Finally, The Beatles catalog is now available in iTunes for digital downloads. At 10AM this morning Apple Computers made the announcement. If you go to iTunes, you can watch the ENTIRE Beatles at the Washington Coliseum Concert, from February 11, 1964. It is pristine and will be shown for free through December 31, 2010. They are offering it with the purchase of the Remastered Digital Box Set.

PAUL McCARTNEY PLAYS THE WORLD FAMOUS APOLLO THEATER FOR THE FIRST TIME—CELEBRATING 20 MILLION SIRIUS XM SUBSCRIBERS

Exclusive concert for SIRIUS XM listeners to air live across six channels on SIRIUS XM

SIRIUS XM to launch month-long “Paul McCartney’s Band on the Run Radio” channel devoted to the music of Paul McCartney

NEW YORK–November 16, 2010– SIRIUS XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) announced today that Paul McCartney will perform at Harlem’s world famous Apollo Theater for the first time at an exclusive, invitation-only concert for SIRIUS XM listeners. The concert will celebrate SIRIUS XM reaching 20 million subscribers, a milestone the company expects to achieve shortly.

The concert, which will be held on Monday, December 13 at 8:00 pm ET, will feature McCartney performing songs from his unrivalled back catalog, including many Beatles, Wings and solo classics, for SIRIUS XM subscribers. As a thank you to its loyal subscribers, SIRIUS XM will broadcast the concert live nationwide as well as offer lucky subscribers the opportunity to attend the unprecedented event.

SIRIUS XM will also launch “Paul McCartney’s Band on the Run Radio,” a month-long 24/7 commercial-free music channel devoted to McCartney’s legendary and expansive music catalog, including music from his solo records, tracks from every Wings album as well as the iconic songs he recorded with The Beatles. “Paul McCartney’s Band on the Run Radio” will launch on Monday, November 29 at 3:00 pm ET and air through Sunday, December 26 at 11:59 pm ET on SIRIUS channel 33 and XM channel 27 and SIRIUS XM Bootlegs, SIRIUS Internet Radio, SIR channel 812, and XM Radio Online, XMRO channel 90.

The channel’s launch coincides with the recent re-issue of Paul McCartney & Wings’ number one album from 1973, Band on the Run, the first title to be released as part of an extensive overhaul of McCartney’s complete catalog of solo recordings. The month-long channel will also feature a behind-the-scenes look at the making of this landmark album, hosted by McCartney himself, as well as newly discovered live performances of Wings tracks recorded at Abbey Road Studios from The Paul McCartney Archive.

“Reaching 20 million satellite radio subscribers is an important milestone for SIRIUS XM,” said Scott Greenstein, President and Chief Content Officer, SIRIUS XM Radio. “Sir Paul’s performance at the Apollo Theater is our way of thanking our subscribers; we are thrilled to offer them an opportunity to attend the event and listen live to this once-in-a-lifetime concert on SIRIUS XM.”

Currently celebrating its 75th anniversary season, the legendary non-profit Apollo Theater is known for launching the careers of countless legendary performers, and has been a catalyst for artistic excellence and innovation since it opened its doors in 1934.

Subscribers may enter to win tickets to the event through various call-in promotions across SIRIUS XM’s diverse music, talk and sports on-air channels. SIRIUS XM subscribers can also enter for the chance to win tickets by going to www.sirius.com or www.xmradio.com for Official Rules and complete details. One grand prize winner will be awarded four tickets to the exclusive concert, a paid trip to New York City, two nights lodging, an “Everything Plus The Best Of” SIRIUS or XM subscription for the lifetime of the subscriber’s radio, an opportunity to be a guest DJ on “Paul McCartney’s Band on the Run Radio” and an autographed copy of the Band on the Run deluxe edition box set. All opportunities to win tickets to the concert are limited to listeners who have been an active SIRIUS or XM subscriber continuously since November 15, 2010.

The concert will air nationwide live on six channels including “Paul McCartney’s Band on the Run Radio,” Howard 101, one of Howard Stern’s two exclusive SIRIUS XM channels, Underground Garage, Classic Vinyl, The Coffee House and ‘70s on 7.

For more information, please visit www.sirius.com or www.xmradio.com.

November 28, 1970 – One of Rock’s true masterpieces was released 40 years ago. It was George Harrison’s first real solo album, All Things Must Pass. It was a triple record, a first for a release of all new music in the pop music world. To celebrate this, Capitol is releasing the 3 record set, Digitally Remastered, in VINYL ONLY, next week. It will be a Limited Edition of 5,000 number copies. RESERVE YOUR COPY NOW!

Dark Horse/Rhino Records is celebrating Ravi Shankar’s 90th Birthday with the release of Collaborations: Ravi Shankar/George Harrison – a 3CD/1DVD Set. This Limited Edition of 1000 copies is being released on 12/7. CLICK HERE to read about all the details and to reserve a copy.

NOVEMBER 9, 1961, LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND: NEMS Store Manager Brian Epstein and assistant Alistair Taylor (many times a special guest at our FESTS) decide to check out what all the excitement was at The Cavern Club, just a short walk from the store. It was a lunchtime concert and The Beatles were playing. When Brian saw and heard them, he had a vision and had to become their manager to get them to the ‘toppermost of the poppermost’! He promised he would get them a recording contract and refused to take no for an answer, finally getting a receptive George Martin to give them a go, after being rejected by every other record company. Guitar groups are out!, was the most famous rejection, from Decca. I would rank this as the number two most important early moment in Beatles history, just behind July 6, 1957, the Day John met Paul. It is incomprehensible that Brian Epstein hasn’t yet been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This needs to be remedied. If you want to sign a petition to have him inducted, CLICK HERE.

Mounted Memories is thrilled to introduce six brand new titles in their line of officially licensed framed presentations featuring The Beatles. The First Four were released this Summer (#3281-3284). These 6 have one of each year from 1965-1968, plus two others. Click Here to see all ten of them. Available for immediate delivery.

The re-release of The Beatles Remastered Red and Blue Albums on CD caused them both to leap back on to Billboard’s Top 200 at #29 (Blue) and #32 (Red). Both are 2 CD Sets with new booklets and liner notes. Also on the charts are John & Yoko’s Double Fantasy Stripped Down and Power to the People: The Hits. We are certain Paul’s Band on the Run will hit pretty high on the charts, after it is released tomorrow (we already have it in stock and have shipped most of the pre orders to our customers.

This Week in Beatles History: 1965 – The Beatles worked on both sides of their upcoming single, We Can Work It Out and Day Tripper. They had to finish the Rubber Soul album and still needed more tunes. They knew there was a deadline, to have it released in early December for the holidays (as they did most every year). So John and Paul got serious, wrote and recorded them over the next few weeks (George’s Think For Yourself too!). Final mixing for the album was finished on November 15th. Rubber Soul was in the stores on December 3rd. That is an astounding turnaround time.

SOMETHING NEW: We want to see YOU looking FAB in all your Beatles gear! Send us a picture of you wearing your favorite Beatles items that you got from THE FEST, and you may just end up on our website. Rock out your best Beatles t-shirt,  OR show us your Beatle-bathroom (shower curtain, towels and all), Beatles Room, or perhaps an English Tea Party with all those mugs! What ever you’ve got, we want to see it, and so do your fellow fans.

Sending your images gives us permission to use those photos on The FEST site, or possibly in future FEST catalogues! Have fun!

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We heard the comments ourselves last night. We were at the Palisades Center Multiplex in West Nyack, NY, when fans came out of the theatre. Some came over to us and told us how much they loved the movie. They liked the honesty in the film and the actor who portrayed John Lennon – Aaron Johnson. The movie opened in hundreds of theatres last night.Go see it this weekend. You won’t be disappointed.

Today, we celebrate the life of John Lennon on the day he would have turned 70. It is also Sean’s 35th, so it would have be the exact day that his dad was twice as old as him. Celebrations are taking place around the world to honor John’s life, so put on some of John’s music in your iPod, CD or DVD player or however you listen to music. All of these formats were not around in 1980!

Yoko is in Iceland today for the lighting of the Imagine Peace Tower.  “Let’s Tweet a million wishes for Peace for John’s birthday” is Yoko’s wish. Go to http://imaginepeacetower.com/
to send a wish and you can also watch the lighting live today at 3PM EDT.

Nowhere Boy opened last night in New York and Los Angeles to excellent reviews. It opens in many more cities on Oct 15th. Don’t miss it.

The PBS movie LENNONYC will make its TV debut on November 22nd with the DVD coming out the next day. If you live in NYC there is a FREE showing in Central Park to the first 5500 people. We went to the premiere the over evening and it was extremely well done.

This evening we are going to the Amnesty International Concert  for John at 7PM with The Quarrymen, Pete Seeger, Neil Innes, Mark Hudson, Earl Slick, Glen Burtnik, Tom Paxton, Tom  Chapin and many others. There are still some tickets available. CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS.

If you purchased any of John’s remastered reissues this week, the John Lennon Universe is now open. The was a card in every CD telling you how to get there.

Today we think about John and the treasures he gave us that can never be taken from us. We can’t help but to think of what the last 30 years would have been like for him (and us) had he lived. We can only Imagine! Happy Birthday John. Thank you for everything you gave us.

On a personal note, my dad shared John’s birthday. He was my guiding light in this world and I think of him today as well.

Today we have received all the new John Lennon CDs and DVDs and will begin shipping these tomorrow. The Complete Box Set is the bestseller so far. Here are the Item numbers for all the details and track listings 1354, 1355, 1356, 1357, 2239.

Today, we also started to offer all the formats for Paul’s Band On The Run, on his new label, Concord Records. The Deluxe Box Set includes a 120 page book of rare photos and also a rare DVD including the never issues One Hand Clapping – #1281, Others include 1282, 1283 (Vinyl), 1404. These are set for a November 2nd release. Preorders are welcome.

Apple Records is issuing a Box set of 17 non Beatles CDs, with 37 bonus tracks – #1443 for October 26th release. This one is a very limited edition so preordering is highly recommended. Also check out The Best of Apple with 21 singles from the vaults – #1444.

The Beatles Red and Blue Hits collections have been digitally remastered and a new limited edition package including a corresponding shirt with each – 1285, 1286. These will be released on 10/26.

A reminder to go see Nowhere Boy next weekend when it opens nationwide, in time for John’s 70th birthday (10/9). Here is a link to Yoko’s comments on the movie at last week’s NYC Premiere.