BEATLES QUEST:
"IT WAS 'FIFTY' YEARS AGO TODAY. . ."
Excerpt from our Gig Notes project:
www.hillmanweb.com/book
Early 2014 saw a flurry of Beatles excitement in the media, since it had
been 50 years since their appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show -- a television
appearance that had launched their "invasion" of North America. Thinking
back there are a few things I remember about that exciting time.
I had been waiting to see the Fab 4 for some time in the early '60s.
Alan Jones, a bandmate from England had a brother in Yorkshire who'd been
sending reports about an unusual pop band with a funny name and strange
haircuts. who were the latest rage with teens and the media in England.
Since I was a real fan of British music and was always looking for new
songs to learn, he had been sending us Lonnie Donegan and Shadows records.
He then started to enclose a few Beatles singles in his packages. Around
this time Chad Allan and the Reflections, who made regular appearances
at the Brandon Roller Rink where we worked as house band, started to feature
Beatles songs in their act. Interest piqued by all this and the stories
in the imported UK papers which I
bought occasionally at Brandon newstands, it was a thrill to finally
see the band on the Ed Sullivan Show.
This North American debut kicked off a tremendous change in the music,
fashion and attitudes of the young. We soon let our hair grow longer, bought
Beatle boots, tailored our trousers to a skinny fit, shopped for jackets
with Nehru collars, replaced many of our band instrumentals with vocals
and harmony, tried our hand at writing our own songs, looked at Gretsch
and Hofner guitars with even more admiration, and developed an even stronger
fascination with all things British.
It was quite amazing that someone so stodgy as Ed Sullivan became a
major force in launching two music and cultural revolutions. Back in 1956
I had been just as excited and inspired when I watched Elvis, the Blue
Moon Boys and Jordanaires on his show.
BEATLES QUEST
Thinking back over the last 50-plus years and reading through our "Music
Odyssey" project notes I realize just how influential the Beatles have
been on our music. I've jotted down some of the highlights of this "Beatles
Connection" that we've expanded upon elsewhere in this tome:
-
Not only did they inspire changes in appearance, music styles and social
attitudes, but they also provided the incentive for us to book studio time
in Canada and England to record our own music
-
My sprawling packrat collection includes a full library of Beatles books,
magazines, records/tapes/videos . . . as well as numerous Beatles-inspired
instruments
-
50 years ago I also married an Asian girl . . . and we too have two musician
sons . . . but going beyond Lennon's lead, we also have a beautiful daughter
-
I had the thrill of singing through John Lennon's favourite microphone
during a recording session . . . which I accidentally broke -- very embarrassing
-
The engineer for one of our albums
had worked at Abbey Road on the White Album sessions
-
Spent time exploring Liverpool during one of our England tours in the '70s.
. . where we were ticked off to find that the original Cavern Club had
been demolished
-
Played many of the same clubs in Northern England that the Silver Beetles
had played in their early days
-
Spent two weeks in the Reeperbahn district of Hamburg visiting and photographing
the clubs and haunts where the Beatles had evolved their act
-
Two afternoon meetings in the London Soho office of Dick James whose company
had notoriously taken over the Beatles' Northern Songs publishing rights
-
Performed a stint in a Beatles "tribute" band
-
A highlight of our last New York visit was attending the Letterman broadcast
in the Ed Sullivan Theatre and taking an afternoon hike to the Dakota Apartments
-
The Beatles figure prominently in our Rock Roots section:
ROCK ROOTS
Hamburg Years Tribute
www.hillmanweb.com/BEATLES
Post Hamburg - Fab Four Years
www.hillmanweb.com/beatles4
