Monday, December 8, 1980 Like many Americans I was watching the Monday Night Football game between the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots. In those days, Monday Night Football was a really big deal. It was a close game. The score was tied at 13-13, with the Patriots about to attempt a field goal…

Published in Parade Magazine, Feb. 9, 2014 by Bruce Spizer with reporting by Bill Hewitt Everyone knows what happened to the four lads from Liverpool after they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9,  1964, in front of a live TV audience of 74 million. But the three days leading up to the…

Published in American History Magazine, April 2004 by Bruce Spizer FEBRUARY 2004 MARKS the 40th anniversary of the Beatles’ arrival in America. Nearly two centuries after the British “invasion” of 1776, the battle cry was changed from “The British are coming!” to “The Beatles are coming!” And while television had not even been dreamed of…

By Bruce Spizer Another first class project from Apple and Universal First things first, this is not what I would have done for a vinyl collection of the Beatles British singles. I would have presented the U.K. singles as they appeared back in the sixties, with British Parlophone labels for the first 17 singles and…

The super deluxe anniversary edition of Abbey Road is a solid “A” and another necessary purchase for Beatles fans and music scholars. The first question Beatles fans will probably ask about the 50th anniversary remix of Abbey Road is whether it is worth buying if you have the 09-09-09 remaster. After all, that was only…

August 15, 1969 While the Beatles were putting finishing touches on their Abbey Road album, an ambitious music festival was scheduled to take place on a dairy farm in Bethel, NY, the weekend of August 15-17, 1969. The Woodstock Music & Art Fair was billed as “An Aquarian Exposition—3 Days of Peace and Music.” It…

July 20, 1969 While the Beatles were at Abbey Road Studios recording their Abbey Road LP, Apollo 11 headed towards the moon. On the day of the July 16 liftoff, the Beatles were adding overdubs to “Something” and “Here Comes The Sun.” On July 20, 1969, while in lunar orbit, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin…

The Beatles waited nearly eight months after the release of “Hey Jude” to take any action towards issuing a follow-up single. As was often the case after the death of Brian Epstein, Paul took control. Two weeks after his marriage to Linda Eastman, McCartney arranged for a mono mix of “Get Back” on March 26,…

by Bruce Spizer A listening session for the upcoming of 50th anniversary release of The White Album was held on September 26 at the Power Station recording studio in New York City. The event was hosted by Apple Corps and Universal Music Group. After playing a brief promo video on the super deluxe edition, Apple…

By Bruce Spizer In coordination with the 50th anniversary of the release of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” Apple, Capitol and Universal Music Group are giving fans multiple options to experience the Beatles landmark album. Prior to jumping into this review, I must disclose that I served as a consultant on the project, contributing…

New York City – April 28, 2017 Special report by Bruce Spizer & Tom Frangione   On May 19, 1967, a dozen or so journalists and disc jockeys were invited to hear the premiere of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” at Brian Epstein’s four-story Georgian home in London. Nearly 50 years later, a hundred…

Saturday morning, June 4, 2016. I read the news today, oh boy, on the front face of my iPhone. There were push notifications from The New York Times and CBS News. Muhammad Ali was dead at 74. He had died the night before. It was not a surprise to me as the media had warned…

November 22, 1963, was a triumphant day for the Beatles. In their homeland, the group had dominated the record charts for most of the year. Their last three singles, Please Please Me, From Me To You and She Loves You, had all topped the U.K. charts. Earlier in the week, the band was presented with…

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DICK BIONDI PLAYS THE BEATLES ON CHICAGO’S WLS Click here to listen to Dick Biondi (opens in separate window so you can switch back to this window and read while it plays). Scroll down for full YouTube version It was a cold Saturday night  in Chicago on February 23, 1963. During the day the temperature…

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Tony Sheridan, the British singer/guitarist who befriended the Beatles in Hamburg, died there on February 16, 2013.

By Bruce Spizer On March 13, 2009, I received word that Alan Livingston had died. I wasn’t shocked. After all, he was 91 years old. But I was saddened. The fact that he had lived a remarkable life didn’t make me feel any better about his passing. I knew that I would be getting calls…

The Please Please Me album gets off to a rousing start with Paul’s energetic “One, two, three, faaa!” count-in to I Saw Her Standing There.

Thirty years ago, on July 9, 1982, Pan Am Flight 759 crashed shortly after takeoff in New Orleans, killing all 145 on board and eight people on the ground. Read about the Beatles connection to this tragedy.