Beatles -Sgt. Pepper’s- album cover Mysteries and Secrets 4/4 : Pascal Gauthier

This is the last part of my posts on the Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s album cover. I thought it would be interesting to end this series with looking at a few artists’ homage or parody of the famous album cover.

In my previous posts Part 1,2,3 , we have covered many different facts and mysteries of this album cover. If you haven’t checked them out, you may at any time, you will them on the right on the home page or simply by using the search tab. You will surely find this very interesting. So let’s now have a look a some cool artwork.

And why not begin with The Simpsons‘ The Yellow Album.

This is the second album with Simpsons’ orignal songs. It was released in 1998 after the success of the first album The Simpsons Sing the Blues.

This cover is a collage all of the characters who appear in The Simpson series.

Aren’t they a beautiful bunch !!!

 

 

Next is a Def Leppard album cover called Songs from the Sparkle Lounge, which is clearly a tribute to the Sgt.Pepper’s cover. It is a collection of pictures of the band today and Continue reading

Cubana Café

Le Cubana Café est pour moi le lieu de rassemblement de choix quand je viens en France. Je suis sur que dès que j’y mets les pieds, je vais trouver plein de personnes assises au comptoire que j’aime. Cette ambiance familiale et très accueillante que l’ont retrouve pas partous rend ce café vraiment particulier. Je n’ai que de bon souvenir, un bon whisky avec mon chum Gael, quelques bon galopins avec Rom’s, du bon champagne et Jack Damiels avec Eric et Serge, l’humour a Fabien, le bon vin avec Mozart, les bonne discutions avec Frank, les bonne soirées avec Cesar, le bon temps avec mon chum Aurelien, Olivier mon tabarnouche ! , mes amis Xavier & Mi !!!, les soirées musique , J’en oublie mais a tous les gens du Cubana, je suis loin mais je pense a vous, je suis de tout coeur avec vous.

La court veut fermer cet endroit devenu un chez-soi pour plein de gens, mais je compte revenir bientot en France pour y prendre une bonne biere, ne vous laissez pas abattre, il y a surement quelque chose qu’on peut faire, avec les centaine de gens qui soutiennent la cause, il faut trouver un faille dans le systeme.

Je vous laisse avec des photo du Cubana. LE QUEBEC EST AVEC VOUS !!!!
Ne vous genez pas pour écrire un mot en bas pour qu’on vous entende ici !!
merci!!!!  Pascal

Combaton Une injustice Batarde Apuyons Notre Cuba A nous !!!!!

( Regarder mon Rom’s a la base !! RocknRoll !!! ) Continue reading

Shane MacGowan – (The Pogues)

I have always been a huge Pogues fan, mostly because of Shane MacGowan’s presence. This mysterious character who always appears to be buzzed out by alcohol on stage and off, who has the worst teeth, remarkable ears, neglected hair, yet with a stage presence unequaled by anyone.

Obviously sick by the booze, he has become very pale, no colors, but is rocking like heck, and I hope he will for many years to come. It is sad though to see the damage over the years. I’m not going to sit here and find this amusing although his drunkenness has participated to his fame. People find it cool to see him beat the living hell out of his liver, but it obviously is killing him.

I mean look at his face, clearly we can see the pain and in his eyes the dark shade ahead blinding the reality.

I’m no famous artist, but I’ve been playing in public for 17 years now, and to get on stage, even after all these years, I need a drink. It’s hard to admit but, I will not go on stage unless I have this drink. And as the show moves forwards, I get so intensely emotional with the music,  that it’s hard to not drink more. And in other cases it helped sooth intense anxiety.

Imagine being Shane. he was four when he had his first drink,10 when he had his first whiskey !  And even though he now drinks much less than he used to, it’s very hard for him being stuck in his reputation.  “it became difficult for us to Continue reading

Guild F-412 (12 string) the F-30 Acoustic, & Godin acs Classical Guitar Review

Being a passionate of acoustic guitars I’ve had the chance to own a few and to to try many different kinds. Brands like Yamaha, Ovation. Takamine, Martin, Gibson, Taylor, Fender. and Guild.

When your are in the Martin, Guild and Taylor category, it becomes a matter of preference since all three are great guitar brands. They’ve proven to be of the best.  I’ve owned a Martin for a few months. I remember playing my first chord before buying it, I thought it sounded great, but I eventually got fed up with taking care of it like a baby, it’s fragility was too much to handle. So I sold it and went on searching for the next. I’ve tried Takamines, I’m no fan at all, Taylors, which sounded good but not made for me. I thought they had a fragile sound. But don’t get me wrong they are great guitars, simply they are not my choice.

Then I tried a Guild and it was love at first chord !! I purchased the Guild 12 string F-412. The sound is absolutely awesome.  it feels good to hold and play with, and the action is very comfortable. Of course a great guitar like this comes with a very high price ticket, but trust me it’s worth it. Its has a great sound whether it’s played aggressively with a hard pick giving you powerful yet clear sound without buzzing sounds with a very well balanced sustain, or played softly giving you instant inspiration to compose a ballade at the first chord.

I played many concerts with this guitar and found that the pickup is so powerful, It needs to be played through a compressor to prevent blowing up the speakers !! lol !!  And contrary to Martin guitars, Guild guitars are not as fragile, in fact they have a famous phrase tattooed on them ‘”Guild Made To Be Played“.  I’ve tried and had a few 12 string guitars and by far this one is the best. Many famous artists play this legendary guitar and have been for a few decades. My only bad point about it is that the keys have a tendency   to loosen. But for about 20$ it’s worth getting them ajusted once a year.

My note for my Guild 12 string F-412 :
★★★★★★★★★☆

 

Being now a Guild fan I decided I would buy the Guild F-30 6 string.
It’s hard to find a guitar that satisfies all your needs as a musician. Every guitars I owned up till then always had something I didn’t like, such as the position comfort, the pickups or the action. But here is this gorgeous small body 6 string sunburst guitar with all the characteristics I like. First off, the sound is awesome. SInce it has a small body, the sound is very particular. Unplugged I thought it would not sound very loud, but I was wrong, of course it’s not as loud as a jumbo case guitar but its still very present. It gives it a great sharp and steady sound. When plugged, it simply is very impressive. It has great impact on every string. Like the F-412 it’s very powerful and can take hard picks with an aggressive player without buzzing. The action is just sweet, it feels comfortable all the way down the neck. And even though it’s a small body guitar, it’s neck is wide and comfortable for wide fingers. I’ve tried many 6 strings, and I would not have invested my money on no other than this excellent guitar. For every style of music and every type of player, its the answer to your prayer !!!!

My note on my 6 string Guild F-30 :
★★★★★★★★★★

 

I have recently bought a Godin ACS guitar since I did not have a classical guitar.  It seems many many people have an old classical guitar sitting somewhere next to the fire place or in the living room as a decoration and always ready to be played when visitors come for the evening. That’s great for a couple songs at the table, but for recording and live playing, it’s a no no. And then there is the Godin ACS !!! I remember having tried one a few years ago and loved it.  I was not searching for a classical guitar at this point, but I told myself , if I needed one I would for sure buy this one. This week I was offered this guitar and I did not hesitate and bought it. First it looks really nice, not your usual classical guitar, and it sounds wonderful, absolutely wonderful.  The action is really comfortable. Most classical guitars have a high action to give it a louder sound, but since this one is made to be played amplified, the action can be very low, and still have a great impact. If you try playing it unplugged you’ll waste your time, it needs to teem up with an acoustic amplifier to perform at it’s best. In fact it would be the only bad point I have to say about it (that it cannot be played unplugged), even though it’s not bad at all, it was made this way. Trust me to play it is to adopt it !!!!!!

My note on the Godin ACS Classical Guitar :
★★★★★★★★★☆

I would like to know what you think. Do you have a guitar you want to talk about? Do you have a comment on the above guitars? Feel free to share your ideas !

Thanks and Good day folks !!!!!
 
     

Michael Jackson Mirror Portrait of Egyptian Statue

Michael Jackson has always fascinated us in many ways. Whether through his life style, his great music, his many different appearances, and even in his death, making many of us believe he might very well be still alive and well.

(Picture above is a wax figure from Madame Tussauds Hollywood)

The latest incredible thing I heard about Michael, is that he might have voluntarily modeled himself to look like an ancient Egyptian statue !… What !? You might say, but please take a look at these pictures before you giggle :

You have to admit, it’s so resembling one might say it’s a sculpture of Michael that was made to look like it was from ancient Egypt. Well, sorry but, it’s the other way around. It really is from ancient Egypt, in fact, it was made between 1550 to 1050 B.C.  in the Ramses and King tut era, known as : The New Kingdom of Egypt period.

 

 

 

The 300 year old statue (bust) was bought in 1889 in Egypt, Cairo and has been in The Field Museum, Chicago for 21 years for people to come take a look. No need to say that since the King of Pop has left us, ( I’de rather say), the exposition has attracted many fans.

I really didn’t need to put a picture of Michael side by side with the statue for you to see the resemblance, but just in case you missed, check out the nose. The statue’s nose was clipped out, probably by early Christians and Muslims according to a spokesman of the Field Museum, Chicago, ” “according to the curator, 95% of Egyptian statues and busts were defiled by early Christians and Muslims because they Continue reading

Johnny Cash at San Quentin : Pascal Gauthier

It seems Johnny Cash has always been around, and certainly needs no introduction. After all, he is ” one of the single most Influential and popular country singers of all times” and ”one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.”

He was often referred to as the ”man in black”, in his words : ”We’re doing mighty fine I do suppose / In our streak of lightning cars and fancy clothes / But just so we’re reminded of the ones who are held back / Up front there ought to be a man in black.” Cash was very compassionate in regards to the Continue reading

Beatles -Sgt. Pepper’s- album cover Mysteries and Secrets 3/4 : Pascal Gauthier

Hey!
I hope you enjoyed part 1 & 2 of this post. If you have not read them, you can always go back and read them when you want. We did cover many little cool secrets from this
album cover. For part 3, I figured I would add a few other things you will surely find interesting. Not all are directly linked with the cover art, but are linked with the album.

First, here is a hand drawing by Peter Blake representing his first vision of the album cover.
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As you can see, he respected perfectly his original idea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is where the famous photo session took place, at Studio 4, Chelsea Manor Studios, 1-11 Flood Street, Chelsea, London. Many people have been there knowing the most famous album cover of all times was created inside this small mansion.
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Here are the people who were implicated in the cover artwork;
Art director : Robert Fraser , Designer : Peter Blake and Jann Haworth (his wife as artistic partner), photograph : Michael Cooper.

The outifits ( old military style ) the Beatles wore for the cover were Continue reading

Beatles -Sgt. Pepper’s- album cover Mysteries and Secrets 2/4 : Pascal Gauthier

Beatles -Sgt. Pepper’s- album cover Mysteries and Secrets 2/4 : Pascal Gauthier Photobucket In part 1 of this study ‘Beatles -Sgt. Pepper’s- album cover Mysteries and Secrets’, we have familiarized ourselves with all the personalities on the Sgt. Pepper’s album cover. I’m sure you were surprised to find out who some of these people really were and might have wondered why some of them are considered by the Beatles as their heroes. But for now I’m not going to give my personal opinion on their decisions or opinions (maybe in a future post). The Beatles were a great band, although I don’t agree with many of their point of views. Let’s concentrate ourselves on these interesting facts, and you make your own opinion. To begin with this part of the blog, lets find out who was supposed to be on the album cover, and were cut out at the last minute. Photobucket Person number 1 ; Yes it’s Gandhi of course : (Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi).                 Person number 2 ; Leo Gorcey (actor). PhotobucketPhotobucket
Can you find who else is missing from the final and original Sgt. Pepper’s album cover ? (click to enlarge pic below)  If you can’t find him, put the cursor over the Continue reading

Beatles -Sgt. Pepper’s- album cover Mysteries and Secrets 1/4 : Pascal Gauthier

Beatles -Sgt. Pepper’s- album cover Mysteries and Secrets 1/4 : Pascal Gauthier
PhotobucketThe Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is one of the best selling albums in the world with over 32 million copies sold. It was officially released in 1967 and not without controversy.  I guess they used that controversy as a tool for popularity. Here are two quotes I found about controversy ; Seldes, Gilbert ; “All great ideas are controversial, or have been at one time.” Hazlitt, William ; “When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy, it ceases to be a subject of interest.” The Sgt. Pepper’s album cover is no exception to controversy and mystery. Its filled with hidden messages and secrets. Everything was carefully calculated and placed strategically to create the myth it now is.

Every personalities on the cover were people the Beatles admired as their personal heroes. They also said they would of liked to have all these people in the audience : ” I asked them to make lists of people they would like to have in the audience at this imaginary concert.” Peter Blake (designed the cover).

For the part 1 of my study I will show you who all these personalities are. I’ve numbered each of them to make it easier for you.

Top row :

(1) Sri Yukteswar Giri (Hindu guru), (2) Aleister Crowley (occultist), (3) Mae West (actress), (4) Lenny Bruce (comedian), (5) Karlheinz Stockhausen (composer), (6) W. C. Fields (comedian/actor),(7) Carl Gustav Jung (psychiatrist), (8) Edgar Allan Poe (writer), (9) Fred Astaire (actor/dancer), (10) Richard Merkin (artist), (11) The Vargas Girl (by artist Alberto Vargas), (12) Huntz Hall (actor), (13) Simon Rodia (designer and builder of the Watts Towers), (14) Bob Dylan (singer/songwriter)

Second row:

(15) Aubrey Beardsley (illustrator), (16) Sir Robert Peel (19th century British Prime Minister), (17) Aldous Huxley (writer), (18) Dylan Thomas (poet), (19) Terry Southern (writer), (20) Dion (singer), (21) Tony Curtis (actor), (22) Wallace Berman (artist), (23) Tommy Handley (comedian), (24) Marilyn Monroe (actress), (25) William S. Burroughs (writer), (26) Sri Mahavatar Babaji (Hindu guru), (27) Stan Laurel (actor/comedian), (28) Richard Lindner (artist), (29) Oliver Hardy (actor/comedian), (30) Karl Marx (political philosopher), (31) H. G. Wells (writer), (32) Sri Paramahansa Yogananda (Hindu guru),

(33)Either Sigmund Freud (psychiatrist) according to wikipedia or James Joyce according to many – (barely visible) ; (update)Thanks to Sergey (RimS) the mysterie is solved, the person is in fact James Joyce as you can se below.

(34) Anonymous (hairdresser’s wax dummy)

Third row: (35) Stuart Sutcliffe (artist/former Beatle), (36) Anonymous (hairdresser’s wax dummy), (37) Max Miller (comedian), (38) A “Petty Girl” (by artist George Petty), (39) Marlon Brando (actor), (40) Tom Mix (actor), (41) Oscar Wilde (writer), (42) Tyrone Power (actor), (43) Larry Bell (artist), (44) Dr. David Livingstone (missionary/explorer), (45) Johnny Weissmuller (Olympic swimmer/Tarzan actor), (46) Stephen Crane (writer) – barely visible ;

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(47) Issy Bonn (comedian), (48) George Bernard Shaw (playwright), (49)H. C. Westermann (sculptor), (50) Albert Stubbins (football player), (51) Sri Lahiri Mahasaya (guru), (52) Lewis Carroll (writer), (53) T. E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”),

Front row: (54) Wax model of Sonny Liston (boxer), (55) A “Petty Girl” (by George Petty), (56) Wax model of George Harrison, (57) Wax model of John Lennon,(58) Shirley Temple (child actress) - barely visible;

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(59) Wax model of Ringo Starr, (60) Wax model of Paul McCartney, (61) Albert Einstein (physicist) – Hidden behind ;

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(62) John Lennon, (63) Ringo Starr, (64) Paul McCartney, (65)George Harrison, (66) Bobby Breen (singer), (67) Marlene Dietrich (actress/singer), (68) Legionnaire from the Order of the Buffalos, (69) Diana Dors (actress), (70) (Shirley Temple Again. So now you are familiar with the personalities on the album cover. Remember everyone is there because they are heroes for the Beatles, so maybe you want to really check in to these people. Try to figure out why each is considered as such.

On my next post ( part 2 of this study) I will talk about the people who were originally suposed to appear on the cover, and were eventually cut out for number of reasons. And we will cover the hidden images and other mysteries of this fascinating album.

Till then Good day folks !

Pascal Gauthier

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