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The Beatles and Adolf Hitler: I Wanna’ Hold Your Microphone

April 22nd, 2008 by Scott Marks

The Fab Five
The Fab Five

What do Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Tony Bennett, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, George, Paul, George, Ringo and Adolf have in common?

No, not a desire to eliminate the weak through music, but the legendary Neumann U47 microphone.

NPR’s All Things Considered ran a fascinating piece about Mary and John Peluso, a couple from southwest Virginia who specialize in boutique microphone-making. The mike was “designed in 1928 by Georg Neumann, and considered a technological breakthrough. Neumann took the old carbon-grain broadcast microphone, which uses bits of carbon sandwiched between two plates, and turned it into a mass-produced “condenser” microphone, which has one fixed plate and another that forms a diaphragm moved by sound waves.”

This technological breakthrough allowed the human voice to sound clearer and more authoritative. No wonder it was Hitler’s mike of choice for his opening speech at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Tony Bennett and the Beatles all used the U47, and according to Peluso, “it’s hard to find an album recorded in the 1950s or ’60s that didn’t have a U47 on it.”

Listen to the 13 minute interview here.

 

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Filed Under News

Dig A Hole: Beatles’ Mystical Leader Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

February 5th, 2008 by Scott Marks

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It’s Maharishi TIME!

The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the man credited with founding the transcendental meditation technique and, to many, breaking up The Beatles, died in the Netherlands today. He was believed to be 91 years old.

CNN reports that according to a TM spokesman, the Maharishi “died peacefully at about 7 p.m.” He said his death appeared to be due to “natural causes, his age.”

The spiritual leader announced his retirement earlier this year: “Invincibility is irreversibly established in the world. My work is done. My designated duty to Guru Dev is fulfilled.”

The guru with the long, matted hair and easily duplicated high-pitched delivery gained worldwide recognition in 1968 when the Beatles attended one of his TM teacher-training courses in Rishikesh, India. The encounter caused a bitter John Lennon to pen Sexy Sadie with the Maharishi in mind, particularly the refrain “”What have you done? You made a fool of everyone.”

Rumor had it that behind the dirty hair and guise of spirituality stood a womanizing rake who had an affair with Mia Farrow around the time of the Beatles’ visit. Mia’s sister Prudence, the inspiration for Lennon’s Dear Prudence, was also along for the trip.

The Maharishi and the boys had a near-fatal parting of the ways when the guru discovered the band using drugs in his Himalayan retreat.

Once again, my cultural touchstone is SCTV. Their devastating parody Merv in the 60s features Eugene Levy’s Maharishi teaching Catherine O’Hara’s Virginia Graham how to sit in the lotus position.

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Filed Under Obituaries