New Beatles Book on Jimmie Nicol Searches for Clues of The Beatle Who Vanished

photo credit: (c) Jeremy Fletcher photo/Redferns/Getty Images.

Jimmie Nicol was a Beatle for 13 days on tour with the group in June, 1964. He replaced Ringo Starr who had to be hospitalized. This is about all of the information that existed in Beatles history books for decades. British music history books contained no mention of the drummer.  The inside story of the unknown drummer who got to play with The Beatles at the height of Beatlemania is a missing chapter in the group's history... until now.

And so began my search to see if there was enough material for an article, let alone a new beatles book on the already crowded shelves. A number of people have asked me how I was able to find out who Nicol had played with before The Beatles, and more importantly, what happened to him after his "15 minutes of fame".

The best way to describe the search is to compare it to collecting 1000s of small jigsaw pieces together from around the world and try to assemble the complete picturne. I scoured archives in the US, Australia and England for articles, letters, and documents about Jimmie Nicol. Many online sources surmised that Nicol was born in Liverpool since he had played with The Beatles. However, finding his birth certificate yielded a different answer. That he was in fact, the only Beatle born outside the Liverpool region.

photo credit: (c) 2013 Rock And Roll Detective, LLC.

Then there was a small mention in an Australian forum where a gentleman mentioned that his red suitcase was borrowed by Jimmie Nicol on tour with The Beatles. An email led me to his brother, John Hodkinson, who told me of living with Nicol at the very moment when The Call came in from producert George Martin to come down to EMI Studios and rehearse with The Beatles. Hodkinson tagged along and was able to bring that nervous musical moment to life, of Nicol sitting in with The Beatles for the first time, and passing the audition!

I found old handbills, posters, ticket stubs, tour ads, photos, 45rpm records, stray video clips all over the world. Each piece of the puzzle told a small part of Nicol's journey as a touring and session musician, band leader, composer, arranger and producer. I came to realize that Nicol's career was indeed filled with many successes, intrigue and some pitfalls before, during and after The Beatles.

photo credit: (c) Mirrorpix

 

Through it all, I would find people who knew the central character of my new Beatles book from every part of his life.  I found the roady from his early band, Colin Hicks and The Cabin Boys. He is currently the webmaster of a hardcore S & M website. I found Nicol's second wife Julia by Googling "Mexico Rock History". The webmaster of a site on Mexican Rock in the Sixties, not only  knew Julia, but gave me her email and phone number. That call allowed me to understand Nicol's journey into the artistic underground scene in late Sixties Mexico where Jimmie participated in Happenings, psychedelic drugs, composed film soundtrack music and even started his own button manufacturing company while teaching music at the local technical college.

 

photo credit: (c) 2013 Julia Villasenor



After while, I was being connected to various band members from Colin Hicks and His Cabin Boys to Vince Eager and the Quiet Three, the Shubdubs and Spotnicks. This led to my compiling Nicol’s amazing discography and helped piece together the chronology of his career. The recordings I found all over the world, helped me to learn about Nicol’s amazing and creative gift as a drummer, composer, arranger and producer.  I found that almost universally his friends loved him very much and found him to be generous and highly talented.

The years of writing and research were an amazing journey and challenge. Nicol was an enigmatic character.   He always seemed to erase his trail when he moved on, rather than preserve it.

Finally, I had enough information to piece the trail of Jimmie Nicol's life and career together and paint what I felt was an honest portait of an enigmatic character. He was the definition of an independent spirit. He often chose the unexpected path. No one could tell him what to do or how to think.  Each time he vanished in his career, it would take me awhile to locate where in the world he would show up next! He usually never said goodbye… just walked out the door… to another spot on the globe. Very mysterious. I tried to retrace his footsteps and to find him, by traveling to England, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne - to get a feel for the places he had lived and worked.

This Beatles book, new to the shelves also helped me to discover and share what it is like for a person to live with "15 minutes of fame" for the rest of their lives. In the words of Grammy producer Butch Vig, who has seen his share of rock stars rise and fall, "The Beatle Who Vanished is a fascinating and mysterious must read for hardcore Beatles fans, and anyone who wants to understand the meteoric rise to pop stardom and the subsequent crash landing."

 

photo credit: (c) Newspix/photo file

It is hard to tell what Jimmie Nicol would think of this book on his life and career. Because, dead or alive, he remains The Beatle Who Vanished.

Available at: Amazon

(c)2013 Rock And Roll Detective(r), LLC
All Rights Reserved.

The Curious Case of a George Harrison and Bob Marley Collaboration

Over the years a poster has surfaced at nostalgia stores that show George Harrison and Bob Marley together. It explicitly states that the two superstars played live on stage together at London’s Lyceum Ballroom on July 15, 1975.

In fact, there are no audio, visual or news accounts of George Harrison ever playing with Bob Marley. Both artists were in the USA and not London at the time. George Harrison had just finished recording the album Extra Texture at the time of the meeting.

Harrison was in fact a fan of Bob Marley and his music; nothing more. On July 13, 1975, George Harrison was invited backstage before a Bob Marley show at the Roxy in Los Angeles to meet Marley.

Here is the photo of the two men meeting backstage. This is the photo that has been used over the years to create the false impression on the bogus posters that the two collaborated onstage together.

In fact, when Marley was told that George Harrison was coming backstage, he reportedly lit up a joint and exclaimed, “Ras Beatle!” It appears from this next photo that George also got to enjoy a smoke with Bob before the show.

After the two guitar greats expressed their mutual admiration for each other, Bob went onstage to play.

No collaboration took place, but it would have been amazing if had. At least they got to meet.
Speaking of a mysterious Beatle collaboration, The Rock And Roll Detective’s new book,
The Beatle Who Vanished will be available near the end of this month. For release information, go to: www.thebeatlewhovanished.com



© 2013 Rock And Roll Detective®, LLC.

THE MYSTERY BEHIND THE BEATLES’ SONG, “I AM THE WALRUS”

For years, there have been discussions about who played the role of the Walrus in the song “I Am The Walrus” featured in the film Magical Mystery Tour. Of course, the composition was written by John Lennon (credited to Lennon-McCartney) and he sings lead in the song, which uses the first person, “I am the Walrus” chorus. The words were filled with acid-tinged mysterious lyrics. Lennon loved the fact that teachers were starting to analyze Beatles lyrics. While writing the song, he remarked to his childhood friend Pete Shotton, who was visiting at the time, “Let the fuckers work that one out.”

In the film, we see John Lennon playing the piano and singing the song presumably in the Walrus costume. However, if you get the new Magical Mystery Tour DVD and listen to Paul’s audio commentary during the Walrus scene, Paul admits that both he and John had a little fun and both wore the Walrus costume at different points in the scene.

This sure looks like Paul in the Walrus costume!

You may recall that a year later, the Walrus issue came up again on The Beatles (White) Album. On the song, Glass Onion, we hear Lennon sing,

I Told You ‘Bout The Walrus And Me, Man
You Know That We’re About As Close As Can Be, Man
Well, Here’s Another Clue For You All
The Walrus Was Paul

Clearly, both Lennon and McCartney delighted in playing with their lyrics and putting in funny little things to see if their fans would catch them.

When the “Paul is Dead” rumour arose in the fall of 1969, college kids grabbed at the “Walrus is Paul” concept as yet another clue that Walrus’ were symbols of death. Paul became even more closely associated with the Walrus.

 

 

 However, just as some fans came to believe that the Walrus was Paul, Lennon stepped in to make things a bit more confusing.... In 1970, Lennon sang the lyrics to his song “God” which appeared on the Plastic Ono Band album. He sings:

I Was The Walrus
But now, I am John     

And just when we thought The Walrus question couldn’t get more confused, things got even more mysterious...

In 1987, George Harrison got in on the act with his song and video from the Cloud 9 album, When We Was Fab. The video featured George on guitar, Ringo on drums and a mystery man in a Walrus costume playing left handed bass. Was it Paul? Was this a “Beatles” reunion? Unfortunately, the answer is no. 

Who is wearing the Walrus costume?

In a 1995 issue of "Record Collector, which featured an interview with Paul McCartney, he was asked, “Did you appear in George Harrison's video for "When We Was Fab"? There were stories that it was you inside the walrus costume.”

Paul replied:  “No. George wanted me to be in it but I wasn't available. So I suggested that he put someone else in a walrus costume & tell everyone that it was me. We've always had fun with the walrus thing. We don't lay many false trails but the walrus has always been one of them. Anyway, though it was me in the walrus costume in "Magical Mystery Tour", it WASN'T me in "When We Was Fab" - it was a joke between George & me, which we purposely decided not to tell anyone.”

So that leaves us with yet another mystery. Who was the Walrus in costume in George’s video? Given George’s sense of humour, he probably wanted us to spend eternity debating this silly question.

The Rock And Roll Detective® has just written a new book entitled, The Beatle Who Vanished. For more information: www.thebeatlewhovanished.com

© 2012 Rock And Roll Detective, LLC. Rock And Roll Detective® is a registered trademark of Rock And Roll Detective, LLC.

AC/DC Rides Again!

The Rock And Roll Detective® is happy to share this forum today with a guest writer who is also a music author, historian and researcher - to tell us about the first new album from Aussie Rockers AC/DC in twenty years! Rock it Susan…

 

Live at River Plate-AC/DC

By Susan Masino

AC/DC has just released Live at River Plate, their first live album in twenty years, recorded in December, 2009 in Buenos Aires. Playing in front of nearly 200,000 fans over three sold-out shows, this was their first time back to Argentina in 13 years. The album captures the band during their Black Ice tour, where they performed to over 5 million fans in 108 cities in over 28 countries. After being off the road for 7 years, AC/DC resurfaced in 2008 with Black Ice, and their world tour ended up grossing $513 million. Live at River Plate offers fans the choice of a 2-CD package featuring a 24 page booklet, or for the old school fans, a special 3 LP red vinyl package which comes with an exclusive 24” x 36” poster. For purely digital fans, their new album and entire back catalog are now available on iTunes.

AC/DC is one of those bands that has to be seen to be appreciated, and Live at River Plate brings to life why their concerts are always sold out. The song list includes 19 tunes opening with “Rock ’N’ Roll Train,” and covering everything from “Thunderstruck” to Bon Scott classics such as “Dog Eat Dog,” and “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.” Included from the Black Ice album are the title song, “Big Jack,” and “War Machine,” the song that finally won them a long awaited Grammy award in 2010.

Listening to the roar of the audience especially when the band plays their two encores, “Highway To Hell,” and “For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)”, brings back the excitement of being in the audience. I had the pleasure of seeing the band four times on the Black Ice tour, and each and every time they wore me out. God only knows how they pulled that show off over 100 times in less than two years. Live at River Plate proves that AC/DC is as strong as ever, and are not even close to showing signs of slowing down.

 

Celebrating their 40^th anniversary in 2013, AC/DC is one of the top five highest grossing bands in history, and their classic anthems will have fans rocking out for decades to come. For those of you who were lucky enough to see them on their last tour, you know what I’m talking about. For those of you who missed it, Live at River Plate is as close as you can get …until the next tour.

Susan Masino has been a rock journalist for over thirty years, and has written four books, created and hosted the Madison, Wisconsin  94.1 JJO Local Stage radio show from 1997-2004. She also appears in the Van Halen DVD, The Early Years, www.van-halen.com and Let There Be Rock-The Movie. Her book, Let There Be Rock-The Story of AC/DC, is now in 10 languages and can be found along with her new book, Family Tradition-Three Generations of Hank Williams at www.amazon.com. For more information please go to www.susanmasino.com.

 

 

Unreleased Beatles Demos For Sale

Two unheard Beatles demos could be big attraction in December auction.

November 29, 2012

By: Steve Marinucci

 

Two very rare unreleased Beatles acetates being auctioned in December by Bonhams in London could attract high prices because of the possibility even collectors haven't heard them, “Rock And Roll Detective” and Beatles historian Jim Berkenstadt told Beatles Examiner.
The two tracks are a 1963 demo recording of “What Goes On” and a 1966 demo of “Granny Smith,” which later became “Love You To," a track on the "Revolver" album.

You can read the rest of the article at the Examiner. The article sites the Rock And Roll Detective as an authority.

http://www.examiner.com/article/two-unheard-beatles-demos-could-be-big-attraction-december-auction


 

Big Emmy Wins for George Harrison: Living in the Material World

I am so happy to share  the news that the documentary produced by Olivia Harrison and Directed by Martin Scorsese has one two Emmy Awards. One is for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special and the other is for Outstanding Directing. I served as Historical Consultant on the film and still recall my excitement the night Olivia Harrison called to ask me to work on this amazing film. It was a great honor and experience.

You can read about the Emmys here: http://www.examiner.com/article/george-harrison-documentary-wins-two-creative-arts-primetime-emmys

If you would like to see the film you can purchase the DVD at amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/George-Harrison-Living-Material-World/dp/B007JWKLMO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347895059&sr=8-1&keywords=living+in+the+material+world+george+harrison+dvd

You can also learn more about George Harrison at: www.georgeharrison.com

Next project is the release of my new book, The Beatle Who Vanished. You can learn more about this mysterious Beatle here: www.thebeatlewhovanished.com



(c)2012 Rock And Roll Detective (r), LLC.
All rights reserved.

The Best Classic Rock “Long-Songs” Playlist

It's time to travel back in time and recall some of the greatest and longest songs of classic rock. Does quantity equal quality? It sure does with these tracks. If I failed to mention one of your favorites, let us know below. I would have loved to put up the sound files, but that would be a copyright issue. If you are 45 years old and above, these should be in your collection. If you are under 45, well you need to visit iTunes and you will find them all there. Enjoy.

Low Spark of High Heel Boys - Traffic

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida - Iron Butterfly

Hey Jude – The Beatles

Layla – Derek & the Dominos

The End – The Doors

Free Bird – Lynyrd Skynyrd

Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’ – The Rolling Stones

Jungleland – Bruce Springsteen & the East Street Band

 

Won’t Get Fooled Again – The Who

Stairway to Heaven – Led Zeppelin

Whipping Post (live) – The Allman Brothers

Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen

Southern Man – Neil Young

I Want You (She’s So Heavy) – The Beatles

I Want to Take You Higher – Sly & The Family Stone

Eurotrash Girl – Cracker (not really classic rock era, but a great long rocker nonetheless)

Keep on Chooglin – Creedence Clearwater Revival

No Woman, No Cry (live 1975) – Bob Marley & the Whalers

Papa Was A Rolling Stone – The Temptations

Suite: Judy Blue Eyes – Crosby, Stills & Nash

I’m Your Captain – Grand Funk Railroad

Frankenstein – The Edgar Winter Group

Heroin – Lou Reed

(c) 2012 Rock And Roll Detective (r)

For more information on my new book, The Beatle Who Vanished, go to www.thebeatlewhovanished.com