Beatlesdesk# May 2007. The Centro Cultural Britanico in Lima, Peru, during its cultural activities in May, showed the Beatles movies all Fridays in that month: A Hard Day’s Night (4 May); Help (11 and 18 May), Yellow Submarine (25 May).# 17 May 2007. A Bob Gruen photograph exhibit was organized in São Paulo City, at the Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado (FAAP) and included 207 photographs. Bob Gruen went to São Paulo for the opening of the exhibition and also for the release of his new book titled "Rockers", only published in Brazil so far, by Cosac Naify publishing house. # Beatles events in Uruguay celebrating the 40th anniversary of Sgt. Peppers included: Theatre ex- cinema Metro staging Los Beatales on 24 May 2007; Sala Zitarrosa with Danger Four band on 7, 8 and 9 June 2007 and radio program "John, Paul, George & Ringo" on CX 26, with Sodre & Emisora del Sur presenting Uruguayan groups: Retro Rock, Anthology & Daniel Texeira- presented by Cesar "Cacho" Badìn, the music and tribute LP "Sgt. Peppers" on 1 June 2007, at the Teatro La Casa del Autor-AGADU, Canelones 1122 Montevideo.

# 25 May 2007. A rare collection of photographs of The Beatles are on display in Scotland for the first time, at the Dundee University's Queen Mother Building through to 11 July 2007. The 500 pictures were taken by Michael Peto, during the filming of the movie 'Help!' in 1965 and were left to the University when Peto died in 1970. They were archived and forgotten about for years until they were rediscovered in 2004. The exhibition, titled Now These Days Are Gone, went further on display at the National Conservation Centre until 2 March 2008.# 25 May 2007. A list has been published of public nominations for faces to adorn British

banknotes. Under consideration by the Bank of England are The Beatles, Michael Parkinson, Stephen Hawking, Princess Diana, Jimmy Savile, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Barnes Wallace, The Queen Mother, Emmeline Pankhurst, Jane Austen, Lord Byron, Jonny Wilkinson, Mick Jagger, Richard Branson and cricket captain Michael Vaughan.# 26 May 2007. Robert Whitaker, most known as the photographer of The Butcher Cover, appeared at an opening exhibition of many of his Beatle photographs at the Morrison Hotel gallery in Soho , NYC. # "Hello Goodbye" performed by others has been part of TV advertisement for Target stores, and Fidelity Investments still rely on their McCartney connections for his familiar face and melodies in some of their adverts.# 28 May 2007. Sirius Satellite Radio presented an exclusive day-long Howard Stern special featuring the most memorable Beatles-related interviews, cover songs and bits from the past 25 years of The Howard Stern Show. The show featured Sir Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, Ringo Starr, Sean and Julian Lennon, Pete Best and Billy Preston. The special also included cover songs performed live and in-studio by Jon Bon Jovi, Enuff Z Nuff, The Fab Faux and Stone Temple Pilots, plus Howard singing "Blackbird" and "Fool on the Hill," Fred singing "Imagine I'm John Lennon," and Scott the Engineer singing "With a Little Help from My Friends."# 31 May 2007. Norwegian Museum of Culture and History (Norsk Folkemuseum) opened a home from the sixties installed in a brick house from Oslo, built in 1865. The flat now also shows a family home in 1965. The boy's room has got posters of Beatles, Kinks and Stones on the walls, and you can hear him constantly playing Help and other hit songs from that year on his record player.# A war between two Norwegian Television companies earlier this year started, when both chose All You Need Is Love for promotion of soccer on their respective channels.

# June 2007. This month, Guitar World presented ‘a mind-blowing salute to The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s’, with ‘new interviews’, ‘rare photos!’ and ‘recording secrets revealed!’. Engineer Geoff Emerick revealed the secrets behind this event (from his Here There and Everywhere book), in an 11-page fully-illustrated feature story: ‘On Sgt. Pepper’s, the Beatles didn’t want voices to even sound like voices. We just went overboard.’ He also explains curious moments from the album sessions, when he discusses Strawberry Fields Forever, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise), She’s Leaving Home, A Day In The Life, Lovely Rita and Within You Without You. Beatles tribute band The Fab Faux also received some space to talk about their profession: ‘We exhaust ourselves getting this music to sound authentic, but that’s because it deserves nothing less.’# June 2007. At the York University, lectures on the significance and impact of the Beatles on the culture of Britain and the Western world marked the 40th anniversary of the release of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The topics of these lectures: "I thought I knew you, but what did I know?" The Beatles: 1960 to 1966 (5 June 2007); "Now you know who you are, what do you want to be?" The Beatles: 1967 to1970 (12 June 2007) and "Well you know, we all want to change the world", The Beatles: the legacy (19 June 2007).

# June 2007. Mojo music magazine once again listed the ‘100 records that changed the world’. The list included both albums and singles, featuring John Lennon’s JL/POB album (55) – ‘The paradigm of the psyche-scouring rock confessional’. Revolver (40) – ‘The apogee of pop production. On 4-track!’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (16) – ‘Popular music taken seriously as art. Pop musicians spoilt forever!’ I Want To Hold Your Hand (2) – ‘Fab shock George Martin with a good song, invade America, the rest is hysteria.’ Al Green’s version of the later song was included on the bonus CD with various cover versions of ‘tracks that changed the world.’ By the way, Little Richard’s Tutti Frutti was the No. 1 song in the list, as voted by some 100 musicians. # Monkees member Davy Jones recently said, "I think the Monkees have been viewed as a band that was manufactured, but the first manufactured band was really the Beatles. They were put by Brian Epstein in the same boots and the same suits."# June 2007. At an exhibition in Norwich, England, never before seen photos of The Beatles were unveiled, including images of the quartet relaxing during the recording of With A little Help From My Friends, and eating lunch with producer George Martin.# 1 June 2007. The Belgian Fotomuseum in Antwerp is doing the first retrospective of the famous rock photographer Herman Selleslags. This runs until 9 September 2007. He was one of the few photographers who followed the Beatles during the filming of Magical Mystery Tour, and is responsible for Paul McCartney wearing the black leather cape he wore while filming the Elevator promotional film for Grapefruit.

# 1 June 2007. The Daily Mail found out that the five medals John Lennon wore for the Sgt Pepper album sleeve, once belonged to Major Thomas Shaw, grandfather of Pete Best. Lennon called Best’s mother Mona to ask if he could borrow the medals for the cover shoot. She was delighted to see John wear them on what turned out to be one of the greatest albums ever, according to Pete Best.

# 1 June 2007. ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band: 40th Anniversary’ was an all day celebration on BBC6 Music, including singing traffic wardens.# 2 June 2007. Today, Classic Vinyl celebrated the 40th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album by asking their listeners to tell their favourite Sgt. Pepper's memory, favourite song on the album, or any other

thoughts. The Underground Garage saluted the 40th anniversary of the album all weekend long, with stories behind all of the songs on the album and the truth about what went on behind the scenes during its recording.

# 2 June 2007. Up until 1 September 2007, photographs of the Beatles taken at Abbey Road Studios during the recording of Sgt Pepper, made by Sunday Times photographer Frank Herrmann, were on display at the Saint Giles Street Gallery, in an exhibition, titled ‘The Unseen Beatles’.

# 2 June 2007. The Sun updated the Sgt Pepper album sleeve, with modern-day icons, including Sean Lennon, Zak Starkey, Stella

McCartney and Dhani Harrison, who replaced the original Beatles.

# 2 and 16 June 2007. Some contemporary bands and artists covered the songs from Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band to mark the album's 40th anniversary, in the special recording sessions for BBC Radio 2. The audio engineer in charge of the original 1967 sessions, Geoff Emerick, will use the same one-inch four-track equipment to record the new versions. Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas said: "This will be not only a unique radio event, but a very special musical moment. "The range and quality of artists involved ensure that this will be a fitting tribute to one of the great albums of all time." The tracklisting was as follows: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band – Bryan Adams; With A Little Help From My Friends – Razorlight; Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - Athlete; Getting Better – Kaiser Chiefs; Fixing A Hole – The Fray; She’s Leaving Home – Magic Numbers; Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite - Jamie Cullum; Within You Without You - Oasis; When I'm Sixty Four - Russell Brand; Lovely Rita – Travis; Good Morning Good Morning - The Zutons; Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) – Stereophonics. Talking to BBC News about the recording, Noel Gallagher said: "Sgt. Pepper is special for me because I was born on the 29 May, and it came out on the 1 June, so when I was being born in St Mary's Hospital, Manchester, it was being played on hospital radio..... and it still contains some of the greatest Beatles songs, like A Day in the Life, and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."

# 4-8 June 2007. ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band’, was a week long series in which five writers with Liverpool connections including Jimmy Mulville, Linda Grant & Alexei Sayle take inspiration from the album to give us stories about portholes, diamonds and Mr. Kite.# 8 June 2007. Her Majesty The Queen saluted the Beatles with a special personal message commemorating the 50th anniversary of the

Beatles beginnings, on Saturday 6 July 1957 when John Lennon met Paul McCartney at a church garden fete in Liverpool. She noted the anniversary "with much pleasure" and sent "my best wishes to all concerned for a most enjoyable and successful occasion."

# 9 June 2007. In Germany, Hessen 3 had a Beatles evening, filled with A Hard Days Night; Die Beatles - Damals in Hamburg; Backbeat; Der Tag als die Beatles (beinahe) nach Marburg kamen and Wie ich den Krieg gewann.

# 9 June 2007. John Lennon’s psychedelic 1965 Rolls Royce Phantom V is part of a collection of

vintage and collectable cars and guitars called "Rock Stars' Cars & Guitars Exhibit" that are on display at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan from now until 30 September 2007. In June 1985 the car sold for $2,299.000.00 at Sotheby's making it the worlds most expensive car. Also on display is a Fender Guitar given to John Lennon and returned to Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick after Lennon's death, and a Fender "Stratocaster," played by The Beatles, Magical Mystery hand-painted.

# http://www.beatlesradio.com/ is a new online Beatles radio station playing non-stop Beatles and solo songs. # Entertainmentwise.com quoted Ringo Starr about 'Sgt. Pepper': "As a musician, I preferred 'Revolver', and I preferred 'The White Album', because we were back to being musicians. It was like everybody got the madness out on 'Sgt. Pepper', so it served that purpose."

# 26 June 2007. In their series of 60s Season Documentaries, BBC Radio 2 focussed on ‘The Day John Met Paul’, celebrating the 50th anniversary of that day. The special featured a new interview with Paul McCartney and the music and memories of The Quarrymen. Made with the help of Colin Hall, custodian of John

Lennon’s childhood home ‘Mendips’, and with the support of the Liverpool music community.

# 26 June 2007. Celebrating the one-year anniversary of Cirque du Soleil's "Love", Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr joined Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison for a special dedication ceremony in honour of John Lennon and George Harrison, at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. Cirque du Soleil designers have created two plaques that were unveiled at the ceremony.

At the unveiling of the two plaques, Yoko said: "John would have been very happy and glad that this show is such a success, and also that another magnificent man introduced him - I'm very thankful to him." Yoko Ono and Paul McCartney were now on good terms and all four made history by appearing together on talk show Larry King, in what's reported to be the only time the two surviving Beatles and the deceased Beatles wives have agreed to be interviewed together. In a revealing interview McCartney held Starr's hand to demonstrate to King what happened the last time he sat with late Harrison. He said: "I got to see him a short time before he died... We sat, stroking hands, like this, and this was a guy I'd known since he was a little kid and you don't stroke hands with guys like that. It was just beautiful." The official PR videos and pictures made of this special event appeared on http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/cirquedusoleil/28726/

# This Larry King Live show also appeared on Youtube: Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9vV-m_J-Bo Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q4Aw7FK9yA Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9KYQjtSsy8Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TiRb8rfpH0Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUYxOsn1jfMPart 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5R2djmBGHcPart 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4Canwxeki8

# 30 June 2007. Japan commemorates the 41st anniversary of the Beatles performing at the Tokyo Budokan Hall in 1966. A rare video on YouTube of this event can be found at www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S3kttyy0Ko

# July 2007. Q celebrated Sgt Pepper’s 40th anniversary with a track-by-track discussion of the album by various music celebrities, including Bono “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is the song that got Bob Geldof to agree to do Live8. I said, We’ll open it up, we’ll recreate the cover with contemporaries. We’ll ask Bill Gates, we’ll ask Deepak Chopra, ,we’ll ask the Gallaghers, The Killers, and that will be the opening of Live8. And we’ve got the opening line - ‘It was 20 years ago today’.”, Jeff Lynne (on She’s Leaving Home): “This is a brilliant tune. I love the way the countermelodies are constructed in such a way that they answer each other.”, Dhani Harrison: “It’s such a beautiful piece of music - it’s like a drug: you need to play it over and over again. When I do so today, I feel it’s like listening to my best friend talking directly to me.” (on Within You Without You), Brian Wilson “Lovely Rita made me laugh my head off. I thought that was really a cute tune. I love the way it comes floating in with those piano chords.” and George Martin: “A Day In The Life would be my favourite. John’s voice - which he hated - was the kind of thing that would send shivers down your spine. If you hear those opening chords with the guitar and piano, and then his voice comes in, ‘I heard the news today, oh boy’… It’s just so evocative of that time.”

# July 2007. The Record Collector included both an 8-page article on Sgt Pepper, including a list of worldwide Sgt Pepper rarities, and an exclusive interview with Paul McCartney, titled ‘Paul McCartney Gets Back To Work’. The Sgt Pepper rarities includes a £250 South Korean LP release, a Spanish £60 With A Little Help From My Friends EP and a 1967 single from the Philippines, coupling This Boy with She’s Leaving Home, worth £100. McCartney speaks about Memory Almost Full, the (musical) qualities he inherited from his parents, being at peace with his past, commercial success, memories of Sgt Pepper: “The Beatles… man, we believed in ourselves. We knew we were good, and it wasn’t conceit. It was just we knew that we were good.”, “Bono says a lot of the kids are listening to Wings now. It made me think, pity we didn’t know that at the time. It would have been good.” and “Hendrix opened his act with Sgt Pepper on the Sunday, and we’d only released it on the Friday. That’s a golden memory for me, ‘cos I was in the audience.”# 3 July 2007. ‘Well Met in Woolton’ on Radio 4 was a sound montage recreating the day John met Paul remembering long lost summers, fetes, skiffle bands etc.

# 13 July 2007. A rare Beatles documentary, 'What's Happening! The Beatles In The USA', about their first visit to the US in 1964, is one of the highlights of the upcoming Mods & Rockers film festival in Los Angeles.# 13 July 2007. The German WDR showed the music documentary "Best of The Beatles", with Pete Best talking about the early days of the Beatles.# 14 July 2007. ‘Beatles: From Liverpool to San Francisco’, a one-hour history appeared on Biography channel.# 16 July 2007. In Germany, ‘Best Of The Beatles - Die Letzte Grosse Story Der Beat-Ära, directed by Geoff Wonfor, was shown on German TV.

# 20 July 2007. An early historic document from Stuart Sutcliffe shows the Beatles have named themselves Beatals. The document is part of an exclusive limited edition art print, entitled, "Meet The Beatals", a watercolour painting (circa 1957 - 1960) featuring the early Beatles taken from Stuart Sutcliffe's personal sketchbook. The historic letter is superimposed over the bottom of the painting. In the letter from late March 1960, Sutcliffe who refers to himself as the manager of the band, writes, "This is a promising group of young musicians who play music for all tastes, preferably rock and roll." Sutcliffe begins to refer to the band as the Quarrymen, then crosses it out and writes "The Beatals". The artwork is hand signed by Pauline Sutcliffe, Stuart's sister. This is the first limited edition art piece ever released by the Sutcliffe estate and only 175 numbered

and signed copies will be produced and is currently available at http://www.rockartshow.com/zip/stu-sutcliffe-meet-the-beatals.html

# 20 July 2007. Some Beatles fans in the US are angry that the 1967 Beatles hit 'All You Need Is Love' is being used in a new ad campaign for disposable nappies. “For people who feel that political connection, it comes off as kind of a callous action,” said Angela Natividad, co-editor of adrants.com, a marketing commentary site. “You’ve got the Beatles, which draws like, religious feelings, and you’ve got the war [Vietnam].” Beatles songs have been used in ads before. A version of Help! was used in a car commercial in 1985, and current Target Corp. commercials use a version of Hello Goodbye. But the All You Need... campaign, launched this month for Procter & Gamble’s Luvs nappies, particularly bothered some fans, who do not like that the song is being used during another time of war, in Iraq, to evoke soiled nappies. Lisa Jester, a P&G baby care spokeswoman, said the commercial, showing a nappy-clad toddler wrestling with a stuffed bear as his smiling family watches, was popular in testing with parents. # 24 July 2007. BBC Radio 2 broadcasted the 1-hour ‘Only a Northern Song’ documentary, in which Paul Sexton tells the story of how Lennon and McCartney, won and then lost control of a billion dollar publishing empire, Northern Songs. By 1969, the catalogue had passed into the hands of ATV and then later on to Michael Jackson.

# You may like to sign a petition to have Brian Epstein inducted in to the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall Of Fame: http://www.brianepstein.com/petition.html# 24 July 2007. The British government rejected a plea to extend copyright laws for sound recordings to beyond 50 years. The music industry had won support from opposition politicians and a parliamentary committee in its bid for a copyright extension that would allow veterans such as Cliff Richard and Paul McCartney to carry on receiving royalties in later life. The government would have had to push the European Commission for a change in the law but said such a move did not seem appropriate as it would not benefit the majority of performers and could lead to increased costs. John Kennedy, head of the IFPI body which represents the international recording industry, said in a statement: "Some of the greatest works of British music will soon be taken away from the artists who performed them and the companies that invested in them." The industry had called on the British government to lobby the European Commission to extend the term to at least 70 years.# August 2007. Uncut’s 10th anniversary issue included an article on the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour film, being a 4-page black & white snapshots special.

# 1 August 2007. Private equity firm Terra Firma said it had won control of British music publisher EMI, following a lengthy takeover tussle with US group Warner Music. 90.3% of EMI investors had agreed to the £2.4bn takeover offer by the UK company. Above the 90% level, Terra Firma can forcibly buy the remaining EMI shares.

# 1 August 2007. Unseen Beatles footage can be seen online, it’s material that was filmed by the Beatles’ former roadie Mal Evans and include secret concert footage as well as revealing private conversations and personal exchanges within the band. The historic footage also includes the Beatles chatting as they travel down the Thames on a boat, and the band riding down London's Park Lane in a car with The Beach Boys. Other footage uncovered includes Rolling Stones legend Charlie Watts discussing the cult of celebrity, years before such a phenomenon was ever recognised, and live recordings of Jimi Hendrix playing in front of The Beatles. Mal Evans widow Lily discovered the footage in their attic before selling them at Christie's auction house. The private owners have licensed the footage exclusively to MBop, but you can see a preview on NME.com.# September 2007. Some rare Beatles memorabilia is to go on show at the John Lennon Northern Lights Festival in Durness, Sutherland (Scotland). The earliest known set of autographs from the group and another signed

"MacLennon" by a playful John Lennon will be among the exhibits displayed.# The Beatles’ Let It Be documentary can be seen at http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/61518/detail/

# In a book, titled ‘A Playboy Book 50 Years’, some pictures of the Beatles appeared along with some quotes, taken from Playboy interviews. From the February 1965 issue: John Lennon - “If you say you’re nonreligious, people assume you’re antireligious. We’re not sure what we are, but we’re more agnostic than atheistic.” Paul McCartney: “We’d be idiots to say it isn’t a constant inspiration to be making a lot of money. It is to anyone. Why do business tycoons stay tycoons?” George Harrison: “Ringo and I are getting married to each other. But that’s a thing you better keep a secret. People would probably think we’re queers.” Ringo Starr: “We used to get in the car, and I’d look over at John and say, ‘Christ, you’re a bloody phenomenon!’ and laugh - ‘cause it was only him.” From the January 1980 interview with John and Yoko: “People around John saw me as a terrible threat. I mean, I heard there were plans to kill me. Not the Beatles, but the people around them.” and “Yoko was playing Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’ on the piano. Suddenly, I said, ‘Can you play that backward?’ Then I wrote ‘Because’.” The December 1984 issue included an interview with Paul and Linda McCartney: “I don’t work at being ordinary. It’s quite rational. It’s not contrived at all. It is actually my answer to the question, What is the best way to be? I think ordinary.” (Paul) “Nobody knows what or who I am. I don’t even know who or what I am. If I hadn’t married Paul,

I’d have meandered through life. I quite like meandering.”# September 2007. This month’s Q magazine included an article, titled ‘The 20 Greatest Guitar Tracks Of All Time’, featuring And Your Bird Can Sing and The End.Harridesk

# Watch this very nice new website, featuring the latest Traveling Wilburys re-releases: http://www.travelingwilburys.com/uk/# 26 May 2007. Bob Harris marked the re-release of the Traveling Wilbury’s two albums in ‘The Travelling Wilbury’s Revisited’.# 27 May 2007. Olivia Harrison and Barbara Orbison were interviewed on the Johnnie Walker Show on radio 2.# 1 June 2007. Peter Harrison, the older brother of George, and a long-time Henley resident, has died of cancer, at the age of 66.# 22 June 2007. George Harrison, Ricky Martin, Tim Robbins and Cate Blanchett are among stars to be enshrined in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Hollywood's honorary mayor, Johnny Grant, announced the list of 2008 inductees. "I am happy to announce an array of celebrities who have earned this recognition for a combination of professional achievement and community involvement," Grant said.

# 4 August 2007. The Mail On Sunday serialised Pattie Boyd’s new book, Wonderful Today and reported about some of its contents, which includes intimate details of her love triangle with George Harrison and Eric Clapton. She said: "We met secretly at a flat in South Kensington. Eric had asked me to come because he wanted me to listen to a new number he had written. He switched on the tape machine, turned up the volume and played me the most powerful, moving song I had ever heard. It was Layla. "He played it to me two or three times, all the while watching my face intently for my reaction. My first thought was, "Oh God, everyone's going to know this is about me."' I was married to Eric's close friend George Harrison, but Eric had been making his desire for me clear for months. "But with the realisation that I had inspired such passion and creativity, the song got the better of me. I could resist no longer." Later that day, Clapton confronted Harrison and said: "I have to tell you, man, that I'm in love with your wife."

She said: "George was furious. He turned to me and said, "Well, are you going with him or coming with me?''' She also describes how Clapton then

disappeared in a drug-induced haze when she refused to break up her marriage for him, and details Harrison's many affairs, including one with the wife of fellow Beatle Ringo Starr. In 1973, Clapton renewed his ardent pursuit of Pattie - climaxing in an extraordinary 'duel' at the Harrisons' home. "As Eric walked through the door George handed him a guitar and amp and for two hours, without a word, they duelled. The general feeling was that Eric had won." In 1974, she made her choice: "Would I go to Eric, who had written the most beautiful song for me, who had been to hell because of me and who had worn me down with his protestations of love? "Or would I choose George, my husband, whom I had loved but who had been cold towards me? I told George I was leaving him. I said a tearful goodbye and flew to America [where Eric was touring]." In the final piece, she said, “I think I'll miss George for the rest of my life. I would have incredibly vivid dreams that he was alive. Then I would wake up and the reality would wash over me.”

# 6 August 2007. Olivia Harrison told the Daily Express about George’s lifelong hunt for tranquillity after his time with the Beatles: "He was shell-shocked from the whole Beatles experience. Literally shell-shocked. He hated loud noises. And imagine if all day, every day, for five or six years, people were screaming at you when you opened your door, jumping on the

hood of your car, looking in the window. And then there were the death threats. "He wanted to be far away. And he wanted sunshine. George hunted out the furthest corners of the globe, said Olivia. "George was always on a quest to get as far away as he could. We found Hawaii and built a house there. But he wanted to keep going. We went to Tasmania, New Zealand, Australia. I had the feeling that he travelled the planet simply to look for solitude. It was about 'how far away can I get?'"

# 15 August 2007. An English oak tree planted in memory of George Harrison has been vandalised in the peace garden of St George’s Hall, where it was planted after George’s death, close to a tree planted in remembrance of John Lennon. The tree was stripped and attacked with a knife. Liverpool council’s executive member for the environment, Councillor Berni Turner, said: “I’m absolutely disgusted by this mindless act of vandalism which shows as complete lack of respect and regard for George Harrison and his family. The tree is a living tribute to George Harrison and symbolises his environmental work. We are currently looking at measures to increase security to stop these mindless idiots from striking again.”

# September 2007. Uncut magazine had ‘The Inside Story Of The Traveling Wilburys … Rock’s Greatest Ever Supergroup’, which comprised of comments from Olivia Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Barbara Orbison, Tom Petty, engineer Don Smith and Jim Keltner: “George Harrison hid in the bushes with a video camera. Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne sang harmonies on the porch. And Bob Dylan? He barbecued the chicken.”; “George could do anything he wanted”; “This isn’t just a b-side, guys.” and “Bob was the prez, but George was the key to the whole thing.”Lennonodesk# 17 and 18 May 2007. VH1 Classic cable network presented In His Life: The John Lennon Story on both days.# 10 June 2007. In an interview on "Desert Island Discs", Yoko Ono spoke about a few stories related to John Lennon: “We were returning from the studio, and I said: 'Should we go and have dinner before we go home?' and John was saying, 'No, lets go home because I want to see Sean before he goes to sleep.' And it was like he wasn't sure if we would get home before he (Sean) went to sleep and he was concerned about that.” Ono also said that when she became pregnant with Sean shortly after the couple reunited in 1975 following a two-year separation, she let Lennon decide whether she should have the baby or abort it. "I thought that I should let John decide whether to keep it or not. We'd just got back together and I became pregnant very soon, and I didn't know if it was the right moment to have a child. I just didn't want to

burden him with something he didn't want," Ono said. The songs Ono played on Sunday's show included Lennon's "Beautiful Boy"; "Liverpool Lou," written by Scaffold and "Magic," a song composed by Sean.# 11 June 2007. The names and images of famous New Yorkers including John Lennon would be protected from advertising and promotion not authorized by their estates under a measure pushed by Yoko Ono, Al Pacino and some other famous people. # 13 June 2007. Yoko Ono is having an art exhibition entitled "Fenster für Deutschland (Window for Germany)", up until 5 August 2007, at the Kunsthalle Bremen.# 18 June 2007. Yoko Ono appeared at the very popular Upper East Side NYC 92nd Street "Y" Lecture Series along with music writer Anthony DeCurtis.

# Yoko Ono opened her headlining set at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park with a taped rendition of "Give Peace a Chance," as Ono emerged from the shadows clad in a hat, sunglasses and scarf, she quickly fast forwarded the time period to present tense and generally remained in that frame for the next 80 minutes.# Here’s humour: the newly found footage of Yoko Ono shooting The White Album: http://www.hitchaser.com/yoko-ono-shoots-the-white-album/

# 21 July 2007. During the benefit for the LongHouse Reserve, in East Hampton, New York, Yoko Ono was honoured for her charitable works, including her ‘wish tree’ art project and donating the publishing rights to the Darfur album. LongHouse has an education program that attracts more than 1,200 children

from spring through fall. Ono's white, life-size chess set made of marble dust and concrete is on permanent loan to the sculpture garden.# 22 July 2007. Newly declassified records show, that Royal Canadian Mounted Police spies kept close watch on John Lennon's plans for a massive peace festival near Toronto. The documents have been obtained by The Canadian Press and reveal that the RCMP Security Service monitored efforts by Lennon and Ono to stage the three-day concert in early July 1970 at Ontario's Mosport Park. "Lennon hoped that if the festival would turn out to be a success, there would be a good chance they might take this festival to Russia," says the secret memo, portions of which were released under the Access to Information Act. Lennon intended the Canadian festival, which never happened, as a massive advertisement for peace, beamed around the globe from a country "with all these vibrations" that, unlike the United States, was trying to stay out of foreign wars. Days after unveiling the concert plans, John and Yoko travelled by train to Ottawa for a 50-minute meeting with then -prime minister Pierre Trudeau. The RCMP records demonstrate, however, that a welcome from the prime minister was not enough to place the peace festival organizers above the scrutiny of security officials.

# A sculpture work called "As One" created by Australian Paul Phillips and Vietnamese artist To Hong is currently on display at the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Association. It is a group of statues, with John Lennon and Yoko Ono sitting on a bed surrounded by nine international legendary celebrities, including Princess Diana, Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Albert Einstein. They are all depicted as children. "After Ho Chi Minh City, As One will be taken to the US, Canada and Japan next year," Phillips said.

# The nutmeg-coloured Steinway upright piano on which John Lennon composed Imagine, is crisscrossing the US to show up at some of the most horrific sites of violence, death and destruction. So far the exhibit has been greeted with a mixture of scepticism, reverence and queasiness. In the past four months, the piano has been to more than 10 sites, from the Memphis motel - now a museum - where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 to a Texas prison on the eve of an execution. It showed up at a ceremony commemorating the lives lost during the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, then 12 hours later was unveiled in Waco, Texas, at a service for the 80 members of a religious sect known as the Branch Davidians who died in a 1993 blaze after a 51-day standoff with federal officials. The tour is expected to conclude in December at the Dakota building. # August 2007. Yoko Ono was interviewed in Mojo’s Interview this month. A few quotes: ‘I’m thinking about a second volume, one for children perhaps’ (on Yes, I’m A Witch), ‘I was a bit bored because I didn’t understand what he was doing. But when I listen back, what he did was beautiful.’ (on recording Two Virgins), on recording Yoko Ono / Plastic Ono Band: ‘We knew we’d created something that was neither jazz, nor rock, nor classical, but an incredible new experience. I was proud, excited, overjoyed. It compared with how Marie Curie and her husband must have felt when they discovered radium together.’ ‘It’s exciting for the press to write about how he was violent and angry, and all that might be true in a way too, but in the end he - at least the John I knew - was always kind to people.’# 14 August 2007. Apple Inc. said it would offer the entire solo catalogue of John Lennon on iTunes. The Lennon deal, a similar one with Paul McCartney, and a recent settlement to a lengthy trademark dispute between Apple and the Beatles' company of the same name, is finally clearing the way for the Beatles catalogue to be distributed online. Apple said 16 Lennon solo albums from EMI Group Plc were available for the first time on iTunes, with the "Lennon Legend" and "Acoustic" collections making digital

debuts. Industry sources said Apple would soon announce similar deals for the solo works of Ringo Starr and George Harrison. Yoko Ono said in a statement: "John would have loved the fact that his music will now be available in a format suited to a new generation of listeners."

# 19 August 2007. The U.S. vs. John Lennon documentary aired commercial-free on VH1’s “Rock Docs” and VH1 Classic. Encores aired that and the day after VH1 Classic, and the Tuesday afterwards, at 9 p.m. and midnight on VH1 Classic.Maccadesk# May 2007. In a promotional interview for her exhibition at the Goss Gallery in Dallas, Mary McCartney spoke about her parents: "One of my mom's biggest talents," McCartney recalls, "was making her subjects completely relaxed. I remember one picture she took of Jimi Hendrix yawning. Here is this rock god, just hanging out and yawning. And that was the kind of moment she would get -- intimate and flattering." (..) "Frankly, he has come from the same standpoint as my mom," his daughter says. "Which is to try and keep the creative pressure as low as possible in order to keep the creativity as high as possible." (..) "Clearly, there isn't as big a pressure on me as there is on my dad," McCartney says. "I just have never looked at him and his name in the way everyone else does. I distinctly remember when we were kids, and he'd play his guitar and we would say, 'Dad, can you shut up, we are trying to watch television.' And he would then say: 'Do you kids know how many people out there actually appreciate my playing? Naturally, he's not Sir Paul McCartney to me, but just my dad who makes me laugh and smile. The photographs in her first US exhibition, titled Playing Dress Up, can be seen from 17 May 2007 – 15 June 2007.

# 12 May 2007. The Mail on Sunday interviewed Geoff Baker, (up until September 2004) Paul McCartney's publicist for 15 years. "I had one of the top jobs in the industry for one of the biggest stars on the planet and one of the nicest. "The reason I ended up befriending Paul is simply because he's a likeable guy, and I think that regardless of what happened at the end. "Linda was something else and she and Paul showed me great kindness. She was just a fabulously wonderful, perceptive and thoughtful woman." They are not attributes often ascribed to her successor. (..) Certainly Linda's death and Heather's subsequent arrival one year later cast a very different light on the court of Paul. And it coincided with Geoff becoming increasingly dependent on drink and drugs. He says: "I would have died if I had stayed. There was a lot of drinking, I was taking a lot of cocaine and cannabis. It wasn't recreational. It wasn't fun. "It's difficult for me to talk about it. By the time I emailed my resignation I'd been diagnosed as severely depressed. "I was so hacked off with the music industry. It's full of some of the most loathsome, despicable people there are. (..) He admits: "Heather and I didn't get on. We come from totally different backgrounds, saw things differently. Geoff hasn't spoken to Paul since he called him to offer his help and enjoyed their first chat in 18 months. It was not an easy call to make but when news emerged of Sir Paul McCartney's split from Heather, his wife of four years, Geoff Baker did not hesitate. He telephoned Sir Paul and told him that if he ever wanted his help he needed only to ask. As for Paul's response, Geoff smiles: "We hadn't spoken for about 18 months but he didn't tell me to f*** off. We had a really good chat. I've made my peace with him - that means a lot." (..) "Some people have said, 'Oh you were treated badly.' But I don't agree with that. I don't harbour any ill feelings," Geoff says. "Actually I hope he doesn't call me because he'd have to be in real trouble to do that and I wouldn't wish that on him."

# 14 May 2007. EMI has confirmed plans to release the entire Paul McCartney solo catalogue through online music services for the first time, a few singles: Band On The Run, My Love, Let ‘Em In and Jet.

# 19 May 2007. The Guardian published an interview with Paul McCartney, which headlined: 'There is a tunnel and there is light, and I will get there'.(..) "The phrase Memory Almost Full came into mind, then I realised I'd seen it on a phone - you know, you must delete something." Is that how he's feeling about life? "You've put too much information in, so delete something and I can handle it. I thought that was quite symbolic of life." (..) "It is like looking back through a photo album, but there's more, because when I'm looking at the snapshots, I'm saying, 'Did that really happen?' There's a sense of pinching myself that went through quite a few of the songs." (..) "I was just thinking, you know, it's so easy to moan when you're going through problems, but at the same time it's good to stop and think of the great stuff. So I'm still grateful for this, that and the other." (..) "As time goes on, I get more and more comfortable about my past. When the Beatles finished, there was a very difficult time with Wings when I wanted to shun my past in order to get on with my future, and then, when Wings finished, I wanted to put that behind me. As time went on, I started to become much more comfortable, because it was like, 'Oh God, it's going to be really boring if I can't bathe in memories of the Beatles or of Wings or of

knowing John when I was teenager, meeting George on a bus, meeting Linda for the first time." (..) "It's funny, a couple of American tours ago, I was singing Blackbird and I started to chat to the audience much more. I'm very confident like that now. I remembered stuff that I'd forgotten for 30 years in explaining it. I get a therapy session with the audience, and I go, 'Hold on, I remember what that came from, it was a Bach thing that George and I used to play'." (..) "I just have the fondest memories. It's a huge part of my life, the Beatles. It was what happened to me that made me different. When you look back on it, it's a very warm, rich experience. It was not all roses, but that's the funny thing about time - it becomes all roses." (..) "Don't tell me. What I don't know won't hurt me."

# 23 May 2007. Paul McCartney’s new music video “Dance Tonight”, internationally premiered on YouTube. The video stars Paul McCartney, Natalie Portman and Mackenzie Crook and was directed by Michel Gondry. Paul explained, “I had seen 'Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind' that Michel had directed and had really liked it. I thought it had a good sense of humour and was a very well-made film. His work is really simple, witty and just good fun. The connection with Natalie came from my daughter Stella, who makes non-leather shoes that Natalie buys, so I just thought, "Well, I'll ring her up and just see if she'll do it". So I rang her up and said "Hey I'm Stella's dad!" She had a bit of time off as she was between films so it was great. I mentioned that I wanted to work with Michel Gondry and it turned out that Natalie was a fan of his.”

# 26 May 2007. The Daily Mail featured an article on Linda McCartney, ‘The One True Lady Macca’: “She fought like a tiger for her family’s privacy. She didn’t give a damn about money. And she ALWAYS put Paul first”: ‘Her face seeped a distant beauty and serenity’; ‘She admitted it was Paul who was often in awe of her’ and ‘When she died, Paul cried every day for two years’.

# 30 May 2007. Paul McCartney attended a special private showing of his 'Dance Tonight' video in a small screening theatre in Soho, London. Also present at the gathering was Paul's band Rusty, Brian and Abe, members of Paul's family including Stella and Mary, Mackenzie Crook, Radio 1's Colin Murray and Texas singer Sharlene Spiteri. The video was preceded by a 20 minute 'making of' documentary called 'On The Set'.# June 2007. Q music magazine reminisced about 3 June 2002, the Party At The Palace event, with a picture and comments, including Paul McCartney: ‘The Beatles’ All You Need Is Love was the official Jubilee anthem, performed simultaneously around the country at 1 pm. Later,

McCartney played Beatles curio Her Majesty. (..) explaining, “I just had to do it.” Voted as one of ‘the 10 most insane albums ever!’ was John & Yoko’s Unfinished Music No. 1 a.k.a. Two Virgins (“The Kits-Off Album!”): ‘Consisting of snippets of twiddly guitar, indecipherable speech and queasy-sounding tape loops, Tow Virgins hasn’t improved with age. Subsequent generations of Beatles fans have tracked down the album out of curiosity. But it’s unlikely that many have ever listened to it twice.’ Yoko Ono, nearly 40 years on, said: ‘When you listen to it now, you feel, well, it’s very professional.’

# June 2007. Uncut had a special ‘world exclusive’ 9-page illustrated cover story on Paul McCartney’s Wings period, in which he’s quoted by saying, “I wanted to forget the Beatles and start again.”; “Mick Jagger said, ‘Why did he get his old lady in the band?’ I wanted to be with her, that’s all.”; “I wanted to get away from being huge in the Beatles, and experience being at the bottom again. It was like leaving a very posh job and going to work on the streets.”; “They said, ‘You smoke marijuana? ‘Hardly ever.’ They said, ‘Make you hear music better?’ I thought, ‘God, I wonder if that’s a trap.” Also included was a ‘who’s who in Wings’ and the five high-fliers: Band On The Run, Venus And Mars, London Town, Back To The Egg and Wingspan. # Paul McCartney appeared in Tatler magazine’s annual ‘Most Wanted’ list, featuring the most sought after party guests in high flying circles. Kate Middleton, Prince William’s on-off girlfriend is No.1.

# Paul has been nominated for the Celebrity Father of the Year after he impressed selectors from organisers Virgin Money with his ability to juggle his divorce battle, album and tour work and still finding time for Beatrice. He faces competition from Jude Law, Bob Geldof, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Beckham, Gordon Ramsey & Peter Andre.

# 3 June 2007. Paul McCartney appeared on ‘The Geoff Show’ on Virgin Radio in a one hour interview, talking about his life and ‘Memory Almost Full.’ Tracks played were ‘Dance Tonight’, ‘Vintage Clothes’, ‘End Of The End’, ‘Nod Your Head’, ‘Gratitude’, ‘Why Don’t We Do It In The Road’ and ‘I Saw Her Standing There.’

# 4 and 8 June 2007. Paul McCartney visited Jools Holland on a Radio 2 show and was invited four days later to "Later...with Jools Holland " on BBC 2. The songs he performed there with his band soon appeared on You Tube: Dance Tonight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrwT-QPIvVsOnly Mama Knows: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFIh7YoQodQ I've Got A Feeling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoSSYBlZxcM Lady Madonna: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbRHUs5XMbQThe interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl2nStgBfxo

# Go behind the scenes with Paul McCartney, Michel Gondry and Natalie Portman on the set of "Dance Tonight", in the video ‘The Making Of Dance Tonight’, on http://www.dazeddigital.com/mediaplayer/default.aspx?m=watch&a=487

# 5 June 2007. Starbucks invited Paul McCartney fans to make music history by participating in a unique video tribute honouring McCartney's 65th birthday, at 11 key Starbucks locations in cities around the globe, including London, New York, Berlin, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Seattle, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Miami. Fans could deliver a birthday message directly to McCartney at a designated store location in these markets. Participants in the video were encouraged to bring memorabilia, make homemade signs, and dance along to the sounds of "Memory Almost Full" as it plays overhead.

# 8 June 2007. The Daily Mail reported about Paul McCartney’s secret gig on 7 June 2007, for an audience of just 1,000 fans - which included daughters Mary and Stella, Barbara Orbison and Olivia Harrison. At the Electric Ballroom in Camden, north London, he performed to celebrate the release of his new album, Memory Almost Full. Tickets were given away free on a first come, first served basis. Other celebrities included Kate Moss, actor Pierce Brosnan, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, pop singer Gareth Gates and Texas frontwoman

Sharleen Spiteri. McCartney welcomed the audience, "It’s been a while since we played a gig this size," said Sir Paul McCartney, surveying the Electric Ballroom - the venue his band Wings used as a rehearsal space in the Seventies. "We ought to do more."

The band then played a 90-minute set with both Beatles hits and songs from his new album. He introduced Here Today by saying, "This one was written for John. I would like to dedicate this song to all our fallen heroes - John, George, Linda and all the lovely people." The set list included Drive My Car; Only Mama Knows; Dance Tonight; C Moon; The Long And Winding Road; I’ll Follow The Sun; Calico Skies; That Was Me; Blackbird; Here Today; Back In The USSR; Nod Your Head; House Of Wax; I Got A Feeling; Matchbox; Get Back; Hey Jude; Let It Be; Lady Madonna and I Saw Her Standing There.

# 11 June 2007. A few quotes from a Newsweek interview with Paul McCartney: “I don't think I ever say, "Let's write a Beatles song." But the truth of it is, I'm the same guy I always was. I use virtually the same bunch of tricks that I always have used—and add a few as I go along. Sometimes they resemble Wings or the Beatles just because that's who I am. No other reason.”(..) “I wrote this song "When I'm Sixty-Four" not expecting to be here. Of course, little did I realize that I would not only reach that mark but still be here working, and highly embarrassed at the attention that song would bring to my age. But, you know, it's actually passed off relatively peacefully. In a few weeks I move on to actual retirement age. Sixty-five! Luckily, I still have a sense of humour—and some hair.”(..) “I certainly love doing what I do: writing, singing, recording, playing. I just finished a week of rehearsing with my band. We're going to be doing some little secret gigs to support the album, small clubs and things. It's just a joy.” (..) “I've worked with other collaborators. Elvis Costello, for instance, was great to work with, and we did some great work together. But I'm sure Elvis himself would easily acknowledge that John is a hell of an act to

follow. And now I realize that. It couldn't have been anyone. For years, I might have thought, Well, there may be someone. John was pretty good and we worked well together ... But you've got to remember, John and I knew each other when we were teenagers. We listened to the same records. We grew up to those records. We wore the same clothes. We admired the same kind of people. We had the same tastes. That informed the whole business. John and I were like twins. To find someone like that is pretty impossible. And hey, we were also damn good. We just got it on. We were hot. You can't replace someone like John, and I don't think he could've replaced someone like me. There are these caricatures of you and John that have persisted: John is rock, you're pop. The combination of our two personalities produced a personality more than the sum of the parts. There could be times when John was the biggest softy ever, and I would be the hard nut. That might happen more in private than in public. But I think John would've gotten annoyed working with a softy all those years, and I would have gotten annoyed working with a hard man. The fact was that we were actually quite similar. We both had a hard and a soft side.”

# 13 June 2007. At the New York Highline Ballroom, next to the Meatpacking District, Paul McCartney did another ‘secret’ gig, with wristbands distributed at the box office, first come, first served. He also did one in Chelsea at the new Highline club for press and die hard fans. It was a 90 minutes, 21-songs performance in a 700-capacity room full of reporters, assorted V.I.P.s, contest winners and die hard fans who

stood in line for a long time. He put on the same show at the Electric Ballroom, a slightly larger club in London, last week. Alone at the piano, he sang "Here Today," and dedicated it to "our fallen heroes: John, George and Linda." When he finished, he said, "It's good to play that song in the town John loved. And where Linda was born in. And where we played the Ed Sullivan show." As an introduction to "I'll Follow the Sun," he said, "I remember writing this next song in my home in Liverpool, looking out the window, up the street and wondering if I'd ever become a star." The audience treated him to an impromptu ‘Happy Birthday’. "We should do this more often," McCartney told the crowd before playing "The Long and Winding Road" and "I'll Follow the Sun."# 18 June 2007. Talking with Jim Kerr on WAXQ, Paul McCartney made a point that many fans of early rock 'n' roll and rhythm and blues have been pushing for some time. McCartney suggested radio start treating it as just music - the way, say, golden-age popular standards or classical music is regarded.

# 18 June 2007. Paul McCartney's 65th birthday drew a star-studded crowd, as he had invited a few choice friends over to his house in St John's Wood: daughters Stella and Mary McCartney. Stella's pals Kate Moss and Natalie Portman, who stars in the video clip for Sir Paul's track 'Dance Tonight', Jools Holland, artist Tracey Emin, Elton John, Jeff Beck, photographer David Bailey all appeared on the guest list.

# 27 June 2007. As a next stop during his promotional mini tour, Paul McCartney played a free concert at Hollywood’s Amoeba record store at 6400 Sunset Blvd. for an audience of 700. An hour after the official announcement two days before, McCartney fans began to line up outside the store. “Hello Amoeba. This has to be the most surreal gig ever. No shoplifting please.”, McCartney told the fans during the 90 minutes set. Ringo Starr, Olivia Harrison, Jeff Lynne and former Wings members Denny Seweill and Laurence Juber were also present to watch the show.

McCartney noticed Starr and during “That Was Me”, he pointed at Ringo and said, “That was you, too!” And after a while, when McCartney noticed that Ringo was gone, he said, “Elvis has left the building.” The songs he played: Drive My Car; Only Mama Knows; Dance Tonight; C Moon; Long and Winding Road; I'll Follow the Sun;

Calico Sky; That Was Me; Blackbird; Here Today; Back in the USSR; Nod Your Head; House of Wax; I've Got A Feeling; Matchbox; Get Back; Baby Face; Hey Jude; Let It Be; Lady Madonna; I Saw Her Standing There. A video movie of this gig appears on http://www.youtube.com/paulmccartney

# 4 July 2007. Paul McCartney attended the preview for daughter Mary’s photographic exhibition 'Backup' at the Oxo Tower in London.

# 5 July 2007. During the first iTunes festival, Paul McCartney did an intimate set at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts and made a dedication to the late crew member John Roden: "This next song I want to dedicate to a crew member John Roden, who just passed away last week. This is for you Johnny", he said to the small crowd of 300 people. When he introduced 'Blackbird', he joked: "It is like a party you can get a conversation going. I watched that film 'Munich' by Steven Spielberg last night. It was pretty good."

The songs he played: 'Coming Up', 'Drive My Car', 'Only Mama Knows', 'Dance Tonight', 'C Moon', 'The Long And Winding Road', 'I'll Follow The Sun', Midnight Special', 'Calico Skies', 'That Was Me', 'Blackbird', 'Here Today', 'Back In The USSR', 'Nod Your Head', 'Jet', 'House Of Wax', 'I've Got A Feeling', 'Matchbox', 'Let Me Roll It', 'Get Back', 'Baby Face', 'Hey Jude', 'Let It Be', 'Lady Madonna' and 'I Saw Her Standing There'. Entry was free of charge for competition-winners-only via select media partners and the official iTunes Festival website www.itunesfestival.com

# 10 July 2007. The London Paper reported that Paul McCartney is urging people to give up eating meat to save the environment. He blames global warming on deforestation of rainforests by companies mass farming cattle for fast food chains. “Livestock is one of the biggest destroyers of the planet. When you see the Amazon being cut down for hamburger cattle, that’s pretty obvious. And it’s done in the name of something that benefits us, when in fact it’s the opposite. It’s all about attitudes, no-one thinks they’re the one who has to change.”# 19 July 2007. The Lauren Rogers Museum of Art presents “Linda McCartney’s Sixties - Portrait of an Era” on display up until 20 September 2007 in the Lower Level Galleries.

The exhibition includes 51 photographs of The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones, The Who, B. B. King, Janis Joplin, Ray Charles, The Grateful Dead, The Mamas and the Papas, and more. The exhibition also features a short film, Paul McCartney’s The Grateful Dead - A Photofilm.# Us Weekly’s “fashion police” criticized Paul McCartney’s swim suit., although the article mentioned a Paul McCarthy wearing ‘clown shorts’…

# Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson are reportedly set to team up for a special concert together. Wilson is planning to mark the 40th anniversary of the Fab Four's Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by performing tracks from the album. And sources have claimed that the ex-Beatle will be joining the Beach Boys legend on stage at his Royal Festival Hall concert.

# The London Eye could be renamed the McCartney Eye, because his friends want to rename it to coincide with the release of The McCartney Years DVD in November. The much-hyped three-disc DVD will be an anthology spanning McCartney's musical career. The artwork for the DVD cover is a stylised close-up of Sir Paul's eye - and that got the team thinking.

# In the latest issue of Clash, an exclusive interview with Paul McCartney was printed, with subjects ranging from his new album, his new record contract with Starbucks, his discoveries of new music via the Internet, 40 years of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ and Glastonbury 2004: “Record labels today are like the dinosaurs sitting around discussing the asteroid.”, “Yeah, making music is some kind of addiction, but it’s a good one”, “People would say to me, ‘Hey man, you look just like Paul McCartney’, and I’d say: ‘I wish I had his money!’”, “Why else do you write music and write

songs? It’s not really for any other reason than to turn yourself on”, “Looking out al all the flags and the banners at Glastonbury it was like the battle of Agincourt. It was like, ‘Yeah man! People have come together!’”, “I don’t think that the Beatles cleared the pitch for anyone wanting to do something new, it’s just they’ve got to find it, that’s all.”# 20 July 2007. Paul McCartney announced that he will be boycotting charities that conduct animal experimentation. He said, "When Linda died I said I would support cancer charities. Animal rights groups wrote to me pointing out that many were heavily into vivisection - and it's true. A doctor we knew out in America just admitted it as a matter of fact, innocently, like 'Well, sure we do.' What he doesn't realise is that he won't get a donation out of me for that very fact. There are better alternatives but you're not allowed to challenge the status quo."

# July / August 2007. The Risen Magazine included a cover story and interview with Paul McCartney. In this ‘back to the Summer Of Love’ issue, he talks about the Beatles’ impact on modern pop culture and how they had to behave with regards to the social issues those days.

# Despite their divorce battle, Paul McCartney and Heather Mills were reportedly holidaying together at McCartney's home in the Hamptons on New York's Long Island. They were seen working out at different gyms in the towns of East Hampton and Amagansett.

# 19 August 2007. In Hamptons, New York, Paul McCartney and Heather Mills were meeting each other so that Heather could hand over their three-year-old daughter Beatrice to her father as part of their shared custody agreement. As Bea spotted her father she squealed with delight: "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy." Paul then picked up his daughter and gave her a loving cuddle. But he tensed as she reached out to put an arm around her mother's neck, almost as if she was trying to pull her parents together again.

# And here’s another set of newspaper headlines related to the ongoing Paul McCartney - Heather Mills divorce tale: ‘She now says she doesn’t want his money - and would like to get back together. Just one problem, Heather. Paul thinks you’re a lying rattlesnake’ (Daily Mail, 2 June 2007); ‘Maccas get back’; ‘Divorce is put on ice. They are reunited for his 65th birthday’, ‘Peasmarsh’, ‘They are trying to bury the hatchet’, ‘Paul has always said he loves her’, ‘Macca to spend 65th birthday with Heather at his country estate’ and ‘She gives him a gift & pals say bitter divorce has gone on hold’ (Sunday Mirror, 10 June 2007)

‘McCartney ‘will pay £70million to silence Heather’, ‘The figures have been agreed’ and ‘It’s true they are getting on better’ (Daily Mail, 20 July 2007); ‘McCartney divorce talks deadlocked’ (Daily Express, 21 July 2007); ‘Macca and Heather to hold last-ditch summit’, ‘We can talk it out’ and ‘Face-to-face meet to fix cash deal’ (The People, 22 July 2007); ‘What a difference a year makes..’; ‘I Feel Fine!” (The Daily Mirror , 3 August 2007).

Starrdesk# 24 May 2007. According to the 40th Anniversary issue of Rolling Stone Magazine,

Ringo Starr says he wanted to live in Houston: “All the music we were interested in came out of America. Even before the Beatles, I was a huge blues fan - Lightnin' Hopkins was my hero. He was out of Houston, and I was trying to emigrate to Houston to get a factory job, because I was working in a factory job.”# 19 June 2007. Billboard reported that Ringo Starr will issue his entire Capitol Records catalogue digitally in late August. Billboard notes that this "move raises further speculation that the Beatles catalogue is next in line for digital release."Auctiondesk

# The upright grand piano John Lennon used on the night he died has been put up for sale for $375,000 (£189,000). The piano was part of the Record Plant Recording Studios in New York. where the former Beatle recorded his 1971 Imagine album. It has been in storage since the recording studio closed in the 1990s.

# 3 July 2007. ItsOnlyRocknRoll.com Auctions organized a Beatles memorabilia auction at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, in conjunction with The Fest for Beatles Fans event, organized from 1 - 3 July 2007. The 400 lots auction will include original memorabilia, autographs (an empty bottle

of 1952 Krug Extra Sec, signed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison and used as a prop in the Penny Lane video (estimated between $15,000 and $25,000) and handwritten material, original artwork, concert posters (the Beatles appearing at Busch Stadium in St. Louis in 1966, estimated at over $50,000), photographs, lithographs, awards, clothing, personal effects and toys. Some examples: Paul McCartney’s handwritten lyrics to a Gene Vincent song, a Stuart Sutcliffe song list, Hotel registration cards signed by each Beatle, John Lennon's Signed registration for his Rolls Royce, The Animal’s guitarist Hilton Valentine’s Beatles and Animals signed “Thank Your Lucky Stars" television cue sheet, flight attendant Eva Van Enk’s "In His Own Write” book signed by all four Beatles along with her candid photographs from the trip. And a guitar signed by Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band from his 1992 tour, photos from photographers Sam Leach and Ian Wright, a Beatles Phonograph in the original box, a John Lennon Halloween costume in the box and a set of prototype Beatles Bobble Head Car Mascot Nodders. A highlight of the auction will be items from Stuart Sutcliffe’s collection including original artwork, paintings, writings and drawings. The auction will also be live online for bidding at www.ItsOnlyRocknRoll.com# A pen and ink drawing and signature by John Lennon was sold at the Manchester Tratfor Books auctioneers, for £2.050.Restdesk

# June 2007. American sculptor David Adickes has made a huge 36ft high artwork of the Beatles, that is looming over the Lone Star State. Mr Adickes said: “I wanted to do some standing figures, maybe about three or four, something semi-abstract, and so thought who better than The Beatles? “I love them – everybody loves them – and their overall look and style worked well for what I wanted to do. The sculptures weren’t commissioned, they’re mine, it was just something I wanted to do. I got into sculpture seriously about 20 years ago and have just always done big things. “Everybody in Houston loves the Beatles sculpture and I have a steady

stream of traffic coming through the studio every day.”

# 6 June 2007. Rookie Entertainment organized a Billy Preston tribute night at the Amsterdam Sugar Factory. The artists included Vanessa B and Brown Hill, who worked with Billy Preston before he passed away last year, his single "Daddy's Caddy" was co-composed and co-produced by Billy Preston. The concert benefited the Dutch ‘Nierstichting’ charity.

# 24 June 2007. Julian Lennon and half-brother Sean reconciled after an eight-year feud. This comes as Yoko revealed recently that she considered an abortion to be rid of Sean, "because maybe John didn't want it." Julian and his mother, Cynthia Lennon, were kept secret during Beatlemania. "Dad had his own way of doing things and his own beliefs," Julian says, "I thought it time to make big changes in my own life. Part of that has been to get Sean back in to my life, because I love him so much." He secretly turned up on Sean's tour of East Europe earlier this year. "I got in touch with Sean's tour manager without him knowing, and was sitting backstage when he came off a gig in Prague. He . . . said, 'Jesus, you look just like my brother.' "I said, 'I am your brother.' He looked really closely at me, and it scared the s - - t out of him. We just hugged and held each other. "We had been out of touch because of comments I had

made about his mother. So he said: 'How long are you staying?' I told him: 'I am coming on the tour bus with you.' So I slept on the floor . . . as we travelled through Croatia and Slovenia."

# Beatles tattoos: Dominic Monaghan, one of the Hobbits characters in “Lord of the Rings”, is a huge Beatles fan and has ‘Living is easy with eyes closed’ (from Strawberry Fields Forever) tattood on his arm. Robbie Williams also has a line from a Beatles song: on his back, he had the first notes and words from ‘All you need is love‘.

# 29 June - 31 July 2007. At the Salle d’Exposicions in Estartit, Spain, a Beatles exhibition took place, titled Beatles The Vinyl. Besides that, a Beatles weekend was organized in the last weekend of June. The programme included various concerts, karaoke show and jam sessions. # 8 and 9 August 2007. Profiles of the Beatles wives, including Yoko Ono, Linda McCartney, Pattie Boyd, Barbara Bach and Heather Mills appeared in the US’ Biography Channel.# Thanks to: Frank C. Branchini, Dirk van Damme, Erik Edvardsen, Herbie Geuting, Joel Glazier, Daniel Glücksmann, Rodolfo Figueroa Gonzales, George Hentschel, Carlos Hironaka, R. Jansen, Miki Narita, Rob Nieuwveld, Ivana Setiawan, Maria Tereza Pinho Gomes da Silva, Frits-Jan Smit, Fea Teunissen, Paul Tidey and Raphaël Vandenberghe.

Streettalk# Sculptor Chris Kelly (also known from his John Lennon statue at Liverpool Airport) is working on a 7 ft Beatles statue, to be placed on the piazza at the Liverpool Arena.

# 25 May 2007. John Lennon’s self portrait has been painted on the tail of the Flyglobespan jet, which went from Liverpool to the New York, to mark the city’s first air link with the US. Yoko Ono was present to launch this first transatlantic flight. She then went to the Alder Hey Hospital to launch the John Lennon Child Health Foundation. She said, “I share their passion and vision for a global approach to the research and treatment of childhood illnesses, and I know John would have felt the same way. John s-pent his adult life trying to spread his wisdom and knowledge for the benefit of the world.” She gave the foundation a personal donation of £50,000.

# 5 and 6 June 2007. The Liverpool Echo traced both Lennon’s and McCartney’s family tree in illustrated articles on the subject.

# 15 - 17 June 2007. Woolton in Bloom organized the Beatles Flower Festival in St Peter’s, also celebrating 50 years of Beatles music. In and outside the church, 33 flower arrangements were on display, all portraying Beatles songs.

Three songs all inspired three different arrangements: The Long And Winding Road, Strawberry Fields Forever and With A Little Help From My Friends; Ticket To Ride, Here Comes The Sun and Help were all chosen for two presentations each. Other songs only had one display.

# 6 - 8 July 2007. 50 years after ‘The Day John met Paul, 6th July 1957”, Woolton celebrated the event with a service of celebration at St Peter’s Church, followed by a grand dance, with performances from The Quarrymen, skiffleband Please y’Self and Liam Bailey, performing Beatles classics. The next day, Woolton tours with experts, a 50’s dinner dance night featured concerts by The Quarrymen, 50’s tribute band the Jukebox Eddies and pianist Ged Scott, who performed Beatles songs. On Sunday, there was another performance by The Quarrymen, followed by Pete Wylie, The Mersey Beatles and The Merseycats.

# 11 July 2007. The annual exhibition of Beatles art, Come Together, has been saved by a funding from the Community Foundation for Merseyside, The new show ran from 6 - 31 August at the Liverpool Academy of Arts.# 23 July 2007. Strawberry Field had been closed for a while when the Salvation Army closed down the orphanage there. Now it has opened again and has Christians coming from around the world to pray and worship the Lord there.

# City councillors refused to name a street after Brian Epstein, and since there is already a block of apartments called Epstein Court, in Kensington, there might be confusion when a building will be named in his honour.

# 2 August 2007. The Liverpool Echo headlined with: ‘Mathew St Festival Axed’. 26 and 27 August 2007. The annual Mathew Street Festival music festival was meant to kick off the city's 800th birthday celebrations over the August Bank Holiday weekend. But the council said the loss of space at the Pier Head and the amount of construction work going on meant there was a "significant" risk to the public. The decision has been made in consultation with Merseyside Police. The council said despite detailed planning for the event, a health and safety review found the lack of space combined with large crowds in an unlicensed environment would pose too much of a risk to the public. Liverpool City Council's chief executive Colin Hilton said: "We have been working tirelessly for months to try to make the Mathew Street Festival work in the city centre. Unfortunately, it has just not been possible to make it happen this year. We have a responsibility for the safety and welfare of every single person attending the event. We are rightly proud of the festival, and were desperate for it to go ahead this year, but public safety must come first." The day after, the Echo headlined with ‘Let’s Save Mathew Street Festival’ and seven venues agreed to host some of the bands. Meanwhile, it was announced that its sister event, The Beatles Week still continued. On 4 August, Liverpool council boss Warren Bradly reportedly said he had put a deal on the table which could see some of the outdoor stages rescued. During the next days, Bradly ordered Culture Company officials to investigate every possible option to rescue the free festival. Then, an expanded indoor festival appeared the most likely outcome of their efforts to save Mathew

Street Festival. On 9 August, the Echo headlined with: ‘Mathew Street Festival Saved’, with at least 40 pubs and clubs hosting the acts. The total capacity will probably reach just 20,000 people, compared to the almost 140,000 expected on Bank Holiday Monday alone. Council leader Bradley blamed paid officials for the fiasco and believed the festival could have been rescued but the will to do so from other agencies was not there.

# Paul McCartney and a host of celebrities from stage, screen and music have taken part in the LIPA’s graduations ceremony. Alongside the graduating students, celebrities Ben Elton and Anita Dobson were made Honorary Companions. Paul McCartney spoke of his pride that the former derelict building was now "turning out so many good kids”. He added: "Be clear what you want and believe you are going to get it, work hard and you will get it - you are all brilliant."# The new £18m Hard Day’s Night Hotel will have 70 pieces of original artwork made by American artist Shannon, for most of the hotel’s bedrooms and public spaces. Besides that, 7 foot Beatles statues, made by sculptor David Webster, will grace the front of the hotel building, due open in autumn this year.

# A mural to the New York 9/11 victims, titled Give Peace A Chance, can be viewed on a wall on Great Howard Street.