Today, I received a message from Iamaphoney, really.
Here it is in its entirety:
Subject: Geoff Baker Date: November 30, 2008
I can confirm the existence of the twin peppers in the Berlin suitcase.
And, as always, I must say that I´m a huge fan of yours, really.
All that stuff about "anus", Western Communism and Mr. Baker is NOT our
Project at all.
It is not our style, and it doesn´t help the revelation one bit.
Suitcases has Clue Creating Terms.
By now we are ready to move on,
And maybe we can
Clear out things a little bit.
Khristmas time is here again.
Soon I´ll give you more info.
O
O
N
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Spilling into the Real World
UPDATE: Scroll down to the bottom of the Geoff Baker part for the update. I thought it was important to put it in context.
Our conspiracy theory and speculation appears to be crossing the lines of fantasy into reality (with mixed results, I might add).
Something very weird happened recently to former Paul McCartney publicist Geoff Baker, who turned down offers to write a book about his time with Paul to instead write a novel titled "Diary of a Madman."
The novel has been appearing in parts as frequent updates of Geoff Baker's blog. Breaking away from the routine novel updates, Baker recently posted an email exchange between him and someone named William Donohue.
Here are some highlights:
On November 26, 2008, Baker apparently received this email message from a William Donohue:
OH GOD, I'VE BEEN HACKED
PLEASE DON'T CONTACT ME AGAIN, IT COULD BE VERY DANGEROUS FOR ME, IF SOMEBODY WANTS TO TALK TO YOU, PLEASE DON'T TELL THEM ABOUT ME. I THINK THEY FOUND OUT. PLEASE RESPECT MY WISH TO BE INCOGNITO, THEY FOUND OUT YOU HAVE THE TWIN PEPPERS.
TAKE CARE, PLEASE. IT's NOT FUNNY!
It went back and forth with Geoff trying to convince the person that he had the wrong guy. You will notice that this person mentioned the "Twin Peppers" two days before I did. William also gave Baker the address of a phony (but probably not Iamaphoney) YouTube account which has already disappeared.
Later in the exchange we have Geoff responding this way to Mr. Donohue on November 27, 2008:
This is becoming surreal. To answer and possibly explain:
1. The website you sent me to, where I am alleged to exist as Geoff 'anus' Baker, has McCartney references. I worked for Paul for 15 years so I presume the Geoff Baker they are referencing is me.
2. Of course I have heard of YouTube.
3. I have however never heard of the RA Revelation Freedom Fighters who are those claiming to be the people who have hacked me.
4. I don't know who this other Geoff Baker is who is warning you that he too has been hacked, but I shouldn't worry about any of this as it all has the hallmark of the petty and daft.
5. It doesn't bother me, I have much experience of dealing with nutters. Which is why I am now posting all this correspondence onto my blog, so everyone else can enjoy the pointlessness of it all.
Best
GB
This really is a "nutter" move. I hope that Iamaphoney had nothing to do with it.
The "Twin Peppers" are supposedly two different mixes of the Sgt. Pepper album provided to Iamaphoney by Neil Aspinall. Someone claimed that if you sync the two together and play them simultaneously, you will hear secret messages. If I ever get any evidence that the "Twin Peppers" exist, I will share it here.
The harassment of Geoff Baker concerns me and threatens the credibility of those who claim to have special inside information, including Iamaphoney. Since the Berlin suitcase is "in circulation" it presents all kinds of opportunities for people with partial information to make the water even more murky than it already is. My hope is that Iamaphoney will speak soon and distance himself from this latest excursion that seems to be over the line. Geoff Baker clearly seems to not be playing along.
UPDATE: The image below will take you to a YouTube Channel that appears to be related to the Geoff Baker shenanigans.
Incidentally, Geoff Baker's book looks like it will be a good read.
There have been other less scary occurrences of items in the news that seem to fit our story.
Recently Mojo Magazine did two consecutive issues spotlighting the 40th anniversary of the Beatles White Album. I noticed as I was reading the second issue that they cleverly title their letters to the editor around a particular theme. All of the letters in that issue had titles from lines in the movie "Yellow Submarine." I then realized that in the first issue, which featured the Beatles on the cover, all of the letters to the editor had titles taken from lines of the movie "Paths of Glory." That movie of course was directed by none other than Stanley Kubrick. Iamaphoney and Grandfatheraleister would be proud.
The much talked about article Sir Paul McCartney confronts the ghosts of his past contained some interesting items. First of all, the author committed a glaring factual error by stating that Ringo played on "How Do You Sleep." If Ringo played at all on the "Imagine" album, it has been a well kept secret for over a quarter of a century. But the article was based on conversations that took place over a period of several months, so the author, Mark Edmonds, did get to spend a lot of time with McCartney. As a result, he asked McCartney questions that I doubt he had ever been asked previously, such as, would he ever perform the song "How Do You Sleep." Yes, he actually asked him that. The article also described McCartney's access to world leaders, or more accurately, world leaders' access to Paul McCartney.
Despite the unusually tight access, the article is far from being a fluff piece about Paul. He addresses some of Paul's unfortunate public relations gaffes including his initial reaction to John's death and the firing of Geoff Baker. A particularly interesting passage in the long article dealt with Lily Evans, the widow of Mal.
I mention that I have recently interviewed the widow of Mal Evans, the Beatles’ long-standing roadie who felt let down by the group when they broke up — the comment is simply ignored as though he didn’t hear it.
Who interviews Lily Evans these days and why? Interesting.
There is a new website dedicated to the Beatles and created for the purpose of spreading peace and love throughout the world. Check out Fixingahole.org. Even CNN did an interview with author Steve Turner with the title "The Beatles were a 'Spiritual Force.'" With power like that, they could, dare I say it, rule the world.
Finally, I got a mention on one of my favorite websites recently, the often cited Abbeyrd News Page. I happened to contribute some Fireman minutiae after I spotted a missing piece in a story.
Our conspiracy theory and speculation appears to be crossing the lines of fantasy into reality (with mixed results, I might add).
Something very weird happened recently to former Paul McCartney publicist Geoff Baker, who turned down offers to write a book about his time with Paul to instead write a novel titled "Diary of a Madman."
The novel has been appearing in parts as frequent updates of Geoff Baker's blog. Breaking away from the routine novel updates, Baker recently posted an email exchange between him and someone named William Donohue.
Here are some highlights:
On November 26, 2008, Baker apparently received this email message from a William Donohue:
OH GOD, I'VE BEEN HACKED
PLEASE DON'T CONTACT ME AGAIN, IT COULD BE VERY DANGEROUS FOR ME, IF SOMEBODY WANTS TO TALK TO YOU, PLEASE DON'T TELL THEM ABOUT ME. I THINK THEY FOUND OUT. PLEASE RESPECT MY WISH TO BE INCOGNITO, THEY FOUND OUT YOU HAVE THE TWIN PEPPERS.
TAKE CARE, PLEASE. IT's NOT FUNNY!
It went back and forth with Geoff trying to convince the person that he had the wrong guy. You will notice that this person mentioned the "Twin Peppers" two days before I did. William also gave Baker the address of a phony (but probably not Iamaphoney) YouTube account which has already disappeared.
Later in the exchange we have Geoff responding this way to Mr. Donohue on November 27, 2008:
This is becoming surreal. To answer and possibly explain:
1. The website you sent me to, where I am alleged to exist as Geoff 'anus' Baker, has McCartney references. I worked for Paul for 15 years so I presume the Geoff Baker they are referencing is me.
2. Of course I have heard of YouTube.
3. I have however never heard of the RA Revelation Freedom Fighters who are those claiming to be the people who have hacked me.
4. I don't know who this other Geoff Baker is who is warning you that he too has been hacked, but I shouldn't worry about any of this as it all has the hallmark of the petty and daft.
5. It doesn't bother me, I have much experience of dealing with nutters. Which is why I am now posting all this correspondence onto my blog, so everyone else can enjoy the pointlessness of it all.
Best
GB
This really is a "nutter" move. I hope that Iamaphoney had nothing to do with it.
The "Twin Peppers" are supposedly two different mixes of the Sgt. Pepper album provided to Iamaphoney by Neil Aspinall. Someone claimed that if you sync the two together and play them simultaneously, you will hear secret messages. If I ever get any evidence that the "Twin Peppers" exist, I will share it here.
The harassment of Geoff Baker concerns me and threatens the credibility of those who claim to have special inside information, including Iamaphoney. Since the Berlin suitcase is "in circulation" it presents all kinds of opportunities for people with partial information to make the water even more murky than it already is. My hope is that Iamaphoney will speak soon and distance himself from this latest excursion that seems to be over the line. Geoff Baker clearly seems to not be playing along.
UPDATE: The image below will take you to a YouTube Channel that appears to be related to the Geoff Baker shenanigans.
Incidentally, Geoff Baker's book looks like it will be a good read.
There have been other less scary occurrences of items in the news that seem to fit our story.
Recently Mojo Magazine did two consecutive issues spotlighting the 40th anniversary of the Beatles White Album. I noticed as I was reading the second issue that they cleverly title their letters to the editor around a particular theme. All of the letters in that issue had titles from lines in the movie "Yellow Submarine." I then realized that in the first issue, which featured the Beatles on the cover, all of the letters to the editor had titles taken from lines of the movie "Paths of Glory." That movie of course was directed by none other than Stanley Kubrick. Iamaphoney and Grandfatheraleister would be proud.
The much talked about article Sir Paul McCartney confronts the ghosts of his past contained some interesting items. First of all, the author committed a glaring factual error by stating that Ringo played on "How Do You Sleep." If Ringo played at all on the "Imagine" album, it has been a well kept secret for over a quarter of a century. But the article was based on conversations that took place over a period of several months, so the author, Mark Edmonds, did get to spend a lot of time with McCartney. As a result, he asked McCartney questions that I doubt he had ever been asked previously, such as, would he ever perform the song "How Do You Sleep." Yes, he actually asked him that. The article also described McCartney's access to world leaders, or more accurately, world leaders' access to Paul McCartney.
Despite the unusually tight access, the article is far from being a fluff piece about Paul. He addresses some of Paul's unfortunate public relations gaffes including his initial reaction to John's death and the firing of Geoff Baker. A particularly interesting passage in the long article dealt with Lily Evans, the widow of Mal.
I mention that I have recently interviewed the widow of Mal Evans, the Beatles’ long-standing roadie who felt let down by the group when they broke up — the comment is simply ignored as though he didn’t hear it.
Who interviews Lily Evans these days and why? Interesting.
There is a new website dedicated to the Beatles and created for the purpose of spreading peace and love throughout the world. Check out Fixingahole.org. Even CNN did an interview with author Steve Turner with the title "The Beatles were a 'Spiritual Force.'" With power like that, they could, dare I say it, rule the world.
Finally, I got a mention on one of my favorite websites recently, the often cited Abbeyrd News Page. I happened to contribute some Fireman minutiae after I spotted a missing piece in a story.
Friday, November 28, 2008
The Suitcases
I have received information from various sources about contents of suitcases and I think it is time to put it all in one place. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information that I was given, but I think it is appropriate to share it with you. If you know of any errors, or have deletions or additions, please comment and I will try to put together the most accurate list possible. Help me fill in the missing pieces.
Suitcase #1 - Santa Susana Pass, Los Angeles, California, USA
Status: Found
Contents:
1) Aleister Crowley's "The Book of the Law" (1976 Edition)
2) The Original Soundtrack of "The Magic Christian" Record. The cover had annotations and doodles that some people said resembled Paul McCartney's writing. There was a vinyl record inside. The label on the record was identical to my copy of the album although someone had handwritten "Lily" on it. There are no details about the audio content of the record, but I have no reason to believe that it was anything but the "Magic Christian Soundtrack." The paper inner sleeve also contained some doodles.
3) A 2-sided poster featuring a picture of Paul with Victor Spinetti from the military scene of Magical Mystery Tour on one side and Paul and Ringo in the Magicians outfits from the same film on the other side.
4) There was also an outer jacket which contained the handwritten words "Me" and "Superstone."
5) An unlabeled CD with a brief video that has come to be known as the Blair Witch, WTF, Pig, or Iamaphoney jumped the shark video.
6) There was also writing inside the suitcase, which included "Mal" and "Beyond Jesus."
Pictures of the items can be found in these previous posts:
The Suitcase Adventure
Overlooked Items in the Briefcase?
In an unfortunate turn of events, the finder of the suitcase, known as 65if2007, was accused of holding back information about the contents. Those complaints, along with an ineffectual online petition to force 65if to either play the record or give it to someone who would caused him to stop cooperating.
Suitcase #2 - Spahn Ranch, Los Angeles, California, USA (probably same location as Suitcase #1)
Status: Unknown
Contents:
1) A document relating to the planning of the "Magical Mystery Tour" film.
2) A studio sheet presumably from a mixing session at Olympic Studios (most likely January 8, 1970) for the song "Let It Be."
3) A note on personal stationery of Geoffrey Ellis to someone named Alistair.
4) Some of Mal Evans' diary.
5) A Dean Martin album.
Pictures of what may be documents from Suitcase #2 can be found in these previous posts:
Activity from Rotten Apple Suspects
Three Wheels
Document #3
Two More Documents
Three New Items from Iamaphoney
There was also a video on YouTube claiming knowledge of contents in Suitcase #2 - See 2nd Briefcase (iamaphoney) by pen9cene
Suitcase #3 - CERN Laboratory on the Franco–Swiss border near Geneva
Status: Unknown
Contents: Unknown
Suitcase #4 - Rome, Italy
Status: Unknown
Contents:
1) Hollywood Bowl Beatles Concert Ticket from August 29, 1965.
2) Newspaper about the murder of John Lennon with the headline "Devout Fan."
3) Yellow pages book or possibly a yellow box.
The Rome Suitcase video has brief shots of the suitcase contents.
Suitcase #5 - Berlin, Germany
Status: Found (In Circulation)
Contents:
1) Beatles 1966 Christmas Record - "Pantomime."
2) Astrology Document describing an unused scene from the Magical Mystery Tour film.
3) The "Twin Peppers" (Supposedly two different mixes of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album donated by Neil Aspinall).
4) Some 45rpm records.
5) A copy of Double Fantasy with an alternate tracklist.
6) A Beatles Monthly
7) Articles about the death of John Lennon.
8) Lyrics and notation for "I Am The Walrus."
9) A DVD.
Pictures of some of the items from suitcase #5 can be found in these previous posts:
Pantomime "Everywhere it's Christmas"
ORIGINAL Astrology Document
Suitcase #1 - Santa Susana Pass, Los Angeles, California, USA
Status: Found
Contents:
1) Aleister Crowley's "The Book of the Law" (1976 Edition)
2) The Original Soundtrack of "The Magic Christian" Record. The cover had annotations and doodles that some people said resembled Paul McCartney's writing. There was a vinyl record inside. The label on the record was identical to my copy of the album although someone had handwritten "Lily" on it. There are no details about the audio content of the record, but I have no reason to believe that it was anything but the "Magic Christian Soundtrack." The paper inner sleeve also contained some doodles.
3) A 2-sided poster featuring a picture of Paul with Victor Spinetti from the military scene of Magical Mystery Tour on one side and Paul and Ringo in the Magicians outfits from the same film on the other side.
4) There was also an outer jacket which contained the handwritten words "Me" and "Superstone."
5) An unlabeled CD with a brief video that has come to be known as the Blair Witch, WTF, Pig, or Iamaphoney jumped the shark video.
6) There was also writing inside the suitcase, which included "Mal" and "Beyond Jesus."
Pictures of the items can be found in these previous posts:
The Suitcase Adventure
Overlooked Items in the Briefcase?
In an unfortunate turn of events, the finder of the suitcase, known as 65if2007, was accused of holding back information about the contents. Those complaints, along with an ineffectual online petition to force 65if to either play the record or give it to someone who would caused him to stop cooperating.
Suitcase #2 - Spahn Ranch, Los Angeles, California, USA (probably same location as Suitcase #1)
Status: Unknown
Contents:
1) A document relating to the planning of the "Magical Mystery Tour" film.
2) A studio sheet presumably from a mixing session at Olympic Studios (most likely January 8, 1970) for the song "Let It Be."
3) A note on personal stationery of Geoffrey Ellis to someone named Alistair.
4) Some of Mal Evans' diary.
5) A Dean Martin album.
Pictures of what may be documents from Suitcase #2 can be found in these previous posts:
Activity from Rotten Apple Suspects
Three Wheels
Document #3
Two More Documents
Three New Items from Iamaphoney
There was also a video on YouTube claiming knowledge of contents in Suitcase #2 - See 2nd Briefcase (iamaphoney) by pen9cene
Suitcase #3 - CERN Laboratory on the Franco–Swiss border near Geneva
Status: Unknown
Contents: Unknown
Suitcase #4 - Rome, Italy
Status: Unknown
Contents:
1) Hollywood Bowl Beatles Concert Ticket from August 29, 1965.
2) Newspaper about the murder of John Lennon with the headline "Devout Fan."
3) Yellow pages book or possibly a yellow box.
The Rome Suitcase video has brief shots of the suitcase contents.
Suitcase #5 - Berlin, Germany
Status: Found (In Circulation)
Contents:
1) Beatles 1966 Christmas Record - "Pantomime."
2) Astrology Document describing an unused scene from the Magical Mystery Tour film.
3) The "Twin Peppers" (Supposedly two different mixes of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album donated by Neil Aspinall).
4) Some 45rpm records.
5) A copy of Double Fantasy with an alternate tracklist.
6) A Beatles Monthly
7) Articles about the death of John Lennon.
8) Lyrics and notation for "I Am The Walrus."
9) A DVD.
Pictures of some of the items from suitcase #5 can be found in these previous posts:
Pantomime "Everywhere it's Christmas"
ORIGINAL Astrology Document
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Sing The Changes - Official Video
Happy Thanksgiving!
Not that the Maccaspan2008 videos weren't great, but now we have an Official Video of Sing The Changes from the Fireman.
The Cross, the Ram, but it ain't no Anagram, Sam.
Not that the Maccaspan2008 videos weren't great, but now we have an Official Video of Sing The Changes from the Fireman.
The Cross, the Ram, but it ain't no Anagram, Sam.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Hitler's Car
The new video "Paul Is Dead - 33" by grandfatheraleister features scenes from "The Big Lebowski," "Tin Men" and "Capricorn One." It also features lots of Volkswagens.
Grandfatheraleister certainly has a fixation with these German cars, but it seems that movie directors do as well. The Beatles made one particular Volkswagen famous by putting it on the cover of Abbey Road with a license plate that would engender years and years of speculation.
The license tag on the famous Volkswagen was "LMW 28IF." Why 28If? Paul's age would have been 27 at the time of the release of Abbey Road. The most common reason offered by PID theorists is that if you include time in the womb the way those "Eastern Religions" do, then Paul would theoretically have been 28 years old. That excuse never worked for me. In fact, I felt that if one did actually believe that Paul was dead, it was more plausible that the conspirators simply got the date wrong because the real Paul wasn't around to correct them. Another possibility that I have never seen mentioned anywhere was that if the Beatles were intending to release "Get Back" in 1969, the following album would probably be held back until 1970 and thus, Paul's age would have been 28 by then. History tells us that the Beatles knew that "Get Back" would remain in the can when they commenced recording of Abbey Road, but they still could have expected a mid 1970 release date for some other reason.
When an outtake picture of George Harrison from the Abbey Road cover session appeared in a Rotten Apple video, I thought that Iamaphoney was trying to show that the original license plate on the Volkswagen was different from the one that appeared on the album cover. That would certainly be strong evidence that the content of the plate was intentional.
However, I now believe that what we are seeing is pixelation, a distortion caused by the enlarging of the picture. If you take the LMW 28IF license plate and blow it up, you get a similar result.
No matter how well loved the Volkswagen Beetle was (and they were loved---just ask anybody that ever owned one) there have always been stories about its association with one of the most hated people in human history, Adolf Hitler. There are even rumors that Hitler himself designed the car, but that appears to be an exaggeration.
Yahoo explains:
Hitler met with automotive designer Ferdinand Porsche in 1933 and charged Porsche with creating the new car. The chancellor required that the Volkswagen carry two adults and three children, go up to 60 miles per hour, get at least 33 miles per gallon, and cost only 1,000 reichsmarks. Hitler may also have named the car the Beetle.
As I mentioned previously, Sgt. Pepper cover designer, Peter Blake, says that Hitler was on the cover of the album, just not visible because he was behind the Beatles. [The irony of the phrase Hitler was behind the Beatles (Beetle) is not lost on me] Outtakes from the photo session show Hitler off to the extreme right looking more like a supervisor than a discarded prop.
After his death in 1945 and the fall of the Third Reich, it didn't take long for Hitler to become a curiosity. I'm not sure why the Beatles intended to have his image on the cover of Sgt. Pepper. Perhaps it was just John's tendency to want to stir up trouble. I am also not sure why Hitler would be in the background of this picture of George Harrison, Olivia Harrison and Larry Legs Smith that was not intended for public consumption.
Certainly by the mid 1960s Hitler became to some the butt of jokes. In fact, comedian Lenny Bruce did a routine called "Adolf Hitler and the M.C.A." The piece is based around the idea of Hitler being recruited by a talent agency in search of a dictator. In the piece, Lenny Bruce mentions former child star and talent scout Bobby Breen.
Where can you find Lenny Bruce and Bobby Breen together? The cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, of course.
Lenny Bruce
Bobby Breen
While Hitler may be a joke to some, he is a fascination to others. This was true in the 1960s and it is true today if the large quantity of documentaries on the History Channel is any indication. One of the key points in this surge of interest has been Hitler's involvement with the occult.
I find it unsettling that the Beatles would want Hitler's presence on the album that has become the focal point of the Summer of Love. Was this interest just a joke to create controversy or was this an indication that the Beatles were much more involved in occult practices than people realized? With its own belief system and rituals, the Occult bears some things in common with organized religion. Joseph Campbell suggested that many religious people take the metaphor of mythology and mistake it for literal truth. I wonder if the same can be said for those who engage in occult practices.
That being the case, I can't help but wonder what is really going on the gathering below.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Warmer than the sun, cooler than the air.
UPDATE: Sunssol has done an interesting remix/reversal of "Don't Stop Running."
Maccareport.com is saying that a backwards message exists at the end of the song "Don't Stop Running" on the new Fireman album. The song, which runs over ten minutes, features about two minutes of silence followed by some interesting ambient music. The track ends with a backwards whisper. When you reverse it, it says, "Warmer than the sun, cooler than the air."
This Maccareport "exclusive" is credited to someone named Peter H., but the web site is run by Jorie Gracen, author of "Paul McCartney: I Saw Him Standing There." Readers of Maccareport are advised to go to Internet Anagram Maker site to decipher Paul's secret message, which they think may be directed at Heather Mills.
The Maccaspan2008 video version cuts the song at 5:47, but Piggies1 has a version that is 10:33 long with the audible message at the end.
Maccareport lets you hear the backwards message here.
"Warmer than the sun, cooler than the air" was also one of the comments on the Official Fireman MySpace Page by one of the Fireman's 2292 friends.
I don't know where these people get the idea that Paul McCartney would have hidden messages in his music. I would only allow myself five minutes to play with the anagram idea for "Warmer than the sun, cooler than the air."
The best I could do in five minutes?
"Heather Recontaminates A Thrown Hurl"
I intend to buy it tomorrow and play it forwards...and LOUD!
Maccareport.com is saying that a backwards message exists at the end of the song "Don't Stop Running" on the new Fireman album. The song, which runs over ten minutes, features about two minutes of silence followed by some interesting ambient music. The track ends with a backwards whisper. When you reverse it, it says, "Warmer than the sun, cooler than the air."
This Maccareport "exclusive" is credited to someone named Peter H., but the web site is run by Jorie Gracen, author of "Paul McCartney: I Saw Him Standing There." Readers of Maccareport are advised to go to Internet Anagram Maker site to decipher Paul's secret message, which they think may be directed at Heather Mills.
The Maccaspan2008 video version cuts the song at 5:47, but Piggies1 has a version that is 10:33 long with the audible message at the end.
Maccareport lets you hear the backwards message here.
"Warmer than the sun, cooler than the air" was also one of the comments on the Official Fireman MySpace Page by one of the Fireman's 2292 friends.
I don't know where these people get the idea that Paul McCartney would have hidden messages in his music. I would only allow myself five minutes to play with the anagram idea for "Warmer than the sun, cooler than the air."
The best I could do in five minutes?
"Heather Recontaminates A Thrown Hurl"
I intend to buy it tomorrow and play it forwards...and LOUD!
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Fireman Frenzy
Publicity for the Fireman CD is getting hot and heavy.
Here are some links:
Official
The Official Website
The Official MySpace
ATO Records MySpace Blog
Interviews
Pitchfork Magazine
BBC 6 Radio
XFM London
Geoff Lloyd's Hometime Show
Stool Pigeon (Quietus)
Reviews
Rolling Stone
Observer Music Monthly
Uncut
Maccaspan
Badger Herald
Wired
Spinner
BBC
Hear The Album
NPR First Listen
MySpace
Videos
Artwork Day
Recording
Paul and Youth Talk
Fan Videos for all of the Songs
The word I keep hearing regarding the new Fireman CD is "Inspired." In fact, the reaction has been so positive that there is some talk that Paul regrets having it released under the name Fireman. From the look of the Best Buy ad, this will not exactly be a mystery McCartney release.
Special recognition to the following websites for their excellent coverage of the Fireman release:
AbbeyRd Beatles News
Macca Report
Maccaspan
Macca-Central
Sunsol has struck again with another forwards-backwards video - Paul Is Dead Now. This video features some absolutely hilarious heard backwards lyrics. Click under "more info" to really appreciate this video. I must add shaggily how fun it would be if Iamaphoney would use these lyrics on one of his rewritten backwards Beatles songs.
AbbeyRd Beatles News reported that the bidding on White Album #0000005 is up to £14,000.00 (approximately US $20,704.60). The auction ends tomorrow.
After listening to the interview, it appears that it was the interviewer, and not Paul, who brought up "Carnival of Light." This means that this recent eruption is not much different from when it was brought up last year. However, there is much more publicity this time, with some papers even going as far as talking about Olivia Harrison's tough decision to release a track that her late husband previously vetoed.
In the same week that it has been widely reported that John Lennon sold his soul to the devil, the Vatican announced that they forgive John for his "Beatles are more popular than Jesus" remark. Here is a link to the Reuters story.
A video appeared last week under the radar. I don't see anything new visually, but the soundtrack seems original. I have no way of knowing if this comes from Iamaphoney or not. 020289 by iamaprophet.
Back to the Fireman, here is a parting quote from Paul, I think:
London, Nov 22 (PTI) The Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney underwent an extraordinary transformation for his new album 'Electric Arguments' and pretended to be Gladys Jenkins during the recordings.
"We decided to go undercover, to do whatever we wanted. That way, when you go to the microphone, I don't think of it as going as Paul McCartney and it frees you up," he told In an interview to T4's Miquita Oliver.
"I'd say, 'Right, you're going to become Gladys Jenkins," he said.
"It was quite thrilling, that's how we approached Sgt. Pepper's. "It's like you're playing instead of working," the legendary singer was quoted as saying by Sun. PTI
The same story appeared in Gigwise.
Gladys?
Here are some links:
Official
The Official Website
The Official MySpace
ATO Records MySpace Blog
Interviews
Pitchfork Magazine
BBC 6 Radio
XFM London
Geoff Lloyd's Hometime Show
Stool Pigeon (Quietus)
Reviews
Rolling Stone
Observer Music Monthly
Uncut
Maccaspan
Badger Herald
Wired
Spinner
BBC
Hear The Album
NPR First Listen
MySpace
Videos
Artwork Day
Recording
Paul and Youth Talk
Fan Videos for all of the Songs
The word I keep hearing regarding the new Fireman CD is "Inspired." In fact, the reaction has been so positive that there is some talk that Paul regrets having it released under the name Fireman. From the look of the Best Buy ad, this will not exactly be a mystery McCartney release.
Special recognition to the following websites for their excellent coverage of the Fireman release:
AbbeyRd Beatles News
Macca Report
Maccaspan
Macca-Central
Sunsol has struck again with another forwards-backwards video - Paul Is Dead Now. This video features some absolutely hilarious heard backwards lyrics. Click under "more info" to really appreciate this video. I must add shaggily how fun it would be if Iamaphoney would use these lyrics on one of his rewritten backwards Beatles songs.
AbbeyRd Beatles News reported that the bidding on White Album #0000005 is up to £14,000.00 (approximately US $20,704.60). The auction ends tomorrow.
After listening to the interview, it appears that it was the interviewer, and not Paul, who brought up "Carnival of Light." This means that this recent eruption is not much different from when it was brought up last year. However, there is much more publicity this time, with some papers even going as far as talking about Olivia Harrison's tough decision to release a track that her late husband previously vetoed.
In the same week that it has been widely reported that John Lennon sold his soul to the devil, the Vatican announced that they forgive John for his "Beatles are more popular than Jesus" remark. Here is a link to the Reuters story.
A video appeared last week under the radar. I don't see anything new visually, but the soundtrack seems original. I have no way of knowing if this comes from Iamaphoney or not. 020289 by iamaprophet.
Back to the Fireman, here is a parting quote from Paul, I think:
London, Nov 22 (PTI) The Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney underwent an extraordinary transformation for his new album 'Electric Arguments' and pretended to be Gladys Jenkins during the recordings.
"We decided to go undercover, to do whatever we wanted. That way, when you go to the microphone, I don't think of it as going as Paul McCartney and it frees you up," he told In an interview to T4's Miquita Oliver.
"I'd say, 'Right, you're going to become Gladys Jenkins," he said.
"It was quite thrilling, that's how we approached Sgt. Pepper's. "It's like you're playing instead of working," the legendary singer was quoted as saying by Sun. PTI
The same story appeared in Gigwise.
Gladys?
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Crowley Connections
UPDATE: Revelation (part 2 sneak preview) by YouKnowMyName231 is available again.
Cyril Connoly, the English writer and critic (and the butt of a Monty Python joke or two) said of Aleister Crowley “He bridges the gap between Oscar Wilde and Hitler…” I wonder if John Lennon had that quote in mind when he wanted all three of them on the cover of Sgt. Pepper. Hitler had to be taken out, but Oscar Wilde remained.
I don't know of any interviews where the Beatles talked about Aleister Crowley, but we find his picture at least once (see under title of this post), and maybe twice on the cover of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." The second occurrence, up for debate, is on the right side, partially obscured between Shirley Temple (who appears on the cover three times) and Diana Dors. The credits on the CD simply list the individual as "Legionnaire." The cap he is wearing reads RAOB (visible if you have the 12x12 cover of the vinyl L.P. and a magnifying glass), which stands for Royal Antediluvian Order of the Buffalo.
The organization, believed to have Masonic origins, used an initiation ritual that included the singing of:
Bloody-head and raw-bones!
Bloody-head and raw-bones’
Be not perplex’d’
This is the text,
Bloody-head and raw-bones!
If this RAOB member is Crowley, his location is significant. As I indicated in a previous post, Jarvtronics of the "Nothing Is Real" discussion group pointed out the meaningful play on words of Aleister Crowley located at the "Temple Do(o)rs." Iamaphoney must have liked this discovery because soon after Jarv's post on NIR, this second Crowley connection became a central feature of Rotten Apple 44.
But Crowley connects to another individual on the Sgt. Pepper cover. He had a well documented affair (otherwise known as an association for the purpose of engaging in Sex Magick rituals) with English Poet Victor Neuburg. These sex rituals became the basis for the Choronzon Club. [Am I the only one who hears the word "Choronzon" in the gibberish section of the song "Sun King"?]. Neuburg did not make the cover, but his protégé Dylan Thomas did.
This Crowley-Neuburg-Thomas connection is exploited in the 2004 novel "Sybarite among the Shadows," by Richard McNeff. I have not read the novel, but I have read the short story on which it is based. In that short story, another historical character emerges--Aldous Huxley.
In fact, Huxley takes the role of the rational voice among the chaos of self indulgence and intoxication as the three men discuss spirituality, sex, drugs and Hitler. One particular passage caught my eye. This will be more understandable if you are familiar with the Zen riddle, "What is the Sound of the Single Hand?":
Huxley even launched into a lecture on Tao exercises, which Crowley brought to an abrupt halt by asking if one-hand clap was not a form of masturbationary syphilis. We all laughed uproariously, like schoolboys over a dirty joke. Meanwhile, I had administered the mescaline.
That certainly brings a whole new meaning to the unreleased Paul McCartney instrumental "One Hand Clapping."
As we turn back to the cover of Sgt. Pepper, an interesting pattern emerges. If we draw a straight line from Aleister Crowley's nose to John Lennon's nose, it crosses through Aldous Huxley, Dylan Thomas, and Oscar Wilde. Hmm, I wonder if Tom Mix's hat is covering the face of Adolf Hitler...*
* According to Cover Designer Peter Blake, Hitler actually is on the cover, but he is hidden behind the four Beatles. See Contact Music article.
It seems to me that there are many things hidden on "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."
Cyril Connoly, the English writer and critic (and the butt of a Monty Python joke or two) said of Aleister Crowley “He bridges the gap between Oscar Wilde and Hitler…” I wonder if John Lennon had that quote in mind when he wanted all three of them on the cover of Sgt. Pepper. Hitler had to be taken out, but Oscar Wilde remained.
I don't know of any interviews where the Beatles talked about Aleister Crowley, but we find his picture at least once (see under title of this post), and maybe twice on the cover of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." The second occurrence, up for debate, is on the right side, partially obscured between Shirley Temple (who appears on the cover three times) and Diana Dors. The credits on the CD simply list the individual as "Legionnaire." The cap he is wearing reads RAOB (visible if you have the 12x12 cover of the vinyl L.P. and a magnifying glass), which stands for Royal Antediluvian Order of the Buffalo.
The organization, believed to have Masonic origins, used an initiation ritual that included the singing of:
Bloody-head and raw-bones!
Bloody-head and raw-bones’
Be not perplex’d’
This is the text,
Bloody-head and raw-bones!
If this RAOB member is Crowley, his location is significant. As I indicated in a previous post, Jarvtronics of the "Nothing Is Real" discussion group pointed out the meaningful play on words of Aleister Crowley located at the "Temple Do(o)rs." Iamaphoney must have liked this discovery because soon after Jarv's post on NIR, this second Crowley connection became a central feature of Rotten Apple 44.
But Crowley connects to another individual on the Sgt. Pepper cover. He had a well documented affair (otherwise known as an association for the purpose of engaging in Sex Magick rituals) with English Poet Victor Neuburg. These sex rituals became the basis for the Choronzon Club. [Am I the only one who hears the word "Choronzon" in the gibberish section of the song "Sun King"?]. Neuburg did not make the cover, but his protégé Dylan Thomas did.
This Crowley-Neuburg-Thomas connection is exploited in the 2004 novel "Sybarite among the Shadows," by Richard McNeff. I have not read the novel, but I have read the short story on which it is based. In that short story, another historical character emerges--Aldous Huxley.
In fact, Huxley takes the role of the rational voice among the chaos of self indulgence and intoxication as the three men discuss spirituality, sex, drugs and Hitler. One particular passage caught my eye. This will be more understandable if you are familiar with the Zen riddle, "What is the Sound of the Single Hand?":
Huxley even launched into a lecture on Tao exercises, which Crowley brought to an abrupt halt by asking if one-hand clap was not a form of masturbationary syphilis. We all laughed uproariously, like schoolboys over a dirty joke. Meanwhile, I had administered the mescaline.
That certainly brings a whole new meaning to the unreleased Paul McCartney instrumental "One Hand Clapping."
As we turn back to the cover of Sgt. Pepper, an interesting pattern emerges. If we draw a straight line from Aleister Crowley's nose to John Lennon's nose, it crosses through Aldous Huxley, Dylan Thomas, and Oscar Wilde. Hmm, I wonder if Tom Mix's hat is covering the face of Adolf Hitler...*
* According to Cover Designer Peter Blake, Hitler actually is on the cover, but he is hidden behind the four Beatles. See Contact Music article.
It seems to me that there are many things hidden on "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Competition
A new book asserts that we have been tracking the wrong conspiracy. Just like the old days when John and Paul would compete with each other, we now have two Beatles one-upping each other in the conspiracy market. The interesting thing is that some of the elements overlap.
The new book, "The Lennon Prophecy" says that John Lennon made a pact with the devil, acquired worldly riches and fame, did his best to undermine Christianity, and then died violently when the devil came to fulfill the contract. The author, a first generation fan named Joseph Niezgoda insists that there are tons of clues in the Beatles' and Lennon's solo output.
He points to this picture in "Magical Mystery Tour" where John sells tickets.
The sign behind John reads "The best way to go is by M&D Co." MDC are the initials of Lennon's Killer.
Niezgoda interprets the die-cut inner sleeve and the enclosed record of "Imagine" as a shooting target.
Many will think some of the clues are a stretch, but it does get interesting when Niezgoda observes that on the back of the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" cover, the words "lose their soul" are placed perfectly in the middle of Lennon's belt. He also puts an original spin on "Revolution 9."
Other clues can be found on the web site for the book and its associated blog, and more are promised. The site even invites readers to submit their own clues. The sad irony is that even though this book suggests that John Lennon sold his soul to the devil, it won't be nearly as damaging to John's reputation as the Philip Norman book, "John Lennon: The Life."
Here is the Press Release for "The Lennon Prophecy."
The new book, "The Lennon Prophecy" says that John Lennon made a pact with the devil, acquired worldly riches and fame, did his best to undermine Christianity, and then died violently when the devil came to fulfill the contract. The author, a first generation fan named Joseph Niezgoda insists that there are tons of clues in the Beatles' and Lennon's solo output.
He points to this picture in "Magical Mystery Tour" where John sells tickets.
The sign behind John reads "The best way to go is by M&D Co." MDC are the initials of Lennon's Killer.
Niezgoda interprets the die-cut inner sleeve and the enclosed record of "Imagine" as a shooting target.
Many will think some of the clues are a stretch, but it does get interesting when Niezgoda observes that on the back of the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" cover, the words "lose their soul" are placed perfectly in the middle of Lennon's belt. He also puts an original spin on "Revolution 9."
Other clues can be found on the web site for the book and its associated blog, and more are promised. The site even invites readers to submit their own clues. The sad irony is that even though this book suggests that John Lennon sold his soul to the devil, it won't be nearly as damaging to John's reputation as the Philip Norman book, "John Lennon: The Life."
Here is the Press Release for "The Lennon Prophecy."
Monday, November 17, 2008
Nibs and Nubs
Just a mini-post tonight because I have decided to play a little call of duty, watch Escape from Alcatraz.. or go outside and enjoy the fresh air, get a nose job, go fishing, go eat some noodles, get a yoda cookie, make something GENUINE, get a cookie again, read a book, listen to a cd, play some guitar.
Several videos have hit YouTube recently that were likely inspired by Iamaphoney or PID theories.
Revelation (Part 2 Preview) by YouKnowMyName231 (who may share an identity with JohnCharles2007) appeared briefly, but was removed.
The video FM EA from Y0K00NO also appeared as RA EA by iMphoney
An enigmatic piece called 002829 by SonOfAlways reappeared today as 928200 by iamaprophet
The prolific slide show maker and sound remixer Sunssol has been pumping out new videos including Light at the End of the Tunnel (Endless Highway), Beatles at Heart, You Know My Name (lOOk Up To Know More), Palm of My Hand, Fixing A Hole in the Ocean, I'm Playing With You (Why Not), Heavenly Choir, Judas Kiss, Here Comes The Sun, Devil's Sun and Transformation. And that's just in the past week!
Bread & Circus: Episode Six by breadandcircusfilms
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 marks the U.S. release of Electric Arguments by the Fireman. So, I am feeling that excitement that comes from anticipation of a new Paul McCartney release. Some of you have probably downloaded it. Others may have received legitimate advance copies. I spent $25 for one of the tracks and tomorrow I intend to go to my local independent record shop and purchase a physical copy with my own hands. I have limited myself to hearing a couple advance tracks, but tomorrow I will experience the bliss of new McCartney experience. If you don't already have it and want a little taste, check out an interview with the Fireman posted by Maccaspan2008. While on that channel, you can see nice homemade videos for all of the tracks on the album.
Finally, I believe that there has been a series of bait and switch acts and misdirection plays around this Berlin suitcase and other assorted events and items. Some lines have blurred among Iamaphoney, his friends and his foes. Does anyone have anything they would like to tell me?
Several videos have hit YouTube recently that were likely inspired by Iamaphoney or PID theories.
Revelation (Part 2 Preview) by YouKnowMyName231 (who may share an identity with JohnCharles2007) appeared briefly, but was removed.
The video FM EA from Y0K00NO also appeared as RA EA by iMphoney
An enigmatic piece called 002829 by SonOfAlways reappeared today as 928200 by iamaprophet
The prolific slide show maker and sound remixer Sunssol has been pumping out new videos including Light at the End of the Tunnel (Endless Highway), Beatles at Heart, You Know My Name (lOOk Up To Know More), Palm of My Hand, Fixing A Hole in the Ocean, I'm Playing With You (Why Not), Heavenly Choir, Judas Kiss, Here Comes The Sun, Devil's Sun and Transformation. And that's just in the past week!
Bread & Circus: Episode Six by breadandcircusfilms
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 marks the U.S. release of Electric Arguments by the Fireman. So, I am feeling that excitement that comes from anticipation of a new Paul McCartney release. Some of you have probably downloaded it. Others may have received legitimate advance copies. I spent $25 for one of the tracks and tomorrow I intend to go to my local independent record shop and purchase a physical copy with my own hands. I have limited myself to hearing a couple advance tracks, but tomorrow I will experience the bliss of new McCartney experience. If you don't already have it and want a little taste, check out an interview with the Fireman posted by Maccaspan2008. While on that channel, you can see nice homemade videos for all of the tracks on the album.
Finally, I believe that there has been a series of bait and switch acts and misdirection plays around this Berlin suitcase and other assorted events and items. Some lines have blurred among Iamaphoney, his friends and his foes. Does anyone have anything they would like to tell me?
Saturday, November 15, 2008
"Carnival of Light" May Be Released Soon
Forty years on, McCartney wants the world to hear 'lost' Beatles epic - Guardian U.K.
According to The Guardian: It does exist,' McCartney says on a BBC Radio 4 arts programme to be broadcast this week. Talking to John Wilson, the presenter of Front Row, the former Beatle confirms that he still has a master tape of the work and says he suspects that 'the time has come for it to get its moment'.
This is fantastic news for any Beatles fans interested in the Beatles Mystery. In fact, if I were planning to release this legendary piece of avant-garde music from the biggest pop group of all time, I would probably start a viral campaign on YouTube a couple of years before the issue.
According to "The Complete Beatles Chronicle" by Mark Lewisohn, The Beatles compiled an effects tape the evening of January 5, 1967, just after he had done a vocal overdub on "Penny Lane." The resulting track, which was credited to "Paul McCartney and Delta Music Plus," was played on both January 28 and February 4 at the Roundhouse in London. The track clocked in at 13 minutes 48 seconds. Lewisohn describes it as a "combination of a one-take basic track plus numerous overdubs, so that by its end it included distorted, hypnotic drum and organ sounds, a distorted lead guitar, the sound of a church organ, various effects (water-gargling was one) and, perhaps most intimidating of all, John and Paul screaming dementedly and bawling aloud random phrases like "Are you alright?" and "Barcelona!" No one ever explained the identity of "Delta Music Plus."
Paul didn't say too much about the piece in "Many Years From Now" other than it preceded "Revolution 9" by about eighteen months. Miles described it this way: "The tape has no rhythm, though a beat is sometimes established for a few bars by the percussion or a rhythmic pounding on the piano. There is no melody, though snatches of a tune sometimes threaten to break through. The Beatles make literally random sounds, although they sometimes respond to each other; for instance, a burst of organ notes answered by a rattle of percussion. The basic track was recorded slow so that some of the drums and organ were very deep and sonorous, like the bass notes of a cathedral organ. Much of it is echoed and it is often hard to tell if you are listening to a slowed-down cymbal or a tubular bell. John and Paul yell with massive amounts of reverb on their voices, there are Indian war cries, whistling, close-miked gasping, genuine coughing and fragments of studio conversation, ending with Paul asking, with echo, 'Can we hear it back now?'"
Apollo C. Vermouth mentioned "Carnival of Light" in a post to TKIN about the importance of getting permission to include Karlheinz Stockhausen's picture on the cover of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." Apollo wrote:
If Lewis Carrol influenced Lennon's writing style, Stockhausen opened new doors for John's musical ideas.
Stockhausen's "Hymnen" was the total inspiration for John's "Revolution #9", and influenced Paul's "Carnival of Light" as well.
The Beatles were frantic in getting Stockhausen"s permission to include him on the "Sgt. Pepper" cover. Having sent a telegram on the first day of May that went unanswered, Epstein sent yet another urgent telegram on the 8th to get him on the cover to assure the projected release date.
There's nothing you can know that isn't known.
Apollo
Some people may believe that they have heard part of "Carnival of Light," but they are most likely mistaken. There was a brief track that went around trading circles in the year 2000, which was supposedly a fragment from "Carnival of Light." Wikipedia reported that it was actually just a "phony bootleg." Not surprisingly, a snippet of the phony track appeared in Rotten Apple 28.
Somebody even went as far as to create a phony record label for the never heard track.
We were also teased about this very possibility in October of last year when Paul McCartney played his gig at the Roundhouse in London, site of the original rave. Let us hope that we soon get to hear this missing link in Beatles history.
According to The Guardian: It does exist,' McCartney says on a BBC Radio 4 arts programme to be broadcast this week. Talking to John Wilson, the presenter of Front Row, the former Beatle confirms that he still has a master tape of the work and says he suspects that 'the time has come for it to get its moment'.
This is fantastic news for any Beatles fans interested in the Beatles Mystery. In fact, if I were planning to release this legendary piece of avant-garde music from the biggest pop group of all time, I would probably start a viral campaign on YouTube a couple of years before the issue.
According to "The Complete Beatles Chronicle" by Mark Lewisohn, The Beatles compiled an effects tape the evening of January 5, 1967, just after he had done a vocal overdub on "Penny Lane." The resulting track, which was credited to "Paul McCartney and Delta Music Plus," was played on both January 28 and February 4 at the Roundhouse in London. The track clocked in at 13 minutes 48 seconds. Lewisohn describes it as a "combination of a one-take basic track plus numerous overdubs, so that by its end it included distorted, hypnotic drum and organ sounds, a distorted lead guitar, the sound of a church organ, various effects (water-gargling was one) and, perhaps most intimidating of all, John and Paul screaming dementedly and bawling aloud random phrases like "Are you alright?" and "Barcelona!" No one ever explained the identity of "Delta Music Plus."
Paul didn't say too much about the piece in "Many Years From Now" other than it preceded "Revolution 9" by about eighteen months. Miles described it this way: "The tape has no rhythm, though a beat is sometimes established for a few bars by the percussion or a rhythmic pounding on the piano. There is no melody, though snatches of a tune sometimes threaten to break through. The Beatles make literally random sounds, although they sometimes respond to each other; for instance, a burst of organ notes answered by a rattle of percussion. The basic track was recorded slow so that some of the drums and organ were very deep and sonorous, like the bass notes of a cathedral organ. Much of it is echoed and it is often hard to tell if you are listening to a slowed-down cymbal or a tubular bell. John and Paul yell with massive amounts of reverb on their voices, there are Indian war cries, whistling, close-miked gasping, genuine coughing and fragments of studio conversation, ending with Paul asking, with echo, 'Can we hear it back now?'"
Apollo C. Vermouth mentioned "Carnival of Light" in a post to TKIN about the importance of getting permission to include Karlheinz Stockhausen's picture on the cover of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." Apollo wrote:
If Lewis Carrol influenced Lennon's writing style, Stockhausen opened new doors for John's musical ideas.
Stockhausen's "Hymnen" was the total inspiration for John's "Revolution #9", and influenced Paul's "Carnival of Light" as well.
The Beatles were frantic in getting Stockhausen"s permission to include him on the "Sgt. Pepper" cover. Having sent a telegram on the first day of May that went unanswered, Epstein sent yet another urgent telegram on the 8th to get him on the cover to assure the projected release date.
There's nothing you can know that isn't known.
Apollo
Some people may believe that they have heard part of "Carnival of Light," but they are most likely mistaken. There was a brief track that went around trading circles in the year 2000, which was supposedly a fragment from "Carnival of Light." Wikipedia reported that it was actually just a "phony bootleg." Not surprisingly, a snippet of the phony track appeared in Rotten Apple 28.
Somebody even went as far as to create a phony record label for the never heard track.
We were also teased about this very possibility in October of last year when Paul McCartney played his gig at the Roundhouse in London, site of the original rave. Let us hope that we soon get to hear this missing link in Beatles history.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Liar and Fraud
That is what Paul McCartney is implying about a woman who claimed that he sent her a document (from the year 1911) indicating his possible inspiration for the song Eleanor Rigby. The document in question is an accounts register from Liverpool's City Hospital that features the signature of one E. Rigby - Scullery Maid.
The woman in possession of the document, Annie Mawson, claimed that she sent McCartney a request for a donation of 5000 pounds in support of her program to teach music to children with special needs. According to Mawson, who responded directly to an inquiry from the Abbeyrd Beatles News Site, "I have well documented proof that I did write to Paul McCartney in 1989, including a photocopy of my handwritten letter on the 9th August, prior to even establishing the charity in 1992. I hand delivered the letter to his office in Soho. In July 1990 I received a reply from the MPL offices containing his own personal World Tour stamp and with my own signature and address having being cut off from my letter (hand written on pink paper)! and stuck on the envelope as my address."
The press immediately jumped on the story and drew the conclusion that the document must have been the inspiration for Paul's song "Eleanor Rigby." Although the conclusion was reasonable based on her story, Annie Mawson made it clear that, although she claims the envelope came from MPL offices, she never stated that the document was Paul's inspiration for the song.
If the document was the inspiration, it contradicts the story that Paul has been telling about the genesis of the song since about the time some people think that he was replaced by a lookalike.
In fact, of all the songs in the Beatles catalog, "Eleanor Rigby" seems to be the one with the most conflicting details about authorship. John Lennon claimed in both a Hit Parader Interview and in a Playboy interview that he wrote most of the lyrics (Hit Parader "70%"; Playboy "The first verse is his and the rest are basically mine"). John also claimed that Neil Aspinall and Mal Evans were invited to work on the lyrics.
Paul disagrees strongly with John's recollection. So does Lennon friend Pete Shotten, who wrote in the book "John Lennon In My Life" that John's contribution was "virtually nil." Pete goes on to suggest that Ringo, George, and Pete himself were throwing out lines and phrases. Pete specifically remembers thumbing through a phone book and pulling out the name "McKenzie."
Other witnesses to earlier drafts of the song were Donovan, who remembered an early version with the words "Ola Na Tungee" and may have claimed some minor input in an interview or two over the years, and William S. Burroughs who said, "I saw him there several times. The three of us talked about the possibilities of the tape recorder. He'd just come in and work on his 'Eleanor Rigby'. Ian recorded his rehearsals so I saw the song taking shape. Once again, not knowing much about music, I could see he knew what he was doing. He was very pleasant and prepossessing. Nice-looking young man, fairly hardworking."
Another story reported in Steve Turner's book "A Hard Days Write" came from songwriter Lionel Bart, who clearly remembered walking through a cemetery with Paul and spotting a gravestone for an "Eleanor Bygraves."
Then in the 1980s someone discovered an old gravestone of a woman who died in 1939 named Eleanor Rigby. The location of the stone was St. Peter's Woolton, the place where John Lennon and Paul McCartney first laid eyes on each other.
Paul claims the song began as an ode to a "Miss Daisy Hawkins" and is comfortable accepting credit for the entire composition. He also suggests that the name Eleanor came from "Help" Co-Star Eleanor Bron and Rigby came from a shop front in Bristol.
Despite the song's checkered history, Paul is clearly taking issue with the claims of Annie Mawson. He says, "Eleanor Rigby is a totally fictitious character that I made up. If someone wants to spend money buying a document to prove a fictitious character exists, that's fine with me."
__________________________________________________________________________________
In other hard to believe news, the U.K. Mono version of the Beatles White Album #0000005 is up on Ebay. I have always assumed that John, Paul, George and Ringo got the first four and George Martin got number 5, but according to this story, this copy belonged to a musician who was told by John to take any copy except number #0000001.
Although I can see Eric Clapton getting an early number for his work on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" or Nicky Hopkins, who probably played piano on several songs, including "Sexy Sadie," but I can't see anybody but the fabs and George Martin getting the first five copies of the mono pressing. But who knows? The bid is up to £2,050.00 as I write this.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Special recognition goes to Iameye of NIR for identifying this character from the Rotten Apple 71.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Okay, now admit it. How many of you saw the title of today's post and thought it referred to Iamaphoney? Iamaphoney---a liar and a fraud---GET REAL!
The woman in possession of the document, Annie Mawson, claimed that she sent McCartney a request for a donation of 5000 pounds in support of her program to teach music to children with special needs. According to Mawson, who responded directly to an inquiry from the Abbeyrd Beatles News Site, "I have well documented proof that I did write to Paul McCartney in 1989, including a photocopy of my handwritten letter on the 9th August, prior to even establishing the charity in 1992. I hand delivered the letter to his office in Soho. In July 1990 I received a reply from the MPL offices containing his own personal World Tour stamp and with my own signature and address having being cut off from my letter (hand written on pink paper)! and stuck on the envelope as my address."
The press immediately jumped on the story and drew the conclusion that the document must have been the inspiration for Paul's song "Eleanor Rigby." Although the conclusion was reasonable based on her story, Annie Mawson made it clear that, although she claims the envelope came from MPL offices, she never stated that the document was Paul's inspiration for the song.
If the document was the inspiration, it contradicts the story that Paul has been telling about the genesis of the song since about the time some people think that he was replaced by a lookalike.
In fact, of all the songs in the Beatles catalog, "Eleanor Rigby" seems to be the one with the most conflicting details about authorship. John Lennon claimed in both a Hit Parader Interview and in a Playboy interview that he wrote most of the lyrics (Hit Parader "70%"; Playboy "The first verse is his and the rest are basically mine"). John also claimed that Neil Aspinall and Mal Evans were invited to work on the lyrics.
Paul disagrees strongly with John's recollection. So does Lennon friend Pete Shotten, who wrote in the book "John Lennon In My Life" that John's contribution was "virtually nil." Pete goes on to suggest that Ringo, George, and Pete himself were throwing out lines and phrases. Pete specifically remembers thumbing through a phone book and pulling out the name "McKenzie."
Other witnesses to earlier drafts of the song were Donovan, who remembered an early version with the words "Ola Na Tungee" and may have claimed some minor input in an interview or two over the years, and William S. Burroughs who said, "I saw him there several times. The three of us talked about the possibilities of the tape recorder. He'd just come in and work on his 'Eleanor Rigby'. Ian recorded his rehearsals so I saw the song taking shape. Once again, not knowing much about music, I could see he knew what he was doing. He was very pleasant and prepossessing. Nice-looking young man, fairly hardworking."
Another story reported in Steve Turner's book "A Hard Days Write" came from songwriter Lionel Bart, who clearly remembered walking through a cemetery with Paul and spotting a gravestone for an "Eleanor Bygraves."
Then in the 1980s someone discovered an old gravestone of a woman who died in 1939 named Eleanor Rigby. The location of the stone was St. Peter's Woolton, the place where John Lennon and Paul McCartney first laid eyes on each other.
Paul claims the song began as an ode to a "Miss Daisy Hawkins" and is comfortable accepting credit for the entire composition. He also suggests that the name Eleanor came from "Help" Co-Star Eleanor Bron and Rigby came from a shop front in Bristol.
Despite the song's checkered history, Paul is clearly taking issue with the claims of Annie Mawson. He says, "Eleanor Rigby is a totally fictitious character that I made up. If someone wants to spend money buying a document to prove a fictitious character exists, that's fine with me."
__________________________________________________________________________________
In other hard to believe news, the U.K. Mono version of the Beatles White Album #0000005 is up on Ebay. I have always assumed that John, Paul, George and Ringo got the first four and George Martin got number 5, but according to this story, this copy belonged to a musician who was told by John to take any copy except number #0000001.
Although I can see Eric Clapton getting an early number for his work on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" or Nicky Hopkins, who probably played piano on several songs, including "Sexy Sadie," but I can't see anybody but the fabs and George Martin getting the first five copies of the mono pressing. But who knows? The bid is up to £2,050.00 as I write this.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Special recognition goes to Iameye of NIR for identifying this character from the Rotten Apple 71.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Okay, now admit it. How many of you saw the title of today's post and thought it referred to Iamaphoney? Iamaphoney---a liar and a fraud---GET REAL!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Guess the Real Yoko
We all know how Iamaphoney messes with account names to give the appearance that some of his videos are on official or authorized channels. This of course has led to all kinds of confusion along with speculation that someone would make him stop impersonating real artists, such as the individual Beatles and some of their close relatives and associates. However, we keep finding Iamaphoney videos on YouTube accounts with names like RlNGOSTARR, PauIMcCartney, or neilaspinaII.
One of the most interesting and confusing identities on YouTube is Yoko Ono. Each link below is exactly as shown in the text. Can you identify the closest thing to an Official Yoko Ono YouTube channel from the links below? I'll bet you can't get it on the first guess.
After you determine if your first guess was correct or incorrect, examine each channel. Is it the real Yoko? Is it Iamaphoney? Is it somebody else? Is it a channel that doesn't exist?
http://www.youtube.com/user/Y0K00NO
http://www.youtube.com/user/Y0KOONO
http://www.youtube.com/user/Y0K0ON0
http://www.youtube.com/user/YOKOONO
For more fun, click the pictures below for some interesting Yoko links:
One of the most interesting and confusing identities on YouTube is Yoko Ono. Each link below is exactly as shown in the text. Can you identify the closest thing to an Official Yoko Ono YouTube channel from the links below? I'll bet you can't get it on the first guess.
After you determine if your first guess was correct or incorrect, examine each channel. Is it the real Yoko? Is it Iamaphoney? Is it somebody else? Is it a channel that doesn't exist?
http://www.youtube.com/user/Y0K00NO
http://www.youtube.com/user/Y0KOONO
http://www.youtube.com/user/Y0K0ON0
http://www.youtube.com/user/YOKOONO
For more fun, click the pictures below for some interesting Yoko links:
Monday, November 10, 2008
New Player
Oooh, I hate that game talk, but we have a YouTube account worth checking out. The eclectic mix of videos includes a retread of YouKnowMyName231 / JohnCharles2007 plus a new entry in the spirit of Aleister Crowley that appeared today, disappeared and returned.
The channel is yourtubeunderground and these are the videos uploaded in the past week:
(23)
†he Wri†ing On †he Wall
Eye Opener
If I Fell
In Other News, The Abbeyrd Beatles News Briefs site is reporting that At Savile Row We Sold.
The channel is yourtubeunderground and these are the videos uploaded in the past week:
(23)
†he Wri†ing On †he Wall
Eye Opener
If I Fell
In Other News, The Abbeyrd Beatles News Briefs site is reporting that At Savile Row We Sold.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Close Encounters
The late 1960s and early 1970s saw the convergence of religion, archaeology and extraterrestrials, thanks in large part to author Erich Von Daniken, who had frequent close encounters with legal authorities over the years. This new field of "Pop" archaeology provided a way to use imagery from the Bible and other ancient texts and artwork to support Von Daniken's hypothesis that all this religious stuff over thousands of years developed out of a visit or series of visits by aliens from other planets. Not only did this spawn thousands of books, but it also allowed individuals to read various religious texts without the inconvenience of morality, piety and self discipline getting in the way.
Now that the whole process has come full circle with mysticism and consciousness entangling themselves into this mix, it might be helpful to examine some of the Beatles "close encounters" with quasi-religious and extraterrestrial manifestations that have shown up in their art over the years.
One of the most interesting close encounters was also the earliest. In Mersey Beat, July 6, 1961, there was a piece called, 'Being A Short Diversion On The Dubious Origins Of Beatles (Translated From The John Lennon)'.
John spoke in a rather Biblical style about the origin of the name Beatles:
It came in a vision - a man appeared on a flaming pie and said unto them 'From this day on you are Beatles with an 'A'. Thank you, mister man, they said, thanking him.
It doesn't take much imagination to classify this Lennon quip as either a religious experience, a close encounter or both. Interestingly the PID expert Joel Glazier (the first voice you hear in Rotten Apple 1) interpreted this event as a meeting with the devil. How shocking it is that Paul would take this image 36 years later and reveal "I'm the man on the Flaming Pie." [And here's another clue for you all, the walrus is Paul]
In the artwork for the Flaming Pie album, Paul even provides an interpretation of what a flaming pie looks like, and damn if it doesn't look like a flying saucer.
In an interview from the February 1965 issue of Playboy Magazine, Paul shares a story of an odd encounter he had with an American girl, which had some religious overtones:
PAUL: "Well, you know, alot of Americans are unbalanced. I don't care what you say. No, really. Alot of them are quite normal, of course, but we've met many unbalanced ones. You know the type of person, like the political Whig."
PLAYBOY: "How do you mean?"
PAUL: "You know... the professional politcal type; in authority sort of thing. Some of them are just mad! And I've met some really maniac American girls! Like this one girl who walked up to me in a press conference and said, 'I'm Lily.' I said, 'Hello, how do you do?' and she said, 'Doesn't my name mean anything to you?' I said, 'Ah, no...' and I thought, 'Oh god, it's one of these people that you've met and you should know.' And so Derek, our press agant, who happened to be there at the time, hanging over my shoulder, giving me quotes, which happens at every press conference..."
GEORGE: "You'd better not say that."
PAUL: "Oh yes, that's not true, Beatle people! But he was sort of hanging about, and he said, 'Well did you ring, or did you write, or something?' And she said, 'No.' And he said, 'Well, how did you get in touch with Paul? How do you know him?' And she said, 'Through God.' Well, there was sort of a ghastly silence. I mean, we both sort of gulped and blushed. I said, 'Well, that's very nice, Lily. Thanks very much. I must be off now.'"
PLAYBOY: "There wasn't a big lightening bolt from the sky?"
PAUL: "No, there wasn't. But I talked to her afterward, and she said she'd got a vision from God, and God had said to her..."
JOHN: "It's been a hard day's night."
(laughter)
PAUL: "No, God had said, 'Listen Lil, Paul is waiting for you; he's in love with you and he wants to marry you, so go down and meet him, and he'll know you right away. It's very funny, you know. I was trying to persuade her that she didn't in actual fact have a vision from God, that it was..."
GEORGE: "It was probably somebody disguised as God."
Moving ahead into the solo years, there is quite a bit of imagery related to outer space and religion.
The artwork to Red Rose Speedway may have a motorcycle on the front cover, but the inner booklet suggests some more sophisticated means of travel. (Note that the picture of Marilyn Monroe serves as yet another backwards reference to the Sgt. Pepper album)
While the "Mind Games" L.P. is credited to John Lennon on the covers and on the labels, the inner sleeve musician credit reads the "U.F. ONO BAND."
The cover of "Mind Games" depicts John walking away from the Mother Ship.
The cover of Yoko's companion album "Feeling the Space" also nods to ancient astronauts.
George Harrison's "Dark Horse" album contains an image of Babaji (also found on the cover of Sgt. Pepper). Wikipedia notes, "Babaji is reputed to be ageless, according to some accounts, and about 500 years old around the late 1800’s, according to Swami Pranabananda." The human body is not built for that kind of longevity.
That same year John Lennon and Ringo Starr released albums around the same time. Lennon's "Walls and Bridges" featured this strange announcement.
Although this might simply be interpreted as a tie-in to Ringo's "Goodnight Vienna" album since both were promoted together, May Pang reported John's UFO sighting as an actual incident. "Walls and Bridges" also contains the song "#9 Dream," which could be interpreted as an encounter with a spiritual or extraterrestrial being.
Ringo's "Goodnight Vienna" gave us an in your face extraterrestrial connection.
The doctored photograph from the 1951 Science Fiction classic "The Day The Earth Stood Still" resulted in a revamping of the top of the Capitol Records Tower to promote the release. The name of the character in the film whose body now features Ringo's head was Klaatu. A little over a year later, a mysterious band called Klaatu released an album featuring the song "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" prompting rumors that it was actually a pseudonymous Beatles album.
Paul continued the space theme on the project McGear, a close collaborative effort with his brother Michael which featured the beautiful track, "The Man Who Found God On The Moon." The next Wings album was, of course, "Venus and Mars" with its mention of Starship 21ZNA9 and "Spirits of Ancient Egypt."
There are many other references that I could add to this list, but one of the most compelling is found on Wings "Back To The Egg" album. Obviously the front cover features an outer space theme, but the real gem is found on the album's inner sleeve.
This picture is from the interior dome of the Chapel of the Holy Shroud, Turin, Italy, the place where the alleged shroud of Jesus resides.
A recent issue of Guideposts Magazine revealed a close encounter that a mission church in Karuizawa, Japan had with John Lennon in the mid 1970s. In the article, Carol Fleenor, the minister's wife admitted that she felt judgmental towards the Ex-Beatle and Yoko as they rolled up to the church on bikes. But, in the end she was disarmed by John's humility and patience. One church member even asked John about his "more popular than Jesus" statement that caused a storm in America in 1966. John's response was "When we talk to reporters, we play around with them." He added, "We're just a music group. Don't people know that Jesus is far greater than we are?" I'm a little suspicious about the quotes, but whatever John said must have endeared him to the church people.
Paul McCartney also showed respect for traditional religious values recently on his trip to Israel when he lit a candle at the Church of the Nativity.
Former Apple Executive Ken Mansfield has been speaking at several churches in recent years about his work with the Beatles, his transformation as a Christian and his perspective on an illness from which he was not expected to survive. In at least one of his messages available on video Mansfield declares that at least one of the two remaining Beatles will profess belief in Jesus before he dies. "Mark my words," Mansfield challenged as he made the pronouncement. I never mark people's words. It is just something I do not do.
We can look all around and see numerous connections between art and ancient mysteries, but the work of the Beatles, collectively and individually seems to evoke these ideas more than most. I suspect that ancient mysteries are at the heart of the Beatles mystery.
Now that the whole process has come full circle with mysticism and consciousness entangling themselves into this mix, it might be helpful to examine some of the Beatles "close encounters" with quasi-religious and extraterrestrial manifestations that have shown up in their art over the years.
One of the most interesting close encounters was also the earliest. In Mersey Beat, July 6, 1961, there was a piece called, 'Being A Short Diversion On The Dubious Origins Of Beatles (Translated From The John Lennon)'.
John spoke in a rather Biblical style about the origin of the name Beatles:
It came in a vision - a man appeared on a flaming pie and said unto them 'From this day on you are Beatles with an 'A'. Thank you, mister man, they said, thanking him.
It doesn't take much imagination to classify this Lennon quip as either a religious experience, a close encounter or both. Interestingly the PID expert Joel Glazier (the first voice you hear in Rotten Apple 1) interpreted this event as a meeting with the devil. How shocking it is that Paul would take this image 36 years later and reveal "I'm the man on the Flaming Pie." [And here's another clue for you all, the walrus is Paul]
In the artwork for the Flaming Pie album, Paul even provides an interpretation of what a flaming pie looks like, and damn if it doesn't look like a flying saucer.
In an interview from the February 1965 issue of Playboy Magazine, Paul shares a story of an odd encounter he had with an American girl, which had some religious overtones:
PAUL: "Well, you know, alot of Americans are unbalanced. I don't care what you say. No, really. Alot of them are quite normal, of course, but we've met many unbalanced ones. You know the type of person, like the political Whig."
PLAYBOY: "How do you mean?"
PAUL: "You know... the professional politcal type; in authority sort of thing. Some of them are just mad! And I've met some really maniac American girls! Like this one girl who walked up to me in a press conference and said, 'I'm Lily.' I said, 'Hello, how do you do?' and she said, 'Doesn't my name mean anything to you?' I said, 'Ah, no...' and I thought, 'Oh god, it's one of these people that you've met and you should know.' And so Derek, our press agant, who happened to be there at the time, hanging over my shoulder, giving me quotes, which happens at every press conference..."
GEORGE: "You'd better not say that."
PAUL: "Oh yes, that's not true, Beatle people! But he was sort of hanging about, and he said, 'Well did you ring, or did you write, or something?' And she said, 'No.' And he said, 'Well, how did you get in touch with Paul? How do you know him?' And she said, 'Through God.' Well, there was sort of a ghastly silence. I mean, we both sort of gulped and blushed. I said, 'Well, that's very nice, Lily. Thanks very much. I must be off now.'"
PLAYBOY: "There wasn't a big lightening bolt from the sky?"
PAUL: "No, there wasn't. But I talked to her afterward, and she said she'd got a vision from God, and God had said to her..."
JOHN: "It's been a hard day's night."
(laughter)
PAUL: "No, God had said, 'Listen Lil, Paul is waiting for you; he's in love with you and he wants to marry you, so go down and meet him, and he'll know you right away. It's very funny, you know. I was trying to persuade her that she didn't in actual fact have a vision from God, that it was..."
GEORGE: "It was probably somebody disguised as God."
Moving ahead into the solo years, there is quite a bit of imagery related to outer space and religion.
The artwork to Red Rose Speedway may have a motorcycle on the front cover, but the inner booklet suggests some more sophisticated means of travel. (Note that the picture of Marilyn Monroe serves as yet another backwards reference to the Sgt. Pepper album)
While the "Mind Games" L.P. is credited to John Lennon on the covers and on the labels, the inner sleeve musician credit reads the "U.F. ONO BAND."
The cover of "Mind Games" depicts John walking away from the Mother Ship.
The cover of Yoko's companion album "Feeling the Space" also nods to ancient astronauts.
George Harrison's "Dark Horse" album contains an image of Babaji (also found on the cover of Sgt. Pepper). Wikipedia notes, "Babaji is reputed to be ageless, according to some accounts, and about 500 years old around the late 1800’s, according to Swami Pranabananda." The human body is not built for that kind of longevity.
That same year John Lennon and Ringo Starr released albums around the same time. Lennon's "Walls and Bridges" featured this strange announcement.
Although this might simply be interpreted as a tie-in to Ringo's "Goodnight Vienna" album since both were promoted together, May Pang reported John's UFO sighting as an actual incident. "Walls and Bridges" also contains the song "#9 Dream," which could be interpreted as an encounter with a spiritual or extraterrestrial being.
Ringo's "Goodnight Vienna" gave us an in your face extraterrestrial connection.
The doctored photograph from the 1951 Science Fiction classic "The Day The Earth Stood Still" resulted in a revamping of the top of the Capitol Records Tower to promote the release. The name of the character in the film whose body now features Ringo's head was Klaatu. A little over a year later, a mysterious band called Klaatu released an album featuring the song "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" prompting rumors that it was actually a pseudonymous Beatles album.
Paul continued the space theme on the project McGear, a close collaborative effort with his brother Michael which featured the beautiful track, "The Man Who Found God On The Moon." The next Wings album was, of course, "Venus and Mars" with its mention of Starship 21ZNA9 and "Spirits of Ancient Egypt."
There are many other references that I could add to this list, but one of the most compelling is found on Wings "Back To The Egg" album. Obviously the front cover features an outer space theme, but the real gem is found on the album's inner sleeve.
This picture is from the interior dome of the Chapel of the Holy Shroud, Turin, Italy, the place where the alleged shroud of Jesus resides.
A recent issue of Guideposts Magazine revealed a close encounter that a mission church in Karuizawa, Japan had with John Lennon in the mid 1970s. In the article, Carol Fleenor, the minister's wife admitted that she felt judgmental towards the Ex-Beatle and Yoko as they rolled up to the church on bikes. But, in the end she was disarmed by John's humility and patience. One church member even asked John about his "more popular than Jesus" statement that caused a storm in America in 1966. John's response was "When we talk to reporters, we play around with them." He added, "We're just a music group. Don't people know that Jesus is far greater than we are?" I'm a little suspicious about the quotes, but whatever John said must have endeared him to the church people.
Paul McCartney also showed respect for traditional religious values recently on his trip to Israel when he lit a candle at the Church of the Nativity.
Former Apple Executive Ken Mansfield has been speaking at several churches in recent years about his work with the Beatles, his transformation as a Christian and his perspective on an illness from which he was not expected to survive. In at least one of his messages available on video Mansfield declares that at least one of the two remaining Beatles will profess belief in Jesus before he dies. "Mark my words," Mansfield challenged as he made the pronouncement. I never mark people's words. It is just something I do not do.
We can look all around and see numerous connections between art and ancient mysteries, but the work of the Beatles, collectively and individually seems to evoke these ideas more than most. I suspect that ancient mysteries are at the heart of the Beatles mystery.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)