BBC radio 4
Saturday 13 March
10.30am
Ali; When Cassius met the Beatles
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00r8b1k

1. Ali: When Cassius Met The Beatles

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Saturday, 10:30 on BBC Radio 4 (FM only)

Miami 1964: two legendary 20th-century forces, Cassius Clay and The Beatles, came face to face in a run-down boxing gym. John Wilson gathers eyewitness accounts of this unique encounter, with photographer Harry Benson, writer Robert Lipsyte and fight doctor Ferdie Pacheco.

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1. Sat 13 Mar 2010 10:30 BBC Radio 4 (FM only)

Beatlemania

Mit einem Vorwort von Klaus Voormann

140 Seiten mit über 100 Fotografien, Dokumenten und Faksimiles

� 19,95 / [A] � 20,60 / ca. a. sFr 34,90

ISBN: 978-3-7844-3221-2

LangenMüller Verlag 2010

Die Beatles und ihre Fans  das ist seit den Anfängen der legendären Band ein außergewöhnliches Verhältnis. Als sie noch live auftraten, wurden die Beatles von ihren Fans in einem Maße verehrt, wie es kaum einer anderen Popgruppe je zuteil wurde. Der Kult um die vier Jungs aus Liverpool ist bis heute ungebrochen. In dem aufwändig und liebevoll gestalteten Album �Beatlemania“ wird diese besondere Beziehung anhand vieler rarer, zum Teil unveröffentlichter Fotos und Dokumente beleuchtet. Fans wie Tanja Dückers, Burkhard Driest, Lisa Fitz, Frank Goosen, Jürgen Herrmann, Chris Howland, Klaus Kreuzeder, Gabriele Krone-Schmalz, Uschi Nerke, Abi Ofarim, Günter Ohnemus, Brian Parrish, Helmut Schmidt, Manfred Schreiber, Manfred Sexauer, Tony Sheridan, Pete York und viele mehr erzählen von ihren persönlichen Erinnerungen und Begegnungen mit den Beatles. Fotos u.a. von Ulrich Handl, Bubi Heilemann, Rainer Schwanke, Frank Seltier, Didi Zill, Günter Zint.

Thorsten.Knublauch@t-online.de

Birthday bash for ex-Beatle boss

An 80th birthday bash for Allan Williams – the man famous for giving up the Beatles – is taking place on Sunday.
Liverpool’s Deputy Lord Mayor Councillor Hazel Williams will be among those paying tribute to Mr Williams at the event in The Grosvenor Ballroom in Wallasey, the scene of the first ever gig he got for the Beatles.
Councillor Williams said: "Allan was a true pioneer of the Liverpool’s music scene and I would like to acknowledge his massive contribution to the city. I’m delighted to be able to wish him all the best for his 80th."
Allan Williams is generally acknowledged as being instrumental in the development of the whole Merseybeat scene. Apart from developing the Beatles and taking them to Hamburg, he also ran the Blue Angel Nightclub which played host to the Rolling Stones, Tommy Steele and Tom Jones.
As well as cutting ties with the Beatles just before they became a global phenomenon, Allan also famously ejected Judy Garland from the Blue Angel club and refused entry to Bob Dylan.

Troubled EMI seeking buyer for iconic Beatles studio, source says

A general view of the ‘Abbey Road Studio’ room is seen at the Beatlemania exhibition on May 28, 2009 in Hamburg, Germany. EMI is seeking to sell Abbey Road Studios, where The Beatles recorded some of their greatest hits.

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Paul McCartney says efforts could be underway to purchase Abbey Road Studios

Paul McCartney told the a news program Tuesday that a group with ties to Abbey Road Studios may try to buy the venerable recording facility.

"There are a few people who have been associated with the studio for a long time who were talking about mounting some bid to save it. I sympathise with them. I hope they can do something. It’d be great," BBC News reported he told the BBC’s "Newsnight" program.

"I’ve got so many memories there with the Beatles. It still is a great studio. It would be lovely for someone to get a thing together to save it," he said.

Bill Harry, founder of the Mersey Beat newspaper, says Abbey Road Studios is more than a studio.

"Abbey Road isn’t just a studio, it’s an icon," he told us by email. "It wasn’t just the home of the Beatles and scores of chart-toppers. Even today Abbey Road productions are nominated in the current Grammy, Music Week and Golden Globe Awards."
"At the 40th Anniversary I saw literally hundreds crossing that zebra!," he said.

But Harry also hopes the buyers will preserve the musical heritage.

"It depends who buys it – and what for. I wouldn’t want to see it turned into apartments. The musical landscape I lived in has been stripped already. The original Cavern was demolished to make way for an air vent for the underground railway, the art college where I went with John and Stuart has been sold and will be turned into apartments, Aintree Institute has been demolished – and so it goes on," he wrote us.

Author Ray Connolly, in an article written for the Daily Mail, called Abbey Road Studios a place that brought the world together.

"When we consider world heritage sites, we usually think about castles, cathedrals and monuments, things that tell us about history, who the people were who built them, and lived or prayed or worked in them. That’s as it should be," he wrote.
"But are there many things that affect every one of us as intimately as music? The recording techniques of the 20th century brought music of all kinds to the masses. And Abbey Road, with its innovative engineers and wide variety of musicians who have worked there, played a world role in that."

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/02/15/tributes-to-1960s-songwriter-paul-tennant-92534-25834452/2/

http://www.volkskrant.nl/economie/article1349475.ece/Kwakkelend_EMI_zet_Abbey_Road_te_koop

LONDON — The National Trust could buy and preserve the Abbey Road studios where the Beatles recorded many of their classics after an outpouring of public concern over its possible demolition, the British heritage-protection charity said Thursday.

Anxious not to see it fall into private hands, many people have contacted the National Trust asking that it buy the London landmark, the charity said. It has been put up for sale by cash-strapped record company EMI.

There had already been an "astonishing outpouring" of public support for the idea and it is possible the agency may intervene if it is clear the public wants more Beatles sites protected, trust spokesman John Hewitt said.

"It’s not often that the public spontaneously suggests that we should acquire a famous building," Hewitt said. "However, Abbey Road recording studios appear to be very dear to the nation’s heart."

The campaign to save Abbey Road studios — which could be sold and turned into upscale housing in the St. John’s Wood neighborhood in North London — was spurred by former Beatle Paul McCartney and prominent disc jockey Chris Evans.

McCartney, who has long had a house near the studios, said on a national news broadcast earlier this week that he would be delighted if the building could be saved.

He said some people long associated with the studio were considering an effort to preserve it.

McCartney did not, however, offer to put up the cash himself — the studios are thought to be worth between 10 million pounds ($16 million) and 30 million pounds ($48 million).

The National Trust already owns the boyhood homes of McCartney and his songwriting partner, John Lennon, which have become major tourist attractions in Liverpool, the port city where the band met.

Abbey Road has become an important part of Beatles lore, in part because of the 1969 album named after the recording studio. The crosswalk in front of the building was immortalized on the album cover, and many fans visit the site each year.

Since The Beatles‘ heyday, Abbey Road has been one of the world’s most famous rock music studios, used by artists like Pink Floyd, McCartney, George Harrison, Jeff Beck, Radiohead and others.

But EMI has been unable to find a buyer for the studio, in part because recording technology now permits many artists to conduct their own sessions at home using personal computers.

http://www.twentyfourbit.com/post/392393656/emi-puts-abbey-road-studios-up-for-sale

It certainly isn’t news that EMI, one of the so-called “Big Four” major record labels (owned by private equity firm Terra Firma) is in dire need of cash, but are they really going to such lengths as to sell the most famous recording studio of all time? According to Financial Times, they are…

The Beatles recorded almost their entire oeuvre at the Westminster, London townhouse/music landmark, of course, and damn if that’s not worth a pretty penny: According to “[F]ive people familiar with the situation,” EMI have “been courting bidders for the property,” as the sale “could raise tens of millions of pounds.”
EMI, which is rumored to be in merger talks with Warner Music Group, is “worth more than the building,” said a media lawyer consulted by FT, “anybody who wants the studios will want the brand.”
A story like this could incite what we’ll call “easy outrage,” but if a price is being put on a priceless place like Abbey Road by its very owners since 1929, Godspeed, I say. Surely one of its past inhabitants (Paul McCartney?) has the dough to preserve it. Did we mention that Radiohead, Elliott Smith, and Pink Floyd also crafted masterpieces there?