"Crayons!" ... "Beatles!"
I spent two days in Columbus over the holiday reveling in a life-changing musical extravaganza, Well, life-changing may be hyperbolic. Let’s call it really, really fun. Columbus musician Joe Peppercorn hosts the cities top talent (including pal Quinn Fallon) in a 14-hour music marathon in which they play every single Beatles song ever recorded in the order in which they were released. The show kicks off with a personal recording of none other than Sir Paul McCartney wishing the band well and leading them off into “Love Me Do.” Then it’s (including extras) 240-songs. Here’s the live stream of the first 12 hours. High quality, but inexplicable cuts off before “Abbey Road.” Must be union issues. Skip the 1st 13 minutes of dead air until Sir Paul comes on. So today’s theme is … The Beatles!
Today’s post, “Who's better? Stones or Beatles?" I contradict myself here saying The Stones are superior. Who cares? My opinion can change hourly based on what’s on the radio. We’re lucky to forever have ‘em both.
“Evan & Elle” Review of the Week is from … You!
Please, if you’ve read the book and enjoyed it, pop on over to the amazon page and post a positive review. Two words — “Loved it!” — will suffice. But I have 26 out of 26 5-star reviews and it is my understanding I need 50 to get notice. Please help me get there! I learned this week that it won’t let you post unless you’ve spent $50 on amazon. I bought a bunch of things I didn’t need just in case you ever ask me to review your book.
• Unrelated SNL sketch I can’t stop watching, “Fobodies nault!” This is maybe the most oddly hilarious bit SNL’s ever done. It stars Phil Hartman and Miranda Richardson and burns through nearly 7 minutes before delivering its first real laugh. I love that they give it so much time to play out. It’s 10 minutes. I just love the nuance.
Today’s Theme … “The Beatles!”
• Tell friends you’re thinking of forming a really crappy Fab Four tribute band. “Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to … The Dung Beatles!”
• Wonder how different would rock and comedy histories be if instead of John of The Beatles, Yoko had fallen for Moe of The Stooges.
• John Lennon imagined a world at peace. It’s okay for you to imagine how different people would look with rectangular nipples.
• Tell Catholics you’re delighted the church made Pope John Paul a saint, but you won’t be satisfied until Popes George and Ringo are sanctified, too.
• Ask astronomy enthusiasts if in the heavens there are any stars named Ringo.
• I wonder if anyone watched the historic U.S. Beatles TV debut and said, "When I grow up I want to be just like Ed Sullivan!”
• McCartney was an optimist, cheerfully convinced it would all work out. Lennon a pessimist, grimly sure of eventual doom. Who was right?
• At 7 hrs. 48 mins I'm finding The Beatles "Get Back" a bit of a slog. My mind wanders and I feel myself wishing for the sake of deliberate irony some enterprising documentarian would produce a film that was this earnest, this reverential and this devoted to memorializing every conversation about lunch, laundry and nasal obstructions and have the doc be about the making of "Debbie Does Dallas.”
• John Lennon was killed in 1980. George Harrison died in 2001. Paul McCartney is 80. Ringo Starr, 82. I'm not wishing any ill on either, but if the actuary tables are to be believed The Fab Four will one day soon have a heavenly reunion. I have to think there are already lines forming at the ticket windows.
• Had Lennon been killed in 2021, guaranteed, within two hours there'd be multiple conspiracy theories including one asserting Ringo was behind the murder so he could get to Yoko. And Tucker Carlson would say Lennon was a disgusting hippie who had it coming.
• In one of history's most savage ironies, it was 41 years ago today that a man who became famous singing "All you need is love," died on a day when all he really needed was a bullet-proof vest.
Random randoms …
• When the end is near I believe it'll still be possible to buy time, but I'm pretty sure payment will involve an unforgiving sort of lay-away plan best described as “grave.”
• Many struggling young couples see marriage counselors because they're determined to "make it work." They have it all wrong. Marriage is already work. The goal should be to make it play!
• I wonder if linguistic confusion is one of the reasons that keep young single heteros from ever getting together. Many single men lust for women who'll "put out" when what they're really after are women who'll put in.
• I like sitting on a porch whittling a stick and leaving all the young'uns gobsmacked when I say, “You know, I remember when Twitter was just 140 characters …”
• I remember as a boy my parents taking me to a candy store and being overwhelmed by row after row of nutrition-free treats. Today, every store we enter is a candy store with the only difference is these adult candy stores also sell gas, jerky, beer, cigs and lottery tickets.
I welcome your donations. Please consider supporting me with some tangible appreciation (PayPal, Venmo, 874 Solomon Temple Rd., Latrobe, Pa, 15650).
All Chris’s books can be purchased through www.ChrisRodell.com