Thursday, November 12, 2009

Curious Thing

UPDATE: I have been listening to the Iamaphoney Bootleg #2 and you should too. Thanks Mike. http://www.youtube.com/user/iamaphoneymusic

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We have another one of those curious ads for a new McCartney product. One YouTube user named PauIMcCartney (I believe the first name is pronounced PAY-OOOWEE) has uploaded Paul McCartney's (I believe the first name is pronounced PAUL) 30-second trailer for Good Evening New York City with a little bit of spice added. I don't recall the original ad having quick flashes of Aiwass in it.

I found a few more little quickies in there including these two:





Check out the 30-second spot by clicking the image below:



This silly trick notwithstanding, there has been quite a bit of thought and work, along with some incredible expression of talent in the Rotten Apple Series over the years. Many fans and former fans have found the pace to be frustrating. Iamaphoney himself (or themselves as the case may be) has (have) expressed some frustration at the less than blistery pace of this long promised revelation. It's a bit like Alice In Wonderland. (Did I really say that?) At one point Alice found herself in a strange place where every time she seemed to get closer to an object, the more out of reach it became. Those who are looking in the Rotten Apple videos for that elusive thing called the truth have become increasingly frustrated. Several times it seemed like the vehicle was moving forward, but do we really know any more than when we started?

If you are looking for artistic expression and mystery and entertainment, there is no shortage of those things in the Iamaphoney saga. Truth is much trickier to nail down.

There have been some misleading things in Iamaphoney videos and I have pointed several of them out right here. But this is happening at a time when documentary makers are using many of the same tricks. So if we see footage of Derek Taylor speaking and the audio running simultaneously is Derek's voice from a different time, we can say that's a little misleading. But if there is no video footage to go with the existing audio, many filmmakers would do the same thing.

So, let's look at a couple aspects of Rotten Apple 78 again and evaluate what we have.

There is video footage of Paul McCartney talking to John Lennon. Most people who watch Rotten Apple videos can probably identify the footage from the movie "Let It Be." Many of them can probably recognize that the accompanying dialog is not from "Let It Be." When that video was shot, Paul was talking to John about live performances, but in the Rotten Apple video, a voice that sounds like Paul is saying, "I haven't the slightest doubt that we did the right thing and that we acted in accordance with the law. But he kept the book, you know, but you can't retain that book. It must be thrown away, burned or destroyed by... and what ever happened to him, is the invisible god. The world isn't ready for a revelation." If Iamaphoney has audio of Paul saying those words, that is pretty significant and relevant to the story he is telling. If that really is Paul's voice (and I cannot prove that it isn't) I don't have a problem with using footage of Paul talking to John as a companion piece.

Now, as I pointed out in a recent post at "Nothing Is Real" the John Lennon quote about hiring a phony was taken from his famous interview with Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone. He was actually talking about Alun Owen, who wrote the screenplay to "A Hard Days Night." You can find the Lennon quote with some context here.

So if the Lennon quote was presented as a piece of evidence, that would definitely be a deliberate attempt to mislead, right? But was it presented as a piece of evidence? Iamaphoney is telling a story in an artistic manner. So, I suppose some of us will grant him some artistic license. If you watch Rotten Apple 78 again more closely, you might notice that he gives us a little sign immediately before the Lennon quote.



That is the word "Imagine" more or less - Your brain has to fill in some of the holes. By preceding the out of context Lennon statement with this fragmentary representation of the word "Imagine", Iamaphoney may be telling us to use our imagination rather than our critical mind when interpreting the quote.

Just because he didn't have video of the statement that sounds like Paul saying "...we acted in accordance with the law" doesn't mean that he didn't say it. And I guess you could make a case that just because he didn't have audio of John saying that the Beatles hired a phony to take Paul's place, doesn't prove he didn't say that either.

He had audio of John saying words that went with the story he was telling and he used them. And he might have even tipped us off that he was exercising artistic license by showing the word "Imagine" up front.

In looking back on previous videos, there might be other examples of Iamaphoney guiding the viewer on how to interpret what they are watching. He lets us know when to fill in the holes. I wouldn't call it Journalism, but it certainly qualifies as Storytelling in my book. I haven't read the thing, but I'm guessing that it doesn't really violate any passage from Iamaphoney's book of the law. Curiously, I guess it all depends on what book you are using.

Monday, November 9, 2009

New Video - Rotten Apple 78 Apple Star

Iamaphoney is back!

Apple Star features the same old stuff presented in the same old way with the same old high quality we have learned to expect from the master. I think Iamaphoney fans will love the video.



Yes, there are the same old tricks. You see Paul speaking to John from the movie "Let It Be," however the audio of Paul's speech that you hear has no relationship with the video footage you are seeing. I don't know where the audio actually came from and I can't confirm that it is Paul McCartney, but it does sound like him.

Coincidentally, you can hear the actual words Paul is saying on the promotional Apple 45 RPM record "Dialogue from the film Let It Be."



Double coincidentally, that 45 was pictured recently in the Nutters produced inside the org:11 Cut The Cards by YouTube user LEWlSCARROLL. However, you can't see the flash of the 45 on YouTube because it truncates the endings of videos. So, you have to download it to see the brief shot of it shown below.



Back to Rotten Apple 78...We get to hear a little more of the song "Apple Star (It Was A Fake Mustache)" which continues to capture the attention. [Where is that bootleg, Mike?] You also have the familiar Iamaphoney stew of Lewis Carroll, Aleister Crowley, the CODE, the Tree of Life, the people on the Sgt. Pepper Cover. We also see John, wearing Sergeant Strips and a Star Patch on the Dick Cavett Show in 1971. I have been told repeatedly by wise people that this all means nothing, but what do wise people really know?

Although I have indicated that there is a "more of the same" feeling with this video, that doesn't mean that there is nothing new in it. Although it is distorted, we get to hear what appears to be some more of an interview with Beatles expert Bruce Spizer (another of the many characters who doesn't seem to mind being featured in Iamaphoney videos) about how clever the Beatles were or were not.



Yes, the Beatles were clever, so is Iamaphoney.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

McCartney Freebie

Paul McCartney is giving away a free video of "Highway" and the mp3 of "Let Me Roll It" from his new DVD/CD set "Good Evening, New York City" to be released Nov. 17. As one of his roadies told a friend of mine years ago, "It cooks!" If my link doesn't work for some reason, try here.











The picture below is not an attempt to be cryptic on my part. It's just a little in joke to a reader.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Clever Young Lads

Yes, the "clever young lads," to quote Iamaphoney's description of them, are at it again. [Note: No blurry teenagers were used in the filming of this video]

inside the org:12 We where to late demolition cant wait
by LEWlSCARROLL



If you want some background on Forelands Farm, follow this link to the Wootton Festival 1969 page.

Fans of Iamaphoney covers might enjoy MikeNL - Snatch Crucifix by MikeyNL1038

I hope that the Iamaphoney detractors can at least admire him for creating a song title that makes "The King of Fuh" seem not all that offensive.



So, who are you gonna worship?