Reminder: The Beatles remain the best band ever.

[Stapes]

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Faster than a speeding snare roll: It's Ringo Starr, superhero.

The former Beatles drummer has undertaken a joint venture with Stan Lee's POW! Entertainment to develop a multimedia franchise in which Starr will play a superpowered animated version of himself.

The Starr-Lee project initially will be launched as a 60- or 90-minute DVD, but POW! and Starr's entertainment company, Rocca Bella, plan to explore TV, feature film and other avenues.

Starr will voice his own character. Remarkably, this will mark the first significant animated appearance by Starr as Starr. In ABC's 1965-67 cartoon series "The Beatles," he was voiced by Lance Percival; Paul Angelis portrayed Ringo in the animated 1968 feature "Yellow Submarine"; and Starr appeared as himself on a 1991 episode of "The Simpsons." Starr also served as a narrator on the British kids TV series "Thomas the Tank Engine."

The musician also will contribute original songs and incidental music.

"I've been making a CD, so I have lots of ideas," Starr said. Referring to his '90s touring group, he added, "(The action) will be set around a band. They'll be their own characters. It'll be a very strange All-Starr Band."

Starr called Lee "a great creator. (This project) wasn't anything I was looking for. But he had this idea of a musical superhero -- what I like to think of as a reluctant superhero. . . . I'll zoom in to save the world, or a damsel in distress, or a small village. Who knows where he'll go?"

Lee -- originator of such comic book icons (and big-screen franchises) as Spider-Man, the Hulk and the Fantastic Four, said of Starr: "He's a great, great guy to work with. He's a real guy, and he's imaginative, and we seem to be on the same wavelength."

The collaboration came together after POW! chief operating officer Gill Champion and Rocca Bella head Marjorie Bach, both equestrians, met during a ride and began discussing the possibility of a collaboration.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

[TimmyB]

I can't wait to see Sir Paul McCartney again!

from www.billboard.com

Edited By Jonathan Cohen. January 26, 2005, 5:20 PM ET

McCartney Nailing Down North American Tour

Sir Paul McCartney will take advantage of media focus surrounding his halftime performance at Super Bowl XXXIX on Feb. 6 to announce his upcoming tour of North America, sources tell Billboard.com. The Beatles legend will play 38 North American cities beginning Sept. 16 in Miami and running until the end of November.

Tickets are expected to go on sale the last week in February. McCartney last visited North American in 2002 as part of a world tour that grossed more than $126 million and drew nearly one million fans.

McCartney is working on a new album for Capitol but no timetable has been set for its release. As previously reported, the artist has collaborated with producer Nigel Godrich (Beck, Radiohead) and multi-instrumentalist Jason Falkner on the set, which will be his first studio album since 2001's "Driving Rain."

The touring landscape will be relatively crowded with superstars this fall, as U2 will be on the second U.S. leg of its Vertigo tour, and the Rolling Stones also are believed to have an outing in the works.

-- Ray Waddell, Nashville

[MarcO]

Hamilton Man Admits To Liking Beatles Song

January 28, 2005

HAMILTON, ON (CP) – In a stunning admission that has stunned observers from all over the world, Steve Schmelzle of Hamilton, Ontario, has admitted there is a song by an obscure English 60’s group called “The Beatles” he actually doesn’t mind.

“I was at an all night free jazz festival in Florida a few years ago, and once the sun was up, the DJ played ‘Here Comes The Sun’ and I thought, yes, here is the sun! That’s pretty clever! I thought, this song is not bad!”

The frank admission brings an end to an ugly chapter in international politics as Canada will now be invited to rejoin the United Nations after a yearlong ban on “non-Beatle” countries. Further, Schmelzle will now be allowed to walk the city streets without wearing a burka and without the fear of getting stoned by passer-bys.

“At first, when the mean judge invited the townpeople to ‘stone me’ I thought I’d be getting all freaky with the local dealers”, he said Friday afternoon, “but when they started heaving bricks and large pieces of broken glass at me, I began to see what the judge meant. It really sucked.”

Schmelzle, seen here with fly undone, credits his spiritual advisor, for his turnaround. "He saved my life and then I ate him."

Reached at his Arizona estate, surviving Beatle Paul McCartney simply said he wished his late partner John Lennon had lived to see the occasion arise. “John loved Steve, even before he was born, and I think he took the hurt of that rejection with him to his grave.”

McCartney then reportedly ate a ham sandwich.

In the occupied territories along the Gaza Strip, thousands of Palestinian insurgents dropped their weapons in solidarity with their Israeli brethren, filling the streets with exuberant dancing and singing “Give Steve A Chance” throughout the night, curfew having been lifted for the first time in 845 years.

North Korea announced an immediate halt to their impending nuclear missile attack on the city of Hamilton, scheduled for May 2005. “We have decided to go after Ireland instead!”, a clearly jubilant Kim Jong Il announced to cheering reporters.

Friends and family of Schemelzle broke a decade long prayer vigil to welcome their wayward child back into the fold. “It was so hard for me to know he came out of me,” his mother told Canadian Press. “He was even conceived to the sounds of the White Album’s ‘Revolution Number 9’. I loved him so much but so wanted to smother him with a pillow while he was sleeping.”

The Canadian Parliament will hold an emergency meeting tomorrow morning to discuss the ramifications Schmelzle’s turnaround will have on international treaties and pressing National issues. “Time is of the essence”, said Paul Martin to reporters in Halifax, “if we can build on this momentum, we may even get him to admit that ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ is actually a pretty cool album, especially when you’re kinda tweaked.”

Schmelzle himself says he’s happy to have found a Beatles song he actually doesn’t mind but doesn’t understand what the fuss is all about. “It’s not like we’re talking about U2 or something like that.”

- with reports from jambands.ca and Christian Science Monitor

[Booche]

[RayRay]

That is a piece of pure literary brilliance Marco.

[Lazlo]

Steve, how could you?

[guigsy]

'Give Steve A Chance'!!!!!

(fu©k, im never gonna be able to sing it properly again!)

::

[secondtube]

::

well, well, been dipping into Hamilton's meds again eh Marc...

did u call Q today? On the way home from school, they played back to back doubleshots...and i kid you not, i swear someone was behind it, they played the Beatles than U2...

And i KNOW you have connections on the inside Mr O....

Maybe its time to do a little hard drive search and see what pics of Mr Funny Pants we can find...

::

[Vermontdave]

That was brilliant.

I didn't realize any of this shite was going on.

[MarcO]

Today in Beatles History

1963 - Paul McCartney and John Lennon composed "From Me To You."

[MarcO]

Today in Beatles History

1966 - About one hundred Beatles fans barricaded themselves inside Liverpool's Cavern Club. The day before the club had closed due to bankruptcy.

1966 - "The Beatles At Shea Stadium" was world premiered on BBC1.

1969 - The Beatles album "Yellow Submarine" hit #2 in the U.S.

1970 - Two clips of the Beatles, performing "Let It Be" and "Two of Us," were aired on "The Ed Sullivan Show." It was the last time the group appeared on the show.

1972 - John Lennon was granted an extension on his American work visa.

1972 - John Lennon began recording "Sometime in New York City."

1995 - The Beatles' "Abbey Road" was inducted into NARAS' 22nd annual Hall of Fame at the 37th annual Grammy Awards.

[AdamH]

How I ever missed that Steve article is beyond me. Beautiful work, the world needs more articles and fish and open violin cases like that.

[MarcO]

Today in Beatles History

1971 - The South African Broadcasting Corporation lifted its ban on the music of the Beatles.

1980 - Four dollar bills signed by the Beatles sold for 220 pounds at a Sotheby's auction in London.

[Lazlo]

Today in Beatles History

1971 - The South African Broadcasting Corporation lifted its ban on the music of the Beatles.

Why? Were they to black?

[hamilton]

Ummmm.... yeah, actually. Rock 'n'roll was pretty much still seen as "black music" by the upper classes in much of European society, so you can just imagine the mindset in South Africa. It would be a particularly bad idea to let the public hear four white guys playing this black music.

[TimmyB]

from www.billboard.com

THIS DAY IN MUSIC for March 4, 2005.

1966 - John Lennon, in an interview in the London Evening Standard, creates international controversy with his remark that the Beatles "are probably bigger than Jesus right now."

[ggrtrhhrtgg]

It also might have had something to do with their political views/stance on the Afrikaans Apartheid Gov't.

[TimmyB]

from www.billboard.com

THIS DAY IN MUSIC for March 11, 2005

1997 - Former Fab Four member Paul McCartney is officially knighted by Queen Elizabeth II during an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

[MarcO]

It also might have had something to do with their political views/stance on the Afrikaans Apartheid Gov't.

I think that is correct.

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

I wonder how much that the Jesus statement might have played into that too. It's always important to remember that Jerry Falwell, for instance, was a vocal opponent of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights movement at the time (something that's been largely swept under the historical carpet).

[timouse]

\("they needed a better drummer"), \

Are you kidding!?!?!?! Ringo was a fu©king awesome drummer! A "better" drummer would have ruined what the Beatles were going for. Really sit and listen to the drum parts (especially in the later stuff) and you'll notice how Ringo is a chameleon drummer his sound adapts to each song and he blends in perfectly with his surroundings.

What he said.

ringo is it. he laid the path for rock drumming...and the chameleon thing is on the money....to be able to switch gears and truly fit the tune is my lifelong quest as a drummer. ringo and levon are my spirit guides.

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Ringo rocks - check out some of the stuff on his Vertical Man album. Besides which, Ringo stands as my favourite choice in the "who is your favourite Beatle" psych. test - the only one who was not only consistently funny, but who stayed above the fray of all the nasty litigation.

And then there's his role in 200 Motels that just clinches it for me ("Musicians have basic physical needs... just like real people").

[timouse]

ah hah! i knoew there was a reason we got on so well, dr evil...there's a "who's your favourite beatle" psych test? tell me more!

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

I've run into a few variations just in teaching ESL (invariably good class, for the instructor, at least, either way). There must be a bunch of versions, I'm sure, each, I suspect, framed in such a way as to provide preferential options - think, e.g., of one possibility:

George = quiet, introspective, mystical;

John = rebellious yet sensitive rocker;

Ringo = affable, easygoing, uncomplicated;

and Paul = schmaltz.

But that kind of framing is bound to tweak somebody the wrong way .

What might be some better predicates?

[TimmyB]

from www.billboard.com

THIS DAY IN MUSIC for March 12, 2005.

1969 - Paul McCartney marries Linda Eastman at Marylebone Registry Office in London.