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Dear Prudence

We just finished learning this one and the guitar was very fun to learn albeit a bit of a challenge. Jackie’s going to be singing lead which is a break from what seems to be our norm where I’m John and she’s Paul

Here’s some fun facts I found:

• While Mia Farrow inspired such men as Andre Previn, Frank Sinatra and Woody Allen, her sister Prudence left her mark on John Lennon. According to Nancy de Herrera’s book, All You Need Is Love, Prudence met The Beatles on a spiritual retreat with the Maharishi in India, which she attended with Mia. When Prudence, suffering depression, confined herself to her room, Lennon wrote this hoping to cheer her up. It did.
• Prudence Farrow wanted to “Teach God quicker than anyone else,” according to John Lennon. She would lock herself in her room trying to meditate for hours and hours. From A Hard Day’s Write, by Steve Turner: “At the end of the demo version of Dear Prudence John continues playing guitar and says: ‘No one was to know that sooner or later she was to go completely berserk, under the care of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. All the people around were very worried about the girl because she was going insane. So, we sang to her.’”
• Ringo had left the group as the White Album sessions got very tense, so Paul McCartney played drums. When Ringo came back a short time later, there were flowers on his drum kit welcoming him back.
• The guitars were overdubbed 6 or 7 times.
• John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics were auctioned off for $19,500 in 1987.
• Lennon considered this one of his favorites.
• Siouxsie And The Banshees covered this in 1983. Their version went to #3 in the UK and became their biggest hit.

Another fun fact brought to you by J&J Factoids, Rubber Stamps, and Political Fondu, Inc.

Back in the U.S.S.R.

Well, we’re performing the Beatles’ White Album next month and are learning the songs. Back in the U.S.S.R. is the first track on the album and I thought it would be fun to start looking up some of the “song facts” about each of the songs (at least those I can find facts about). Here are some interesting things I dug up about this one:

• Mike Love from the Beach Boys was sitting in a hotel lobby when Paul McCartney came down for breakfast. The two of them chatted for awhile, and Love suggested that The Beatles incorporate a little bit of a Beach Boy sound in a song, “Like we did in California Girls.” McCartney was impressed with the idea and used some Beach Boys’ elements in this song: Instead of “California Girls” is was “Moscow Girls.” Plus, the definitive Beach Boy “Oooeeeeoooo” in the background harmonies.
• The title was inspired by Chuck Berry’s “Back In The U.S.A.”
• Things were tense when they were working on this album, and Ringo walked out during recording, briefly quitting the band. Paul McCartney played drums in his place.
• The Beatles originally wrote this for wafer-thin actress and model Twiggy.
• The line “Georgia’s always on my mind” in a play on the Ray Charles song “Georgia On My Mind.” It has a double meaning, since Georgia was part of the U.S.S.R.
• Elton John performed this when he toured Russia in 1979. Billy Joel also played it when he toured Moscow in 1987. (thanks, Adrian - Wilmington, DE)
• Paul McCartney used this as the title to an album he released only in Russia in 1989. In 2002, McCartney called his US tour the “Back In The US” tour.
• This opens with the sound of an airplane flying from left to right across the speakers. Stereo was relatively new, so this was very innovative for the time.
• On August 22, 1968, following an argument with McCartney over the drum part for this song, Ringo walked out on The Beatles. He flew to Sardinia for a holiday to consider his future. While there he received a telegram from his bandmates saying, ‘You’re the best rock ‘n’ roll drummer in the world. Come on home, we love you.’ On his return, he found his drum kit covered with flowers. A banner above read, ‘Welcome Back.’

So there ya go We’ll be adding others as we work on them.

New Videos Online

So we filmed most of the shows at Territorial and Saginaw Vineyards this last week and have uploaded them to both our site here and youtube. This is pretty much the first time we’ve filmed anything in over a year and there’s a learning curve that I’m doing my best to climb, both in getting decent audio as well as the picture quality. We’ll keep filming and working on getting both of those elements improved (the background crowd noise, wind on the mic, etc. are the biggest issues right now). Still, it’s pretty fun and we’re really wanting to get some good footage of the White Album Stealing the Covers show next month. 

To see the videos click the video button at the top of this page. You can also view the videos on youtube of course. Please also add some comments to either youtube or to our website if your so inclined, we loving hearing from you.

Here’s something cool btw that I learned the other day. When watching youtube it adds a lot of compression to the videos to make them download faster. If you have a fast connection though, this just degrades the image quality for no reason. There is a way to view them at at a higher quality though:

Normally the youtube url looks like the one below which gives you low resolution 320×240 videos.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ABCDE

Simply add &fmt=6 onto the end of url
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ABCDE&fmt=6

Now you should see high resolution videos. If no change is observed, then it means the video has not been converted to the higher resolution yet. View the video in full screen mode to see the difference.

If you add &fmt=18 to the end of url.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ABCDE&fmt=18

Now it will play the high-resolution 480×360 MP4 high-bandwidth videos with higher quality audio when available, otherwise it will play the regular version. Give it a try.

Territorial Vineyards & Wine Company

Thursday, September 11th brings us back for Thursday Night Live at Territorial. In September, we’ll be performing a very special “Stealing The Covers“, a DOUBLE ALBUM. For our second and third sets we will be performing The Beatles’ “White Album” in its entirety! This legendary album contains unforgettable hits like “Back in the U.S.S.R.”, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”, and “Helter Skelter”. It also features beautiful, eclectic songs you hear less often like “Dear Prudence”, “Julia” and “Mother Nature’s Son” alongside fun & silly tracks like “Rocky Racoon”, “Bungalo Bill” & “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road”. And of course, the pièce de résistance everyone is wondering how we can pull off … “Revolution 9″. Don’t worry, it’s an interpretation — we won’t subject you to the full 8 minutes 15 seconds.

Whether or not you’re a Beatles fan, this is a special show not to be missed!

Thursday, September 11, 2008
7:00pm - 10:00pm

907 West Third Avenue
Eugene, OR 97401
(541) 684-9463

www.territorialvineyards.com