My Favorite Oldies

In February of 1964, The Beatles came to America hot on the heels of their first two hit singles, "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There". The term "Beatlemania" was used to describe the chaos and pandemonium that ensued due to their fan’s adoration and bouts of screaming celebrity hysteria.
Forty years after "Beatlemania" came across the pond, forever changing our cultural landscape, CBS Television and Hewlett-Packard have teamed up to bring many of the "lost" images of The Beatles first trip to America back to life. When John, Paul, George, and Ringo first arrived, CBS had a number of their publicity photographers following them around.
What they captured in those photos was the Fab Four at their seemingly timeless best! CBS and Hewlett Packard have joined forces to bring these images to the public, in the form a traveling exhibit called "The Beatles: Backstage and Behind the Scenes". Bill Eppridge, a photographer for both CBS and LIFE magazine, was instrumental in bringing this project to life.

Bill contributed upwards of 84 never published photos of the lads from Liverpool to the exhibition. Most of his photos were captured as he was on the road with The Beatles in 1964, whereas the other images in the collection (taken by the CBS photographers) are taken mainly from dress rehearsals and backstage. Linda McCartney also contributed a number of images to the original exhibition.
The images remained unpublished until 2001, when a representative from the CBS Photo Archive approached HP Labs about restoring and reproducing them for an exhibit in Alberta, Canada. The collection includes 64 framed black-and white images, as well as 20 mounted large format photographs with captions and timeline panels.

The collection has recently been reprinted in a commemorative exhibition catalogue which is available from ArtVision Exhibitions. This collection has been touring the world since late 2001, and is still capturing the hearts and minds of fans everywhere.
The exhibit is also available for private showings, and inquiries can be directed to Vickie Rehberg, Exhibition Marketing Manager (1-866-278-4685). These images represent the very best of photography and photojournalism in 1964. We love you……yeah, yeah, yeah!

About the Author

Amanda White is an avid photography and art enthusiast. She works for a gallery part time, in addition to being a freelance writer for http://www.dpdigest.com – a site that offers information for camera lovers everywhere with information about digital cameras (http://www.dpdigest.com/cameras/), digital camera reviews, digital photography and more.
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Article published on September 14, 2005 at Isnare.com

Many Beatles fans are unaware of the great impact British folk-singer and guitarist Donovan (Donovan Philips Leitch) had on the Beatles and their music in 1968.
Donovan was a friend of the Beatles, and when the group traveled to Rishikesh in India to study Transcendental Meditation in February 1968, Donovan came along. There were several other westerners present at the Rishikesh camp too, including Mike Love of the Beach Boys.
Many of the songs that would later feature on the Beatles’ 1968 album entitled The Beatles - also known as The White Album because of its white cover - emerged during the group’s stay in India.

One reason for this was the fact that Donovan was there. Between the mediation classes, he taught John, Paul and George a special finger-picking guitar style which can be traced on many of the songs on The White Album.
Take Paul McCartney’s Blackbird, for example. It was written in India, and it’s a prime example of how Donovan’s guitar-technique was applied by the Beatles. Listen how elegantly Paul picks the strings and how the guitar pattern supports the lead vocal brilliantly.
Acoustic guitars had arguably not sounded quite as sophisticated as that on previous Beatles recordings, perhaps with a few exceptions, such as Paul’s I’ve Just Seen A Face from 1965 and Lennon’s Girl from 1966. The Beatles had often used the acoustic to play rhythm guitar - which of course worked brilliantly - but the Donovan finger-picking style added yet another dimension their music.
Another of Paul’s songs, Mother Nature’s Son, also took shape in India. Also here Donovan’s influence is obvious. The lyrics, meanwhile, are said to have been influenced by a lecture given by meditation guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a central figure at the camp.
Paul was of course not the only Beatle who was inspired by Donovan’s guitar technique. Just listen to the songs Julia and Dear Prudence, both penned by John Lennon. Dear Prudence is actually about a specific incident that occurred at the Rishikesh meditation camp. The song is really about Prudence Farrow, sister of actress Mia Farrow, who also stayed at Rishikesh. Prudence, however, preferred to meditate in solitude in her chalet. In the end Lennon and George Harrison had to convince her to come out and join the others: Dear Prudence, won’t you come out and play?
Other songs written or inspired by the stay in India were Lennon’s The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill and Sexy Sadie, plus McCartney’s Why Don’t We Do It In The Road and Wild Honey Pie.

Sexy Sadie was originally called Maharishi after Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the meditation guru. After having stayed in India for a while, Lennon lost trust in Maharishi, apparently because of a rumor that the guru had made sexual advances to a female member of the course. The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill was about college graduate named Richard Cooke III who visited the Rishikesh community because his mother Nancy was staying there. They did indeed go tiger hunting, just like the song suggests.
Paul McCartney later said he got the idea to Why Don’t We Do It In The Road? in India, where he had seen two monkeys copulating in the road. Wild Honey Pie was a sing along that also emerged in Rishikesh.
The first Beatle to leave India was Ringo, who returned to London in early March. McCartney soon followed, while Lennon and Harrison left in April.

About the Author

Andreas Walstad is a journalist and the author of http://www.thebeatlesonline.com
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Article published on August 20, 2007 at Isnare.com

Frank Sinatra, also affectionately also known as Old Blue Eyes was probably the most outstanding popular music singer of the 20th century. Sinatra’s only real rivals during those days were perhaps a handful of other singing superstars such as Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Elvis Presley, and the fab four or The Beatles.
In a professional singing and acting career spanning more than six decades, Sinatra demonstrated a remarkable ability to maintain his popular appeal to his fans across almost two generations. This is a ringing endorsement of the status of this singing and acting superstar.
Frank Sinatra’s singing career started during the big band swing era of the 1930s and 1940s. His first number one hit on the charts was in 1940 and was still making million-selling recording rights up to 1994.

This superb entertainer was able to take the work of great composers of the 1920s and 1930s, such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern , Cole Porter and Richard Rodger and turn their compositions into masterful singing pieces and enshrined them into eternal classics.
Sinatra was the son of a humble fireman and dropped out of high school to pursue a career in singing much to his father’s disappointment. In September 1935, the young Sinatra appeared as part of the singing group, the Hoboken Four on Major Bowes’ Original Amateur Hour show. The quartet won the radio show contest and toured the country with Bowes.
Sinatra then took up a job as a singing waiter and MC at the Rustic Cabin in Englewood, New Jersey. He was singing there in early 1939, when he was talent spotted by trumpeter Harry James, who had organized his own big band after leaving Benny Goodman, which was another famous big band leader of that era. Harry James hired Sinatra as a singer in his band and Frank made his first recording on July 13, 1939.
At the end of 1939, Sinatra accepted an offer from the more popular big band leader Tommy Dorsey. Over the next two and a half years, he was featured on 16 Top Ten hits recorded by Dorsey and his band, amongst them the legendary chart-buster "I’ll Never Smile Again," and was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

During this while, young Sinatra also performed on various radio shows with Tommy Dorsey and his band. He also appeared with the band in movies such as Las Vegas Nights in 1941 and Ship Ahoy in 1942.
Frank Sinatra started out his solo singing career in early 1942 showcasing his singing talent by recording a four-song session arranged and conducted by Axel Stordahl. One of the songs was Cole Porter’s "Night and Day," and that song went on to become his first hit chart entry under his very own name.
His big break came from his engagement as a singing support act to Benny Goodman at the Paramount Theatre in New York, which began on New Year’s Eve. This engagement catapulted his singing career and made him the first real teen singing idol, with throngs of girls screaming and swooning in the aisles.
From then on, Sinatra’s singing career never looked back. His singing talent scored him another successful chart topper with "There Are Such Things," occupying number one position in January 1943. Then in August that same year, the singing superstar did another chart buster with "In the Blue of the Evening". From then on, Sinatra successfully scored hits after hits with songs such as "It’s Always You,", "I’ll Be Seeing You," and "All or Nothing at All".
Frank Sinatra did many radio shows around that time and in April 1943, he made his first credited appearance in a movie, singing "Night and Day" in Reveille With Beverly which launch his acting career.

This was followed by Higher and Higher in which he played a minor role acting as himself and followed up with another movie, Step Lively which was released in mid 1944 in which he played a larger role. In November 1944, he returned to cutting records, beginning with a cover version of Irving Berlin’s "White Christmas" which was again another chart topper. Sinatra then hired Styne and Cahn to write the songs for his first MGM musical, Anchors Aweigh, and over the course of his successful singing career, he recorded more songs by Cahn than by any other songwriter.
Anchors Aweigh, in which Sinatra was paired with Gene Kelly, was released in July 1945 and went on to become the most successful film in 1945. He then went on to appear in many more movies such as MGM musicals On the Town and lower budget ones such as The Kissing Bandit.
At the same time, he continued to hit eight Top Ten hits in 1947 to 1949 which included "Mam’selle," which hit number one in May 1947, and "Some Enchanted Evening," from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical South Pacific.
By 1950s, his singing career was on the decline, but he was still very active. At the fall of 1950 marks his first venture into television. His film work had nearly subsided athough in March 1952 he was featured in the drama Meet Danny Wilson which tested his acting skills on stage which gave him the opportunity to sing some of his greatest songs such as Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s "That Old Black Magic," "I’ve Got a Crush on You" by George and Ira Gershwin, and "How Deep Is the Ocean" by Irving Berlin.
Then in 1955, the singing superstar hit number one again with the single "Learnin’ the Blues" and the 12 inch album, "In the Wee Small Hours "which was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Sinatra acted in a television special in November 1965, A Man and His Music, and released a corresponding double vinyl album, which reached the Top Ten chart and also went gold. A Man and His Music won the 1966 Grammy for Album of the Year. Following this release, Old Blue Eyes catapulted back to number one on the singles charts for the first time in 11 years with "Strangers in the Night" in July 1966. This song also won him 2 Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Vocal Performance.
Towards the end of 1966, the singer released two more Top Ten albums, Sinatra At The Sands and That’s Life. In April 1967, he was again number one on the singles charts with "Somethin’ Stupid," a duet which he sung with his daughter Nancy Sinatra. Frank Sinatra’s Greatest Hits was a compilation of his 1960s singles successes released in August 1968, was a million-seller.

Then in March 1969, perhaps the most recognized Sinatra song, "My Way," with lyrics specially written for him by Paul Anka was released. This amazing single reached the Top 40, and an album of the same name hit the Top Ten and went gold.
Frank Sinatra then announced his retirement in early 1971 at the age of 55. However, he burst into the limelight again in 1973 with a gold album and a TV special called Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back. In the twilight of his career, Sinatra cut down on producing albums, acting in movies and television in favor of live concert tours.
For six years, he did not release any albums until March 1980 with a three-LP set, Trilogy: Past, Present, Future. The most memorable track from the trilogy set was perhaps "Theme From New York, New York," the title song from the 1977 movie.

He returned to Capitol Records in 1993 and recorded Duets, on which he re-recorded his old songs, joined by other popular singers such as Tony Bennett, Elvis Costello, KD Lang and Bono of U2. It became his biggest-selling album selling over three million copies world wide. This was followed up in 1994 by Duets II, which won the 1995 Grammy Award for Traditional Pop Performance.
Frank Sinatra finally retired from acting and performing entertainment when he turns 80 in 1995. He died of a heart attack 2 years later when he was 82. Today, his songs are still heard in concert halls and clubs all over the world.

About the Author

Chris Chew is a Frank Sinatra fan and owns a website devoted to music at Learn To Play Piano By Ear and How To Develop A Perfect Pitch

Author Chris Chew

Less than four months ago, Lee Douglas began to translate his love for the music of the 50’s and 60’s lovingly called Oldies, into a new medium, the podcast. Together with the folks at Talkshoe.com, he began his venture into the new medium.
His new show, which he called "Old Time Rock n Roll, would be different in the way it was presented. The usual playlists that are the hallmark of the Oldies AM radio stations were out the window. His own collection of 12,000 songs would be digitized onto his computer to lay the groundwork for the show. Instead of playing those songs which the oldies lovers had grown tired of, he opened his collection and played the songs that haven’t been heard for many years. Then he would have a spotlight for each show, Novelties on one, doo wops on another, rockabilly on yet another. Each one with a dose of rock history and reminiscing.
He researches each singer and each song to provide background for each show. So in November he went on the air on talkshoe.com. The first week he had 8 listeners. Obviously his friends had at least listened. By the third week he managed 80 listeners, still quite a jump. However, he was un prepared for the next week when out of nowhere 800 people listened in.
Since then with advertising on several classified sites, the show has continued to grow and grow, breaking all types of records on the Internet and the site itself.
Now just 4 months later, an impressive 25,000 listeners have logged in to his show, in one month. His gateway site http://www.wrestlingwrap.com, which used to serve as his flagship wrestling show site and portals to his own promotion, now is the host to Old Time Rock n Roll.
His Brooklyn bred voice can still be heard even though he has been a Floridian for many years. He actually still takes requests and dedications just like in the old days through his e mail address -Oldtimernr@hotmail.com- Where does he go from here? His plans are to as he puts it, "take it the next level." He says he would like to garner an even larger audience and eventually try his hand at bringing some live oldies and doo wop shows around the country. But that is a long way off. His focus is to make Old Time Rock n Roll even bigger and better with each passing week. With his success also means success to his pod casting network called Talkshoe.com. Douglas predicts that Talkshoe will be the biggest thing in podcasting in 2007 and beyond.

Before you make any real preparations for your Golden Oldies Party, you need to think of the era that you wish to use. Even though you want to plan the party based on the post-1950s with the music, dress, and events that transpired during that era, you may choose to zero in on a more specific decade. After all, if most of the guests were not born until the 1950s, they will not have a clue about the events of the 1950s except what they have read or heard. Think of the era in which most of your guests were teenagers or older and base your party around that decade.
How do you plan a Golden Oldies Party if all of your guests are from a different era? A fun thought might be to allow your guests to come dressed as they did growing up in that decade of rock and roll and partying. If you have several guests, it can make for an exciting party with music and costumes from several decades. Encourage your guests to share events they remember as teenagers: dances, school, shopping, clothes, activities, games, television shows, etc. Not only will your party be fun, it will allow all of the guests to share some trivia from their past and give younger guests an opportunity to take a walk into another decade if only for a moment.
No matter what decade you choose for your Golden Oldies party, rest assured that you will certainly entertain your guests. Nothing is more eventful that a party that lets guests go back into the past for just a few hours and relive their carefree years in high school and college. Those days are in the past, but a party can bring them back into focus for just a few hours and give everyone a taste of the Golden Oldies decades.

The Golden Oldies never had it so good, especially when you use these two Golden Oldies party games during your next themed event.
Golden Oldies Trivia:
For all those competitive guests at your Golden Oldies party games this game will help everyone bone up on their recent musical history. Look up some simple information about your favorite golden oldies from the 50s, 60s and 70s and create a set of questions to focus on them during the Golden Oldies party games. You can even make up a few recordings of parts of songs and play them for the guests who will then have to guess which song it is.
Whatever you decide on, make sure you put those trivia questions on some index cards, just in case you forget them before the Golden Oldies party games. Unfortunately the younger guests at the party may not do so well just because they’ll be too young to have really heard the songs before, but it’s your party and you can ask what you please.
Song Conductor:
Pick one person to play the conductor for these Golden Oldies party games and have the rest of the players sit in chairs around him or her. The conductor will clap time either slow or fast for the music that he or she wants to play and will point one by one at each of the players and yell the name of an instrument befitting the Golden Oldies, such as a guitar, and that player must immediately start playing an imaginary instrument. Best of all, they get to make the noises that go with said imaginary instrument.
Each player will keep playing as other players are picked to start playing and a weird cacophony of human made noises will help you to create your very own song for the Golden Oldies party games. The conductor can also make someone stop playing their instrument by pointing at them again. If a player fails to notice the conductor pointing at him or her, they must drop out of the Golden Oldies game.
These games will work for anyone, whether it’s a group of seniors or just some kids who love classic music. Don’t hesitate to get the Golden Oldies party really started by bringing up these two games.

The nostalgic candy you used to eat as a kid is something fun to think about in these difficult economic times. Remember back to the days when you were young and how your five cents allowance was burning a hole in your pocket. You could not wait to go down the street to the penny candy store for your next fix of sweet goodness. What would you get this time? Would it be wax bottles, candy buttons on paper, a Mary Jane, Kits, Bit-O-Honey, Pixy Stix, or a candy necklace?
Those were the good old days. Five cents could buy you quite an assortment of penny candy. Back then, if you knew how to bargain, you could even get two pieces of nostalgic candy for a penny! Money was really worth something then.
In the summer you were probably out riding your bicycle with the neighborhood kids, playing kick ball and causing a ruckus in the yard. You were a kid then, and you did not have a worry in the world. Right now, all that you have to do is bite off the top of a Nik-L-Nip bottle, drink the sweet syrup, chew on the wax, and you can be transported instantly to when you were eight years old! If you want to go back to this youthful time, nostalgic candy can bring you there.
Now fast forward to adulthood. We have bills to pay, demands at work, pressures at home, medical issues, and economic concerns. Just finding enough time for life can be a challenge. These are worries that you did not have when you were young.
We are longing for the simpler times when life was stress free and uncomplicated. Many people have deep connections to these thoughts of the past, and it’s no wonder that certain sights, sounds, and tastes can trigger these feelings.
Watching a 1955 Chevrolet drive by, listening to Oldies but Goodies music, seeing old movies, and eating nostalgic candy can take you back down memory lane. It can be so much fun reminiscing about the olden days! It’s easy to be carried back by our memories of earlier days, and it’s a wonderful break from the hum drum of everyday life with all of our daily responsibilities. We have all heard older people telling their stories of childhood. Now it’s your turn to tell the kids about your favorite things from childhood. And while you’re telling them, don’t forget to pass around the nostalgic candy!