Paul McCartney and daughters, Mary and Stella McCartney, ask everyone to support 'meat free monday' campaign

The MEAT FREE MONDAY campaign was officially launched on June 15, 2009. Paul McCartney, his daughters Stella and Mary McCartney, Yoko Ono and many other celebrities were in attendance.

Watch a video about the 'Meat Free Monday' launch:



Over the last few years scientific data on livestock's contribution to climate change has been increasing. Having a MEAT FREE MONDAY every week is a simple way to start making a real difference in the world. The more people who join in, the more difference we can make.

Sir Paul McCartney explains:
"I think many of us feel helpless in the face of environmental challenges, and it can be hard to know how to sort through the advice about what we can do to make a meaningful contribution to a cleaner, more sustainable, healthier world. Having one designated meat free day a week is actually a meaningful change that everyone can make, that goes to the heart of several important political, environmental and ethical issues all at once. For instance it not only addresses pollution, but better health, the ethical treatment of animals, global hunger and community and political activism."

The Meat Free Monday website will feature useful tips and recipes from Linda McCartney's cookbooks as well as the UK's leading chefs. It will also provide a community of support and information for those who want to know more about the way diet choices can influence a healthier environment.

The campaign is supported by Linda McCartney Foods. The complete Linda McCartney range can be found on the brand new Linda McCartney Foods website.

Watch a video of Linda McCartney talking about her first vegetarian cookbook, Home Cooking



For more info, visit the official website (www.supportMFM.org)

Beatles photographer Robert Whitaker at La Jolla exhibit

Robert Whitaker, who took many famous photos of The Beatles in the mid-1960s, appeared at an exhibit of his photography at the Morrison Hotel Gallery in La Jolla, California on Saturday, April 25. (Whitaker is pictured on the left with Morrison Hotel Gallery owner and photographer, Henry Diltz)

Whitaker's most famous picture of The Beatles is probably the notorious album cover for the U.S. album release of "Yesterday and Today" known as the "butcher" cover. Whitaker describes where the idea for the photo shoot of The Beatles pictured with baby dolls and slabs of meat came from: "It was inspired by a dream I had about the Beatles being ripped to shreds by all these young girls when they came out of a stadium."


Whitaker's first shots of The Beatles were taken in Australia in 1964 when he was running a freelance photo studio in Melbourne. The Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, then asked Whitaker to become a staff photographer at NEMS. One of his first assignments was photographing The Beatles during their second American tour including the historic Shea Stadium concert in 1965 in New York. He spent the next two years traveling with The Beatles and shooting them on tour, in the recording studio, during private moments and in formal photo sessions.

Whitaker recently published a book of his photographs of The Beatles called "Eight Days a Week: Inside the Beatles Final World Tour". The exhibit at the La Jolla location of the Morrison Hotel Gallery runs through May 31.

Re-live the Woodstock experience 40 years later

August 15, 16, 17 of 2009 will mark the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, one of the great musical moments of the 1960s. A half a million people gathered on a dairy farm in Bethel, New York for a 3-day concert event which featured performances by Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, Sly and the Family Stone, Jefferson Airplane, Joan Baez, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young to name a few.

Commemorating this cultural and musical milestone will be Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, situated at the site of the historic festival in Bethel, New York, and home to The Museum at Bethel Woods, which celebrates Woodstock and the 1960s. Wade Lawrence, Director of the Museum, says of Woodstock: "It was a musical moment. It was a time of love and peace. It represented everything that the 1960s had led up to."

The Museum is currently hosting a special exhibit courtesy of Hard Rock International called "Rock Heroes: Selections from the Hard Rock International Memorabilia Collection", which features 16 authentic pieces of Woodstock memorabilia from Hard Rock's vast collection including a vest worn by Jimi Hendrix and a guitar played and smashed by Pete Townshend. This exhibit will appear at The Museum at Bethel Woods through May 31.

For those who can't travel to Bethel, New York, a 40th anniversary two-disc DVD of the concert will be released on June 9 called "Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music Director's Cut". A collector's edition box set will also be available.

Also, a limited edition 2-volume boxed set will be released by specialty books publisher, Genesis Publications, called the "Woodstock Experience". Working with Woodstock’s Executive Producer, Michael Lang, Genesis has created the definitive record of three days that shook the world - a multimedia boxed set comprised of 2 volumes, new essays, fine art pieces inspired by Woodstock, and even an original Woodstock Music & Art Fair event pass.



For more info: The Museum at Bethel Woods official website

New museum honors British rock stars

Following the success of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum in Cleveland, the Experience Music Project in Seattle and the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles is the new British Music Experience which opened on March 9 in London at the O2 Arena. This permanent exhibition celebrates 60 years of popular music in Britain.

The British Music Experience, or BME, takes over the 22,000 square feet on the top floor of The O2 bubble, The O2’s state of the art exhibition space. Hundreds of artists featured in the exhibition range from The Beatles to Iron Maiden, from Cilla Black to Elastica, and from David Bowie to Motorhead. Musical genres from Skiffle to Reggae, from Rock n Roll to Blues, and from Punk to Grime are also explored.

Although predominantly an interactive exhibition, there are over 500 key pieces of British music memorabilia featured including David Bowie’s Ashes to Ashes clown suit and Ziggy Stardust costume, Noel Gallagher’s Epiphone Union Jack guitar, Roger Daltrey’s Woodstock outfit and a vintage Amy Winehouse dress.

The interactive exhibition allows you to scroll through years of music, video clips, stories and images of your favorite artists, or search across a giant interactive music map of Great Britain. In the Gibson Interactive Studio, you can develop your skills on guitar, bass, drums and in the vocal booth.

For more info: Visit the BME's official website at www.britishmusicexperience.com. For information on the O2, visit www.theo2.co.uk

Spend a Beautiful Day at U2's favorite hotel

The next time you're visiting Dublin, why not stay at the hotel that U2 would stay at -- the historic Clarence Hotel. What's so attractive about the Clarence for the biggest rock band in the world? Located in Dublin's trendy Temple Bar district, the 5-star boutique style hotel boasts a "simple but elegant, unpretentious but luxurious" atmosphere. And, oh, Bono and The Edge happen to own the hotel as well.

Built in 1852, the Clarence Hotel is located on the River Liffey in the cultural and entertainment district of Dublin. Bono and The Edge used to stay at the hotel early in their career, along with many artistic types. Like many historic hotels, the Clarence was in need of major renovation, so in 1992, Bono and The Edge bought the hotel hoping to restore it to its former glory.

Considered a luxury hotel, the rooms range from $170 to $375. The penthouse suite will cost you $1875 and includes an outdoor hot tub, a baby grand piano, and a complimentary bottle of pink champagne.

As of December 2008, plans are underway for The Clarence Project, a major redevelopment of the hotel. The hotel will be revamped with a futuristic design including a $235 million expansion plan to triple the amount of rooms in the hotel. The hotel will be open for at least two more years until the redevelopment begins.

So, on your next visit to Dublin, if you decide not to splurge on the penthouse suite, at least drop by and have a pint of Guiness at the hotel's Octagon bar. Members of U2 are known to stop in for an occasional drink when they're in town.

For more information, visit The Clarence Hotel's official website.

For more Celebrity Travel news, visit my new Celebrity Travel column on Examiner.com.

Watch U2 perform on the rooftop of the Clarence Hotel in 2000 singing "Beautiful Day".

Paul McCartney to appear on The View

Barbara Walters and the other ladies of ABC's television show, The View, announced on Monday's show (1-12-09) that Paul McCartney would be appearing on The View this Wednesday, January 14 (11 AM EST). They said that he would be performing as well.

As of this writing, the View's official website has not been updated showing McCartney as a guest for Wednesday. With the current critical acclaim that McCartney's new album, Electric Arguments by The Fireman, is receiving, it seems likely that he will perform songs to promote that album.

Another interesting fact is that Barbara Walters is second cousins with Paul McCartney's girlfriend, Nancy Shevell. Barbara Walters last interviewed Paul McCartney when he was married to Heather Mills.

Visit the Fireman's official website at http://www.thefiremanmusic.com/

For more Beatles news, visit the most FAB Beatles journalism online at http://www.daytrippin.com

Brian Wilson to appear at new GRAMMY Museum

On January 15, 2009, the GRAMMY Museum will kick off its series of public programs with "An Evening With Brian Wilson". The GRAMMY-winning music legend will sit down for a rare and intimate conversation with the museum's executive director, Robert Santelli. The event will be held in the 200-seat GRAMMY Sound Stage theater in the new $34 million GRAMMY Museum which opens to the public on Saturday, December 6, 2008.


Wilson will discuss his early influences, songwriting, the legacy of the Beach Boys, landmark albums like Pet Sounds and Smile, and his new album, That Lucky Old Sun. After the interview, Wilson will take questions from the audience, followed by an acoustic performance.


The new GRAMMY Museum is located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, California in a new entertainment complex called LA Live. The GRAMMY Museum's first traveling exhibit is called "Songs of Conscience, Sounds of Freedom" which explores the 200-year history of music and politics in America. This exhibit examines the creative process of political songwriting and music's role as a political force in society.


The exhibition features more than 100 artifacts including guitars belonging to Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Josh White and Odetta, and Pete Seeger's banjo (pictured here) that says "This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender". "Songs of Conscience, Sounds of Freedom" will be on display at the GRAMMY Museum on the 2nd floor through December 2009 before touring nationally.


The GRAMMY Museum will be open seven days a week from 10 AM to 6 PM. The Museum is located at 800 West Olympic Blvd, Suite A245 in Los Angeles, California. Tickets for "An Evening with Brian Wilson" will go on sale in mid-December through the Museum's box office. For more information, visit http://www.grammymuseum.org.

To see photos and learn about the permanent exhibits at the GRAMMY Museum, visit http://www.daytrippin.com/rockmuseums.htm#grammy