Saturday Nine: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

This week's Saturday Nine:

1. The Beatles recorded this after they had taken a three-month hiatus from working together as a band. Do you find you're sharp after taking time off? Or does it take you a while to get back into the swing of things in your day-to-day life? I've never taken three months off at a time so I'm not sure how long it'd take me to acclimate back to work from that long of a hiatus, but when I have a week's vacation, I find that it takes me a day or two to get back into the swing of things. Going back to work from an extended period of time is like getting over jet lag for me. I have to re-adjust my schedule and sleeping patterns. And because I have a job that requires me to be extroverted, I need some time to get back into social mode.
   
   
2. During those three months off, John Lennon made a movie called How I Won the War. What's the last movie you watched? Did you view it at a theatre, on TV, or from a device like a computer or tablet? The last movie I watched was Wonder Woman, and it was at the theatre. I don't watch a lot of movies anymore these days. I either can't find the time or am too lazy to go out to the theatre. And when I'm at home, I find that I always end up doing something else besides watching TV or movies. But I am making it my goal to watch Atomic Blonde in the next couple weeks before it's taken out of theatres.
   
   
3. Paul McCartney and George Harrison both used their time off to make new and different music. Paul composed instrumentals for a movie soundtrack while George studied sitar with Ravi Shankar. Ringo Starr spent those three months with his wife and their two little boys. If you had three months to spend doing anything you wanted, and money was no object, would you try something new (like Paul and George) or just kick back and relax (like Ringo)? Both. I'd spend three weeks traveling in Europe (one week in England, one week in France, and one week in Greece), then come back for two weeks to relax and recoup, then spend three weeks traveling in Asia (one week in Japan, one week in Hong Kong, and one week split between Thailand and Singapore), come back for two weeks to relax and recoup again, and then travel to the US for 10 days (I'd do four days in Orlando, Florida, to split between Disneyworld and Universal Orlando — I am hell-bent on going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter — and then I'd do six days in California, split between Los Angeles and San Francisco), and then spend the last four days recouping at home before going back to work. Yeah, I've really thought this through.
   
   
4. Paul recalls what fun it was to dress up in Edwardian-era costumes for the album cover. When did you last attend a costume party? What did you wear? I've never attended a costume party. I am just not a costume-y person. I think the last time I wore a costume was for Halloween when I was 11. I was a cat. And I only did it for the candy.
   
   
5. Paul says he came up with the name "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" when Beatle friend Mal Evans told him about this great San Francisco band, Big Brother and the Holding Company. Paul hadn't heard their music yet, but he loved the sound of their six-word band name. Soon everyone would hear of Big Brother. Do you know who Big Brother's famous lead singer was? Janis Joplin.
   
   
6. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band appeared on the Billboard charts for 175 weeks. Is this album in your collection? Yep. My dad is a Beatles fanatic, so I grew up listening to all their albums. On repeat. With my dad singing to their songs really loudly and off-key with all the wrong lyrics.
   
   
7. The Beatles are among the top-selling artists of all time in Zimbabwe and Ethiopia. Would you like to visit Africa? I'd like to go to Egypt one day because I find their history and cultural heritage fascinating.
   
   
8. 50 years ago, when Sgt. Pepper was first released, the average price for gas was 33¢/gallon. When did you last fill up your gas tank? Do you remember how much it cost? I filled up maybe four or five days ago. I think it was $1.08/L? (Yes, litres. Not gallons. The rest of the world runs on the metric system. The US needs to get it together.) I have a gas savings card for Petro-Canada so I end up paying less than normal, but I usually spend about $50 in total for a tank of gas.
   
   
9. Random question: Are most of your married friends happily married? I have three friends that are married, and they all seem to be happily so. At least, none of them complain about their husbands.