Pinned

"The Beatles in my mind were, and are still, the best band that ever was. It was just a great combination of talents that hardly ever happens, it’s like lightning in a bottle. And I don’t know that we’ll ever see their like again. They kind of left the footprint that everybody tried to follow. So, yeah, to me — best band that ever was. "It was an amazing thing. Part of the whole post-war baby boom that happened was that we all grew up with the Beatles. And it was always interesting, we couldn’t wait. “What are they gonna do next? What are they gonna do next,” and they didn’t disappoint. They would do something evolutionary. It was such an interesting time. And, it was really a communal thing — the whole generation went through this. We were all still friends at that point, our baby boom generation, we all felt like we were part of the same community. And a lot of it was due to the Beatles. It was a wonderful time to be alive. "There really hasn’t been anything like that since. I step back from time to time and go, 'I wonder if another generation has had anything like this. I wonder if that’ll ever happen again.' I don’t know that it will . . . a lot of it was timing, a lot of it just happened to be who they were, what they were doing, how they did it, who we were, the way the world was. It was just a confluence of events that hit in a way that I don’t think has ever happened before. "They will be played a hundred years, two hundred years from now. I have no doubt about that. I don’t think there will be anybody like the Beatles." --#BillyJoel #PianoMan #Songwriter #Composer #Grammys #HallOfFame #TheBeatles #Influence #GOAT Sources: SiriusXM, 2016, 2017; WNEW-FM, 1980

"'Hey Jude,' now that’s beautiful. That should be what music is all about. The Beatles were great performers, too; we worked together in Hamburg before they were famous. You could tell they had something, you know. Because they didn’t sound like nobody else. They really did not sound like no other group that was around at the time — nobody. "But what they had was songs. The best. Never dirty — just beautiful songs you can play to your grandmother and your children alike. 'Hey Jude' has that quality. It don’t get any better than that." --#RayCharles #TheGenius #Soul #Country #RhythmAndBlues #BrotherRay #Grammys #HallsOfFame #Influence #Beatles #TheBeatles #Unicorns #Songwriters Sources: Uncut magazine, 2001; "Soundtrack of The Century," Ovation, 2006

One of the most shocking and stupid moves of late: George W Bush took part as a “special guest” in a fundraiser, in Dallas, for Republican senate candidates. So he was unwilling to speak up after Jan 6, and unwilling to campaign against Trump, but happy to support the very senators enabling the agenda that is destroying democracy.

the people who inflicted the Trump catastrophe on America deserve to be haunted by nightmares, and the contempt of their grandchildren, for the rest of their lives.

"They were just out in front. There was the Beatles — and then there was everyone else. And everyone else could be great, but the Beatles were leading the way. And that’s just irrefutably true. I mean, if you just look back and follow the history of the music, that’s clearly what was going on. And it was obvious at the time. "It’s hard to explain to somebody that wasn’t there at that time how profound it was. I think that they were just hungry for anything that would inspire them, and they weren’t musical snobs at all. Having that kind of open-door policy of 'let’s try anything' was really revolutionary. You know, I don’t know if people really understand how incredibly, just, bold that was. To kind of just leave the format that you arrived in, and invent another one. It’s just unbelievable. "You know, before the Beatles, you didn’t really see rock stars trying to evolve. They were quite happy to have a hit, and often the follow-up was almost exactly the same. That’s what I’ve always really been amazed at — the Beatles had that incredible success and really could have put anything out, and it would have been a hit. But they kept their head and weren’t affected by all that going on around them and focused on music. "And they had such great taste, you know? When you think about the hideous things people did with the Moog synthesizer, the Beatles used it so tastefully [on Abbey Road] that you hardly noticed it, it was just part of the texture of the record. They had such a great sense of sound, of textures — I think it’s one of the reasons those albums still hold up." "It’s just strange, isn’t it, when you think about it, how all the perfect pieces of the puzzle were there. This really starts to get into a spiritual level of perfection [sighs]. What are the chances of that falling together, those kind of singers being in one band, let alone being great players and writers, you know? It’s startling, it won’t be done again. It’s a force of nature bigger than all of us." --#TomPetty #Heartbreakers #TravelingWilburys #Songwriter #Grammys #HallOfFame #TheBeatles #Impact #Influence #Evolution #GOAT Sources: "Conversations with Tom Petty," Zollo; "Here, There and Everywhere," syndicated radio special, 2009

"Rock and roll is not the beginning and end of all life. It’s 95 per cent bullshit. Rock now is boring. It’s not happening. In the '60s, rock and roll was a change of attitude — a drastic change which I think the Beatles were hugely responsible for, praise the lord. Their influence was just phenomenal. "Usually, when you think about the Beatles, it’s about the sophisticated way they used [different] pop elements to do things that hadn’t been done before. But they were real rockers. 'I Saw Her Standing There' is a standard, three chord rock and roll classic. It still explodes at you when you hear it today. There’s even a terrific live version that made me go, 'My God, these guys could really play'. "The beautiful thing about them was that they took the audience with them and they were growing with the technology. I can go back to Elvis Presley and look at him as an example of someone who, considering how wonderful and pure and unbelievable he was in the mid and late '50s, succumbed and became sort of a caricature of himself. But the Beatles, luckily because they had each other I guess, they were able to evolve completely on their own terms in an incredibly short span of time. "That evolution . . . they took not only the music community, but the world along with them." --#LindseyBuckingham #FleetwoodMac @LBuckingham #Songwriting #Guitarist #Grammys #HallOfFame #Beatles #TheBeatles #Influence Sources: Fleetwood Mac on Fleetwood Mac, Egan, ed; Lava Magazine, 2011; Songwriters On Songwriting, Zollo

A massive group of demonstrators is currently forming a human chain around the Kennedy Center following Trump’s threats against it

JUST AN FYI: Economic insecurity makes people easier to control. Thats the centerpiece of Project 2025

I’ll take it up a notch and go with disgraceful. An absolutely disgraceful response by the Washington Capitals re: Alexander Ovechkin and his strong support of Putin and Russia’s war against Ukraine.

A revealing & disgusting moment at Texas: Arch Manning, 22, unable to control his laughter while talking about the AI edit of his coach “slapping Holly Rowe.” And all the laughter in the room accompanying & encouraging him. Will be interesting to hear the explanations/apologies.

"England was very hierarchical, still is in a lot of ways. You know, how to use your knife and fork, what school you went from . . . and here were the Fab Four, spitting out a new vocabulary that comes from that kind of revenge against the old idea of England that wasn’t inclusive of the working class. "That revenge against class system . . . there’s a lot of complicated ideas that the Beatles represent. Humor is one of them. ‘Cause humor is a weapon — to defend yourself and attack the kind of baloney that attempts to keep you in your place. "The Beatles are the model. I mean, the White Album is still the blueprint for me. It's all there — the songs, the ideas, the disciplined songwriting right next to the mayhem. It’s mind-blowing. It's the complete encyclopedia of rock 'n' roll. "When I look back [at U2], I see the slowest, almost invisible revolution: just tiny, tiny gradations, just on the way of degrees. Really, it’s just so slow to me. I think we’re the slowest learners in the world. But you read about the Beatles, and it’s just all in ten years. "They raised the standards for everybody. Because those were miracles, those songs." --#Bono #Songwriter #U2 #Grammys #GoldenGlobes #BritAwards #HallOfFame #TheBeatles #Influence Sources: "Revolution," ABC-TV, 2000; Bono In Conversation, Assayas, 2005

“The wicked grow bold as they are tolerated.” Tolstoy

Canada sends the U.S. an icy message in Barry Blitt's latest Kvetchbook.

We talk about 9/11 a lot as a society, as we should. But we actually don’t talk about the passengers on Flight 93 enough. They saved countless lives and showed a bravery few could imagine. Every damn one of them is a hero and should always be honored as such.

BREAKING: The Buffalo Bills will play the Canadian national anthem, "O Canada," before every home game this season 🇨🇦 "For the first time in Highmark Stadium history, we will celebrate the American and Canadian anthems during pregame," The Bills announced on X.

On a flight from Boston to Phoenix and this note was in my seat when I returned from the restroom. I think this shows how much an entire generation is struggling. Whether it’s my own kids or a random person on a random flight, young people are frustrated. There is massive anxiety and uncertainty about the future. This government hasn’t done jack shit for hardworking young Americans who have done everything right…..but if you are a billionaire with a big stock portfolio and a bigger tax cut, Trump’s "Golden Age" has arrived.

"All of a sudden — bam! The Beatles twisted the whole thing up with 'Yesterday.' We were flabbergasted, it was so poignant and so sensitive. "I’m the type of guy who talks to the muses: ‘Damn, man, why didn’t you give me that one?’ 'The Long and Winding Road,' 'Here There and Everywhere' — I love that stuff. I'd try to deconstruct them. "'Something' has everything that makes a perfect song. It comes at you from all sides, and just takes over your emotions. 'Let It Be' just sounded very spiritual. Like a gospel song. With so many of their songs, I’d always get that feeling of, Why didn’t I write that? "The Beatles probably inspired us to be better than we even felt we could be. When they got hot, we tried to get hotter. When they did something spectacular, we tried to be more spectacular. When I talked with John Lennon, he said, 'You guys inspired us to do things.' I said, 'That's funny [laughing], you guys did the same thing for us.' Ringo Starr was telling me that they used to wait and hear what Holland-Dozier-Holland was going to do, just to see. [I told him] It was a mutual admiration society in that respect, because we used to wait to see what they were going to do. It was an appreciation we had for each other. "Remember, this was a particular time when people came together during the '60s, when there was a lot going on with civil rights, and barriers were coming down between the races in this country. But then there was a lot of happiness, and this music always had the positive about it. They had melodies that everybody could sing and feel good about. The positiveness of the songs and the love aspect of the songs and the melodies that were haunting, I think that's why they've lasted so long." --#LamontDozier #Motown #HollandDozierHolland #Songwriting #Grammys #GoldenGlobes #HallOfFame #TheBeatles #Influence Sources: Record Collector Magazine; LAWeekly, 2008; ITV, 2015; Metro Times, 2007; SFGate, 2001

They took memory cards from us and made us pay for storage. They took CDs and DVDs and made us pay for streaming. They took software you could buy once and turned it into a monthly subscription. They took ownership, convenience, and basically everything that used to be a one-time purchase… then somehow made us pay for it every month.

Hear! Hear! 💯%!!! I did it once, but took my own name back and vowed never to relinquish it again. Plus, it was often beneficial when people didn't know which kids you belonged to at school events.😁🤪

I still think about the guy who pointed out that "the underlying purpose of Al is to allow wealth to access skill while removing from the skilled the ability to access wealth." Rarely have I seen Al described so succinctly.