Episode 45 (Bonus): How the Beatles really got booked on "The Ed Sullivan Show"
Release Date: 06/20/2023
Episode 64: Jake Clemons on Clarence, the Beatles and protest songs
Everything Fab Four
Born in February 1980, Jake has been a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band since 2012, when he was tapped to play saxophone in place of his late uncle, the renowned Big Man himself, Clarence Clemons. Jake has toured extensively with Springsteen and the E Street Band, handling saxophone, percussion, and backing vocal duties on the Wrecking Ball World Tour, the High Hopes Tour, The River Tour, 2017’s Australia and New Zealand Summer Tour, and the recently completed 2023-2025 tour. He has also mounted tours with the Jake Clemons Band, which has crisscrossed the globe, including stints...
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Episode 63: “Rocky Horror” cast on the one thing they have in common with the Beatles
Everything Fab Four
The longest-running theatrical release in film history, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is celebrating its 50th anniversary with original cast members Barry Bostwick (who played the iconic Brad Majors), Nell Campbell (who played the effervescent Columbia) and Patricia Quinn (who played the incomparable Magenta). They join our host, Kenneth Womack, this week for a spirited conversation about the collaboration behind the underdog movie that became a beloved cult classic, Tim Curry's powerful star turn, and the making of those iconic musical numbers.
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Episode 62: Max Weinberg on The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and his own first band
Everything Fab Four
This episode's guest is E Street Band drummer and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Max Weinberg. In 1974, Max Weinberg answered an ad requesting a drummer capable of playing R&B and jazz for an audition. Weinberg had never seen Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and was unfamiliar with their material, but the skill, acumen, and attentiveness he displayed on Fats Domino's "Let the Four Winds Blow" won him the job. His ability to take cues from Springsteen — specifically, playing a rim shot when Bruce held up his hand to stop the band and then starting back into the song — made a...
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Episode 61: Nellie McKay, singer-songwriter, actor, and comedienne
Everything Fab Four
Known for her genre-bending music, sharp social commentary, and activism for animal rights and social justice, Nellie McKay was born in London and raised in the United States, where she studied jazz at the Manhattan School of Music. Her performances at various New York City music venues, including the Sidewalk Cafe and Joe's Pub, drew attention from record labels, which resulted in her debut album Get Away from Me. Produced by Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick, The New York Times lauded the LP as a tour-de-force. Nellie’s music can been heard on Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, Weeds,...
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Episode 60: Psychedelic rockers Blac Rabbit, creators of our theme song "Seize the Day"
Everything Fab Four
Joining host Ken Womack on the first episode of season 7 is Blac Rabbit — familiar voices to our listeners. In 2018, Blac Rabbit released their first LP, "Interstella," which included the debut single “Seize the Day,” which has served as the "Everything Fab Four" theme song since our very first episode featuring Steve Lukather in September 2020. In 2018, a 48-second video of twin brothers Amiri and Rahiem Taylor, the guitarists and singer-songwriters who perform as Blac Rabbit, playing the Beatles' “Eight Days a Week” went viral, racking up millions of views. They went from staging...
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Episode 59 (Bonus): Singer-songwriter Peter Wolf on his musical upbringing: "It took me a while to warm up to the Beatles"
Everything Fab Four
On this episode of Everything American singer-songwriter Peter Wolf joins host Ken Womack to discuss Wolf’s life in music and his earliest musical influences.
A native of the Bronx, Wolf spent his youth soaking up New York City’s music scene, especially the Apollo Theater’s array of soul, rhythm & blues, and gospel performers. After moving to Boston, he attended Tufts University’s Museum of Fine Arts. During this period, he formed his first band, The Hallucinations, which perfo
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Episode 58 (Bonus): Paul Reiser's father "tolerated" the Beatles on Ed Sullivan
Everything Fab Four
On this episode of Everything Fab Four, actor and comedian Paul Reiser joins to discuss his first memories of the Beatles on Ed Sullivan and share the Beatles song that “still kills [him].”
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Episode 57: Guitarist George Benson on what makes Beatles’ songs so special: “They had great stories”
Everything Fab Four
On today’s episode, American jazz fusion guitarist and singer-songwriter George Benson drops by to discuss what gave the Beatles “prestige” and how the band helped Black musicians succeed.
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Episode 56 (Bonus): How the Beatles inspired these 1970s television icons
Everything Fab Four
On this bonus episode of Everything Fab Four, we trace two television icons from the 1970s—both very different in terms of target audience, but united in the inspiration that they drew from the Beatles.
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Episode 55: Rosanna Arquette on growing up with the Beatles: "I always loved ‘Revolver’”
Everything Fab Four
On this episode of Everything Fab Four, actor and activist Rosanna Arquette shares her favorite Beatles song and recounts where she was when John Lennon died.
info_outlineThis week's guests are Margo Precht Speciale and Andrew Solt, who join host Kenneth Womack for a special episode devoted to celebrating the 75th anniversary of The Ed Sullivan Show and its lasting impact on American culture, including Beatles fandom.
The granddaughter of Ed Sullivan, Precht is a documentary filmmaker, as well as a UCLA graduate with a degree in Sociology. Her latest project traces her grandfather’s life and work as a television pioneer who reigned as the medium’s longtime tastemaker. In particular, Precht’s documentary explores a little-known aspect of Sullivan’s legacy, which involves his radical dedication to diversity that would act as an inflection point for igniting conversations about race in America.
Andrew Solt is an Emmy- and Grammy-winning, producer, director, writer and documentary filmmaker. Over the years, Solt has released a number of documentaries on the history of rock and roll. His collaboration with television documentarian and producer David Wolper included their work together on “Imagine: John Lennon” in 1988. In 1990, Solt purchased the rights to The Ed Sullivan Show library, which consists of 1,087 hours of kinescopes and videotapes that CBS broadcast between 1948 and 1971 on Sunday nights. Included in the archive are over 10,000 live performances by virtually every popular entertainer of the post-war era, highlighted by appearances from Elvis Presley and the Beatles.