Brianland

poster art by Grant Goodwin . I was asked to be part of the Hunter Thompson GonzoFest 2026 in New York City to talk about how he connected to the Beat Generation.  We ended up doing a kinda roundtable jam on the subject with an all-star cast — Kurt Hemmer moderating, biographers David Wills & […]

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. The only full concert John Lennon ever played after The Beatles was a benefit for handicapped children held at Madison Square Garden — and fortunately it was filmed by ABC for a TV special that aired in December of 1972.  That multi-camera footage has now been upscaled to 4K, remastered in vibrant Dolby Atmos […]

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On this weekend 17 years ago — in the heat of the Democratic primary of 2008 between Hillary & Obama — I started BrianHassett.com. Every month since then for 17 years I’ve written at least one new piece for the site. “17” has been a weird number that’s followed me around my whole life from […]

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. I was just living in Taylor world for the ten days she was in Toronto doing six sold out stadium shows — something no other artist has ever come close to doing here. Six stadium shows … and you couldn’t get a ticket. Well, you could if you wanted to pay $4000 for one […]

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Here’s part of the script I’ll be riffing from when I introduce the movie “Magic Trip: Ken Kesey’s Search for a Kool Place” at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac on Sunday October 13th.   Edit Update  —  Here’s video of the event . . . . Here’s the post-screening Q&A . . . ============================================ This is the original […]

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. Why this Deadhead Beatnik Beatlemaniac loves Pop’s Princess   I’ve been into Taylor Swift since a New York Times profile in 2008 talked about her confessional songwriting and use of social media — at the time, MySpace.  (!)  Her second album Fearless was set to come out (and would go on to win Album […]

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Imaginestock . photo by Christy Worsoe . Imagine, if you will, a place where music and love fill the air, and every person works for free to build a utopian kingdom. Imagine a secret island hideaway whose location is only shared to people who’ve earned an invitation by a lifetime of good deeds. Imagine a […]

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The Beats, The Beatles & The Brotherhood . . This month I met a fellow Toronto-area author, John Arnone, who’s just written a book about The Beatles and Canada — Us and Them: Canada, Canadians and The Beatles.  In fact, in keeping with our Canadian heritage, we met after a ball hockey game and then […]

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Revival Revived   Klaus Voormann’s drawing of the 1969 plane trip   The most important musical event that ever occurred in Canada — and one of the most important concerts in history — took place at a university football stadium in downtown Toronto in 1969.  It’s true! London had The Beatles’ farewell on the rooftop, […]

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The Beatles: Get Back Time-Coded and Annotated . Some of the characters beyond the Fab Five: (And yes, it’s five — because in this doc The Beatles become a quintet.  😉) Peter Jackson — the cinematic master behind this entire production Jabez Olssen — Peter Jackson’s super-skilled right-hand-man editor – never seen on screen, but […]

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