In February 1968, sitar player Ravi Shankar appeared on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, just a few months after he was introduced to American audiences via a four-hour performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. Why are we talking about Ravi Shankar? Well, it's his 91st birthday today. Happy Birthday, Ravi Shankar. For your video lunch, take a look at his 1968 Smothers Brothers TV appearance.
Dig That Crazy Sitar Playin' Man, Man
The Beatles. On iTunes. Finally.
You'll never know how much I really love you, you'll never know how much I really care. Listen, do you want to know a secret? The Beatles catalog will finally effing be available on iTunes.
Get Your Lit On: The Week in Bookish LA
Susan Lankford presents Maggots in My Sweet Potatoes: Women Doing Time 7pm @ Book Soup
Ringo Starr @ The Greek, 8/2/08
Ringo Starr and his 10th All-Starr Band wrapped up a 31 date tour with a nostalgia-drenched set Saturday night at the Greek. The concept for the evening is simple: In between Beatles and Ringo solo tracks, most of the All-Starr band members - Billy Squier, Edgar Winter, Colin Hay, Stuart Hamish, and Gary Wright - get to take turns performing their own solo material. Gregg Bissonette, thankfully, seems content to just play drums.
Book Review: Wonderful Tonight by Pattie Boyd
Because George Harrison was my favorite Beatle, I devoured Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me, a memoir by his first wife Pattie Boyd (of whom I confess I was, in my Beatle phase, horribly jealous) within days of its publication last year. Since recovering from her marriages, Pattie has become known as a photographer. This Sunday from 12 to 5 p.m., a show of her photographs opens at the Morrison Hotel Gallery on Sunset Boulevard. She will read from Wonderful Tonight this evening at 7 p.m. at Book Soup.
Pencil This In: Friday
For those of us not stuck on the 15 to Vegas, here's what's going on around town tonight:
A Very British Sixties Christmas!
The Mods and Rockers invite all Beatles fans, Anglophiles and latent mods and rockers to attend A Holiday Rave-up: A Very British Sixties Christmas! tomorrow night.
CD Review: Caribou - "Andorra"
Artist: Caribou Album: Andorra Label: Merge Records Release Date: August 21, 2007 Hey lookie folks, it's another solo project by a brilliant Canadian. Dan Snaith originally released his work as Manitoba until he ran afoul of the Dictators frontman, Handsome "Dick" Manitoba, and had to change his stage name to...... Caribou. While some of Caribou's first release, The Milk of Human Kindness, sounded somewhat electronica-light, Andorra certainly does not: this is raging full-on psychedelica. Is...
Forbes List of Dead Guys Making More Than You
. 1. Kurt Cobain ($50M) 2. Elvis Presley ($42M) 3. Charles M. Schulz ($35M) 4. John Lennon ($24M) 5. Albert Einstein ($20M) 6. Andy Warhol ($19M) 7. Dr. Seuss ($10M) 8. Ray Charles ($10M) 9. Marilyn Monroe ($8M) 10. Johnny Cash ($8M) 11. J.R.R Tolkien ($7M) 12. George Harrison ($7M) 13. Bob Marley ($7M) Top Earning Dead Celebrities, Forbes, 2006 -- h/t stereogum...

