The owners of John Lennon's former home found an old sketchbook containing this tiny sketch of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover. It's up for auction with an estimated selling price of $40k-$60k which seems oddly low for such an artifact. From Julien's Live auctions:

An ink on paper sketch by John Lennon of the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover with Lennon’s handwriting of the album’s title on the central bass drum in the image. The drawing was found in a sketchbook left in Lennon's former home, Kenwood in Surrey, England, and recovered by the new owners. The design of the album cover is known to have been executed by artist Peter Blake based on drawings provided by Paul McCartney. All of The Beatles contributed to the design of the cover in some way. It is unknown how this undated drawing figures into the history of the album cover and Lennon’s involvement.

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If you're old enough, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is one of the greatest records ever released. There are enough of us who can recite the lyrics to start a revolution. And just when you think things can't get any better, you realize that they're getting better all the time.

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the release of the original Sgt. Pepper album, the Beatles have produced an enormously "wantable" six disc CD/Blu-Ray combination package with replicas of all the original paper inserts plus a whole lot more.

That's all I've got: watch the video. It's $149 at Amazon, but I bet the price will drop before release on May 26th.

More detailed information for the obsessed!

CD 1: New Stereo Remix

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band With A Little Help From My Friends Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds Getting Better Fixing A Hole She's Leaving Home Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! Within You Without You When I'm Sixty-Four Lovely Rita Good Morning Good Morning Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) A Day In The Life

CD 2: Sgt. Pepper Sessions

Strawberry Fields Forever—Take 1 Strawberry Fields Forever—Take 4 Strawberry Fields Forever—Take 7 Strawberry Fields Forever—Take 26 Strawberry Fields Forever—Stereo/Giles Martin Mix 2015 When I'm Sixty-Four Penny Lane—Take 6 Penny Lane—Vocal Overdubs and Speech Penny Lane—Stereo / Giles Martin Mix 2017 A Day In The Lif e- Take 1 A Day In The Life—Take 2 A Day In The Life—Orchestra Overdub A Day In The Life—Hummed Last Chord A Day In The Life—The Last Chord Sgt. Read the rest

From the Kubo and the Two Strings soundtrack, this hauntingly gorgeous cover of The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by Regina Spektor who kindly said the following in an interview a few years back:

"I love Boing Boing. It's cool because the site is filled with curated information all about science, art and culture -- plus, you still get cute distractions like little animals."

Thanks, Regina!

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Alvarortega has a YouTube channel of animated videos of Beatles (and solo) music. Really fun stuff! Read the rest

Robbo writes, "Peter Sellers recorded a series of performances, in a variety of voices, reciting the lyrics of popular Beatles songs. It is demented weirdness - and perfect in all its madness." Read the rest

Carolina Eyck performs a lovely series of Theremin Sessions, including this cover of Norwegian Wood. And she takes viewer requests:

To take part in this video project, comment or send me your suggestions for an improvisation. This can be: a) a word or sentence b) a photo, a drawing/sketch or painting of yours c) a recording of you playing your instrument d) a video of you playing your instrument I choose one suggestions every week to play an improvisation in the end of the video. Looking forward to your ideas!

Bonus video to show young people in your life: Carolina performing at age 9:

Bonus bonus: "Après un rêve" by Gabriel Fauré :

More at her site.

• Norwegian Wood - Beatles (Cover): Theremin Session #13 (YouTune / Carolina Eyck) Read the rest

As soon as Pesco posted this, I knew I had to have the minifigs, especially the nowhere man.

The LEGO Yellow submarine is now shipping!

LEGO Ideas Yellow Submarine 21306 Building Kit via Amazon Read the rest

"The Beatles’ LEGO Yellow Submarine vs. the Sea Monster," a promo video for The Beatles Yellow Submarine set due out next month. And yes, there's a Blue Meanie included. The concept for the set came from the LEGO Ideas crowdsourcing program, a submission from a fellow named Kevin Szeto:

"As an amateur musician and songwriter, I have always been drawn to the music of The Beatles," Szeto wrote. "The creation of the Yellow Submarine model was really my way of showing my affection for The Beatles, as well as trying to pay a small tribute to The Beatles phenomenon. The Yellow Submarine is bright, fun, and colourful, which also made it a good subject to translate into LEGO form."

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Enjoy this song by the Pre-Fab Four! Read the rest

In 1965, John Lennon, George Harrison, Cynthia Lennon, and Pattie Boyd were having dinner at a dentist friend's house. The dentist put LSD in their coffee without telling them first. When he revealed what he had done, John was pissed off, and rightly so. "How dare you fucking do this to us?" he said. Rolling Stone's Mikal Gilmore has the story and an animated interview with John about their first trip on LSD and the secret history of Revolver:

"It was as if we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a horror film," Cynthia Lennon said. "The room seemed to get bigger and bigger." The Beatles and their wives fled Riley's home in Harrison's Mini Cooper. (According to Bury, John and George had earlier indicated a willingness to take LSD if they didn't know beforehand that it was being administered.) The Lennons and Harrisons went to Leicester Square's Ad Lib club. In the elevator, they succumbed momentarily to panic. "We all thought there was a fire in the lift," Lennon told Rolling Stone in 1971. "It was just a little red light, and we were all screaming, all hot and hysterical." Once inside at a table, something like reverie began to take hold instead. As Harrison told Rolling Stone, "I had such an overwhelming feeling of well-being, that there was a God, and I could see him in every blade of grass. It was like gaining hundreds of years of experience in 12 hours."

The couples ended up at the Harrisons' home in Esher, outside London.

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Samuraigutarist recorded his cover of The Beatles' "Here Comes The Sun" at a very slow tempo that lengthened the song to around 30 minutes. Then he sped up the video and audio 20x. The result sounds like a lovely violin version of the song.

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An exceedingly rare and historically important Beatles record sold at auction today for $110,000. The 78 RPM 10" acetate includes "Hello Little Girl," apparently the first song John Lennon ever wrote (or at least recorded). The flip side is a song Meredith Wilson wrote for the 1957 play The Music Man, titled "Til There Was You." Take a listen below. The Beatles manager Brian Epstein handwrote the label on this particular record that now belongs to an anonymous collector.

From Omega Auctions:

This unique 10" 78RPM acetate record featuring 'Hello Little Girl' on one side and 'Til There Was You' on the other was cut in the Personal Recording Department of the HMV record store on Oxford St, London. Brian Epstein had the disc cut from the Decca audition tapes before presenting it to George Martin (EMI) on 13th February 1962 in his desperate attempt to get them a recording contract. This meeting, despite Martin's initial reticence, was to eventually lead to the breakthrough they were looking for. The disc was later given to The Fourmost to record their own version of Hello Little Girl (recorded 3 July 1963) and then to Les Maguire of Gerry & The Pacemakers (recorded Hello Little Girl 17th July 1963). This is the first time it has come to the marketplace, having been tucked away in Maguire's loft until now. Epstein's handwriting on the labels reads as follows: side 1 Hullo Little Girl, John Lennon & The Beatles, Lennon,McCartney' and side 2 'Til' There Was You Paul McCartney & The Beatles'.

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From George Fest: A Night To Celebrate The Music Of George Harrison that took place in L.A. in 2014. Also making the scene were Norah Jones, Wayne Coyne (Flaming Lips), Dhani Harrison (George's son), Ian Astbury (The Cult), Britt Daniel (Spoon), Ben Harper, Ann Wilson (Heart), and many others. The whole event will be available next month on CD, Blu-Ray, digital download, and vinyl. Trailer below.

George Fest: A Night To Celebrate The Music Of George Harrison (Amazon)

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Ringo Starr's personal copy of The White Album, the first pressing of the album, numbered 0000001, is up for auction with proceeds going to charity. The current high bid is $55,000. From Julien's Auctions:

It has been widely known among collectors that the four members of the Beatles kept numbers 1 through 4, but it was not commonly known that Starr was given the No.0000001 album. Starr has stated that he kept this album in a bank vault in London for over 35 years. Up to this time the lowest numbered UK first mono pressing album to come to market is No.0000005, which sold in 2008 for just under $30,000. This No.0000001 UK first mono pressing owned by a member of the Beatles is the lowest and most desirable copy that will ever become available.

As the record manufacturing plant certainly had every machine available simultaneously pressing copies of this album it is impossible to say with certainty which records were truly the very first off the press, but these discs were certainly among the very first. The album covers however were numbered in sequence, insuring that this No.0000001 sleeve is the very first finished cover. The top load sleeve is in near mint minus condition and would be near mint if not for the bumped upper right front gatefold corner, but it is overall very clean and fresh with very minor abrasions.

"RINGO STARR'S UK 1st MONO PRESSING WHITE ALBUM NO.0000001" (Julien's Auctions)

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See sample pages from this book at Wink.

In 1964, Italian photographer Emilio Lari was 24, newly arrived in London and looking for work. Back in Rome, he’d shot promotional stills on the set of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, starring Sofia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni, and for The Bobo, featuring Peter Sellers and Britt Ekland.

Now he was hoping to do the same in Britain. Fortunately, it didn’t take long for him to hear about a new film just going into production: A cheap black-and-white comedy meant to cash in on that latest fad, the Beatles. Lari went around to see the film’s director, Sellers’ old friend Richard Lester, and got invited to the first day of shooting. He was on the set of A Hard Day’s Night only that day, but Lester liked his photos and invited him to do more work on his next film, which turned out to be the Beatles’ Help!

In vivid color and crisp black and white, this book shares dozens of the results. There are great candid and posed shots of the Beatles, many unseen for years or never published, throughout. Musicians will enjoy the close-up images of the band with its famed guitars: George Harrison with his Gibson acoustic, John Lennon with his Rickenbacker, Paul McCartney with his violin-shaped Hofner bass. We’ve seldom seen these instruments so closely and looking so shiny and new. The same is true for the pictures of the Beatles themselves. They look so young, fresh and lively that it’s hard to believe the pictures are more than 50 years old. Read the rest

In 1960 a Liverpool band called the Silver Beatles asked Pete Best to join them as drummer. Best was already in a band called the Blackjacks, but he took the gig and for the next two years he played with the band (which eventually dropped "Silver" from its name). When the band auditioned with Decca, Best played drums on the first recording of "Love Me Do." Things went downhill quickly from there, writes Maggie Malach of Mental Floss: Read the rest

Parent-child bonding, done so right.

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