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.
The unstoppable Sir Paul McCartney will close 2009 on a bang, announcing the Good Evening Europe tour.
Sir Paul, 67, said: “This is my chance to bring our current show home to where it all began. Starting in Hamburg, ending in London and rocking everywhere in between. I’m very much looking forward to ending the year on a high.”
The tour will comprise seven dates and commence in the German city of Hamburg, where the Beatles played. Shows in the cities of Berlin, Arnhem, Paris, Dublin and Cologne will follow before a London concert at the O2 on December 22 – 46 years since the Beatles played their first Christmas show at Liverpool’s Empire Theatre.
David Campbell, chief executive of AEG Europe, owners and operators of the O2, said: “Since we opened over two years ago, Paul McCartney has been the dream act. I am absolutely thrilled that dream has now become a reality and this true British musical icon will play the building. It doesn’t get much better than this.”
A prizewinning essay written by Sir Paul McCartney at age 10 has surfaced in the UK.
The essay takes as its topic the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. It was found in the Speke Library in McCartney’s hometown of Liverpool. He writes of the “lovely young Queen”.
His family regularly borrowed books from the library. The neatly handwritten piece won the young McCartney a book token that was presented by the lord mayor of Liverpool.
“I can just recall Paul being nervous and getting this book token from the mayor,” said his brother Mike.
The essay bears florid handwriting and the curled character ‘B’ the Beatle used. It was found by Liverpool library archivist Ken Roache, who is working on a history of the McCartney family. McCartney’s mother was a midwife. His father James was a cotton seller and royal enthusiast.
Comparisons to the lyric “Her majesty’s a pretty nice girl”, are being made.
Roache said: “It shows how Paul was thinking. His handwriting is well advanced – you would say it was written by someone of 14 or 15.”
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.
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.
Sir Paul McCartney has denied reports he is planning to work with Bob Dylan.
Bob, 68, was said to be keen to work with former Beatles star Sir Paul, 67, by he is claiming it is also rumours.
Talking about working with Bob, Sir Paul said: “No, that’s a newspaper thing. He just said some very complimentary things about me in some interviews, and I love him.
“I think he’s a great poet and writer so I’ve always admired him. I don’t rule it out. But we’re not the kind of people who would ring each other up.”
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.”
Sir Paul McCartney has reportedly set his sights on spending more time in the US, to be nearer to girlfriend Nancy Shevell.
However Sir Paul, 66, has made it clear that he isn’t planning on proposing to businesswoman Nancy, 47.
Asked if he was planning to get engaged, he said: “It ain’t happening… yet.”
A pal said: “Paul respects Nancy’s independent life as a businesswoman and wants to make things easier for her, so he’s cleared his diary and will be spending more time in the US.”
The pal added: “He’s been talking about expanding some of his own property interests in the States and they may do some projects together.”
Sir Paul McCartney’s new girlfriend Nancy Shevell has quickly won over the pop legend’s fans and family – but just as quickly lost favour with the New Yorkers she helps represent.
Shevell is a powerful board member for New York’s Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA) and she had previously missed just five full board meetings between 2004 and 2007, the year she was first spotted smooching with McCartney in the Hamptons. But since dating McCartney she has missed 26 board meetings.
"She started out as a contentious board member, but I think one of the key attributes of a board member is being there," said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign. "If she’s going to be a director of the MTA, she needs to put in the time."
If members can’t show up for meetings, he said, "they should resign".
But MTA board member Andrew Albert wondered if attention to McCartney’s girlfriend could help commuters by calling attention to the transit’s financial woes. "It just means there’s a few more cameras in the room" at meetings, he said.
The MTA has defended Shevell, who did not return calls for comment.
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