Music Before the Money

“I think it’s time to smoke the pipes of peace and to just, you know, put away your hatchet because I think it’s a show of friendship . . . I’m very friendly with the French people I know. I know people of all nationalities.”

- Paul McCartney to the CBC before his concert for the 400th Anniversary of Quebec City

Paul McCartney is as big as they come. His songwriting, in collaboration with John Lennon and producer George Martin, changed popular music from a collection of hangers-on from the Swing Era, fading ’50’s stars, skiffle, folk and teen idols to a major force of world-changing anthems in a few records. In fact many major bands began after watching him and the other The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964 or their movie A Hard Day’s Night. Well, he never disappointed the 200,000 revelers that came out to hear him.

McCartney was last in Canada with his former wife, Heather, and he delved into politics by venturing out onto the frozen ice floes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to pet baby seals. Unfortunately, he never won too many converts to his cause and he and his wife split months later. However, he seemed to forget all this when pounding out his tunes.

The separatists who opposed his concert on grounds that Macca was one of “Les Anglais” basically used the occasion to grab some attention to spark their cause which has withered since their ill-fated attempt to break up the country in 1995. The signatories on the document of protest were mainly artists, musicians, sculptors and probably the odd mime (I’m joking). They had a revisionist view of history and want someone to blame for France bailing out on them in 1759. So the artists and musicians can blame the English (including people with names like Wong and Luchansky whom they bunch together as English) but the British won North America by default.

As for the concert McCartney came out with the big guns like Jet from his Wings days and Beatles hits Drive My Car and All My Loving. Those are great songs in any language.

When I watch the “idol” reality shows I can’t help but wonder how good many of these contestants are. I mean they have more talent in one hand than I did at that age. A few of them even have even showed up with their voice teachers. That’s cool. If you got one, go for it!

We stared out by playing birthday parties for friends and then dances which we thew ourselves. We thought we we hot stuff and wanted more. So then we went on the road . . .

The Beatles played in Hamburg on and off from 1960 through 1962. While they were there they had to play 7 hours a day, 7 days a week. George got deported for being under-aged and then rest got kicked out for allegedly starting a fire. However, when they all played back in Liverpool again something had changed. They were a really tight band and they had songs of their own. The long hours playing every night made them into a very good band.

The road in Canada was probably no different for us than the U.S. was for American bands except for we had fewer places to play and the intervals between gigs was measured in hundreds of miles. During this time we had something that The Beatles never did - recorded music in the vans so we could practice while driving (the driver just sang, thank you very much!) When we came back home we were getting pretty good but then we disbanded, literally, and I went back to school.

What bands back then, and a few today, understand is that a band is a lifestyle. We became buggered when we started making some money. Up until then all our money went for instruments.

Today, most people want to be famous. They do realize the sound of a good song, probably better than I did but, like sports figures, they want the cash and Entertainment Tonight too. I can’t blame them. And maybe they don’t want to know what it’s like playing in a bar and wondering if you’ll get beat up if they don’t like you!

Last weekend’s Martime Beatle Event thrilled all the lovers of The Beatles and those forever in tune with 1960’s music. Again Hal Bruce filled the stage with eager performers who combined a huge Beatle repertoire with songs from other groups of the 1960’s for an action-packed 12 hours of music.

The music rarely slowed down. Hal Bruce opened the show with a 45 minute solo performance and then brought up his friend, Scott Ferguson on the drums for their duo Ticket 2 Ride. Local duos and singles
got their chance led off by Ian of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, a successful recording artist. Another Dartmouth girl, Heather Pyke, sang Skeeter Davis’ End of the World followed by a Brett and Shane Kinrade, twin 12 year-olds who played Yesterday and Eleanor Rigby in duet form. Terry Creaser from Sheffield, England was followed by Donna Scaglioni who did an amazing rendition of Oh Darling.

A late addition, Free Fall, from Amherst did a set of formidable Beatles Songs and then The BlackByrds from Hungary carried the show further with their youth and enthusiasm.

John Lennon fan, Jay Goeppner, wowed the audience for a 3rd straight year showing once again that he has few equals as a front man.

The Sumer of Love Show featured Michelle Gill doing Grace Slick and Aretha Franklin without missing a note. It was an awesome performance. As usual Hal Bruce led the show and was musical producer.

Why these shows are put is to recreate the excitement that the music created so many years ago. And our hats are off to Hal Bruce for having the stamina and the vision to put on a show of this caliber.

The 3rd Maritime Beatle Event is only a week away and ticket sales have been going quite well. headlined by the Hungarian-based band The Blackbirds it proves to be an awesome event.

The event organizer and entertainer Hal Bruce just got back from Louisville, Kentucky where he headlined The Abbey Road on the River Festival

Here are the headliners for this year’s show:

The BlackBirds (Budapest, Hungary)
Jay Goeppner (Illinois)
Hal Bruce (Nova Scotia)
Hal Bruce & Ticket 2 Ride (NS)
Summer of Love Band
(International All-Star Band)


ADDED GUESTS

Mark Rashotte (Ontario)
Ian Sherwood (Nova Scotia)
Stan Bullock (North Carolina)
Scott Ferguson (Nova Scotia)
Mark Beyer (Kentucky)
Michelle Gill (Nova Scotia)
Donna Scaglione (Nova Scotia)

For tickets click here: Maritime Beatle Event

“You can wear a mask and paint your face
You can call yourself the human race
You can wear a collar and a tie
One thing you can’t hide
Is when you’re crippled inside”

John Lennon: Crippled Inside from the Album, Imagine

When you look at the personalities and follow the chronology the break-up of The Beatles was inevitable. Because unlike any other group of the time they were the “eggheads” - three of them, anyways. And recording was, more than jot, a search for answers as much as it was a sojourn for musical excellence and experimentation. The Rolling Stones dabbled with the mystic and other themes but after Brian Jones left they drew away from blues and experimentation to being a full-tilt rock band.

McCartney started recording on his own, but for vain reasons. In interviews you could see that it wasn’t vanity that drove him. He wanted to perform again and just couldn’t make his new music in a Beatles surrounding in which the songs were never played live. Harrison was on the edge as well, immersed in eastern religion and music. Lennon had Yoko Ono and a new life as well as music. And Ringo just wanted the Beatles thing to continue.

However, when McCartney released his second album Ram, Lennon followed behind shortly with Imagine and a few jabs at his former writing and singing partner. Besides lampooning McCartney’s handling of a real ram on the record jacket (Lennon held a pig), How Do Your Sleep was a direct jab at him. Some say this was for the picture of the copulating beetles on the jacket and others say Lennon was made about McCartney’s song Too Many People, which it is said he took a shot at Lennon.

The song, Crippled Inside, was thought to be a rebuttal to Too Many People but the lyric point to a civil rights tune and about people who say they are for equality but don’t feel that way. It probably contained some inflections which were spawned by his estrangement from the other Beatles but, remember, Lennon estranged himself from everyone he knew in the past, friends and family included. He was no longer a Beatle and he was no longer and Englishman.

So both albums were partly a knee-jerk reaction to the split of The Beatles and were mildly successful compared Harrison and Starr’s releases, although Lennon’s song Imagine was a huge hit. It wasn’t until Ringo ran out of steam in a couple of years that his sales overcome by the other three.