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* I finished watching the Beatles documentary last night. It was even better than I hoped for and exhausting at the same time.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 8:37 am

Comments

[Partial sarcasm font on]

Dept. of Employment Security, rest easy, the Cavalry is on the way!

https://federalnewsnetwork.com/it-modernization/2021/11/with-2-billion-labor-dept-employs-2-part-strategy-to-fix-unemployment-insurance-systems/

Comment by Anyone Remember Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 8:50 am
I did the same and listened to the Let it Be album this morning during my commute. Those guys were remarkable.

Comment by bball_coach Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 8:57 am
None of them had yet reached age 30 in 1969. So much accomplished as young people.

Comment by Friendly Bob Adams Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 8:58 am
Terri Hemmert ruined the Beatles for me. I told her so too, in the ladies room at the Vic. I think I was there to see Robin Hitchcock.

Comment by Cheryl44 Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 9:06 am
Thanks, Rich. I’ve been looking forward to watching it. I have been listening to McCartney’s “Naked” version of the Let it Be album, which I have decided I prefer to the Spector production.

Comment by The Ford Lawyer Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 9:37 am
This documentary is a “one sitting” kind of watch

I’ll do that in the coming days.

Super pumped.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 9:39 am
I never listened to the Beatles much. They broke up when I was a toddler and I didn’t really get into music until the late 70’s. From time to time I would listen to them, but it was mostly their post Beatles work. John Lennon’s Double Fantasy Album as the first time I really heard them on the radio on a regular basis and then he as murdered.

Fast forward to my 30’s and that was when I really began listening. As @FBA stated, so much accomplished and paved the way for so many others. I am looking forward to watching the DOC.

Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 9:40 am
Almost as remarkable as their prodigious output of ‘grand music’ (as they might call it), is hope well they handled the enormous pressure and stress from every side. Yeah, sometimes off the mark, but just think for a moment how you would have withstood the media onslaught at such an early age. Remarkable indeed.

Comment by Sayitaintso Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 10:02 am
just the outtakes from the Peter Jackson interview segments with Colbert are compelling. astounding what those boys did in such a short time.

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 10:07 am
I did the same Rich, incredible peek into the process. Dispelled the notion of Yoko as the villian and gave me the impression they were still friends.

Comment by Glass half full Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 10:24 am
I was at the the 1964 concert at the Amphitheater.
First American tour. Jackie DeShannon sang, also.
Boyfriend’s aunt dropped us off and picked us up.
Couldn’t hear much. Lots of screaming girls.

Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 10:29 am
To: Anyone remember and IDES: Looks like another Federal boondoggle on its way. How they just expect to ‘plug in’ anything to all these different systems is laughable; some are running on obsolete hardware and software that likely you can’t just plug anything into. I’ve got to become a Federal contractor; get paid for unworkable answers to long-term problems before anyone figures out it won’t work.

Comment by thisjustinagain Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 10:58 am
Looking forward to watching the Beatles doc and the new Vonnegut doc as well.

Comment by Pot calling kettle Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 11:06 am
I was on a later train than normal this morning and noticed more cars in the Metra lot today, looks like more people are heading back into the loop. Numbers are higher than what used to be the ‘low’ pre-pandemic, the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Added bonus appearances by Scabby The Rat at a work site just outside the station.

Comment by OneMan Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 11:19 am
I watched the final segment last night as well. You nailed it Rich. Awesome and exhausting. Loved watched the creative process and the humanity of these larger than life legends.

Comment by Lt Guv Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 11:34 am
===This documentary is a “one sitting” kind of watch ===

It’s impossible. You’d be too exhausted. Take a couple three breaks.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 11:49 am
=== It’s impossible. You’d be too exhausted. Take a couple three breaks.===

Oh boy. Thanks.

Maybe meals in between(?)

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 11:56 am
The Beatles changed my World…I’m not the only one.

Comment by Dotnonymous Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 12:18 pm
=Terri Hemmert ruined the Beatles for me=

Have to agree with this sentiment. Then the yfbspod.com guys buried them in my mind (first podcast episode)

Comment by Joe Bidenopolous Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 12:29 pm
Spoilers (they break up) If you’re even only an amateur musician, the Beatle’s documentary has an incredibly powerful effect on you: you already know these songs by heart, and they don’t, and you’re a fly on the wall literally watching these songs be birthed in almost real time, in an incredibly intimate way. You are willing yourself thru the screen, almost shouting to them how it should be, what the final lyric should be, as they make their tentative yet rapid steps thru the process. And you swear out loud every time they show the dwindling calendar. The hair on the back of my neck stood up as Paul started noodling “Get Back” for the first time. Nothing has grabbed my imagination and emotions in quite this way since I watched Armstrong step off the LEM on my living room TV as a kid.

Billy Preston has never really got enough credit, but what might have happened if he’d come in earlier and become a full-time Fifth Beatle? The new dynamic with Billy in the mix hints at what might have been.

There’s a scene where Yoko does a sample of her post-Dadaist screaming thing and Paul’s little daughter sees it. She later picks up a mic and imitates it, brings down the house, and Yoko is trying to act nonchalant but her eyes are shooting lasers. But I don’t blame Yoko. The doc shows Yoko wasn’t the cause, only a symptom, that John was moving beyond the Beatles already, and that poor George was always being treated like a third wheel in the Paul/John marriage. They began to patch that up, but too late to really fix it, and you can see George finally realizing he’s really good enough to take charge of his own art and destiny apart from the group. Following his walk-off, you can really see the rest of the band putting on brave faces and acting goofy but inside they are obviously shocked and panicked and at a loss. We feel it.

They all hung with the Maharishi, but really the most zen Beatle is Ringo. he shows up on time, patiently waits to do his thing, and never seems to ever let anything bother him, though it had to.

On the rooftop, you can see how Paul feels when the cops raid the concert and he realizes he’s got the big visual public moment he was struggling to come up with all along… and the price that was paid for getting to it.

Comment by Give Us Barabbas Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 2:10 pm
‘Terri Hemmert ruined the Beatles for me.”
She really has become the Grandpa Simpson of Chicago radio.

Comment by Drake Mallard Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 2:28 pm
Looking forward to this one, enjoyed the documentary, We Were Once Brothers, which pointed me to also find The Last Waltz, which was a bit before my time. Acknowledging the one-sided representation, both are great to watch, and are great reminders that The Band was perhaps the best group of songwriters and musicians on our side of the pond.

Comment by S. Zissou Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 4:12 pm