Day 262/365 Holding Hands

UK release.... November 29, 1963...




and everything changed.



November 29, 2001.....



and everything changed.

What a long strange trip.

Thank you. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Day 139/365 And The Band Begins to Play....

Recognize this?

It's from 1968, an obscure little piece of anti-war movement memorabilia.

Yep, Yellow Submarine's for Peace.

And our four fearless leaders?

Yep.

41 years ago, the band began to play - helping Captain Fred vanquishing Blue Meanies and Apple Bonkers, while posing as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (we hope that you enjoy the show).

I adore this movie. It's one of the few that translated out of the Sixties and it's altered state of mind.

Plus it gave Ringo a great song to sing, and sent me off on a major infatuation with drummers.

Happy Birthday Ritchie - it's been a long,strange trip and I never would have made it without you!

Just for fun, here's a Yellow Sub quiz:
http://www.quizilla.com/quizzes/1031801/which-yellow-submarine-character-are-you

(I was John, the smart, funny one....)

Day 126/365 Hippo Birdee To Ewe!

HAPPY 67TH BIRTHDAY, SIR PAUL!


Say, while I've got you here, I've been meaning to ask you if you ever got that birthday cake I sent you in June 1967.

It was in a white box, and my BFF and I decided to make the frosting look like it was tie-dye? Like, with green, red, blue swirls.

It cost about $10 to send it to you, care of Capitol Records in London, England. We figured you were there, 'cause you'd want to be home for your birthday, you know, like with Jane Asher and all.



No?

Hasn't turned up yet?

Hmm.

Well, I was just wondering, that's all.

Love ya anyways!

Beatles Forever

85/365 Boys Will Be Boys, For 45 Years

A couple days ago on my astronauts-were-heroes entry, a reader reminded me that Beatles were heroes too (and about Tang, but I never took to that part of astronaut-worship).

In the rough draft I actually did have the boys mentioned in the same breath as astronauts, but took it out in the re-write, not realizing anyone else had that particular world-view.

To prove the level of my Beatle addiction, here's two photos (back and front) of an autographed postcard, one of the first batch printed up from the band's Cavern Days.

When I finally got a real job (the kind that allows you to have an American Express card), they called to tell me I got the job, and set up my flights for the 2 week training session. They explained they would pick up the round-trip flight, plus all hotel and expenses for two weeks. PLUS they would fly me home for the weekend.

This was not good enough for me. I asked them to fly me to Chicago for the weekend, instead of home. Of course I had to explain that I already had tickets for the BeatleFest Convention that weekend.

Then there was a long pause, while my new boss re-checked my application with my birthdate, just to make sure he was hiring an adult.

While he was silent, I mentioned that flying me back to Chicago would actually be a couple hundred dollars cheaper than flying me all the way back home. At this point, it became no problem, no matter what reason I gave.

This is how I ended up at the 1982 Chicago BeatleFest, making my first *really expensive* purchase on my first credit card.

This particular postcard was signed by all four boys: Ringo in blue fountain pen, across the front,and the other four on the back side. They were all still enamoured of being well-known locals and being asked for their autographs, and the signatures are clear and sharp. These were the early days in 1962 when Brian Epstein had boxes of these postcards printed up for the boys to sign, then gave the cards to family and friends to help publicise the band when it played the Cavern.

Twenty years later, Ringo's step-dad found a small batch of these in the attic, and gave them to a friend who was running a Beatles store in Liverpool who brought them to the States, to sell at the Beatles conventions, to fans like me.

Not only did I acquire an authentic autographed postcard (and the authenticity papers), but I got to buy it from someone who had been on the inside so to speak.

So, yeah. Definitely heroes. No argument from me.

And while we're at it:

March 26 in Beatle history:

1964 - Pete Best (Beatles) appeared live on the TV show "I've Got a Secret."

1966 - The Beatles posed for the cover of "Yesterday...and Today."

1966 - The Beatles single "Nowhere Man" hit #3 in the U.S.

1966 - Peter & Gordon's single "Woman" hit #22 in the U.K. The song was written by Paul McCartney under the pseudonym Bernard Webb.

But I'm still not drinking Tang.

Day 72/365 The Walrus and How Much We Miss Him

Those who have known me for many, many years, since the olden days, know that the absolute love-of-my-life band is The Beatles. End of discussion.

And those same readers were around through some dark days that we never talk about.

BUT - I've just seen the most incredible video, made by a guy named Jerry Levitan.

In 1969, when Jerry and I were both 14, he did what I wanted to do: he managed to track John Lennon down at his Toronto hotel room, and interview him. While I was 14 and endlessly playing the White Album and Abbey Road, Jerry got the interview.

Now, 40 years later, he's made the interview into a 5 minute film, trying to animate John's words "unfurling in the way I imagined they would appear inside the head of a baffled 14-year-old boy interviewing his idol."

And it really reminds me of how much I miss John, and the band, and the music.