Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
All My Beatles
Just as I’ve been compelled to listen obsessively to The Beatles for most of the years of my life, I’m now helpless to resist the urge to write about them on Medium.
LIKE MOST TRUE BEATLES FANS, I’ve been completely entranced since Thanksgiving Day by the chance to watch Peter Jackson’s sensational documentary The Beatles: Get Back on Disney+.
Honestly, I should probably be completely written out on John, Paul, George and Ringo. Back in 2018, I authored a book about the band, Once There Was a Way, that went on to win the Sidewise Award for Alternate History. It’s no slouchy award either; other winners include Michael Chabon and Philip Roth. So, yes, that recognition probably was as good a place to stop obsessing about my feelings for their music and their lives as I’ll ever get, but the truth is that I have more to say about the group than ever. Just can’t quit them.
Over the past month, it turns out that it took a trilogy of articles to even begin to lay out my feelings.
This output may come as a shock to some of my Medium readers who know my work primarily as it has been featured on the Medium publication Trail of the Saucers. It focuses on UFO news, history, culture and analysis. So, of course, I found a way to combine these two passions, and just completed a three-part investigation into the John Lennon UFO sighting of 1974 in New York City.
I know, I know. Two trilogies in one month on The Beatles is a lot to write and more than most people, even fans, will have time to read.
It would have been so much better if I’d stuck to UFOs. Those mysterious objects have a built-in audience these days, and the readership is surprisingly high for this material. Plus, I’m a working writer/producer in Hollywood, known for its often covert ageism, and writing about a lifetime of fascination with The Beatles certainly doesn’t hide the age thing the way my representatives would probably recommend. Still, a writer’s heart wants to write about what it wants to write about.
For now, though, I really do think I need to watch the rooftop concert portion of The Beatles: Get Back one more time, just to get the total feel of it. Besides, as long as I’m watching and listening to The Beatles, I can take a break from the writing.
