We'd like to take the time to note Thursday's passing of Gordon Waller, who comprised half of Peter and Gordon (the other half being Peter Asher). That's Waller singing the lead vocal in this video.

This harmonious pair of British Invasion heartthrobs will always be closely linked with The Beatles, primarily because Paul McCartney pseudonymously authored a number of their songs- including their chart topping A World Without Love, as well as Woman- while Macca was dating Asher's sister, Jane. After Peter and Gordon went their separate ways in 1967, Waller earned considerable success as a record producer. For more, see Gordon Skene's post at our excellent sister site, Newstalgia.

Here's a word from Peter.

Godspeed, Mr. Waller.

The Rock Band video game franchise is here to stay, and Harmonix unveiled their first artist-specific version, Beatles: Rock Band, at the E3 conference yesterday in LA. Some special guests were on hand to make the intro.

It was a Beatles reunion, with Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney sharing the stage at this morning's Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. The two living members of the legendary band dropped in on the Microsoft press conference to show off a new video game: the Beatles: Rock Band, developed by Harmonix and published by MTV Networks. [snip] Yoko Ono, widow of John Lennon, and Olivia Harrison, widow of lead guitarist George Harrison, also took their bows at the press conference.

This non-gamer who gets repeatedly sucked into a Rock Band frenzy at parties is hoping some of his friends who might read this go out and buy this game when it comes out September 9th.

Though most icon-meets-icon collaborations are a tad underwhelming, it doesn't really get any bigger than this.

UK rag The Daily Express reports:

Just weeks after Bob Dylan announced he wanted to collaborate with fellow legend Sir Paul McCartney, moves are afoot to bring the two superstars together.

Industry insiders say Macca is set to team up with Dylan in California over the summer, where the pair are expected to work on new songs as a duo.

The news comes after Dylan declared this month that he found the idea of working with the former Beatle “exciting”.

McCartney’s spokesman then declared their man would be “very interested” in a collaboration.

“Paul has a home in California not too far from Bob’s so the idea is for the two to meet when Paul is in California over the summer,” says a well-placed mole.

Both artists are no strangers to collaboration, even the notoriously reclusive Dylan. McCartney teamed with Michael Jackson for "Say, Say, Say" (remember that one?) and Dylan has a long list ranging from great (Traveling Wilburys) to WTF (Michael Bolton).

Hopefully the two most accomplished living songwriters in Rock and Roll will yield something more like Dylan's version of "Yesterday" and less like Bolton's "Steel Bars", which Dylan co-wrote (really). We'll know soon enough.

Have a favorite Dylan or McCartney collaboration? The club is open!