And just who are these "Beatles?" Have never heard of them.

"The only compilations before 1 were the red and blue albums."
Ah, apparently you aren't aware of "Rock and Roll Music" (1976) or "Love Songs" (1977), "Rarities" (1980) or that compilation from the early 80s that had the songs from the films.

I was at the E3 video game convention in 2009 when "Beatles: Rockband" was being debuted. I don't typically go to many of the game unveilings but when I got the invite to that one, damn right I was going to RSVP.
I went more just to hear how the songs sounded than the game itself. I got chills when the first song came…

I am about as big a Beatles fan as one can be - I've been listening to them for some 38 years. They were, like a lot of people, my first band. (The second band I really got into after the Beatles was Cheap Trick, which kind of makes sense.)
While not a 100 percent completist, I am about 90 percent. I have "Let it…

"Khan posted a picture of her and Palmer performing “Addicted” at Wembley Stadium on her website, shortly before Palmer died of a heart attack in September 2003"

Yes, he did live on Franklin Avenue. A former neighbor of mine has a friend who lived in the same building as Dee Dee.
Weirder still is that Bobby Fuller (of Bobby Fuller Four fame) died no more than half a block from the hotel where Joplin died.

Thanks for the recommendation. I have put a hold on "The Club Dumas" through the Los Angeles library.

Just finished "The World According to Garp," which I haven't read in nearly 20 years. This was in advance of reading John Irving's latest novel.
Finished Robert Hillburn's bio on Johnny Cash. Really well researched and well written. It was interesting in that afterward I watched "Walk the Line," and could pick out…

I remember the oak tree that we used to climb
But now when I'm lonesome, I always pretend
That I'm getting the feel of hickory wind

I met "Deacon" Jones back over the summer at a bar here in Los Angeles where he was playing keyboards with a pickup band. A woman who was with him had a copy of his book that she let me look at and had a chance to read parts of it. While we were talking, Jones mentioned playing with Freddie King, which led to us…

I can walk out of my apartment building and see a few blocks down the street the hotel where Janis Joplin died. Then known as The Landmark, today it is the Highland Gardens. I've heard that all of the rooms have been renumbered so you can't know just which one Joplin od'ed in. (Compare that to the Joshua Tree Inn out…

I used to have a copy of Drosnin's book but I gave it away to a library during one of my moves.
I go by the old Hughes headquarters on Romaine Street here in Los Angeles at least once a week. That's where the theft of all the legal pads took place that Drosnin based his book on. It's a cool old art deco building now…

I've seen this episode and recall nothing about it.
Even after reading the review, I don't recall anything about it.

"I am not going to get locked into that business of saving the world on stage. The show is always a mess and the artist always comes off badly."
John Lennon, 1980

I went through my Doors phase way back in high school in the early 1980s. Then, well, I outgrew the band as my musical tastes refined.
Nowadays, I don't hate The Doors but I don't go out of my way to listen to them. It's more the obsessive fan who buys into the whole "Jim Morrison as shaman poet b*llsh*t" that I…

I am so looking forward to seeing Tarantino's new movie, especially if there are thug bully cops picketing in front of the theater. What are they going to do, shoot me?

"Underworld USA." As I wrote above, it is a noir B film elevated to art.

Then you need to watch "Underworld USA," my favorite Sam Fuller film. A noir B film that is elevated to true art.
And check out his book "Three Faces" if you have the time.

It took me years to appreciate Kubrick's version of "The Shining."
I didn't care for it because, well, it wasn't the book. Not until I saw that documentary on Kubrick that came out around 2000, was it? 2001? 2002? that I got a better understanding of what he was trying to do.
I re-read "The Shining" for the first time…

"Mulholland Drive" = suicide revenge fantasy, right?
"Inland Empire," on the other hand, = ?????