Lewisohn announces Evolver 63

Mark Lewisohn, currently hard at work (we hope) on volumes 2 and 3 of his Beatles biography, has announced a follow up to his Evolver 62 lectures fram last year. The new lectures will be about The Beatles in 1963, and some of the factoids presented will no doubt be surprising.

This time around, Mark will be joined by “special guests” for his lectures.

June 25, Lewisohn will be joined by Stuart Maconie, for an Evolver 63 event at The Lowry in Salford.

We were hoping that these lectures would be made available on demand for internet streaming, but Evolver 62 has not appeared anywhere and Lewisohn remains inconclusive about the Evolver 63 lectures seeing audiences beyond those who are able to attend them in person.

Tickets:

Bloomsbury, London

The Lowry, Salford

Mark favours Twitter to announce his appearances, so follow https://twitter.com/marklewisohn for further updates.

22 Responses

  1. mg says:

    Who cares anymore. Either write the books or go away. I can’t stand the sound of this guy’s voice anymore, it’s gotten embarrassing. People actually go to sit and listen to this guy prattle on? Love Mark Lewhisohn, grateful for all of his previous work but I’m not waiting for his next dopey lecture series, or to have an audience with him. The guy does not exactly drip charisma, or even warmth.

    • mg says:

      (great researcher and writer though)

    • Trevor says:

      Went to Evolver 62 which was very enjoyable. Got my ticket for this. My fave Beatles author. Waiting very patiently for Tune in vols 2 & 3.

    • RM says:

      He speaks highly of you!

    • Mark Lewisohn says:

      Who cares. Either write less comments or go away. I can’t stand the sound of your online voice anymore, it’s gotten embarrassing. People actually go online and read this guy prattling on? Love you, grateful for all of your previous work but I’m not waiting for your next dopey comment, or to have an audience with him. You don’t exactly drip charisma, or even warmth.

    • Ludwig says:

      He has to pay the bills somehow while writing Volume 2. It’s not like he’s the only writer that makes an income from talks. Just the reality of being an author.

  2. David Harry says:

    I was 9 yo when the Beatles came to the US. Now 68, I have to assume that the number of people willing to pay $50+ for a book about the Beatles is getting smaller every day. I’m in, if I’m alive.

  3. EssEmm says:

    Rumour is he can’t publish Vols 2 & 3 until the remaining Beatles are no longer with us, for legal reasons. So, he’s having to fund himself via appearances like this until they do.

  4. Bob says:

    I have questions about the rumor. If the rumor were to be true, why were there no objections to the 1st volume? Kinda hard to believe there’d be any remaining tea(dark secrets) to be spilled Another question, what would happen to Mr Lewisohn’s work were he to pass before the remaining Beatles? I can empathize with the previous poster. I was 7 and now 66. I bought Vol 1 the day it arrived. At this rate, I’ll never see volume 3. Unless it’s condensed into 2 volumes at once..

    • James Percival says:

      During the lockdown I listened to just about every recorded interview he has given over the last 10 years or so. I am slightly sympathetic to MG’s comment in that he is in danger of becoming what he claims the Beatles became, namely highly repetitive. Yet I cannot think of any interview where I haven’t learned something new.

      I digress. The question of his archive came up and he mentioned more than once he plans for it to be given to a reputable organisation as a form of legacy. Presumably this would include his plans and notes for the remaining two volumes and so it might be possible other writers could take over. He’s 4 years older than me, and I don’t have the energy levels I used to have. I suppose it’s a question of whether he would have enough warning notice to ensure his notes, etc, go to the right people. A sudden death could be disastrous!

      I confess that I am slightly disturbed about two of his working methods:
      1. He admits he cannot delegate, and presumably he no longer has the funds to pay for assistants even if he wanted to.
      2. He has set himself the gargantuan task of researching all the music / cultural history background of the 60s, from newspaper archives, etc.

      As an academic historian myself – and working with newspaper archives right now – he is definitely taking on far too much. I am becoming a little pessimistic too, but I think there is a good chance volume 2 will come out eventually.

      It would be interesting to know the source of the rumour. I’ve been in slight contact with ML myself, and I once asked him if he was worried about being sued by the likes of Magic Alex, and in that case he said not (presumably because he knew he had enough hard evidence to support his claims). Anyway, no worries about Alex anymore.

    • Stephen says:

      By the sounds of it, during the course of writing and publishing volume 1 he was able to go from the intimacy with Paul and Ringo of being able to check facts early on to…being less close. I don’t imagine Paul was keen on his portrayal. There’s been nothing from Mark since its publication suggesting he’s still on anything like the same terms with Paul and Ringo.
      Hasn’t he been removed from all Beatle-related projects in recent years, too? When was the last time he was involved in a reissue?

      • James Percival says:

        He’s been out of favour much longer than the writing and pubication of Volume 1. There were tensions after the Anthology series when George thought he was pilfering stuff for the bootleggers. In fact it wasn’t Mark but a quite well known DJ. After that, George (and later Olivia) vetoed him from all official Apple projects. I don’t think he’s been close to Paul for a long time, and with Ringo much less close anyway.

    • Paul Murphy says:

      The rumour has been around almost since Vol 1 came out, and the reason it did not impact that tome was because the matter the events had not occurred yet, namely, the situation of Paul, ‘possibly’ having more children than those acknowledged. Brown detailed one such instance, from 1964, with settlement paid by Derek Jacobs, terms containing payment on grounds on silence by the young lady [Brown states ‘young girl’, which has other implications]. Whilst Cynthia stated that Paul had been ‘a bit of a town bull in Liverpool … paternity suits rolled in.’

      Given Mark’s tenacity, let alone his access to [most of, as at 2013] Brian’s papers, it is almost a certainty that he has investigated at least some of these, and it is almost as much a certainty that Paul would do all he could to supress the matter.

      However, it may be moot. Even if he was up to date today, new material requiring new research is continually appearing. Paul’s book of 1964 photographs, the next year box set, and especially the forthcoming Mal Evans book, are all going to kick the can further down the road. Remember, Mark discovered the paperwork highlighting the George Martin ‘signed before they were seen’ conundrum in 1991; it took him 10 years from then to find Kim Bennett, and another decade on before he made the matter public in 2013. Mark has stated in many an interview that Kim was the “unsung hero” of The Beatles getting a contract, but it was Mark who kept him unsung, the poor chap passing away before his efforts were finally brought to the public arena.

      Given the add-ons from any completion date – lawyers going over every word, PR campaign to arrange by the publishers, Mark most likely being asked to trim it down for a ‘mass market’ volume – a Xmas 2026 release date is the earliest one might expect.

  5. Kevin says:

    I share concerns that this magisterial biography of the Fabs might not reach completion as planned — remembering how William Manchester’s authoritative, comprehensive biography (in three parts) of Winston Churchill had to be completed by another author posthumously, using Manchester’s notes and outlines. But it wasn’t the same kind of book.

    If money to live on and subsidize writing was the point, then ML might be making a mistake by not going the crowdfunding route. I had a correspondence with him a few years ago to express my worries about lack of funding being an obstacle to him, in which I suggested he consider a Kickstarter type of arrangement — ask a hundred thousand or more Beatle fans across the world to kick in, say, $10 each to subsidize his work. That would raise enough lolly to keep him free of financial constraints for years, right? But he declined this approach, said he wasn’t going to do this. I think it’s a pity. I would rather he go this route than spend time on these freelance activities that take him away from his writings. WE could see to his living expenses! Why not take advantage of this resource, and work to complete this book?

    • James Percival says:

      Good point about crowdfunding, and this came up in some of the interviews. As with your experience, he refused to consider it. I suppose the flip side of his dedication and, dare I say, obsessive traits, is stubbornness. Good analogy with Manchester’s work (which I’ve never read – not my field!)

  6. Blakey says:

    I wonder why Lewisohn fell out of favour at Apple? At Anthology time he was their go to guy. But just before George passed away, Mark’s services were no longer required. I can’t see it being Ringo or Yoko, so it must have been a fall out with either George or Paul….

  7. Blakey says:

    Funny, that now any Beatle (or their estate) can veto or scupper any project or release. Yet Paul wasn’t allowed to do this when the others were besotted by Klein.

  8. Blakey says:

    Lewisohn’s show with Johnny Marr was excellent. Johnny really knows his Beatles. Funny, because Morrissey is not a fan. Moz claimed that the Beatles only ever did four good songs. He didn’t say which songs they were though.

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