Groovy Beatles pictures

The history and music of the Fab Four
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brammy
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Re: Groovy Beatles pictures

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brammy
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Re: Groovy Beatles pictures

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Kiddwad57
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Re: Groovy Beatles pictures

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It would be nice to hear the live version of We Can Work It Out. Paul played the Vox organ on that and Yesterday. John elbowed it on I'm Down.
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1965 UK Tour
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brammy
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Re: Groovy Beatles pictures

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You're right!.... a belated Happy Birthday, John.
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Kiddwad57
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Re: Groovy Beatles pictures

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It's Johnny's (belated) Birthday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1pXcMw-8Nk
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“Playing the guitar is all very well, John, but you'll never make a living at it.”
“Playing the guitar is all very well, John, but you'll never make a living at it.”
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brammy
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Re: Groovy Beatles pictures

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This was good.... but only good. Its a nice peek behind the Beatles curtain, but at the same time was frustrating that it didn't reveal anything new.
For instance, the sacking of Pete Best was barely mentioned and it was the interviewer's fault for not trying to dig into anything of substance.

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hamilton_square
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Re: Groovy Beatles pictures

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brammy wrote:For instance, the sacking of Pete Best was barely mentioned and it was the interviewer's fault for not trying to dig into anything of substance.
Even if the interviewer had been more confrontational Freda Kelly would not have been forthcoming with anything polemic. It was a feature of the Epstein controlled Beatles operation back then that those allowed to remain close to the group - the ‘inner circle’ if one wants to call it that - were loyal and able to keep secrets. Any leaks or rocking-the-boat and out you’d go. Brian Epstein was, what would be known today as a control freak when it comes to micro management. In that respect Freda Kelly was well-trained in keeping quiet and doing as she was asked, it also helped she was a big fan and in daily contact with the group. However, the one thing she does have a moan about is the gender bias that was a feature back then. Surrounded by men, she feels while others progressed she was looked on as just a secretary.

Reportedly, after years of silence and at the then age of 69, Freda Kelly was finally persuaded to tell her story by her daughter, Rachel. “My daughter said: 'Your memory box is going now – do it before the dementia sets in. I wanted to make a little film for my grandson, Niall, to know what his granny did in her youth. He's three. I want him to be proud.” With that in mind, it’s not surprising that she wanted to keep it clean and not dish-the-dirt on those not around to answer back.

Other than his suspect drumming ability, I always thought part of the trouble with Pete Best was that he was a mother’s boy, and believe me Mrs Mona Best had a lot to say for herself. Never backwards in coming forwards, she was one strong character in that regard. There is no way she would have been able to resist ‘rocking-the-boat’ if her son hadn’t been sacked. Indeed, she reportedly had a few shouting matches with an equally vocal Brian Epstein (who according to Freda Kelly and others was known to get nasty when challenged) about the quality of early Beatles bookings before things came to a head on 16 January 1962. There was no love lost between the two. While others would have – and still are – agonising over the removal of Pete Best after all this time, Epstein wouldn’t have lost a minute’s sleep over it. On one hand the spin put on events likes to suggest Epstein was just carrying out orders, on the other hand he would have been more than a little pleased to get an interfering Mona Best out of the picture.
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hamilton_square
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Re: Groovy Beatles pictures

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Whoops!!! I made date error. Pete Best's sacking was on 16 August 1962, not 16 January 1962 as I mistakenly stated.

I seem to recall that Mona Best's biggest beef with Brian Epstein was that he didn't then have the necessary know-how and contacts when it came to getting the Beatles into better paying venues. Indeed, she claimed it was her who first approached Manchester-based Granada TV to get the group an appearance on the station's People and Places programme that eventually came to pass on 22 August 1962 with the Cavern performance. In fact, as a 16-year old, I can remember seeing Mona Best inside the Rank Organisation's Majestic Ballroom on Birkenhead's Conway Street, she could well have been checking up with the management as to how everything was going. One couldn't really miss her, small in statue with jet black hair wearing a corresponding full length black fur coat and, for a woman of her age, attractive looking with a round face and olive looking complexion. There's no doubt where her son got his good looks from.

Below is a brief clip on You Tube of Mona Best and son being interviewed on some TV programme or other (Not sure but I'll take a quess it was about 1965 / 66) ...

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Kiddwad57
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Re: Groovy Beatles pictures

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Mersey Me
Mersey Me
More of a mystery to me than Pete's sacking is how so many of the details about the Beatles' involvement with the Best family was kept out of general awareness for so many years. The whole affair between Mona Best and Neil Aspinall; how Lennon convinced Mona to let him borrow Pete's grandfather's medals to wear on the Sgt. Pepper's cover; etc.
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brammy
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Re: Groovy Beatles pictures

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Yea.... that is one of my alltime favorite Beatpix.... Tower Ballroom, New Brighton, Wallasey, Friday 8 December 1961
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Good point about how Brian was probably happy that John, Paul and (especially) George asked him to give Pete the boot. Mona might not have been a big pain to Brian (we may never know) but her out of the picture could not have been a negative in Brian's mind. Having said that, I say that the biggest factor in Pete's downfall is simply that he had never fit in personality-wise. John is on record being very cruel to Pete's drumming, but in the end one of the main factors is that they simply thought that Ringo was for fun to be with.

We all might feel bad for Pete in how the issue was handled (a total chickenshit move by the Fab 3 in not telling him directly), but (as George Harrison said) history has shown that Ringo was THE one for that "play".... it's just that he didn't enter until the second act.



interesting....
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brammy
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Re: Groovy Beatles pictures

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Kiddwad57
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Re: Groovy Beatles pictures

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Ooooh...Mona: I need you baby that's no lie <br />Without your love I'd surely die
Ooooh...Mona: I need you baby that's no lie
Without your love I'd surely die
I try to imagine "A Day in the Life" with Pete playing, and from all reports, Brian probably was pretty happy to have "that woman" out of his!
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DavyR
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Re: Groovy Beatles pictures

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brammy wrote:
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Never saw the pic above of Lennon outdoors on stage in turtleneck. Any info on it? Thanks!
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Re: Groovy Beatles pictures

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That picture was from a show on August 5th 1963 at Abbotsfield Park in Urmston, Lancashire. Thank you Mark Lewisohn (The Beatles Live!) and the internet!
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ChuckEds
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Re: Groovy Beatles pictures

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Another interesting picture, too bad it's so out of focus. From a show in Ipswich, October 31st 1964. John playing George's 425 and it's already had the second pickup added
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