Rubber Soul was the 6th album from The Beatles catalog. Released in December 1965, it contains fourteen songs, including two tracks withheld from the band’s album. The album was met with a highly favourable critical response and topped sales charts in the UK and the United States for several weeks. Tracks include Girland In My Life, which, according to John Lennon, was his “first real major piece of work” because it was the first time he wrote about his own life.

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It’s safe to say that with 250-300+ (more like 500) music videos to his credit, saying Jim Yukich is a great director is wildly understated. He’s accomplished a lot more as well, directing 1500+ episodes of “Chelsea Lately” over 7.5 years, over 60 episodes of ET over 6 months, plus 2 feature films. Add in his numerous awards, and he’s truly a force to be reckoned with.



We spoke for nearly two hours over a couple days, and with such an interesting, well-informed subject, it felt like 5 minutes. He was so gracious and kind, and answered every question, and then some. Rather than write my views, I am printing his vivid and very articulate responses.




What was it that inspired you to enter the music and entertainment field? 




“The Beatles changed life as we know it and were what originally interested me in music. I played in bands since 5th grade… I still play with 2 different bands.



Somehow my family had a super 8mm camera and I always liked filming all our family...

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“On Saturday, August 1, 1981, at 12:01 AM Eastern Time, MTV launched with the words “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll,” spoken by John Lack, and played over footage of the first Space Shuttle launch countdown of Columbia (which took place earlier that year) and of the launch of Apollo 11.” And with those words, we entered a whole new era.



It was then that we were introduced to the five people who would shape and mold that blank canvas into what became the greatest social experiment of our generation. “Veejays” J.J. Jackson, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, Martha Quinn and Nina Blackwood would soon become daily visitors to our respective homes, bringing us that “whole new world.”



In a follow-up to our blog with early MTV program director Neal Mirsky, we decided to add a Veejay voice to the mix, for contrast and comparison. I was most fortunate to sit down and exchange ideas and emails with Nina Blackwood recently. Nina was a driving force at MTV, and as one of the...

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After watching “Get Back” with the Beatles for 468 minutes, my first thought is I’m not entirely sure this couldn’t have been just a tad bit shorter. Not that I totally didn’t enjoy it and get fully immersed in the entire 3-part documentary, but some of it became a little redundant and tedious. Right around the 2-hour mark on each of the three parts, I started looking to see just how much longer this was going to drag on. That being said, I hated for it to end!



Because of “Let It Be,” the film patched together from the mountains of footage shot by director Michael Lindsay Hogg right after the Beatles broke up, the rest of this fantastic footage almost didn’t see the light of day, and what a shame that would have been.



“Get Back,” released in three parts, encompasses nearly eight hours of playtime, and gives an extraordinarily intimate, more defined, complex, and complicated picture of that month, when the Beatles gathered first at Twickenham Studios, and then moved over to...

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For the first time ever in my life, words have truly failed me. I have been trying to write this article since March 25 – the fateful day we lost Taylor Hawkins. What I wanted to express just simply would not come. But now – months later, I feel compelled to complete this – for Taylor, for his wife Alison, for his kids, and for Dave Grohl and the rest of the Foos. And always, for the fans!



Oliver Taylor Hawkins was born in Ft Worth, Texas, and moved to Laguna Beach, CA when he was only 4. Tay, as he was nicknamed, was your typical “California” boy, loving the sun, sand, and Pacific Ocean. Growing up in Orange County (the “O.C.”) gave Tay plenty of opportunity to discover who and what he wanted to be. “I was a fat, chubby, stupid kid who failed at everything and that nobody liked,” he said in 2000. “Then I started playing drums.” He also said little about his early family background except that his parents bought him a drum set when he was 10.



He went to and graduated from...

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What are of the 5 Best Animated Christmas Shows? As a kid, I think we all had favorites, and I think many of us will agree with this list. From the 60s – 90s, these are the ones we feel have best stood the test of time.



Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (the TV Special)Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a 1964 Christmas Special that first aired Sunday, December 6, 1964. The special was based on the Johnny Marks song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and tells the story of how Rudolph became the one to lead Santa’s sleigh. Since 1972, the special has aired exclusively on CBS, with the network unveiling a high-def, digitally remastered version of the program in 2005. Unlike other holiday specials that also air on several cable channels, Rudolph airs only on CBS, and airs several times during the Holiday Season.  It has been telecast every year since 1964, making it the longest continuously running Christmas TV special in history.



A Charlie Brown ChristmasThis wonderful...

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Any list of “Top 10 Christmas Movies” tends to be subject to both cheers and derision as these compilations are inevitably driven by the reader (or writer’s) tastes. This one’s no different. I chose movies that I felt best portrayed the true meaning of Christmas, in one way or another.  I didn’t put these together in any sort of specific order, other than that in which they came to mind:



ELF: This movie is one of my “musts” every Holiday Season. The plot is simple, a man named Buddy, who was raised from infancy as one of Santa’s Elves, comes to NYC as an adult to find his biological father.  Hilarity ensues as he spreads Christmas cheer in a world full of cynics. This movie is heartwarming and focuses on the true meaning of the season … the SPIRIT of Christmas. Slashfilm calls this “a damn delightful Christmas movie.”



Home Alone 1 & 2: Yes, they are 2 separate movies, but both are equally entertaining, and go hand in hand. In the first movie, 8-year-old Kevin...

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Being in a band can be so tough. When you’re writing songs, recording albums, touring the world, and doing it all with the same exact people day after day, relationships can become a little strained, to say the least. It’s like being in any family – you fight, you get mad, then you make up … most of the time.



Let’s start with the Rolling Stones, or more specifically the “Glimmer Twins” as Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are affectionately known. These two have obviously learned the art of “kiss and make up” pretty well, to withstand nearly 60 years together. From the 60s through today, the famed duo has had more than their fair share of differences, even doing solo albums during band breaks. In 2010, Richards decided to publish his autobiography, in which he called Jagger’s manhood a “tiny dodger,” and referred to Jagger as “her majesty.” Yikes!



Jagger’s very rancorous response? “Imagine that everything Keith says is true. Now imagine those things being said by a...

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Turn, Turn, The Byrds were a California-based rock band in the 60s. The original (but very short-lived) lineup of the band consisted of Jim (Roger) McGuinn (lead guitar, vocals), Gene Clark (tambourine, vocals), David Crosby (rhythm guitar, vocals), Chris Hillman (bass guitar, vocals), and Michael Clarke (drums). In fact, Jim (Roger) McGuinn was the only member who remained consistently a part of the band.



The Byrds are considered by critics to be among the most influential rock acts of their era, even though their time as a “popular group” only lasted for a short period in the mid-60s and very early 70s. At one point, the band were even cited as being an inspiration to The Beatles who were the figureheads of this brave new world.



The nucleus of the Byrds formed in early 1964, when Jim McGuinn, Gene Clark, and David Crosby came together as a trio. Both Dickson and Clarke were added in at a later date in mid-64. But by early 1966 Clark had left due to problems associated with...

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I was scrolling through various sites earlier today, looking for interesting articles to post on Facebook, as I do daily. As always, I looked to “This Day in Music,” as I always find great content there. I came across a post in their “on this day” section about an Everly Brothers song from the 50s being banned on radio. Wait … what?!?!?!



Yes, in 1957 they banned the song “Wake Up Little Susie” by the Everly Brothers for “suggestive content.” So I started digging a little further. Lots of songs have been banned from radio play. Some are pretty self-explanatory. And some are just head scratchers. I always knew this, yet I’m still just a little gobsmacked.



Of course, you have the obvious ones – anything even slightly drug-related has always been frowned upon by the conservative establishment. Songs like “Cocaine” by Eric Clapton got the kibosh pretty fast on mainstream radio. Some songs, like “Lucy in The Sky With Diamonds” by the Beatles seemed to reference drugs, and while...

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Born and raised in the Queens area of New York to an Italian-American family, Anthony Dominick Benedetto, better known professionally as “Tony Bennett” truly has nothing left to prove. He’s now 95 years old, fighting Alzheimer’s, but not allowing this disease to keep him from living.



Bennett started singing at a very young age. By age 10 he was already singing and performed at the opening of the Triborough Bridge in July 1936. He began getting paid for singing at age 13, performing as a singing waiter in several Italian restaurants around his native Queens. He also developed an aptitude for drawing, creating caricatures for his class at PS 141. He attended New York’s School of Industrial Art where he studied painting and music but had to drop out at age 16 to help support his family. He set his sights on a professional singing career, performing as a singing waiter, playing, and winning amateur nights all around the city, and finding local success at a Paramus, New Jersey...

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What can I possibly say about Charlie Watts that hasn’t already been said? The man was and still is, an icon, a legend. One of the greatest drummers to ever grace the stage.



Perhaps my favorite thing about him was his loyalty and faithfulness. Always a very private man, Watts even kept his marriage from the band initially. Concerned that his marriage would alienate the group’s infatuated teenage female fans, Watts decided to hardly tell anyone about it – including his fellow band members and the band’s manager.  I recently read in an article that Watts was faithful to his wife Shirley, and consistently refused sexual favors from groupies on the road.  It was said that when the group was invited to the Playboy Mansion in the 70s, Watts took advantage of Hugh Hefner’s game room instead of frolicking with the women. That was Charlie Watts – he truly marched to the beat of his own drum.



Charles Robert (Charlie) Watts was born in Bloomsbury England in 1941. Raised initially in...

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Paul McCartney is simply ageless. Although his face may have a few more lines and wrinkles, he still doesn’t present as a man who is pushing 80 next year. His energy and drive are that of a man a third of his age.  This documentary, produced by Rick Rubin, is 6 parts of utter magic, strung together in compelling 30-minute segments. Rubin is also the interviewer for the piece.



In segment one, Paul immediately praises John on All My Loving, and how intricate his playing was on the song. He also points out what a clown John was. Always pulling a face or doing some silly thing that made everyone laugh. He speaks so fondly of John, and their undeniable chemistry and bond.



He talks about writing “Michelle,” and how it came about from going to John’s art school parties and pretending to be French to try to catch the ladies’ interest. Years later, John said, “You remember that French song you fiddled with? You should finish that.” And Paul did.



The Beatles were very heavily...

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