Let It Be Released!(An Open Letter To Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr)

Dear Paul & Ringo,

How could you? You've gone too far! How could you deprive us, your loyal fans - many of who have been waiting years with baited breath - for the release of your masterpiece film Let It Be?
Sure there is bickering in the film, but that's what makes it great. It shows us fans that the Beatles were people too! Just like the Anthology series showed us the Beatles making mistakes, goofing up lyrics and so on, Let It Be tells us that nobody is perfect and even the Beatles had arguments. It's a healthy thing for us to see. Would you want us to think that the Beatles were flawless and that we can never be like them? What happened to your spirituality? I don't believe that John and George would ever make this decision.
Aside from the few times that there was arguing in the film, for example Paul: George telling you that he'll play whatever it is you want him to play, or he won't play at all - “Whatever it is that would please you” - there are also glorious moments in the film. These are life-lessons that we can all benefit by. Or again, when George brought in the late, great Billy Preston to help raise everyone's spirits by bringing a non-Beatle in to perform with. Finally, the concert on the rooftop; it's a masterpiece — the last time we get to enjoy the Beatles playing together live! How can you not release it?
The thought of holding back the release of Let It Be is almost as sad as the thought of another death in the Beatle family. We've already lost Brian, Mal, John, Linda, Maureen, George, Neil and many others. Please, do not make us lose a cherished film like Let It Be.

Sincerely Yours,

Master Zhihui
July, 31, 2008

PS: We still love you!

Giving the Gift of Dylan...

Happy Birthday!

The Beatles: The Mothers

"So Sergeant Pepper took you by surprise.." Read more...

Quote of the Day: Yoko Ono

John & Yoko with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Live at the Fillmore East, 1971

The video quality is bad, but the music is great! Here is the unedited versions of "Well (Baby Please Don't Go)", "JamRag", "S---bag" and "Au".
Check it out and then read our interview with Howard "Eddie" Kaylan where he reminisces about that night and how he put Yoko in the bag.
Kaylan opines, "And what he did with it was he took the white, penciled Cal Schenkel text from the Fillmore album and Yoko just annotated it to her liking in red magic marker. So when it came to my description for instance, she scratched out the word ‘lead’ and just left vocals. When it came time to list instrumental songs that John really didn’t know, John made up titles. He had the unmitigated gall to call one of Frank’s classic songs — “King Kong” I believe, one of his all-time biggest instrumentals — Lennon didn’t know what it was, called it “Jamrag” then said that he wrote it!"
But what he doesn't take into consideration is that perhaps it was just a joke that nobody got -- years earlier Zappa parodied the "Sergeant Pepper" album with "We're Only In It For The Money". So John and Yoko did the same with the "Live At The Fillmore" album... get it?
This was done plenty of times before between the Beatles themselves. They would often reference, parody and sometimes play homage to each other in their albums. Lennon poked fun of McCartney's album cover Ram, when he took the same pose, this time holding a pig. I'm sure no offense was meant in the Lennon/Ono release of the live Zappa concert. But to hear and see it as it was, without any outside influences clouding one's memory, simply click above while it lasts!

Jade Wah, Sweet and Sour Pork, and The Wisdom Of The Chinese Kitchen Part II

There used to be a very nice Chinese restaurant in the Georgetown neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY. It’s the very same restaurant that we’ve alluded to in a previous post with its five foot tall Laughing Buddha. It wasn’t as authentic as some of its NYC Chinatown contemporaries, but one of our favorite dishes back then was their Sweet and Sour Pork -- or as they called it -- Sweet and Pungent Pork, a more bona fide dish than the variety you’ll find at the typical Chinese take-out.
We’ve already mentioned Grace Young’s fantastic cookbook, The Wisdom Of The Chinese Kitchen -- which will be featured in the upcoming East Meets West magazine -- and her family recipe for Sweet and Sour Pork brings us back to the good old days of Jade Wah restaurant. Like Jade Wah used to do, I’ve added sliced maraschino cherries to my interpretation of the dish, but other than that, the recipe is purely from Ms Young’s family.
We strongly recommend this cookbook. Not only are the stories and the information wonderful finds, but also the recipes we’ve tried have kept us in chef-mode night after night.

#9 Dream

Once upon a time, I, Chuang Chou, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Chou. Soon I awaked, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man. Between a man and a butterfly there is necessarily a distinction. The transition is called the transformation of material things.