chavla foreigner loving
Giorgio Aguilar
The girl who is quite possibly the world's biggest Beatles fan just celebrated her eleventh birthday in a very Fab Four sort of way. This party has been a long time in the making. About six months ago, the idea of a Beatles birthday party popped into my head, and Hannah's reaction to my idea was a big smile, big eyes, and a big YES! Since then, she and I have been churning out ideas and writing them down on our master "BEATLES PARTY IDEAS" list. The goal was to make it fun and Beatles-ish without breaking the bank, and I think it was a success!
First, I incorporated as many Beatles songs as I could into the invitation, and printed them out myself. Brightly colored decorations were inspired by the Sgt. Pepper album, and I cut black cardstock records to hang from the ceiling, complete with the Apple Records label. We put up Hannah's Beatles posters, pulled out her postcards and vinyl albums, and printed and framed lesser known Beatles photos we found online. Hannah has the framed photos on her dresser now, so she can swoon over them whenever she pleases.
I made the big menu poster so the girls would see the connection between the Beatles songs and the food. Everything was relatively simple...just pizza and soda, chocolate dipped strawberries, a bowl of green apples to represent the Apple record label, Fudge Stripe cookies turned on their backs to resemble vinyl records, and Twinkie* yellow submarines decorated with Skittles and straws, and Swedish fish swimming about on the platter. The trickiest part was decorating these cupcakes with the Beatles' faces, but they turned out okay...? And of course we were blasting Beatles music all through dinner!
On to the activities! Hannah and I came up with a Beatles playlist and corresponding prizes for a game of "Name That Tune." We gave the girls a split second to hear each song and whoever named it first won the prize (although after two prizes they had to let the others have a go at winning). I was amazed at how quickly some of the girls named the songs...Hannah has trained her friends well! Here is our playlist and what we did for little prizes:
We had a few extra prizes left, so the girls played Hot Potato with Beatles music until all the prizes were gone. Other activities we considered doing was making cardboard guitars like these, or painting yellow submarines, however, we just didn't have time. Instead, the girls drummed, strummed and sang their little hearts out to Beatles Rock Band, and finished off the night by watching one of the funniest movies ever made, HELP. If you have never seen it, I HIGHLY recommend it.
For the party favors, I printed paper sacks with an image from HELP, and filled them with Beatles buttons, stickers, Penny Lane penny rolls (see below for free printable!), and "RINGo" Pops. Some other possible prizes and/or party favors would be these adorable music boxes. They really do make a great little gift for any Beatles fan.My girls are working on collecting all of the Beatles songs available. You could also do Beatles posters, magnets, or tote bags (all very inexpensive on Amazon.com). The list is endless, and it really just depends on your party budget. Another fun shopping site is fabfourstore.com.
For you! pennylanelabel (simply cut and tape around penny rolls) and beatlesjournalcover*Beatles pictogram can be found here.*Although Hostess Twinkies are no longer available, most grocery stores offer similar store brand versions.
Somewhere around hour three of the Disney+ documentary The Beatles: Get Back, after watching Paul McCartney treat his bandmates more like hired hands than creative partners, I had the random thought, "I wonder what his astrological sign is, he's gotta be a fire sign...", setting off a birth chart excavation that explained (at least to me!) why these guys act the way they do throughout this eight-hour film.
A little about Western astrology: it uses your birthday to determine your "sun sign," but if you know your time of birth, you can figure out your "rising sign" and your "moon sign." I talk about all three below, to help illuminate each Beatles' unique personality. (And trusted the internet to know their birth times, 'cause I don't know their "mums.") Also, I refer to the elements of each sign throughout the article, which are: fire (Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius), earth (Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn), air (Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius), and water (Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces).
Finally, I want to clarify that I am not a certified astrologer, and yes, I know, it's classified as a "pseudoscience." I'm merely a hobbyist who finds astrology fun, fascinating, and eerily accurate. Although after exploring the signs of The Beatles, I might start an astrological service for bands, just to make sure they know if they'll be compatible or not! (Uncle Tupelo, y'all were doomed from the get-go.)
Okay, let's start with Sir Paul himself, since he's the one who got me curious about the whole thing. One of my party tricks (yes, I have more than one) is guessing someone's astrological sign after spending some time with them. I have a pretty spooky talent for sussing it out. But the one that always trips me up is the Gemini. (I had Paul pegged as an Aries, oops.)
"Gemini" is the Latin word for "twins," and it's said that those born under this sign have a dual personality, making them hard to pin down. This might explain why Paul can be goofing around just as much as John, singing in funny voices and literally climbing rafters, and then the next minute, he's all serious, micro-managing each musician's contributions, and making sure everyone knows what time to come into the studio the next day.
George, on the other hand, is clearly a Pisces. In fact, on his 2002 solo album Brainwashed, he even wrote a song called "Pisces Fish" where he sings, "I'm a Pisces fish and the river runs through my soul." (Unsurprisingly, George was into astrology.)
The actual fight is a little diferent than how it's portrayed in the film. In the film, the lads are rehearsing "Get Back," but as you can hear in the archival audio linked above, they were actually working on "Two of Us." I'm not sure why director Peter Jackson made that editing choice, but I'm sure there were no shortage of moments where Paul is annoying George from which to choose. (In fact, if you carefully watch the following montage of George glaring at Paul, you'll notice his shirt changes throughout, revealing this to be a collection of clips accumulated over days.) You can see the Scorpio rising as he snaps at Paul: "I'll play, you know, whatever you want me to play. Or I won't play at all, if you don't want me to play," he says, exasperated. "Whatever it is that will please you, I'll do it." A few hours later, he quits the band. True to his Piscean work ethic, he politely waits until the lunch break.
One look at those large, sleepy blue eyes of Ringo's and you just know the man has got to be a water sign. Plus, those born under a water sign are said to be "go with the flow" types, and boy, is that ever evident during the Get Back sessions. (George's argument with Paul notwithstanding.) While Paul is taking control, John is waltzing with Yoko, and George is trying to be heard, Ringo just chills patiently, waiting to play. (He's so relaxed, at one point in the documentary he lets out a fart.)
One of the sweetest moments of the series is when Ringo is playing the beginnings of "Octopus's Garden" in the studio, and George thoughtfully walks over with his guitar to help him "work it out." (Google it, youngsters.) Two water signs, crafting a song... about a water creature. (And Ringo's previous lead song was "Yellow Submarine.") Could that be any more astrologically perfect?
While George and Ringo bond as water signs, it's no surprise that Paul's songwriting soulmate is also an air sign. Air signs are regarded as the communicators, evident in Paul and John's uncanny and incomparable ability to compose songs together. Apparently the pair were so entwined they even finished each other's sentences.
Hello all! Tomorrow, February 7, is the 50th anniversary of the Beatles arriving in the US for the first time (and it also happens to be Penny Lane Bloom's birthday). I wanted to do something special to commemorate this huge date in Beatles history, so I decided to do a giveaway. A massive giveaway! How does this look?
Winner must provide a US address. Yes, it's US only. Sorry about that, but it would take too much time and money to try to ship such a large package abroad. I need to finish The Lonely Hearts Club sequel instead of spending hours at the post office! (And I did just do an international giveaway on Facebook, so...)
Last night I watched Martin Scorsese's documentary "George Harrison: Living in a Material World." It was a three-and-a-half hour long intimate look at George's public and private life. It was personal, it was touching, and to put it simply, it was amazing. I highly recommend it to anybody who loves The Beatles (it's currently playing in repeats on HBO in the US).I mentioned briefly in my blog about seeing Sir Paul McCartney this summer that I have a very special place in my heart for George. I always hate when I'm asked who my favorite Beatles is because it really is a hard question to answer. I absolutely love Sir Paul, he can do no wrong in my eyes. His post-Beatles career has been filled with so many wonderful songs. I have nothing but the utmost respect for John Lennon, it is such a tragedy that he was taken away from us so early. And of course, Ringo has this charm and humor about him that he just makes you smile. And then there's George. Sweet, sweet, underrated George.
What it must've been like to be surrounded by the songwriting genius of Lennon/McCartney. How could you even compete? But then quiet George comes in and gives us such brilliant songs as "Taxman," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Here Comes the Sun," and, of course, "Something." As Sir Paul has recalled on more than one occasion, Frank Sinatra once said to him, "'Something' is my favorite Lennon/McCartney song." To which Sir Paul cheekily responded, "Mine too."
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