February 2004 NEWSLETTER A n E n t e r t a i n m e n t I n d u s t r y O r g a n i z a t i o n

Editor’s notes 50th Anniversary by Ed Arrow

This month commemorates the Joey) sharing her memories and The Vice-President’s 40th anniversary of ’ first thoughts on the Beatles. Aside from Corner appearance on the Ed Sullivan her day job as Mechanical Licensing Show. By the time 73 million Ameri- Manager at Universal Music Pub- Michael R. Morris cans tuned in for their first glimp se lishing in , JayCe is a of the Fab Four on February 9, writer working on her second novel. 1964, the hype faucet was already Her essay “The Road” is featured in Hi everyone! Due to those nasty turned on full. Emerging from the the Los Angeles County Superior “technical difficulties” that our national darkness imposed by the Court’s Juvenile Intervention Pro- beloved president, Teri Nelson Kennedy assassination, frenzied gram. Another of her essays will be Carpenter, encountered in France, teenage girls screamed and cried published in the forthcoming I’m subbing for her this month. I tears of joy at that first sight of the “Sisters” edition of the “Cup of Com- trust everyone enjoyed the Grammy mop tops. But as the Beatles played fort” book series. Awards. Speaking of enjoyment, Also featured this month is a bit kudos to Susan Slamer and Marrsha the opening strains of “All My Sill for orchestrating and moderating Loving” the hype began to evolve of humor by singer/songwriter/TV our January panel, the “Impact of into what would become an Ameri- writer Bob Claster. Bob put himself Music In Television Today,” which can love affair with those young in the shoes of a curmudgeonly TV featured music supervisors and boys from Liverpool. Over the next critic reviewing the February 9, 1964 producers from American Dreams six years the Beatles returned . The problem is, and American Idol, as well as the love, delivering a treasure trove of this critic just doesn’t “get” the good musical folk from EMI Music innovative songs and records of Beatles! and Billboard. While the January astonishing quality. As big as the Finally, I have taken the liberty meeting may hold the record for hype was in 1964, no one could of including some of my own mem- running overtime, the fact that have predicted the enormous influ- ories, thoughts and observations: people stayed so late attested to the ence the Beatles would have on mu- I was seven years old when the quality of the panel and the spirited sic and culture. Beatles made their Am erican debut discussion that ensued. The All Music Guide sums it up on the Ed Sullivan Show on February This month’s meeting is equally this way: 9, 1964. I didn’t watch the show. I special, as the CCC is pleased to first heard about it the next day in present an evening with ASCAP’s “. . . they were the most influ- CEO, John LoFrumento. This panel ential act of the rock era, and intro- school. Kids in my class were talking will be moderated by CCC Board duced more innovations into popu- about those amazing Beatles on Ed Member Shawn LeMone (who is also lar music than any other rock band Sullivan. I had seen the Ed Sullivan th the Senior Director of Research and of the 20 century. Moreover, they Show before. I imagined one of Technology for Film and Television at were among the few artists of any those novelty acts the show was fa- ASCAP). We anticip ate a lively discipline that were simultaneously mous for. I imagined people dressed discussion with John on current and the best at what they did, and the in giant beetle costumes waltzing future economic and legal issues in most pop ular at what they did.” across the stage. the legal industry. In this Month’s CCC newsletter, It was no t long before my you’ll find an essay by JayCe Craw- younger brother and I owned ford (some of you may know her as Beatles records, Beatles songb ooks, the Beatles board game, Beatles wigs, and a red vinyl copy of The Chipmunks Sing The Beatles. I saved none of it. Who knew? Actually, I hated the Beatles. The girls all loved them and as young boys we were duty-bound to Everyone seems to be making Tender Trap” this reporter has ever hate everything girls loved. I didn’t such a fuss over this quartet that had the pleasure to hear. Future hate the music. Just them! When has newly arrived from Liverpool, banjoists needn’t bother. And Sgt. Pepper was released I loved it. and I just want to say that it's a when she called to her host and But it was my secret. I finally came gross injustice that the rest of the said “I love you, Eddie, I do, I do, out in 1968. I was given a copy of acts on last night’s entertaining I do!” and beckoned him to receive the White Album as a gift. I was edition of the always-amusing “Ed a big, wet kiss, there wasn’t a dry stunned that one group could Sullivan Show” seem to be going eye in the house. assemble such a variety of music unnoticed. But if comedy is your weak- styles on one album. I recall To begin with, following the ness, you were surely rendered attending a friend’s Bar Mitzvah. first batch of “tunes” from the four helpless by the witty vignette There was a band. All they played shaggy heads, there was a performed by Brill and McCall, in were songs from the White Album. marvelous performance by a magi- which Miss McCall portrayed three They played every song from the cian named Fred Kapps, whose hopeful (and hopeless!) starlets, album, except “Revolution No. 9.” ability to make salt continue to auditioning for a producer. I Then they played them all again. flow from his hand surely must especially liked the one who kept Everyone danced. All the guys have taken at least as much time saying she wasn’t nervous, but was came out that day. to perfect as that Ringo person clearly shaking from nervousness! Last week I bought a copy of took to learn the drums. Then, the The resourcefulness of this duo is the two-DVD set that contains, in talented cast of the Broadway illustrated by their inclusion of the their entirety, the Ed Sullivan musical, “Oliver,” performed some following exchange: “My little girl Shows on which the Beatles melodious show-stopping numbers is waiting outside. She used to be performed. There were four shows. that all but made one forget about one of the Beatles.” “What Three from February of 1964, and the cacophony that began the happened to her?” “Somebody another from September of 1965. I show. The lad playing the part of stepped on her.” told my two sons about it. They are the Artful Dodger, one Davey After another seemingly inter- five and seven years old. I Jones, could be surrounded by minable appearance by the un- explained that these were old TV three similarly able minstrels, and kempt upstarts during which they shows with the old commercials the world would forget the inept undoubtedly exhausted their included. I told them that they monkeyshines of those Beatles limited repertoire, the enter- contained performances by the soon enough, I promise you. tainment resumed with a brilliant Beatles and that on the first was Then, Frank Gorshin arrived novelty-tumbling act called Wells the Beatles' first U.S. performance. on the scene to amuse us with his My kids already know about the and the Four Fays. Not only did uncanny impressions, most note- Beatles. Their favorite CD to listen they begin with a dance number to in the car is Beatles 1. My five- worthy of which were those of performed by a woman (probably year-old loves the earlier rockin’ Broderick Crawford and Anthony one of the Fays) with a large face songs. After “Help” plays he asks to Quinn. Sure, every impressionist painted on her abdomen and a start the CD again from the feels the need to include the huge hat covering her head, thus beginning. My seven-year-old has obligatory Crawford bit, but giving the uncanny illusion of a more sophisticated taste. His favo- Gorshin’s is every bit as funny as person with a huge head and a rite song is “Yesterday.” I showed the original. very small body, but they followed them the performance from the Next, the real talent from Eng- that with a very amusing dance first Ed Sullivan Show. My seven- land hit the stage in the person of number which mimed a boxing year-old asked me, “Daddy, how Tessie O’Shea, reminding us that match, all to very lively music! old were you when this happened?” there actually is some musical These many fine entertainers I thought for a moment. “Seven. ability coming from the British have been, in my opinion, unfairly Your age exactly.” As is the case Isles. How she got so much music ignored, and to a man, they'll all with all great artists, the Beatles out of such a small banjo, I’ll never be fondly remembered long after transcend generations. They are know. And last night she made this current insanity is but a faint Beatles-4-Ever. show business history by delivering unpleasant memory. Copyright 2004 by Ed Arrow the finest banjo rendition of “The Copyright 2004 by Bob Claster Revolution It Was 40 Years Ago Today . . .

by JayCe Crawford

“When I get older, losing my now. Mick, Keith, and…?) It worked in last forever. But my friend Nancy Gor- hair--many years from now…” A 25- reverse as well-- you’d hear the don knew that about Herman’s Her- year-old Paul McCartney wrote the phrase “John Paul George Ringo”, and mits, and she was wrong. song “When I’m 64” in honor of his immediately think “Beatles”. Which So why were we right? Yes, the father’s birthday, never imagining would call to mind a visual image-- Beatles really were special and impor- he’d be facing that age himself one bowl haircuts, Cuban-heeled boots, tant and wonderful. But alas, that’s day. He once said, “I can see myse lf pegged trousers, collarless jackets, not enough to make them eternal. I as a 40-year-old songwriter, but not the drumskin sporting the familiar think often about the Beatles’ story. as a 40-year-old rocker.” Neverthe- logo with the elongated “T”, the two How all the elements came together less, when he passed that milestone guitars, and that “backward” Hofner to create the music world’s version of in 1982, he was rocking the world just bass played by the famously left- a perfect storm. Serendipity, that’s as he always had. And he’s still handed McCartney. The “John Paul what it was. No wonder that’s my rocking today. George Ringo” chant even worked if favorite word! Speaking of 40, you’d have to be one of the names was missing. On an These four guys happened to live living on another planet not to know episode of The Avengers, John Steed in the same town, in the same era. that this month marks the 40th and Mrs. Peel visited an office identi- Brian Epstein happened to work in his anniversary of the Beatles’ invasion of fied by a sign on the glass door: The family’s music store, and he happened the U.S. They arrived at New York’s “So-and-so” Brothers. And beneath to be on duty when someone came in newly renamed John F. Kennedy Air- that: “John, Paul, George, and Fred”–- to request a Beatles record. On the port on the 7th of February, 1964. a joke, and we were all in on it. other side of the pond, President They made their first live American ! The print media wrote about Kennedy happened to get assassi- television appearance on February 9th, “the boys” constantly-– where they nated, leaving America depressed and and played their first U.S. concert in were, with whom, and what they were anxious and miserable and yearning our nation’s capitol on the 11th. I’d doing. Their press conferences (which for something-– anything-– good to hate to have you think I’m old enough were legion) aired on the six o’clock transpire, just as the Beatles’ star was to remember all this. But I am. The news. Their concert dates, across the rising in England. Ed Sullivan year the Beatles first came to America country and around the world, were happened to be on a New York-bound is the year that I became a teenager. splashed across full double-page ads plane, awaiting take-off from London’s And I wouldn’t have it any other way. in the newspaper. Heathrow Airport, while the Beatles It’s difficult to describe the ! Their first film played to were arriving home to a tumultuous passion that swept the country that packed houses of screaming girls and greeting from their frenzied British year, though many have tried. But bewildered parents. We stood in lines fans. the English language doesn’t contain several blocks long, waiting to enter The Beatles’ aesthetic was seren- any adjectives adequate to the task. the theatre. Once inside, we’d sit dipitous, too. John, Paul, and George So I’ll just line up some nouns and there in the dark all day, watching “A were all five-foot-eleven. Ringo was verbs here, to give you a look at the Hard Day’s Night” over and over until shorter by three inches, but that’s excitement of that time. Of course, if the manager kicked us out after the okay-– he was sitting down. John and you were there, you already know last showing. George played guitars with necks that in 1964: ! Less than two months after facing stage-left, while Paul held his ! The word “Beatles” was on their first Ed Sullivan show appear- bass the opposite way. (My friends everyone’s lips. Not just teenaged ance, the Beatles held eleven spots on and I thought he was so considerate, girls and our boyfriends, but print Billboard’s Top 100 chart. And if that arranging his instrument so as to journalists, television news anchors, isn’t remarkable enough, five of those avoid getting in George’s way when actors, comics, sports figures, other positions were numbers 5, 4, 3, 2, they stood together at one mic.) All of musicians–- everyone had a story, or and 1. (I hope you’re not holding your this was complete ly accidental, but it’s made up a story, about the band. breath waiting for another artist to the kind of pleasing composition a References to the group were rife, on match that feat!) painter would struggle to create in TV sitcoms and on the evening news, I’ve been a Beatles fan since I oils. in novelty records and comedy rou- first saw them on television-– on Luckily for us, the Beatles existed tines as well as in serious plays and Walter Cronkite’s program, not the Ed not just as a two-dimensional portrait, films, and in a seemingly infinite Sullivan show we all watched several but in real flesh-and-blood-and-art- range of other media, whether related weeks later. It took my parents about and-music life. We in the music to music or not. twenty-five years to acknowledge the business are cognizant of the impact ! The phrase “John Paul George fact that they were not a passing fad, this band had-– and continues to Ringo” was a mantra. Even my aging and that I would not “grow out of it”. have-– on our industry. They hit Num- grandfather could recite those four At the time, I knew they were special, ber One on the Billboard singles chart names on cue. (Try that with any I knew they were important, I knew for the first time with “I Want To Hold other band you can think of, then or they were wonderful, I knew they’d Your Hand” in 1964, and proceeded to own the spot for twenty weeks that George Harrison himself learned his symbol of everything that was right year, blazing the trail for countless lesson from that textbook. And many about the 60’s. They are the arbiters other non-American performers. In other composers-– if they’ve been of what rock-and-roll music would be- fact, English bands today are so at paying attention-– have benefitted come. Has become. They are the home in Billboard, that a chart with from the knowledge of John and Paul’s visionaries who dreamed it, lived it, no Brits on it was headline news in experience. and made it possible for everyone who April of 2002. On a personal level, the history came after. Singers! That doesn’t The Beatles practically invented of Lennon-McCartney, Maclen Music, even begin to cover it.” And I turned sampling, with the innovative and Northern Songs was the impetus on my heel and stomped off, much to arrangement on “All You Need Is which drove me into the music the poor guy’s relief, no doubt. Love”. (The label and the publisher business. Like a child on Christmas So now it’s 2004. Unfortunately, didn’t know at the time how fortunate morning taking apart a new toy, I John Lennon and George Harrison they were, in that the song sampled loved what I saw-- all pretty and shiny have left us, much too soon. Paul only other Lennon-McCartney songs and new-- but I just had to know how McCartney will celebrate that sixty- and works in the public domain.) The it all worked! fourth birthday in a couple of years. Beatles were the first artist to include On a visit to London a few years Ringo Starr turns that magic age even reprinted lyrics on album packaging, ago, I toured the British Museum’s sooner-– this July seventh. And while for their masterwork “Sgt. Pepper’s Library. It has an astonishing collec- I’m not looking 64 in the face-– yet-- Lonely Hearts Club Band”. Acid rock, tion-– Gutenberg Bibles, illuminated I’m certainly no longer a teenager. glam rock, folk rock, and many other manuscripts, first editions of William But in this year of 2004, sub-genres can be traced to works Shakespeare, …and a glass case filled recording artists and Grammy winners written and recorded by the Beatles. with Lennon-McCartney writing-re- Coldplay count the Beatles among Of course, the members of the group lated ephemera. There are signed let- their major influences. (What else is would be the first to admit that they ters and postcards, both to and from new?) The Bravo series Queer Eye For were profoundly influenced by those the boys. There are hand-written song The Straight Guy refers to its cast as who preceded them. As Isaac Newton lyrics; not the pristine versions printed “the Fab Five”. (Where do you said, “If I seem to see farther than up and sold by art galleries, no-– suppose that came from?) And once other men, it is because I have stood these are the original lyrics, with again the media are covering the on the shoulders of giants.” scribbles and arrows and cross-outs Beatles story--in print, and on the air- With respect to these particular and doodles. Also contained in the -as lavishly and fervently as they did giants, they made their mark in Lennon-McCartney exhibit are two forty years ago. subtler ways, as we ll. Conside r their photographs, 8x10 glossies, of Paul In the immortal words of Dr. attitude; that cheeky, cocky, in-your- and John as youngsters. Ed Sullivan Winston O’Boogie (a/k/a John face approach to life was adopted would later call them “youngsters”, Lennon), “You shoulda been there.” wholeheartedly by American baby even though their ages at that time And I’m really glad I was. Maybe boomers, who then used it to effect were 20 and 21. But in the British Paul’s musical question should be change at every level-– political, Library photos, the boys are about 10 phrased another way: “Will we still social, and cultural. Think about their or 11 years of age. need them, when we’re sixty-four?” fashion sense; from the hairstyles to I peered into the glass case, Yes, I believe we will. In fact, I’m sure the clothing to the accessories, examining each detail, every feature. of it. people-– especially men-– had never Soon I was joined by a man with a Yeah, yeah, yeah. had those kinds of choices before the little girl. She must have been four or Copyright 2004 by JayCe Beatles. When we reflect on their so; she had to stand on tiptoe, chubby Crawford fellowship, we see how they changed fingers clinging to the edge of the our view of how men could-– and case, in order to see inside. She should-– relate to other men. Why caught sight of the children in the are they hugging each other? the photographs, then turned to see the UPCOMING MEETINGS press smirked. The Beatles shrugged books lining the walls of the cavernous and said, “We’re just friends, saying room. Then back to the pictures. Mar 23 hello.” “Are they book-writers?” she Part 1 of our Publisher Series: The music itself gave us a gentle queried in a lilting west-end accent. "Return of the Foreign Sub- lesson in this. “She loves you”, Paul “No, they’re singers,” her daddy Publishers" sang to some unnamed companion. told her. Apr 20: Up to that moment, a singer would I stiffened. “Singers?” I said, Part 2: "U.S. Indie Publishers" say “I love you”, or “You love me”, or incredulous. “Singers???” May 25 “She loves me”, or “I love her”. But The man was stunned. And 50th Anniversary Celebration the concept of two men having an frightened-– I could see it in his eyes. honest, personal discussion about the Uh-oh! he was thinking. One of those romantic relationship of one of them? dangerous Americans! He grasped the California Copyright Conference Unheard of, until the Beatles. child’s hand and backed away. Slowly. From a publishing standpoint, Undeterred, I advanced on him. P.O. Box 57962 the history of the Lennon-McCartney “Lennon and McCartney are accomp- Sherman Oaks CA 91413 songwriting team has been rehashed lished songwriters. They are consum- 818-379-3312 in print countless times. Suffice it to mate musicians. They are critically- say that Maclen Music pretty much acclaimed performers. They are uni- www.theccc.org died for the sins of future songwriters. versally-recognized artists. They are a