Disputed Beatles item still for sale

Flat-out denials from representatives for Paul McCartney, John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono and a Los Angeles recording studio have not persuaded the curator of an auction website that a tape box offered on the site is less than absolute proof that the Beatles held a secret reunion in 1976.

“Anything other than denials from the Beatles camp would be shocking,” says Gary Zimet of the Moments in Time website (www.momentsintime.com). The item, an Ampex tape box with the titles of five songs, a date of 11-2-76 and performers listed as John, Paul, George and Rich, remains listed on the site. The tape itself is blank, allegedly erased at the end of a failed reunion session that ended in acrimony. Zimet says he’ll entertain offers from private bidders before opening an auction.

The owner of the studio whose name is on the box’s label, Davlen Sound Studios, says it was one of many used to teach young engineers how to correctly label tapes, and that it was likely retrieved from the studio’s trash bins ages ago.

“Although each former Beatle had recorded at Davlen Sound Studios during the ‘70s and ‘80s, no sessions ever included all four group members at one time, let alone a ‘reunion’ of any sort,” Davlen owner Len Kovner said in a statement released last week in response to news reports about the auction.

-- Randy Lewis