April is Coming

UPDATE: MikeyNL1038 is the one doing the "enhanced" versions of the Rotten Apple Videos. The two links below are for comparison.
Comparison 1
Comparison 2
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A couple sources have told me that Iamaphoney is promising that the month of April will be "interesting." I did not hear this information directly, but I have observed that April does seem to be a significant month for Iamaphoney-related activity.

If you recall, it was April 10 of last year when the heavily touted Iamaphoney interview failed to take place. It is possible that this year something even bigger won't happen.



A new YouTube account has appeared offering what it calls "Enhanced" versions of Rotten Apple videos. iamaphoneyHD has uploaded the first 55 Rotten Apple videos as of this writing.

For an idea of the visual enhancement, see the comparison pictures below:

Original version


Enhanced version


I have not viewed all of the videos yet, but please drop a comment if any new details emerge from these versions. I do not know the identity of iamaphoneyHD.

Seth Swirsky, who was the subject of a Rotten Apple-related video (Ringo Song) last year has his own YouTube channel. His music is very Beatley and his channel has some other Beatle Connections.

California Scheming

John Lennon said, "Sgt. Pepper is Paul after a trip to America when the whole West Coast long-named group thing was coming in. You know, when people were no longer the Beatles or the Crickets. They were suddenly Fred and his Incredible Shrinking Airplanes. I think he got influenced by that."

Paul explained, "At that time there were lots of those sort of bands that you know, 'Laughing Joe and his Medicine Band Thank You Wham Bam Ma'am', kind of group names. 'Colonel Tucker's Medicinal Brew & Compound.' So I just thought, if there was a band, what would be a mad name for it?"

Yes, Paul must have seen something he really liked out in California when he went there with Mal Evans. Paul reportedly even attended a Beach Boys session April 11, 1967 with the likes of Rodney Bingenheimer and Charles Manson. At least that's how Rodney Bingenheimer remembers it (Thanks F). This crazy place and crazy time could have inspired The Beatles' most mysterious album, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." In fact the rabbit hole we have been looking for may be in California's Hollywood Hills.



The only problem is the timeline. Paul's California trip, as chronicled in Mal Evans' home movies took place at the beginning of April of 1967. By this time the Sgt. Pepper album was pretty much finished and the cover pictures had been shot. The thing we don't know is what all took place during The Beatles 1966 tour when their standard operating procedure included "borrowing a couple millionaires' houses." I seem to remember a mysterious character from the Laurel Canyon mafia in the shadows of a Beatles Press Conference in 1966.

A strange cast of characters congregated in the Hollywood Hills where lots of rock bands seemed to be emerging into the spotlight at the same time. Countless rumors have materialized about what was really going there. Some people interpret the song "Hotel California" to be about the excesses of the Rock and Roll lifestyle, and as Don Henley put it, "The underbelly of the American Dream." Others have put forth theories about Satanism, ritualistic child abuse, Illuminati conspiracies, and mind control.

Much of the rumor mongering was linked to two mysterious houses located in the Laurel Canyon portion of the Hollywood Hills: The Houdini House and the Log Cabin. The two houses had an interesting history. According to Dave's Web there were rumors of suspicious activity in the two houses going back to the time they were built, sometime before 1920.

The Houdini House was an imposing castle-like structure built in the early 1900s. There is some dispute over whether or not the famous magician actually lived there, but that doesn't really matter. The long history of the house includes stories of murder, seances and paranormal experiences. And since its ruins and accompanying ghost stories are recognized by the tourist industry, it will forever be linked with Houdini. Harry Houdini spent a great deal of time debunking spiritualists in his life, but he also spent a significant amount of time trying to find the bridge between the living and the dead. This practice continued after his death when the departed Houdini was the focus of numerous seances.

Another structure was originally called the Laurel Tavern, but it would become better known as the Log Cabin. Frank Zappa lived in the Log Cabin and hosted a varied cast of players. Zappa even helped make some of them famous. Interestingly, despite being at the epicenter of the artistic movement that exploded in the summer of love, I don't think Frank Zappa ever thought of himself as a flower child. In fact, his artistic response to Sgt. Pepper, was less than complementary.



But long before flower power, there were legends about hidden passages and secret caves linking the Houdini House and the Log Cabin.



When you look at the cover of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, some surprising connections with the Hollywood Hills emerge. The man in the white hat behind the wax figure of Paul McCartney is actor Tom Mix who owned the Log Cabin for a while and lived there briefly.



Harry Houdini is not on the cover of Sgt. Pepper, but guess who is. Tony Curtis played the famous magician in the movie "Houdini."



And is it really that much of a stretch to suggest that the inclusion of comedian Stan Laurel could be a veiled allusion to Laurel Canyon?



According to Dave McGowan of Dave's Web, in addition to suspicious deaths, fires are a common occurrence in the Hollywood Hills. The Harry Houdini house burned on Halloween of 1959. The Log Cabin burned on Halloween of 1981. I could not find any information on the Fireman's whereabouts on those two dates.

Like many pictured on the cover of Sgt. Pepper, Tom Mix died prematurely. He was killed in a car accident on an Arizona Highway near a military installation. The date of the crash was October 12, 1940, Aleister Crowley's 65th birthday.



Strangely, it was not the impact of the crash itself that resulted in Mix's death. As objects started flying around inside the car, Mix was plonked in the back of the head --- by a suitcase.

Twin Freaks/Twin Peaks

New Grandfather Aleister Video Paul is Dead - 35 - Twin Freaks



Here is the description:

Twin Freaks/Twin Peaks

Hank Worden More & Carel Struycken

Carel Struycken played "The Brute" in 1978 Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts club band
He played the "Giant" in 1990 Twin Peaks

Hank Worden More played a member of the band in 1978 Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts club band
He played "Senor Droolcup" in 1990 Twin Peaks


@4:12 - Sgt Pepper movie showcases a "red beetle" - more on this later on in the series

@4:20 - Sgt Pepper movie showcases a "yellow beetle". A yellow beetle Volkswagen is also showcased in the movie "The Shining" by Stanely Kubrick. The novel for the movie "The Shining" was inspired by John Lennon's song "Instant Karma"(the line "and we all shine on!")
Now what in the world is Jack Nicholson doing here? More on this later on in the series......

@4:30 - Twin Peaks showcases a "white beetle". From the pilot episode
White beetles are used extensively in the movie "Rosemary's Baby" directed by Roman Polanski

@4:55 - Paul McCartney - Back in the U.S.
More interesting hand signs that you may have seen used elsewhere

@5:17 - Paul uses Magritte in Back in the USA

@5:42 - Hey Jude! Hey Jack! Naaa naaa naa na!
Why Jack Nicholson? Down the rabbit hole later in the series....


Notice what hand sign is used to represent "Love of Money"....

RA #2 Flashback

This is the second in a series of occasional reviews of past Rotten Apple videos.

The second Rotten Apple installment begins with Paul McCartney's famous wink from the Beatles Anthology. In the Anthology, Paul, George and Ringo are seated at a table discussing the "Are you getting back together?" question. Rotten Apple 2 picks up right after Paul says, "And yet, with 'Free As A Bird' we somehow did." Paul bites his finger, raises his eyebrows and gives a half of a wink.



The video then abruptly shifts to clips of The Beatles "Hello Goodbye" video. The Beatles did three promotional films for the song, one wearing their Sgt. Pepper outfits, one in regular clothes and one that combined clips and outtakes from both versions. Interestingly, the controversial OPD/OPP arm patch from the album cover is nowhere to be found on Paul's Sgt. Pepper costume. The filming took place on November 10, 1967 at the Saville Theatre, the venue that Beatles manager Brian Epstein had purchased in 1965. Brian died two and a half months before the filming of "Hello Goodbye." The Saville was the site of Jimi Hendrix's famous performance of the song "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" on June 4, 1967, three days after The Beatles' original release. Jimi Hendrix was still performing the song in December of 1967.



The audio from Rotten Apple 2 is from a completely different source. It consists of a partially isolated vocal track from the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Reprise" with a quick "Turn me on dead man" loop added at the very beginning. Isolated snippets from Sgt. Pepper had been appearing at least as early as 1987 when the television special "It Was Twenty Years Ago Today" was shown. The audio of the "Sgt. Pepper Reprise" starts with the vocal more out in front like the mono version, but then the instrumental track drops out completely.

Using captions, Iamaphoney claimed that the isolated vocal included the words "Paul is dead. Really dead." It appears that Iamaphoney superimposed his own captions over pre-existing captions that said basically the same thing.

The most interesting part of the video appears around the 12 second mark where a brief snippet of the visual portion of the Anthology version of "A Day In The Life" is shown. For some unknown reason The Beatles opted to alter the ending of the promotional film for the song "A Day In The Life" when they made the Anthology in 1995. The original version used some downright creepy slow motion effects. The Anthology version inserted a new ending that consisted of the outlined "seating chart" version of the Sgt. Pepper sleeve gradually being replaced by an alteration of the color album cover shot. In the updated version The Beatles opted to mirror two areas of the cover. The placement of two vertical mirrors down the center of Sonny Liston's body and on Donna Dors' left elbow creates some interesting effects, particularly on the red hyacinths at the bottom of the picture. In addition, back in April of 2004, the never intrusive Apollo C. Vermouth told some members of the Nothing Is Real discussion group that a walrus can be found on the cover of Sgt. Pepper if you place a mirror vertically on Diana Dors' elbow. Not everyone sees a walrus, but many do.



The video also features some Sgt. Pepper album cover character animation from the "It Was Twenty Years Ago Today" television special.

The description of the 28-second video says "more reveals." The tags are "paul is dead mccartney iamaphony." The misspelling of his own name suggests that Iamaphoney had not quite established his identity yet. That would undergo a major change eventually, but at the time of Rotten Apple 2, the videos were quite simple and straightforward.

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YouTube User breadandcircusfilms has a new upload called Bread and Circus: 8.



Although I believe he will be up to the task, these other video makers are giving Iamaphoney some competition in the quality and originality department. Hopefully he will emerge in April with something compelling.

Opening More Dors

The pretty blond on the right side of the cover of the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album is actress Diana Dors.



Promoted as a sex symbol in England, she did receive some respect for her acting abilities when she took on meatier roles portraying despicable characters. She associated with some despicable characters in real life as well. She was a close friend with murderess Ruth Ellis, who appeared in the Dors movie "Lady Godiva Rides Again." Ellis shot her boyfriend David Blakely six times on Easter Sunday of 1955. A short time later Ellis became the last woman to be executed in the United Kingdom. Dors was also a friend of organized crime figures, the Kray Twins. Bob Hoskins' character in the movie "The Long Good Friday" was somewhat based on the Kray twins. Reggie and Ronnie Kray were so impressed they supposedly sent a congratulatory letter to Hoskins from prison. "The Long Good Friday" was produced by Handmade films, the company owned by George Harrison.



One of the most despicable characters Diana Dors ever played was Irene, the wife of a magician in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Although it was filmed in 1961, the episode entitled "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" remained unreleased for several years because the subject matter scared away advertisers.



Starring with Dors in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" was an American child star named Brandon De Wilde. Although The Beatles represented child actors with three Shirley Temples and Bobby Breen, Mr. De Wilde could have easily joined the group on the cover of Sgt. Pepper. He was a member of that group of actors, musicians and other various artists who congregated in Laurel Canyon, California in the 1960s and 1970s. Some are dead and some are living. Several self destructed while others achieved great riches despite their association with some decidedly scary characters. Some have appeared in Iamaphoney videos and I expect more to do so in the future.



Brandon De Wilde entered adulthood with quite a bit of musical ambition. He spent time with The Beatles in the Bahamas when they were filming "Help." According to Turner Classic Movies web site, De Wilde supplied a lot of that pot that made filming some of the scenes a test of Richard Lester's patience. From the TCM website:

Paul McCartney remembered De Wilde as “a nice guy who was fascinated by what we did. A sort of Brat Pack actor. We chatted endlessly, and I seem to remember writing [the song] “Wait” in front of him and him being interested to see it written.”

Although still acting at the time, Brandon De Wilde was working on musical material with another one of those people in that musical crowd in Laurel Canyon, California, Gram Parsons. Sadly, De Wilde died at age 30 in a traffic accident in 1972. Although Parsons (pictured below) was not long for this earth either, he did live long enough to write and record a song with Emmylou Harris that contained a verse about the death of his friend. Interestingly, when Parsons and Harris wrote the song about a friend who died in a traffic accident, they decided to borrow a line from a song by another young man who was rumored to have died young in a traffic accident.



Once I knew a young man
Went driving through the night
Miles and miles without a word
But just his high-beam lights

The title of the song is "In My Hour of Darkness," which as you all know is a line from the Paul McCartney song, "Let It Be."

There were a lot more connections between The Beatles and the strange goings on in the Laurel Canyon area of California and vicinity. Some are chronicled by McCartney collaborator Barry Miles ("Which Miles, International Times?") in his book "Hippie." The dark side of the California saga can also be found at Davesweb.

Updates

Update of the Updates: Forgot to mention two new videos from Sunssol-------
Looking for The Answer
The Fool.

It appears that there really must have been a violinist named Lou Sofier (See previous article). Sir Larry Mildew tells us that in addition to playing violin on "Martha My Dear," he appeared on the 1973 Harry Nilsson album "A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night." My trusty record rack does not lie.



There was even a picture of Mr. Sofier in the foldout of the cover. The picture is dark, but he doesn't look too Beelzebubbly to me.



His resemblance to Ray Cooper playing the violin many years later on George Harrison's video for "When We Was Fab" as George was singing the words "Take you away" is purely coincidental. I'm sorry I even brought it up.



Of course, having been produced by Derek Taylor, Nilsson's album of old orchestral standards doesn't fall far from the Beatles Mystery Tree. That's Harry and Derek in the picture below. The woman in the heart is Nilsson's girlfriend at the time, Kathy Simmonds, who had a brief fling with George Harrison the following year until he left her to go on tour. (Source)



F spotted a recent change in the Wiki article on "Martha My Dear." A new vocalist named Sam Rodgers was added to the musician credits. I have not seen any corroboration for Mr. Rodgers being on the recording, but I did notice that his name can be thought of as an anagram for "Re Mars Gods."

pmc27 informed me that you can find more investigation of the Chinese Junk picture (see previous article) at the Paul Is Dead/Paul Is Alive forum. The forum encourages participation from diverse perspectives. Non-Spanish speakers will have to use a translator.

A new tribute album featuring covers of the songs on RAM is available for free download.



If you are ready for a Reggae version of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," something called "Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band" will be available on April 14, 2009.

Devil in the Details

One of the most common complaints about Iamaphoney videos is the apparent linking of Paul with dark concepts such as Satanism and the occult. This has led some to argue that Iamaphoney is out to destroy Paul McCartney's image or even worse, do harm to him.

One viewer of the Rotten Apple series expressed these concerns directly to Iamaphoney and received a surprising answer. The creator of the Rotten Apple Series wrote: "I love the man who calls himself Paul. I dont [sic] want anyone to get crazy ideas." Iamaphoney also said, "Im [sic] just showing what Paul is showing. I didnt [sic] invent this. It is all in his art, you know."



You really have to use some imagination and some powers of observation to find Satanic references in the "art" of the Beatles and Paul McCartney, but some people seem to be finding them in unexpected places. Paul never wrote a song called 666, but he wrote one called 222 and another called 444.

A YouTube user named dunskie recently discovered one of the most subtle references to the devil on record. Actually it wasn't even on the "record." This tidbit didn't appear until Mark Lewisohn was given unprecedented access to the Beatles recordings and session notes in the late 1980s for his book, "The Beatles Recording Sessions." There were 14 session musicians who added the strings and brass to the song "Martha My Dear" on Friday, the 4th of October, 1968. If you Google any of the musicians on that list of 14 players, you can find other credits, except for one. The one musician who seems to have no other claim to fame aside from playing on "Martha My Dear" is violinist Lou Sofier. YouTuber dunskie suggested that the similarity in sound to "Lucifer" may not be an accident.

It is always possible that a violinist who played on the record made up a pseudonym on the spot. Maybe a famous classical or jazz musician didn't want his name on the session sheet of a pop group recording. That would explain not only the lack of other references to this Lou Sofier, but also the reason for the rather dark pun.

The song "Martha My Dear" has always been thought of as an ode to Paul's English sheepdog Martha, but other interpretations exist. Author Steve Turner and others have suggested that the song might contain some slight digs at McCartney girlfriend Jane Asher as this was about the time that their relationship was coming to an end. According to the Wikipedia entry for the song, "McCartney has also said, cryptically, that the song is about his 'muse'—the voice in his head that tells him what words and music to write." Wiki credits Steve Turner's "A Hard Days Write" as the source of that quote, but it was not in my copy of the book. Perhaps it was taken from an updated edition.

Either way, dunskie suggests that the song is about Paul's muse and that the "inspiration" in question could be something or someone from the dark side. He shares his observations in a video called "THE BEATLES-Martha My Dear- Lou Soufier/Sofier-Violin." There certainly are some parallels between the idea of inspiration from Lucifer and Aleister Crowley's automatic writing. Crowley maintained that "The Book of the Law" was dictated to him by an otherworldly being named Aiwass.

If Paul was in fact giving the devil subtle credit for being his "inspiration," it is interesting that he chose the violin as the instrumental credit. Didn't that well known "beast" from the Christian perspective, Nero, play that same instrument?

As previously stated, I could not find any other references to a musician named Lou Sofier. However, a reference to Lou Sofier was pointed out to me by videomaker extraordinaire grandfatheraleister. It appeared, believe it or not, in the Beatles Cartoon Series back in 1965. In the episode for the song "Help," the lads are in Paris, France for a fashion show. The villain who stole the fashion patterns was named something like "Jacques Lou Sofier."



Granted it could also be "Jack Le Zipper," a play on words for "Jack the Ripper." But, if you listen for the former, you might hear it that way. The spirit of the message is probably good enough for the devil, who I'm told is highly sensitive to subtle tributes. Notice that the man in the picture above who is shown right after the phrase in question (approximately 1:35 in the video) is making the NUMBER 9 with his hands. If you watch the rest of the cartoon episode, you will find a checkerboard design, Paul inside a triangle pyramid, John Lennon in a dartboard bulls eye, Paul kicking the bucket, and the word "clang" which also happened to be the name of a character in the movie "Help." Wow, this is nearly enough to make Joseph Niezgoda write another book!



Strong arguments have been made against those trying to exaggerate the association between the Beatles and Aleister Crowley. PID theorists and fundamentalist Christians with an ax to grind against the Beatles have both used this association to support some outrageous claims. However, Crowley was on the cover of Sgt. Pepper. In Rotten Apple 44, after such a theory was discussed by Jarvtronics at "Nothing Is Real," Iamaphoney suggested that Crowley appeared twice on the cover. (See previous post)



Funnily enough, a website called U.S. Grand Lodge, Ordo Templi Orientis says "The Beatles included [Aleister Crowley] on the 'people we like' cover of Sergeant Pepper's not once but twice—the second photo was reportedly dropped as Crowley too closely resembled Paul McCartney." I think the image below is the one to which they were referring.



And the next image, found in the Mark Lewisohn book, "The Beatles Recording Sessions," strongly supports the claim that the Beatles did intend to put that other picture of Crowley on the Sgt. Pepper cover.



Yes, that is the younger Crowley in that crowd.



One more reference to the "beast" which should make the list of most subtle on record may or may not be the single "Hey Jude." According to my U.S. copy of the 45, the Beatles' longest single clocks in a 7:11. However, several "Nothing Is Real" members in a thread last year challenged the accuracy of the information on the label.



In a world of analog tape, adjustable speed variation, instrument tuning, vinyl record pressing, belt driven turntables and other potential inaccuracies, it is probably impossible to get a perfect read on the exact timing of the "Hey Jude" 45 rpm record. The person who wrote the Wikipedia entry for the song must have tried and came up with 7:05. Another person interested in accuracy was Alan W. Pollack, author of the highly respected and often cited "Notes On" series, who came up with 7:07. This leaves open the possibility that the actual time of "Hey Jude" could have been 7:06.

While it would not be accepted by any school teacher I have met, it is not completely outside the realm of creative logical thought to interpret the time 7 minutes and 6 seconds (7:06) to be equal to 6 minutes plus 66 seconds. Only some of the most divergent thinkers at NIR could come up with something like that, and only the devil himself would get a tribute that subtle.

Thanks to all the friends who contributed insights that wound up in this article.

The Chinese Junk Picture - A Second Look

I want to thank the knowledgeable reader who pointed out that the picture above was not a recent fake because it appeared in the Beatles Monthly, Issue #61 from August of 1968. The "Nothing Is Real" discussion group has done an excellent job researching this particular image, but I thought it couldn't hurt to highlight a few things about it.



The photograph, which features three individuals who resemble Paul McCartney, accompanied an article entitled "With Paul to Hollywood." The credited writer of the article was Apple employee Tony Bramwell who had directed the Apple promotional film that introduced the new company to Capitol records employees. Bramwell would make news a year later when he was identified by his employer as the Apple staffer who took it upon himself to impersonate Paul McCartney in an American radio interview in order to squelch the Paul is dead rumor. The move made things worse and Bramwell was left to hang out to dry as the one who made the bonehead decision. I'm sure that the experience left Bramwell feeling betrayed, but probably not enough to make him start making YouTube videos 40 years later suggesting that Paul McCartney is the devil.



The article describes a June 1968 Apple business trip from London to Los Angeles with a brief stop in New York. In addition to Bramwell, childhood friend and former tea-chest bass player for the Quarrymen, Ivan Vaughan accompanied McCartney on the trip. The main objective appeared to be the showing of the Apple promotional film with an appearance by Paul at a Capitol Records gathering. Capitol would gain the rights to manufacture and distribute Apple Records in the United States.



The next pages contain memories of recreational time in LA, with no mention of Linda Eastman who might have been staying with Paul at the time. There are pictures of Paul at the hotel pool. The left page also contains ads for back issues of the Beatles Monthly, some of which were featured in the poster that came with the White Album.



The last page of the article describes a yacht trip to the Marina Del Rey in California with Apple executives. Interestingly the accompanying pictures of the yacht trip were not related to the one being described in the article. The caption on the picture accurately indicates that it was taken on a trip in the Hudson River in New York. John Lennon, who was back in Britain mixing versions of "Revolution" during the California trip was present on the Hudson River boat. John and Paul were in New York to give a press conference announcing the launch of Apple on May 11, 1968. An online transcript of the press conference says that the Chinese Junk meeting took place the previous weekend. That would date the picture sometime during May 3-5.

Only one of the three individuals bearing some resemblance to Paul McCartney is looking in the direction of the camera. The picture on the left could just as easily resemble Apple staffers Ken Mansfield or Ron Kass, but if you dropped him in a picture with George, John and Ringo, most people would assume it was Paul. The same may be true for the fellow on the right who is turned even further away from the camera. To make matters more confusing, the person on the right is wearing a jacket similar to the one Paul wore in 1966 at the "Light Suits" concert at the Budokan Arena in Japan, although there are pictures of Derek Taylor in a similar jacket. The man in the middle is the one we see the best and he is the one that appears to be Paul McCartney as he looked in 1968. It seems odd that the three men in question would be spread so perfectly across the boat. It almost looks staged.



Interestingly, that same issue of the Beatles Monthly contained two pictures that would become part of the Paul Is Dead legend. The one above is a summer of 1963 photo of the Beatles swimming that would later be cropped and used by Charles Braverman in a "Paul Is Dead" segment of the film "Braverman's Condensed Cream of Beatles." The other picture is a "Yellow Submarine" promotional shot featuring the human Paul, George and Ringo with the animated John. Guess what is over Paul's head...again!

Random Ramblings from the Dark Side

Grandfatheraleister returns with one of his best: Paul is Dead - 34 -"No One Does It to You like Roman Polanski"



It is always fun to see when our lunatic fringe subject is alluded to in the mainstream media.



A Master’s in Paul-Is-Definitely-Not-Dead By Allan Kozinn. In addition to his Beatles-related articles in the New York Times and his occasional stories for Beatlefan, Kozinn wrote an excellent book called "The Beatles."

Some people may find Ringo Starr's new Aviva ad a little Matrixy.



Surely the release date of The Beatles Rock Band Game will make most people raise an eyebrow or two.

RA #1 Flashback

This is the first in a series of occasional reviews of past Rotten Apple videos.


The first voice you hear in the Rotten Apple series is that of Joel Glazier, the author of the article "Paul Is Dead...Miss Him, Miss Him," that appeared in the January 1979 issue of the fanzine “Strawberry Fields Forever.” Glazier shared his expertise as a guest on “The Beatle Years” radio show hosted by former Lennon Publicist Elliot Mintz in 1993. In the audio clip Glazier is explaining how to place a mirror over the words “Lonely Hearts” on the Sgt. Pepper bass drum to reveal the secret message “1 ONE 1 X HE ^ DIE.”

Several still pictures, some of which came from the “Paul Is Dead” sequence of the film “Braverman’s Condensed Cream of Beatles” accompany Glazier’s explanation. Braverman had used an out of context picture of Paul in a swimming pool and an old World War II photograph to "illustrate" the "Paul Is Dead" phenomenon. This technique of using unrelated images to help tell a story would be borrowed by Iamaphoney on many occasions.

Glazier's speech is followed by a bit of the promo film for "Strawberry Fields Forever." After a few familiar bars, the audio is reversed. Unlike most backwards audio, you don't need to have the creativity of Sunssol or the "Sleepy Red Moose" guy to hear understandable words in this clip. "We'll sing it, man. We'll be reverse." Admittedly, the sentences don't make a ton of sense, and the word "reverse" in particular sounds as if it was spoken by a toddler. But you don't have to be crazy to interpret it as an invitation to listen to Beatles music backwards.

Then other visual and audio clues are presented in a somewhat random manner until we see some John and Yoko footage and hear John debunking the "I buried Paul" claim. His "cranberry sauce" story is then contradicted by Apple executive Allen Klein's "On that particular take, his guitar buried Paul's sound" excuse. That sound bite and the one that follows came from a television show produced in 1969 by RKO. The program centered on a mock trial featuring lawyer F. Lee Bailey interviewing some of the principle characters in the "Paul Is Dead" rumor story.

One of those characters was Paul McCartney's close friend Peter Asher. Peter, the brother of Paul's ex-girlfriend and member of pop duo Peter and Gordon is heard admitting "It sounds like John is saying 'I buried Paul.'" While this is happening, we see video footage of Beatles Road Manager and "Castle Keep" Neil Aspinall moving his lips. This of course, can only be classified as misleading, deceptive and blatantly dishonest, because I'm sure it caused some people watching to think that it was Aspinall speaking. What was the name of the person who made this video containing such a unapologetic misrepresentation? Oh yeah, Iamaphoney. That's cool.



The next image we see is the overhead shot from the Magical Mystery Tour book rotated 90 degrees. Glazier suggested in the "Strawberry Fields" article that the rotated picture resembled a human skull. The sound is the "I Buried Paul" ending of the song "Strawberry Fields Forever" as it was heard on the WNEW-News Closeup with Christopher Glenn from November of 1969. The video concluded with another quick backwards clip of "Blue Jay Way" interpreted as "Paul is bloody."

The description of the video states: "I`m preparing the world for the revelation" and "We'll sing it, man. We'll be reverse." Although appropriate, it may be apocryphal. I'm not sure that Iamaphoney was using this "revelation" language this early on in the series. Say what you want about his questionable manner of fudging evidence, it is a tribute to his artistry that many are still around two years later, still curious about what he intends to do next. It is also a tribute to the mystical quality of the Beatles music that has fired the imagination of the world for decades. The link below is an unsolicited ad with the hope that they will allow me to continue to use that wonderfully ironic picture of a beheaded guy wearing a backwards "Paul Is Dead" tee shirt.

Suitcase Sacrifice

UPDATE: SonOfAlways uploaded iamaphoney.
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We have a new video from a suspected Iamaphoney alias site.

Suitcase Sacrifice by STRAWBERRYFIELDS



It's interesting that this video focuses on one of the most ridiculed features of the Iamaphoney phenomena. We see several suitcases from the past. One of them apparently contains a copy of the New Musical Express from the late 1960s.



The significance of the item is not apparent.


There is a mirrored image of the MPL logo.



There is an odd string of repeated text that mentions the famous Mr. Pilgrim. The text is copied below with spaces between obvious word breaks.

INTERVIEW YOU SHOULD BE CARE
L TAKE PLACE ABOUT WHAT YOU WI
T NOT THE WA NOWHERE MR PILGR
U THINK IT IS G DEAD BUT EVERYB
G TO BE AIRED K SO IT IS E NORM COD
E PLAC THE INTERVIEW YOU SHOU
OT THE WA NOWHERE MR PILGRIM
KIT IS G DEAD BUT EVERYBODY TH
G TO BE AIRED K SO IT IS ENORMCOD

There are other documents that we have seen parts of before including a Magical Mystery Tour scene discription.



Another document fragment connects Aleister Crowley and L. Ron Hubbard.



There is an unidentified man's face. He may be the police officer involved in the Mal Evans shooting, but that is a wild guess.



There is also and action shot of the Iamaphoney actor.



The video ended with what I thought might be a new Iamaphoney song, but I believe it was just a snippet of his version of "A Day In The Life" backwards. There is not much new here, but it is possible that the purpose is to set up a new installment of the Rotten Apple series. We'll see.