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Beatle news briefs: Dhani Harrison ranks second on young rich list

  The bust of Diana Dors on the "Sgt. Pepper" cover
   (front row, right) will be auctioned in London. (Copyright
   Apple Corps Ltd.)

Dhani Harrison has placed second in the annual top 10 Young Rich List from the Times of London. Harrison, 30, placed second to Arthur Landon, 27, son of Tim Landon. Paul McCartney placed third on the Rich Music Millionaires list, behind Clive Calder and Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber. The Times estimated McCartney lost an estimated £60 million in the recession.

 

The Diana Dors wax bust from the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" cover and a Ringo Starr drumskin given to a Pink Floyd fan by Mal Evans are among the items in Fame Bureau's Beatles auction today (April 28) in London.

 

Two of our Examiner posts from Monday: new details about  "The Beatles: Rock Band" were revealed by Paul McCartney in a recent interview; longtime NME writer Derek Johnston has died, had connections with the Beatles and Elvis Presley.

 

"America Meets the Beatles" by Melissa Davis, coming Oct. 9 (the date wasn't accidental, she says) from First Flight Books, is a "snapshot" of America and the Beatles the night the group first appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show," Feb. 9, 1964. It looks at everything from the minimum wage ($1 an hour) to the average cost of a house ($13,000) to the instruments the Beatles played that night and how they got to the U.S. (No, not just turn left at Greenland).  President Kennedy had been dead less than 90 days and the Johnson girls watched the show from the White House with their father, Lyndon B. Johnson, who -- surprise -- liked the group. Billy Graham broke his rule about not watching television on the Sabbath and pronounced them, "a passing phase." The Ford Mustang would be introduced in April, the same month that the Beatles had 12 songs in the top 100 nationally. The book also features interviews with people who remember exactly where they were when they (and 73,999,999 of their closest friends) watched the show, including David Crosby, Grace Slick, Louise Harrison (who watched from the audience with Cynthia Lennon) and many other interviewees. Davis says "It's been a labor of love and great fun at the same time."

 

Peter Tork update: He says he's "doing very well." He's on soft food and is regaining his strength. More info on his website.

 

This week on "The Beatles Show": "The Beatles’ Lost & Found": Things The Beatles lost and found in their music.  "The Beatles Show," hosted By Casey Piotrowski, is heard on radio stations all over America. For more information, see the show's website.

 

Issue 32 of the British Beatles Fan Club magazine has a cover story on the Change Begins Within concert with a review and exclusive photos, plus an interview with hairdresser Leslie Cavendish, who styled the Beatles' hair through the year. For more information on subscribing, see the magazine's website.