John Lennon

The Best and Worst Beatles Conspiracies (NSFW)

Conspiracy theories are my comfort food. After all, all a conspiracy is "the action of plotting or conspiring," and not just about tin-foil hats and Reptillians. When Reagan's cronies illegally sold weapons to Iran in the Iran-Contra Scandal, that was a conspiracy. When the CIA sold crack to kids in ... More >>

Being Cool is Lonely Wishes You A Happy Xmas

The United States was was knee deep in the Vietnam conflict when John Lennon and Yoko Ono penned the words to the 1971 single, "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)." But while it's been more than 30 years since the infamous twosome led the cries for an end to violence and suffering around the world, Phoenix' ... More >>

Top Five Phoenix Music Stories of the Week

The news waits for no one -- at least that's what we read somewhere -- so it's perfectly understandable that you, the reader, might have missed out on a musical tidbit, breaking news about your favorite venue, or one of our rants. So enjoy this digest-style sampling of some of our biggest stories f ... More >>

David Cassidy On Hanging With John Lennon, The Partridge Family, and a Gun-Toting Phil Spector

"You know, I'm no different from everybody else, I start each day and end each night..." So spoke David Cassidy during a break in the Partridge Family's second hit single "Doesn't Somebody Want to be Wanted." But he is different. Different from you, who's never appeared working alongside Gary Busey ... More >>

Mark David Chapman, The Man Who Killed John Lennon, Inspires Internet Nastiness (Surprise!)

You might know Mark David Chapman as the subject of that Mindless Self-Indulgence song or as J.D. Salinger's biggest fan. Oh, and he killed John Lennon. Yeah, about that... As Reuters reports, Chapman is up for parole again this week, marking the seventh time he'll appear before New York state's De ... More >>

To Honor His Life 31 Years After His Death, Five Videos That Prove John Lennon Was Mortal

A young John Lennon holds a puppy​The world has immortalized John Lennon, and for good reason. There's no denying his talent, or how he used said talent to change the world. 41 years ago yesterday, the Liverpudlian (Seriously, that's the actual name for someone from Liverpool) was shot and ki ... More >>

The Ten Best Posthumous Albums

​Today, Universal Music Enterprises will re-release a handful of albums by the late Tupac Shakur, including the posthumous album R U still Down? (Remember Me). Originally released in 1997 (a year after Shakur's murder), R U Still Down? was one of the rapper's best-selling albums, going quadruple ... More >>

RAC (Remix Artist Collective) to Play Bar Smith on May 6

​RAC (Remix Artist Collective) are playing Bar Smith on May 6. Not familiar with RAC? Well you're certainly familiar with the artists they've remixed -- U2, Radiohead, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, John Lennon, The Shins, and Pink Floyd, among a ton of others.The Collective is pretty populist, tackling indie a ... More >>

Mir German of Miriams Well Talks John Lennon, Portland, and SXSW

Miriams Well​ Portland is a city that's known for its amazing music scene. So much so that it's starting to give Los Angeles and Brooklyn a run for their money as a place bands looking to get discovered relocate. In such a crowded scene it can often times be difficult to stand out amongst the cr ... More >>

10 Album Covers That Have Been Banned [NSFW]

​A few weeks ago Kanye West announced on his Twitter page that the original artwork for his upcoming album My Beautiful Twisted Dark Fantasy had been banned here in the US.Technically, the artwork wasn't banned. Instead Kanye's record label, strongly suggested that the album artwork be replaced f ... More >>

UK Getting Limited Edition John Lennon Coin

​Just like in any other country, people in the UK sure do like their money. That's why they voted for John Lennon to appear on the Royal Mint's commemorative £5 coin, according to Spinner. Over 27,000 people voted for Lennon, which was 92 percent of the vote. Lennon fans showed up the fans of Jan ... More >>

Nov. 1 In Blogs: Halloween, John Lennon, Pita Jungle, and Suicide

​​​In the 24-hour news cycle, it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times' blogs. Today's entries:

John Lennon's Birthday Events Planned for Musical Instrument Museum

​John Lennon's 70th birthday would have been October 9 and Phoenix's Musical Instrument Museum has planned events to mark the occasion.The museum houses the Steinway Lennon used to "Imagine" -- not the fancy white grand piano people remember, but a more modest brown Steinway pictured right -- whic ... More >>

Part of Your Tax Dollars are Paying For Military Marching Bands

​If there's one thing our country is good at, it's not knowing how to properly allocate our spending money. After hearing about America's big budget for military marching bands, NPR wanted to know just how much tax payers are collectively throwing down for these guys.It turns out that the Marines ... More >>

John Lennon's Assassin Up for Parole -- Yoko Opposes the Plea

Mark Chapman -- the man who killed John Lennon.​Mark Chapman, the man who killed John Lennon in December of 1980 is scheduled to be interviewed by the parole board of the Attica prison in New York next week, NME reports. He's currently serving a sentence of twenty years to life for Lennon's mu ... More >>

Paul Weller and Liam Gallagher to Collaborate on Fashion Designs

Paul Weller: "The Modfather" is now a fashion designer.​It seems that since the break up of Oasis, Liam Gallagher hasn't quite figured out what to do with himself. He has been busy working on a film about the Beatles. This really isn't so far fetched since John Lennon is his ultimate idol, claimin ... More >>

The Beatles as Zombies on the Silver Screen -- This is Really Happening

The graphic novel featuring zombie Beatles is about to be turned into a film.​According to one of our favorite British music blogs, NME, Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher have bought the rights to a graphic novel, titled Paul is Undead: The British Zombie Invasion. The book depicts the Beatles as z ... More >>

The Beatles' Handwritten Lyrics: How Much Would You Pay for Them?

​Just when you thought every piece of Beatles' anything had been sold to the highest bidder... think again.According to Rolling Stone, auction house Sotheby's will be putting up on the auction block none other than the John Lennon's handwritten lyrics to The Beatles' classic "A Day in the Life." W ... More >>

John Lennon's "Imagine": Original Piano Delivered to Phoenix's Musical Instrument Museum

Shannon WallacePrecious cargo: A crew delivers John Lennon's "Imagine" piano to the Musical Instrument Museum.​ Now this is cool. This week, the soon-to-be-open Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) in north Phoenix took delivery of the piano in which John Lennon of The Beatles composed "Imagine," ... More >>

From Print: Blogs Teased in Our 3/11 Issue

​This week, New Times ran a box in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up On The Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts. Why did Howard Stern give Phoenix band The Heartless $5,000? Why is John Lennon Advertising cars? Why did th ... More >>

Top Ten Musicians Spawned From Other Musicians

Bob Dylan's canceled show in Glendale tonight got us thinking about his son, Jakob Dylan, who is still young and fit enough to perform in just over 100 degree weather. He's less at risk for heatstroke, sure, but, of course, the number of folks who will shell out cash to see Jake is definitely not in ... More >>

The Rosewood Thieves Shake Up The Lost Leaf

Imagine, if you will, stepping into a friend's house... Except it's filled with people you don't know (yet), and this friend built a bar around his kitchen, and set up track lighting and a half-dozen hightop tables in the dining room. That place would be Downtown Phoenix's The Lost Leaf, which hoste ... More >>

Alice Cooper Joins Obama at ASU Graduation Wednesday

As the press release announcing Alice Cooper's appearance at Arizona State's graduation ceremony Wednesday says, the local shock-rocker has played on some pretty big bills: John Lennon, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix. Even Pele.All big, but not Barack Obama big.Cooper will perfor ... More >>

Arty Girl: The Art of John Lennon

I really thought that this week, I'd surely blog a bunch about Art Detour.Turns out, Robrt Pela and Wynter Holden did all the dirty work for me. At this point, I feel I'd just be beating a dead horse. And I prefer not to be around dead things...just a personal choice.While I highly encourage you to ... More >>

May Pang

The Good and the Not So Good

Anti-War Monger

It's a riot

The Walkmen

Pussy Cats
(Record Collection)

Magical History Tour

Rock doc is both poignant and topical

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Analysis: Beck's New Heart

With Sea Change, Beck forgoes the 'Loser' of the past for a session with irony-free honesty. More power to him.

Various Artists

The Osbourne Family Album (Epic)

Aaliyah

Aaliyah (Blackground)

Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon

Robert Rosen (Soft Skull Press)

Critical Mass 2000

Our panel of writers offer up their takes on the top discs of Y2K

Robbie Williams

Sing When You're Winning (Capitol)

The Wanderers

Only Lovers Left Alive (Captain Oi!)

Gimme Some Truth: The Making of John Lennon's Imagine Album

(Capitol Video/DVD)

Rock Webs of Death

Obsessions, Passions, Perversions

New Times music critics reveal their deepest, darkest record-buying secrets

Rock of Pages

Taking stock of the worst music books ever written

Mind Games

Four-CD Lennon Anthology leans too heavily on inferior versions of familiar tunes

Mike Douglas Held Hostage!

New video relives the surreal week that John and Yoko co-hosted America's most popular daytime talk show

Tomorrow Never Knows

With its recent U.S. tour, Kraftwerk stakes its claim as the most important group since The Beatles

Paul's Rocky Revival

With new book and home video, Paul McCartney tries to get in the last word on his fab past

When Paul Met Gerry

What would have happened to rock'n'roll if Lennon and McCartney had never been properly introduced?

Recordings

UNLISTED NUMBERSA DIRECTORY OF HIDDEN TRACKS FROM LP TO CD

DO LOOK BACK

THE YEAR IN MUSIC: IT JUST DIDN'T GET MUCH BETTER (OR WORSE) THAN THIS

MEET THE BACKBEATLES

SCREED