The Beatles vintage Bobble Head Cake Toppers

By the mid 1960s, The Beatles were so famous that everyone was trying to cash in on their popularity.  In order to manufacture products using The Beatles name or likeness, a company would require permission from the band.  However, there were many companies who would manufacture products, which were clearly made to capitalize on The Beatles’ brand without going through legal channels.  These Beatles bobble head figure cake toppers from the mid 1960s are a wonderful example of such a product.

You’ll notice that the package states “The Swingers Music Set,” but doesn’t mention The Beatles by name anywhere on the package.  There are no images of John, Paul, George or Ringo anywhere on the package either.  Although the suits look like The Beatles’ suits and they’ve even giving us a left-handed musician who is obviously supposed to be Paul, the heads probably don’t look enough like the actual Beatles for the manufacturer to get into trouble.  Still, these little toys were sold in huge quantities in their time.  They still turn up relatively often in collectable stores, antique shops and online sales.

The Beatles 1964 Mastro Jr Guitar

After their February 1964 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Beatles were superstars and it didn't take long at all for companies to start capitalizing on their success.  In fact, that same year, stores were already selling Beatles guitars including The Beatles Jr Guitar by Mastro which was basically just a toy (pictured below).  It measured only about 15" in length and had just four strings, so it was definitely made with kids in mind.  However, it was an officially licensed product featuring the image and signature of John, Paul, George and Ringo right on the front and their faces again on the head stock.  The Beatles name also appears on the guitar in two different places.

A similar looking, 30" guitar called the Beatle-ist was also released the same year by Mastro.  The Beatle-ist was still a toy, but closer to a real guitar because it was closer to full size and included the correct six strings rather than the four strings on the Jr.  The Beatle-ist also included an instruction book.  Although I'm not sure of the retail price of The Beatles Mastro Jr Guitar, I have seen advertisements for the Beatle-ist priced at $6.66!

Products like these generated a lot of money because fans in the 1960s just couldn't get enough of The Fab Four!

(The Beatles Mastro Jr Guitar)

Interview with Trevon Broad of the band Mantlepiece

This past weekend, the second Mantlepiece release of the year came out. It’s a five track EP tiled "Remember Me."  I had an opportunity to interview recording artist/producer Trevon Broad about the recent release. 

Gene: What can you tell me about "Remember Me."

Trevon:  Well, It's a single that tuned into a 5-song release.  You actually heard it as a finished product, before the band did!

Gene: WOW!  Thank you!  The title song is very catchy and has some great vocal work shared between you and a female singer.  Who is she? 

Trevon:  That’s Sandra Porter.  She was brought in a year ago because I was writing more music and lyrics from a female's perspective.  I had seen her perform many times and knew she and her awesome voice were perfect for this project.

Gene: Was Sandra brought in just for the EP?

Trevon:  No, I actually started a project in June of 2014 inspired by a wonderful woman who is a great friend and someone I really connected with.  I was on a writing streak like never before!  But after a few months of developing a truly unique relationship, she had to leave.  

Gene: That sounds like the story of "Remember Me?"

Trevon:  It is!  But the story and the album are much bigger.  The larger album was under way when Sandra came on board.  But "Remember Me" was the first tune I wrote after she was officially a part of the project.  I wrote it one evening and had a session already lined up with her later that week. I pitched it. We played it. Then we sang it and made a demo.  The moment we played back the demo, I thought the tune came together so easily that I wanted it to be released as a single before the album. 

Gene: How far along are you with the album?

Trevon:  It's finished!  As of last weekend, it is mixed and ready to be mastered for release.

Gene: When will it come out?

Trevon:  January 3^rd, 2017.  We already had a full-length album released this year called “Angels & Habits” that has done very well.  That record was developed over many years and was just waiting on some female vocals, and a female vocalist to finish it off.  So this next project was well underway. 

Gene: You mentioned that “Remember Me” was going to be a single.  How did it become a 5-song EP? 

Trevon:  We had three acoustic tracks of old tunes we wanted to release that fit the theme of the project but were written and released many years before this muse came along.  So I redeveloped them at the same time as the rest of the album, but thought they should be released with the single because these tunes also do a great job of announcing the theme of the full album. 

Gene: Will these three songs also appear on the album?

Trevon:  Not the January 3rd release.  But Genterine Records will release a deluxe version of the album on CD later in the Spring 2017 that will feature all 16 tracks recorded for this project.  

Gene: What is the name of the project?

Trevon:  It's still too early to release the title, but the title is very personal to the person who inspired the record. 
So I'll let you wait and see on that one.  But the cover has already been designed by Jessica Vass who has been doing all our artwork since the "Guess You're Gone" single. 

Gene: There's an acoustic version of  “Patiently” on this EP that features some wonderful shared vocals with Sandra, and I’m guessing that’s Kevin Little on guitar. Why was your drummer left off of that one?

Trevon:  Ha ha!  He wasn’t.  Our drummer, Chris Hunt, is also an engineer.  He and I had been trying to turn the original tracks into an acoustic version since "Una Seorum" was released.  Chris is just glad to see it finished!  He was a big part of producing the original version and I know that helped to make it such a fan favorite.

Gene: "Trip Around the Moon" was originally on your first CD, but this version is very different.  Why did you release a different version of the song?

Trevon:  Kevin and I were writing songs for rock bands before we got our own project officially off the ground.  So I was in such a "rock band" mode when we wrote "Trip Around the Moon" that I just produced the type of tune we had been writing for others.  But I went even further and added layers of vocal parts.  And I accidentally buried this beautiful little story I had written.  So on a whim in July of 2014, Kevin and I started redeveloping the tune. It was decent as an acoustic track, but then I started thinking about how opposite I could go from the original with only one vocal and using instruments like a banjo, violins, and cellos.

Gene: I really like this new version.  It's like it's a new song!

Trevon:  Well, I did add some new lyrics to better fit this project.  But I agree with you.  It's a very different tune. 

Gene: Is "Here with Me" a remake as well?

Trevon:  It is.  But in a very different way than "Trip Around the Moon."  Kevin wrote a tune called "Key to Your Heart" for the band Mystery Motion and that recording has a similar feel.  But we always wanted the song to be more.  So I developed the "Here with Me" part of the song at the end.  And now we feel the song is more complete. 

Gene: Does the entire band play on this version?

Trevon:  Yes.  And if you check out the tunes we post on our SoundCloud page, that's where you can find all of the details about who played on which songs and what instruments they played.  But we had two guest artists on strings on that tune, as well as other guests on the full album. 

Gene: The last song, “How Could You Know” is very short and the way it ends it sounds like the song is still going while the CD is ending.

Trevon:  Excellent!  Can I quote you on that?  It's a part 1 of 2.  Part 2, with a slightly different name, will pick up were this tune leaves off on the album.  And here's a spoiler for you.  Both parts will be released as a full track on the deluxe CD. 

Gene: Are you currently working on anything new?

Trevon:  All the time!  We are currently working on a soundtrack that is slatted for a 2018 release.

Gene: Thanks for answering my questions about your new release!  I think it’s some of the best music yet from Mantlepiece!

Trevon:  Well, thanks man.  And we agree!

On this day in Beatles History...October 18, 1960

The story of drummer Pete Best being asked to leave The Beatles and being replaced by Ringo Starr is probably known even by many casual Beatles fans.  Basically, Mr. Best played with the band from August of 1960 until sometime in the late Summer / early Fall of 1962.  This including their time in Hamburg, Germany.  However, what many people don't know is that John, Paul, George and RINGO (not Pete Best) recorded together backing Lou Walters of The Hurricanes on October 18, 1960 when Pete was still officially the drummer for The Beatles!  The songs were most likely Summertime, Fever and September Song, but there is some confusion about exactly which songs were recorded.  I believe there's a photograph of a vinyl pressing of Summertime, but recollections by those involved differ.  What is certain, however, it that the studio session had been arranged with Ringo on drums because at the time Ringo was the drummer with Lou in The Hurricanes.  That means that the first time The Beatles ever recorded with Ringo was all the way back on this date in October of 1960!

On this day in Beatles History...October 7, 1964

52 years ago today, The Beatles appeared on the television show Shindig!  They opened the show that night with "Kansas City / Hey Hey Hey" before six other acts performed.  The Beatles came on again at the end of the show to close the program with the songs "I'm a Loser" and "Boys."

On this day in Beatles History...May 30, 1966

50 years ago today The Beatles release the Paperback Writer single backed with the song Rain in the USA.  Although the song was released with the standard writing credit of Lennon / McCartney, it is generally believed that the song was written primarily by Paul.  In the studio, the song was recorded in just two takes.  A new method of recording the bass guitar was used on this song because John wanted the bass to sound louder and more powerful like the bass on Wilson Pickett records.  The single went to #1 in several countries around the world including the USA and UK.

The Beatles Hohner Harmonica

Much of The Beatles merchandise didn't make a whole lot of sense, but one item that DID make sense was The Beatles Hohner Harmonica released in 1964.  The harmonica itself was just a standard, German-made Hohner, so there wasn't technically a Beatles harmonica available for sale.  However, the package for this piece is wonderful with a great picture of the Fab 4 on the front and instructions to teach you how to play it on the back along with a picture of John wailing away on his Honer harmonica.  The backing cardboard even opens up and tells you how to play The Beatles songs Little Child and Please, Please Me.  It also came with a box to store your harmonica complete with pictures of The Beatles.  Unfortunately, by the time The Beatles became popular in the USA, they weren't really playing harmonica much anymore.  Still, for just $2.98, you can't go wrong...especially since a Beatles harmonica that's still sealed in the original package sells for around $500 these days!

The Silvers: From Beatles Tribute to Recent Album Release!

A Beatles tribute from 1969 called Silver Laughter toured the United States for about a decade and released a couple of albums of Beatles influenced original music in 1976 and 1978 that did pretty well regionally.  Fast forward to 2014, the band was inducted into the Iowa Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.  Seeing the crowd’s reaction to Silver Laughter’s performance at the induction ceremony sparked a renewed interest in the band for bass guitarist and singer Mick Orton.  Since the other members of the band didn’t share his enthusiasm about putting the band back together, Mick recruited a new team and started work on a new record.

They called the band The Silvers and this new band just released an album of brand new songs called After The Laughter.  Don’t let the downer of a title fool you though.  The songs on this album aren’t as depressing as the name would suggest.  They are mostly infectious Beatles influenced songs with memorable melodies, but I can also hear some influence by The Rolling Stones (It’s Alright), Michael Jackson (Down And Out), and America (When The Time Comes).  Stand out tracks include No More (This Time I Mean It), the Monkees influenced Sunday Girl, the ballad Nothing Really Matters and probably the best song on the album, Hey, Marie.

The Silvers on Facebook! 

CLICK HERE to buy the album!

On this day in Beatles History...March 22, 1965

51 years ago today on March 22, 1965, a brand new Beatles record was released in America!  Unfortunately, that record was filled with previously released songs.

The Beatles were flying back to England after seven days spent filming the movie Help! in Austria as their fans in the United States were enjoying Capitol Records' release of The Early Beatles.  At least it was being enjoyed by new Beatles fans or fans who had worn out their copy of Introducing The Beatles which had been released on the Vee-Jay record label the previous year and contained an almost identical collection of songs.  Capitol Records had originally passed on their option to release The Beatles records in The United States, so Vee-Jay records scooped up the opportunity.  In 1965, Vee-Jay's contract ended and Capitol very quickly snapped it up and started releasing albums to make up for lost time.  The fact that this collection was essentially a re-release of old material gave it the distinction of being the only original release by Capitol Records that didn't chart in the top two.  In fact, it's highest chart position was #43.  As testament to The Beatles staying power, the album did still eventually sell over one million copies and get certified as platinum!

The Beatles 1968 Corgi Yellow Submarine Toy

By 1968, merchandise for The Beatles has already been around for several years.  It was no surprise that when The Yellow Submarine movie came out that there was a yellow toy submarine available for sale.  What probably was a surprise was that the yellow toy submarine released by Corgi in 1968 was of such high quality!  This toy was made of a very solid metal with a good amount of weight to it.  The periscope spun around and there were two little hatches that could be opened up to see the The Beatles inside.

Although Corgi didn't start making toys that tied in with movies and TV shows until 1965, had been making high quality, metal, toy cars in the UK since 1956, so they already had a lot of experience making a solid toy by the time The Yellow Submarine was released in 1968.  Additionally, from 1965 to 1968 they crafted so many toys to tie in with movies and TV such as James Bond, The Saint and the TV shows The Avenger and Batman, surely by then it would have been a simple task to create a toy submarine based on a very stylized cartoon.

On this day in Beatles History...March 4, 1966

50 years ago today on March 4, 1966, The Beatles released the Yesterday EP in the UK.  The EP contained the four songs Yesterday, Act Naturally, You Like Me To Much, and It's Only Love.  All four of these songs were previously released on the UK version of Help!  However, none of them were on the US version of Help!

Each of The Beatles sang lead vocals on one song.  Paul sang his phenomenally successful song Yesterday.   Ringo provided the lead vocals on their version of the Johnny Russell and Voni Morrison song Act Naturally.  George sang his song You Like Me Too Much.  John sang a song he co-wrote with Paul called It's Only Love which had originally been titled That's A Nice Hat.

On March 26, 1966, The Yesterday EP hit #1 and spent 6 weeks at the top of the UK charts.  It was around this time that John Lennon made his famous comment that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus.

Beatles Myth Busted!

Admittedly, calling this a Beatles Myth is probably a stretch since it's a myth about Paul's late wife Linda McCartney.  I'm posting it here because I've heard it stated as fact a so many times and I wanted to clear up the confusion: Linda Eastman McCartney was not an Eastman from Eastman-Kodak. I completely understand how the rumor spread.  Linda was a professional photographer and her last name was Eastman.  Those two facts are enough to keep this myth circulating.  Her family was originally Epstein, but she was also not related to Beatles' manager Brian Epstein.  Her grandfather changed the name from Epstein to Eastman when he immigrated from Russia to the United States.

On this day in Beatles History...February 17, 1967

49 years ago today on February 17, 1967, The Beatles recorded the majority of the song Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite for the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.  Throughout February and March, additional overdubs were also recorded, including numerous recordings of various pianos and organs played by The Beatles' producer, George Martin.  However, it was on February 17 that the bulk of the song was put down on tape.  The recording took place at EMI Studio Two.

The song's strange lyrics are very unusual, even for The Beatles later works!  The song was written based on a circus poster from 1843 that John Lennon purchased from an antique shop a few weeks earlier in Kent when the band was making a film for Strawberry Fields Forever.  Although it was generally assumed that the song was written primarily or entirely by John, Paul McCartney stated in a 2013 interview with Rolling Stone magazine that the pair co-wrote the song while looking at the poster in John's home.  The song title and many of the lyrics were taken directly from the poster.  One lyric that was changes was the name of the horse.  In the song, the horse is called Henry, but on the poster the horse is named Zanthus.  This change led to the song being banned from radio play by the BBC because the words Henry and Horse were both slang for heroin.

The Beatles never performed the song live as a group and it wasn't until Paul McCartney played it at a show in Brazil on May 4, 2013 that any member of the band performed the song live.  After this performance in Brazil, Paul continued to perform the song at concerts through 2015 and even live on The Colbert Report on June 12, 2013, a few weeks after the first live performance!

On this day in Beatles History...February 13, 1967

49 years ago today on February 13, 1967, The Beatles release the Penny Lane / Strawberry Fields single in the USA and became The Beatles 13th #1 single in the USA.  Although both songs are credited to the Lennon / McCartney, Strawberry Fields was written by John Lennon and Penny Lane was written by Paul McCartney.  Both songs were inspired by actual places from their past.  John played in the garden of Strawberry Field.  Penny Lane was written about the Penny Lane bus terminus where Paul and John had to switch buses whenever they went to each other's houses.  It was where the two would meet and hang our or take a bus into the city.

Strawberry Fields was the first song recorded for the Sgt. Pepper album and both songs were recorded during sessions for that album, but when the record company needed a new single, producer George Martin suggested these two.  He mentioned that he believed they were the two best Beatles songs so far.  Because they were released as a single, they were not included on the Sgt. Pepper album.

On this day in Beatles History...February 9, 1964

On February 9, 1964, The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and Beatlemania went into full swing in the USA.  Legend has it that Mr. Sullivan had originally offered The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein a very substantial amount of money for a Beatles appearance on his show, but Epstein knew what an opportunity this was and countered with an offer to have The Beatles appear three times at a lower price if they could both open and close each show.  This would give the boys much more exposure.  The plan certainly worked.  Allegedly, their February 9th appearance drew a record breaking 73 million viewers!

On this day in Beatles History...January 30, 1969

It was a glorious day.  It was a sad day.  For 42 minutes on January 30, 1969 The Beatles performed live together in public for the last time ever.  This was the famous performance that took place on the roof of the Apple building.  It was around lunchtime on a Thursday and it was bitterly cold.  Ringo was wearing his wife Maurine's red coat and John was wearing Yoko's fur coat.  It had been almost two and a half years since the boys had last performed together, but they were still wonderful!  While the band played, the microphones were connected to reel-to-reel tape machines in the basement so that the entire performance could be recorded (with the exception of an impromptu performance of God Save The Queen which was not captured in its entirety because the tapes in the basement were being swapped out during that song).

As wonderful as it is to watch the Fab Four making music together again after so long, it is also sad to think that it would never happen again.  The addition of Billy Preston on keyboards is strange to some, but I think it was a marvelous addition to the sound.  I love watching footage of the band performing on this cold London afternoon and I am very glad that the performance took place at all!

On this day in Beatles History...January 16, 1957

The Cavern Club originally opened its doors at 10 Mathew Street, Liverpool, England on January 16, 1957.  Although it first opened as a jazz club, it is most famous for being the live music venue associated with the early years of The Beatles.  In fact, John, Paul and George played there as The Quarrymen before becomming The Beatles.  Although it's difficult to know exactly how many performances The Beatles had at The Cavern Club, most estimates are that the boys performed there just under 300 times!  In March of 1973, the original Cavern Club closed down.  Since then the club has been re-opened and is still a venue for live music.

On this day in Beatles History...January 13, 1969

The Beatles released the soundtrack for Yellow Submarine in the USA on January 13, 1969.  Considered by many fans to be little more than a contractual obligation, the album didn't have very much in the way of new Beatles songs to offer.  Side one included only 4 new songs.  Of those four, Only A Northern Song was a song recorded for and rejected from Sgt. Pepper.  All of side two is filled with George Martin's score for the film.  Not to say that music isn't excellent, it's just not new Beatles songs.  This soundtrack wasn't released until after The White Album, but it was ready to be released much earlier.  The record label just didn't want this album to compete with that one.  Despite all of that, I really like the songs Hey Bulldog and It's All Too Much.

The Beatles 1965 Lunch Box

I've mentioned before that The Beatles were probably the first musical group to have such a wide variety of merchandise with their name and likeness attached.  One of the most popular items was the 1965 Beatles lunchbox and thermos brought to you by Aladdin Industries Incorporated.  The lunch box features The Beatles performing on one side and their faces with signatures on the other.  The top also featured their signatures under the handle.  The bottom had different images of their faces and sides had images of their instruments.  The thermos features artwork of their faces and signatures on one side with the band playing on the other, but surprisingly, different artwork was used on the thermos than on the lunch box itself.

Although the very first licensed lunch box was manufactured with an image of Micky Mouse in 1935, it wasn't until 1950 that Aladdin Industries began making the metal lunch boxes that many of you probably remember from your childhood - that is, if you were in school before 1990.  Aladdin's first lunch box featured Hopalong Cassidy and sold an amazing 600,000 lunch boxes in the first year of production!  Needless to say, Aladdin began acquiring the licence for more characters and continued to sell similar lunch boxes for several decades.  Today, these vintage lunch boxes are highly collectible.  I believe the 1964 Superman lunch box is typically considered to be the most valuable.  I have seen one sell for $17,000 with the thermos.  Although The Beatles lunch box isn't in the number 1 position, they are usually seen in the Top 10 most valuable lunch boxes.  Even a rusty, beat up Beatles lunch box missing the thermos often sells for more than $100.  The lunch box and thermos pictured below was in excellent condition and sold at auction in 2015 for over $2,000!