Enter John

In this issue we take a look at the early life of one John Winston Lennon.

A cheeky, and almost cherubic, John Winston Lennon as a young boy.

But first, here’s some….

Beatley News Updates

The Savage Young Beatles - Recent and Upcoming Gigs

The Savage Young Beatles recently played their first gig following their return from the US on at the Kazimier Garden in Liverpool alongside Boston’s favorite garage rockers Muck And The Mires.

The Savage Young Beatles bring the heat at the Kazimier Garden in Liverpool

Liverpool’s own International Beatles Week event is fast approaching, and with it the next opportunity to catch The Savage Young Beatles live.

The band are playing two gigs on Monday August 28 at the culmination of International Beatles Week.

• In the afternoon they will play two 45 minute sets at the Penny Lane festival on the iconic Penny Lane itself, surrounded by features referred to in the song. This is a free festival!

• In the evening they will headline a gig at the Jacaranda club. 

And as a lot of people have been asking, we can now confirm that The Savage Young Beatles will be returning to Abbey Road on the River in 2024. If you missed them this year you can get a taste of the rocking AROTR sets with a new selection of videos from this year’s event on the band’s official YouTube channel.

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Radio Interview

I had a great time as a guest on a recent early Beatles themed episode of Meagan Paese’s fun The History of Rock and Roll radio show -. We covered a lot of territory from the skiffle craze, to John’s relationship with his mother, to early recordings, and more. 

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Rock out to the new BTWB Playlist

If you enjoy the early rock-n-roll years and the music that inspired the Fab Four you can now enjoy a great selection of songs from the period on the new Before They Were Beatles playlist on Spotify  -

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Podcast Updates

Episode 25 of The Before They Were Beatles podcast is now live and available on your podcast platform of choice.

Entitled “Beginnings and Endings” it covers the events of September through to December 1962 as we complete our journey as The Beatles return to the recording studio, make their TV debut, and say goodbye to Hamburg.

Recording and posting this episode was sort of a bitter-sweet moment, as it marks the end of the story I've been telling for the last two years.

I started the podcast as a two-fold experiment (1) so I could learn how to actually record, edit, and publish podcasts, and (2) to see if there might be an audience for the contents of what was an almost twenty-year old book.

It turned out way better than I ever expected.

• Regular audiences of a few thousand for each episode.

• Total downloads over 60,000 and still going up each day.

• Extended the story for an additional two seasons beyond what was in the original book.

• Directly led to consulting / management gig with The Savage Young Beatles

• Something else exciting is happening that I can't directly talk about yet.

• Launched this monthly newsletter related to the podcast with a growing subscriber base

• Started work on an updated and expanded 20th Anniversary edition of the book rolling in the new material developed for the podcast.

But for now my story of John, Paul, George, and Ringo - Before They Were Beatles is done....

BUT it isn't the end of the podcast. I'm taking a few months break, and will be returning with a new show - The Forgotten Beatles. - More on that to come.

But in the meantime, a huge thanks to anyone who's given the shows a listen over the last couple of years.

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For more information on what else I have going on with writing, podcasting, and general slice of life stuff, check out my regular FREE weekly CAN’T SEE THE FOREST newsletter  -

 

And now on to the good stuff…

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1956 - John Winston Lennon

Legend has it that John Winston Lennon was born at the height of one of the worst air-raids on Liverpool, on October 9th, 1940 in Oxford Street Maternity Hospital. 

It is just that. A legend, and one of many that became attached to John during, and after, his short life.

According the the reports in the Liverpool Echo newspaper archives there were no raids that night, nor for the next twenty-four hours. The story probably comes from an oft-quoted recollection by his aunt that she struggled her way across Liverpool during a raid to see the new born John at the hospital. This was probably a few days after his birth (1) . But the idea of John being born into a troubled world seemed somehow apt, and it would become part of his ongoing myth.