Beatles’ rock band gets a release date.

Fire up your XBOX 360’s and get ready to rock the wiimote Rickenbakcers and Casios my friends.  The Beatles are coming soon to a video game console near you.  It looks like I may need to finally upgrade my video game system because of this.  I am still running an Nintendo 64 and an XBOX. 

The time has come to upgrade and this may be the thing that pushes me to do it.  9.9.09 catchy.  John’s lucky numbers just seem to pop up everywhere even after he’s gone.

Here’s what we’ve read.

The music of the Beatles will arrive as a playable video game for the first time on September 9, 2009 when The Beatles: Rock Band hits stores in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The game, which will be available for Xbox, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii on the same day, “takes players on a journey through the legacy and evolution of the band’s legendary career,” according to a press release issued by the title’s makers, Apple Corps, Harmonix and MTV Games. While there’s no playlist or word about venues and avatars, there will be a limited number of instruments issued that are modeled after guitars, basses and drums John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr used (regular Rock Band peripherals will be compatible, too).

Three offerings will be released on September 9th: The Beatles: Rock Band software; standalone guitars; and a limited edition premium bundle that will presumably include the game and some configuration of instruments. And there’s an incentive to pre-order now: the game’s makers say exclusive content will be accessible to those who reserve the game in advance through major retailers over the next few months. The game’s official Website is active and promises updates.

VIDEO: Paul McCartney and Dave Grohl rock the Grammy awards.

In case you missed it, Paul McCartney and Dave Grohl ROCKED the Grammy Awards last night.  This wasn’t Paul and Dave’s first time together performing in recent memory.

“I Saw Her Standing There” (Feb 2009)

Here’s Paul and Dave Grohl live together at Anfield from last year in case you missed it.

“Band on the Run” (June 2008)

No Paul did not win a grammy award for His Amoeba EP, but it was an outstanding star-studded night.  Checkout the complete list of winners here. As the article indicates, it was a mini-British invasion of sorts with several Brits snapping up many many awards.

Dhani Harrison set to hit Coachella.

Not only will Paul McCartney be playing Coachella, but George Harrison’s son Dhani will be playing Coachella with his band thenewno2.

Get more info about thenewno2 at Dhani Harrison’s offcial website, and also thenewno2’s Myspace page.

Tickets for Coachella are on sale now and can be purchased through the festival’s website or Ticketmaster.

McCartney to play at Coachella

Paul is no stranger to performing at festivals, as we all have seen at the Glastonbury festival a few years back, but this announcement comes as a bit of a surprise.  The Coachella Festival is the hipster of all hipsters.  We have to admit that it’s a little strange to hear that a Beatle is playing at this cutting edge festival.  It’s a little weird to be hearing  Portishead or Sigur Ros and even Morrisey in the same breath.  There are hipster indie bands, and then there is the thought of a Beatle.

I guess it’s most strange knowing that Paul never, at least late in his career, aged as a “cool” guy.  He always held his artistic credibility, but did many things that are quite cringe-worthy.  That cool factor kind of dropped a bit.  In recent times, though Paul’s cool temperature is red hot.  He’s got several artistic and adventurous solo albums, and has also produced a remix album, and avant-garde album under a different moniker that would make the coolest hipster nod in approval.  Maybe a Fireman tune or two will make a Coachella appearance as well, it’s nothing too much just out of sight.

Here’s what we’ve read.

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival got famous by presenting the sounds of today and tomorrow. But this year California’s most celebrated live-music event is gambling on Paul McCartney and the music of “Yesterday.”

Booking the former Beatle, who is listed in the record books as the most successful musician in pop history, would be the safest choice imaginable for most music festivals. But the internationally respected Coachella festival, which is set for April 17-19, has been pulling in crowds of more than 140,000 fans by taking an edgier path with alt-rock heroes you would hear on a college town’s pirate radio station.

Presented with a chance to tap into music history and veteran star power, the promoters have signed the 66-year-old icon, who personifies the mature pop mainstream. The move could help the festival compete amid a grim economy and a host of imitators that have sprung up across the country; the news of McCartney’s presence — for better or worse — instantly will make Coachella a hot topic with music fans nationwide who have been anxiously awaiting the list of this year’s headliners.

What remains to be seen is whether the choice will cost the festival credibility with its core clientele: young fans who are more likely to listen to the White Stripes than the “White Album” and who are far more familiar with Rage Against the Machine than “Band on the Run.”

Paul McCartney: A Fireman Interviewed.

Paul McCartney has been on nothing but a roll with his latest string of albums.  OK, really since Flaming Pie, he’s been on an outstanding run that has been nothing but outstanding.  Those late-career solo albums are all simply stunning.  It’s really hard to find a true clunker in there at all.  His latest masterpiece, while not a proper McCartney solo album, is one his best solo releases period.

The same can be said for interviews as of late with Sir Paul.  Since his divorce Paul has approached the media with a sense of openess and reflection that we have not seen or heard for many many years.  Yes, sone of Paul’s interview answers are canned and retreads, but ever the public figure, Paul is able to always give us new insights into his mind, and life.  Ever informative and entertaining.

Here’s what we’ve read.

I imagine you know who Paul McCartney is, but here are some recent data: He’s 66 years old, single and financially secure. He recently released Electric Arguments, the third album by Fireman, an ongoing McCartney side project that represents the former Beatle’s foray into trance and dance music. Composed of McCartney and British producer/deejay Youth, Fireman opens its third full-length release with “Nothing Too Much Just Out of Sight,” a tune that features the most bone-rattling vocal McCartney’s delivered since “Helter Skelter.” The first time I heard it on the radio, I thought it was Jack White. Not bad for a 66-year-old. On the occasion of the album’s release, McCartney agreed to a short chat.

L.A. WEEKLY: At what point did you become an adult?

PAUL McCARTNEY: When my first baby was born.

How old do you feel emotionally?
Twenty-five.

What’s the biggest obstacle you’ve overcome in your life?
Linda’s death.

What was it about Linda Eastman that made her such a stabilizing force in your life?
She was just such a supercool girl. She just was. She was supercool.

Do you believe in destiny?
Yes.

Just another Beatles book? Not quite.

Everytime I even think about putting my pen to paper and writing that “great Beatles'” that I know is inside of me I think of titles like this.  There are book about The Beatles’, and then there are things that are much greater.  Jonathan Gould’s awesome tome definitely falls in the latter category.

It’s about so much more than the Fab Four.  It’s bigger than a dissection of songs and chords.  It’s all encompasing of an era.  It encapsulates so much, and really takes you back in time.  If you haven’t read this one yet then you absolutely should NOT miss this title.  It’s one of those essential titles that all music fans should read.

Here’s what we’ve read.

Finally, what the world has been crying out for: a book about the Beatles. This is forgivable sarcasm when you consider that there are more than 500 of them already. I must have about a dozen of them myself, and have read a dozen more. These range from the indispensable – Ian MacDonald’s Revolution in the Head, Bob Spitz’s The Beatles, the Hunter Davies and Philip Norman works and, for my money the most fascinating of them all, Devin McKinney’s inspirational, insanely ambitious Magic Circles – to some of the shoddiest and most opportunistic verbiage you will encounter in the course of a reading life. Anyone with any sense of professional pride now writing about the group must feel like a treasure hunter going over ground that has been thoroughly ransacked by hundreds of people, some armed with pretty sophisticated detection equipment.

Snoop Dogg asks Paul for some help.

I can only imagine what the conversations between a rap icon and Paul McCartney would go like.  Maybe they’d share a bit of the hippie lettuce, and talk some football.  Somehow, I don’t really see that happening actually.

It looks like Snoop is having some visa problems, and wants Paul to give him a push to get past the ban.  Nothing better than a character witness in the form of a football legend and a Knighted musician.

Here’s what we’ve read.

US rapper Snoop Dogg has called on footballer David Beckham and former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney to help overturn his UK visa ban.

The rapper has faced continued visa problems following an altercation between his entourage and police at Heathrow Airport in 2006.

Paul on The View: He keeps two personnas + VIDEO.

Could you imagine spending your entire adult life being one of the most famous people on the planet?  Truthfully, as much as I would wish and dream for it, it must be total hell.  I imagine you have to be a pretty guarded individual.  You have to constantly worry about the things you say, and the things you do in the court of public opinion.

I really don’t find what Paul says as too revealing.  It’s his way of coping.  I just find it interesting that he twists it around to focus on The Fireman.  Yes, we know that Paul’s creative muses have many faces, but it’s a bit of it as a stretch to say it’s another personna.  Yes, The Fireman-leanings of Paul McCartney are different, but it’s still a McCartney record afterall.  Just a thought.

Paul on The View (Part I)

Paul on The View (Part II)

Here’s what we’ve read.

Paul McCartney keeps fame from driving him crazy by maintaining two versions of himself.

McCartney tells ABC’s “The View” he separates the real Paul from the famous Paul. He says Famous Paul does the shows and Real Paul goes home and watches TV.

McCartney releases “Amoeba Secret Show” on CD.

It looks like Paul McCartney will have a new EP coming out in a week or two.  Yes sir, the Paul McCartney vinyl-only EP from Paul’s secret Amoeba gig last year is finally coming out on CD.

The CD tracks will be the same as the vinyl EP — “Only Mama Knows,” “C Moon,” “That Was Me” and “I Saw Her Standing There.” The bonus tracks from the show used on the “Ever Present Past” CD and vinyl singles will not be on the CD, Henderson said. The artwork will also be the same as the EP, he told us. Two of the tracks are nominated for Grammys — “That Was Me” for Best Pop Male Vocal Performance and “I Saw Her Standing There” for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance. The Grammy Awards will take place Feb. 8.

Paul McCartney’s “Amoeba Secret,” the vinyl EP recording of his live show at Los Angeles’ Amoeba Records on June 27, 2007, that’s nominated for two Grammy Awards, is quietly coming out on CD Jan. 27, according to a listing at Amazon.com and other online retailers. That’s just in time for the Grammy Awards show Feb. 8, likely the only reason this is coming to CD at all.

The Grammy nominees from the disc are “That Was Me” for Best Pop Male Vocal Performance and “I Saw Her Standing There” for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance. Those two tracks comprise half of what was on the original vinyl EP release — “Only Mama Knows” and “C Moon” were also on it.

One listing we saw said the CD will contain just the four tracks of the vinyl, though two other tracks from the show, “House of Wax” and “Dance Tonight,” were added to the vinyl and CD single releases, respectively, of “Ever Present Past” from the album “Memory Almost Full.” Here’s an idea: Why not release the whole show?

Several online sources explicitly rumored that the EP would never come out on CD or digitally. I guess that truly was only a rumor.

• Check out the amazon.com listing for the CD.  It looks like you can make a pre-order at the site.

New Lennon book collects John interviews.

So sorry folks for the lack of regular updates since the New Year, but things have been busy around here.  We have been playing with redesigning the blog and making some changes to things around here.  Please bear with me as I make some changes, and bring in some really new and exciting content!

We are looking at more ways of making the blog even more active for 2009 , and should unveil a great redesign in the coming week(s).  For now, though updates will be a bit spotty.

For now though it looks like a new John Lennon title is collecting some interviews from the late-great legend. We look forward to hearing more details about it in the near future. It looks promising.  Any new Lennon titles is always promising.

Here’s what we’ve read.

New Book Collects John Lennon’s Essential Interviews

JOHN LENNON: The Essential Interviews collects the pop music legend’s most candid and inspirational interactions with the media. Available for advanced order and immediate delivery from Rock Reader Books here: (http://www.lulu.com/content/5363419), this exciting new book – which is also now available for download – will be formally released March 3, 2009 through traditional and online book retailers.

Beginning in the sensational heyday of the Beatles, The Essential Interviews traces Lennon’s personal and creative evolution over the span of the next fifteen years up until his tragic murder in December 1980. Allowing the iconic musician to tell his own story, JOHN LENNON: The Essential Interviews finds the genius behind most of the Beatles best songs, delivering the memorable, newsworthy sentiments that captivated the media and record buying public alike.

Compiled by pop music journalist John D. Luerssen specifically for Rock Reader Books,

this project offers direct perspective from Lennon on how the following legendary sentiments took shape:

“Part of me suspects that I’m a loser, and the other part of me thinks I’m God Almighty.”

“Music is everybody’s possession. It’s only publishers who think that people own it.”

“Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.”

“If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace.”

Thanks for John Luerssen for sending us the link.  Hopefully we will be able to review this book in the near future.