EDIT: Ravi Shankar died yesterday, Tuesday, December 12, 2012, at the age of 92 in Southern California. RIP you beautiful man; legend of music, Beatle guru, sitar master.

Orignally Published May 5, 2011- Part 56 is a double dose adventure of Indian/English fun.  First we have an awesome rare clip of George Harrison in India taking a sitar lesson with legendary sitar master Ravi Shankar in 1966.  After the Beatles quit touring the mad, mad, world in early 1966, they all took long vacations.  George decided to take his wife, Patti Boyd, to India, where he met Ravi, and insisted on becoming his apprentice.  The first video shows Ravi instructing George on some scales near a beautiful lake and mountain, while Ravi narrates the experience, expressing total shock and bewilderment at why a pop musician of George’s stature would be interested in classical Indian music.  Of course, George’s interest in sitar music caused an international explosion in the instrument and genre, and made Ravi Shankar an international star.  Video two shows the results of all of these efforts, “Within You Without You,” the second best song off Sgt. Pepper, (“A Day in the Life” being the best.)  This song is so incredible.  It’s a total masterpiece of artistic expression.  John Lennon said it best about the song, saying that George was “so clear” on this track, and that it was one of his favorite songs.  The lyrics are some of the most brilliant in the entire Beatles catalog, and sonically, its just perfect, a psychedelic joyride through George’s Indian soaked mind.  I also think its a stunningly original song coming from a man who adopted gurus to learn from his whole life, (Perkins, Lennon, McCartney, Dylan.)  This song has nothing to do with any of those guys, its just pure George, and its brave of him to stick his head out, in the Beatles of all groups, with a song like this.  And its undeniably fantastic!

I normally don’t update twice in one day, but news such as this demands action on my part.  I am a massive George Harrison fan, and when I heard a few years ago that Martin Scorsese was putting together a three and a half hour George Harrison documentary, I started counting down the days.  At last, the film is finished, and will get its premiere on HBO on October 5th and 6th in two parts.  To casual fans of rock and roll, George Harrison is known as the “Quiet Beatle,” but hard core Beatle fans know he was anything but.  In many ways, George was the most radical Beatle, refusing to conform to any traditional system of life living.  He was a rule breaker and a seeker, blazing new frontiers in his own quest to figure out why the world was so miserable, and what he could do about it.  Lastly, he was a beautiful musician, criminally overshadowed by his Beatle friends, who unfairly excluded him from the tight partnership thing that Lennon and McCartney formed in the early Beatle days.  Paul McCartney even admitted that there was nothing stopping him and John from excluding George, other than feeling superior to him via their dominant personalities and older ages.  Also, it is really hard to blame Paul and John because when they were young boys making these decisions, it was impossible for them to know what impact such choices would hold in music history.  Its a silly footnote in rock history, but one made all the more remarkable as George blossomed his own unique musical genius with little help from his friends.  (Zing!)  Anyway, I’m the sure the documentary will cover these issues with greater complexity, so I’ll leave my own historical commentary to a minimum for now.  Enjoy the trailer, and don’t forget you can vote for me to be CBS’s top NY blogger!  Already voted?  Well, don’t let it stop you because you can vote once every day!  Just click these orange words, it only takes a second!

Welcome back again to my youtube favorite retrospective part 2!  You know the deal, the list is done, and we’re looking back at all the hits that made us laugh, cry, and die.  Let’s start rolling right where we left off!

#74.  The Ramones, Blitzkrieg Bop – It’s more Ramones, the greatest and most original punk ever playing the shit out of Blitzkrieg Bop, in Germany of all places.  Not bad for a bunch of Jewish guys from Queens.

#73.  The Sex Pistols, Anarchy in the UK – When I was in college, I actually had a history professor show us this video as an example of historical outliers.  That’s all well and good, but I was just fascinated with how the drummer sat at the front of the band.

#72.  Elvis Costello, Pump it Up – Declan MacManus’s punky little pop jam.  You gotta love Costello for essentially being the reincarnation of Buddy Holly in modern times, both physically, and musically. Read more »

Part 80 of the countdown continues with George Harrison’s charity rock performance of “Bangladesh.”  This is the second video I’m posting from the “Concert for Bangladesh,” the first being the incredible rehearsal video of Bob Dylan and George Harrison playing “If Not For You.” This song starts off really sad and maudlin, but kicks into boogie rock overdrive when he hits the chorus.  I love the way he sings, “Bang-a-la-desh, Bang-a-la-desh!”  It’s very funky and driving.  We all know that the concert was the world’s first charity rock show, but I got some real fun facts that you might not have known, and that will leave you begging the universe for “what-if” mercy!  First off, George got John Lennon to agree to perform with him at the show, with one condition, that Yoko Ono not appear on stage with him.  John actually agreed, but two days before he was to leave for the show, John and Yoko got in a fight about the stipulation, and she made John decline at the last minute.  On top of that George almost got Paul McCartney of all people to play as well, but Paul had a less impulsive reason for not appearing, stating in Rolling Stone that, “George came up and asked if I wanted to play Bangla Desh and I thought, blimey, what’s the point? We’re just broken up and we’re joining up again? It just seemed a bit crazy.”  Blimey indeed!  You’re telling me that George was trying to reunite the Beatles, and almost got it done in 1971?  Imagine if he did!  This would be one of the greatest moments in rock and roll history, and would have raised Bangladesh billions of dollars.  At the time, the concert only raised $234,418.51.  Not peanuts, but not exactly a world changing amount.  Anyway, forget the Beatle reunion fantasies as they exist only for crazy people like me and you. It’s just not healthy. Anyway, without further ado, “Bangladesh!”