The Beatles

There are two people's voices I can impersonate well: that of Magnetic Fields frontman Stephin Merritt and Project Runway frontman Tim Gunn. It seems Merritt is forever impersonating as well, or perhaps just exploring the many forms of his beloved pop and rock songcraft. (Alas, Mr. Gunn specializes in another kind of craft, one that falls outside the purview of this review.) Of course this diversity was most prominent on the Magnetic Fields' 1999 compendium 69 Love Songs, for which he and the band ran through nearly every permutation of the love-song conceit, and came to rest on the lucky number.

Yet, while the band has always been a sucker for a blunt conceit, the years since the release of 69 have seen the very bluntness become esoteric. 2004's i was a string-laden soft-pop ode to melodrama where all the songs began with the prime pronoun and were arranged alphabetically. Then there's the string of Mr. Merritt's side-projects, from the guest-vocalist-heavy 6ths to the Gothic Archies' morose children's songs, an accompaniment to the Lemony Snicket Series of Unfortunate Events books. Showtunes was a 2006 collection of Mr. Merritt's work for Chinese theater director Chen Shi-Zeng. Recently Mr. Merritt's voice even graced a Volvo commercial.  read more »

Paying $100 million for Damien Hirst’s diamond-encrusted skull seemed, to us, outrageous until this afternoon. That’s because someone just bought a lock of John Lennon’s hair—of all things—for $48,000 from the Beatles’ onetime hairdresser, Betty Glasgow. The anonymous, winning bid came into London’s Gorringes auction house over the phone. Preliminary estimates for the wad of brown hairs—which, when rolled up as they are, roughly equal the size of a silver dollar—stood at between four and six thousand dollars. Of course, the lucky buyer won’t just walk away with the piece-o’-mop alone; they’ll also get to keep an autographed copy of Mr. Lennon’s book, A Spaniard in the Works. (Sadly, however, the singer addressed it to his coiffeur; it reads, “To Betty, Lots of Love and Hair, John Lennon xx.”)

“It is astonishing that there is still so much interest in the Beatles and the sale goes to prove that John Lennon is still an icon," said Francesca Collin, a spokeswoman for Gorringes. “To have some of Lennon's hair along with a signed note from him really does give it fantastic provenance and authenticity.” Fittingly, Ms. Glasgow was the band’s hairdresser during the filming of the Beatles’ film Help!  read more »

It looks like Resident Evil: Extinction (#1) will not be following its own advice. After a $24 million dollar opening weekend, the Sony franchise based on a video game looks like it is here to stay. And it appears New Yorkers are just fine with that: the movie grossed a very respectable $337,000 at 9 theaters over the weekend.

But the big story for Manhattan box office continues to be the success of Eastern Promises (#2) and Across the Universe (#3).  read more »

WHICH TABLOID reported a false rental price for an ex-Beatle's ex?

Today's Page Six reports:

Heather Mills can thank her ultra-rich Hollywood pals for her quality time in the Hamptons this past weekend--she had the use of a stunning oceanfront home in Amagansett and didn't pay a dime for it, Page Six has learned. Earlier this week, it was reported that Mills was shelling out close to $80,000 for a weeklong Hamptons rental so she could be near Beatrice, her 2-year-old daughter with Paul McCartney.

It was reported, was it? And where might it have been reported?

Mills, who usually calls Britain home, is shelling out $80,000 a week to rent a posh East Hampton pad located near estranged hubby Paul McCartney's retreat, where he has been vacationing with their 2-year-old daughter, Beatrice.

-New York Post, Sept. 4

There are performers you can’t enjoy unless you learn to ignore or tolerate some aspect of their m  read more »

It’s easy to forget that in the early 1960’s, when the Beatles and their Brit-pop clones were in  read more »

Up at SEIU Local 1199's auditorium on West 43rd Street, a packed auditorium of union healthcare workers hollered and danced to an upbeat soundtrack of funk and salsa, played so loud the bass vibrated in my teeth and the most placid of press photographers were tapping their feet.

"Is 1199 in the house?" yelled the emcee. Indeed, 1199 was in the house. He promised to keep the pumped soundtrack going and added that "we want you to explode! At the proper time."

Putting reports of a failed Bloomberg deal behind them, the workers of 1199 were flying Freddy's flag. And when the candidate emerged, they exploded in a fervor approaching Beatlemania.

"I know you, because you do some of the hardest work, the most thankless work, and you get the smallest paycheck for it!" Freddy hailed them. He also recast his role as a putative Bloomberg-slayer: "All the smart money was on Goliath," he said, adding the Biblical bruiser "probably had tattoos." He cast the assembled crowd as his humble arsenal.

"1199, all 200,000 of you: You are my smooth stones!" His stones hollered, looking eager to be hurled at Hizzoner.

Then Dennis Rivera struck the first blow.

"The Bloomberg administration has done a terrific job of trying to dampen the enthusiasm" behind the Ferrer endorsement, he said, referring to Bloomberg's claim that he refused an offer to put 25,000 home health workers on the city payroll in exchange for the nod from 1199.

Growling that he was angry, Rivera pledged the to unleash the union's campaigning power for Freddy. Then he added cooly: "We don't get mad. We get even."  read more »

Ferrer said told reporters the only firm committment he'd made to union members was a non-specific one to "work every day to make their lives better."

Paul McCartney is rumored to have at least 800 rubber ducks.  read more »

I have played the part of a screaming fan girl only twice in my 54 years.The first time, I was a qui  read more »

Sonata for Jukebox: Pop Music, Memory, and the Imagined Life, by Geoffrey O'Brien.  read more »

Sir Paul McCartney is a fool.  read more »

Wednesday 3rd Bendel up, kids!  read more »

From George Martin's classically inspired production of the Beatles to Peter Gabriel's early solo ma  read more »

Wednesday 23rd Will the almost-Ivy Lolitas of Barnard College meet their match in the glossy-lipp  read more »

The early commercial success of George Harrison's latest and, I'll presume, last album, Brainwashed  read more »

I've interviewed all kinds of people: French artists, astronomers, I.C.M.  read more »

Every so often, the culture throws out an inspired gem of comedy or drama that The New York Times ad  read more »

Every now and then, when only a few bands are able to engage large numbers of listeners with songs t  read more »