Ringo tells Spinner.com he had dinner with Paul McCartney just after Christmas and hadn't even realized Paul was releasing his own LP:

"No, there’s no rivalry. Paul is Paul, Ringo is Ringo and this is what we do. We don’t phone each other and say, ‘You can’t you bring your record out because I’ve got one!’. We live our lives, we make our music and pick a release date. This was the date we picked and that’s just how it is."

Starr’s new release, Ringo 2012, came out earlier this week. It’s believed McCartney’s new record, titled Kisses on the Bottom, will be released next week.

Ringo’s album features nine tracks, with guest performances from Joe Walsh of the Eagles and Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics.
Paul’s latest is a collection of standards that he remembers from childhood, in addition to a couple of original songs. The album includes appearances by Stevie Wonder and Eric Clapton.

The Beatles' producer, Sir George Martin, along with his son, Giles, and Harrison's son, Djani, made the discovery at London's Abbey Road studios, where the Beatles recorded the song in the summer of 1969. Harrison recorded the short solo on electric guitar, in contrast to the acoustic guitar tracks on the version that was released.

Here's the video clip:

The video comes from Martin Scorsese's documentary, Living in the Material World, which has just been released on DVD.

A Mike Mitchell photo from the Beatles first U.S. concert in 1964.

The photos are the work of Mike Mitchell, who was 18 years old when the Beatles performed at the Washington, DC, Coliseum on February 11, 1964. Mitchell -- who worked for a now-defunct DC magazine -- scored a press pass and had unrestricted access to the stage. He took full advantage, snapping scores of black-and-white photographs of John, George, Paul and Ringo, individually and together.

The photos capture the Beatles' energy and appeal. Mitchell -- who'd stored the negatives in his basement and forgotten about them for years -- digitized the images and transferred them back to gelatin silver prints.

Christie's auction house in New York is auctioning the photos at starting prices of between $1,000 and $6,000 each. The auction takes place July 20.

Click here for a peek at the Beatles concert prints and information on the sale.

With just a few days to go, here are just a few of the hundreds of events scheduled to remember perhaps the greatest songwriter and performer ever:

• John's 70th will be highlighted with a time capsule ceremony which will preserve his post-Beatles recordings until 2040. Organizers asked Lennon fans to contribute birthday wishes and their own thoughts to the three time capsules, which will divided among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and locations in Liverpool and Iceland. The time capsules will also include newly restored prints of his album artwork and an essay on his John's life. Click here for more information.
• The three surviving members of the Quarrymen, the skiffle group that Lennon co-founded in the late 1950s, will play a special charity concert a few blocks from the late Beatle's Manhattan home. They'll play some of the early rock standards they performed with Lennon, Paul MCCartney, and George Harrison in the years before the Beatles formed. More on the Quarrymen's concert here.
• Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, wants everyone to join in celebration of his birthday by tweeting peace and birthday wishes to the Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland. She'll be there on Oct. 9 to perform with the Plastic Ono Band and attend a lighting of the Imagine Peace Tower to mark the occasion. There will be a live feed of the lighting online at this website. Ono says, "We hope to create a shift in global consciousness for peace in John Lennon's memory. We are gathering all the wishes from Twitter and they are being sent to Imagine Peace Tower."
• John's first wife, Cynthia, and their son Julian will unveil the John Lennon Peace Monument created by Lauren Voiers at Chevasse Park in Liverpool. Click here for more.
• Also in Liverpool on Saturday, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra will present a special evening of Lennon’s classic songs with Claire Martin, Curtis Stigers and Mark McGann.
• At Liverpool's Cavern Club, there are special events taking place all month. Click here for details.
• Let's not forget the product tie-ins: Lennon guitar reissued: Gibson Guitar Co. is out with a limited edition version of the J-160E acoustic model that Lennon played. The guitar is being made available in three different versions: The first, finished in vintage sunburst and limited to 500 pieces, represents the guitar he used from 1963 to 1964. The second is a Custom Shop "Imagine" model. The third has a thin, natural finish and sketches of John and Yoko as was used during the bed-ins in 1969.
• EMI has released remastered John Lennon CDs, Signature Box and "Gimme Some Truth" sets, and "Double Fantasy Stripped Down."
• "Nowhere Boy," a film about Lennon's early years, hits U.S. theatres tomorrow; and on Saturday, the documentary "LennonNYC" will be screened in New York, where he was gunned down by Mark David Chapman on December 8, 1980. The 30th anniversary of his murder is expected to bring a new wave of Lennon tributes in December.

Graham Nash at the Hall of Fame induction. Terry Sylvester is behind him on the right.

"Well, Dad, I'm being inducted into a museum," Clarke said last night. "How's that for longevity?"

The Hollies, who have been together longer than any other British Invasion band, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a star-studded awards ceremony at New York's Waldorf Astora hotel. They joined four other performers and groups chosen this year by 600 music industry professionals.

“We started out in the ’60s — now we’re in our 60s,” said Terry Sylvester, who replaced Graham Nash. And Nash was also on hand, tongue in cheek, thanking his colleagues for having "the audacity, the gall" to have three No. 1 hits after he left the band in 1968: "The Air That I Breathe," "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" and "Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)."

The Hollies were inducted by Steve Van Zandt, Bruce Springsteen's guitarist, who paid tribute to The Hollies and the spirit of rock and roll. He said Clarke and Nash's "exquisite English harmonies were shared only by the Beatles."

Van Zandt also took a moment to half-jokingly describe the music business in the 21st century as “artistically, financially and spiritually bankrupt.”

Inducted along with the Hollies were Genesis, Iggy and the Stooges, Jimmy Cliff and Abba.

Much more on the Hollies here.

A few days ago, on a visit to the Hall of Fame museum in Cleveland, Sylvester talked about the induction. Here's the video:

And now two more potential buyers have emerged: Andrew Lloyd Webber and his longtime lyricist, Tim Rice. In apparently unrelated statements to the British news media, each expressed an interest in purchasing the Abbey Road studios.

Word that cash-strapped record company EMI is putting the studio building up for sale has been greeted by a wave of concern about over its possible demolition. EMI has not confirmed the report.

"It's not often that the public spontaneously suggests that we should acquire a famous building," Trust spokesman John Hewitt said. "However, Abbey Road recording studios appear to be very dear to the nation's heart."

The Beatles and producer George Martin in the Abbey Road studios, late 1960s.

McCartney, who owns a house near the studios, said he would be delighted if the building could be saved. He said some people long associated with the studio are considering an effort to preserve it.

McCartney did not, however, offer to put up the cash himself — the studios are thought to be worth between $16 million and $50 million.

The National Trust already owns the boyhood homes of McCartney and his songwriting partner, John Lennon, which have become major tourist attractions in Liverpool.

Abbey Road has become an important part of Beatles lore, in part because of the 1969 album named after the recording studio. The crosswalk in front of the building was immortalized on the album cover, and many fans visit the site each year.

Since The Beatles' heyday, Abbey Road has been one of the world's most famous rock music studios, used by artists like Pink Floyd, McCartney, George Harrison, Jeff Beck, Radiohead and others.

But EMI has been unable to find a buyer for the studio, in part because recording technology now permits many artists to record their own sessions at home using personal computers.

Live Daily talks with The Zombies' Colin Blunstone about the tour:

Click here for the story.

Here's a video clip:

Olivia Harrison praised her husband at the event.

"We all have deep feelings for George because he was such a deep-feeling person," she told the crowd. "Once you'd met him you couldn’t help but be drawn into his world. And he wanted to be in your world too."

Harrison's Beatles bandmate McCartney called the ceremony "wonderful", while Hanks also paid tribute to Harrison.

"Every record was an event, every cut was an opera, the entire story told ours," he said. "All things must pass, sure, but George is going to live forever."

Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001 at age 58.

The unveiling of the star came on the same day as an announcement that a new collection of some of Harrison's best-loved songs is to be released in June.

'Let It Roll: Songs By George Harrison' will feature music from Harrison's solo recording career, including 'My Sweet Lord', 'Isn't It A Pity', 'Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)' and 'Got My Mind Set On You'.

Three Harrison-penned Beatle tracks, 'Something', 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' and 'Here Comes The Sun', recorded live at his 1971 Concert For Bangladesh, will also appear on the album, which will be released on June 16.

An all-star concert to benefit meditation brought Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr together for their first on-stage performance in seven years.

Link to the story in Rolling Stone.