eleven, and Blockbuster.
  • Bill Gagnon, the senior vice president of catalogue marketing for EMI Music North America — the Beatles’ record label, explained the need to seek out the widest possible audience: “It will allow us to reach the everyday places people shop. We’re bringing the music to where they are.’
  • Restoration Hardware will be selling all of the band’s remastered CD’s along with the limited edition deluxe Box Of Vision tabletop CD display unit and book, The Beatles: Rock Band game, the new “Fab Four”-themed Trivial Pursuit game, among other Beatles merchandising.
  • In an unprecedented move, Starbucks will only sell four CD’s in its chains throughout September, offering coffee drinkers the chance to buy the remastered versions of Help!, Rubber Soul, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road.

Big news out of Hollywood!!!

Lindsay Lohan’s house was broken into and according to police several things were taken.

How long do you think it will be before a new sex tape with Ms Lohan hits the internet?

The list of the Top 20 Beatles songs was published in the new issue of Mojo magazine, with the band’s 1967 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band finale “A Day In The Life” coming in first.

Among the notable musicians polled for the list were Ozzy Osbourne, Tom Petty, David Crosby, Phil Collins, Roger McGuinn, Jackie DeShannon, John Cale, Paul Weller, the Rutles‘ Neil Innes, Chris Difford of Squeeze, Tori Amos, and many more.

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• The Top 20 Beatles songs as polled by Mojo magazine are:
• 1. “A Day In The Life”
  2. “Strawberry Fields Forever”
  3. “Yesterday”
  4. “Tomorrow Never Knows”
  5. “Something”
  6. “In My Life”
  7. “Happiness Is A Warm Gun”
  8. “Penny Lane”
  9. “She Loves You”
  10. “A Hard Day’s Night”
  11. “Eleanor Rigby”
  12. “Come Together”
  13. “Hey Jude”
  14. “I Want To Hold Your Hand”
  15. “With A Little Help From My Friends”
  16. “Revolution”
  17. “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
  18. “Can’t Buy Me Love”
  19. “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”
  20. “Rain”
• The writer breakdown of the list comes out to Lennon & McCartney scoring seven songs as a unit; seven songs primarily written by John Lennon; four songs primarily written by Paul McCartney; and two songs written by George Harrison.
• A handful of the tracks on the list represent the best from the band’s psychedelic era. Ringo Starrrecalls that although the “Fab Four” were known to party during their sessions, they always needed to keep it in check for the sake of the recording: ["We actually learned that years ago in the Beatles. Because we weren't saints and we would work late some nights and we'd make these (laughs) records -- it was like 'Oh wow! yeah, yeah, give me a cassette, let's take that home!' And every time we'd come in the next day to EMI (Studios) (and say), 'Well we'd better re-do that.' Because the next morning it was never so thrilling."] SOUNDCUE (:21 OC: . . . never so thrilling).

Here are some of the more interesting comments from the band’s superstar fans and poll voters:

• Roger McGuinn on “She Loves You”: “‘She Loves You’ is deceptively simple on first hearing. The lyrics are just about teenage love and capture that feeling well, but the real hook is the musical device the Beatles used — a descending line from G to E minor with ‘yeah, yeah. yeah’ on the choruses. Even the choice of chords in the verse is really cool, going from G to B minor. These were not chord choices heard previously in pop or rock music. They were folk music chord changes. Subconsciously the Beatles had combined folk music with rock.”
• David Crosby on “Eleanor Rigby”: “‘Eleanor Rigby’ appeals to me for a bunch of different reasons. One, who do you know that’s written a song like that, who noticed the loneliness of old people, of people seemingly unnoticed by the rest of us? These people were invisible to songwriters, too, but they weren’t invisible to Paul. You can tell that he really watches people, that he acknowledges their sad determination.”
• Tom Petty on “I Want To Hold Your Hand”: “Even today when I listen to it, it doesn’t really sound like people singing, it sounds like it could be Martians or something. I was just a kid when it came out. I went and bought the single with that picture of them on the cover in those great collarless suits, and then I immediately set out to get a guitar; I’ve read that guitar sales boomed after that.”
• Ozzy Osbourne on “In My Life”: “Lennon paints an incredible picture in just three minutes. It’s not a load of rubbish that rhymes. ‘In My Life’ is one of those beautiful songs. I did a version of it because the lyrics seem to really fit me… It’s like when sometimes you sit down and think back to when you were a five-year-old and you were frightened when you went to school. These things come flooding back. It’s those kind of memories that you get from the song.”
• Phil Collins on “A Hard Day’s Night”: Even now, every time I hear that opening chord, that is so indefinable, so distinctive of an era, I feel a warm glow. Also that killer Rickenbacker guitar solo, that incredible 12-string sound. I don’t even play guitar, but I collect Rickenbackers so that my guys can use them, all because of George…”

I still haven’t made my mind up if this is real or not, but either way you look at it if it’s real, WOW! The physics and drag coefficients, wind direction and god knows what else that went into the planning this stunt is amazing. If it’s fake, the seamless video and special effects that made it work were cool as well. What do you think?

Alright, it’s time for some balance.

Senator Kennedy has passed away and I’m sorry for his family…..BUT lord have mercy!
The media has gone full bag nuts shoveling praise on him, and not one nod to reality.

He NEVER worked a real job in his life….but moaned about tough it was in the work place, and the need for unions.

He was born into wealth, yet whined about tough it was to be poor.

He felt every American should pay more in taxes, but took every tax break he could, so he would pay as little in taxes a possible. He gave to charities, which is admirable, but each dollar was deductible.

He drove conservative America crazy, yet couldn’t drive one young woman across a bridge.

He was vicious, arrogant, and a huge hypocrite. He had the balls to sit and harangue against Judge Robert Bork during his Supreme Court senate review, and on the weekends would be a raging drunk with his nephew in Florida. Yea, Big Head Ted had no reservations about pointing a finger.

John Kennedy was called “Jack.”

Edward Kennedy was called “Ted.”

Robert Kennedy was called “Pimp” for both Jack and Ted.
No wonder they all used assumed names.

Now, again on balance, Ted Kennedy believed in what he believed and fought for it EVRY day.
He was consistent and ferocious and I respected him for that.
He was a great speaker and could move an audience and I envied him for that.

He will be missed by the liberals for his leadership and by the conservatives for being a target.

Is it just me, or has the rate of pirate activity slacked off since our military came in and shot a few of the “bad guys.”

Old Lar

Hey gang,  as we get ever closer to the big 09/09/09  Release day of all this great Beatles music, videos and games, I thought I’d share some cool Beatles related stories through my connection in Liverpool!

And that connection is my little sister Meg. You see my sister married a gentleman from the Liverpool area, and she has lived there for many years now. Now she and her wonderful Husband Stephen were sweet enough to take us on a little photo journey around   Mathew Street in Liverpool which as known as the birth place of the Beatles and home of the world famous Cavern Club, that the Beatles really began. And this past week was also the big Mathew Street Festival to honor the Beatles. So I just wanted to share these great pictures that include the Eleanor Rigby statue, the Cavern Club, The Beatles Shop, Mathew St. and I believe a Beautiful view of the River Mercy from a certain persons flat.

I want to thank my sister Meg and Stephen for posting these pictures for us to share with you all. The Beatles still hold a big spot in all the hearts of the people of Liverpool and of course the world, so Meg thanks for letting us see some amazing things from the Beatles Birth place that for many they may never get to see in person. And thanks to my mom and dad for giving us such a great musical home where myself and all the way to my baby sister we are all fans of music and the Beatles!

“Still Unbroken” Check it out!

In fairness, I owe an apology to you….in advance.

It all started as a very creative idea from our Program Director.

It seems that after a heavy meal of undercooked beef and beets he had a dream. In that vision he saw his staff of “on air personalities” performing a couple of Beatles tunes.

Now a man more grounded in common sense would ignore that image, take some Pepto and head back to bed.
Not our leader. No, he assembled a film crew and forged ahead with what you will see on the Beatle page here at WROQ.com. Which leads me to the apology.

Since 1964 the Beatles have sold over 600 million albums.
In the last decade, video and the internet have exploded in popularity.

Now, I don’t think anyone would have imagined that BOTH, the Beatles AND internet Video could be killed with one little video. If this were done at a party, questions regarding booze would be raised. Letting thousands see the proof raises questions of sanity and self esteem.

To tell you the truth, I’m not comfortable in front of the camera. In fact most people are not comfortable with ME in front fo a camera….but in this case I had a good time, goofing around with 3 of my favorite people.

Too bad all three were in the back of the room. LOL

Enjoy the video. Enjoy the music, and please don’t hold this against us….for too long.

The debate on health care reform continues and I think it’s been instructive.

How good or how much change the current system is or needs is a subjective opinion. One thing that is not debatable is the visceral reaction the public has had to the variety of suggestions to “fix” health care.

The fact that those in office feel powerful enough to call those that disagree with their plan, “Nazis” “traitors”, or “bums”, underscores the arrogance of those in office….republican and democrat as well.

My overall concern is turning over 20% of the entire U.S. economy to the government. To assume that bureaucrats and politicians know what is best for MY health, as opposed to someone who actually went to “doctor school.” 

To demonstrate the efficiency of the government when it comes to business, consider the most recent bright idea from Uncle Sam, the Cash for Clunker program. A seemingly straight forward process. You turn in a car that get less than desirable gas mileage and in return you get up to $4,500 for the trade in value. You get a new car and the dealer gets the money back from the federal government. It’s a basic precept of the car business yet Uncle Sam has screwed the pooch so bad all of the dealers in New York State have withdrawn from the program. Its been so poorly handled that only 2% of the payments back to the dealers have been made.

Now if you use this example as a peek into the future, consider how well YOUR health care will be handled. The same fools that will call you a traitor for disagreeing with them, have no reservations about foisting this degree of inept business acumen on YOU, the person who will be paying the bill.