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Beatles News Archives

2001 Page 12

Lawyer Complains About Harrison's Death Certificate

A Los Angeles lawyer filed an official complaint on Thursday over the accuracy of the death certificate for George Harrison, because it lists an apparently nonexistent address as his place of death. Gloria Allred, known for her defense of headline-grabbing causes, said she lodged the complaint with Los Angeles police following media reports over what appears a smokescreen to prevent George's place of death becoming a macabre site for fans and paparazzi.

"All things must pass, but not this,'' Allred told reporters, saying the "integrity of public records is at stake. Celebrities and/or their supporters are not above the law, even if they are acting with good intentions, e.g. to protect the privacy of loved ones,'' she said.

George died on Nov. 29 from lung cancer at what the media were told was the Los Angeles home of friend and security consultant Gavin de Becker. The official death certificate however listed a different address, which postal and other authorities have since said does not appear to exist. A Los Angeles police spokesman said on Wednesday that no one had been charged with any offense over the elusive address, saying the practice was sometimes used by celebrities to avoid their place of the death being besieged by fans or souvenir hunters.

The spokesman said it was not a crime to give a different address as the place of death unless there was an intent to defraud in matters such as insurance.

Reports last week that the ashes of Harrison, a devotee of the Hindu sect and a follower of the Hare Krishna movement, were to be scattered in the Ganges river, sparked a media scrum but were eventually dismissed by Indian police as a wild goose chase.

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McCartney held Harrison's hand in last visit

Paul spoke publicly Thursday of his poignant farewell to George, recalling how he laughed, joked and held the hand of his fellow Beatle. "The best thing for me was seeing him for a couple of hours and laughing and joking and holding his hand,'' he said of their last meeting just two weeks before George’s death from cancer at the age of 58.

"Afterwards I realized I'd never, ever held his hand. We'd been to school together and got on buses together and we didn't hold each other's hands,'' McCartney told BBC Radio. "It was like a compensation. He was rubbing his thumb up and down my hand and it was very nice,'' he added.

After George's death last month, Paul mourned the passing of the Beatle he fondly called his "baby brother.''

And Thursday McCartney took to the BBC airwaves to play a live version of his New York tribute song "Freedom.'' After his performance on acoustic guitar, Paul joked: "That's the worst load of rubbish I've ever heard in my life.''

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George Harrison's Sister Plans 'Come Together Day'

Louise "Lou" Harrison, older sister of George is hoping to get her plans for "Come Together Day"--a designated day of peace around the world--off the ground. Lou Harrison told LAUNCH that the idea for Come Together Day is something she has been trying to put together for years, and she feels that now is an especially good time for such a day.

"Actually, since 1993--that was when we first started the idea of trying to find a way to bring all of the people on the planet together to cooperate and join in trying to find a way to be more caring of each other and to be more caring of our planet," she said. "And in those years, we didn't really get it off the ground and more recently, in this last year, many people have come back to me and said, you know, 'Remember that idea you had? I really think the time has come that we've gotta get this mobilized.'"

Prior to her brother's death on November 29, Lou said plans for Come Together Day were slowly becoming a reality. She told LAUNCH that with George's passing, she has yet another reason to be passionate about it.

"It was just getting to the point where it had come together, and then of course we had this tragic loss of my brother. And since we were so close to having this launched, I thought, 'Well, this is all very much in keeping with everything that he was all about during his lifetime.' Well, you know, caring and loving and peace and happiness and laughter and all of those things, and spirituality and being one within the creator--that kind of thing."

Lou Harrison said she would eventually like to have Come Together Day celebrated annually throughout the world.

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Rolling Stone magazine pays tribute to Beatle George

Eighteen years after Rolling Stone magazine panned his new "Dark Horse" album as ''transcendental mediocrity,'' George Harrison was still upset about the review.

A scheduled 1992 photo shoot for Rolling Stone's 25th anniversary issue almost did not go ahead because of bad feelings, chief photographer Mark Seliger recalls in a special edition devoted solely to the late former Beatle.

But Rolling Stone reentered Harrison's good graces when Seliger brought along some ukuleles, on the advice of Tom Petty. Harrison picked up one of the instruments and played Hawaiian ballads for 20 minutes, while Seliger clicked away.

A previously unpublished photo from the session accompanies Seliger's anecdote in the 96-page issue, which hit newsstands on Dec. 7, eight days after Harrison died of cancer in Los Angeles.

The ad-free edition is the first tribute published by Rolling Stone in its 34-year history. The magazine printed 450,000 copies, with a $4.95 cover price.

Included are a Mikal Gilmore essay on Harrison, a photo section, reprints of key Harrison interviews, an analysis of Harrison's movie career, a discography and song review.

Not surprisingly, the magazine now takes a gentler stance on "Dark Horse,'' which was Harrison's fifth solo album. Gilmore opined that "today it stands up as one of Harrison's most fascinating works.''

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Harrison Song Wakes Space Shuttle Astronauts

NASA, not often recognized for pop sensibilities, played the George Harrison song "Here Comes the Sun'' to awaken the astronauts aboard space shuttle Endeavour on Thursday.

The 58-year-old former Beatle died of cancer Nov. 29 as the crew was preparing for its launch from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. The version of the song played by Mission Control was an instrumental version arranged by Harrison for the IMAxfilm ''Everest.''

"In just a few days you'll be back on Earth, feeling the warm sun on your faces,'' said Mission Control. "It's a good reminder of how we should live our lives, looking forward to all the things we have coming up, known and unknown,'' said shuttle commander Dominic Gorie.

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Beatles (Covers) Invade Holiday Movies

Forget hobbits, wizards and Tom Cruise; The most coveted cameos of this year's holiday movie season belonged to The Beatles. Or at least their music.

Even before the recent passing of George Harrison music from Liverpool's fabbest foursome was considered a must-have on several new movie soundtracks, including I Am Sam, starring Sean Penn, and Wes Anderson’s new ensemble film, ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’.

Only problem is, the surviving Beatles are notoriously protective of their original recordings--especially when it comes to using them in movies. And while securing the rights to a Beatles song may not be difficult, getting the okay from Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and Yoko Ono (on behalf of John Lennon) and the family of Harrison to use an original Beatles recording is darn near impossible.

Case in point: Anderson, with his movie due to hit theaters Friday in New York and L.A., won't be able to use the classic "Hey Jude" in the opening of The Royal Tenenbaums as he had planned, not to mention "I'm Looking Through You," which he had chosen for the final scene.

The soundtrack, due in stores December 18, will feature songs from the Velvet Underground, Nico, Elliott Smith and Nick Drake, among others. But FoxNews.com reports that Anderson will replace "Hey Jude" in the film with an instrumental version of the song by Mark Mothersbaugh (formerly of Devo), who worked on the film's score.

Likewise, the producers of ‘I Am Sa’m also ran into trouble when trying to use original Beatles tunes for their film--even though the legendary group figures into the storyline. Sean Penn, who plays a mentally disabled father battling for custody of his 7-year-old daughter, refers to the Beatles in many of the scenes, and the movie's own tagline declares the Beatle mantra, "Love is all you need."

Producers originally wanted to use original Beatles songs throughout the entire film. McCartney and Ono reportedly both saw the film and liked it, but prior to Harrison's death, producers had trouble getting in contact with him, presumably because of his ongoing battle with cancer.

(Of course, there are other theories as to why Harrison never got back to producers regarding I Am Sam. The New York Post's Page Sixsuggests that the Quiet Beatle was still angry with Penn about the way he acted during production on Shanghai Surprise, a film that Harrison's Handmade Films had bankrolled.)

Whatever the reason, producers gave up after several attempts and opted to have other artists cover Beatles songs for the soundtrack. Sean Penn got a little help from his friends: Pearl Jam surfing buddy EddieVedder performed "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," while the actor's own brother (Michael Penn) and sister-in-law (Aimee Mann) performed a rendition of "Two of Us." Ben Harper, the boyfriend of I Am Sam costar Laura Dern contributed a version of "Strawberry Fields Forever," while artists such as Ben Folds, Rufus Wainwright, the Black Crowes and Grandaddy also pitched in.

So once again, the one group you won't find on the I Am Sam soundtrack is--that's right--the Beatles.

That means anyone actually searching for a song performed by a real Beatle may have to settle for Vanilla Sky. The new Cameron Crowe film features "Vanilla Sky," a new folk song written specifically for the movie by Paul McCartney. Let it be, indeed.

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Harrison's 'My Sweet Lord' To Be Reissued In January In U.K.

It's official—George Harrison’s first solo hit, "My Sweet Lord," will be re-released in Britain on January 14 to raise money for a still-unnamed charity. Initial reports indicated that the single would be re-released immediately to take advantage of the Christmas season, but an EMI Records spokesman told Reuters that the label decided to push it back into 2002 so as not to look like it was cashing in too much on Harrison's November 29 death from cancer.

"It takes time to get a record out,'' the spokesman said. "Rushing it out in time for Christmas could have been seen as bad taste." There's no word yet on whether or not the single will also be re-released in the U.S.

"My Sweet Lord," from Harrison's solo album ‘All Things Must Pass’ hit Number One on both sides of the Atlantic in the first two months of 1971, and it was the first chart-topping solo hit by a member of the Beatles. The triumph was tainted, however, when Harrison was later found guilty of unconsciously plagiarizing the Chiffons' 1963 hit "He's So Fine" and subsequently had to pay royalties to that song's publisher.

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McCartney to 'Play for Peace' in Oslo

Paul McCartney said on Sunday he would "play for peace'' in Oslo this week at a concert to mark the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize. "I have always felt that the strength of peace and love can give the world hope upon which to build our future,'' Paul said in a statement. "Peace has long been the theme of many of my songs and although I believe that the world could not simply ignore the events of September 11, I remain a pacifist and am happy to play for peace,'' he added.

Paul has been mourning the death of fellow Beatle George Harrison who died on November 30 at the age of 58 after battling cancer. Paul will perform songs from his new album, "Driving Rain,'' at the concert in Oslo on Tuesday to honor this year's Peace Prize recipients and celebrate the prize's centenary.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the United Nations -- joint winners of the 2001 Peace Prize -- were due to receive the award at a ceremony in Oslo on Monday. Other artists performing at the concert will be Haitian-born rapper Wyclef Jean, R&B singer Anastacia, Australian pop star Natalie Imbruglia, U.S. band Destiny's Child, UK opera singer Russell Watson and a choir of 50 children from around the world.

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Cuba Pays Tribute to Once-Shunned John Lennon

Communist-run Cuba on Saturday began a weekend of homage to former Beatle John Lennon, now hailed as a fellow "revolutionary'' despite being frowned upon as a decadent Western influence in the 1960s and 1970s. Authorities organized two days of activities, including concerts, art fairs, and book and documentary presentations, in honor of the 21st anniversary of Lennon's murder by a crazed fan who shot him in New York in 1980.

Lennon "has become a symbol of Havana, and we are here to honor the man who decisively broke with convention in various spheres of art,'' city historian Eusebio Leal said in a speech next to a bronze statue of the singer in a Havana park.

President Fidel Castro inaugurated the statue -- now a popular tourist site -- last year in what was a cultural about- face by Cuban authorities toward a man whose music was once listened to only in secret on the Caribbean island. "He gave us protest songs in the face of so many crimes and injustices being committed,'' added Leal, a senior official in Castro's government.

British ambassador Paul Hare said he was delighted Cuba was honoring Lennon's life and work. "We have to work together in favor of peace and all the values the Beatles stood for,'' he told reporters. For about 15 years after Castro's 1959 Cuban Revolution, Lennon was an underground cult figure for Cuban youth, with albums secretly passed around and played behind closed doors. Authorities considered them a symbol of "ideological deviance.''

In the still tightly controlled but culturally more liberal Cuba of today, Lennon is now cast as a born rebel and a constant victim of U.S. harassment. Cuban authorities single out Lennon's defense of racial equality and workers' and women's rights, and his pacifist campaign in the United States against the Vietnam War which brought him the attention of the CIA. Cuban compositor and guitarist Luis Manuel Molina said the state's past negative attitude toward the Beatles was born out of ignorance. "It was a lack of understanding of artists who were ahead of their time,'' he said.

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VH1 Says It's Aired Unreleased Harrison Song

U.S. cable music channel VH1 says they had previously aired a George Harrison song that a British shop put on its Web site, believing it to be unreleased. A Beatles memorabilia shop in Liverpool, the birthplace of the world's most famous band, said it believed "If You Don't Know Where You're Going'' to be the last public recording by George, who died of cancer last week aged 58.

"We played the song in our George Harrison tribute stuff since he died. It was not included in the original show in 1997,'' said VH1 historian Bill Flanagan. VH1 said George recorded the song in 1997 during a visit to a VH1 studio in the United States with Indian musician Ravi Shankar and his wife.

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McCartney Says Fiancé Is No Beatles Fan

Paul McCartney's wife-to-be Heather Mills knows next to nothing about the Beatles and does not recognize their songs, the ex-Beatle told a German magazine on Wednesday. "She doesn't know a single song. Heather grew up with classical music and had friends who listened to hard rock such as AC/DC. She had no Beatles records at home,'' Paul said in an interview in Stern.

"Once I was sitting at my piano and was humming a new song. Heather said 'Oh, a nice song. Which Beatles piece is that?' None at all, I said, I've just written it. I named the song 'Heather','' Paul was quoted as saying. McCartney, and Mills, announced their engagement in London in July.

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McCartney Recruits 'Gimme Shelter' Director For Concert For New York Film

Filmmaker Albert Maysles, who 31 years ago Thursday (December 6) debuted the documentary "The Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter," chronicling the Rolling Stones' infamous 1969 tour that ended in tragedy at Altamont Speedway (which occurred 32 years ago Thursday), has confirmed he is working on a new film about Paul McCartney and the Concert for New York City.

Held on October 20 at New York's Madison Square Garden, the event was organized to raise funds for the families of police officers and firefighters killed in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. McCartney, Backstreet Boys, Destiny's Child, Jay-Z, Elton John, the Who, David Bowie, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and many others performed at the show.

Maysles shot miles of footage of McCartney, starting five days before the concert up until the actual event. McCartney asked Maysles to film in black and white, as he did in 1964 when he shot the Beatles for the movie "Beatles: The First U.S. Visit," which was produced for Britain's Granada Television and released on video in the U.S. in 1991.

The documentarian has said he will spend the next sixmonths editing the Concert for New York footage. He has worked on other music films in the past, including "Monterey Pop" in 1968 and "The Grateful Dead Movie" in 1976. "Gimme Shelter" is his most well-known movie, though, largely because it captured the tumult and violence of the Altamont concert, including a man in the crowd being fatally stabbed by a member of the Hell's Angels, who were hired by the Stones to handle security at the event.

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Serbian City Gives John Lennon Street a Chance

The Serbian City of Novi Sad Saturday officially renamed a street after John Lennon, but some disgruntled locals showed no sign of Instant Karma and vowed to tear down the new sign.

Around 10 people heckled a ceremony to unveil the sign on the 21st anniversary of the death of the former Beatles star, complaining at the disappearance of the street's old name which honored a Serb who fought in the Spanish Civil War.

Local officials decided to rename the street as a tribute to Lennon, who was shot dead in New York by a crazed fan in 1980, and in an effort to present a more modern image of their northern city and of Serbia.

But as Lennon hits rang out at the ceremony attended by around 50 people, the protesters said authorities could have found a new site to honor Lennon rather than renaming their street, located 1.24 miles from the city center. "The night will eat this board with the name of John Lennon. We will take it down,'' one pensioner said.

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Remembering John Lennon

On December 8, 1980, John Lennon was gunned down in front of his New York City apartment building. John and his wife Yoko Ono had just left a recording studio in New York at about 10:30 p.m. on that fateful night 21 years ago, and when the couple reached their home, the now-legendary Dakota, John was shot repeatedly by 25-year-old fan Mark David Chapman. John died soon after of massive blood loss and was pronounced dead on arrival at Roosevelt Hospital. Lennon's legacy is his phenomenal body of work, both as a member of the Beatles and as a solo artist.

John's very public murder raised security issues for celebrities henceforward, since being approachable and accessible is a large part of being an entertainer, even when it often constitutes an invasion of privacy. Singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg spoke with LAUNCH some time ago about his own personal fears.

"I've had privacy problems, especially in the '90s, with overzealous fans--obsessive fans--and I've had to limit what gets to me and what gets to my friends and my loved ones. And, unfortunately, that's part of celebrity. I'm not as approachable as I perhaps would like to be, you know? That's an unfortunate part of our time: the security threats to people. I mean, we're in New York City—John Lennon was killed here by his own fan. It's a consideration you unfortunately have to deal with in any aspect of public life," he said.

James Taylor also spoke to us about the night that John was killed. "I was in the building uptown from the Dakota in New York City--a building called the Langham--the night that John was shot. I heard the shots," he said. "I couldn’t believe it. I have always thought that there was something almost inevitable about it. I often have the feeling that--I’m not sure exactly where this comes from--too much exposure, or too much celebrity, too much of a sort of public profile, is toxic and dangerous. In John Lennon’s case, he was so well known, so universally known and loved, that I almost felt that it was statistically inevitable that someone was gonna… he was so accessible, you know?"

Chapman is serving a life sentence for the 1980 murder of Lennon. Under New York State law, Chapman became eligible for parole once he served 20 years of the sentence, but he was ultimately denied parole in October 2000. Chapman will be eligible for parole again in October 2002.

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