Another Kind of Mind: A Different Kind of Beatles Podcast

In this episode, Diana and Thalia have a conversation with Chris O’Dell, the author of the book Miss O’Dell: My Hard Days And Long Nights With The Beatles, The Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton And The Women They Loved. Chris O'Dell has led an extraordinary life as a close friend of the Beatles, Pattie Boyd and Maureen Starkey.  

She was an early Apple employee, worked for Peter Asher and was among the world’s first female tour managers.  She worked on many legendary tours, including the iconic 70's tours of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, The Rolling Stones, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.  She was the subject of George Harrison’s song "Miss O’Dell" as well as Leon Russell’s songs "Pisces Apple Lady" and "Hummingbird." 

We dig into hot topics like Apple in the early days, the day John quit the Beatles, the Maureen/Ringo/George triangle; Paul in 1968, Paul and Linda as a couple. John Lennon during the "lost weekend," the day Paul quit the Beatles and George's reaction. the Beatles vs. the Stones, and much more.

An interesting artist in popular music and a controversial figure in Beatledom, Yoko Ono has played an outsized role in crafting many of the tropes and narratives that still predominate Beatles history. Phoebe and Thalia discuss Yoko's music, art and mastery of publicity and media.

This episode is dedicated entirely to the one and only Ringo Starr! His musicianship, his chemistry with the other Beatles, and how interesting he is as a human being are often overshadowed in the fandom, but Paul continues into present day to refer to Ringo as "the best drummer in the world," and Dave Grohl calls him, "the king of feel." Like Paul, Dave, and most of the music world, we feel Ringo deserves more accolades!  Join us as we celebrate his uniqueness, creativity, and innovation as a musician, as well as his interesting life story.

In Part 2 of our deep dive into "How Do You Sleep?", we attempt to dissect George's role in the creation of the song, his perspective on Lennon-McCartney as a unit, and the impact his participation may have had on George's relationships with both John and Paul.

John Lennon alternately referred to the song as “nasty,” “not that serious” and his response to “withdrawing from Paul and the Beatles and the relationship with Paul.” One would be hard-pressed to find a Beatles/Lennon song that has caused more long-term professional and emotional damage than 1971’s How Do You Sleep.

 

Lennon certainly dishes out the jibes in this rancorous diatribe, but can the song withstand some lampooning in return? In this episode, AKOM takes a harsh look at HDYS. At times analytic, at times sympathetic and at times adopting the same mocking tone as the song itself. 

 

(Do not enter if you can’t stand the heat!)

Welcome to our introductory episode, where we will walk you through who we are, why we wanted to do a podcast, and how we will approach the topics we plan to tackle in the future. Thanks for joining us! "We hope you will enjoy the show!"