The Shoots

When I first saw this, I didn't believe it...at all. However, I heard talk about it & the tour next year on SiriusXM's 60s on 6 today. The band will be made up of Sean Lennon, James McCartney, Dhani Harrison, & Zak Starkey. This really is the best thing since The Beatles! They're called The Shoots, apparently to reference that they are "off-shoots" of their fathers.

Now that I know it's real, I need to actually read the article that's been circulating. I encourage everyone else to look into it too...& share your opinions with me here in a comment! I've seen Sean & James both before, but this will be unlike anything else conceivable on the planet! Time to save up for this tour...

Parting Ways: An Unauthorized Story On Life After The Beatles

If you've ever seen a documentary by this name, I'd love to hear from you, especially if you're either a Beatles expert or a fairly clean slate. It recently came on a channel called NEWSX & I watched it this afternoon. Here were my initial thoughts:

• Nothing will ever compare to the Anthology, so try to be fair!
• I would probably not be against the idea of recommending this to someone who is a clean slate & wanted a brief summary of what happened to each of them after the Beatles broke up.
• It seemed to focus on negativity. I wouldn't want it to be inaccurate & only focus on the positives, but if you don't explain or expand upon the negatives, it just seems ugly.
• I didn't notice any big problems with it.
• It was painfully condensed, but to fit decades of information from 4 different perspectives into an hour has got to be frustrating!
• I would recommend that any clean slates watching this have a Q&A with an expert friend of theirs afterward for clarifications.
• It wasn't a waste of time. I'd probably watch it again.
• I know my stuff. I'm not sure what kind of impression this would leave on a clean slate, though.

Hmm. I recommend all knowledgeable fanatics to watch this & let me know your opinions about it. I recommend all clean slates to watch this (while considering that it may not be a good overview at all) & give feedback to how it made you feel.

Hobby Debate

I've been wanting to ask my hardcore Apple Scruffs this question for YEARS & I never manage to remember at a good time...so as I sit here at a friend's house, I have downloaded the "Blogger" app so I can put this down before I forget...for the millionth time.

In the movie AHDN, when John is asked if he has any hobbies, he writes something down that we don't get to see. I've speculated for years by trying to watch the movements of his pencil/pen to see what he was writing & thought it looked like "THIS." It didn't make much sense, but John is always full of nonsense. It would make sense he'd do something benign to get a fake overreaction out of it & get people wondering over nothing.

I've always wanted to ask other fanatics what they thought or saw. Well, I watched the film on a big movie theater screen for the 3rd time about 5 months ago & looked for this detail. I was able to see it better than on a television, of course. I am now VERY confident that I know exactly what he wrote. Does anyone want to chime in with their opinions? I'll put my conclusion down in a comment at a later date, but right now I want to hear from YOU!

The Dave Clark Five

I wish I would have composed this right after I watched the documentary I'm referencing, but I didn't have time after it was over. I guess it was 2 months ago now that it came on television…I think it was called "Glad All Over."

Every documentary has to sell whatever message it's trying to sell. It has to achieve its purpose as best it can. However, there was much said in this documentary that made me unhappy. They took embellishment to a whole new level! Look…I adore The DC5 very much, but this film kept trying to put them on the same level as The Beatles! They never have or ever will be more popular than The Beatles. They never have or ever could be more talented than The Beatles. They didn't even write their music, and if they did, it wasn't much or many! The only member that even had charisma was Mike. Yes, they were very talented musicians and they're definitely one of my all-time favorites, but I hate the idea that anyone ever watched that film and now thinks they're comparable bands. Why can't they refrain from comparisons and just talk about how wonderful they were?

The funniest thing that the documentary kept pushing and pushing was how many times they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show! They appeared on the show 18 times and the Beatles only were on 4 times. How is this an accomplishment worth bragging about? The Beatles were on 3 times in a row and came back 1 more time the following year. After their 1st month visiting the USA in 1964, they pretty much moved onto much bigger and better things! Clearly, the DC5 never moved on or had anything better to do than to do the same show repeatedly. THAT is why they were on so many times, I suspect. I'm not bashing them at all. I love them. However, I found that fact to be more embarrassing than anything. There's nothing wrong with revisiting a show, but it sounds like they never got past that level of success.

I would just like to note that I watched "Catch Us If You Can" for the 1st time tonight. I've wanted to see it for a very long time! I don't want to say that I didn't like it, but I can't say that I did. I'd be content to never see it again. It's certainly no "AHDN," but I love them for what/who they are. If you get a chance to watch the documentary or already have, please add your commentary. If I see it again, I'll add more as a comment so that I can be more specific and quote from it.

Still So Active

With the release of "On Air - Live At The BBC Volume 2," I just want to share how refreshing it is that new stuff is coming out here in 2013. What does everyone think about the Beatles' careers still continuing, especially P&R's tour schedules? Do you ever stop & realize how active things are after all these years? I want to start a discussion…because we're more blessed than we often take a moment to notice. Think about it: How many generations are even going to be able to say that they were alive to even see any of this? Only 2-3 generations before me lived long enough to know of them & only 2-3 generations at most after me will be around when their legacy is not yet something completely in the past.