Robert Rodriguez (writer and podcaster)
Article
Rodriguez was also the creator of the FAQ book series for Hal Leonard.
In 2021, Rodriguez staged a two-day online Beatles fan conference, Fab4ConJam. In addition to numerous authors, scholars and musicians, guests included Alan Parsons, Chris O’Dell, Nancy Lee Andrews, Paul Saltzman, and Robyn Hitchcock
Education
BA, Shimer College, Humanities
Media Appearances
Rodriguez is an acclaimed public speaker, presenting programs at universities and libraries, including Monmouth University, Eastman School of Music, Woodstock Opera House, and College of Dupage. He has also appeared numerous times on Chicago’s WGN and WLS radio, WTTW’s Chicago Tonight, and on Nashville’s From Me To You.
Books
Beatles titles
Fab Four FAQ: Everything Left To Know About The Beatles…and More! (2006)
(with Stuart Shea)
ISBN 9781423421382
The Beatles: Fifty Fabulous Years (January 2010)
ISBN 1435119347
Fab Four FAQ 2.0: The Beatles’ Solo Years 1970 – 1980 (March 2010)
ISBN 0879309687
Revolver: How The Beatles Re-Imagined Rock ‘n’ Roll (April 2012)
ISBN 1617130095
Solo In The 70s: Everything Left To Know About The Beatles…and More! (March 2014)
ASIN B00IZ1W0PO
Ribbons of Rust: The Beatles’ Recording History in Context Volume One (February 2025)
(with Jerry Hammack)
ISBN 098925559X
As a contributor
The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper and the Summer of Love (2017) ISBN 1498534732
The Beatles in Context (2021) ISBN 1108409520
Non-Beatles titles
The 1950s Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Rock & Roll Rebels, Cold War Crises, and All-American Oddities (2006),
ISBN 1574887157
As contributor/co-author
The Sixties Chronicle (2004), ISBN 141271009X
Great Hispanic-Americans (2005), ISBN 1412711487
The Fifties Chronicle (2006), ISBN 1412711878
Something About The Beatles podcast
In 2013, Rodriguez created the Something About The Beatles podcast, initially co-hosted by Richard Buskin. Buskin left the show in 2017 and Rodriguez has continued with a series of guest hosts. The show’s format includes interviews, examinations of specific subjects, and the “Olympiad series,” offering song-by-song opinions on specific albums.
Among the interviewees Robert has hosted are a substantial number of “Beatle witnesses” as he calls them: people on in intimate basis with The Beatles, among them friends, family, romantic partners, record producers and engineers, photographers and filmmakers, and journalists, as well as Beatles scholars and fans who experienced the group firsthand, plus professional musicians who worked with or were influenced by them. (See https://talkingbeatles.com/wiki-podcast/ for details.)
The Olympiad-themed shows were spun off into another podcast called Classic Rock Album Olympics, covering non-Beatles artists. It is co-hosted by Gary Wenstrup.
Sources
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2012/11/12/the-ultimate-beatles-sound-test-2/
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2015/03/10/a-hard-days-night-comes-to-park-ridge-with-beatles-expert/
https://news.wttw.com/tags/robert-rodriguez
https://psychobabble200.blogspot.com/2014/03/psychobabble-babbles-with-robert.html
https://www.biography.com/musicians/brian-epstein-the-beatles-manager
https://www.biography.com/musicians/did-yoko-ono-break-up-the-beatles
https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamjeakle/2019/12/09/podcast/?sh=22378b626ba1
https://www.udiscovermusic.com/news/something-about-the-beatles-podcast-dennis-diken-musicians/
https://www.radiotimes.com/audio/podcasts/podcast-of-the-week-something-about-the-beatles/
https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/music/news/a47370/the-beatles-revolver-50th-anniverary/
“… Rodriquez (sic) understands that what the Beatles were striving for was to create something they had not heard on record before and therefore had no nomenclature yet to describe. In short, he understands the artistic process and how to convey that process to a readership that may or may not itself be engaged in the creative process.” Jedd Beaudoin, PopMatters
https://www.popmatters.com/beatles-revolver-book-2495846689.html
External links
www.somethingaboutthebeatles.com (podcast page)
www.revolverbook.com (old page)
