Why did George Harrison want to sue me? I’m a Beatle fan, I liked George, but I think it’s because of his bitter experience losing the  “My Sweet Lord” plagiarism trial.

Even though the judge believed George unintentionally used some of the chords from the Chiffons “I’m so fine”, George still lost the case and paid out over £ million for copyright infringement.

I doubt that it was the money that annoyed George, it was the stain to his artistic integrity.

“I am he, as you are he, as you are me, and we are all together.” Philosophy? The ravings of a madman? Or simply the first line of a Lennon Beatles song; “I am the Walrus”.

This song was based on the poem,”The Walrus and the Carpenter” by Lewis Carroll, and it’s theme is death.

Although this is a classic Lennon song, John was feeling magnanimous when he sang “Here’s a clue for you all, the Walrus was Paul” in the song ‘Glass Onion’ from the Beatles White album. THAT drove the ‘Paul is Dead’ conspiracy believers wild.

When I first heard  ‘Piper at the Gates of Dawn’ by Pink Floyd, I was excited, I knew from listening to this that music didn’t need to have any boundaries, it could go anywhere, it could progress. Progressive music was born and many bands experimented with it.

John Lennon tried psychedelia with ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ and avant garde electronic music with ‘Revolution No.9′  but the Beatles were constrained by the 3 minute pop song format. For music to progress it needed room to expand. The concept album gave a broad canvas, and as usual the Beatles were ahead of the game, with ‘Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band’.

Here’s my rundown of the top three Christmas hits.

Coming in at number three is a one hit wonder, with a great oom pah beat and anti-war sentiments…………………..Jona Lewie and Stop the Cavalry:

Dropping one place to number two is a beautiful Christmas message from John Lennon. He already said that ‘All you Need is Love’ and pleaded to ‘Give Peace a Chance’ now he’s hoping that ‘War is Over’ :

And at number one, the greatest Christmas song ever written. Composed and sung by an alcoholic genius, Shane MacGowan of the Pogues, with the late Kirsty MacColl in a duet with some distinctively un-Christian lyrics…. ’A Fairytale of New York’:

Normally a Beatles album contained all Lennon & McCartney songs with one or two by Harrison, (‘Something’ and ‘Here Comes the Sun’ on Abbey Road). Harrison always felt like the junior partner to Lennon and McCartney when it came to song-writing.

‘All Things Must Pass’ was George Harrison’s first solo album where he was able to record all the half-finished songs he was unable to get onto any Beatles record. The result in 1970 was a triple album, and one of the finest recorded by any of the solo Beatles.

I have just completed a painting of the Simpsons walking along Abbey Road zebra crossing ala the famous Beatles album cover.

           I started this last year and then got diverted onto other projects.   Now my project is to finish off all the half-completed paintings I have hanging around.

Any Beatle fan will immediately recognise this image. Homer Simpson is John Lennon, Marge Simpson is Ringo Starr, Bart Simpson is Paul McCartney and Lisa Simpson is George Harrison.

Anyone in the UK should try and visit the Royal Albert Hall, London, at least once. The building alone is worth seeing, but to really appreciate it you should attend a concert. 

The ‘Classical Spectacular’ I attended was on Sunday 21st March 2010. The ticket prices were £50 and worth every penny. This review is not just historical, the Classical Spectaculars are regular events that are held at least twice a year, the next being between

18th and 21st November 2010.

Once upon a time, (the 1960′s actually), there were five Brummie lads who liked beer and music. Sitting in the pub drinking their local ‘Brew X11′ for the “Men of the Midlands”, they decided to form a band.

One of them had heard that the Birmingham brewery Mitchells and Butlers were looking for a band to play at their trade fairs. So they decided to call themselves the M & B Band and tried to get sponsored by the brewery.

Some of the most boring blogs you can find, are those where every post is urging you to BUY, BUY, BUY, this latest product that you absolutely can’t be without.

These articles could be classified as Product Reviews, EXCEPT you never read a bad review! After all, the blogger won’t make any money out of saying how bad something is.

What’s  worse than the blatant sales pitch, are those blogs where the reviews aren’t even personal. They are just a rehash of the products sales page, or a PLR article scattered with BUY buttons.

Last night I was at St Mary’s church in Warwick for a performance of Handel’s Messiah. I have seen this performed once before, but had forgotten how long and boring it is!

The only bit’s I liked were “Are we like Sheep?” and “The Hallelujah Chorus” – but that was over an hour away.  I was having trouble keeping my eyes open, and my girlfriend was having the same problem, so in the interval we ‘did a runner’.