"I've been the Mountain - - to See For Myself - - Been the Mountain"
"So all you chicken sucking mother trucking people out there better realize that concave space we theorized about in our last posting may just turn out to be a really Big F- - - ing Deal Someday!"
"Hi Beatle peoples - - love these goon shows!"
Chris: We have a special guest today on Breakfast with the Beatles, renound blogger Guy Owens, who is here as a self appointed expert on the Beatles. Guy: It's nice to be here, Chris. Chris: So is Guy Owens your real name? Guy: Yes it is. Chris: I've heard a roomer your real name is either Gary Owens or perhaps Gary Johnson. Guy: No, Gary Johnson is my first cousin's second husband. Chris: Are you sure you don't mean your second cousin's first husband? Guy: No, I don't. Chris: I was just playing with you. So has Owens your family name. Guy: Well you really don't deserve an answer to that. I'm not President Obama to have to answer questions like that and you don't look like one of those right wing tea tottlers, if you know what I mean. Chris: At least not that kind of tea. (both laugh) Guy continues. No, Martin Owens was my adopted grandfather's name who died in an industrial accident in an oil field before I war born. He's always been a man I admired, that's all. I legally had my name changed. Chris: OK I see. So is your family last name Miller? Guy: It used to be four or five generations ago and I'm a little confused myself as to what happened. Chris: Let's go to why you are here. First of all who is your favorite Beatle? Guy: Well, George Harrison is the most under-rated Beatle, though I must admit I have never bought the All Things Must Pass album. I remember at Gemco one time I was with my Dad and he said "All Things Must Pass" is on sale. Do you want to buy it? - - - But I wasn't in the mood then. Chris: Do you regret that? Guy: I've never known anybody whose even owned it. I just heard this roomer that it had an orange apple label. Chris: That's right. Guy: But actually a posting of mine actually suggested the issuing of several more George A sides making five releases in total as singles. The other four would be 'Only a Northern Song" "Not Guilty" "Here Comes the Sun" and 'It's all Too Much" in that order. Chris: "You wanted that last one to be their final single did you not?' Owens: "I wanted the Beatles to go out with a bang and not a whimper, if you know what I mean. I like the Anthology version of "Long and Winding Road" better than the Apple one. Chris: What do you like about it? Owens: I like the more intimate feel to that version, and I like that Leslie organ part in that's song, that's almost cut entirely out of the Specter version. Chris: I see. What do you think of Paul as a Beatle. Do you think he was an ego maniac? Owens: Hell no. Actually he's the smartest Beatle and kind of really the born leader. he was the diplomat and the ones with the brains. At Hamburg he was kind of the M C who introduced a lot of the songs and was cheery to the audience and all. Chris: Do you think Paul was the most tallented musician back then? Owens. No, that would be John. He was litterally the glue that held the band together back then. The rest would screw up sometimes, particularly Ringo, who would often drum like he was on his own planet, but John was always steady as a rock. Chris: Really. Owens: Yes, And if you listen to "Cry for a Shadow' an early song- - the other musucians may get a B or something. Their playing is OK, but John is the only one who is really solid, although sometimes his guitar was cut way down in the mix. Chris: You know George is said to have supplanted the guy he replaces because he was a better guitarist. Owens: George was the poorest of the three guitarists in the group, actually, because - - that guitar part in "In Spite of all the Heartache" I don't even believe it was George playing. The style is completely different. Carter: I never noticed that. What do you think about Ringo as a drummer. Owens: I'm not certain but what Pete Best couldn't have defeated him in a head to head contest. One time they conducted a play-off between Rory Storm and the Beatles and the Beatles won that approval vote, so they were the better band, for at least that day, when Ringo was still Rory Storm's drummer. Chris: I see. What do you think about Specter's production of "Let it Be". Owens: I think the over-production is a bunch of crap. I don't even like all the games they played on Anthology because they'd take a demo track part or most of the way through - - and then throw in strings at the last minute like on "Good Night" that ruins it for me. Why not play the whole original recording. You know there is a six minute recording of "She's a Woman" jam that never made it on to Anthology and I thought it would. Chris: I don't believe I've heard that one. Are there any other pieces - getting back to "Let it Be" that you would like to coment on? Owens: Yes, I have definite ideas about how I would have demanded "Two of us' be performed. I'd slow it down, and take away that bass drum thud, add reverb- - -and get Ringo to do the sort of drumming that occurs in"Third Stone from the Sun". Chris: That's Hendrix isn't it? Owens: "That's Right" Carter: "That seems a little strange to me" Owens: "Sometimes you have to think out of the box. Carter: We haven't talked about John much. Owens: No, but first I want to say a word about George and Paul. My favorite George single is "Bongle-desh" and "Deep Blue' as the B Side. Good one. And my favorite Paul single is probably his first one that my housemate Jim Cooper used to have and I got it from him and had it till 2001 when I moved one time and didn't have it any more. Carter: But what about John. Owens: My problem with John is that he scarcely put out anything decent after "Mind Games" in November of 1973. Carter: Really. Owens: And what I said about Pete being Better than Ringo- - I'm not dissing Ringo. He has a unique style. In fact the only really CLASSIC version of "Yer Blues" is the White Album version, because that's the ONLY ONE that features Ringo's genious in drumming arrangement. Carter: Really! Owens: Yeah- - and I do like some of the anthology stuff that shows off Ring's tallents such as that whole "Rap" segment at the end of "Strawberry Fields" and also on "Good Morning" and- - on "I'm a Walrus" Ringo is the only one of the four of them whose playing doesn't sound like shit on that particular recording. Chris: One thing I'll say about you is that you are sure oppinionated. Owens: You only go around once in life. That's my philosophy. Carter: Well, this program only goes around once because we're live right now and have time constraints. We'll be right back in a moment after a commercial with an exclusive interview with Mae Ping. Be right back.
Hey, it was either this photo or a sattelite view of Harlem I took off Google just now because I was bragging to my roommate how quickly I could zoom in on any place in the world.
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