Re-entering an old fandom...
After casting around unsuccessfully for something new to be fannish about, I've migrated back to my old fannish state, my original fandom, my earliest days fandom, from before I knew what fandom was. The act I've known for all these years… it's a bit alarming, how much I'm in love with the Beatles all over again. Except this time from the perspective of a forty-something woman, who brings with her a sort of amused distance when it comes to viewing the behavior and actions of teenaged and then twenty-something boys. Heaven help us, the oldest of them was just over 30 years old when the band broke up. Where do you go from there, what do you do with the rest of your life?
It's strange, but fun. Such children they were. (Paul McCartney had just turned 15 when he met John Lennon; I now measure that against my older nephew, who is just about to turn 14.) And as with all children, they could at times be unadulterated little shits, and then turn around and make you melt with their grace and generosity. Is fannishness better when you can be a little more objective? So far, the verdict is yes. I'm so much more willing to see the flaws and cracks, because I'm so much less likely to condemn them for them.
And there's no better time to be re-exploring this territory, with the publication of a truly ground-breaking book - Mark Lewisohn (widely acknowledged as the truest journalist among Beatles historians, in that he won't publish anything as fact without multiple independent confirmed sources) has just released the first of his three-volume history of the group. It's sort of sad - after reading the first bit of the first volume, I wouldn't want anyone new to the band to read any other book about them. But it's so huge that the size of it alone makes it for committed devotees only. So, perfect catch-22, I guess.
I need some Beatles icons…
It's strange, but fun. Such children they were. (Paul McCartney had just turned 15 when he met John Lennon; I now measure that against my older nephew, who is just about to turn 14.) And as with all children, they could at times be unadulterated little shits, and then turn around and make you melt with their grace and generosity. Is fannishness better when you can be a little more objective? So far, the verdict is yes. I'm so much more willing to see the flaws and cracks, because I'm so much less likely to condemn them for them.
And there's no better time to be re-exploring this territory, with the publication of a truly ground-breaking book - Mark Lewisohn (widely acknowledged as the truest journalist among Beatles historians, in that he won't publish anything as fact without multiple independent confirmed sources) has just released the first of his three-volume history of the group. It's sort of sad - after reading the first bit of the first volume, I wouldn't want anyone new to the band to read any other book about them. But it's so huge that the size of it alone makes it for committed devotees only. So, perfect catch-22, I guess.
I need some Beatles icons…