As we start our very first interview on this blog, we are joined by someone who is used to interviews, but usually she is the one asking the questions. This interview is with Lennon fan and radio DJ Anna Frawley! She is such a big fan of the Beatles that she has her own Beatles Radio show every week on Radio Wnet that plays the best of the Fab Four as well as audio clips, cover songs and interviews. As if that isn’t enough she also is an admin of a number of Beatles Facebook groups. When I talked to her I asked her how and when she first heard the Beatles and became a fan
“My uncle, who is a big music lover introduced me to the first song ‘I Saw Her Standing There’” she told us. “Both my Mum and I liked it. I was about 10 yrs old at the time. It wasn't till I've seen "A Hard Day's Night" for the first time that I became a fan of the Beatles. John Lennon was instantly my favourite Beatle in the film. He looked great and had a cool, commanding presence and fabulous sense of humour. He seemed very sexy and I loved his nose. He remained my favourite despite many changes over the years.” As her love for The Beatles first movie is where her life love love of the Lennon started i asked her what exactly it was about the movie that triggered it all. “A Hard Days Night is an excellent film showing some aspects of the madness of Beatlemania with the excitement of the times. All Beatles were funny and likeable and other cast members were fantastic, too. This film with its wonderful black and white photography is very amusing and atmospheric.” Her favourite scenes from the the movie are not surprisingly the ones that heavily featured John.
(John Lennon in A Hard Days Night, photo from google image search)
“My favourite scenes in AHDN are those with John - 'give us a kiss', 'she looks more like him than I do', 'the bathroom one', but I love all of this film.” She went on to tell how she doesn’t have any favourite Beatles or Lennon song she loves so many of them “My mood takes me to the right song of the time” she said. As with most fans of any celebrity there is always a look or era that why like more the the others, and with a man such as John there are many looks to choose from. We asked Anna what looks she liked more, was it the witty funny mop top John, or was it the peace activist who grew his hair and stayed in bed for peace? “As Bill Harry, Tony Bramwell, Cynthia, Pete Shotton, Julia Baird (John's sister) and many others said John changed dramatically when he started taking serious drugs and got together with Yoko. He stopped being his own man. This maybe was what he needed, but I much preferred his earlier years. He looked great, wasn't super skinny, fragile, dependant to extreme, as he became later. He still had much of his Liverpool humour, thanks God, but the change made him more insecure and largely (despite the myth) unhappy. Ray Connolly's book describes it well. I loved him in AHDN, Help and during Rubber Soul recording period.”
(Anna Frawley's Beatle show poster, designed by Jay Kelly)
For anyone who enjoy listening to beatles music (and who doesn’t), then Anna’s Beatles show is the perfect place to get your fix. “My radio show started over 8 years ago. I was approached by very well known here, in Poland, radio journalist who just started his own radio station. He's heard from a mutual friend that I'm a Beatlemaniac who recently moved to Warsaw from London and he loved the Beatles himself. I had only ever worked on the radio as an actress before and had no experience of making my own programme so I was very reluctant to accept the offer. It took me whole year to get the courage after many phone calls from my present boss. The show had grown from strength to strength over the years. We have listeners allover the world and learned a lot in the process. Talented contributors write great jingles for my show and artist like Jay Kelly do fabulous posters.”
She plays songs from all the beatles albums, and from their solo albums also, as well as live show recordings taken from concerts from the early 60’s to the present day.
(Anna's show logo, designed by Jay Kelly)
“Some listeners are more into the early days of the Beatles others like songs like 'Working Class Hero", "Number 9 Dream" or 'Beautiful Boy’” she said while talking about the Lennon songs she plays on her show.“John was a true artist. He could write music, amazing lyrics, entertaining letters, stories in which he expressed his love for the wordplay. He was a gifted observer and could brilliantly exercise this in his caricature like drawings. He was intelligent and very witty. However he was a man of contradiction. He could be quite nasty to some people, at times. He admitted to a giant chip on his shoulder which made him a jealous partner. Surprisingly he was often easily led by various tricky people. Most people who really knew John admit that he was generous and had a big heart. He certainly was not a saint, but why should he be? The world is a better, more interesting and enriching place because of John Lennon”
(John Lennon starring in HDN, photo from google image search)
For anyone who wants to tune into Anna’s ‘fab’ radio show just go to - wnet.fm - and then on the top circle which says RADIO. Broadcasting times are: Continental Europe -18.00, UK/IRE-5pm, US East-Noon,US Central- 11am, US-Mountain-10am, US Pacific-9am, Argentina -14.00, Mexico - 11am, Rio de Janeiro - 15.00
You can catch all of the past podcasts at: https://www.mixcloud.com/annafrawley21/
No comments:
Post a Comment