Forgotten Journal

Hollywood mogul Robert Zemeckis is recreating the Beatles’ ‘Yellow Submarine’ for the 3D big screen and he is crossing his fingers that surviving members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will appear in the remake. Robert has already pitched the idea to the two musicians but he says that they “haven’t gotten the word yet on… whether they’re interested in doing it or not.” The director is adamant on continuing the remake even if the two remaining Beatles decline to sign on and says that the group has always been a “great source of inspiration” for him. If the money is right, I’m sure Paul and Ringo will bite.

Category : Beatles, Greatest Hits, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr

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Simon Cowell has revealed The Beatles would never have made it through a gruelling X-Factor audition as a four-piece.

The pop mogul says he would have dropped drummer Ringo Starr before giving Britain’s biggest-ever boy band a pass to boot camp.

He told actress and fellow Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden, who was interviewing him, that only Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison would have ticked all the boxes.

Speaking from his swanky Beverly Hills mansion, the outspoken X-Factor supremo joked: “No, we would have said, ‘we’ll take those three but probably lose the drummer’.

“Ringo, I’m afraid, we would have said is ‘bad news’.”

Cowell, whose new American Idol deal is reportedly worth a whopping $45 million a year, admitted that he misses former judge Paula Abdul, who quit ahead of the next season.

“Of course I miss her,” he said.

“It’s different but you’ve got to respect people’s decision. I hate saying this but Paula’s a star.

“When she came on the show, she was a star – is a star and will always be a star.

“You’ve got to remember that for all the people queuing up who want to be a star on American Idol, you’ve got to sort of concentrate on them and not think about yourself, which is difficult.”

Cowell also opened up about the controversy surrounding the treatment of worldwide singing phenomenon Susan Boyle, who was last season’s Britain’s Got Talent runner-up.

“It was scary. You’re not thinking at that point or at any time, ‘can she emotionally cope with this?’ It doesn’t cross your mind,” said Cowell, 49.

Source: Splash News

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Category : Beatles, Simon Cowell

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Disney and director Robert Zemechkis are in talks to remake the Beatles classic film ‘Yellow Submarine’. The original story was set in Pepperland, an undersea paradise protected by Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. When the band is captured by the music-hating Blue Meanies, a soldier is sent to Liverpool to find the Fab Four, who board the submarine and save the day. The goal is to have the remake completed with 3D digital production format by the 2012 Olympics in London. Who would be providing the voices for this? Unless you lace my popcorn or soda, I just don’t think that this will work.

Category : Beatles, Movies, Song

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The Beatles are arguably the greatest band to ever grace the world but the secret behind their split has never been completely understood and the fact that the musicians kept mum about the circumstances didn’t exactly help the curiosity. However, a previously unreleased Rolling Stone interview tape with John Lennon has recently surfaced and it reveals the great amounts of tension between him and Paul McCartney. In the interview, John comments on feeling sick over selling out as well as being fed up playing sidekick to Paul, a feeling mutual for Ringo Starr and George Harrison. John also had a problem with how the rest of the band treated his wife, Yoko Ono.

Category : Beatles, George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr

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Sir Paul McCartney could gain control of the Beatles catalogue again in nine years’ time.

McCartney, 67, lost the catalogue when the band fell apart. McCartney and John Lennon, the Beatles’s primary songwriters, continued to receive songwriting royalties but have forgone profits from lucrative licencing deals.

A handful of Beatles copyrights ended up with Michael Jackson. Some 250 songs formed the basis for Sony/ATV Music Publishing, a 50-50 joint venture between the late singer and Sony Corp.

Under US copyright law, the songwriters are able to recapture the publishing share of the copyright on pre-1978 works after two consecutive 28-year terms, making Beatles compositions registered in 1962 eligible for reversion in 2018.

Source: Splash News

Category : Beatles, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney

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It is being reported that Michael Jackson’s lawyer has a copy of the singer’s will and intends to file it with the court. It is also being said that the Jackson family doesn’t have a copy of the will in attorney John Branca’s possession. It is not clear as to how many wills the singer made but it is believed that the one in Branca’s possession is the most current. Branca has a long history with the late King of Pop. Back in 1985, Branca brokered the deal for Michael to purchase The Beatles’ publishing catalogue. Branca and Michael stopped working together back in 2006 but the lawyer was hired again just three weeks ago.

Category : Beatles, Michael Jackson

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Beatles songs owned by Michael Jackson will remain the property of the company that currently holds them, according to a report.

The rights to more than 200 songs penned by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and others are held by the company, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, in which Jackson had a 50 per cent stake.

A UK paper reported in January that Jackson planned to will the rights to the Lennon and McCartney catalogue to McCartney, to heal a rift between the two.

But Paul McCartney paid tribute to the pop great. On his website, McCartney said: “I feel privileged to have hung out and worked with Michael. He was a massively talented boy man with a gentle soul. His music will be remembered forever and my memories of our time together will be happy ones.”

Sony/ATV owns rights to songs by Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond and others, with Jackson’s stake valued at about US$1 billion, according to Ivan Thornton, a private wealth adviser who worked with Jackson and his family.

Jackson reportedly paid US$47.5 million for the ATV stake in 1985, outbidding Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono and McCartney for it. He later allowed Sony the option to buy half in order to refinance US$300 million in loans.

Martin Bandier, chief executive officer of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, said, “For him, this was really honing his business skills in an area that he loved.”

Category : Beatles, Paul McCartney

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Paul McCartney’s girlfriend, trucking heiress Nancy Shevell, is getting some flack in her business life. The 49-year old has been dating the former Beatle for 18 months but it seems that dating a celebrity is distracting her from her job. Nancy is currently vice president at New Jersey trucking company New England Motor Freight Inc. and is also a board member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. It is being said that since January of last year, she has missed 4 board meetings and 26 absences in total. But what’s gotten people peeved is that on dates of important meetings, she’s been spotted out on the red carpet and events with Paul.

Category : Beatles, Paul McCartney

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On April 14th, George Harrison will be receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Beatles as a band already have a star on the famous Hollywood tourist route and John Lennon has his very own. Now, George, who died in 2001 because of cancer, will have a star in front of the Capitol Records building. His star will be the 2,382nd on the infamous Walk. His widow, Olivia Harrison and his son Dhani, are expected to attend the unveiling. Honestly, I’m quite surprised that this hadn’t happened sooner. I wonder when the two living members of the band will get their own stars.

Category : Beatles, George Harrison, Music, Music Legends

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The pop singer recently admitted that she wished she had been born in 1960’s in order to get to have a chance to get it on with John Lennon. Lady Gaga said: “I’m quite sure that if it were 1968 I may not be the Lady GaGa that I am today. I might be arguing with Yoko Ono and trying to win John Lennon’s heart and chasing The Beatles in a bus on LSD, hoping that one of them hands me a microphone one day.” Such a wonderful fantasy… but then again those were the good old days. And Lady GaGa would have probably ended up immortalized as one of the brave souls who died due to an overdose for the greater good of art.

Category : Beatles, Lady Gaga

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