FAB HEADLINES

Thanks to the singing of Beatles songs in Across the Universe, according to Entertainment Weekly, actress Evan Rachel Wood is negotiating with Interscope Records for a recording contract… The Chicago Sun Times’ Miriam Di Nunzio enthused about the November 6^th DVD release of Help (from Apple/EMI), “The film is being released in two versions, a two-disc standard set and a two-disc deluxe set. [Richard] Lester also directed the Fab Four’s debut, the black-and-white comedy A Hard Day’s Night… as much fun as the film is, the second disc boasts an hour of bonus footage, including a fascinating 30-minute making-of documentary, extended interviews with cast and crew and audio excerpts from the Beatles during press conferences on film locations…Copley News Service in reviewing Astrid Kirchherr and Max Scheler’s Yesterday: The Beatles Once Upon A Time (The Vendome Press), notes, “Anyone who knows their Beatles history will be familiar with the name Astrid Kirchherr: She was the young German photographer who was very much in on Hamburg’s Cavern club scene when the lads were starting out, eventually becoming engaged to the original bass player, Stu Sutcliffe. These photographs, taken in Liverpool in 1964 and later in London during the filming of A Hard Day’s Night, offer a rare, intimate view of the group as they moved toward superstardom. In the most candid of shots, they’re seen rehearsing, playing, performing, clowning, cooking, collaborating and visiting their parents – all effectively capturing the spirit of that particular yesterday. The glimpses afforded of grim city streets and claustrophobic, kitsch-filled sitting rooms show exactly what the Fab Four and their British fans were escaping from.”