Cheap Trick closing Vegas deal to perform Sgt. Pepper's

Cheap Trick close to headliner deal

The iconic American rock band Cheap Trick is close to finalizing a headliner deal with the Las Vegas Hilton that would feature the group performing The Beatles' epic album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" live with a full orchestra.

Word has it their performances could begin as soon as March and stretch throughout 2009.

Cheap Trick's original members would be involved in the exclusive agreement with the Hilton.

The band has sold 20 million records and produced 29 movie sound tracks. They hit it big in 1979 when "I Want You to Want Me" peaked at No. 7 on Billboard's Top 40. "The Flame" topped the charts in 1988 and their cover of Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel" reached No. 4 a couple of months later.

VH1 listed Cheap Trick No. 25 among the "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock."

[Review Journal]

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Album Cover Parodies

One of the most influential album covers of all time. AmIRight shows over 50 parody covers of the Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover.

Various Artists
"Golden Throats: The Great Celebrity Sing-Off!"
From the Rhino series with all the awful celebrities doing covers of better songs.


Various Artists
"The Simpsons: The Yellow Album"
Top notch parody by the masters of parody.

Udo Lindenberg
"Hut ab! Hommage an Udo Lindenberg"
A Tribute-Album for a german musician, Udo Lindenberg, issued in the 90s, featuring different german pop-artists interpreting his songs.


Sonny Vincent
"The Good, the Bad, the Ugly"

The Rutles
"Sgt. Rutter's Only Darts Club Band"


The Mothers of Invention
"We're Only in It for the Money"
One of the first parody album covers released. A landmark album.

Jun Fukamachi
"Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band"
An electronic version of Sgt. Pepper's by a Japanese artist.


Celiz Cruz and friends
"Tropical Tribute to the Beatles"


AWESOME COVER (CLICK TO ENLARGE FOR DETAILS): ccc - ill chemist, Go Home Productions, Voicedude, other various Mash-Uppers
"Sgt. Pepper's Mid Life Crisis"
One of the best Pepper-parodies, and a fantastic album !


The Beachles
"Sgt. Petsound's"
Great cover art mashup!

Sgt. Pepper's Drum Skin Fetches $1.1 Million

The original drumskin featured on the front cover of the 1967 album ``Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' by the Beatles sold tonight at Christie's International in London for 541,250 pounds ($1.07 million).

The price was more than five times its lower estimate and the second-highest ever paid for a piece of Beatles memorabilia, said Christie's.

The 2-foot, 4-inch diameter hand-painted skin, mounted on another hardwood drum, was accompanied by a hand-written letter from artist Peter Blake, confirming that it appeared on the LP cover he designed. The skin itself was painted by Joe Ephgrave, according to Blake. The LP has been regularly voted by critics as among the best of all time.

The drumskin fetched the top price at a 259-lot sale of Popular Culture, Rock and Pop Memorabilia held at Christie's South Kensington auction rooms.

Later in the sale, the original handwritten lyrics that John Lennon and Yoko Ono made for the 1969 song ``Give Peace a Chance,'' sold for 421,250 pounds, exceeding an estimate of 200,000 pounds to 300,000 pounds. These were also bought by a telephone bidder, said Christie's.

The lyrics were sold by the U.K.-based comedy writer and television presenter Gail Renard.

Christie's said the lyrics had been personally given to Renard by Lennon when she interviewed him for her university magazine in Suite 1742 of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal, during his anti-war demonstration.

Bed Protest

Newlywed Lennon and Ono's Montreal ``bed-in'' followed a similar protest in Amsterdam. The couple led a five-minute recording of the song. Among the chorus of 50 or so guests in the room were Timothy Leary and Allen Ginsberg.

The record for any piece of Beatles memorabilia is the 600,000 pounds paid in July, 2005, for Lennon's handwritten lyric sheet for the band's 1967 live satellite broadcast of ``All You Need Is Love,'' said Christie's.

[Bloomberg]