#vivek tiwary

[crepesuzette2023]

I'm in love with "The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story" by Vivek Tiwary, Andrew C. Robinson & Kyle Baker

The 10th anniversary edition appeared in 2023. I got it for Christmas.

I love it because it's not an illustrated biography (nor is it a Beatles book)—it is a journey into Brian's mind. The illustrations are expressive and unusual. The writing tells truth as poetry. It's worthy of a man who saw what others could not—and made it his mission to share it with the world.

It shows the nights of Liverpool, where Brian learns that love is dangerous, and the stylish success of the family business, where he's Mr. Brian.

The magic moment when he meets the band that will be the life and death of him. The majestic bullfight of fame and love begins...

The book gives him an ally, an angel, a demon.

The rejections. The world saying no, go back to—

The Screams. Ed Sullivan. Nat Weiss. Boys. The Philippines. Sgt. Pepper.

Brian's loneliness and greed for success are not shown as a character weakness, but a reaction to not being allowed to love openly, due to the barbaric reality of "The Wilde Laws." There is always something missing, never a place to rest.

The book plays with metaphors and symbolism. It serves banter and stings, it seduces and cuts. And in the end...

The 10th Anniversary Edition has lots of additional material, such as an annotated playlist, early sketches, and various writings.

"... brian already had at least two social marks against him—he was Jewish and he was gay.

christ, you know it ain't easy, dusty springfield was catholic and gay but she was able to sing her way through it.

brian had to stand in the wings and watch his lads twist and shout

but those wings became the wings of the world" (andrew loog oldham) [all illustrations from THE FIFTH BEATLE: The Brian Epstein Story (10th Anniversary Edition, 2023), by Vivek Tiwary, Andrew C. Robinson & Kyle Baker. More materials on the book's website]

[anotherkindofmindpod]

New Bonus AKOM! The Fifth Beatle: AKOM Talks w/ Vivek Tiwary

Phoebe talks with Vivek J. Tiwary about love, drugs, the keys to the kingdom, Nat Weiss, and all things Brian Epstein. Listen HERE

[beatlesradioshows]

Beatles, Things We Said Today #402 – Vivek Tiwary and “The Fifth Beatle” Download

In episode 402 of Things We Said Today, Allan Kozinn and Darren Devivo (Ken Michaels is taking a week off) speak with the author in impresario Vivek Tiwary about the 10th anniversary expanded reissue of “The Fifth Beatle,” his graphic (in the graphic novel sense) biography of Brian Epstein. We last spoke with Vivek in episode 241 (back in the audio-only days).

thingswesaidtodayradioshow@gmail.com

"Things We Said Today Beatles Fans" Facebook page

YouTube

[derekklenadaily]

Check out a couple photos of Derek Klena, Elizabeth Stanley, Vivek Tiwary and Tom Kitt for his Caricature at Sardi's yesterday!

[laderniereseancedecedrique]

KILL (2024)

Vu Le : Dimanche 5 Janvier 2025

Durée : 1h45mn29s

Version : VF

Titre Original : Kill

Interdiction : Aux Moins De 16 Ans

Ma Note : 08/10

Le Lien :

La Bande-Annonce :

[orthopedicdoctorinbhopal]

At Dr. Vivek Tiwari's Orthopedic Center, we believe in restoring mobility and enhancing lives. Driven by a commitment to excellence, Dr. Vivek Tiwari, our esteemed orthopedic surgeon, leads a dedicated team.

[graphicpolicy]

The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story gets an Anniversary Edition

The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story gets an Anniversary Edition #thebeatles #comicbooks #comics #graphicnovel

Dark Horse Books presents a new edition of the Eisner, Harvey, and Lambda Literary Award-winning graphic novel, The Fifth Beatle, in The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story (Anniversary Edition), written by Vivek J. Tiwary, illustrated and colored by Andrew C. Robinson and Kyle Baker, and lettered by Steve Dutro. The Fifth Beatle recounts the true story of visionary Beatles manager Brian…

[akultalkies]

Gaurav Kamble, Rishika Chandani, Mayank Jadhav, Subeer Kasali, Vineet Mishra, Surendra Rajan, Santosh Singh Rajput, Chetan Sharma, Chetan Sharma, Prashant Sanjay Sharma, Kusum Shastri, Vivek Sthapak, Jay Tiwari, Shashie Vermaa

[thebeatles]

The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story (2012). Vivek J. Tiwary, Andrew C. Robinson (Illustrations).

[herpsandbirds]

May I say that I also enjoy your blog!

Mostly because of my fixation on birds, but I learn so much from you!

I hope you have a great summer!🦜🐓🦅🦃���🐦

Thank you so much kumquat...

I AM HERE TO FEED YOUR DESIRES!!!

Lettered Araçari (Pteroglossus inscriptus), family Ramphastidae, order Piciformes, Peru

photograph by Vivek Tiwari

[orpheusdrinkinga40inadeathbasket]

The Beatles invigorated the role of the fan because they were the first cultural product to engage holistically with the figure of the teenage girl. They emerged onto ground broken by Elvis and then outpaced their predecessor creatively and commercially. Elvis supplied an avatar for the forbidden promise of sex, but his appeal rested in how easy he was to objectify, his obviousness. Cartoonishly handsome, he was a body onto which the teenage girl could project unspoken and illicit desire. He inspired adoration, but it could not compare to the ferocious awe frothed up among Beatles girls. There is no Elvis equivalent to the term "Beatlemaniac." "To younger teenagers, the Beatles' cheerful, faintly androgynous sexuality was more approachable than Elvis's alpha-male heat," wrote Lynskey. The Beatles offered something more complex than an empty sexual template. They presented an opportunity for identification. A girl could invest her desire in the band, but she could also discover herself there. The gaze cast on the Beatles was a queer one from the start. Before American women looked at the Beatles, they had been seen by Brian Epstein, the closeted gay record clerk who discovered and ferociously advocated for the band when record executives failed to give them a second glance. Watching them play a lunch hour show at a grimy club in Liverpool, Epstein picked up on the magnetic potential of the four young men. In Vivek Tiwary's graphic novel The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story, artist Andrew Robinson closes the frame around the future manager's stunned face as he beholds the Beatles for the first time, as if he could sense his life pivoting around that one rapturous moment. "There was some indefinable charm there," he wrote in his 1964 memoir A Cellarful of Noise. "They were extremely amusing and in a rough 'take it or leave [it] way' very attractive." Upon becoming their manager, Epstein was tasked with convincing the world to see the Beatles the way he saw them: via a gaze that desired its objects without othering them. Heterosexual desire spans a chasm, coveting difference. Queer desire pulls together like elements, finding attraction in affinity. That teen girls could even feel the kind of active, demanding sexual desire evinced by their screams was still a novel concept in the early '60s, which carried vestiges of the prior decade's postwar conservatism. "In a highly sexualized society (one sociologist found that the number of explicitly sexual references in the mass media had doubled between 1950 and 1960), teen and preteen girls were expected to be not only 'good' and 'pure' but to be the enforcers of purity within their teen society—drawing the line for overeager boys and ostracizing girls who failed in this responsibility," wrote Barbara Ehrenreich in a 1986 essay. "To abandon control—to scream, faint, dash about in mobs—was, in form if not in conscious intent, to protest the sexual repressiveness, the rigid double standard of female teen culture. It was the first and most dramatic uprising of women's sexual revolution." Befuddled by the Beatlemaniacs' exuberance, interviewers and critics (who were more often than not men) pinned the scream to a desire, of all things, to mother the band. "It has been said that you appeal to the maternal instinct in these girls," began an interviewer in 1964. John cut him off: "That's a dirty lie." Joking or not, he was right. The dynamic at hand did not correspond to a mother/son model. Beatles girls wanted the way men were expected to want: unabashedly and directly, as active agents in the exchange of desire. There was nothing coy about their hunger.

Sasha Geffen, Glitter Up the Dark: How Pop Music Broke the Binary

[crepesuzette2023]

Beatles Books as vaguely defined friends and relatives at a party you attend with a new crush, whose name you keep mispronouncing.

The longer you stay, the more trouble you have remembering what the occasion was.

The lights keep changing. Shortly after you arrived, your crush shrunk to the size of a mouse, and scurried away. You’re on your own.

The Beatles (Bob Spitz) greets you, an attractive silver fox who seems to be shunned by most of the others. You wonder why. It’s as easy to imagine him as a crying wreck as it is to imagine him on a golf course. Here, There, and Everywhere (Geoff Emerick) disrupts your musings by pulling tapes from his mouth. Seeing your discomfort, he stops and hands you a photograph of John Lennon and Paul McCartney singing into the same microphone. As he does, his pupils take on the shape of hearts. Someone called George announces his intent to poison him.

Anthology (The Beatles) saunters in, puts eight arms around you, and promises to tell you the whole story. They proceed to speak in tongues, and throw popcorn at you. Stu Sutcliffe jumps from a pendant around their neck, lands on the floor, and scurries after your crush.

“It’s always like this,” says Body Count (Francie Schwartz). “I assume you don’t want to listen to my story about a gifted woman who got locked up for depression? That’s fine, I can also talk about frottage, and a certain man’s curves.”

“Oh, stop it,” says John (Cynthia Lennon). She turns to you. “My advice is: Turn around and run as fast as you can.” She demonstrates what she means by disappearing, leaving behind a purse filled with cheerful letters and drawings of herself getting married and giving birth. Everything smells of olive oil. Francie spots Loving John (May Pang), and rushes to her, greedy for gossip. Loving John (May Pang) is everyone’s favorite, because she doesn’t really know anyone very well, but she knows how to make everyone feel comfortable by saying things that make sense in the moment.

Living the Beatles Legend: The Mal Evans Story (Ken Womack) ends up taking her home; they both live at The Fringes. Her home is a little further than his, which is just this side of Weird whereas she’s all the way in Montauk, but he’ll make sure she gets there safely.

To make up for the disappearance of your crush, Remember (Mike McCartney) cuts your hair. Each snip of the scissors slots a black-and-white picture into your field of vision. Windows in time blow noise and heat in your face, and visions of a screaming band that looks a bit like the young Beatles. Then there’s the quiet heat of summer, towels rippling on the line, and a drain pipe screwed to the wall of a house. He talks about childhood, and you’re almost there, but you never will be, because he won’t let you in. His more verbose twin, The Macs (Mike McCartney), recites letters his brother and John wrote from Hamburg, but you can barely understand what he says, because he stuffed a tissue into his mouth.

“It’s only a story,” says The Lyrics (Paul McCartney). “Pleased to meet you. I’m a storyteller myself.” He sings a love song. “I must have thought about these things when I wrote it,” he muses. “Interesting. What a mind, as Linda used to say.”

He tears a few pages from a diary he kept in Paris in 1961 and hands them to you without comment.

At this point, the party is dissolving. Crocheted furniture floats away and stretches.

“Am I too late?” Skywriting by Word of Mouth (John Lennon) squeezes himself out of the lowest drawer of an antique desk, where, judging from by his crinkly pajamas, he slept. “I’m in pieces. Mend me with glue.”

“I will, I will!” Tune In—All These Years, Vol I (Mark Lewisohn) yells ecstatically. “I’m so glad you could make it Sit down with me and celebrate the heritage of Liverpool.”

Skywriting drapes himself around Tune In, who starts purring and rutting against him.

“Excuse me?” It’s The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story (Vivek Tiwary), torero boots clicking on the invisible floor as he strides towards the couch. A spotlight follows him. “I’m managing this show, and I insist on expanding the scene.” Around them, a hotel room forms.

Skywriting lights a cigarette. “Join us in bed, Bri.”

“Yes,” moans Tune In. “I’m so lonely. I’m the oldest of a triplet, or so they say, but the other two haven’t been born yet.”

The Fifth Beatle sits down and observes the unhinged biography losing himself in the friction of rubbing against the shapeshifting Skywriting. Finally, things reach a conclusion.

“And so,” says The Fifth Beatle, “what partially was, finished.”

“Stop repeating lines from a bad movie, Brian," says Skywriting, "you’re better than that.”

As you try to plot ways to escape through the skylight, The McCartney Legacy, Vol 1 (Sinclair & Kozinn) slides out from under the bed, a broad-shouldered lady in a bright red dress. A half-hatched alien with long legs and sunglasses squirms between her breasts, and makes mouth percussion sounds.

“Gentlemen.” The McCartney Legacy retrieves a very, very long rosary from her pocket. “Is anyone interested in an exquisitely crafted, finely wrought chronology?”

At the sound of the word “chronology,” The Beatles (Hunter Davies) crashes through the ceiling.

“Don’t fall for it!” The Beatles snatches the vocalizing baby alien from The McCartney Legacy’s chest, and kills it by wringing its neck. “Time stopped in 1968. The only valid extension are my own salacious additions. Strictly off the record.”

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that,” says The Fifth Beatle.

You exchange a glance with Skywriting, who is plucking pieces of Tune In from his body like children snatch pieces of dough, and sticking them in his mouth.

A camera clicks.

“Excellent.”

The Eyes of the Storm (Paul McCartney) lowers the camera, and changes into a suntanned, gleaming likeness of George Harrison. Then he changes into a fish.

“Everyone looking at the pictures will think they know,” the fish says. “They’ll have no idea!”

The floor dissolves under you. You fall into a pool, just in time to save your crush from being sucked into the drain, and after a barely audible edit you find yourself back home, with no memories at all, the taste of chewing gum in your mouth, and wearing matching tops saying, I visited Fellini’s Satyricon, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt. (ETA: I can't believe I forgot about Dreaming the Beatles (Rob Sheffield). I guess I'll have to include him in the inevitable sequel to this...thing, as the +1 of John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs (Ian Leslie).)

[anotherkindofmindpod]

The Fifth Beatle

[m1ssunderstanding]

Understanding Lennon McCartney Rewatch Part 1.5

Coke Paul is just so pretty

What is the switching glasses supposed to mean in the penny lane video? Any thoughts?

In this interview, Paul seconds John's “go on forever” comment from a few months ago. They really did so well when they were living together, didn't they?

Okay, let's look at the difference in Paul's trips. His first ever trip with Tara Browne and he's just concerned that his sleeves are dirty and just mildly looking through a book of pictures. VS with John? The “I know.” “I know.” The “emperor of the universe” thing? Raving about it to everyone who would listen? Having to leave multiple times because it was scary how tightly they were bonding?

Their songwriting partnership is beyond insane. It's superhuman, it really is. Their abilities, their connection. And Cyn and Terry just reading. Just completely nonplussed. This was very every-day, monotonous stuff for them. Unfathomable. 

That song will always get me, though. “what do I do when my love is away?” “Obviously move my best friend in to take her place and then write a timeless classic with him about how it.”

Astrid: At first I did wonder if the really cared about people's feelings and people's friendship. Maybe this doc's whole thesis is “John and Paul's love for each other was so big they didn't have room for any kind feeling toward anyone else.”

The Pepper photoshoot is insane to me. Like more insane than the David Bailey one. Change my mind. You can't.

John tells an interviewer, "Only now am I beginning to realize many of the things I should have known years ago. I'm getting to understand my own feelings." Were follow-up questions just not invented yet??!! What things have you just learned, John? What feelings?

Never forget Linda took these. She must've been somewhat aware of how annoying this man was going to be about John from the start. And she still went after him. That's how good his . . . Nevermind.

"a decisive moment in the history of Western civilization" Well done, babies. 

I love smug Paul in general, and I especially love when he's smug about John. That “me and the badass bitch I pulled by being autistic” look. But literally. 

Gosh the Greece trip looks so beautiful. Idyllic. Paradisiacal. All of the beautiful people are just so blissful and in love. Sigh. (Every time I tried to take a screenshot of it it was too awful. Peter Jackson should clean it up.)

What are everyone's thoughts about the cause of Brian's death? I really liked what Vivek Tiwary said on AKOM. He knew he was taking a dangerous amount of drugs and he was depressed. But he wouldn't have just left so suddenly without leaving a will or setting things in order for the Beatles business. Anyway, no matter the cause, his death is the beginning of the end for the Beatles.  

All those quotes and pictures about the “intensity” between Paul and Brian are fascinating. “Obviously adored” “overcompensate” “little worries” What does it all mean? Was Brian in love with Paul in the end like he had been in love with John in the beginning? Or did he just feel bad because he knew it was unfair to Paul how in love he was with John? 

Wait, Brian was hospitalized for s*icide attempts in 66? Really? Confirmed? I knew he was in the hospital, but didn't know it was due to s*icide. 

Paul's hand at the small of John's back here, helping him onto the bus. It's so tender, so customary. They took such good care of each other.

Interviewer talking about MMT: If I can't see it in color, I'm going to send it back. ... :/

They're directing something and as Paul starts to walk away, so does John. But not because he wants to. He's looking around almost frantically. He has no choice in the matter. Only one person gets to control their legs at a time, and right now it's Paul's turn. 

Look how fucking ecstatic he is. I guarantee John isn't saying anything that monumental but look at those eyes. He's done for. Gone.

Interviewer: just get a tape recorder and you and Paul and the others just start gabbing. John: well, we've got a lot of that lying around the house, actually. Me: First of all “the house?” “the house?” Just casual. Like “our house” Like it's just common knowledge that they've been married and living together since they were fifteen. Second of all, give us the tapes already!! Who has them? Paul? 

All of these quotes from the Hunter Davies biography are just so normal. They're all so normal. It's fine. I'm fine. And here's my tin hat coming on again (and yeah I believe John loved George and Ringo immensely) but I think sometimes in these quotes, when John and Cyn are saying "the Beatles" they kind of mean "Paul . . . And George and Ringo". John himself actually says as much in the seventies, that when he says "the Beatles" he might just mean Paul, or just him and Paul. And there are countless times when Paul or John will start out saying "the others" and end up using just one name in a sentence. Idk this doc makes me such a truther I swear I'm not always this crazy.

And John's self soothing, reassuring refrain playing over all of it, “nothing's gonna change my world.” Right after Paul and Jane get engaged? Someone stab me in the heart, it would hurt less. And this is just the anticipation of the next part. Can I even handle part two?

Have some happy screenshots to bolster us.

[mydaroga]

Fest for Beatles Fans 2024 Write-Up

In case anyone wants to know what goes on at these things, I can at least give you a run-down of what I did at this one, though as always there was far more going down than any one person could see. I tend to favor panels and discussions over bands, so I am sure I missed a lot of great music. Because the bands were great.

It was held this year at the TWA Hotel, which is part of JFK International Airport and has retained a lot of the features of when it used to be a terminal. I posted photos of it last year when I was there on a layover, and I still love it to death. They did NOT let me ride on the baggage thingy though. In addition, I was unable to secure a room at the hotel, though if they hold it here again I will be snagging one because, like I said, the place is bonkers.

Friday

I entered my cross-stitch in the art contest, because why not? While there ran into several people whom I had met last August at the Fest in Chicago.

Beatles Biography panel with Vivek Tiwary (The Fifth Beatle graphic novel) and Madeline Bocaro (In Your Mind - The Infinite Universe of Yoko Ono). Vivek comes off very passionate and sweet, very respectful of Brian Epstein and cognizant of the importance of telling his story right. Bocaro is also very passionate, but I'm afraid some of us present her personal Ono pendulum has swung too far to admit any human fault in her subject. I later bought the Brian book, but not the Ono.

First Generation Fan Panel was mostly Leslie Healy recounting her adventures, which are legion: she was at the Ed Sullivan dress rehearsal, and at Shea Stadium, and she's *also* the one who got that audio at Paul's house when she visited all four Beatles in 1967. Also, she had a Bearded Collie, which I also had growing up, so that gave me a thrill.

I entered the 60s dress up contest -- second time as Twiggy was the charm, and I won! And then there was a lot of dancing. Gogo boots, ironically, not so much made for such activities.

Saturday

Chatted with some folks because it was more interesting that listening to the speakers, oops. The guy from the Ranking the Beatles podcast is lovely and we've already been in touch since. Also Terry Crain who wrote a great coffee table book about NEMS Beatles merch, which I bought last year.

Went to the dealer's room and bought silly buttons, like TO HELL WITH THE 'BEATLES' and I ❤️ PAUL. There were butcher covers and all that jazz, and horrid dolls, and all the lovely awful things, none of which I could ever afford. But I can buy buttons!

Lovely friends entered the talent contest and proceeded to the finals, and they kicked so much ass and I am so proud of them.

Academic panel with Ken Womack, Christine Feldmman-Barrett, and Andy Nichols was pretty good, a lot of talk about how subsequent generations get hooked and sort of the state of Beatles fandom/academia today. Which feels fairly positive, in the sense that all present felt there is more respect now than there was--though still room to improve on that score.

As a side note, all of my interactions with Womack convince me he's a great guy, very passionate in his love for the Beatles and very devoted not only to doing this right but in elevating lesser-heard voices. He's a very likable man.

Speaking of, next he interviewed Laurie Kaye, who did the radio interview with John on his last day. Her story was very moving.

Tried to dance again this evening after the talent show but unlike the previous night, everyone thought we were weird and stared forbiddingly at us from their seated positions.

But my PAUL IS DEAD / IF YOU WANT IT / HAPPY CHRISTMAS FROM JOHN & YOKO shirt was a hit. Finally.

Sunday

Saw Jude Southerland-Kessler talk about the "birth of the beatles" but sadly it was NOT about the tv film of the same name. So I went to chat with Adrian Sinclair and Allen Kozinn instead, which they later tweeted about.

Beatlemania in the 21st Century panel was about, well, what it says. Next was Women's History of the Beatles which was also interesting and involved various writers, teachers, fans, podcasters, etc. I got to meet Erika from BC the Beatles which was very cool.

Then came the Laurence Juber and Steve Holley panel which I have mentioned elsewhere.

Jenny Boyd talked about fashion and the Apple Boutique, hosted by a lady who wrote a book about Beatles and fashion I would like to read.

Fantastic band with great additional harmonies, which I knew who they were.

I did not win the art contest. I did get a participation ribbon. I'm not even a millennial.

We then found a quiet place to chat, of which which the hotel had many, and then I needed to go to bed so I could be bad in like five hours for my flight.

I've probably forgotten lots of things but that is the general run down. There was also a video room, two stages for bands, more art, authors and guests at tables all weekend, and Mickey Dolenz, whom I did not meet but it's cool he was there.

[eppysboys]

do you have any recommendations of books about brian or beatles bios that talk about brian more in depth? sorry if this is not a good place to ask!

Hi anon!

The classic first stop would be In My Life: The Brian Epstein Story, by Debbie Geller, which is a biography mostly built up with quotes from loved ones and associates of Brian.

The Man Who Made The Beatles by Ray Coleman. Another biography, more gossipy, and obviously coming from someone somewhat close to The Beatles' circle.

A Cellarful of Noise by Brian Epstein (Derek Taylor) Honestly, it's just amusing to me more than anything. This man had no business releasing his autobiography right in the middle of beatlemania. It's a short read (obviously!). It's a little time capsule, at the very least, and there's some sweet moments/moments of insight.

The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story by by Vivek J. Tiwary (Author), Andrew C. Robinson (Illustrator) and Kyle Baker (Illustrator) - Graphic novel about Brian's life. Very dear to me. Vivek did a lot of research and interviews and poured a lot of heart into this work.

Standing In the Wings: The Beatles, Brian Epstein and Me by Joe Flannery - Another book very dear to me. Paints a really vivid picture of life for men like Joe and Brian in that era in Liverpool. Very underrated book.

Other books where Brian is significant:

As Time Goes By by Derek Taylor - A lush read.

Tune In by Mark Lewisohn - Obviously.

The Beatles - Hunter Davies - The later editions include Hunter's reflections on Brian, and the certain truths he had to leave out at the time and why.

What's It All About? by Cilla Black - Cilla was very dear to Brian, and vice versa.

I've probably forgotten a few, but that's a decent start, hope it helps!