Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Anybody know what happened to Yanni Alexis Mardas aka 'Magic Alex'? He pretty much seemed to drop out of the picture after 1969. I heard a rumor that he later started a business with the former King of Greece selling bullet proof cars, but that definitely sounds like a story... but who knows? Is he still alive? Anybody know what happened after he left Apple?

Yanni?

Magic Alex, hopefully, has disappeared for good. Pun intended.

He would be a great guest speaker at Beatlefest, no? Or do they even have THOSE anymore?

Yeah, it seems that everyone's stories about him are tainted with a bit of disdain, even people who liked him at the time. He's been accused of everything from bilking the Beatles out of money to turning John against the Maharishi. Seems like a character like that might turn around and cash in, or at least tell his side of the story, but he hasn't. (Yet.) Maybe he's changed. But considering what a major player he was, circa 67-69, it's unusual that you never hear anything about him today. Of all the characters in the Beatles' story, he's the one that's dropped completely off the map.

They still do the fests, but they're now called The Fest For Beatles Fans.

Don't forget the fling with Cynthia that gave John Lennon an eye witness to his charge of adultery on her part in his divorce action. Of course he'd been doing it with Yoko for some time by then.
I think all that was turned upside down by Yoko's pregnancy (where she later miscarried).

Yeah, that was pretty rotten of both John and Alex.

It WAS the 60s, though. I think Jagger thinks it still is, eh?

Would be interesting to see what Alex is up to. Apple was full of people stealing anything they could get. And heck, George paid the way for Hell's Angels AND their bikes to be shipped over.

Alex could always say, "well, I may have been a failure, a dreamer, but I never hit anyone over the head with a pool cue or stabbed someone to death at a Stones concert."

Wait a minute .. It's not the '60s anymore? When did that happen?

"Alex could always say, "well, I may have been a failure, a dreamer, but I never hit anyone over the head with a pool cue or stabbed someone to death at a Stones concert."

I think the Emperor said that in his ad for the so-called "Pete Townshend SG...

Alex was an opportunist with a gift for gab, but little else, apparently. Look at the evidence. He's now a cab driver in Athens.

He is saying "hello to all the girls around the world" one at a time.

Some cab drivers have great stories.

I think the Magic Alex saga highlights the naivete and gullible-ness on the part of the Beatles... especially John.

At the time many experts, including George Martin and the EMI staff, derided Magic Alex's wild electronic/recording claims as silly... and rightly so. But John used to tell them ... "You'll see". But the sad fact was that there never was anything to see. John (and the others) were trusting Alex based on claims and stories and nothing else. It's not like Alex ever had a working prototype of ANYTHING.

Alex was a classic fast-talking hustler and unfortunately he found fertile ground with the Beatles.

If Alex was the one who turned the Fabs against the Maharishi then that should be to his credit. Talk about a slick-talking hustler!! Besides, out of that incident we got 'Sexy Sadie'... a truly great song, which John wrote in the airport on the way back from India.