pleasantlyinsincere

[pleasantlyinsincere]

Listened to Gaines being interviewed on SATB and as far as I understood he confirmed that they told Paul and others they were writing a book about the 60's. That could explain why the interviews feel massively short. Maybe 80% of what they asked were general 60's questions to not make the interviewees suspicious. In the other youtube interview Gaines says something along the lines of 'Why would you want to listen to the tapes. All the important parts are transcribed. The rest were conversations about fashion and culture.' And that would fit with that explanation as well.

Still leaves the question where the stories from TLYM that aren't in the AYNIL interviews come from. The less they spoke about the Beatles, the more unlikely it seems that they would leave major parts out of the transcriptions.

#sorry i don't know why i am so absorbed by this. hopefully not too annoying. #i read a bit more last night and so far queenies interview is the most like what ended up in tlym.

[pleasantlyinsincere]

[pleasantlyinsincere]

[pleasantlyinsincere]

John and Yoko during a cruise on the Aegean Sea, Greece. These photos are dated as c. 15th November 1969. John and Yoko are accompanied by Magic Alex Mardas and I think pictured is Magic Alex’s wife, Eufrosyne Doxiades. (They’d married in 1968). 

[pleasantlyinsincere]

John Lennon and Yoko Ono Hydra island, Greece 1969.

[pleasantlyinsincere]

Oh, and just remembered that they go at length into the whole Greek island situation in TLYM. None of that is in the interview either, when it should have been. How is Gaines claiming the transcriptions are complete with just the small-talk missing? I'm perplexed.

Alexis "Magic Alex" Mardas, who gave us nearly seven hours of his never-before-told experience with the Beatles and Maharishi - I've always been excited about these seven hours, so Magic Alex interview is next and I hope there will be a bit more to it than there was to Cyn's.

Stories I'm looking out for are definitely the violent Greek withdrawal, that gets repeated in other books frequently.

And all the other drug stories too, I guess.

If maybe he is the one who came up with the mid-flight-confession story that wasn’t in Cynthia’s interview.

His account of what happened in India and with Maharishi.

Just his take on the relationships with other people than John. Because everybody speaks so badly of him but looking at it from the outside he did seem to be well integrated.

#seven hours. i can't get over it.

[pleasantlyinsincere]

Pfft. Again. So short. That whole boat withdrawal story wasn't even in the interview. And neither were needles lying around at Tittenhurst, nothing on John sending him to Italy to sleep with Cyn or whatever they wrote etc. Honestly, what the hell is this? What. Why. I'm so confused. Gaines is doing so many interviews at the moment. Could someone please ask him about all those made up stories?

Wasn't an uninteresting interview however. Some Yoko is ugly nonsense. A bit of his perspective on the situation the Beatles were in. Alex being very self-important. I don't disbelieve him on Maharishi, though.

Alexis "Magic Alex" Mardas, who gave us nearly seven hours of his never-before-told experience with the Beatles and Maharishi - I've always been excited about these seven hours, so Magic Alex interview is next and I hope there will be a bit more to it than there was to Cyn's.

Stories I'm looking out for are definitely the violent Greek withdrawal, that gets repeated in other books frequently.

And all the other drug stories too, I guess.

If maybe he is the one who came up with the mid-flight-confession story that wasn’t in Cynthia’s interview.

His account of what happened in India and with Maharishi.

Just his take on the relationships with other people than John. Because everybody speaks so badly of him but looking at it from the outside he did seem to be well integrated.

[pleasantlyinsincere]

Alexis "Magic Alex" Mardas, who gave us nearly seven hours of his never-before-told experience with the Beatles and Maharishi - I've always been excited about these seven hours, so Magic Alex interview is next and I hope there will be a bit more to it than there was to Cyn's.

Stories I'm looking out for are definitely the violent Greek withdrawal, that gets repeated in other books frequently.

And all the other drug stories too, I guess.

If maybe he is the one who came up with the mid-flight-confession story that wasn’t in Cynthia’s interview.

His account of what happened in India and with Maharishi.

Just his take on the relationships with other people than John. Because everybody speaks so badly of him but looking at it from the outside he did seem to be well integrated.

#weekend now and maybe finally time to read :)

[pleasantlyinsincere]

Driving an American car, 1964

[pleasantlyinsincere]

And just a bit more moaning about Yoko and that's the interview... Is this all of her interview in this book? How disappointing. I would be surprised if this was even a tenth of what she said. Where is the rest Mr. Gaines?

Long day but feeling up to at least look at the Cynthia interview now. :)

#i mean it was a good length for my level of tiredness but still

[pleasantlyinsincere]

Did she admit to sleeping with Alex? Because not so far in this interview and nowhere else as far as I know. I've always wondered why it even mattered if, like they are implying, Alex would have been ready to say they had an affair either way. And I guess Cynthia would have said they never had sex independent of it being true or not. They've known each other for a while, got drunk together in India, took a vacation without her husband, she went to live with him for a few days... Plenty of room to imply and no need for Alex and John to scheme on him actually seducing her. How was there ever a need for it to be true? Also interesting that they completely ignore how she was with her future husband on that Italy trip, who followed her home and that got some press coverage. Is that the same car Pete Shotton wrote John gave Alex for his birthday? I'm too lazy to check in his book right now.

Long day but feeling up to at least look at the Cynthia interview now. :)

[pleasantlyinsincere]

See, now he wasn't always honest because he needs to confess. Fits more with how she usually tells it. IS THIS THE WHOLE CONFESSION BIT? She directly told them this is when and how it happened? Completely lining up with every other time she recounted it? How did we end up with the other story? All the dialogue and the scotch and cokes and tears welling up on the plane from India? Remember:

🙄 Over two years of wondering about this... Maybe there'll be something in Magic Alex's interview...

Long day but feeling up to at least look at the Cynthia interview now. :)

[pleasantlyinsincere]

...he's always been honest with me about other women. Huh. Probably just misspeaking.

Long day but feeling up to at least look at the Cynthia interview now. :)

#also i learned the word bolshie

[pleasantlyinsincere]

Unexpectedly shady on her friend, and a bit weird from someone who has herself been accused of baby trapping her boyfriend. Plenty of easy answers like "Because she's really great and they loved each other."

Long day but feeling up to at least look at the Cynthia interview now. :)

[pleasantlyinsincere]

Okay, right from the start how is this the first question? If I ever would have had the chance to interview Cynthia, that would have been on page 520 of my prep. Gaines being so cagey about the actual audios and saying he really only removed the off-topic-bits, hahaha.

Long day but feeling up to at least look at the Cynthia interview now. :)

[pleasantlyinsincere]

[pleasantlyinsincere]

Long day but feeling up to at least look at the Cynthia interview now. :)

#let's see if we get some mid-flight drama #if i don't get to tired i'll liveblog my thoughts. hopefully i won't be too annoying.