the beatles help bring down communism!

5/24/2018 THE BEATLES HELP BRING DOWN COMMUNISM!

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HOW THE BEATLES ROCKED THE KREMLIN Book Review by Alan L. Chrisman

Shortly after I wrote my own book about how Beatles music has influenced my own life, ITS A

LONG WAY HOME(& How Beatles Music Saved my Life), I got a copy of Leslie Woodheads

new book, HOW THE BEATLES ROCKED THE KREMLIN.

I turned first to the chapter about my friend, Yury Pelyushononk. I had met Yury at the first

Ottawa Beatles Convention which I organized in 1995. He told me some amazing stories about

what it was like trying to play banned Beatles music, growing up in the Soviet Union. And I

suggested at that time that he write it down. He did, by two years later, and gave me one of

the original copies of his book, STRINGS FOR A BEATLE BASS,of anecdotes and personal

experiences, such as having to making his own guitar and using old X-rays to record, etc. Upon

reading it, I thought it would make a great movie.

It was to partly inspire BBC film director, Mr. Woodheads 2009 film, HOW THE BEATLES

ROCKED THE KREMLIN. In 2007, a handful of us had met in Yurys Ottawa, Canada backyard for

Yury to be interviewed and to film his song, YEAH YEAH VIRUS, which was used as a sort of

theme throughout. In fact, even myself and Tony Copple, co-founder of the Ottawa Beatles

Site, are mentioned, not by name, but description (myself, a Vietnam-war escapee and sweet

man in a 96 Beatles Convention T-shirt; and Tony, an urbane British gentleman) in Mr.

Woodheadschapter on Yury. As I said, Yury had told us these interesting stories and his, what

seemed at the time hard to believe, theory that The Beatles and their music had somehow

helped to bring down the Soviet Union.

But Mr. Woodheads film and book substantiates what Yury had first told us and written down .

For Mr. Woodhead has spent the last 25 years tracking down and documenting this story. And

what a journey its been! Mr. Woodhead had shot the only known footage of The Beatles at

the Cavern in 1962 and met the Fab Four before they were the Fab Four. Before that, Mr.

Woodhead had been a cold war snoop (he has a previous book My LIFE AS A SPY), stationed

in Berlin listening in to the Russians, which first developed his special interest in the Soviet

Union. He has made many trips there over the past several years and has developed many

contacts there. With these Russian connections and his involvement in also meeting and

filming many British and American rock stars (he also did The Brian Jones memorial film concert

by The Rolling Stones , for example), he is the perfect person to capture these two seemingly

different worlds, rock n roll and politics, and show their strange intersection in the Soviet

Union.

He shows that the various Soviet leader were afraid , even as far back as the 30s,of outside

Western music such as jazz. Yury had quoted in his book that Khrushchev had said,its only a

small step from saxophones to switchblades. So in that sense this theory that later Beatles

music could have had such a role does make sense. Mr. Woodhead interviews many of the

Beatles Generation in the Soviet Union from musicians to record producers to journalists to

historians to even politicians (including the Russian Defense Minister and Putins deputy, who

said he learned English from Beatles songs). A curious fact is that most of the Russian rock


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stars and Beatles fans, were the sons of the Communist Party elite. Of course, they were one

of the few who would have had access to the West. Yury, although not of the elite class, had

opportunity because he was a doctor in the Russian Navy and was to sail around the world. But

all of these consistently backed up Yurys belief that somehow Beatles music had this profound

effect on the Soviet Union. I think perhaps there was an especially Russian character aspect to

all this. They spoke of this Beatles Effect as almost having a quasi-religious part to it,something thats hard for us to imagine in the West. Of course, Beatles music changed our

lives in the 60s and a whole counterculture developed in the West along with it. But in the

repressive and isolated Soviet Union, it took on a whole other meaning, and The Beatles

perfectly represented both the forbidden fruit and an artistic and spiritual freedom. And

because of that Soviet youth found very resourceful ways indeed to get around the states

disapproval and banning of it.

In fact, in the chapter on Yury, Mr. Woodhead describes how it is even today in Belarus (where

he took Yury back to reunite with his teenage band in 2008). It sounds like something out of a

Marx Bros. film, but with a leader like North Koreas absurd but dangerous current dictator(which gives some idea of how it must have been growing up in that earlier time all across the

Soviet Union). Yury actually moved back to Minsk in 2010, because his Russian Navy doctors

accreditation was not recognized in Canada, where he had immigrated in the early 90s. Yury

had left me in charge of the masters of his book and accompanying CD when he returned there,

but in May, 2013, he visited Ottawa again and we reconnected and he talks of perhaps

returning to the West and trying again to get recognition of his doctors skills.

Mr. Woodheads book documents quite a life journey(including meeting with Yoko in

Liverpool) and the mindbogling but now proven theory that my friend Yury had first proposed

to us-that The Beatles could have had such an effect on another, even more oppressive system.

Mr. Woodhead ends his book with the occurrence where the Russian Punk band PUSSY RIOT

is arrested by the Putin government in 2012. On July 7, 2013, Paul McCartney played in Ottawa

(the first time a Beatle had performed here) and during Back in the U.S.S.R., Paul told the story

how high ranking officials had told him they had learned English from banned Beatles music,

when he played Red Square in 2003. During that song, flashed on screen was FREE PUSSY

RIOT. My Russian Beatle friend, Yury, had written for his book, how A Yellow Submarine had

landed in Red Squareand I had outlined in my own book a similar feeling of almost like an

alien spaceship (Yellow Submarine) landing in my small Midwestern town in the U.S. growing up

in the 60s, with these talented, witty, fun beings offering us joy and hope. Ironically, it had

taken these four working-class Liverpool lads from a far away mythical land of Robin Hood and

knights to reintroduce us to American rocknroll which had in turn inspired them. And howthat would encourage us to maybe go on and create our own magical music and stories.

Mr. Woodheads fascinating book and film and Yurys book show it was to have an even deeper

effect half way around the world. I was interviewed before the McCartney concert by CBC

radio as to why he and the Beatles were still so popular a half a century later, and I mentioned

how they had influenced me to not to go fight in the Vietnam war and come to Canada, but

also, as Yury would often say, they were, Beatles: the cultural event of the 20th

Century. It


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was one of those few times in history when it helped create an almost social revolution which

was universal in scope. Also as my friend Tony said, they also wrote some of its best popular

songs. And for all these reasons, they will be remembered. The Beatles and music changed the

world and they still do. ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE.

Leslie Woodheadsbook, HOW THE BEATLES ROCKED THE KREMLIN(2013), is highlyrecommended. Mr. Woodhead is as good a writer as he is a filmmaker; he makes you feel as if

you are right there.

Alan Chrismans book, ITS A LONG WAY HOME ( & How BeatlesMusic Saved My Life),

chronicles his own life and Beatlesinfluences . Available www.rockthistownproductions.com

EXCERPTS ITS A LONG WAY HOME CHAPTER 22:

THE TALE OF RUSSIAN YURY PELYUSHONOK &STRINGS FOR A BEATLE BASS

(BEATLES BRING DOWN COMMUNISM, Part 2)

I first met YURY PELYUSHONOKduring our 1st

Beatles Convention in 95. He told me stories

about how the Beatles had been banned in Russia and had had a profound effect on helping

to bring down Communism. I suggested then that he write them down. At our 2nd

Beatles

Convention the next year, he was interviewed by the Ottawa Citizen about how in the 8os,

Soviet sailors(he was a medical doctor in the Russian Navy) had smuggled a Paul McCartney LP

out of Russiaand traded them for even cars in the West. He had written this first story down in

a tiny booklet called the Golden Disc. And a couple years later, he had gotten a Canada

Council grant to publish a fuller book about his theories and experiences growing up as a

Beatles fan and musician (he had made his own guitar) in Russia. He presented me with one of

the original, only 147 copies, of STRINGS FOR A BEATLES BASS,which had been translated

into English by his wife. Upon reading it, I thought it would make a great movie. He was going

to London, in April, 2000, and I suggested he leave a copy with the Beatles manager, Neil

Aspinall(the BBC lady had given me his contact at the Connecticut convention in94). Yury did

leave a book there and upon returning, he called me one morning and said hed had a dream,

that Neil Aspinall had called me. Id always wanted to meet Aspinall because he had been there

since the beginning and was their closest confident. And the very next day Yury calls me back

and says, Guess who just called? I said Who? He says, Paul McCartneys personal

assistant, Geoff Baker!

The Beatles record company, Apple, would also call back for more copies for George and

Ringo. Yury approached me about finding some musicians for some songs he had written to go

along with the book for a CD he wanted to make. I suggested John Jastremski (from The

Mustards) and Al Findlay, (from The Ground) who had also played my96 convention; they


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were both Beatles fans and songwriters. Yury had already written the first song,Yeah Yeah

Virusand three others in 2000 and together they wrote and recorded four more songs in

2003. Yury went back to the Beatles Apple headquarters in London a couple more times to

discuss the possibility they would publish his book. Neil Aspinall told him in advance that Paul

McCartney was to play in Red Square in May, 2003; it was to be a world event. Yury had takena lot of flak for suggesting that the Beatles could have helped bring down Communism. But

Yury was interviewed in N.Y. on ABC- TV BEATLES REVOLUTION in 2000with several

celebrities who agreed, including Czech director Milos Forman and Keith Richards(What

brought it down, in the end, was blues jeans and Rock N Roll). And there was soon to be

growing evidence that what Yury had first said, was indeed true.

Yury was contacted by Leslie Woodhead, a BBC directorwho had read Yurys book and was

planning a film on the Beatles influence there. Mr. Woodhead had actually shot the only

footage of the Beatles at the Cavern, which was known to exist, in 1962. On a hot August day

in 2007, a handful of us gathered in Yurys backyard in Ottawato have him interviewed and

then to film his song,Yeah Yeah Virus. Later, Mr. Woodhead would take Yury back to Russia

with him to recreate his experiences and reunite with his teenage band. Mc Cartney was once

again to perform in Russia at that same time. Yury had grown up in Minsk, and his friends there

had been shown how to make amplifiers by the guy whom had worked with and knew Lee

Harvey Oswald,when he had defected there in the early 60s.

Finally in 2009, the film was completed and shown on PBS in the States and CBC in Canada, in

conjunction with the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 89. Yury was sent an advance

copy. They had interviewed Yury throughout it. They had also used his song andexpressionYeah Yeah Virus,as a theme in the film. But as we watched it on his computer, I

could tell Yury was not too happy. They hadnt even mentioned him in the credits. So his

Russian temper was boiling. I suggested that we ask my friend, Bryan, whom despite his partial

blindness, knew how to establish a web presence and make videos. I showed Yury some the

videos Bryan had done for his own music and he calmed down a bit. For the next several

months, we worked hard to create and make videos and interview Yury to present his point of

view. We could piggyback this, we thought, with the coverage we believed, this not very well

known and revolutionary theory would engender. Sure enough, the film and idea got write-ups

in the L.A. Times, Toronto Globe and Mail, etc. Yury was interviewed again by the OttawaCitizen. And the film has since been repeated several times on both PBS and the CBC. A new

book by Mr.Woodhead about this with a chapter on Yury(including about the day we shot the

video and both Tony and I are described in it) was released in 2013and Yury finally got proper

credit for what he had said and done. Yury returned to Minsk in 2010 because his doctors

accreditation wasnt recognized in Canada (and left me in charge of his book and Cd masters).

But Yury returned to Ottawa for a visit in May, 2013 though and we reconnected. I knew how


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the Beatles had affected the West and had changed my life, but I had no idea just what Eastern

Block kids had had to do just to listen to and participate in Beatles music or the profound role it

had on its culture and Communism itself. And Yury had written it down first.

YEAH YEAH VIRUS

While in the West the Beatles stepped on all the rules

The 60s beat was echoing through all the Soviet schools.

Every Russian schoolboy wants to be a star

Playing Beatles music, making a guitar.

Teachers looked upon this as if it were a sin,

We were building Communism but the Beatles butted in.

Nyet to Beatles music. Da the students said.

Even Comrade Brezhnev sadly shook his head (1)

(1)Yeah Yeah Virus, Yury Pelyushonok-Olga Sansom, c. PLY Publishing 2000


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YURYS REVOLUTIONARY PREMISE AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:

THE BEATLES MUSIC HELPED BRING DOWN COMMUNISM!

AFTER SPENDING BILLIONS AND THE CIA, WHAT DESTROYED IT IN THE END,

WAS BLUE JEANS AND R n R

-

KEITH RICHARDS (agreeing with Yury!),

THE BEATLES REVOLUTION, ABC-TV, 2000

LENNON WALL, Prague Photo by Karen McCollum


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YURY PELYUSHONOKS BOOK, STRINGS FOR A BEATLES BASS,

1998 and 2004 EDITIONS


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Alan suggests to Yury in95, he write it all down-he does, then leaves his book at

BEATLES HEADQUARTERS,London, 2000

Yury gets call back from Paul McCartneys office formore copies


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YURYS CD OF ORIGINAL SONGS TO ACCOMPANY HIS BOOK,

YOU CANNOT WHISPER ROCK N ROLL, 2005


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Yurys CD


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YURYS YEAH YEAH VIRUS video shoot, Ottawa, 2007, for:

HOW THE BEATLES ROCKED THE KREMLIN, BBC FILM 2009

& book by director, LESLIE WOODHEAD, 2013

(Leslie Woodhead had also shot the only known footage of TheBeatles at the Cavern, 1962)


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the beatles help bring down communism!

Documents

beatles help

banned beatles music

beatles convention tshirt

firstottawa beatles

previous book

beatles atthe cavern

kremlin book review

woodheads film