John’s good friend and artist Stuart Sutcliffe, was a member of the Beatles for a relatively short time, playing bass guitar until he quit the band to pursue his artistic career along with his German girlfriend Astrid. Unfortunately, Stu, who suffered from headaches for a considerable amount of time, died from a brain hemorrhage in Germany in 1962.
Another perspective of the sketch:
Stuart Sutcliffe Sketch “Hands”
I, as time progressed quickly, discovered that I could not afford a Stu Sutcliffe oil painting in collecting circles as they command very high prices and are in high demand, but I was very fortunate to be able to acquire a Stu Sutcliffe sketch of a pair of his hands from the Fest For Beatles Fans. The seller had unfortunately taken one of Sutcliffe’s notebooks and sold the sketches individually to maximize the financial return. I am against that and believe the notebook should have remained intact. However, since the damage had already been done I decided to buy the sketch to give it a permanent and safe home.
Stuart Sutcliffe – the Poet
Most people think of Stu Sutcliffe’s artistic talents but he also dabbled in poetry. This is the cover of Stu’s 1955 poetry notebook.
The Cover of Stuart’s Poetry Book
Stu Sutcliffe’s 1955 poem entitled “Lament of Spring,” which I acquired from a dear friend in Texas. Sutcliffe signed his last name near the title of the poem
“Lament of Spring” by Stuart Sutcliffe
Stuart Sutcliffe Portfolio
A Stu Sutcliffe portfolio put together by his sister, Pauline. This was a large format limited edition portfolio containing reproductions of items associated with Stu’s short tenure with the Beatles. I was able to acquire one of these portfolios from Ebay.
Stuart Sutcliffe – The Beatles Era
Below the ad for the portfolio is the certificate signed by Stu’s sister as being copy #162 of a total of the 1,000 that were made. Stu’s sister passed away several years ago.
To celebrate Yoko’s 90th, I bought a couple of Yoko-related items for my collection:
1) a rare LP collaboration between the Flaming Lips and Yoko Ono
The Flaming Lips Lp Artwork
The Coloured Vinyl
Here is the description from eBay:
The Flaming Lips/Yoko Ono/ Plastic Ono Band multi-colored vinyl 1/1400 NEW. This is a weird one. 600 pressed in glow-in-the-dark vinyl. 1400 colored vinyl pieces sold at exclusive indie record shops. The Fear Litany, Do It! and Brain Of Heaven on side A at 33rpm. Atlas Eets Christmas on side B at 45rpm.
All songs were written by Flaming Lips, Yoko Ono, and Sean Lennon. With The Fear Of Litany featuring lyrics from Frank Herberts Dune. Released in 2011 with the glow in the dark 600 pieces were sold at New Year’s Eve shows exclusively.
2). Avant Garde Magazine 9 November 1969 John Lennon Yoko Ono-this is not the controversial lithograph issue of the magazine
Avant Garde Magazine
Article on John and Yoko
Since good things come in threes:
3) A book that now resides in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame archives and has received universal acclaim-Author Madeline Bocaro.
4) Picked up this LP from 2012 which features a Yoko appearance on a John Cage experimental piece from 1961. Yoko’s first husband Toshi Ichiyanagi is on piano.
Yoko and John Cage LP
John Cage– 26’55.988″ For 2 Pianists & A String Player Piano [Pf] – David Tudor, Toshi Ichiyanagi Violin [Vn] – Kenji Kobayashi Vocals [Vo] – Yoko Ono
John Cage – Shock
Label:
EM Records – EM1107DLP, Edition Omega Point– OP-0011
Sonny Curtis of the Crickets’ novelty record about the Beatles (above) is one of many novelty Beatles records.
Part of the fun in collecting Beatles items is that there are many areas where collectors can decide to concentrate on. For example, many people love to collect Beatle novelty records or 45s. Here are a few items from my collection of novelty 45s and a brief sentence about why they hold a particular fascination for me.
Paul Is Dead Record
Jose Feliciano’s novelty record (below) about the Paul is Dead hoax. Jose uses the pseudonym
Werbley Finster
Jose Feliciano’s Record about Paul
Cher
A Beatles novelty record produced and partially written by Phil Spector and sung by none other than Cher using the name Bonnie Jo Mason.
Cher – as Bonnie Jo Mason
Two Virgins Too Far
“John, You Went Too Far This Time” by the group Rainbo featured the actress Sissy Spacek singing about her frustrations with John Lennon doing the nude album cover with Yoko called “Two Virgins,” on this Roulette 45.
Little is known that one of the original Quarrymen, Rod Davis, actually was on an official 45 “release” earlier than the Beatles were. After Rod had left the Quarrymen he played banjo on this 1961 recording. Rod was on this record by The Trad Grads.
The Flip Side of the Record
He signed the slipcase sleeve for this 45 as shown below for this Decca 45 release.
Rod Davis signed the sleeve
Buzz
Learn More About The Quarrymen
Just Like Starting Over: John Lennon and The Quarrymen
When John Lennon and his group The Quarrymen stepped onto the back of a wagon in Rosebery Street on 22nd June 1957, Charlie Roberts borrowed a camera and took a few photos of the event. It was just a group of friends having fun at a street party.
What Charlie didn’t know at the time was that he was capturing a piece of Beatles history. This was the first time that John Lennon had been photographed performing with his group. Skiffle was the new music and soon, John would meet Paul McCartney who would then introduce George Harrison to John.
Signed edition of the late Norman Pilcher’s book “Bent Coppers.” Published by Clink Street Publishers in 2020.
The signed copy
Bent Coppers
“Semolina Pilchard“. There is conjecture in Beatles circles that John Lennon used this term in his song “I Am The Walrus” to refer to police officer Norman Pilcher. There was a mass trade edition of this book written by the notorious policeman who was responsible for arresting several of the most important rock figures of the 1960s on drug-related charges.
Norman Pilcher Signing the Books
Norman Pilcher Signing the Books
This book is Norman Pilcher’s version of the stories that captured the imagination of many who were part of the counterculture movement of that era. The version of the book shown below represents the signed edition of which only 250 copies were issued before Norman Pilcher passed away from cancer in March of 2021.
An interesting revelation according to Norman’s good friend, Reg, was that Mr. Pilcher after John had been charged at the police station, Norman sat down with John, and it was then that John and Norman had a long chat. It was there that Norman was swayed by John and what he believed in. John actually did send Norman postcards following his arrest from various locations, 6 in all from Japan France etc.
Back Cover of Bent Coppers
I am sure when the two of them were in the police station neither of them could have envisioned at that time what the long-term consequences of that arrest would be!!!
So what were those consequences? Let me know in the comments below!
If you wish to purchase a limited editioned signed copy of Norman’s book, they are only available through the author’s friend Reg, at contact.bentcoppers@gmail.com and not the publishers.
Full disclosure, David Bedford & friends: while I know that it may be politic to say that I love all of the chapters in the book equally (like our kids, right?), I have to say that the combination of the outstanding song and the wonderful back story of the song to follow are absolutely my favorites. I hope you enjoy it. Tim Hatfield
[Search amazon.com for “Tim Hatfield Beatles,” then download the free App to read on your device]
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” from The White Album
George Harrison had written songs previously for the Beatles, but the Lennon/McCartney duo continued to dominate. After the residence in the Maharishi’s Rishikesh ashram in 1968, however, George wrote a song and fought to have it included in The White Album. It was worth fighting for.
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
George was more and more interested in Eastern music and philosophy, and when the group returned to England he decided to do a song based on the Chinese Book of Changes, the I Ching. Harrison described it in some detail in the Beatles’ Anthology:
The Eastern concept is that whatever happens is all meant to be, and that there’s no such thing as coincidence – every little item that’s going down has a purpose.
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” was a simple study based on that theory. I decided to write a song based on the first thing I saw upon opening any book – as it would be a relative to that moment, at that time. I picked up a book at random, opened it, saw “gently weeps,” then laid the book down again and started the song.
A simple acoustic version was recorded by George at his country home – one of the several so-called “Esher demos”—when he invited all the Beatles to do some pre-rehearsals of songs before they went to the studio in the summer of 1968 to record The White Album. But when the song, which George knew was a good one, kept getting ignored, he took matters into his own hands. Again, in Harrison’s own words from Anthology:
We tried to record it, but John and Paul were so used to just cranking out their tunes that it was very difficult at times to get serious and record one of mine. It wasn’t happening. They weren’t taking it seriously and I don’t think they were even all playing on it, and so I went home that night thinking, “Well, that’s a shame,” because I knew the song was pretty good.
Eric Clapton
The next day I was driving into London with Eric Clapton, and I said, “What are you doing today? Why don’t you come to the studio and play on this song for me?” He said, “Oh, no I can’t do that. Nobody’s ever played on a Beatles record and the others wouldn’t like it.” I said, “Look, it’s my song and I’d like you to play on it.”
So he came in. I said, “Eric’s going to play on this one, and it was good because that then made everyone act better. Paul got on the piano and played a nice intro and they all took it more seriously.“
They did. Multiple takes later, the song was completed, and it has had a life of its own long past the demise of the Beatles as a group. The Cirque du Soleil Love show has featured it as a dreamy, slow tempo pas de deux:
And the remembrance for George Harrison at a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony by an all-star band including Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood, and George’s son Dhani (who won’t be difficult to identify) is astounding. Most notably, at the end of the song my fellow Minnesotan Prince plays an unbelievable solo – he absolutely goes off, and symbolically throws his guitar up to George in heaven at the end of his performance:
Regardless of what kind of difficulty or time of trouble you are experiencing at this moment, I hope that there is no weeping for you today.
