SUMMARY Unseen Paul builds on our earlier episodes by sharing even more quotes, stories, and insights about young Paul McCartney, who deserves a nuanced and dynamic portrait in any Beatles biography. We explore some of his more overlooked character traits: his quirks and gifts; his stressors and anxieties; his unusual interests and values. These features reveal him as a fascinatingly dualistic artist and person. SOURCES Paul McCartney: the Definitive Biography by Chris Salewicz (1986) The Beatles by Bob Spitz (2005) “Portrait of Paul” Women Magazine by Mike McCartney (1965) Magical Mystery T ..read more

SUMMARY:  In our 9th episode, we tackle a handful of loose ends from Tune In and pose the question: WTF? Why The Farting? Where's Talented Friend? Washboard To Fender Weird, Those Fruits! Women-Type Fans Whores They F*cked? Wow, That's Fabricated! Which Tune's First? Writing's Too Fancy Whose Teachers Finest? Wimpy Teetotaler Frenemie PLAYLIST: Tutti Frutti LITTLE RICHARD Good Golly Miss Molly LITTLE RICHARD Where D’you Get Your Whiskey BOB CORT’S SKIFFLE GROUP Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean RUTH BROWN Mess Around RAY CHARLES Spanish Flea HERB ALPERT Theme from A Summer Place PERCY F ..read more

SYNOPSIS:  In her second appearance on AKOM, May Pang talks with Phoebe about Yoko enlisting Paul’s help during the Lost Weekend, John & Yoko’s Tittenhurst Safe Room, The (not) Malibu Dream House and Primal Therapy. The Lost Weekend: A Love Story is currently available for purchase or streaming on most major platforms. Discover more at www.maypang.com   ..read more

SYNOPSIS: No Greater Buddy examines how Tune In handles the naughty behavior of its resident Bad Boy, John Lennon. This is a study of Lewisohn’s coverage of John’s bad behavior (rather than the behavior itself). PLAYLIST Bad Boy LARRY WILLIAMS Let the Good Times Roll LOUIS JORDAN Jim Dandy LAVERN BAKER Handful of Keys FATS WALLER Undecided ELLA FITZGERALD Angel Baby ROSIE & THE ORIGINALS Night Train DAVID ROSE Devil or Angel THE CLOVERS I’ll Be on My Way THE BEATLES SOURCES The Beatles by Hunter Davies (1968) The Other Side of John Lennon By Sandra Shevey (1990) Beatles Anthology (1995) L ..read more

SYNOPSIS: Spanner in the Works shows how Paul is portrayed as uniquely difficult to manage and unjustifiably obstructive, even to the point of sabotaging the band.  We use Tune In’s reporting of the early friction between Paul and Brian Epstein as a case study to illustrate how Tune In guides the reader to distrust and second-guess Paul whenever he comes into conflict with other major players in the Beatles’ story. PLAYLIST Maybe THE CHANTELS Oop Shoop SHIRLEY GUNTER & THE QUEENS Tequila THE CHAMPS I’m Walkin FATS DOMINO Lucille THE BEATLES Devil in His Heart THE DONAYS Baby It’s You ..read more

SYNOPSIS: Phoebe talks with Vivek Tiwary, author of “The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story,” a graphic novel celebrating its 10th Anniversary with a new edition! https://thefifthbeatle.com/graphic-novel/ https://twitter.com/fifthbeatle https://www.instagram.com/the_fifthbeatle/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/TheFifthBeatleTV/PLAYLIST It’s For You CILLA BLACK ..read more

SYNOPSIS: In A Prolonged Jealousy, we tackle one of Tune In’s main talking points: that Paul McCartney is a fundamentally jealous person whose obsessive, one-sided jealousy of and over John Lennon was brought to a boil by the presence of Stuart Sutcliffe in the band.  Is Tune In’s unforgiving portrayal of Paul’s jealousy fair? Or is it over the top? We’ll discuss! PLAYLIST Frenzy SCREAMIN’ JAY HAWKINS Woo-Hoo ROCK*A*TEENS Raunchy BILL JUSTICE What’d I Say RAY CHARLES Lucille LITTLE RICHARD Flamenco Sketches MILES DAVIS Sleepwalk SANTO AND JOHNNY Let it Be Me THE EVERLY BROTHERS Just Walki ..read more

SYNOPSIS: Phoebe Lorde and Allison Bumsted talk with Kenneth Womack about “LIVING THE BEATLES LEGEND: the Mal Evans Story.” We discuss several of the amazing topics raised in this wonderful book; Elvis, cowboys, Allen Klein being horrible, the tougher-to-write moments in the book, interpersonal relationships within the Beatles' circle, and of course the fascinating life of the incomparable Mal Evans ..read more

SYNOPSIS: This episode explores Tune In’s unequal treatment of John Lennon and Paul McCartney's childhoods, with particular attention paid to the disparate coverage of their childhood stressors and the deaths of their mothers, Julia and Mary. We go pretty deep into what we know of John and Paul's boyhoods and how those experiences shaped their personalities and affected their adult behaviors,  Does Tune In do the same? For both? We’ll see! SOURCES Thank You Very Much by Mike McCartney (1981) “Portrait of Paul” by Mike McCartney for Woman Magazine (1965) Howard Stern Interview w/ Paul McCa ..read more

SYNOPSIS: In Creative Whirlwind, we take a look at how Tune In reports and characterizes young Lennon and McCartney as budding artists.   We’ll show that Tune In significantly downplays and shortchanges (and sometimes even ignores) crucial aspects of McCartney's artistic development and identity. On the other hand, Lennon’s creative development is shown from all angles in loving detail and with unbridled admiration. Our discussion will be divided into three major sections: Visual Arts, Literature and Musical Self-Expression. PLAYLIST Sh-Boom THE CHORDS Mona Lisa NAT KING COLE Let’s ..read more