A Beatle related drawing a week for a year... "There's
nothing you can do that can't be done"...but this is something I can do. I'm a big Beatle fan, and a working caricaturist
for thirty years. I thought a nice way to combine the two is to steal a page from "Julie & Julia" and commit
to doing one new image related to the Beatles per week for the next year. I'm not doing one a day in strict homage, as I don't
think I could keep that pace for the next 365 days. 52 pieces of art seems more realistic, and might allow for more time intensive
media occasionally (painting, etc.) , though I expect most of the images will be ink on paper. There will also be non Beatle
drawings here on the blog, and my definition of "Beatles related" is elastic (if not fully Plastic Ono;-). So, key
people and family members outside the Fab Four will appear. In some rare instances, I may work
digitally which means there will be no "original" per se, but apart from that, most of these images will be available
for purchase. Email me if you are interested, and comment at will. Some Beatles links when
you're done here:
The Beatles' own website
BeatleLinks - The Beatles Internet Resource Guide
Artwork of Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe for sale
|
|
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
All You Need is color videotape in the camera... On June 25th, 1967, the Beatles participated in the first big satellite broadcast.
They played semi-live (using some backing tracks) to their upcoming single, “All You Need Is Love”. This
was the pinnacle of Pepperland, the apogee of the Summer of Love. Earlier this month, the band had released Sgt. Pepper, and
resolved the naysayers who had wondered if they had run out of talent now that they were no longer touring. They were
the kings of the world at the moment, and all of swinging London wanted to be there with them. The crowd at their feet includes
Clapton, Graham Nash , Keith Moon, Jagger, Richard, Marianne Faithful, Jane Asher & Mike McCartney.
The Anthology clip is nice, and one of the few good uses of “colorizing” technology. Oddly, the original footage
of this psychedelic crowd was shot in black & white!!! Glad somebody decided to save the BBC a few quid .
In the Anthology clip, the bit starts in black & white and fades into pretty full color, based on stills taken that day.
|  |
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Cry for a Shadow
| Stuart Sutcliffe was born June 23rd, 1940. An art school pal of Lennon’s, his friendship and bond with
JL was seen as threatening to McCartney during the early days, and eventually Stuart left the band, which seems to have been
for the best for both the band and the young painter.
Those who knew Stuart reflect that in retrospect, Stuart
had a James Dean sort of glamour that seemed to presage his early death from a cerebral hemorrhage. In his brief life, Stuart
found love with Astrid Kirchherr, who took those great photos of the young rockers in Hamburg (including the one I used for
this drawing). Astrid gave Stu the first Beatle haircut, cutting his hair in the moptop style known to the German Exi boys.
At the time, the hairstyle was seen as very feminine for a young Brit. So in a very real way, Stu’s influence in bending
gender styles was huge in the 60s.
Here’s to poor doomed Stu, the Dionysian sacrifice that fate demanded
of the Beatles. The very first song the band recorded when they recorded their album “Please Please Me” in one
day was “There’s a Place”.
Ostensibly a love song from a guy to a girl, I actually hear Lennon
reconciling his apparent success with the intense loss and pain he had endured in his life up till this point. He’s
lost both parents, one to the sea and one to a drunk driver, his Uncle George and many others. But Stu’s death brought
home that death wasn’t just something that happened to old people.
I think of you,
And things
you do,
Go 'round my head,
The things you said....
In my mind there's no sorrow,
Don't you know
that it's so.
There'll be no sad tomorrow,
Don't you know that it's so.
|
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
It's Yer Birthday!| James Paul McCartney, born June 18th, 1942, and the second of the
fab four that I’ve painted here @ HIAWP. In the early days, John Lennon cheered the group, reminding them that
they were heading to the “toppermost of the poppermost”, but it was Paul’s drive, enthusiasm and eagerness
to play the game of celebrity that provided the missing pieces to make it so. And where would the Beatles catalog of songs
be without Paul’s critical foundation? Paul also introduced John to a 14 year old guitar prodigy with whom he had been
riding the bus to school: George Harrison. Here’s to the greatest musician in the greatest band in the world,
Sir Paul McCartney: “I’m glad it’s your birthday/Happy Birthday to you!” |  |
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Their Angelic Majesties' Bequest! | In June of 1967, the Beatles released “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”.
They “turned it on the world, and turned the world around” . They asked of the world, “Are you
experienced?”, and Jimi Hendrix responded by opening his show the three days after the album’s release with
a performance of the title song, with Paul and George in the audience!
Actually released on June 1st, 1967, it’s
kind of appropriate that I drew the band on stage performing last week, because Sgt. Pepper was the dividing line in the band’s
early and late career. They gave up touring and began crafting stunning, psychedelic masterworks of chamber pop. Many Beatles
tribute bands shape their performances today as an early rock & roll set and a latter post Pepper set. The Beatles invented
the “concept album”, but of course, you had to connect the dots yourself to make any coherent concept of
it.
Most of their peers followed with imitations, most famously with the Stones’ “Their Satanic Majesties
Request”. Their old pal Bob Dylan recalibrated his compass and started “going up the country” in the basement
of Big Pink in Woodstock in a reaction in the other direction. George Harrison would in fact drop into these sessions
and dig the vibe.
So here’s a salute to Sgt. Pepper: It was 43 years ago today/ that the summer of love started
on its way. |
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
I Feel Fine | | Today I did a Beatles Anthology I Ching: by random selection, I chose which DVD to insert,
and further, which of the two programs (coin flip) and then which scene in that program to draw. It took me to disc 2, episode
4, scene 3: the discussion of feedback on "I Feel Fine". This lead to an old video of the band performing the number,
and suggested today's drawing: a band caricature of srts, when these four guys would play together on stage. By focusing
on faces, I have neglected the forest for the trees. So here's a gander at the body language and presentation of the band
as they performed on TV-- where many of us first heard & saw them. The visual is a mix of Hamburg "Mak Shau!"
and Brian Epstein's sense of marketing. One further, and personal note: this past weekend I walked my beautiful and
brilliant niece Janean down the aisle to her wedding with Andy . What a day, and what synchronicity that chance points me
to this song, because she's in love with him, "and I feel fine". |
|
|
|
