The endless Beatles exploration

We all explore some big domains sometimes, like Napoléon, the Civil War, Mozart’s music or Picasso’s art.

We then all know that the country of ideas is too big, the sources are endless, there are books and web pages and places to visit, help!

Therefore, I don’t remember why, I began to read a huge biography of John Lennon. It gave me the hunger for the rest : The Beatles!

So I bought other books, explored my shelves, downloaded tons of FLAC music and documentaries and watched YouTube.

What I found is :

1. It’s infinite. One could choose anything string and pull it until for years, collecting albums, watching fans, or archives, or specialists (guitar, drums, harmony…), reading about the fab four, wives, roadies, producers, memories. It is infinite.
2. There are tons of documentaries (the basis seems to be The Beatles Anthology).
3. One cool web site seems to be https://www.beatlesbible.com – but there are hundreds…
4. The biggest pleasure comes from finding the evolution in their music, but most of all: to understand how Lennon/McCartney work together. A melodist, an harmonicist. A happy guy, a sarcastic guy. Their togetherness has been a miracle.

As usual, one could find two faces for each thing. The Beatles are a concert group, then a studio group. They come from good old rock n’roll and go to sophistication. McCartney is the good guy but he is not. Lennon is cruel and sarcastic but he is gold.

Then what ?

I want to read more about George Martin, the producer. I have to see more documentaries. I’ll probably focus on one single album…

Trying to understand Lennon, I got this core : he has been more or less rejected by his parents. His father was a worker on boats, and he was just not there. His mother was into her own stories with some other men. He was raised by an aunt!

I know something: the saddest thing is to be rejected by parents, one way or another. It’s the worse scar. The saddest tears I’ve ever seen in someone’s eyes was about parents’ rejection.

Lennon had a son. He was never there for him.

Bye. I have to finish my book about Lennon. Before beginning the McCartney’s!

Thanks for reading!

“I’m very special/No you’re not”

Nothing is more common than people who “think” they’re different.

That’s a deep pattern we all have inside, I suppose…

As a bookseller I see it in this form :

ONE

People who come to buy a bestseller often just know about it. It’s like buying a bottle of Jack Daniel’s, or Nike shoes, or to watch a Marvel movie, right?

Mainstream is mainstream. Fine.

TWO

On the other side, people who come to get a very rare book – because they write a thesis or because they suddenly got stung by the idea of studying a very sharp subject – knowing they’ll probably have to order the books…

THREE

And then you have these people who ask for something they’re sure is very special and very rare (and it’s not), and they are pretty snob about it, and you hear them strutting, explaining things to help you find this “rare gem”… sold in tons all year long.

Embarrassing, right?

How would we call this? Hidden Mainstream?

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Beginner’s glory

As a bookseller, I’m sometimes amused by the typical guy just bitten by an idea which will give him big powers with the help of a few pages in a book: “Make a fortune with only $100”, or “Become a Mentalist”.

• OK, become a mentalist! Read this pocketbook summary and you’ll read into everyone – within seconds, you’ll know all: if one lies, if one ate soup yesterday, and if one pees in the shower or one is a metallic ladybugs collector. Cool!
• Tonight, buy a house, OK? A week later, sell it twice the price, buy two, et cetera and there you go!

Yes, but no. Nope!

If I’m asked a bit, I answer that you can be a mentalist, but you need a few decades of experiences with people and one hundred books, studied and fought and assimilated: sociology, psychology, transactional analysis, philosophy, etc…

“Be the greatest coach in 10 days!”: Heyyyyy!… (and facepalm).

But it’s good to begin, right?

Thanks for reading!