Just Gimme Some Truth...

Presented here are some more beautiful photos of John, many of which I scanned from my collection of Beatles Monthlies. By request, I've included more photos of John at Kenwood. The fifth picture is of a gorilla clock in John's massive collection of unusual items; the sixth is of John with the infamous suit of armor which greeted visitors upon entrance to Kenwood.

There has been much ado about the upcoming massive Lennon biography by Philip Norman, which is set for release in October. Apparently, Norman is making some salacious allegations concerning Lennon and McCartney, as well as Lennon and his mother. Lennon fans are quite familiar with the diary tape where John reveals an intimate moment with his mother, but according to reports, it seems that Norman is twisting and exploiting this revelation to get publicity for the book. Yoko Ono, who authorized this biography several years ago, has now retracted her endorsement and has spoken out (along with McCartney) against the tone of the book.

I was worried about this Lennon book from the beginning. Although Norman's Shout! The Beatles in Their Generation is a highly regarded Beatles biography, I found it to be particularly negative. After George Harrison's death, Philip Norman composed a scathing obituary, filled with filth and derogatory comments about Harrison. It was completely uncalled for and shameful; why should anyone expect Norman to treat Lennon any differently? I imagine Ono was unaware of this or she would not have initiated this project with Norman (which I believe was the case).

I plan on reading the book for myself and coming to my own conclusions. I doubt that it can surpass Ray Coleman's Lennon, but I want to determine this once I've read it and not based solely on other's opinions.

It's just terribly tragic that John is not here...

"We know how to behave! We've had lessons."

On September 6th, the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville's Old City hosted two showings of A Hard Day's Night on the "big screen," with all profits going to the Give Haiti Hope Outreach Program. It was certainly fun seeing the Beatles larger than life, and getting to recite dialog back and forth with my friend (in a quiet manner, mind you, yet no one was sitting too close to us anyway). I was disappointed in the lack of turn out, considering it was a charity event and a chance to see one of the greatest films ever made in such a gorgeous setting. The only negative was that the sound could have been better; nevertheless, it was an exhilirating experience. We capped off the evening with the Invaders at the C&G. Now if we can just persuade the Tennessee to show Help! next....

Inspired by the recent event, I decided to scan some relevant items for this post. The above article was taken from the October 2002 issue of Uncut, coinciding with the Miramax DVD release. The other photos are from the 1964 16 magazine feature on A Hard Day's Night.

HiRes Hodgepodge

Over at the Steve Hoffman forum, there has been discussion concerning the top picture; apparently there are many who feel it is one of the best of the Beatles. All the scans posted in the thread were from book covers, so the typeface obscured the picture somewhat; I decided to create a high resolution scan of the picture I had in my collection. I hope you all enjoy it--be sure to click to enlarge the picture; it would make a very nice wallpaper.

The other scans in this post originate from photos that were sent to me by my wonderful friend Jeff, who has amassed such an amazing collection over the years that he kindly shares it with me. These photos are "actual" photos on Fuji photo paper, and they are gorgeous! A couple of them are a bit different from commonly circulating photos from their respective sessions. There's one from the "Strawberry Fields Forever" promo shoot, one from the Mad Day Out, two from the Voyage of the Fritz session, and four from the last photo session at Tittenhurst.