NO COMMENT: Although Ringo issued a very heartfelt statement on YouTube about John Lennon's birthday, Paul McCartney has, so far, not issued a public statement. CNN and NPR relied on archival material Friday for comments. NPR featured an old interview with McCartney, while CNN's "Larry King Live" rebroadcast that terrible interview King did with Ringo, Paul, Olivia and Yoko where King couldn't tell the difference between Ringo and George. One thing good that NPR did was broadcast some of David Sheff's Lennon Playboy interview tapes.
SPINETTI -- LENNON WOULDN'T HAVE MELLOWED: Someone who did comment was actor Victor Spinetti, whose great portrayal of the nervous director in "A Hard Day's Night" was so memorable. In an interview with Wales Online, he said Lennon spoke his mind. “To me he was a great man and he cared and saw the foolishness in the world." (Read our interview with Victor about "A Hard Day's Night" and the Beatles, one of our favorites.)
LENNON ONLINE WORLD: Anyone purchasing the Lennon remasters got a card with a code for free access to the John Lennon Universe. It's up and running, but still fairly bare with mostly a chronology that concentrates on post-Beatles history. The site says more things will be added.
AARON JOHNSON ON 'NOWHERE BOY': Aaron Johnson, who plays John Lennon in "Nowhere Boy," says he relied more on the Beatle as a solo artist for his portrayal of him in the film. "Researching, I almost had to cut the Beatles out and go to later in his life, when he met Yoko, to his solo albums and the interviews he gave after the Beatles broke up," he told New York Magazine. Read the full interview.
WHAT HAPPENED TO JOE ENGLISH?: The former Wings drummer talks about his struggles with drugs and his current life as a Christian. That video is here. (Thanks to John Sosebee.)
CELEBRATIONS: The picture included on this page was sent to us by Richard Porter of www.beatlesinlondon.com. It shows the celebration Richard led for John Lennon. He says you can hear the audio by searching for roughly 1:30 p.m. on the Abbey Road webcam archive. (Thanks, Richard.) Also, John Lennon Examiner Shelley Germeaux was at the Rock Hall of Fame in Cleveland for Lennon activities Friday. Her report is here.
Have a comment? Leave it below. And be sure to subscribe. You won't want to miss any of our Examiner.com columns --
Beatles Examiner: http://www.examiner.com/x-2082-Beatles-Examiner
Paul McCartney Examiner: http://www.examiner.com/x-34954-Paul-McCartney-Examiner
Vintage Rock 'n' Roll Examiner: http://www.examiner.com/x-19248-Vintage-Rock-n-Roll-Examiner
TV on DVD Examiner: http://www.examiner.com/x-10254-TV-on-DVD-Examiner
Please join us on Twitter: @stevemarinucci (RT's are much appreciated!)
© COPYRIGHT STATEMENT: This article is the original work of Steve Marinucci. Under no circumstance may any portion of this article be broadcast, copied, published, rewritten or used without the permission of the author. To purchase this or any other article by Steve Marinucci, please email beatlesexaminer@gmail.com.
Comments
Perhaps Paul wants to keep his thoughts about John private. He shouldn't be criticised because he hasn't made comment on this day.
What if Macca hasn't made a public statement? He doesn't have to do it, doesn't owe us anything. John was his friend, his brother, we all know that. I don't need a public statement to know that Lennon was on his mind today.
Anyone get their card? I got double fantasy stripped and dont have one in it.
Ringo' s "statement" was embarrassing. Peace and love. Peace and love. I don't think Paul needs to trot out any public Happy BIrthday to satisfy the Lennon obsessives. If he did say anything, people would just accuse him of trying to horn in on John's day. So perhaps he simply wanted to stay out of the spotlight and let the focus be on John, and on Yoko, since she is so clearly obsessed with being the focus of attention.
Shame on you, Steve, for making an issue of this. I thought you were more responsible than to rush to judgment based on whether Paul said "Happy Birthday."
To Anonymous (if that is your real name) -
Steve was not being judgmental. He just reported that McCartney has not made a comment (yet).
Simply writing about this is making it an issue. It's pointing the finger at Paul, and saying, "Why haven't you said Happy Birthday in some trite lame way to satisfy all the fanatics out there." This shouldn't be written about at all. Paul may not want to say anything. He may want it to be a private moment. And he simply may not want to look like he's publicity seeking via John's birthday. Did Elton John issue a statement saying Happy Birthday? Did David Bowie? They're supposed to have been close to John. But they haven't said anythign either. Why? Because it's trite and meaningless to issue a public statement about someone you had a private relationship with. So, yes, this article IS judgmental, by simply being published.
We didn't take him to task, just mentioned that there was no statement. Others will notice that Ringo made a statement and Paul didn't and will certainly be more critical.
Paul gave an interview to Uncut Magazine for a special tribute issue where he answered questions about John. That's enough. I'm not sure what you expect him to say: Some soppy "Happy Birthday old friend" so that people can get on his case for trying to claim he and John were still close, or get on his case for using John's 70th to get some publicity?
And anyway, this birthday hype was ridiculous. The purpose? To sell records. No wonder the young kids get irritated by baby boomers shoving this Lennon hero worship down their throats ever few years. It's a shame the media can't get the same extent of coverage to Afghanistan, or problems in Africa, that they gave this week to the "birthday" of a dead man.
I totally agree that you seem to be raising a nonissue here about Paul, implying he did something wrong. I also agree that Ringo's "statement" made him look like a doddering old fool.
Perhaps Yoko didn't invite him to participate. He can't just invite himself.
I think the birthday hype should have been for John's 75th birthday. That would have had more meaning than 70.
But come to think of it - This may have been Yoko's plan all along. She got everyone to buy the remastered items and then for the 75th birthday she will WOW us with the Super Deluxe Reissue/Remaster Super Duper Box Set with the same mixes just different sleeve notes and now in the Special Super Deluxe only in the Super Duper box set will be the special you must have it Plastic Jewel Cases!!!! Start savinig now>>>>>>
That was brilliant, sir!
Paul has given a tribute to John (and George) in EVERY single concert he's performed for YEARS. I'd say that's a little more meaninful than a 2-minute, superficial YouTube video.
Amen to that !
I agree. I saw Paul in summer 2009 and he did a heartfelt tribute to both George and Paul.
Paulo estabele semper homenagiando John e George SEUS mostra em ... entao;
Como PESSOAS FICAM nao Dando um parabéns Quem Família JÁ NA Morreu ... e perdeu muitos queridos Paulo JÁ antes.
deixe estar!
Ringo's 'heartfelt" public comment was embarrasing. He says "Peace and Love" in every statement he makes about everything and everybody. Paul's silence, in comparison, was golden. He didn't need to utter a word and is the better for it. We know how he feels. And he knows we know.
I certainly don't see anything embarrassing about Ringo's message, but that's just the reason why Paul shouldn't do it. People are laying in wait, so they can criticize his every utterance. If he says anything, he's a publicity whore, if he doesn't he's cold hearted bastard. Best off keeping out of it, there was enough publicity surrounding it.
Paul did do somthing. In a recent issue of Billboard there is a page with the picture of John and Paul smiling going over song lyrics(I think) that Linda took in the studio. Paul signed it with a "Hey Johnny, Love Paul".
Paul speaks fondly of John and George all the time. He does not have to participate in the marketing of John by Yoko on his 70th birthday.
Yup I agree with the poster.
By making this a topic,it does open up the conclusion of why or when will Paul chime in.
Own up Steve
You know it's true.
One thing about Yoko's decision to make this huge.
It is a marketing device for the catalogue.Who knows where CD's will be in 5 years? It is bad enough to make money now with downloads.One factor as well may be that she is aware enough to know she might not live to see Lennon's 75th.
I thinkl Paul is just trying to stay out of the way of the marketing push. If he issued a statement he'd be critized for trying to ride the back of the death anniversery;so it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. Paul have been more than clear for his love and respect for John.
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!