The Beatles News

Picture yourself in a boat on a river

Imagine a cruise with world renowned Beatles artists, photographers, authors and maybe even a Beatles girlfriend and, of course, a First Class Beatles Tribute Band. Add to that a fun-packed week with everyone participating in true Beatles fashion, while reliving memories of the most famous band in history.

The Beatles Tribute Cruise leaves Ft. Lauderdale on 3/28/10 for 6 nights on Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas, stopping at Belize City, Costa Maya and Cozumel. Joining Beatles fans on the cruise will be:

• BritBeat, America's Premier Tribute to the Beatles. They will be performing three times including a special Costume/Dance Party, with a set list loaded with all the high-octane Beatles numbers.

• Shannon, the World's Greatest Beatles Artist who has a book coming out in March called "A Hard Decades Night." This cruise is the first stop on her International Book Tour.

• Paul Saltzman, author of "The Beatles In Rishikesh". Paul will be doing his "Beatles In India" slide presentation for fans on the cruise.

• Nancy Lee Andrews, Ringo's former girlfriend and the author of "A Dose of Rock and Roll."

• May Pang, John's former girlfriend and the author of "Loving John" and "Instamatic Karma."

May and Nancy will be doing a Q & A session about the time when John and May rented a house in Santa Monica California in order to record Harry Nilsson's "Pussycats" LP. Living with them were Ringo, Keith Moon, Klaus Vormann and Harry Nilsson.

• Jorie Gracen, Paul McCartney photographer for over 15 years and the author "I Saw Him Standing There". Jorie will be doing a Q & A session called "Behind the Lens the Inside story of Paul McCartney."

Even more special surprises for the cruise are in the works. All of the cruise special guests will have their products available to purchase and get autographed, in person.

The cruise is a fund raiser for the Dara Roberts Fund. There will be a Beatles Tribute Cruise Limited Edition Set of Photographs and Paintings with a portion of those proceeds going to the the Dara Roberts fund.

Other events on the cruise will include a Beatles Trivia contest with great prizes, In The Studio/Karaoke session, opening night open bar cocktail party with a meet and greet session with the cruise guests, and special guest autograph sessions.

Royal Caribbean has lowered their regular prices just for our Beatles guests:

Inside Cabin: Regular Price: $814 pp- Our Price $570 pp
Promenade View: Regular Price: $949 pp- Our Price $664 pp
Balcony Cabin: Regular Price: $1169 pp- Our Price $818 pp
These rates not valid after 10-15-09

Rates based on availability at the time of deposit for double Occupancy/cruise only.
*All guests must pay addt'l $96.30 taxes
*3rd & 4th person occupancy rates available and vary on category
Itinerary & guest list subject to change without notice

Currently, registration fee for Beatle Events is $200 pp. This fee is nonrefundable. With your paid registration you will be allowed preferred access to all Beatles Tribute Events, cocktail parties, live shows, vendor showings, photo ops, etc. No one without prior completed registration will be able to attend these very special events.

Paul McCartney denies battle with fellow Beatle John Lennon

SIR Paul McCartney has denied he and fellow Beatle John Lennon did not get on.

Speaking to the Radio Times, Sir Paul put some of Lennon’s outbursts down to drugs and talking “crap” he did not mean.

The pair enjoyed one of the best-known and most successful writing partnerships in history, but as their success grew, their relationship appeared to rupture and the band split up in 1970.

He denied Lennon’s complaints in interviews that he sabotaged songs in the studio by not committing his full creative energy to them.

Sir Paul said: “Oh, he was on drugs, wasn’t he? This is the trouble with history.

“John said so much crap that he later said he hadn’t meant.

“We were there. We all enjoyed it. I never really criticised John.

“I’m not that critical. It’s a question of personalities.

“John’s was more abrasive than mine and that was good for his corner of the square that made up the Beatles.

“If we’d had two people like that - forget it - I don’t think it would have worked.”

Sir Paul told the magazine: “The image of John is seriously flawed because he was not the hard, mad man that people think he was. He was a very soft-centred guy and we had a lot more in common than people think.

“His favourite song when we were kids was Little White Lies, which was very sentimental. It was a smoochy old standard that his mum liked.

“Whatever bad things John said about me, he would also slip his glasses down to the end of his nose and say, ’I love you’. That’s really what I hold on to. That’s what I believe. The rest is showing off.”

Speaking about how the creative bond between the pair developed, Sir Paul said: “The actual reason John and I started writing in earnest was because we’d be at a gig and the bands on before us would play songs we were about to do.”

He added: “Once they’d done four or five of them we’d go: ’S***, there goes our set list!’

“I remember saying, ’We’ve got to write our own, because then they won’t be able to access them’.”