SILVER ANNIVERSARY: Around May 5, 1960, the Quarrymen became the Silver Beetles. And the rest is history.
ANOTHER BEATLES SHEA BOOK: After we published our story earlier on Dave Schwensen's Shea Stadium book, we heard from a rep for Sid Bernstein, who promoted both Shea Stadium concerts. He said Sid also has a book on the Shea concerts in the works and said it will be out soon.
PAUL'S PICTURE GALLERY: Paul McCartney put up a gallery of nine pictures from the American portion of his Up and Coming Tour on his website. If you want to see a lot more, check out all our reports from the tour.
BEATLEMANIA ON TOUR: Items from Liverpool's The Beatles Story museum, including the original Beatles Madame Toussand wax figures, will be exhibited at the National Museum in Prague, reports the Liverpool Daily Post. The exhibit will be focused on the effect the Beatles had on youth. It's part of a drive by the Beatles Story to bring visitors to Liverpool.
RINGO GIVES A LITTLE HELP: Gary Wright's new album, "Connected," to be released June 8, will feature guest appearances by Ringo Starr on drums and Joe Walsh on guitar. The pair are featured on the album's first single, "Satisfied."
ALL IN THE FAMILY: On her MySpace blog, Mary Hopkin's daughter Jessica Morgan has announced her mother's next album will be all new material by her and son Morgan Visconti. And Jessica herself has a solo album coming.
NO JOKE FROM GEORGE: Veteran session musician Al Kooper, now celebrating 50 years in the business, tells a story about George Harrison in an interview with the Victoria Advocate. He says the night before the first session for "All Those Years Ago," he received a phone call from Harrison, but Kooper thought it was bassist Herbie Flowers playing a joke. The next day when introduced to Harrison, George told him, "You didn't think that was me on the phone last night, did ya?"
GEORGE REJECTED JESUS ROLE: Interesting old note on the Henley Standard that George Harrison was offered and rejected playing the role of Jesus Christ in "The Life of Brian" because it was too controversial.
CONTRACTS REVEAL BEATLES' BUSINESS: Contracts for the publishing rights to the Paul McCartney song "Live and Let Die" and another settling a dispute about John Lennon copyrights are currently on display at the Beatles Story in Liverpool. The "Live and Let Die" paper, dated March 1, 1973, was between the United Artists record label, Paul and Linda McCartney, music publishing company ATV and film producer Eon Productions. United Artists received a 50% royalty share, the McCartneys 25%, and ATV 25%. Seven years later, the contract terms allowed the McCartneys' share to increase to 50%, taking over ATV's stake. The Lennon contract settled a dispute about Lennon's right to collaborate with third parties such as Yoko Ono, without full copyright being owned by Northern Songs. Dated June 25, 1974, the contract gave 50/50 ownership of publishing rights to songs written in collaboration by Lennon and Ono to Northern Songs and Ono Music until 1980, after which the rights automatically reverted to John Lennon.
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