Ringo’s a revelation!<\/p>\n
Somehow, the Beatles coming to iTunes has become a business story, but that band was always about the music.\u00c2\u00a0 The mania came after.\u00c2\u00a0 The sheer joy of playing in a group, of living your life for music, not money, was the genesis.\u00c2\u00a0 Watching this film you can see right through the images all the way to the U.K., where the sons of soldiers picked up instruments to fight their way out of drudgery and boredom.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the power of music.\u00c2\u00a0 It can make you forget your circumstances.\u00c2\u00a0 And if you’re really good, it can create a world you couldn’t even envision when you first started to play.<\/p>\n
Beatles on iTunes?\u00c2\u00a0 No big deal.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Typical Fab Four.\u00c2\u00a0 Leaders in their day, followers ever since.<\/p>\n
Except that’s not the real story.\u00c2\u00a0 The Beatles wanted to be on iTunes.\u00c2\u00a0 It was an EMI problem.\u00c2\u00a0 Castigate Guy Hands all you want, but by putting Roger Faxon in power, a deal could finally be made.<\/p>\n
Is there a lot of money to be made?<\/p>\n
Of course not.\u00c2\u00a0 Just like when the Beatles first formed.\u00c2\u00a0 They didn’t know they’d go on to be some of Britain’s richest citizens.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, you can’t get that rich playing music anymore. If you’re all about the bread go to Wall Street, be a banker, or go work for the corporation, being two-faced and conniving to ascend to a platform wherein you can rape and pillage and make double digit millions.\u00c2\u00a0 But it won’t be fun.\u00c2\u00a0 And each and every one of those so-called winners would trade everything they’ve got to be up on stage with these guys.<\/p>\n
That’s what’s wrong with the mainstream media.\u00c2\u00a0 They miss the story.\u00c2\u00a0 So busy talking about Steve Jobs and EMI and Apple they didn’t focus on this Washington, D.C. concert that’s part of the hype.\u00c2\u00a0 FOR FREE!<\/p>\n
Don’t say Steve Jobs never did anything for you.<\/p>\n
Go to iTunes.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re confronted with a big black box that says\u00c2\u00a0 "The Beatles".\u00c2\u00a0 And in the upper right-hand corner, you’re gonna see a little box that says "Watch The Concert".\u00c2\u00a0 Click on that RIGHT NOW!<\/p>\n
Stay tuned through the voice-over.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s lame.\u00c2\u00a0 But the images are cool.<\/p>\n
And then you get to the gig.<\/p>\n
Security is not wearing yellow windbreakers, they don’t look like they’re on steroids and will beat you to a pulp.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a positively civilized affair, with the Beatles on a low riser in the middle of the hall.<\/p>\n
And that’s when you see them move their own equipment.\u00c2\u00a0 You can call it humble.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ll just tell you this is what a musician does.\u00c2\u00a0 He SCHLEPPS!\u00c2\u00a0 Talk to anybody who plays live for a living.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, if you’re a household name you’ve got roadies, but everybody below that level is lifting amps into a van or a trailer, or if you’re just starting out, a car. And you set up your gear at the gig yourself.\u00c2\u00a0 And until you truly make it, you have no monitors.\u00c2\u00a0 You play by your wits.<\/p>\n
The fact that these cats can get it so right, barely able to hear themselves, is amazing.<\/p>\n
But what’s really amazing is their ability to play.\u00c2\u00a0 George picking out the leads.\u00c2\u00a0 Paul on the bass.\u00c2\u00a0 Our dear departed John bouncing up and down with his legs spread.\u00c2\u00a0 If you didn’t imitate that look, you weren’t alive, or you were blind.<\/p>\n
McCartney shvitzing.\u00c2\u00a0 Music, when done right, is a workout.<\/p>\n
And speaking of workouts…\u00c2\u00a0 This film should put to rest any guff about Ringo’s ability to play the drums.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s the anchor, he’s the powerhouse, and he’s railing and flailing and pounding that big bass drum.\u00c2\u00a0 You can have a lot more equipment, but you’ve only got two hands and two feet.<\/p>\n
And when they bring the mic up to him and he sings "I Wanna Be Your Man"…<\/p>\n
Or how about George singing "Roll Over Beethoven"?<\/p>\n
But stay until the very end.\u00c2\u00a0 When Paul rips apart "Long Tall Sally" to such a degree he trumps Little Richard.\u00c2\u00a0 Not that either he or Richard would agree, but watch with your own two eyes.<\/p>\n
This was the beginning.\u00c2\u00a0 This was the genesis.\u00c2\u00a0 This was where it all began.<\/p>\n
In America.<\/p>\n
But for the Beatles it started years before.\u00c2\u00a0 They had a dream.\u00c2\u00a0 They played shitholes. They didn’t have rich parents.\u00c2\u00a0 They didn’t expect to make a record a week after they formed and have it be a hit.\u00c2\u00a0 They just played and played and played until ability was not a question and they could focus on showmanship.<\/p>\n
And what’s truly amazing in this movie is the audience is irrelevant.\u00c2\u00a0 This is a gang, having a blast.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re not playing for the media, they’re having a lark.\u00c2\u00a0 A serious one. They don’t want to mess up.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s truly shocking that they’re so on at what many today would consider a secondary gig.\u00c2\u00a0 I mean who’s paying attention in D.C?<\/p>\n
But we were all paying attention.\u00c2\u00a0 Because nothing we ever heard before came out of the speakers like "I Want To Hold Your Hand".\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 There was an energy and a confidence and when these guys do the "oos" and all the other initial Beatle tricks\/trademarks\/cliches your head will explode.\u00c2\u00a0 Just watch the audience…\u00c2\u00a0 Oprah never got this reaction.<\/p>\n
Everybody’s sitting there, with their Brownie cameras and programs.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve spun the LP at home.\u00c2\u00a0 They know all the words.<\/p>\n
Not that Paul is aware of this.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s got no context.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s explaining.<\/p>\n
But we already knew.<\/p>\n
That our lives would never be the same.<\/p>\n
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