After all that's been written about the Beatles, what can be left to say about the Fab Four? There have been books focusing solely on their recording sessions, on their musical instruments, on their lyrics; there have been multiple biographies as well as individual bios of John, Paul, George and Ringo.
Most every insider has told their own Beatles-related story, too.
So, it makes sense that pretty much everything from here on out will be of interest mostly to die-hard fans. And that's the case with "Fab Four FAQ," by Stuart Shea and Robert Rodriguez.
The hefty paperback, published by Milwaukee-based Hal Leonard, is subtitled, "Everything Left to Know About the Beatles ... and More!"
This is a trivia book that covers the minutiae of every facet of the existence of Liverpool's greatest contribution to modern culture (sorry Reds fans).
Did you know that there are 78s of Beatles music? It's true, in India where the 78 didn't die off until the mid-1960s!
Did you know that Joe Orton wrote a screenplay for the Beatles -- "Up Against It" -- shortly before his death in 1967? The band opted to make "Magical Mystery Tour" instead. Oops.
Did you know that legendary soul session drummer Bernard Purdie overdubbed tracks to replace Pete Best's drumming on four songs the Beatles recorded with singer Tony Sheridan? Purdie later claimed -- and perhaps believed, errantly -- that he was paid to overdub Ringo performances.
So, you get the idea of "Fab Four FAQ." If you're a Beatles fan, there are 500 pages of this stuff, which can be fascinating. If you're not a dedicated JPGR fanatic, you might just toss it aside and huff, "get a life!"
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
