Beatles

With his carefully tended hair, tight trousers and perfect harmonies, Robin Gibb, along with his brothers Maurice and Barry, defined the disco era. As part of the Bee Gees — short for the Brothers Gibb — they created dance floor classics like "Stayin Alive," ''Jive Talkin'," and "Night Fever" that can still get crowds onto a dance floor. The catchy songs, with their falsetto vocals and relentless beat, are familiar pop culture mainstays. There are more than 6,000 cover versions of the Bee Gees hits, and they are still heard on dance floors and at wedding receptions, birthday...

The following was submitted by the Unitarian Univeralist Church of Marblehead: Fans of the Beatles, young and old alike, will be elated that the Unitarian Univeralist Church of Marblehead is once again hosting a benefit concert that includes an eclectic mix of talented musicians all singing everyone's favorite Beatles songs. This year's benefit is called "Come Together. "  The benefit takes place on Saturday, June 23 at the UU Church of Marblehead on Mugford Street.

In their first written collaboration, music critics and radio cohosts Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis tackle the quintessential rock question of which was the superior band. As DeRogatis writes in his preface, the only real answer is both. So it’s not surprising that (spoiler alert) the book does not reach a definitive conclusion. Rather, “The Beatles vs. the Rolling Stones’’ stacks the two legendary acts head to head in chapters covering a rubric that includes the contributions of individual members, each group’s “cool’’ factor, and the role of drugs on their music.

In 1966, you could smoke in the city's elevators, but men had to doff their hats. In the early 19th century, when Canada was very much British, you could be hanged if caught singing the pro-United States protest song ‘‘Yankee Doodle Dandy. " Folk legends such as Joni Mitchell and Gordon Lightfoot got their musical start during the edgy bohemian days of the now super-trendy and expensive Yorkville section of the city. ...

LAS VEGAS -- When the Beatles were starting out on their improbable climb to world musical domination, John Lennon used to pump the other lads up with a little call-and-response exercise that concluded with the shared, shouted vow to reach "the toppermost of the poppermost!" They did all that and more, of course, and now, more than 40 years on, the Beatles have achieved over-the-toppermost, thanks to "Love," their new collaboration with Cirque du Soleil , which opened June 30 at the Mirage Hotel and Casino with great, giddy fanfare.

NEW YORK - Robert Whitaker photographed the Beatles, Eric Clapton, and Mick Jagger, and wars from Vietnam to the Middle East. He aimed his camera up Salvador Dali's nostrils in search of a surrealist effect. His pictures were displayed at Britain's National Portrait Gallery. But his most talked-about work was one that few people got to see when it was released: a photograph of the Beatles on an album cover that was quickly pulled from public view. Known in Beatles lore as the "butcher cover," it showed the Beatles, wearing white butchers'...

The animated Beatles movie "Yellow Submarine" has been carefully restored frame-by-frame for DVD release this year. Specialists worked for four months to individually clean each frame of the 1968 surreal tale by hand, the Beatles' holding company Apple Corps Ltd. said Tuesday. The specialists chose not to use automated software because of the delicate nature of the hand-drawn artwork, the company added. The colorful movie, a fantasy that features cartoon versions of the Beatles and images from some of their psychedelic songs, is...

The Beatles are hitting theaters nationwide. Recently discovered footage of the Fab Four's first full-length concert in the United States is the subject of a new documentary, "The Beatles: The Lost Concert. " Recorded at Washington Coliseum on February 1964 to an overbooked teenage audience of 8,000 screaming fans, the 12-song set included "She Loves You" and "I Saw Her Standing There. " The show came just two days after the group's landmark appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show.

LONDON -- Alf Bicknell, chauffeur to the Beatles at the height of their fame and inspiration for the song, "Baby You Can Drive My Car," died Tuesday at his home in Oxford. He was 75. The cause of death was not given, said the band's former promoter, Sam Leach. Leach said the chauffeur started working for the Beatles in 1964 during the filming of "Help. " "He was with them for four years including when they met Elvis [Presley] in 1965," he said. "Alf often recalled with pride how Elvis called him 'Sir' during that meeting.

LONDON - Lucy Vodden, who provided the inspiration for the Beatles’ classic song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,’’ has died after a long battle with lupus. She was 46. Her death was announced Monday by St. Thomas’ Hospital in London, where she had been treated for the chronic disease for more than five years, and by her husband, Ross Vodden. Britain’s Press Association said she died last Tuesday. Mrs. Vodden’s connection to the Beatles dates back to her early days, when she made friends with schoolmate Julian Lennon, John Lennon’s...

The Beatles are hitting theaters nationwide. Recently discovered footage of the Fab Four's first full-length concert in the United States is the subject of a new documentary, "The Beatles: The Lost Concert. " Recorded at Washington Coliseum on February 1964 to an overbooked teenage audience of 8,000 screaming fans, the 12-song set included "She Loves You" and "I Saw Her Standing There. " The show came just two days after the group's landmark appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show.

Relive the years when the Beatles conquered the world pop music scene during a talk at the Holliston Public Library on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Mark Cartier, a local actor and blogger who has loved the Beatles since first seeing them on TV as a boy, will take the audience through the group's US invasion, song by song. The talk will feature music from the Beatles' recording of "Love Me Do" through the recording of the album "Revolver. " Cartier's free talk is geared to all ages; no tickets or reservations are required.

"It's All Beatles All Night" when BeatleJuice performs in the newly renovated Memorial Hall in Melrose Friday. The evening benefits The Knights of Columbus food drive for families.   For 18 years, the band has been performing Beatles' songs from every era and even into the band members' solo careers.   The show is geared for all ages. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 the day of the show. Premium seating for a table of 10 is $250.

For 30 years, first as a freelancer and later as the Globe's senior rock critic, Steve Morse has been on a first-name basis with the likes of Mick Jagger and Jimmy Buffett. Since leaving the paper in 2005, Morse has remained a man about town - and usually the last one standing at last call. His latest endeavor was a labor of love suited to his expertise. A year and a half in the making, Morse's "Rock History" is a new course for Berklee Music, Berklee College of Music's online extension school that's open to the public.

The animated Beatles movie "Yellow Submarine" has been carefully restored frame-by-frame for DVD release this year. Specialists worked for four months to individually clean each frame of the 1968 surreal tale by hand, the Beatles' holding company Apple Corps Ltd. said Tuesday. The specialists chose not to use automated software because of the delicate nature of the hand-drawn artwork, the company added. The colorful movie, a fantasy that features cartoon versions of the Beatles and images from some of their psychedelic songs, is currently out of print.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Davy Jones, the diminutive heartthrob singer who rocketed to the top of the 1960s music charts by beckoning millions of adoring fans with the catchy refrains of The Monkees, died yesterday. He was 66. His publicist, Helen Kensick, confirmed that Mr. Jones died of a heart attack in Indiantown, where he had lived. Mr. Jones complained of breathing troubles and was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, said Rhonda Irons of the Martin County Sheriff's Office.

Christie's auction house says a handwritten letter from Paul McCartney offering a Beatles audition to a mystery drummer has sold for nearly 35,000 pounds ($55,400). The note, found folded in a book at a Liverpool yard sale, offered an audition to someone who had advertised their availability in the Liverpool Echo newspaper four days earlier. The unsigned ad said simply: "Drummer—Young—Free. " The letter was dated Aug. 12, 1960 — two years before the band bounced drummer Pete Best in favor of Ringo Starr.

When Peter Smith crossed into his 40s, he made a life-changing discovery. In the parlance of the '60s of his youth, he tuned in to his parental failings, turned his 7-year-old son on to the Beatles, and left the country with his boy at his side for a trip to Liverpool. The author, who lives in Northampton, recounts their trip -- a journey as sentimental as it is geographic -- in "Two of Us. " The book, whose recent publication conveniently coincided with the 40th anniversary of the Fab Four's legendary Ed Sullivan appearance, shows that though you can't...

PICK OF THE DAY Cinna-man In March you can see Lenny Kravitz in "The Hunger Games" playing Cinna, a fashion stylist. (Remember him as Nurse John in "Precious"?) But you don't have to wait to see him perform as himself, because the Grammy-winning vocalist and multi-instrumentalist is in town with special guest Raphael Saadiq. The soul, rock, and funk artist's latest album is "Black and White America. " 8 p.m. $35-$65. Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theatre, 265 Tremont St., Boston.

Making plans? Short on ideas? No worries. See Nicole Cammorata and June Wulff's picks for the top things to do around the Hub this weekend. Now get out and go to it! THURSDAY MINTED: Catch DJ Spinderella (of Salt-N-Pepa fame) spinning alongside DJ Frank White at Julep Bar. It also happens to be local man about town and 6one7 Productions co-founder Frank Stavrianopoulos's birthday party. Happy Birthday, Frankie. Jan. 26, 10 p.m. Tickets: $16.50.