Abbey Road Ward Councilor Lindsey hall says that since the year 2000, there were 22 accidents at the Abbey Road Crossing. She adds, “Maybe it’s time to end this once and for all and move the zebra crossing.” Another government official, Judith Warner stated, “I have asked our transport department if the crossing is in the most appropriate place.” A spokesman for Westminster City Council debated, “There is nothing to indicate any more cause for concern than any other road.”

(continued below)

Well here’s a silly suggestions, how about a traffic light? Break out your calculators and figure out how much money the Beatles bring in tourism. Now subtract the cost of a traffic light that would give fans half a minute to snap a photo. Still a big number.

And, do you think that fans aren’t going to still cross the road if the stripes aren’t painted there? It’s not like they are the same stripes as the original album cover anyway. The tourist attraction is the spot in the road, not the paint on the pavement.

This all just after the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the photographing of the Abbey Road album cover. Thousands of fans visited the spot on the anniversary. The Beatles tribute band “Sgt Peppers Only Dartboard Band” dressed in replica clothing and crossed the road to recreate the famous pose.

Photographer Iain Macmillan took the original photograph. He was chosen because of work he had done for Yoko. The photographer only had about fifteen minutes to take the album cover photograph. He stood on a ladder in the middle of the road and snapped only about 8 photos of the John, Ringo, Paul and George crossing in front of Abbey Road Studio while a policemen held traffic.

There was no writing on the album cover. Not even the band’s name. Creative director at Apple records, Josh Kosh, insisted the Beatles were the most famous group on earth and they did not need their name on the cover. The record company said they’d never sell albums unless they said who the band was. I suppose it all worked out all right in the end.

- Beatles Geek Pete

For more Beatles News and cool Beatles Gifts visit my blog!

This Post from: Beatles Gifts where you can find the perfect Beatles Gifts for the Beatle Fan in your life!

Government Moving Beatles Abbey Road Crossing?

Shea Stadium Beatles T Shirt

This Beatles T shirt has a poster advertising the Beatles second appearance in Shea Stadium on August 23rd 1966. The Beatles first appearance at Shea was a year earlier when they opened their 1965 North American tour to a record audience of over 55,000 screaming fans. It was the first concert in a major stadium and set records for attendance and earnings. The Beatles at Shea Stadium opened the doors for today’s huge arena concerts.

Get your Shea Stadium Beatles T Shirt

Beatles Logo T Shirt

Classic understated black Beatles T Shirt with the Beatles “drop T” logo. Let everyone know the name of you’re favorite band. The Beatles iconic drop-T logo made its first appearance in 1963. It was designed by Ivor Arbiter and was first used on the front drum head of Ringo’s bass drum. This Beatles T Shirt is officially licensed from the Beatles and has screen printed lettering on a black preshrunk 6oz cotton T Shirt.

Buy your Beatles Logo T Shirt

Hard Days Night Beatles Baby Tee

Cute black Beatles Baby T with a colorful red white and blue union jack flag. The flag has high contrast black and white photos of the Beatles from cover of A Hard Day’s Night. The photos were also used in the photo booth scene from the film A Hard Day’s Night. Also bands name, “The Beatles” is used as the flagpole for the Beatles flag. Classic black cotton T with a splash of color on the front. This shirt is designed for someone who likes to wear form fitted style of a babydoll T shirt.

Get your Hard Days Night Beatles T Shirt

Love Me Do Beatles T Shirt

Love Me Do because all you need is love! This is an officially licensed Beatles Baby Tee. This girls shirt (or emo dude’s shirt) has been screen printed with a Beatles “Love Me Do” design on the front of this cotton junior fitted babydoll tee shirt. These Beatles Baby Tee shirts are usually made from a softer 5oz. stretchy cotton baby doll tee shirts. These Beatles Baby Tees are designed to be fitted babydoll style shirts for someone who likes to wear form fitted style of a shirt.

Love Me Do Beatles T Shirt

Beatles Sgt Pepper T Shirt

A modern interpretation of the Beatles posing as their alter-ego Sgt Pepper Lonely Hearts Club band. The Beatles decided they were tired of being the Beatles in 1967 so they became a ficticious band. This freed them up to explore other musical styles and instrumentation that their Yeah Yeah Yeah counterparts could never pull off. For trippy psychedelic period Beatles fans.

Buy your Beatles Sgt Pepper T Shirt

- Beatles Geek Pete
For more Beatles Clothing and Beatles News visit my blog!

-

-

-

-

This Post from: Beatles Gifts where you can find the perfect Beatles Gifts for the Beatle Fan in your life!

Top 5 Beatles T Shirt List

The four Beatles walked across the road outside the Abbey Road Studios, at 11.35am on August 8 1969, for the album cover photo of their last recorded album.

While brainstorming for a title and cover concept for their final album, the Beatles thought it should be something grand. They came up with “Everest” after looking a the packet of Everest cigarettes that belonged to their recording engineer Geoff Emerik. The world-famous Beatles planned to end big and and take a trip to Mount Everest to photograph themselves in front of the world-famous mountain.

Outakes of the Beatles Abbey Road Photo Shoot Below…

Abbey Road Album Cover Outtakes

But, the recording process dragged on for longer than the soon-to-be-spit Beatles patience. So John Lennon sarcastically quipped, instead of calling it Everest and flying to bloody Mount Everest, why don’t we just call it Abbey Road and take the picture in front of Abbey Road. Paul McCartney, the planner, sketched the Beatles road crossing image in stick figures and the plan was set.

Photographer Iain Macmillan was chosen because of work he had done for Yoko. He was only given about 15 minutes to get the shot. Standing on a ladder in the road, He took only about eight pictures of the Beatles crossing in front of Abbey Road Studio while a policemen held traffic.

The Volkswagen Beetle that was coincidentally parked in front of the studio belong to someone who lived on the street. The car was sold in 1986 auction for only $23,000 and is currently on display at the Volkswagen museum in Germany.

The man standing on the sidewalk learing at the Beatles is Paul Cole, an American tourist who was waiting for his wife who was lingering in a museum. Cole remembers, “I just happened to look up, and I saw those guys walking across the street like a line of ducks. A bunch of kooks, I called them, because they were rather radical-looking at that time. You didn’t walk around in London barefoot.”

The man who stepped into history didn’t know he was in the shot until a year later when his wife was learning “Something” on the organ. Trying to convince his children that it was him on the Beatles new album cover, he told them to get out the magnifying glass. Paul Cole died just last year at 96 years old.

Unusual for an album cover, there is no writing. Not even the name of the band. Josh Kosh, creative director at Apple records, insisted the Beatles were the most popular band in the world and didn’t need their name on the cover. EMI said they would never sell albums if they didn’t say who the band was. I guess it worked out selling OK in the end anyway.

- Beatles Geek Pete
For more Beatles News and cool Beatles Merchandise, visit my blog!

Album Cover for the Beatles Abbey Road

This Post from: Beatles Gifts where you can find the perfect Beatles Gifts for the Beatle Fan in your life!

The Beatles Abbey Road Album Cover Photo 40 Years Old

The Beatles clothing line will include fashion elements like a 60s inspired paisley print with a modern edge, the Beatles iconic font, and silhouettes of the Beatles from Help. The navy-colored Harrington jacket will have an interior with the Beatles faces in pop art colors. (Trivia alert: The Harrington Jacket was named after Rodney Harrington which was Ryan O’Neal’s character on the 1960s TV show Peyton Place.)

Ben Sherman’s creative director Mark Maidment says, “This is an ideal time for us to bring a new Beatles clothing collection to market, our own evolution into a complete lifestyle brand has meant that we can more strongly emphasize quality fabrics and authentic style. The classic Beatles imagery resonates with all consumers at all levels.”

The Benn Sherman company was founded in 1963 by Arthur Bernard Sugarman. He was the owner of a shirt factory who had realized that early 1960s London jazz fans were eagerly buying the American button-down shirts worn by visiting American jazz artists like Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and Oscar Peterson. At the time, the English could only buy the shirts from official importers who had cornered this growing fashion market.

Sugarman, a one time American citizen, decided to produce a version of these shirts in England. The 60s English mods responded immediately, particularly because Sugarman was using better fabric than the imported shirts. He created the Ben Sherman Originals label. Today, The Ben Sherman brand is one of the most popular men’s casual wear brands in England.

Caroline Mickler, who is the official Beatles licensing representative, believes, “Ben Sherman and The Beatles are a perfect match, combining a genuine British heritage with powerful, worldwide brand recognition. She adds, “With The Beatles Clothing Collection Ben Sherman has brought together its real feel for The Beatles and their iconic status with a highly individual, highly sophisticated approach to these classic clothing styles. The market is very excited about this collaboration – and so are we.”

- Beatles Geek Pete
Shop for Beatles Clothing and read more Beatles News on my blog.
-
-
-
-

This Post from: Beatles Gifts where you can find the perfect Beatles Gifts for the Beatle Fan in your life!

New Beatles Clothing Line by Ben Sherman

McCartney’s Buddha-like drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. told the Boston Globe that Sir Paul somehow manages to play as if he were still that teenager with the mop top haircut back in Liverpool. McCartney’s Drummer adds that Sir Paul does not need to tour but he is playing live because he wants to. According to Laboriel, Paul loves to tour and it keeps him young, every time he sits down he’s reborn, he’s like a seventeen year old who is thrilled to be there in the moment.

————————————————————————-
Get Paul McCartney Tour Tickets!
————————————————————————–

A few songs into the Fenway Park set McCartney removed his Beatle-ish jacket to reveal Larry-King-ish red suspenders. Later in the show he joked about having a weak heart and not being able to continue with the stadium-shaking Live and Let Die firework explosions. All kidding aside the ex-Beatle still goes out on tour with the enthusiasm of a much younger man. Few aging rock stars show this much freshness in their performances. McCartney obviously loves his chosen profession.

In addition to “Live and Let Die”, McCartney rocked out his Les Paul to the Wings classic “Let Me Roll It”. He ended the hard rocker with a bit of Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady”. After the song Paul retold the story of how the Sgt. Pepper album had come out on a Friday and by Sunday he had seen Hendrix play in a club. Hendrix surprised the Beatle with his own Hendrix rendition of the Sgt. Pepper Reprise.

The Paul McCartney Fenway Park show also had quieter moments when the band left McCartney to do his solo acoustic guitar finger picking. McCartney introduced the White Album classic “Blackbird” as a tribute he had written in the sixties to the American Civil Rights Movement. He also performed the touching “Here Today” which he described as an imaginary conversation with his late friend John Lennon. George Harrison also had his moment when McCartney performed George’s “Something” on a Ukelele that the late Beatle had given Paul. I guess Ringo will have to wait until he passes for McCartney to dedicate a song to him in concert.

- Beatles Geek Pete
Read more Beatles News and Find cool Beatles Merchandise on my blog.

This Post from: Beatles Gifts where you can find the perfect Beatles Gifts for the Beatle Fan in your life!

Paul McCartney Hits Home Run at Fenway Park

For those who don’t know, the Beatles were the first band to play in a huge sports arena. It was in the Summer of 1965 at the New York Mets Shea Stadium. Of course these days huge concerts in sports arenas are common. But, back then the pioneering Beatles actually sung through the stadium’s PA announcement system (Now up at bat… The Beatles… ECHO Echo echo). The original Beatles set list was only 12 songs long and could barely be heard by the 55,000 screaming girls in the audience (OK, there were some screaming dudes too.)

I was actually married at the old 1960s World’s Fair building right where the Beatles Helicopter landed after their Shea Stadium concert. We had our buffet on the same roof where the Beatles made their quick escape decades before. The building had a heliport on the roof which is now a big patio with a beautful view of Manhattan. I’m sure nobody who celebrates their wedding there has any clue of the history.
——————————————————————————
Get Paul McCartney Tickets!
Boston, Atlanta, Oklahoma, Texas & Maryland!

——————————————————————————-
For some reason that escapes me, they tore down Shea Stadium last year and built a new baseball stadium right next to it. As a Beatles Tribute, Paul McCartney was asked to be the first to play the new Mets Ballpark.

McCartney had made a guest appearance when Billy Joel played the last show of Shea Stadium last year. I happened to be driving home from the airport just as McCartney’s Limo exited Shea and I drove along side for while as McCartney headed home with a large police escort to the Hamptons. McCartney returned the favor to Billy Joel by having him as a guest on the first night of the new stadium.

McCartney’s voice was the stongest I’ve heard it in the three times I’ve seen him. At sixty seven, his voice is still as strong as it was in his twentys (even if he had a bad hair day in the misty New York weather). You can see in these video hightlights how much fun McCartney was having…

My highlight of the show was when Paul paid tribute to his recently deceased friend George Harrison. Paul played Harrison’s song “Something” on a ukulele that George had given him. As in the Concert for George Harrison DVD performance, the whole band comes in and they morph into the recorded version with photos of George behind the band. It was a very touching moment when Paul turned around at the end of the tribute and raised two peace signs to the large image of George Harrison being projected behind him. Here’s Paul singing Something…

- Beatle Geek Pete
Visit my blog for Beatles Merchandise & News

This Post from: Beatles Gifts where you can find the perfect Beatles Gifts for the Beatle Fan in your life!

Video Highlights of Paul McCartney Historic Citi Field Concert

Michael Jackson is Not Giving Beatles Songs Back to Paul

From CNN… First the rumor went around that Michael Jackson was leaving the Beatles catalog to Paul McCartney in his will. Then the rumor was that McCartney was upset that Jackson didn’t leave the Beatles catalog to the Beatle in his will.

Neither is true, said McCartney in a posting on his Web site.

“Some time ago, the media came up with the idea that Michael Jackson was going to leave his share in the Beatles songs to me in his will which was completely made up and something I didn’t believe for a second,” McCartney said.

“Now the report is that I am devastated to find that he didn’t leave the songs to me. This is completely untrue,” he added…

http://whtq.com/blogs/rock_news/2009/07/mccartney-michael-jackson-was.html

————–
Paul McCartney Returned to the Ed Sullivan Theatre to Rock Letterman

The big news last night wasn’t that former Beatle, Sir Paul McCartney was on the David Letterman show.
It wasn’t that it was a return for Paul to the Ed Sullivan Theater where the Beatles rocked America and where Letterman’s show is now taped. It wasn’t that he did a performance on top of the marquee of the Ed Sullivan Theater, for an impromptu late afternoon concert for summer tourists and New Yorkers….

http://whtq.com/blogs/rock_news/2009/07/mccartney-michael-jackson-was.html

—————
Michael Jackson’s Death Will Not Effect Beatles Rock Band Set List

Is there any cause for concern that the final set list for Beatles Rock Band will be compromised by Michael Jackson’s death? How did MJ get into the Rock Band title for The Beatles, in the first place? If in case you still weren’t aware, the King of Pop only happened to own the song catalog of The Beatles via ATV, at least until his untimely demise…

http://www.qj.net/Jackson-s-death-won-t-affect-The-Beatles-Rock-Band-set-list/pg/49/aid/132943

—————-
New York Rock Station WNEW looks back on The Beatles Free As a Bird

If you like the Beatles, then you’ll love this video. Of course, if you like the Beatles, then you’ve almost certainly already seen it. See how many references to Beatles songs you can find … there are reportedly 80 to 100 for the discerning eye …

http://www.wnew.com/2009/06/video-classics-free-as-a-bird-the-beatles.html

——————
New York Rock Startion WNEW looks back on the Golden Slumbers Medley

The other three members of the group accepted Paul McCartney’s suggestion that they record an album ‘the way they used to’, free of all the strife. Knowing that it would likely be their last, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr committed fully to the project, wanting the band to ‘go out on a high note’. Thus it came to pass that their album, Abbey Road, was born…

http://www.wnew.com/2009/07/video-classics-golden-slumbers-medley-the-beatles.html

—————–

- Beatle Geek Pete
Visit my blog for Beatles Merchandise & News

This Post from: Beatles Gifts where you can find the perfect Beatles Gifts for the Beatle Fan in your life!

Beatles & Michael Jackson, Beatles Rock Band, McCartney Rocks Letterman, More Beatles News …