A couple asides.

If anyone's curiosity was aroused by my comparatively lame post the other day on "Strawberry Fields Forever," I want to point them to BeatlesLane.com, where the Song of the Moment right now is an excerpt from Woody Lifton's Pop Go the Beatles radio show. The show is based on Woody's mind-blowing collection of unreleased Beatles recordings, whether studio outtakes, live performances, interviews from random radio stations-- if it exists, I think Woody has it. Anyway, the Song of the Moment comes from Pop Go the Beatles, and it's not really so much a song as it is George Martin himself talking you through the various versions of "Strawberry Fields Forever" as they were recorded. It's really fascinating, and gives you a closer look into how that masterpiece of recording was made. Check it out.

You can download bits of the Pop Go the Beatles Show in podcast form on iTunes if you search for it-- perhaps the ONLY way to listen to the Beatles on iTunes, despite protestations from every corner-- but to get all of what Woody's got, you'll need to buy the multi-multi-multi-CD set, which would frankly be an excellent investment.

In other news that may or may not be good, I have just this moment read about a forthcoming film based on the childhood of John Lennon. Um...... um. Hmm.

Beatles News links to the Guardian's article about Kristin Scott Thomas being cast as Mimi, John's aunt, and Ann-Marie Duff as Julia, John's mother. Matt Greenhaigh, who wrote the screenplay for Control, the film about Ian Curtis, did this screenplay as well, so maybe it won't suck. The director is Sam Taylor-Wood. It's his first film.

My feelings on this are trepidatious. I'm sure I'll see it, but, I mean... Isn't John Lennon enough of a mythological figure already without mythologizing his childhood in film?