The Beatles' unique connection to Philly

It was terrific meeting John Lennon's half-sister, Julia Baird, this year when she came to Sellersville Theater with The Mersey Beatles. One thing she said that sticks with me, because of how mind-blowing it is, is that there are 5,800 Beatles tribute bands worldwide. You can't say the same thing about the Backstreet Boys!

Julia is a tiny lady. At right is my good friend, Rick White.

 Hey, wot's that Mersey Beatle doing? Messing with my hair?

A little before that encounter, I paid a visit to Plymouth Meeting dermatologist Steve Binnick. In his clinical room, I was surprised to see a photo of the genuine Beatles that looked something like this.

Dr. Binnick explained that his dad, Bernie, was a co-owner of Philadelphia's Swan Records, the label of Freddy Cannon, Danny and the Juniors, the early records of The Three Degrees, and Link Wray in the pre-"Rumble" days. Swan also was the first American record company to release The Beatles' No. 1 "She Loves You." 

Other small American labels that put out Beatles singles, before Capitol Records assumed control of their American releases, included Vee Jay and Tollie. They're highly collectible.

Dr. Binnick has retired, and sadly, that's likely the last chance I'll see that picture. 

Taking "Mean Mr. Moyer" to task for bashing The Beatles

I get it that not everybody likes The Beatles. But seriously -- who took a dump in Justin Moyer's breakfast cereal?

An unfocused and laughably uninformed hatchet job by the Washington Post "Outlook" section writer harrumphs that The Beatles need to be sent to the historical scrap heap, a la the Model T.
That's as ignorant as saying Van Gogh, Da Vinci and Picasso are irrelevant because "there's an app for that."
It's like saying Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron don't matter because Barry Bonds hit more home runs than they did; never mind that Bonds achieved his record by methods that have forever tainted the integrity of baseball.
The true greats always stand the test of time. 
It's mind-boggling that Moyer, who by virtue of being a musician automatically has a discerning set of ears, doesn't have a better appreciation for The Beatles' accomplishments (setting the standard of rock bands writing their own songs; pioneering experimentation with recording techniques and instrumentation; starting their own record label, etc., etc.), all the while maintaining commercial success. 
Moyer wrongheadedly states that The Beatles are obsolete because the primary format for their music was the album. Sloppy research!
The Beatles released a notable number of songs in the single format, which thanks to the mp3, is once again the consumers' format of choice. Please see "Past Masters," Volumes 1 and 2, albums created in the '80s to cull EPs and singles into a tidy package. 
Moyer declares The Beatles unfit to have a third generation of fans ("Something is either wrong with pop culture or wrong with teenagers," he writes), while suggesting tongue-in-cheek that Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Kanye West, or even Psy, might be this generation's uniting musical icon.
I'll say it again: true greats always stand the test of time.

The worst OpEd ever. RT if you agree. #thebeatles http://t.co/NrjgZDYICr
— Rick Friel (@rickfriel) July 22, 2013

Dude, Justin Moyer is just plain wrong. “@rickfriel: The worst OpEd ever. RT if you agree. #thebeatles http://t.co/MYEWqrdgqT”
— Justin S Davis (@JSDavisGuitar) July 22, 2013

The legacy of The Beatles: Mean Mr. Moyer Justin Moyer clearly feels that the influence of The Beatles has lin... http://t.co/cBuE1X7AaJ
— 13th Floor Elevators (@texaspsych11) July 23, 2013

Moyer moans that Radiohead will never be as big as the Beatles simply because of marketing. As a musician, he ought to know better that it all comes down to the quality of the songs. Sorry dude, Radiohead has only two good songs. What I've heard of the rest of their catalog is boooorrring. 
The Beatles' melody-driven songs are accessible and fun. At the same time, they were trail-blazing tricksters that compelled you to listen closer to what they were doing. The Beatles were also adept at switching up their sound in compelling ways to keep their listeners and those pesky bourgeois writers (ahem!) guessing.
Also notable for their ability to switch up their sound to keep it fresh were The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Doors and The Velvet Underground -- '60s bands that Moyer claims are just as good, or better than, The Beatles. While all important and wonderful in their own right, Moyer fails miserably to connect the dots.
Lennon/McCartney gave The Stones "I Wanna Be Your Man" to record as a single, which became an important moment in getting The Stones' mojo working. Without The Stones' making the edge of rock 'n' roll sexy, does anybody outside of L.A. hear The Doors?
Without The Beatles, there is no British Invasion, and it becomes much harder for The Who to get noticed in the U.S.
In the early '60s, adults still viewed rock 'n' roll as a teenage fad. Without The Beatles' influence in legitimizing rock 'n' roll as an art form, The Velvet Underground would be little more than an experimental footnote in the Andy Warhol story.
Moyer does have a point when he wonders why U2 doesn't have the same iconic status, since Bono took the social conscience element in rock -- which The Beatles started, by the way -- and took it to a more hands-on activism. I say give it time. The reason could simply be that The Beatles had more hits -- an unduplicated 20 U.S. No. 1's (and numerous other hit songs) in a span of just six years.
For some reason, the grumpy scribe also takes a non-sequitur potshot at Bruce Springsteen, calling him a "codger in a youth-dominated field."
This is worth mentioning as Springsteen was recently named the top current live act by Rolling Stone, with fellow "codgers" Paul McCartney at No. 15, Prince at No. 2, Neil Young at No. 5 and Tom Petty at No. 13.
Repeat after me: true greats always stand the test of time.
"Aren't there other musicians from other communities -- perhaps New Orleans or Nigeria ... that every kid can adore?," he wonders, questioning whether a generation needs a definitive musical icon at all.
Be that as it may, we have yet to find another band with the same enduring universal appeal, but I'm willing to keep an ear open.
Meanwhile, as one member of Moxy Fruvous blurted out in that group's musical interpretation of Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham": "Hey, you lay off The Beatles, buddy!"

Kurt Cobain, we hardly knew ye

Why is Kurt Cobain trending on Twitter this 20th day of February?
Ah, it would've been his 46th birthday.
Naturally, the far-too-many snarky losers in the Twittersphere had ignorant things to say, such as the nimrods that tweeted pictures of Billy Ray Cyrus. Uhhhhh, is that supposed to be a joke, or are you just really that dumb?
The best Cobain-related tweet came from @JohnFugelsang, who shared a hand-written list of Cobain's favorite albums.
Some are no surprise -- David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World," which Nirvana famously covered on MTV Unplugged ... The Pixies ... Iggy & The Stooges' "Raw Power," with its savage and loud guitars. Read a review I wrote for the reissue of "Raw Power" here.

Several are BIG surprises, however. To wit: The Knack "Get the Knack"


Aerosmith "Rocks"


REM "Green" (I would've guessed an earlier album.)


The Clash "Combat Rock" (when the seminal British punks hit their commercial peak)


The Beatles "Meet the Beatles" (He strikes me as a White Album kind of guy.)


Public Enemy "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back"


and Leadbelly "Final Sessions Vol. 1."

The greatest in this world, the next world ...

This image, taken by Linda McCartney, has shown up in the Beatles iTunes TV commercial.

Because I've been an ardent devotee of The Beatles for almost my whole life, the news that their songs are now on iTunes is rather ho-hum. I mean, if you already have "The White Album" on vinyl and CD (you can rip CDs to iTunes and Windows Media Player), what does it matter? Now if bootleg recordings that didn't show up on the Anthology series made it to iTunes -- like they did in the free for all days of Napster -- then they'd have my attention.

Here's something more significant than the iTunes announcement! WMGK-FM is bringing The Beatles -- well, their artwork anyway -- to the Montgomery Mall from Dec. 8-24. We're talking signed pieces, photos, animation, plus related Rolling Stones, Elvis and Bob Dylan memorabilia, and more. "The Art of the Beatles" is free to look at, and all for sale, on the lower level of the mall next to JC Penney from 10-9, 11-6 Sundays.

As my public relations friends Leah Rice and Scott Segelbaum pointed out, 2010 has been an active Beatle year, with Paul McCartney playing two sold out shows in Philadelphia and announcing an appearance on an episode of "Saturday Night Live"; Ringo's All Starr Band making tour stops in Easton and Atlantic City; a Ringo Starr star on the Walk of Fame; the remastering of John Lennon's sometimes maddeningly uneven solo catalog in honor of his 70th birth anniversary; the word that Martin Scorcese is making a film about George Harrison ...

The opening date, Dec. 8, is the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's murder.

Rock on, Rob!

Coming Tuesday to The Reporter's Lifestyle section, the intriguing story of 1985 Souderton grad Rob Bonfiglio (bon-feel-e-o), the husband of Carnie Wilson and co-star of Game Show Network's "Carnie Wilson: Unstapled."

The couple's musical passion brought them together, and now you can watch them trying to balance their music, Carnie's TV schedule, their two young daughters, and alone-couple time every Thursday night.

It's downright upsetting that Bonfiglio's band, The Skies of America, didn't hit it huge, probably due to being on the indie label Damask Records. The title song of their disc, "Shine," was on the "Bridge to Terabithia" soundtrack. It also features a cover of Badfinger's "Come and Get It" and a bunch of satisfying Beatles-inspired power pop. It's what Fountains of Wayne would sound like if they stopped screwing around so much with the humor of their lyrics, and got down to business.

Don't get me wrong, I have much love for Sellersville product and FOW singer and songwriter Chris Collingwood. But have a listen for yourself.
www.myspace.com/theskiesofamerica

In 2009, Bonfiglio put together a solo album called "Bring on the Happy." The title says it all because these are the kind of songs you ought to put on at the end of a hectic day.
www.myspace.com/robbonfigliomusic

Although he likens it to Paul McCartney's "McCartney" album, the only similarity I observe is that McCartney and Bonfiglio played all the instruments and wrote all the songs on their respective solo works. Unlike the hurried, work-in-progress vibe that's present on most of "McCartney," Bonfiglio's songs on "Bring on the Happy" are actually thought out.

Then again, Bonfiglio wasn't bickering with John Lennon and George Harrison at the time he was making his "record."
Here's a link to sample the McCartney disc.
www.amazon.com/McCartney-Paul/dp/B000002UC5

One of the times we really connected in our conversation was when Bonfiglio recalled having a social studies class with Mr. Rossnagel in a migraine-headache-yellow, basement classroom in the 1930s section of the former Souderton Area High School building. Here I thought I was the only one that remembered that dungeon-like classroom.