ABBEY ROAD - STORIES STRAIGHT FROM THE MAN WHO DESIGNED IT

ABBEY ROAD - STORIES STRAIGHT FROM THE MAN WHO DESIGNED IT

I had the most spectacular afternoon today. I spent it with a man named KOSH who
has designed some of the most famous record album covers including The Eagles'
Hotel California, Linda Ronstadt's Lush Life and the most famous album cover in
LP history, The Beatles' Abbey Road.

Questions I have had for 45 years were clearly answered.

Q: That blue sky was very prominent. Was that real?
A: No. It was a typical London grey day. The blue was added.

Q: Were the cars featured on the street intentionally positioned?
A: No. They were there sitting exactly like that on a random basis.

Q: Were the Beatles told what to wear for that photo session?
A: No. They showed up as they pleased that day.

Q: Why is Paul the only one barefoot?
A: The sandals he was wearing were too tight and he just flung them off.

Q: Was there anything planned for a "Paul Is Dead" hoax on that cover?
A: Absolutely not. People made it up and the word spread worldwide.
     The record company realizing it would sell more copies of the album,
     refused to confirm or deny the rumors.

Q: This was the first record album cover without the name The Beatles
     on the cover or album title. Whose idea was that?
A: It was mine. The record company went ballistic at first.
     I assured them that everybody in the world already knew who they were.

Q: Did you get the street closed down officially?
A: No. One of the Beatles key people actually stood in the street
     holding up traffic.

I asked him what he knew about the Let It Be album cover.
He knew everything, because he designed that as well.
He explained to me that the selection of the group members
in the squares was done purely on a "looks best" basis.


I learned a great deal more including what it was like standing on the rooftop
of the Apple building when the Beatles performed live. The ultimate Beatles afternoon!

He let me hold his actual hand-drawn art work for "Lush Life."

    

OLD ORCHARD Chicago's 1950's Giant Outdoor Mall

"Who wants to go to Old Orchard?" was an exciting proposition for boys and girls
in the 1950's growing up in Chicago.

Even though Downtown Chicago had it's exquisite 12-story flagship department
stores, there was something so enchanting about going to this new experience
in American shopping--a giant outdoor mall filled with your favorite stores!

Built in Skokie, in an area of old orchards just north of Chicago's city limits,
Old Orchard seemed so huge to a child.

 Based on the attraction of a multi-story Marshal Fields department store, and The Fair (later to become Montgomery Ward's), Old Orchard's opening in October of 1956 was the ultimate in modern shopping.

 There were plenty of stores for Mom and Dad, and an S.S.Kresge (a cheap general merchandise store like Woolworth's) for the kids!

The $20 Million project was packed all the time with families from throughout Chicagoland.

And with its own single movie theater, it was a dream come true.

Just imagine that parking lot filled with 1950's cars!

Through the years, it has been modernized, demolished, rebuilt and looks nothing like the piece of Americana it once was.

Any baby boomer from Chicago has some wonderful memory of Old Orchard.

Just Keep Focusing on TV characters and Movie Superheroes.

In the last 2 weeks, I have overheard conversations here and there on the street, in stores, and in other public places.
I am sad to report that the majority of conversations that I have heard center around two things: The Emmy Awards and Superheroes.
Folks...you country is falling apart. Economically, Politically and Socially.

Who won an award for a TV show is not going to affect you for the rest of your life.
Which superhero is next to get a movie is not going to have any bearing on what is happening around you.

Fantasy has its time and place. Too many people are becoming obsessed and controlled by it. You have to learn where fantasy stops and reality begins.

This used to be a great country.
If you want it to continue to turn into an Orwellian nightmare, just keep focusing on TV characters and Movie superheroes.

Robin WIlliams And I Got Our Start In The Same Movie!

As odd as this seems, both Robin Williams and I got our start in Hollywood
in the same movie!

In 1976, I moved to Hollywood and got a few small comedy parts here and
there mostly in TV for a few years before creating the world's first
Hollywood Internet online database/service for CompuServe and America Online
which lasted almost 20 years.

I was in one movie.
The low budget movie was a series of comedy vignettes called
"Can I Do It 'Till I Need Glasses" which made it to drive-ins nationwide.

I am in the cowboy scene at a table playing poker.

I can only be seen for a second, but in the TV commercials for the movie,
I was clearly shown.

I purchased a cowboy hat, shirt and boots from K-mart for the filming and
then returned them the next day.

When the scene started filming, the director yelled "cut," and told something
to an assistant. The assistant came over to me and said "Cowboys did not
wear wrist watches back then." I was hoping they wouldn't notice.
After all, it was a comedy film.

A newcomer (there were dozens) named Robin Williams was in one of the
scenes.

My favorite Robin Williams performance was in "Aladdin."

A great deal of what the Genie says was unscripted and totally improvised.

They just let Williams go and recorded it all.

Robin Williams had the fastest working brain of any performer ever.

There is a fine line between Genius and Madness.

PAUL McCARTNEY DODGER STADIUM SUNDAY 08/10/14

Can a 72-year old man put on an energetic, musically perfect 3-hour show with no breaks to a sold out baseball stadium?

 

Paul McCartney played Dodger Stadium tonight for the first time in almost 50 years when he was with the Beatles. And just like then, it was a sell-out crowd who were enchanted by what seemed no different from when he was a 22-year-old Beatle.

 A mixture of Beatles, Wings, newer songs and comedic stage antics kept the audience thrilled.

His voice was in top form as he reached high notes on classic Beatles songs.

Unlike, groups that need 20 extra musicians onstage, Paul has a lead guitar, rhythm guitar, synthesizer and drums. When you hear bass pounding throughout the stadium
(unless he is playing guitar or piano) it is Paul playing.

State of the art graphics, lighting and sound accentuated this dynamic show.

Despite being in a baseball stadium, everybody I spoke to agreed that Paul makes the show seem intimate as if you were in his living room.

For real Beatles folks -- if you have wondered what
"For the Benefit of Mr. Kite" would have sounded like with Paul singing lead instead of John--we got to hear that for the first time tonight.

Tributes to George and John had the place on its feet.

"Yesterday" performed on Paul's original Epiphone Texan backed by live synth strings was as touching as the first time you heard it in 1965.

A memorable event in the Beatles timeline.


 

THE GUNS OF WILL SONNETT

I had a favorite TV western in the 1960's.
It was called "The Guns Of Will Sonnett."
It ran for two years only from 1967-1969 and
starred veteran movie and TV star Walter Brennan and
newcomer Dack Rambo. It was one of Aaron Spelling's
first shows ever, which he did in association with 
Danny Thomas.

It was never out on VHS, ever. I never saw it anywhere on
syndicated TV. I had not even thought about
it since the 60's until I ran into a new cheaply put together
DVD set of the show.

I have now watched all 50 episodes, including the last
one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62kzX-5v_LE
which wrapped it all up with a finale (very unusual for a
60's show to do). Somebody has just posted some episodes
on You tube, probably just got the same set.

The story of a young man who was raised by his grandfather
since birth and decides to go find his father is definitely
one of the best westerns ever on TV which most people
don't know about. It pretty much disappeared after 1970.

The show gives you a strong feeling for the traditional
Movie/TV "Old West" set in post-Civil War 1870's.
Storylines are intriguing, a bit too rushed for a 30 minute
show, acting is superb and it is amazing to see the then
unknown talent that popped up in the show.
Jack Nicholson, Charles Grodin, Kevin Hagen,
Ellen Corby,

Strother Martin, Dennis Hopper and others including Jesse Pearson who starred in "Bye Bye Birdie."

The DVD set is copied from some edited version put together from
some TV syndication version used somewhere. As a
result, the color is faded and there are clearly a few minutes
missing from each episode. At least 3 times, the editing
makes no sense and you know something was cut out.

The director must have had a friend, because the same
bartender pops up in different towns in different states
many times. 




Opening Card on Season 1
when ABC was promoting
TV shows now in Color.



 It was really enjoyable seeing this lost gem after
so many years. No Brag, Just Fact.

We searched for a man named Jim Sonnett.
And the legends folks tell may be true.
Most call him gunman and killer.
He’s my son, who I hardly knew.

I raised Jim’s boy from the cradle,
'Till the day he said to me,
 "I have to go find my father."
And I reckon that’s how it should be.
So we ride, Jim’s boy and me.

"Once upon a time, or maybe twice, there was an earthly paradise called America"

"Once upon a time, or maybe twice, there was an earthly paradise called America"

This is what America once was like.
Smiling happy citizens could choose from many jobs, corporations looked out for Americans' best interests, police "protected and served," the U.S. Dollar was strong, politicians and U.S. government represented the people's voice and there was a feeling of liberty and freedom in the air.


This is America now.

 














Unhappy sad citizens all look scared, dazed and confused, cannot find jobs because the jobs were sent overseas or they are being replaced by guest H-1B workers, corporations look out for their own interests completely, there is a police state, the U.S. Dollar is worth three cents, politicians and U.S. government only represent the voice of special interests and there is a feeling of fascism and totalitarianism in the air.

50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEKEND - A HARD DAY DAY'S NIGHT

This weekend I did exactly the same thing I did 50 years ago--
I saw "A Hard Day's Night" on the big screen.

 Wilfred Brambell was a popular British TV star when he played Paul's grandfather. He was 52 at the time. Paul is now 72.

Patty Boyd, one of the schoolgirls in the first scene, married George Harrison. She later married Eric Clapton. He wrote a song about her called "Layla."

 

 We thought John was just fooling around. We didn't realize he was "snorting Coke."

Director Richard Lester brought a fast-paced craziness to the film on a very small budget.

Of course, in 1964 I was 11 and couldn't hear a word being said because 2,000 girls were screaming non-stop during the movie. Every time there was a closeup. Every time there was a funny reaction. During every song that was played.

I have seen the movie between 60-75 times. But only 5 times on the big screen.

The one scene with some character depth is when Ringo goes for a walk alone and talks with a 10-year-old boy playing hooky. Ringo says he was stoned out his mind when that scene was done.

When it premiered at the Granada theater, one of Chicago's elegant movie palaces in the summer of 1964, the movie had just been made three months earlier to capitalize on this Beatlemania thing, which the movie studio, United Artists, expected would be a one time fad and gone by the next year.

Only in America and nowhere else in the world, because movies are released as a complete "soundtrack," the instrumental Beatles song scores arranged and conducted by George Martin were part of the album in addition to the new Beatles songs. United Artists, primarily a movie company, had itself the number one album in America without making any effort. Capitol Records was prevented from releasing "A Hard Day's Night" on an album.

America Runs On Oil. Where Does It Primarily Come From?

America runs on oil.

Transportation, Machinery, Heating, Energy, Plastics/Petrochemicals, Military. America would shut down without oil. The discussion of Oil vs. Alternative Energy will be discussed at some other time.

Where does America get most of its oil from?

"The Middle East" you say. What a stupid question. Ask 100 people and they'll say the same thing.

Actually, America gets the majority of its oil from Canada. America gets twice as much oil from Canada then from Saudi Arabia. Also ranking high on this list are Iraq and Kuwait. Which is why we have wars in those countries.

If there was just some way to eliminate dependency on Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait for oil.

There is. Also at the very top of the list of the countries that supply America with oil is Venezuela. If the amount of oil from South American located Venezuela could be tripled, America could be freed of its entanglement with Mid-Eastern countries.

Unfortunately, Venezuela knows the power they have because of its oil. Its always fun for countries when they can economically blackmail big bad America. And they always manage to elect socialist or fascist dictators. 

We had to deal for 13 years with the totally deranged Communist Hugo Chavez whose biggest hero was Fidel Castro. When he died (the U.S. was blamed for making him sick) he was recently replaced with Nicolas Maduro, a man with one philosophy: The U.S. is responsible for all of Venezuela's problems.

Despite out of control government and police corruption, failing economy, crime, human rights violations, huge demonstrations--according to Nicolas Maduro and his administration--it is all being manipulated by the United States.

Attempts by Secretary of State John Kerry to create new and positive relationships with Venezuela have been continually rejected.

Oil to the North of us. Oil to the South of us.
A small shift in dead dinosaurs and plants would have made America self-sustaining and free of most international problems.

You Make Me Feel Like Dancing

I heard a song the other day which I had not heard in many years (decades actually)
and now I can't get it out of my head.

"You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" was from 1976, just at the beginning of the
disco era and was performed by a British singer named Leo Sayer.

It went to Number One in America and topped music charts all over the world.

Sayer could go from a normal singing voice to a very intense falsetto
and actually had a number of hits in the era.

It's so much better than the same repetitive manufactured crap on pop radio right now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE-Okqna4sQ

Probably The Clearest and Most Emotional Voice Ever

It was early 1962 when I started listening to the major pop music station in Chicago, WLS. Having just turned 9 and gotten my first little transistor radio, the airwaves were filled with songs devoted to dances (Twist), ballads (Can't Help Falling In Love With You), the last of Doo-Wop (Duke of Earl), Movie Themes (Moon River) and other pre-Beatles (2 years away) remnants of the 1950's.

A song which was number one on country music stations, managed to cross-over and get a few weeks of airplay on this pop station. The female singer had the most emotional and captivating voice, as if she was really living the lyrics. The name of the song was "She's Got You" and the artist's name was Patsy Cline.

This was a country singer and we would never hear her again on pop music radio, nor would we even know that she died only a few months later in a plane crash.

The clarity and emotion in this woman's voice is incomparable.

If you don't know "Crazy" or have never heard "She's Got You," you need to experience it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWCUh6tf7PA

Americans Finally Showing They Realize What Is Really Going On

Yahoo!, a shill for the United States government, has been inundating us the last two weeks with marvelous stories written by their 20-year old interns about how the economy is getting so much better and everything has returned to just like America used to be! 

However, the thousands of responses from Americans would 
indicate otherwise and make it clear that Americans are not being fooled by Yahoo's stream of wonderful economic news fantasies. 

The responses from Americans clearly indicate:
American corporations are responsible for destroying middle class America by sending all the manufacturing jobs overseas;
American corporations have absolutely no sense of loyalty to America or Americans--their only interest is to squeeze more profits so executives can take home million dollar bonuses;
Skilled and Experienced Americans cannot find a full-time job. They are relegated to a few hours a weeks with no benefits, temp jobs or having given up completely;
People over 45 are experiencing mass "age discrimination" coded with phrases such as "you are too experienced," "this job is beneath you," "you'd take this job and leave us when something better comes along";
People in their 20's are receiving no responses to their applications and resumes at all, being told "we haven't gotten to those yet";
Even millions of professional jobs are being shopped out overseas or given to our "visitor friends" from other countries who do not complain about low wages, abusive treatment and no benefits;
Counting temporary Christmas jobs, part-time McJobs and not counting millions who have given up looking for work permanantly has distorted the wonderful employment picture and people can see through it now;
Yahoo constantly reminding us that the Great Recession is over and everything is back to normal is not what Americans are experiencing. The Great Recession continues and 99% of America is barely getting by.

I want to buy a quality pair of American Levis and I cannot anymore. They are made overseas, they fall apart after a few washings and the material feels like some kid of fabricated chemical stew made in a Frankenstein laboratory.

America's corporations have turned on the American people.

ABC--You Probably Want to Work On This Technology A Bit Longer At This Point.

ABC--You Probably Want to Work On This Technology A Bit Longer At This Point.

 ABC News has introduced a technology which automatically makes a transcript of its videos so you have the option of reading it instead of watching it. They posted this fine specimen. I especially like the line about "Our Springsteen Garment Medals"

 

Transcript for What If Mosquitoes were Completely Annihilated?

-- knowing killing. She's mosquitoes that tiny has killed more than 725000. People and here that's almost twice as much.
As our next deadliest foe. Ourselves. Wonder why -- we.
Let's get their -- seriously would be too great being -- -- couldn't be a huge benefit for mankind. Well wanted to see mosquitoes. There will be assigned summer that was buzzing bugs.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- The potential to millions around the world. -- the biggest killer on the planet friendly terms available. There are more than 3500.
Different species of mosquitoes but. Only around three of those species sauce is spreading diseases among humans far -- the worse -- those. This area.
Some malaria kills an estimated 625000. People here -- the top three killers and kids worldwide. By some accounts -- kill more people than any other in human history.
With the eradication of mosquitoes could lead to the end of all deadly diseases they plague us with. Mosquitoes are taken out of the picture of the disease is a picture. About.
Much point one billion dollars to the estimated -- -- yearly amount to properly battle malaria globally for the cause. -- gets less than. So do mosquitoes do anything.
Positive. To notice there's not much evidence suggests that most -- do you much good. In -- and they know we know he's lost teachers who runs the spread malaria didn't Greek origin and open today and actually meets every two years US.
There's been in battle with -- insects of little use. For well over a century now. You don't management goes back a long way into the end of the civil war didn't start to -- Reliance on chemical methods which wearer of risk sex scene -- -- something new and it seemed to really do the trick.
We may have the weapons to eradicate mosquitoes but -- -- -- to pull out work. Damaged in an environment barber to break habitat models and getting rid of all the spaces where -- they rest Italian after four. Because -- essentially to be introduced a lot of credit because I said the fish shift.
Dragon flies yes they'll probably take care of the problem and start taking care -- and you don't want to take care. So no pesticides know habitat modification. And -- -- -- creditors.
But we left with genetic modification. May be the safest route -- rid ourselves of mosquitoes. And we're not talking -- -- John.
More from. -- -- -- -- said it gene makes -- Only way my execution. Basically what we can we put our Springsteen garment medals.
Israel stated by you or sprint -- a -- and matrix both the house and the offspring and tighten juice. The most -- population that once -- In Tehran. Prior to knowledge and if we can bring mosquito to the brink of extinction if I don't want to expand it.
National or even global scale. I think there would be impossible actually just in I want to get rid of -- procedures -- spread disease. It reminded and ones -- just east that's much more -- us.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

REALLY BAD TIMING - The Air Traffic Controller's Strike of August 1981

Nobody really ever mentions this, but it has to be one of the worst cases of bad timing in American history.

In August 1981, the Air Traffic Controllers, the men and women who conduct the safety of planes arriving, departing and traveling throughout American airspace, decided to go on strike. Almost all of them walked off the job, disrupting the entire travel industry and were replaced by supervisors, management and military personnel.

They thought Americans would stand behind them and force the U.S. Government to give in to their demands. They were Federal employees.

Their timing was really bad and I will explain. The late 1960's saw a consciousness develop that the government and corporations had an obligation to do things "for the people." Those words even became a cliche. "Is it good for the people?" "This is for the people" and so on--it was heard everywhere. If something wasn't, "the people" could always come out and protest and march in the streets.

This zeitgeist (spirit of the times) lasted up until the mid-70's and then "the people" decided they were out for themselves, wanted to make money and personal, selfish greed became the in-thing again.

The Air Traffic Controllers and their union failed to realize that "the people" no longer existed. They actually thought "the people" would stand behind their strike, with massive 60s-style protests and revolutionary support.

*Here's what the Air Traffic Controllers demanded:

*They wanted a 32-hour work week made up of 4-eight hour days but wanted to be paid full time.

*They wanted a $10,000. per year raise per employee.
A minimum wage person in August 1981 made $7000. a year.
They were already making $20,000.--$50,000. each with generous sick, vacation, paid holidays and full retirement packages.

*They demanded that they should be able to retire after 20 years on the job with full salaried pensions and benefits.

The government actually offered them a significant pay increase, work hours reduction and other benefits. But it was not good enough for them and they turned it down. After all "the people" would be there to support them.

Unfortunately for them, "the people" no longer existed.
And they received no support at all from the public.

President Reagan then fired all 11,000 of them.

50,000 people applied for their jobs and replaced them.

I remember hearing them on the news saying that "the people"
would not stand for their horrible mistreatment by the
Federal government. A bit late on that reasoning.



 




 

 

The latest outrageous attack on Freedom Of Speech in America.

The latest outrageous attack on Freedom Of Speech in America.

Satire and Parody are Protected Forms of Freedom of Speech.

That's what we do in America--ridicule and mock each other 24 hours a day. Especially if you are a public figure.


Jim Ardis, the Mayor of Peoria, Illinois could not deal with anybody making fun of him. When a local citizen made fun of him on Twitter, he had the Chief of Police call out seven officers and used other resources to track him down (and anybody else suspected in the criminal satire) barge into their homes, confiscate their electronic Internet devices and bring them in for interrogation. Just GOOGLE  Jim Ardis  Peoria  in NEWS for the story. 

This of course has resulted in dozens of other parodies going up about him.

Gee--one actually looks like my style and the author even went so far as to obtain the rights to  www.jimardis.com to implement the parody.

If you don't stand up for what's left of your Freedom Of Speech in America--you are going to lose it completely.

How We Used To View Washington D.C.

When Baby Boomers were growing up in the 50's to the mid-60's,
we viewed Washington D.C. and the people who worked there as Super Human Beings that possessed Super Human Intelligence and Abilities. It was a magical place. All decisions that were made there were for the benefit of all Americans.

We compared those people to the Gods on Mount Olympus.

After the Kennedy Assassination in 1963--our government of Super Human Beings told us that one young fellow woke up one morning and decided to take down the President--and our faith and trust in our government satisfied us all and we went back to being good Americans.

Then the Vietnam War began in 1965 and something didn't seem quite right. Young people protested for the first time in American history. After the resignation of President Richard "I Am Not A Crook" Nixon in 1974, Americans began looking at the U.S. Government very differently.

It is now unanimous.

Americans are all aware that the U.S. Government is made up of the same fools, incompetents, morons, buffoons, nincompoops, slackers and blockheads that make up our families, neighbors, friends, co-workers and relatives.

 It doesn't matter if they are Democrats, Republicans, Independents or the new political party of the month. They make outlandish errors in judgment, bad policies, are manipulated by corporations and big money and do not have the interest of Americans in mind.