September 25th and my Current State of Busy Not Busy

It's September 25th. Today is my Friday the 13th. Examples; in first grade, I was stung by a bee and had to ride the entire bus ride home with a bee butt in my finger. It swelled up so bad, my mom had to call the doctor and wrap it in baking soda and gauze and I've never been able to remain cool around those little evildoers again. In 7th grade, I left my locker wide open and when I got back from class, expecting my stuff to be stolen or strewn about I found nothing. Someone must have just walked by and closed it but it could've been seriously embarrassing so it still counts. And then on this day in 8th grade U.S. History, a boy sitting next to me chewed up a bunch of sunflower seeds and machine gunned them from his mouth all over my face and hair.

It's also my mom's birthday. Happy Birthday Mom. Sorry you had to pull a bee butt from my finger. 

I realize that you're thinking "Geez, Amy this all sounds pretty ridiculous and 8th grade was a long time ago. You really need to let some stuff go." Well to that I say, "You need let your judgy aggression go". Real nice. I thought we were friends. 

All that being said, I'm not 100% confident I won't be spit on today, I'm kind of not confident about that any day if we're honest, but today of all the days. I'm also bound to sew my finger into these purses I've been making.

Yay purses. I have 12 of them that I'm making from The Charming Bag pattern from One Yard Wonders. 

 

Nine of the bags are custom orders so I just rounded it out to make an even number. I do now realize that 10 is also an even number and much more attainable. No matter! I'm trudging on (is trudging a word and am I using it correctly?). I figured that since cutting the pattern out is the absolute worst, I would do that first. To all of them.

Bruised my fingers. 

And this is what I've been doing and also not doing. You see, assembly line style sewing is kind of boring sewing so I haven't been working as efficiently as I could be. Also, I keep looking at this and laughing. 

Is that a robot butt?? 

I have everything cut out and am now just sewing it all together 

And one to itself. 

This is why I don't have high hopes that today, September 25 is going to work out in my favor. This topstitching the handle to the back of the bag business happened yesterday. 

I also have helpers.

 

Wish me luck.

EDITED TO ANNOUNCE: I was stung in the neck by a bee today. 

The curse is real, my friends. The curse is real.

She's the kind of girl you want so much it makes you sorry, still you don't regret a single day.

Or in other words:

Beatlemania!

I found this pic here

Twitter got me thinking (I know, right?) -  I have a bunch of tweeps that are new to the Beatle Machine and OBSESSED with any and all things Beatle and at first I was like, "Slow it down my ladies, savor the Beatle flavor" but in all honesty, I am totes prone to a Beatle freak-out at any given time as chronicled here for you in past bloggies of squeedom.  And I know this about myself. You all know this about me.

I found this pic here

And I thought back to when I was IN the mania -not that it's ever really left- and what started it, why did it manifest itself into at least a 15 year mental virus that turns everything I look at into deeper Beatle meaning. For example, while in high levels of mania I swore up and down that Jesus Christ Superstar was written about the Beatles break-up.... 

It's not that far fetched. 

Maybe I'm crazy... 

I found the JCS pic here  and the YJP pic here. 

DON'T FLAME ME!, religious people and rock opera people, and Webber-Rice people, Broadway people - just give it an objective view. (I'm totally revisiting this conspiracy theory of mine. And just like that. That's how fast the Beatle mind-virus works itself into what I'm doing.) So just relax. Relax. What Would Jesus Christ Superstar Do? Exactly. He would chill.

I stole this pic from here. 

So anyway, where was I? OH! The Beatles and me. My parents have always been into The Beatles. My mom more so, though she's a Paul fan so I actually grew up listening to Wings. I knew of the Fab Four, but as I, the very mature 4th grader that I was at the time also knew, The Monkees was were it was at man. The Beatles lost that round. Then something stirred one day in junior high for me. I don't even remember why, but I could not stop singing "Help!". So that afternoon, I got off the bus and ran to my dad's house and dug through his Beatle albums looking desperately for that song. Much to my frustration, my dad only owned 3 Beatles albums. Rubber Soul. The White Album. Abbey Road. "Help!" as you know is not on any of them. But I grabbed Rubber Soul hoping that maybe the song just wasn't called "Help!"

wiki link

I wore that album down to the skids. To this day, that opening twang of Drive My Car fills me with such peace and easiness and longing. SIGH. I have to keep typing or I will put the album on and that will be the end of it, my friends. So yeah, Rubber Soul is all time FAVORITE Beatles album for me. Hands down. It always will be. The White Album is my #2 and Abbey Road is my #3. You've got excellent taste, dad.

So my appreciation for The Beatles came YEARS before the mania hit me. In 1995 there were whispers of an Anthology greater than the world had ever known (is how I've blown it up in my mind). I couldn't tell you why I was so excited for it because I wasn't a huge fan, I mean, I liked them a lot. But you could feel something brewing in late '95, like a storm this excitement from people around- my mom, radio people, ABeatleC. It was kind of becoming a big deal, this tv special and disc bonanza.

In November of 1995 it happened. I sat down with my mom on the couch and we watched Anthology each night- I think it was broken up into like 5 nights or something. Anyway, I think it was the second night that it happened. I fell head over heels IN LOVE with Paul McCartney as he sang his little 'Please Please Me' parts on Ed Sullivan.



And it was over for me. For the rest of my life, I fear. Beatlemania took my rational thoughts, my love of literature and writing and it, it turned me into a fangirl who stood outside overnight many nights in the freezing December of Colorado Best Buy parking lots in hopes that I could get a free interview disc or free sweatshirt that brandished the Beatle product (check and check!).

But why? What would turn a rational fan into spasmic, overreacting zealot? What band in the history of ever (which I know, there isn't any other) can have that effect on millions? For 56 something years?! Beatlemania first happened to the world in '63-'64. Then again, when it got me in '95-'96 with Anthology and then again in '09 -'10 with the release of Rock Band and the Remasters. It blows my friggin' mind. That's insanity.

That's genius.

So fangirl away, my tweeps for we are powerless to stop it. I'm off to put on my holey (and Holy) free! Best Buy Beatles' sweatshirt, listen to some Rubber Soul on repeat and then probably just do the dishes.

We love you Beatles, oh yes we do. We love you Beatles, and we'll be true.

Believe it or not, I've been busy today! Okay, not really, but all up in the tweets and Beatles there has been some action and I feel the need to defend myself. And this is what I'm doing on my Saturday night before the Valentine's Day. Blogging and watching Goodfellas. Oh, and defending my honor. 

Rise up my fellow fangirls.

And yes, no longer confined to facebook, the drama has found it's way to twitter. All H1N1 like.

It's not real drama, but it's enough to give me a little stink eye. It's enough to make me panic. It's enough to make me want to defend my fangirl ways. It's enough to make me want to defend ALL of our fangirl ways.

I don't want to be a fangirl. I didn't set out to be a fangirl. It's what I am. So I embrace it. I enjoy it.

You're probably wondering where all of this is coming from. "Where's the fire, Amy?" I know. Okay, my tweep @BeatlesLane got "all up in arms" yesterday about the fangirls (not really, but for dramatic effect he was in arms. All up). And he's right, he really is, but I took it personally. Like every thing else that's probably not about me. Perhaps 'cause I am a woman/ girl. Anyway, he tweets this:

"It's kind of sad (and/or annoying) that a lot of women/girls seem to like The Beatles for a much different reason than us guys like them for."

And I go like this:

Then  he wrote a blog to expand his thoughts. And I get it. I do. And I'm fascinated to hear the male perspective- any perspective other than my own- on the greatest band to ever live.

But here's how it boils down. THEY WERE HOT! It's no jokes.

They were hot. They were sexy. They were smart. They were witty. They were musicians. They were entertainers. They were the greatest thing in the history of modern music. Them being "hot" isn't going to take that away for me. And it's crazy fans like me that made them as big as they were- as big as they are. Fans like me enabled them to be catapulted as far as they went. That's a fact.  And I'm not gonna pretend that I wouldn't have been one of them. One of the screaming, ear-pulling crazies.

I would've been one of them. I am one of them.

Yes. I do know the history of The Beatles.

Yes, I do like their music more than anything else world-wide.

And yes. I do like looking at pictures of The Beatles. I like reading everything about The Beatles. I like listening to everything about, for and by The Beatles. And that doesn't make me just a fangirl.

I like everything about The Beatles that you like, but being a fangirl gives me, and the rest of us an extra edge on the rest of you. We get to swoon about them as well as all the other stuff. Total extra edge.

Now, I didn't write this for anyone to get all down on @BeatlesLane 'cause he's a really cool dude and he has a point. I just needed to bring up the other side. We're not bad people. We're pretty awesome actually.

It feels like as good a time as any for this. Yes?

I Want my MTV- Oh no, wait, no I don't.

Rock is no longer sweaty.

Rock is no longer cool.

Rock is no longer sexy.

Rock is no longer loud.

Rock is no longer leather-clad.

Rock is no longer a graffiti-ed brick wall in a basement somewhere.

Rock has lost its roll.

Kids in the Hall's Mr. Gorginchuck was right?!

So sometimes I just want Rock and Roll. You do too?! Awesome!!! Don't know how? Not to worry. Start yourself off with these  (man these are awesome!)

Elvis Presley - 30 # 1 Hits

The Beatles - Live at the BBC

The Fratellis - Costello Music

Arctic Monkeys -  Favourite Worst Nightmare

Sex Pistols - Nevermind the Bullocks

The Ramones - Ramones

The sum of its leftover parts.

Paul McCartney.

Ringo Starr.

I love you.

This Ringo guy has a new album out called Y Not and I know that everyone else on the planet has talked about it too, but I must join in. That's what I do. I bandwagon surf. So this new album of his, I haven't heard it yet, but I want to. I don't know if it's a desperate cling to the last of The Beatles for me or what it is, but I am oddly drawn to this album and I'm not usually drawn to The Ringo.  But why not? (hahaha! I'm the only one laughing. Don't drink and blog on a Friday night, friends).

Actually, I do know what it is. It's because of that other Beatle. The "famous" one. It's because they're the last two left. It's because they're working together again. It's because, (I think?) that the last time they sung on an album together, George was alive and it was kind of a reunion thing called "Anthology" or something. It's because this is kind of a big deal.

This is kind of a really big deal.

Now these two living Beatles, I don't understand them. They don't seem as "real" as the dead ones. They don't seem as vulnerable. They don't seem as open. They seem grumpy. They seem isolated. They seem locked in a bubble, where the other two seem to drift freely in the universe. Oh wait, maybe I do get them. It also makes you think that maybe being in the biggest rock band this world has ever seen might not have been so awesome. It's like Beatlegan's Island and Paul and Ringo are the only ones left. And it's maybe not so bad for Ringo these days, but imagine being "SIR PAUL McCARTNEY". Imagine being the most successful songwriter of the world, EVER. Imagine losing everyone who's ever meant the world to you except for your brother and Ringo (and children, but that's a different trust).  And in all of that, not that I know, but I honestly believe Paul was never as close to anyone as he was to John Lennon - even Linda. And maybe Paul is transferring that need to Ringo. Awkward, but still, totally cute.



I love Paul and I always seem to be trashing Paul and I really don't mean to. However, (sorry Paulie) Paul has always seemed too good for the other Beatles (other than John.) I mean, look at "When We Was Fab" by George Harrison. Ringo's in it but they have a stand-in in Paul's "Walrus" outfit. Was that Paul's choice, or George's? Either way, weird.



  I remember reading some interview, perhaps the Playboy interview that I'm too lazy to reference right now, that John was quoted as saying that he and Paul were The Beatles and that Ringo and George could've been anybody. (Ah crap, now I feel like I should find it. Hold up. Whatevs, it'll be an afterward. Don't look at me like that. You go look for a John Lennon quote and see what Google pulls up for you! - Actually, let me know if you find it. Bighelpthanks.)** Anyway, John said that he and Paul were The Beatles and if you read any book about this band, or you watch Anthology, you'll see that in this Beatle family, John and Paul were like the parents and George and Ringo were like the children. And you can see that George and Ringo still feel they are being treated that way, but without John, Paul looks like a diva who's trying not to look like a diva.

And then they go from 3/4 to 1/2.

And now it's just them. Paul. Ringo.

They roomed together on tour during the Beatlemania thing. They were homies. They are homies. When Ringo went all crazy saying he wasn't going to sign autographs anymore...



 Paul defended him on Letterman.

And Ringo had this little album coming out with a song called Walk with You, Paul made it better. And it totally just makes me cry.

Anyway, I feel a new love for Ringo. Thank you, Paul McCartney.

** UPDATE (Jan 29, '10) This is as close to that mysterious Lennon quote that I've found so far. Still quite accepting of help, by the way, wink wink.

Christmas song Day 4.

Being a couple days from BeatleJohn! Death day, how's about some BEATLES!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!! =) From December 6, 1963.  Oh, and big lols!!!

Here, There and Everywhere. But totally here. PART 1!

UPDATE!  I totally forgot to mention Howard Massey as co-author!  I don't know how or why I didn't mention him, but no offense, Mr. Massey, if you're still reading. =) 


This is the COOLEST book. Now, go figure, I'm readin' a book about Beatles. This one is called Here, There and Everywhere by Geoff Emerick and Howard Massey. Holy Funtimes Batman!

Believe it or not, I've read somewhere around like one other book about this band and the thing that struck me about this book as HOLYCRAP-BRANDNEWINFO! was the angle. You always read "The Beatles Story" from either the Beatles perspective which  starts in Liverpool, Hamburg, London and then the world! OR you start in America after they've become OMGTHEBEATLES!!, ya know? And then there are all the books that concentrate on just one Beatle, which are great, but you kind of lose sight of the the group as a whole.

Well, our hero, Geoff Emerick was a mere 15 years old when he started at EMI Studios (later renamed Abbey Road Studios in 1970). FIFTEEN! in case you skimmed. I was painting my nails and thinking about Johnny Depp when I was 15.  Then on Dude's second day on the job, he's just sittin' in on The Beatles' first ever recording sesh. No bigs.

So, Geoff, first day new kid, is just getting to know this new job of his and all this buzz is swirling about this new pop group from up north (they spit on the Northerners in this London town) and there's one guy that works there that is STOKED on this group (but don't get too attached to him, he gets sacked in a minute). Everyone else is like, "alright, whatevs". Next night Geoff gets to sit in on the recording and is immediately swooned. He also develops a boy-crush on Paul. He never actually says this, but I can read between the lines. And besides, who doesn't have a crush on Paul, I mean seriously. Look at him.

Swoon. Where was I?... Oh yeah, Paul McCartney. Wasn't I? I think one of the most "What?! Dude! Yes, that makes sense!" bits in the book is this on page 43.

Though [Paul] didn't raise his voice like the lead singer did, I had the distinct impression that he was the leader of the group. When he spoke, the others listened intently and invariably nodded their heads in agreement, and before each take, he was the one urging them to give it their all. Looking back on it now, it's funny how most people thought of John Lennon-the hook-nosed lead singer on that first song-as the leader of The Beatles. It might have been his band in the beginning, and he might have assumed the leadership role in their press conferences and public appearances, but throughout all the years that I worked with them, it always seemed to me that Paul McCartney, the soft-spoken bass player, was the real leader of the group, and that nothing got done unless he approved of it. 

There are two things that excite me about this quote.  First off, it's this Lennon we see later on as being the whipping boy to Yoko which adds to the widely felt "Yoko is a witch!" opinion. Turns out, apparently Paul was cracking the whip, too. That's all for another post. It also goes to show that John's assertion that the band broke because Paul took over in 1967 after the death of manager, Brian Epstein is a load of crap. (I will get to the bottom of the Beatles one day. You'll see and will feel foolish for mocking me.)

I also dig seeing how they interacted with each other. In the beginning, it was Paul and John BFFs- but it seems that around '66 it was John and George pairing up and Paul and Ringo off to the other side in their own little huddle. (Oh that's sad and kind of prophetic seeing as how it all turned out...)

So anyway, I'm only half-way through the book so there will be a part 2 to this in a day or two. Stay tuned. And since I was curious, and you might be too, here's what ol' Geoff looked like, back in the day.

He's the one that's not Ringo. If you don't know which one is Ringo, then you need to go back to Cool School.


HEY! I have an idea! I'm gonna start my own Oprah! Book Club. Go get this book and read it. We'll re-convene in a couple of days and maybe somebody will win a car! And probably not from me!

Rolling Stones or Beatles?

I'm on a mission: To like The Rolling Stones. 

It sounds ridiculous that this is even going through my head, but this ain't the first time. A little known secret about me, I'm a Beatle fan. And being a Beatle fan and wanting to join Camp Rolling Stones is akin to being a Red Sox fan and wanting to be a Yankee. 

There are vast differences between being a fan of the groups. Exhibit A:

Here's your typical Beatle fan. 

Here's your typical Stones' fan:

And then there is the matter of flaunting your love. A Stones fan wearing a shirt looks like Fergie:

A Beatles fan sporting a shirt sometimes looks like a really excited old man with high waisted pants:

So yes, sometimes I feel like the color-guard watching the cheerleaders at the high school football game. But what it boils down to, I suppose is that for one thing,  Beatles equal "SQUEEE" Stones equal "EEK!" and the other thing is that I've heard Stones songs for more than 20 years! and all I can say is that Paint It Black, Time Is On My Side and Ruby Tuesday are absolutely fab! and hearing Paint It Back 12 times in a row while the husband tried to learn Guitar Hero did not ruin it a bit... and that's it. Ooh, let's hear some Paint It Black, yes?

But there are songs like these and then... "Start Me Up?" and I don't know. I feel like I'm missing something. So okay, easy. Being a Beatle fan, I'll start there. Tell us, John.

And then there's this little bitty... CUTE. (John and Paul are singing background vocals)

So far, what it boils down to, I'm a Beatle fan. The Rolling Stones remain an odd enigma of which I have yet to break. I'm still in color-guard. But, I guess I don't feel so bad... Afterall, Mick's a fangirl too.

Totally accepting suggestions on the matter

Harry Nilsson

Who's your favorite American Group? "Nilsson" 

-Paul McCartney 1968

Yes. That is indeed a picture of Harry Nilsson and John Lennon wrestling taken by May Pang in 1974 or 1975 during The Lost Weekend - arguably my favorite of all the weekends. Combined.

Two days from now is- would have been John Lennon's birthday. This makes me think of The Lost Weekend, which brings me to Harry Nilsson. And there is something about the name "Harry Nilsson" that amuses me. I immediately think of drunken debauchery. And I know that it stems from what I've read (truth debatable) from Goldman's book The Lives Of Lennon.

One such gem:  Nilsson and Lennon getting tossed from the Troubadour in Hollywood for heckling The Smothers Brothers and fisticuffin' on March 12, 1974. 

Click here for a big version of the Troubadour story from Rolling Stone and here for a large version of Lennon talking about putting a used (?!) Kotex on his head and rudely asking the waitress if she knew who he was. Classic!  

Lennon produced Nilsson's Pussy Cats album that was again filled with drunken debauchery. I love this stuff. Check out this blog for more on that.

I could go on and on about The Lost Weekend, however, I sat down and dedicated myself to Harry Nilsson blog post, not Lost Weekend blog post. Another day.

Moving on, I first heard of Harry Nilsson through The Monkees as he wrote "Cuddly Toy" and "Daddy's Song".  Which, FYI, "Cuddly Toy = one of my faves.

And from Head (which if you haven't seen, do so now) ALTHOUGH, for some reason completely unknown to me, the clip from Head totally doesn't exist. I looked. This clip does exist though and someone put the song to clips from Skidoo - which in an ironic twist contains songs by Nilsson. 

Harry Nilsson actually was one of the most prolific songwriters but his problem of not being able to stay in one genre actually threw him into a kind of obscurity.

What I didn't realize about Harry Nilsson is that not only was it his flat in London that both Mama Cass and Keith Moon died in (in the same bed it's told with flashlights under chins) but he wrote A LOT of songs!  Here's the Wiki of his discography.

Here's a couple shockers to me.

And if what you're itching for is more Harry Nilsson connecting to the Beatles, I know I always am, then guess what. You're in luck! You remember that movie Popeye? Bet ya can't guess you wrote all the songs... Okay, you got me, it was Harry. But here's my clincher - Klaus Voormann. Klausy played Von Schnitzel.

But dig a little deeper and you know what you'll find? Klaus and Harry? BFFs. Checky checky. You know you want to. http://www.iheartklaus.com/harry.html.  For those of you that are like, "Yeah? So? Who's that effin' guy?!" Well, Klaus Voormann is from North Berlin and later Hamburg, Germany. About and around 1960ish, Klaus had a fight with his then girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr (Early Beatle photographer and kind of, sort of the first "Yoko" as she did take Stuart Sutcliffe from the band) and their friend Jurgen Vollmer (gave Lennon and McCartney their first "Beatle Haircut" in Paris, 1961). Klaus wandered into The Reeperbahn and got his first taste of Rock N Roll. The Beatles. Only not the polished Beatles that we know and love today. The dirty, gritty Beatles. >__<

So in looking for stuff - aka "googling" I kept coming across this totally awesome blog on The Nilsson. Check it. For The Love Of Harry.

The fans.

"The world used us as an excuse to go mad." --  George Harrison
As a Beatle fan, I do understand that I am prone to screaming and ear pulling at every mention of the Fab Four. Perhaps this is why Beatle girls (and occasionally boys) in full on mania are my fave.

It must be because I look at these fools and I think, "Don't they know they look ridiculous?! The Beatles would never pick you. I would never scream like that. Fools." But I so would. I do. I mean, Beatle Rock Band comes out and here's me. 

The Remasters?

Maybe it's that there are crazy people out there. And I relate to them. I embrace them. 

Like the fans from this clip of  The Beatles First US Visit . Beginning at about 4:30, my ladies roll into view

At least the fans in London, those ladies got to hang outside of Paul McCartney's house and get stuff signed. 

Or they went down the block to Abbey Road Studios and hung out there. 

The hard(corps) even got their own nickname. "Apple Scruffs". I would've been one of those ladies. Hear you me. So awesome were they, two of them were invited in to sing on Across The Universe (which John saw as a passive-aggressive attack by Paul to sabotage his song) though that version was never released on a Beatle record. And George Harrison wrote a little song for them. 

And I'm not the only one. Zemeckis made a whole movie about it (and it is HILARIOUS! fyi) 

I Wanna Hold Your Hand

And I just found this. I'm not sure what it is, what it means, but it looks exactly like something I must investigate further.

So my little Beatle Droogs, I am not alone. Don't mock me.