IK! Instant News ! - January, 2001

Jon Thurber reported for the LA Times that Deirdre O'Donoghue, longtime host of the radio program "Breakfast With the Beatles," which most recently was heard on KLSX-FM, has died. O'Donoghue was found dead in her Santa Monica home Saturday night (January 27) by police officers who responded to a report that she had missed a broadcast and had not returned phone calls. The coroner's office is investigating the cause of death, but foul play is not suspected.

In 1983, she began an association with KMET, then one of the leading mainstream FM rock stations in town, that would last several years. It was there she originated "Breakfast With the Beatles," a two-hour Sunday morning program devoted to the band. She worked simultaneously at KMET and KCRW, covering a broad range of rock music. When KMET changed formats in 1987, O'Donoghue took her Beatles program to KNX-FM and then to KLSX-FM. She remained with KCRW until 1991, when she left for health reasons.

"Deirdre was as passionate about music--and especially about discovering new music--as anyone I've ever heard on radio," recalled Steve Hochman, a pop music writer who covered O'Donoghue for The Times. "For her it was never about hits or popularity, but about talent and emotion. And she had a gift for expressing that in a way that made her enthusiasm contagious. Not coincidentally, some of her biggest fans were musicians, including Michael Stipe of R.E.M., Henry Rollins and many others."

Giles Elgood reported for Reuters News Service that secret police files from 1970 reveal that John's Bag One lithographs of John and Yoko in various sexual positions was considered "bad art." The London exhibition of these lithos lasted only a few days before police confiscated most of the pictures and prosecuted the gallery owner under Britain's obscenity laws.

According to the files, the artistic merit of the sketches did not impress Eugene Schuster, the American who was putting on the Bag One exhibition, or the police officer who raided the gallery.

The police files on the case, released by the Public Record Office as part of efforts toward greater government openness, quote Schuster as saying: ``They are bad art but after all it's the name that sells them.''

The arts editor of the Guardian newspaper, Michael McNay, agreed, telling police: ``I took exception to them because I thought the exhibition was trading on Lennon's name rather than his talent.''

Detective Inspector Frederick Luff, who swooped in after complaints from the public, had doubts whether the pictures were well enough executed to count as genuine pornography. "Many toilet walls depict works of similar merit," he noted scornfully. "It is perhaps charitable to suggest that they are the work of a sick mind,'" the 30-year-old files quoted him as saying.

"The only danger to a successful prosecution, as I see it, is the argument that they are so pathetic as to be incapable of influencing anyone and therefore unable to deprave or corrupt any person,'' he said. Okay..we get the idea..he didn't care for the sketches...

Publicity material for the show put out by Schuster's London Arts Gallery was more polite, saying: ``Lennon's art speaks of life and reality, not mere pornography." Some members of the public who strayed into the gallery were less charitable, according to the files.

George Holmes, an accountant, said he was horrified.

"They were exaggerated distorted caricatures depicting intimate sexual relationships of a repulsive and disgusting nature,'" he said.

Housewife Nansi Creer added: ``I was stunned. I couldn't believe what I was looking at.''

In the end, a London magistrate dismissed the charges against Schuster, and Luff returned the confiscated lithographs to the gallery, where they were on sale at a price of $58 each or $800 for the set.

LONDON (Billboard) - Despite waning support in their native land, America's fascination with the Beatles continues for an eighth week atop the Billboard 200, as "1" sold another 215,500 copies, according
to SoundScan. "1" was dethroned after nine weeks on top of the U.K. album chart by the resurgence of Texas' "The Greatest Hits." Back on these shores, Shaggy's "Hot Shot" continues to close the gap on "1,"
remaining at No. 2 and selling more than 203,000 units.

From the January 26, 2001 edition of Entertainment Weekly:

Phil Spector, who produced John Lennon's "Imagine" album and was the man who John called in to complete the Beatles' "Let It Be" sessions (which upset Paul and George Martin), has reportedly been talking to Sean Lennon.

Entertainment Weekly's sources say that Sean visited him with "girlfriend Bijou Phillips" last month and, after playing some demos, left with the a promise from Spector to produce Sean's second album. Entertainment Weekly says Spector has confirmed that the two will collaborate this year.

This will be a major departure for Sean from the homegrown flavor of his first album, "Into the Sun."

More than 100 items of Beatles memorabilia are being auctioned off this month by London's Hard Rock Café to raise funds for charity.

The sale, marking the Hard Rock's 30th anniversary will include two recording consoles from Abbey Road studios where the B's recorded most of their songs. Several gold albums and an acoustic guitar signed by George Harrison are also up for sale. The items are up for sale online at www.hardrock.com and www.eBay.com starting today, January 15. Money raised will go to the Hard Rock Foundation, which donates to charities worldwide.

Two months ago George Michael bought the piano that John Lennon used to write Imagine at auction for £1.45m. Michael bought the piano to ensure it didn't leave the country and intends to return it to the Beatles museum once he's finished writing songs on it. Another John Lennon piano is being auctioned - this is the Dakota days black piano that John is said to have composed "Double Fantasy" tunes on.

In a Channel 4 poll, John Lennon's 'peace anthem', 'Imagine', has been voted the UK's favorite No.1 single, just ahead of Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. The top ten turned out as follows: -

1. Imagine - John Lennon
2. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
3. Hey Jude - The Beatles
4. Dancing Queen - ABBA
5. Every Breath You Take - The Police
6. Stand By Me - Ben E King
7. The Drugs Dont Work - The Verve
8. Dont Look Back In Anger - Oasis
9. Groovejet - Spiller
10. (Everything I Do) I Do For You - Bryan Adams

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) -Rock in Rio, the seven-day mega-music festival dubbed ``Brazil's Woodstock,'' got off to an unusually quiet start on Friday with three minutes of silence to contemplate peace.

Thousands of fans gathered in the specially built City of Rock in western Rio waved white handkerchiefs and then sang along as the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra played ``Imagine'' by John Lennon.

``I love it! The peace and the feeling, I just wish it weren't confined to this festival. I wish we had it in my country,'' said Aviad Herman, a 23-year-old Israeli student backpacking through Brazil.

The festival is expected to draw approximately 1.5 million fans from across South American to the $36 million show called "Rock in Rio for a Better World." If estimates are accurate, this will be the biggest paying music festival ever.

Sixteen years ago, the first Rock in Rio set a record with 1.38 million people compared to a meager 450,000 fans who attended Woodstock in 1969.

The Rio festival will run from January 12-14 and from January 18-21 and will feature a wide range of musical genres and a diverse group of acts, including Britney Spears, Oasis, Neil Young, Sting and R.E.M. Sting, who became a household name in Brazil with his high-profile defense of indigenous tribes in the Amazon rain forest, said: ``I've been coming to Brazil for many years. Brazilian music has informed my career.''

Organizers say they will donate 5 percent of sales to a Brazilian anti-violence group and U.N.-sponsored projects.

(Launch) - The last piano owned by John Lennon will go up for auction soon, Fleetwood Mac's Mick Fleetwood announced Wednesday at a press conference at Steinway Hall in New York. The black upright Steinway, Model S-15, is believed to be the piano on which Lennon composed the songs for his album "Double Fantasy." In 1979, Lennon went into the 57th Street store to special order the instrument and it was kept at his Dakota residence until his death. "He specifically bought this piano himself - not one of his road crew. He went and chose this piano," Fleetwood explained. "He had it in his house, his home here in New York. It's an important signpost to John's legacy."

Fleetwood's London-based auction company Fleetwood Owen held last year's auction of Lennon's "Imagine" piano, which set a record price of $2.2 million. Like many of his fellow Britons, Fleetwood felt very strongly that that piano should remain there (the piano was purchased by pop singer George Michael, who vowed to keep the piano at the Beatles Story Museum in Liverpool). This piano, Fleetwood said, should stay in New York.

Fleetwood could not reveal the set bidding price for the piano, which will be up for auction later this year, but said it would need to meet at least a $1 million beginning bid in order for a sale to take place.

LONDON (Hollywood Reporter) - EMI's Beatles compilation album, "1," reached 7 million in sales in Europe in December, one of 13 albums to receive new Platinum Awards honors in the last month of 2000, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said Tuesday. Others that made it were Limp Bizkit's U.S. hit "Chocolate Starfish and the Hotdog Flavored Water," the S Club 7 album "7." Joe Cocker's "Greatest Hits" and Sade's "Lovers Rock."

Meanwhile, Variety reports that the Beatles "1" has topped the album charts again this week, despite the fact that sales are beginning to fall. The Beatles' album, which has sold more >than 5.3 million copies to date, scanned 268,000 units in the week ended Sunday (January 7, 2001), according to data compiled by SoundScan. That's down, however, by about 41% from the prior week.

The January 15, 2001 edition of "PEOPLE" Magazine has a color photo of Yoko, daughter Kyoko, and granddaughter, Emi sitting on a park bench in Central Park in New York City. People.com isn't showing the picture online but the magazine should be available on newsstands at least through Saturday, January 13.

Sean and Cibo Matto fans will have an opportunity to see them perform this month in NYC.

They will host a benefit for Petra Haden - a violinist and former member of that dog at the Bowery Ballroom on January 21 (a Sunday). Tickets are $20 and are available from Ticketweb by phoning 212-269-4TIX.

In late August, 2000, Ms. Haden was struck by a car while crossing a street in Venice, California. Haden suffered numerous injuries including severe damage to her head, pelvis, and a leg. The artist did not have medical insurance. Benefits for the musician have been going on for the past few months. Haden is the daughter of legendary jazz bassist Charlie Haden.

IK! is always interested in reviews and photos from concerts - anyone planning to attend who would like to have your article published here, please e-mail the editor at mewing@up.net

"Revolver"..which was the first Beatles' album to reach a bit deeper into the inner workings of the Beatles' minds...and which had a more experimental feel to it than previous albums, was judged the best album in rock and roll history by experts in a VH1 poll released Thursday. (01/04/01).

The Beatles took five of the top 11 spots on VH1's list of the 100 greatest albums. VH1 had polled more than 500 journalists, music execs and artists. Carole King, Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello and Roberta Flack were among the respondents in the artist category.

"Revolver," which was released in 1966, included the songs "Taxman," "Here, There and Everywhere," "She Said She Said" and the synthesized "Tomorrow Never Knows." "Revolver" has moved up in status over the better-known "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band which was No.10 on VH1's list.

Other Beatle albums in the Top 100 were "Rubber Soul" at No. 6; "Abbey Road" at No.8 and "The Beatles" (aka The White Album) at No. 11.

For a complete list of VH1's 100 greatest albums, see
http://www.infobeat.com/fullArticle?article=405674070

"The Beatles 1" sold more than 451,000 copies last week to keep it on top of the Billboard 200. After only seven weeks, the album of Beatles' hits has sold more than 5,000,000 copies and has been ranked Number One for five straight weeks on the chart.

Although sales fell from the previous week for nearly every album on the chart following the largest weekly album sales in the nine-year history of SoundScan, the Top 10 of the chart was doing well. The Beatles beat out Shaggy's "Hotshot" and Limp Bizkit's "Chocolate Starfish."

"Gimme Some Truth - The Making of John Lennon's Imagine Album" has been nominated, for a Grammy in the Best Long Form Music Video category.

The Grammy Awards will be held at Staples Center in Los Angeles on February 21 and will be broadcast on the CBS Television Network from 8-11 PM.

The Beatles remain unstoppable! Their current collection of no. 1 hits titled appropriately enough “1” remains at the top of the charts for the fourth week and the CD flew off the shelves during the week before Christmas selling more than 1.25 million copies, making it the 5th best selling week for a CD ever. Since it’s release six weeks ago the album has sold 4.6 million copies in the United States and has topped the charts worldwide.

This year, The Beatles are selling faster than at any other time in their career. The 1 album is on a roll, selling even more units this week in the U.S., than any of the preceding five weeks it was on sale. The 1 album sold 1.25 million copies this week alone in the U.S., with total sales in the U.S. at 4.8 million. Worldwide, the album has now sold more than 20 million. Backstreet Boys hold steady at #2, selling 724,000 units, but that doesn't compare to the original boy band from Liverpool.

LONDON--Beatlemania is back 30 years after the group broke up -- their greatest hits album has now topped the charts in 30 countries around the world. Just five weeks after being released, the album of their 27 chart toppers has sold 12 million copies.

In their homeland, the collection, simply entitled "1," has been Britain's best-selling album of the year, notching up sales of 1.4 million. It has now topped the charts in Britain for five straight weeks -- the Beatles' longest run at the top since Abbey Road in 1969.

"It is a great testament to the songs and the quality of the musicians that created them," said a spokesman for the remaining members of the original group -- Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison -- who made pop history with John Lennon.

In the United States, the Beatles hit album was also rapturously received. Billboard Magazine said: "Decades after their original releases, these songs still resonate with a potency and vibrancy that simply doesn't exist in a lot of today's pop music. Truly the best from the best."

The number of albums currently ordered for sale abroad stands at 13.5 million. It brings together the 27 Beatle songs that topped the singles charts in the United States and Britain -- from "Love Me Do" to "The Long And Winding Road."

At the same time as the album was released, The Beatles launched their own Web site which had taken a year to produce.

McCartney sparked frenzy among hundreds of fans last week when he appeared t a London bookstore for a signing session of his book "Paintings."

The Beatles' recently released book "Anthology" is also in the top 10 of book charts across Europe. But The Beatles still have some way to go to rewrite one pop record --Michael Jackson's "Thriller" has to date sold 47 million copies.

"LJ Plays the Beatles!" (Solid Air Records). Laurence Juber was the lead guitarist from 1978 to 1981 in Wings, Paul McCartney's other band. He has also played professionally with George Harrison and Ringo Starr. This is a finely crafted collection of Beatles classics, from "I Saw Her Standing There" to "Let It Be," lovingly played on acoustic guitar. Says Juber of the compositions of Lennon and McCartney: " This stuff's like Shakespeare. I don't think it's ever going to go away. It's tapped into some collective consciousness and it's too strong."

HAVANA (Reuters) - A thief has stolen the spectacles from a life-size bronze statue of John Lennon recently unveiled in Havana by President Fidel Castro.

The Communist Youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde reported on December 23rd that the theft apparently took place on December 21 when the guard whose job it was to protect the monument in a Havana park left during a rain shower.

``Some fanatic or thief took the glasses, for some unknown reason,'' the newspaper said.

It quoted the Cuban sculptor who made the bronze statue, Jose Villar, as saying he would replace the stolen glasses with another pair, this time attaching them more firmly to the rest.

The Havana monument, which was unveiled by Castro December 8 on the 20th anniversary of John's murder in New York, shows a contemplative Lennon seated on a park bench.

Castro and other Cuban officials hailed the singer-songwriter as a man of progressive ``anti-imperialist'' ideas whose rise to fame with the Beatles coincided with the flourishing of socialism in Cuba after the 1959 Revolution.

They singled out his defense of racial equality and workers' and women's rights and his pacifist campaign in the United States against the Vietnam War, expressed in the song "Give Peace a Chance."

Cuban authorities now plan to step up security around the Lennon statue and their message to the public is: Let it be!