#magic alex

[torchlitinthedesert]

I think Alex wanted to be a very loyal friend to John. He wanted John's attention. There were enough men that wanted his attention at that time. It wasn't physical, it was mental. They were almost desperate, the heterosexual ones.

Pattie Boyd on "Magic" Alex Mardas and John Lennon, interviewed in 1980. Peter Brown and Steven Gaines, All You Need Is Love (2024)

[muzaktomyears]

a cursed and haunted image... happy halloween 🎃 👻

[prettybabyimblue]

Was on the phone with my mother (a lawyer) and she was telling me about a legal conference she went to where they had a lecture using Paul McCartney's lawsuit against the Beatles as an example and she asked me "have you heard of Magic Alex?"

It's like my prefrontal cortex snapped out of my body, shook me by the lapels, and screamed in my face, "DON'T BRING UP THE PENIS MACHINE!"

[weedsmokingmacca]

apple inc for sure needed some sort of hr. but can you imagine the lovecraftian horrors that person would have had to encounter on a daily basis

[tavolgisvist]

Soon after the Beatles created the company, there was a man on staff for a while called Magic Alex. His full name was Alexis Mardas, and his is an interesting story. I believe he was a friend of John’s initially, and George liked him as well. He was a scientist, and he was, to some degree, a real scientist as far as I could tell. He had some great ideas and was very up to date on a lot of cool new research. But in the end, he got a bit beyond himself and was talking about things that might happen as if they really existed already. Some of them eventually did exist. I remember him talking about voice recognition technology and face recognition technology. He was telling the Beatles he could create speakers that were made like wallpaper that you’d just stick on the wall. Such things are starting to happen now. So I don’t think Alex was a complete fraud, but I do think he was substantially over-optimistic about what he could actually build and when he could build it. I remember him talking about a problem in the studio that has always existed—the sound from one instrument leaking into other microphones in the room beyond the one specifically intended for that instrument. For example, the drums would leak into the vocal mics and things like that, and we would put up big wooden barriers called baffles to try to prevent this. Alex was telling us, “Oh, you won’t need those—we can create invisible barriers that will prevent the sound waves from leaving that area and entering another area.” Again, something that may happen in the future, but it doesn’t work yet, and it certainly did not work then. Anyway, in the end everyone lost confidence in Alex. He was kind of a half scientist with a considerable hint of con man perhaps in there as well. I liked him personally. He was a cool guy. He was charming and eloquent, and I was sad to read recently that he died. Alex Mardas was a significant part of the Apple team—as Magic Alex, he was a close friend of the Beatles and certainly a relevant part of our letter A, but not (I am sorry to say) actually magic! As I recall, Paul might have been the least credulous when it came to Alex’s extravagant pseudoscientific claims…

(The Beatles from A to Zed by Peter Asher, 2019)

Derek Taylor about Magic Alex

[eppysboys]

I love how stressed he looks in these screencaps. diva.....you weren't doing anything that warranted that 😭

[strwbryfeels]

[mythserene]

Mark Lewisohn really wants to overturn narratives and “Get Back” accidentally gave us incredible insight into how little it takes to make him smoothly and confidently wrong

Great AKOM. Maybe too good because it left basically nothing to add on the primary topic. This show followed my own notes more than any so far—but I had not caught the John quote being about the Maharishi—chef's kiss. 👩‍🍳💋

However... it does give me a chance to riff off something they touched on that I've also been thinking about for awhile: Mark Lewisohn's big desire to overturn narratives, and how wrong he gets it when he runs into a fact check we can all see with our own eyes.

Pre-“Get Back” Mark Lewisohn previewed some of the narratives he was itching to overturn, and off the top explained that no one had really told the Get Back sessions correctly. By trying to ingest all that Nagra audio on a sort of anniversary-tribute calendar schedule—(which is insane, impossible, and hubristic beyond words)—he was prepared to make news on a few fronts. (All clips of him are from 2019.)

First of all, no one has told the "Get Back" sessions story right. Yet.

But after binging the Nagras once the expert is ready to “write it differently”

Redeeming Magic Alex

In this tweet is a hidden wink-wink-hint at the new Magic Alex storyline Lewisohn was queuing up. Although if he hadn't tipped us off in the podcast the “not so bad then” would be meaningless. As it is, we have the key.

Magic Alex has been slandered, his studio was fine, and the Nagras — especially George's good vibes — prove it.

Honestly, just imagine what we would be reading from him if “Get Back” didn't exist. This is the flimsy nonsense he builds entire storylines around. Because he prioritizes flipping narratives second only to deifying John. And like a reporter with a thesis he interviews and searches out sources to prop up that thesis. But unlike a reporter he has no checks. No imperative to give competing evidence. Answers to no one. Is wholly opaque about sources. And most certainly doesn't concern himself with adhering to even the most basic UK and US ethical guidelines for historians.

And so this is possibly the best peek we will ever get into how his process works and just how incredibly flimsy it is.

Paul didn't want to go up on the roof—he was the one who had to be persuaded—because it wasn't enough of a climax

Apparently even Anthology was trying to pull the wool over our eyes about Paul and the rooftop concert, but Lewisohn was ready to rewrite history and tell the truth about Paul not wanting to go up on the roof.

The last clip isn't of Mark Lewisohn, but references him as an expert. The final arbiter of fact. And it fits. Because at this point if Mark Lewisohn says it, no matter how ridiculous it is, it becomes cannon. And it pains me to see anyone—especially Beatles' fans—parroting nonsense and looking foolish.

Mark Lewisohn, heroin expert

It is so clear that Mark Lewisohn is going to handle John and Yoko's heroin issue by feigned expertise blended with apologia and creepy idolatry. (See Prellies in Tune In.) How he thinks he's expert enough to opine on the effects of heroin is beyond me, but that's never stopped him before. I really don't think he ever even questions himself or his superior knowledge of anything, despite zero experience or study. His expertise at extricating John from all hard truths is enough, and will make us all stupider. (Also playing now because I am inching up to pointing out something on those Nagras.)

Repeating Mark Lewisohn: the "Two Junkies" interview (where John literally had to stop to throw up) was from a heroin hangover because John and Yoko weren't messed up enough to actually be doing heroin on set

*I posted this last night and Tumblr disappeared 90% of the post then wouldn't let me post more audio because it counted the disappeared audio against me. Therefore I forced myself to repost it this morning before listening to the bonus (Womak/Mal Evans) AKOM I've been so looking forward to and may now go revel in my reward without guilt. 😌

[beatlblog]

all i'm saying is it's a good thing george spent 10000 quid on that 8-track bc alexis couldn't figure anything out

[ilovedig]

Someone actually made Alex's design in a way that works and isn't a joke. This is so cool!

[kris33390]

The nothing box

Après leur concert au Shea Stadium de New York, qui avait été le point culminant de leur tournée américaine. Lennon avait récupéré cette boîte dans un magasin de nouveautés de New York. Elle était équipée de lumières qui s’allumaient et s’éteignaient par intermittence. John a acheté un certain nombre de boîtes pendant qu’il était aux États-Unis en 1965, pour les offrir à des amis comme cadeaux de…

[rockattitudegr]

Ο Αλέξης Μάρδας, γνωστός διεθνώς ως Alex Mardas ή με το χαρακτηριστικό προσωνύμιο Magic Alex, υπήρξε μια από τις πιο αμφιλεγόμενες και ενδιαφέρουσες προσωπικότητες που συνδέθηκαν με τη μυθική εποχή των The Beatles.

[muzaktomyears]

[zanephillips]

ALEX PETTYFER Magic Mike (2012)

[onegiantmeep]

it’s missing alex hours

[tavolgisvist]

Magic Alex was Alexis Mardas, a blond and handsome Greek with a terribly serious face and a dazzling smile. He arrived in England knowing only two people – Mick Jagger and the Duke of Edinburgh. He met the Beatles in the acid summer and that was that and that was that and that was that. He could do anything, make any fantasy come true. His plans were many and more and more amazing; to make a force-field round a house and fill it with coloured air so that no one could get in (it didn’t matter because no one got hurt and the colour was good); to put a noise in a record, inaudible on a record but so nasty that when anyone tried to tape the record the noise would be reproduced as an appalling scream; to invent a telephone so sensitive that you would tell it who to ring – just say to it ‘ring the king’ and it would; to make a few changes to a car so that it would illuminate from behind when anyone got too close; to invent a camera which would take pictures through people’s walls and see what they were up to … and of course there was a recording studio to build and a dream to fulfil and a world to change. Well, well, well … not much happened but if Alex Mardas wasn’t magic then why was he called Magic Alex? There must have been something so wherever you are Alex, you are magic … yes, you are.

...

Neil Aspinall’s room was a high-class Headorama full of visuals, with a lovely fireplace and chimney corner. Neil has always been with the Beatles; maybe he can remember when he wasn’t but I can’t. He is a fine man, began as the road manager, became managing director of Apple and was deposed by Klein but allowed to remain, if allowed is the word, but it isn’t. Neil had to remain because he is Neil. It is impossible to explain so I won’t. If you want to speak to Neil, ring Apple. He could make a great movie, create beautiful pictures, do anything, but so far he hasn’t. Not one the public has seen, anyway. One day I hope he will. One day I hope you will see his work. The Beatles, however, cast a tall shadow and a wide one. It is not their fault – they have given ‘breaks’ galore but what is a break? What we all need is not breaks but challenge.

...

Mal Evans (Neil’s companion when they were managing the road before the job got its own title and its own dignity and its truly fascinating place in the complexities of touring, in other words before we heard the word ‘roadies’), is still at Apple and still one of the greatest roadies the world has ever known. But more than any of us he found a way to adapt to changing times and he became a record producer (Badfinger), played parts in movies (Help, Magical Mystery Tour, Blindman with Ringo and others) and he is willing to serve if he may and there is nothing nobler than real service I believe.

(As Time Goes by Derek Taylor)

(Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI)