I got my new Beatles picture book/biography in the mail this week; A book I originally bought because some guy I’ve never met before in my neighborhood came to my front door and essentially persuaded me into it. As soon as I had paid him for the order I began thinking I had just been played into a sophisticated pan-handling scheme. Several months later and I’ve fortunately gotten a return on that fifty smackers. Now the book is definitely not worth fifty smackers, but it IS a nice book. There’s some nice photography going on in there, and every picture of Ringo makes me think of Sterber. It’s kind of unsettling. Still, finding out that the Beatles had to work their way up to the massive global mania they would eventually stir is somewhat appreciated. Knowing they had tons of unsuccessful gigs full of band member swapping and other such hijinks gives a little bit of encouragement in my own art ventures. And the character of Brian Epstein, their band manager, is also an interesting bit in itself. The guy had NO experience in managing a band, saw the Beatles and was like, “yo.” Weird.

This is all made more convenient because of a number of Beatles themed commission pieces I’ve done over the last couple of months thanks to some friends who really want to see the Garage Rajas on popular album covers and such. Here’s one of them.

If you’ve never seen the album cover for “Help!” well that’s your fault. You can see a larger version over yonder.