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Beatles' Visit to Arkansas Remembered
Associated Press Writer

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Forty years later, Carrie Mae Snapp is still aglow over her brush with The Beatles. Sunday marks the 40th anniversary of the Beatles' improbable, clandestine arrival in Walnut Ridge, population 4,925, and Monday marks 40 years since a throng — including a teenage Snapp — got wind of their visit and surrounded the British megastars as they left for a concert in New York.

It was the musical legends' only visit to Arkansas, a moment still worth remembering for many in Walnut Ridge.

"This was a life-changing event and it sort of validated us in our isolated, little town," Snapp said. "How many times did the Beatles come to Arkansas? In 1964, at the height of their fame, what were the chances of it? Sputnik could have fallen on us more easily."

It was unlikely even from the Beatles' perspective. They only landed in Walnut Ridge because it had an old air base with long enough runways to handle their large plane. Between a concert in Dallas and a benefit for cerebral palsy in New York's Times Square, the road-weary band took a 36-hour break at a dude ranch near Alton, Mo.

They would have made it without drawing attention if it hadn't been for the man who just opened the hottest teenage juke joint in town. Jack Allison, then 31, saw a large jet circling just after midnight Sept. 19, 1964. Now 71 and still running his drive-in barbecue shop, the Polar Freeze, Allison said he told three teens who were hanging out that night to check it out.

The boys made it to the airport just in time to see John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr get off the jet and fly off in a small prop-plane, while Paul McCartney drove separately in a truck. The boys told friends after that night's high school football game that they had seen the Beatles in Walnut Ridge.

Nobody believed them.

One of those boys was a future sheriff, Gene Matthews, who was later killed in a famous shootout with an anti-tax protester. He was 15 at the time, it was 2 a.m. in a sleepy town, but he had to call someone who would believe him — the biggest Beatle fan he knew, Carrie Mae Snapp.

Luckily, Snapp's father let her take Matthews' call, and through connections at the airport, found a pilot who confirmed it was, in fact, The Beatles. They had gone on to a Missouri ranch owned by Reed Pigman, the man who piloted them from one frenzied stop to another on their first world tour.

"I was crying hysterically that I had missed the Beatles, but then the pilot said they were coming back," Snapp said. "He couldn't tell us exactly when, but he said, 'I wouldn't go to church if I were you.'"

Walnut Ridge was, and still is, a church-going town. But this was 1964, just eight months after the Beatles' first appearance on "Ed Sullivan" and one day before they returned home to Liverpool. Even conservative parents who looked askance at the rock 'n' rollers recognized the significance.

"My biggest concern was trying to cover the Beatles' departure for the local paper and work in Sunday school and go to church, both," said Harry Truman Moore, now a 57-year-old lawyer in Paragould. "I didn't make it to church, but I got that concession from my parents."

Moore's newspaper report said the pilot of the plane found head cushions missing before he had to fly on to Houston to pick up the AFL's Oakland Raiders.

Snapp takes responsibility for that.

"Part of the group broke into the airplane and there were some pillows laying out that were obviously used," she said, almost giddy. "My parents nearly had a heart attack when they found out I had taken a pillow. They made me give it back, but I got to keep the disposable pillow cases. They didn't know I also got a cigarette butt off the airplane. I might have some John Lennon DNA."

About 300 people, most screaming and swooning, showed up to see the Beatles off at Walnut Ridge. Nearly as many people turned out at the gate at Pigman's ranch near Alton, but somehow, the event didn't have the same impact there.

Alton's current mayor, Richard Haigwood, was one of the few Missouri residents to see the Beatles at Pigman's. He was 17 at the time, and he and some friends snuck onto the gated, canine-patroled compound by floating a river in the middle of the night. For a few days, they were the coolest kids in town.

"I liked their music OK, but I wasn't one of those screaming fans," he said.

The next day at the Walnut Ridge airport, Snapp wasn't screaming either when Harrison and McCartney got out of a red truck just a few feet away. She couldn't breathe, she was crying so hysterically.

To this day, she keeps every Beatles bubble gum card and magazine. She acknowledges that she is exceptional in her focus on that weekend 40 years ago, but she also revels in her vicarious celebrity status, enhanced by a recent documentary film about the visit.

"I know there's no logic in it," she said, "but in some way it's inseparable from me."

IN FOCUS: She loved them yeah, yeah, yeah

Thirty-two years ago, four young fresh-faced Liverpudlian musicians took to the stage in Peterborough and a review in the Evening Telegraph described them as: "Not nearly as bad as they might have been." Obviously the reviewer and the audience did not realise they were watching the birth of a musical phenomenon called The Beatles. At the weekend a Beatles expert visited the city, to see if Peterborough's 'children of the 60s' had any mementoes of that night.

When Carol Abell was 15 years old, she and two friends went to see The Beatles in concert at Peterborough's Embassy Theatre.

Later that night, Carol took her autograph book to the Bull Hotel, in Westgate, city center, in the hope of meeting the band. She got her signatures ­ and a drink with the rising stars, too.

Thirty-two years later, at a special valuation day at Peterborough's Great Northern Hotel, Carol was told the autograph book was worth a staggering £1,750 ($3,200).

Carol, of Ladybower Way, Gunthorpe, Peterborough, said: "I can't believe it is worth so much ­ this is wonderful."
The concert in 1962, at the popular city venue, was the first time The Beatles played in Peterborough, and Carol, whose maiden name was Barrett, said it was a night she would never forget.

She said: "I was living with my mum and dad in Midland Road at the time. "It was such a good concert, they were brilliant, but were not top of the bill ­ Frank Ifield was headlining.

"Me and my friends, Pauline White and Margaret Cawfield, walked up to The Bull after the show because we were told most of the people who performed at the Embassy stayed there. As we walked up to the hotel they were in their bedroom ­ hanging out of the window. So we shouted to them and they invited us in for a drink."

Sitting in the bar at the hotel, Carol and her friends talked to Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and John Lennon about touring, performing and the band's recently released single ­ Love Me Do.

Carol said: "It was wonderful they were really down to earth lads and not at all caught up in the business. They just seemed really relaxed and were loving performing all the time." Carol managed to grab signatures of the band and went on to join their fan club.

By March 1963, when The Beatles came to The Embassy again, the group had had their first number one hit ­ Please, Please Me.

Carol said: "This time we went to the stage door before the show and told people working there we were in the fan club. They let us backstage and the group were in there practicing and drinking tea. John Lennon didn't say a great deal, but the other three were still very relaxed considering Beatlemania had just struck. They had just bought a small record player but didn't have any records. So they paid for me to get a cab back to my house to pick up some of my records. We were really annoyed with ourselves afterwards that we didn't get any photos, but we didn't take a camera with us because we didn't expect to get so close to The Beatles again."

Carol's book of autographs is full of signatures written when other bands visited the city in the 1960s. Dusty Springfield, Petula Clark, The Shadows and Adam Faith are all included.

But when Beatles expert Paul Wane valued the book at £1,750 on Sunday, Carol was surprised. She said: "It is just a typical teenager's autograph book, I had no idea it would be worth so much."

Valuer Paul Wane, from TRACKS, a company which specializes in buying and selling 1960s pop memorabilia, said the book was worth so much because the signatures had all been gathered here in Peterborough.

Wane (49) said: "The Beatles only came to Peterborough twice, so obviously signatures from the time are rare. "It is also in very good condition."

Carol decided to sell the autograph book to Paul but said she had no idea how she will spend the money. And she said it didn't upset her to hand over such a good slice of pop history.

She said: "I will always have my memories of when we met the Beatles ­ I don't need the book to remember. "And my memories are priceless."

The Beatles ­ Paul's real passion

Paul Wane, from Chorley, in Lancashire, decided 10 years ago to quit his job with the local council and start up a business based on his real passion ­ The Beatles.

Paul now travels around the country valuing posters, records, signatures and programmes from venues the band played during the 1960s.

He said: "I have a lot of collectors who come to me for certain items, but mostly it is selling the goods on at auctions.

"There is a huge fascination with Beatles stuff, whether it is personal effects, like guitars, or just signatures, people consider them to be part of our history and like to own a piece of that."

Paul said although quite a few big bands came to Peterborough in the 1960s, getting hold of authentic signatures or posters was harder because the venues they played were not so big, so there was less chance of things surviving.

Paul said: "Stars' signatures from the '60s are more valuable than a copy of Paul McCartney's signature would be if he wrote it today.

"A signed poster from the concerts in Peterborough would be worth a lot because not many were printed, as would be a program from that tour."

Value was purely sentimental

Chef Craig Klien took along his own piece of pop memorabilia to be valued ­ a 1960s Rolf Harris Stylophone.
Unfortunately, its value was purely sentimental. Craig (42), of Canterbury Road, Werrington, Peterborough, works as second chef at the Great Northern Hotel.

He said he wasn't surprised his slice of the '60s was not worth thousands. He added: "You never know until you ask ­ it could have been worth millions, it is Rolf Harris after all."

Valuer Paul said: "Lots of things like this stylophone which are kept in good condition are readily available - collectors always want that 'one-off' item." Another fan from the city bought along a signed poster of The Who, and photographs of the band.

But valuer Paul said it was The Beatles who drive the market. Paul said: "As the price of Beatles memorabilia goes up, it is forcing up the value of other bands such as The Who and The Rolling Stones. With the rise of the internet it is also easier to get hold of things, so the quality of goods needs to be tip-top."

Four men with fringes

ON October 5 1962 The Beatles' first hit "Love Me Do" was released in the UK. Two months later, on December 2, the band came to Peterborough. Colin Bostock-Smith reviewed the concert in The Evening Telegraph at the time.

He said: "The Beatles, four young men with four fringes, three guitars, and some drums, were not nearly as bad as they might have been.

"Their Taste of Honey was performed with more taste than usual and the rocking Twist and Shout sent a small boy a few rows in front of me into hysterical delight."

By the time the fab-four returned to the city in March 1963, they already had a number one single with "Please, Please Me" and had began their bid to win over America with the same tune.

This time, The Evening Telegraph review said of the band, who shared the billing with local band The Dynatones: "As far as musical ability goes, their act gave them little chance to display any. But presentation-wise, they are home and dry.

"The Beatles are right at the top ­ and they deserve to be there."

September 13, 2004 -- Orlando Sentinel

Florida's whirlwind of Beatlemania -- The Beatles blew into Jacksonville once -- after Hurricane Dora.

Memory usually comes with a soundtrack.

For some, just hearing the titles "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You" takes them back to Sept. 11, 1964, a Friday that capped an already memorable week.

That was the night The Beatles came to Jacksonville -- right behind Hurricane Dora. The fans were excited teenagers then, filled to bursting at the prospect of seeing the band that had turned many a teen girl into a squealing fanatic.

Most vivid was the sense of exhilaration. "It was electric," says Rorie Fore, who was 15 at the time. "I kept pinching myself because I couldn't believe I was breathing the same air as them."

"I was part of something really special," says Ann Burt, also 15 then.

Together, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison were a cultural hurricane, starting with appearances in February 1964 on the Ed Sullivan Show. Their sweet, catchy pop tunes dominated Top 40 radio, and their hairstyles and lifestyles influenced millions of teenagers. Wherever they went, crowds of hysterical girls called their names and rushed to touch them, screaming things like "I think I saw Paul!"

The Beatles were a metaphor for the 1960s: The group was like nothing that had come before, and after them nothing would be the same.

The Beatles performed in the old Gator Bowl, the decrepit football stadium -- which since has been reborn all shiny and comfortable as Alltel Stadium -- perched on the eastern edge of downtown Jacksonville inside a sweeping bend in the St. Johns River.

Malcolm Carmichael, a motorcycle police officer assigned to escort the Beatles during their day in Jacksonville, remembers the concert clearly: "Girls were swooning and falling all over, and the Beatles had them by the heartstrings," says Carmichael, now 66 and retired.

It was a remarkable scene, and not just because of the Beatles. Less than 48 hours earlier, Hurricane Dora had come smashing through town with 110 mph winds and 10 inches of rain. Most of the city was without electricity, hundreds of houses had been destroyed and thousands of trees knocked down.

Despite those obstacles, 23,000 fans showed up, one of the largest crowds of the tour. Tickets sold for $4 and $5.

The storm left many Beatlemaniacs with this irony: They could thrill to the sight and sound of the band performing live, but once they returned to their darkened homes, there was no way to play their Beatles albums.

"We had no electricity for almost a week, and I kept wondering, 'How am I going to iron something for the concert?' " remembers Burt, now 55 and a Jacksonville community activist.

The Beatles had intended to spend two days in town for the kind of relaxation that was rare during their North American tour, which included 32 shows in 25 cities in 31 days. But instead of flying to Jacksonville after two shows in Montreal on Sept. 8, they went to Key West, where they briefly escaped the madness and kept their eyes on Hurricane Dora as it approached Jacksonville.

Valuable memories

Fifteen-year-old Kathleen Evans was crazy about the Beatles. "I still have magazines and articles that I cut out of the newspaper," says Evans, who recently rediscovered the cache while cleaning out her garage. "I bought everything about the Beatles -- magazines and their albums. My mom had a fit because I was spending all my baby-sitting money on Beatles stuff."

A few months after the concert, Evans and three friends mimicked their heroes during a school talent show. The four dressed as the Beatles and lip-synced two or three of their songs. Evans was Lennon, her favorite.

"As time neared for the show, I started to panic," says Evans, 55 and a small-business owner in Jacksonville today. "I was thinking, 'Why am I doing this? I don't want to do this! In front of the whole school!' "

Chris Drechsler was Ringo. "I thought he was kind of cute," says Drechsler, who was also 15 at the time. "I got to wear the rings and sit at the drums. I was sitting there shaking my head back and forth. We sang a couple of songs, including I think, 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' where we all did the 'Woooo!' "

Drechsler came away from the concert with a true prize: autographs from all four Beatles, obtained backstage by three girls from England she had met a few weeks earlier. "I screamed," Drechsler says. "I couldn't believe they got the autographs. I showed them to everybody."

Including Evans. "She brought them to school and we were just drooling," she says. "I begged her -- oh, I begged her -- to give me John Lennon's autograph. I said, 'You've got the other three, what do you need that one for?' "

Drechsler wasn't tempted. " 'Oh, yeah,' " she recalls, " 'Let me cut up this piece of paper.' "

Forty years later, there is one little problem: Drechsler, 55 and a customer-service rep for the Internal Revenue Service, can't find the autographs. They are now worth about $6,000. "They are here somewhere," she says.

Police presence

The Beatles spent less than 12 hours in Jacksonville, but security was extraordinary, considering what the police would be facing: hordes of screaming girls. There were 140 police officers and 84 firefighters on the job -- the firefighters served as ushers, making sure everyone stayed seated so the crazed teenagers couldn't launch an all-out assault on the stage.

In Montreal, the band had received death threats from French-Canadian separatists. During two performances there, police sharpshooters joined the crowds at the Montreal Forum. The Beatles were nervous, but everything went fine.

The only threats in Florida were from Dora. Fortunately, the hurricane was polite enough to get out of town so the real show could go on as scheduled.

Nonetheless, police twice used tricks to thwart the best efforts of Beatlemaniacs. The first maneuver came at the old Imeson Airport, where 150 kids had gathered for the band's arrival. The Beatles' plane, however, taxied to a private hangar, 200 yards from the crowd massed at the terminal. At the hangar, a police escort of six motorcycle cops and several police cars was waiting in hiding.

"When the kids realized what was happening, here they came" across the tarmac, says Carmichael, the former police officer. When the charging teens were halfway to the hangar, the motorcade sped past them. "I kind of felt bad about that."

The Beatles were whisked to the George Washington Hotel, an aging landmark in downtown Jacksonville that has since been torn down. The band members relaxed for a while, then starred in a news conference, during which 150 members of the local media asked inane questions, such as: "Does your hair require special attention?" and "What will you do when the bubble bursts?"

Carmichael kept his eyes on Ringo. "The whole time, he was taking pieces of ice from a pitcher in front of him and flinging them into the audience," says Carmichael. "The Beatles were just like little kids. It was fun to watch."

After the news conference, it was time for the Beatles to be driven to the Gator Bowl for the show. By then, 500 teenagers had gathered outside the hotel, intent on seeing, perhaps even touching, their heroes.

Because of the crowd, it took 24 officers 15 minutes to get the lads from an elevator at the hotel garage into the cars and out to the street -- a distance of 25 feet. The Florida Times-Union described the scene as a near riot. Girls were climbing on the Beatles' car, screaming hysterically and calling, "Ooh, ooh, George!" and "Ringo, Ringo!"

The Beatles wanted contact with their fans, says Carmichael, so police struggled not only to keep the girls away but also to prevent the Beatles from wading into the crowd. "They would've gotten out in the middle of it, and we were scared of that."

Fab show, rotten seats

During the show at the Gator Bowl, the crowd was energetic but well-behaved. What was unique for a Beatles show, however, was the unsettled weather. Although Dora had departed, the wind still gusted as high as 45 mph as the band performed on a stage raised six feet above the field. Ringo's drums had to be nailed to the stage.

In the book Ticket to Ride, John Lennon recalled, "We've never been through a thing like that. . . . We felt uncomfortable with all that wind."

Said Ringo Starr: "My hair was blowing, and I thought it was weird, but the drums were tied down, so we made it, you know."

High in the stands, Ann Burt was straining for a good view. "Our seats were so high, the Beatles were teeny tiny specks. We bought cheap binoculars and passed them back and forth, which didn't do much good."

Rorie Fore and Kathleen Evans had the same problem.

"I have pictures that I took with a little camera," says Evans, "and you can see them, but they are ants."

"I thought they were so handsome," says Fore, "and I was sorry I couldn't see them better. I wished I had brought binoculars because I wanted to see their pores."

The Beatles played for about 45 minutes, then left the stage. The crowd was told the band was taking a break -- in truth, the four were making a break for the limousines.

Before the crowd realized what was happening, Carmichael and his police colleagues were zipping the Beatles toward the airport, where they would fly to Boston for a show the next night.

And that was the end of a most memorable day for Jacksonville.

All that's left is for Fore, now 55 and a registered nurse in Macon, Ga., to put everything in perspective.

"I shook hands with President Eisenhower," says Fore, "and I saw John Kennedy in the Senate before he was president. Seeing the Beatles was a lot better."

September 9, 2004 -- Toronto Sun

1964: The Beatles' first visit

Like most 14-year-old girls in 1964, Toronto teen Michele Finney had a major crush on The Beatles. She would stare at their smiling faces plastered above her bed and dream of one day coming face to face with the Fab Four.

Forty years ago today she got her wish.

Finney wasn't just any 14-year-old. She was a celebrity in her own right, co-hosting (with Suzanne Somers' future husband Al Hamel) the popular CBC kids show Razzle Dazzle.

A Toronto daily picked her to cover The Beatles' first visit to our city. On Sept. 7, 1964, the group performed two sold out shows at Maple Leaf Gardens, the 15th stop on their marathon 24-city North American tour. Tickets cost $4 and $5.50 for the concerts.

The city went nuts as "B-Day" arrived. A reported 10,000 fans jammed Toronto International Airport for their near midnight arrival. More than 100 police officers ringed their downtown destination, the King Edward Hotel. "The best view of the country," Lennon quipped at the time, "is over the blue shoulder of a policeman."

That didn't stop some fans from crashing the gates. A 14-year-old girl clutching a pillow and a blanket was found inside a linen closet on The Beatles' floor. Other teens booked rooms at the King Eddy months in advance.

Finney didn't need to crash the party. The poised and professional teen spent two days trailing the Fab Four. "I don't think I could speak for about three days afterwards from the screaming and the shock," says Finney, now the mother of her own teen-age daughter.

After attending one of their typically cheeky press conferences ("How long do you think you'll last?" asked one unimpressed scribe. "Longer than you, anyway," shot back John Lennon), Finney joined the 16,000 screaming fans at one of the two sold-out Beatle shows at the Gardens. Between shows, she was ushered into their dressing room for more Q&A.

The next morning, Finney was invited to meet the boys at their eighth-floor suite. "I ended up having tea with them and just asking really stupid questions," she says.

Suddenly, her favorite Beatle, Paul McCartney, asked what she was doing later.

Before she could blurt out a reply, someone pointed out that Finney was just 14. "That person," she jokes, "was later found in an alley."

Finney remembers that the Beatles were constantly "bird" watching. "They were the age they were and certainly there was a lot of that going on," she says. "There were a lot of girlies around and I was still jail bait. Regretfully!"

Still, she got her Beatle story, her Beatle photo, her Beatle autographs. Afterwards, she cried and huddled and giggled with her Grade 9 girlfriends. And 40 years later, she still cherishes her Beatle photo, now strategically placed "on the way to the bathroom so that every guest has to pass it."

Five years later, in 1969, she had a second brush with a Beatle. Her first husband, a rock promoter, was involved with John and Yoko's Live Peace In Toronto concert at Varsity Stadium. Finney reminisced with Lennon about the mad fishbowl that was the '64 tour. But there would be no second chance with McCartney.

Or was there? "All I know is, shortly after I met Paul, they came out with a song entitled 'Michelle,'" says Finney. "But I'll never tell."

млиииин.......

мне всегда было интересно, КТО ЭТО ЧИТАЕТ? :-/

Primal Scream и читает. Больше некому.

Сайту видимо нужен бы штатный переводчик.

2Annabeatles: английский я б выучил только за то, что им разговаривал ЛЕННОН...

А я-то думал, вот они, битломаны, которые дорожат каждой крупицей знаний о группе. Но всегда есть выбор - читать или не читать. Конечно же, голый усик-пусик и русский Rolling Stone не в пример интереснее.

September 21, 2004

The day the Beatles came

It was 40 years ago today that the Beatles came to town to play. And from the moment the Fab Four landed, through their concert the next day at City Park, pandemonium reigned.

LBJ was in the White House, "My Fair Lady" and Rex Harrison beat out "Zorba the Greek" and Anthony Quinn for Academy Awards, "The Girl From Ipanema" took home the Grammy for best single and best album, the Cardinals beat the Yankees in the World Series behind pitcher Bob Gibson, and a young heavyweight boxer named Cassius Clay KO'd champion Sonny Liston and then changed his name to Muhammad Ali.

The year was 1964.

And on Sept. 16 that year, the Beatles, after a lengthy and incredibly successful U.S. concert tour that began on "The Ed Sullivan Show" Feb. 9 in New York City, brought Beatlemania to City Park Stadium, (New Orleans) where they played before a sellout crowd of 27,000-plus.

Tickets were $5, the same as for their concert at Carnegie Hall. A proclamation issued by Mayor Vic Schiro making that day "Beatles Day in New Orleans" was autographed by all four Beatles, who called him "Lord Mayor."

It's hard to believe four decades have gone by since the Liverpool lads stormed into New Orleans, causing female teenie-boppers to shriek and howl, swoon and throw themselves on the ground at the sight of the Fab Four.

"It was pandemonium. It was nuts," recalled Herb Holiday, who booked the Beatles and promoted the concert, with radio station WNOE-AM handling the advertising and on-air promotion.

"We had kids dropping out of trees hanging over the fence (around the stadium) like they were apples. The cops were trying to round them up and I told them, "Let 'em go. I don't care. We're sold out. Get your guys in front of the stage now!"

For the most part, the officers managed to hold off a sea of frenzied, out-of-control fans who at times shrieked and made so much noise it was difficult to hear the songs, Holiday said.

Retired WTIX disc jockey Bob Walker watched the concert through the fence where there was an opening in the stands because, he said, "I couldn't afford the $5 ticket. All I saw was Ringo's back for the entire time."

Hearing that comment prompted Holiday to say, "He probably heard the music better than being inside."

Beatles historian and author Bruce Spizer said that not long into the concert, several hundred female teens bolted from their seats and raced onto the field. Police and security guards had difficulty holding off the surge but finally got it under control.

One guy broke though the police line, got behind the stage and was approaching Ringo Starr when he was tackled, Holiday said.

"What's significant," Spizer said, "is that it was the only Beatles concert where fans ran onto the field. It had never happened before."

The frenzy began to build long before John, Paul, George and Ringo took the City Park stage.

"(WWL-TV sportscaster) Hap Glaudi let the cat out of the bag on the air that the Beatles were coming to Lakefront Airport and not Moisant," said WNOE DJ Hugh "Captain Humble" Dillard. The Captain went out to meet the Beatles, he said, "but the fans had beaten us there."

The word had also leaked that the Beatles were going to stay at the Congress Inn on Chef Menteur Highway. When the band, Holiday and their WNOE entourage got there, it was a madhouse, a hysterical mob scene. The fans had beaten them there, too.

"It was just mobbed, surrounded," said Dillard. "They (police and security) whisked us into the lobby and literally shoved us into broom closets. I wind up in this little one-hole john and I'm with . . . George Harrison . . . ?

"He and I are looking at each other and I say, 'You're him, aren't you?' And he says, 'Yeah, I am.' "

Well, this is all pretty awkward and weird at the same time and there isn't any room to maneuver. Harrison sees that Dillard is wearing a silver serpent ring on his hand, tells him it's neat and Dillard proceeds to give it to him.

"That was my 35 seconds of fame," Dillard said, "a toilet between me and George Harrison."

Holiday witnessed a similar incident, watching a panicked Ringo trying to elude several girls. He jumped into a janitor's broom closet and locked himself in, Holiday said. "He was quite a character. All he wanted to do was go to the French Quarter. So we put two cops on him."

Paul McCartney, he recalled, was personable and outgoing; George Harrison, "a little on the arrogant side"; and John Lennon, "moody and introverted."

New Orleans was the second-to-last stop of the Beatles tour. Afterward they headed for Kansas City, where Charlie Finley, the eccentric owner of the Royals, put on the final concert at his baseball park.

Another significant aspect of the N.O. stop, Spizer said, was that "the Beatles got to meet one of their idols, Fats Domino." Lennon would go on to record "Ain't That a Shame" and McCartney recorded other Fats standards.

These days, the ticket stub from the City Park concert is an extremely rare collector's item. And while the Beatles' Congress Inn bed linens were cut up and distributed as souvenirs as they had been in other cities, New Orleans was the only stop that sliced up microphone cords and microphones and packaged them.

Not long after the New Orleans concert, a rumor began that has persisted through the years: New Orleans was the only stop on the Beatles' North American tour that lost money.

Holiday laughed at the thought. "The rumors were that we lost our butt," he said, and he simply didn't see any reason to refute them. "I made money," Holiday said, "don't worry about that."

But he did have to sweat it out. Lloyd's of London told him it would cost $8,000 to insure against a rainout. A quarter of an inch of rain had to fall, but that's a fairly significant amount. So Holiday did some weather research on that date, Sept. 16. He went back 30 years and discovered it rarely rained.

So he gambled and passed on the insurance.

"The storm clouds started gathering," he said. At the time, he was watching and thinking, "I'm going to take a bath." He had $30,000 invested. The Beatles came on, did the show and left.

And after the stands emptied, Holiday said, "All hell broke loose. The skies opened. It was one of the hardest rains I've ever seen. I looked upward and breathed a sigh of relief. I rolled the dice and came up a winner. Somebody up there was watching over me."

"2Annabeatles: английский я б выучил только за то, что им разговаривал ЛЕННОН"...-прям не из Корвина цитата, а из Маяковского...:)
а переводчик-то, пожалуй, нужен...:)

October 19, 2004 -- Chester Chronicle

Our very own magical mystery tour

Julia Baird has broken years of silence to tell the world how fab her famous half-brother really was and how important Chester was in their childhood. Last week the former teacher, who lives quietly in an unassuming home near Malpas, threw herself into the spotlight to unveil an exhibition at The Beatles Story museum in Liverpool.

In the run-up to what would have been John Lennon's 64th birthday on Saturday, Julia was there to hand over her his lyrics to All You Need is Love and the Bed-in for Peace bedspread used during his protest in Montreal.

Julia, 57, is helping to promote John's achievement as Liverpool prepares to be the European Capital of Culture in 2008.

However, she believes people should also be visiting Chester, where she and John used to visit when they were small.

John and Julia's grandmother Annie Mill-ward was born at the Earl of Shrewsbury's town house in Chester now the Bear & Billet pub in Lower Bridge Street and lived there until her 20s.

"Our great grandfather and great-grandmother lived there," she said. "Our great-grandfather was the clerk to the earl, because of that he had the freedom to the city of Chester. During childhood, John and I used to spend a lot of time in Chester. We also used to come to Chester on the train from Liverpool as we always knew that Chester was the best place for clothes shopping. We used to go for lunch at Browns and walk down by the river/ Chester has always been in the family. We are the classic family that moved from Wales to Chester to Liverpool. John was very fond of Chester. We always thought Chester was the place to be, not Liverpool."

Like Liverpool, Julia says Chester could boast its own Beatles Magical Mystery Tour.

Though Chester does not have Strawberry Fields or Penny Lane, The Beatles did stay at The Blossoms Hotel, Love Street, when they played the former Royalty Theatre, City Road, in the 1960s.

The band also played The Riverpark Ballroom in Union Street, and passed through Chester on a train to Bangor in the 1960s to meet Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It was on this journey that the Fab Four were informed of the death of manager Brian Epstein, who was due to join them in Bangor for a meeting of the International Meditation Society.

Close to the River Dee is a house called Nowhere, thought to be Lennon's inspiration for The Beatles song "Nowhere Man."

"I am sure you could do a Beatles tour of Chester," said Julia. If the Americans or the Japanese knew about its connection to The Beatles and John they would be here like a shot."

For the past 15 years Julia has worked as a teacher in Blacon, Chester, helping children and teenagers with various problems. During that time she kept her link to John secret as she says it would have been too easy for youngsters to turn round and poke fun.

"I will now have to tell them all," she said. "I want to go back and speak to them. I have not spoken about John for a long time, only through my work helping Liverpool have I decided to talk more and more about him. This is absolutely the right time to remind Liverpool and the rest of the world of John's message of peace. Sadly, John's dream of 'all the people living life in peace' seems even more remote today than when he first composed Imagine."

Julia is the eldest daughter of Julia Lennon - John's mother - and John Dykin. When she was two, the family moved to the Springwood Estate in Liverpool.

She was 10 when she first saw John perform with her younger sister, Jackie. When Julia was 11, her and John's mother was killed by a car outside the family home.

In 1965, when she was 18, Julia met Allen Baird. They married in 1968 and, after the birth of their first child, lived in Liverpool, then Cheshire.

When John first moved to America, Julia lost touch with him, but in 1974 a phone call reestablished contact and from then on John called on a regular basis. He asked Julia to send him family pictures, especially photos of their mother.

If he had been alive today, Julia believes John would still be creative.

'He would have still been writing, painting and would have definitely been anti-war,' she said. 'He would have also helped the Third World. He would have given money. He would have definitely cared.'

She says John would have been 'thrilled' to hear that "Imagine" was last week named the most-played single in America.

However, she says he would have laughed if he knew his sister once forgot its lyrics during a trip to India in 1993 with Save the Family.

Julia said, "My partner and I were over there sitting with these children and they were singing us songs. I asked 'what can we sing them that's a bit more adult?'. I said 'I know, let's sing Imagine'. But as I started to sing it I forgot the words. I had to contact a friend in Chester to send the lyrics over by mail!"

http://iccheshireonline.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/chesterchronicle/tm_objectid=14759327%...

Primal Scream, а русским языком Вы владеете? Хотя бы со словарем?

Да, владею. А вы? Почитайте свой профайл.

March 20, 2005 -- Sunday Times Online (UK)

Here, there and everywhere - By Mark Edmonds

The Beatles were his life. He was their mate, driver, skivvy - even co-musician. Mal Evans's diaries, seen here for the first time, reveal the everyday secrets of pop's greatest band

Mal Evans began the 1960s as a Post Office engineer in Liverpool. By the end of the decade, he'd appeared in three out of five Beatles films and was an occasional musician on their albums. It was Mal playing the organ on Rubber Soul, Mal who sounded the alarm clock in A Day in the Life. On Abbey Road, it was Mal, not Maxwell, who banged the Silver Hammer.

Part of the Beatles' small but exceptionally protective inner sanctum, Mal was one of just two witnesses at Paul McCartney's first wedding. Among the hundreds of claimants to that threadbare title "fifth Beatle", he was arguably the most deserving. Wherever the Beatles went, Mal would never be far behind.

In the 10 years he spent as their road manager, Mal was blessed with a greater insight than most into the group's spectacular rise, their domination of pop in the middle years, and their painful implosion in a welter of recriminations. Throughout the decade, he kept a series of diaries and wrote an unpublished autobiography; all of this has until now remained unseen, part of an archive that went missing when Mal himself died in bizarre circumstances in 1976.

For many years, an ever-growing number of Beatles historians have regarded the Mal Evans archive as the holy grail. Last year, rumours surfaced that it had turned up in a suitcase in a Sydney street market (not true) and that it contained outtakes of unreleased Beatles songs (ditto). The reality is rather more prosaic: 10 years after Mal's death, Yoko Ono was told about a trunk full of his effects that had been found by a temp clearing out files in the basement of a New York publisher; she arranged for them to be shipped back to his family in London. Among those effects were the diaries, which his widow, Lily, kept for years in an attic at her home.

Together with some photographs, most of them taken by Mal himself, they amount to a fascinating collection: the unwitting historic recollections of a Forrest Gump of a man, who by sheer good fortune ended up in the right place at the right time.

The story, inevitably, begins in Liverpool. A keen rock'n'roll fan, Mal would while away what he called his "extended lunchtimes" at the Cavern Club before putting in a brief appearance at the Post Office and then heading off to his house in Hillside Road, Mossley Hill.

In 1961 he had married a local girl, Lily, whom he had met at the funfair at New Brighton. Their first child, Gary, was born in the same year. Mal's life was settled, mundane and ordinary; nobody could have predicted that the bizarre twists and turns of his life in the next 15 years would lead to a premature and avoidable death at the hands of the police in California.

At the Cavern, Mal was soon noticed by the Beatles, who had a lunchtime residency at the club. George Harrison felt that Mal, at 6ft 3in, would make an ideal bouncer. He was also of an exceptionally gentle disposition, and Harrison was canny enough to realise that this too would be useful in the years ahead.

In the first few pages of his 1963 Post Office Engineering Union-issue diary, which includes information about Ohm's law and Post Office pay rates, he reflects upon his good fortune. Looking back on the previous year, he writes: "1962 a wonderful year... Could I wish for more beautiful wife, Gary, house, car... guess I was born with a silver canteen of cutlery in my mouth. Wanted a part time job for long time - now bouncing... Lost a tooth in 1962."

With this, Mal sets the tone. We soon find he is more Pooter than Pepys. As the Beatles' road manager - and trusted implicitly by all four - he is presented with an "access all areas" ticket to one of the best parties of the century. Yet somehow he never quite realises it.

The year 1963 is crucial for the Beatles, ergo for Mal. At the start of the year it is becoming clear that working with them, particularly on tour, is a more engaging diversion for him than family life in Mossley Hill. The band, now managed by Brian Epstein, are beginning to realise their potential. Mal drives them to London for one of their early BBC appearances, and later they make the most of the capital.

January 21, 1963: "Lads went shopping. Paul and George bought slacks. George a shirt in Regent St. This was before the Sat Club recording and we lost them for a while. Back to Lower Regent Studios for recording talent spot. Met Patsy Ann Noble, Rog Whittaker, Gary Marshall, a really good show. Also on the bill was a Birkenhead singer. At about 8.15 the boys went to Brians room in the Mayfair for a Daily Mail interview. I parked the gear and joined them later... We left London at about 10 o'clock, stopping at 'Fortes' on M1 for large dinner - bought by the Beatles - and so homeward bound. Met a lot of fog... suddenly after leaving M1 short time windscreen cracked with a terrible bang. Had to break hole in windscreen to see... Stopped for tea at transport cafe... and arrived home at about five o'clock. I was up at 7.45 but lads laid in till about five that night. Lucky devils. They were on that night at Cavern as fresh as ever with no after effects. The Beatles have certainly gone up in my estimation. They are all great blokes with a sense of humour and giving one the feeling they are a real team."

For much of the early 1960s, touring became Mal's life. Against the wishes of Lily, left at home with Gary, Mal gave up his job at the Post Office in order to be at the Beatles' beck and call full time, clocking up industrial levels of mileage driving from Liverpool to London. He was also expected to attend to almost every personal whim.

John Lennon, who had a predilection for enigmatic silences, would punctuate these with murmured requests such as "Socks, Mal" - at which point Mal would scoot off to Marks & Spencer to fetch six pairs in navy cotton.

By the spring of that year, Beatlemania was under way; Mal and Neil Aspinall, another old friend from Liverpool, accompanied the Beatles on all of their tours, making up what was an astonishingly pared-down entourage. Aspinall still runs the Beatles' Apple organisation.

The Beatles' first European tour began in Paris in January 1964. The ever-loyal Mal was on hand, this time accompanied by Lily and their young son. Mal writes about a "big punch-up" with photographers in Paris. In the manuscript of his unpublished book he recalls that this was "the only fight I got involved in on behalf of the Beatles" - although he was terrified when he and the band were nearly beaten up by Ferdinand Marcos's thugs in Manila in 1966.

To mark the news in 1964 that the Beatles had reached No 1 in the US for the first time, Mal writes that Epstein threw a party at the hotel. Some journalists then hired prostitutes to provide a lesbian show for the Beatles in the room next to Epstein's. "It was a little unnerving to have these ladies performing before our eyes with each other in one room, with Brian, George Martin and his wife and the rather more staid members of the press in the adjoining living room. I guess celebration caters to everybody's different tastes."

With Beatlemania in full swing, Mal seems strangely oblivious: there is no sense in any of the diaries that he is working for the most famous, most successful pop stars of the time. But odd, intimate little moments are recorded:

March 18, 1964: "Had plastic cups in top pocket - milk poured in by George. John says after sarnies: Mal you are my favourite animal."

After two further exhausting years on the road, the Beatles were ready to give up touring: the whole tiresome process had ceased to be of interest to the group. The Beatles, and Mal, for that matter, were just about worn out.

But there was now a larger role for Mal as a studio "fixer": as the music became more complicated, he was dealing with an increasingly outlandish inventory of instruments and equipment, and he sometimes contributed as a musician. More than any other year so far, 1967 presented Mal and the Beatles with undreamt-of possibilities: it was the year of satin tunics, Carnaby Street and Sgt Pepper; the band was at its creative, cohesive peak. On a more mundane level, Paul found himself without a housekeeper at his house in St John's Wood - so Mal moved in with him. Mal writes of this time fondly, but complains of Paul's dog, Martha, fouling the beds.

Within a few months, Mal had moved his family - his second child, Julie, had been born in 1966 - from Liverpool to Sunbury-on-Thames, about equidistant from Paul's house and the homes of the other three in the Surrey stockbroker belt - another indication of how he'd let the band take over his life. Mal was also beginning to enjoy some of the more illicit aspects of the mid-1960s rock'n'roll lifestyle.

January 1, 1967: "Well diary - hope it will be a great 1967. Have not slept... Friday night's recording session and journey to Liverpool. Late afternoon went over to the McCartneys in Wirral, and had dinner with them. Paul and Jane [Asher, McCartney's then girlfriend] had travelled up for the New Year - also Martha. Fan belt broke."

January 19 and 20: "Ended up smashed in Bag O' Nails with Paul and Neil. Quite a number of people attached themselves, oh that it would happen to me... freak out time baby for Mal.

"Eventually I spewed but this because of omelette I reckon. I was just nowhere floating around. Slept till 5pm. Flowers arrived for George for his anniversary tomorrow. Made up yesterday with new number for I'm counting on it and ringing alarm [he is referring to A Day in the Life, Sgt Pepper's closing opus]. So George came back to flat for tea tonight that is before we went home. He was in bedroom reading International Times. I was asleep on bed, very bad mannered. Left for home with Neil driving... On M6, starter jammed. 10/- to free it. Hertz van still no comfort... I spent some time in rest room."

Mal's diary describes the recording of the Sgt Pepper album in some detail, referring to the song Fixing a Hole as "where the rain comes in". But there are soon signs that he is beginning to feel a little hard done by.

The rest of 1967 was as busy for Mal as it was for the Beatles: the overblown, complicated Sgt Pepper was time-consuming. As soon as it was completed, Mal flew with Paul to LA to see Jane Asher, who was touring with the Old Vic company. The three took a trip to the Rockies and returned to LA by private jet. Mal took up the story:

"We left Denver in Frank Sinatra's Lear Jet, which he very kindly loaned us. A beautiful job with dark black leather upholstery and, to our delight, a well-stocked bar."

When they arrived, they went to Michelle and John Phillips's [of the Mamas and the Papas] house and Brian Wilson [of the Beach Boys] came round. Mal writes of joining in on a guitar for a rendition of On Top of Old Smokey with Paul and Wilson. Mal, however, was not impressed by Wilson's avant-garde tendencies; at the time he was putting together the Smile album. "Brian then put a damper on the spontaneity of the whole affair by walking in with a tray of water-filled glasses, trying to arrange it into some sort of session." Mal wasn't keen on glass harmonicas - he would have preferred Elvis.

When they returned in April 1967, the Beatles began work on what was to become the ill-fated Magical Mystery Tour project. The band, with Paul taking an increasingly dominant role, was showing signs of stress. Mal wrote:

"I would get requests from the four of them to do six different things at one time and it was always a case of relying on instinct and experience in awarding priorities. They used to be right sods for the first few days until they realised that everything was going to go smoothly and they could get into the routine of recording... Then I would find time between numerous cups of tea and salad sandwiches and baked beans on toast to listen to the recording in the control room."

Once they'd completed the recording, Mal, Neil and their families were whisked to Greece by the Beatles at George Harrison's expense. They spent a month under sunny skies on a wooden yacht in the Aegean. By their return, however, darker clouds were forming on the horizon. Before the summer was out, Epstein was dead after an overdose. Without his guiding hand, the Beatles plunged further into the chaotic Magical Mystery Tour project. As ever, Mal was a crucial element, organising the coach tour that formed the centrepiece of the film, recruiting actors and extras, then flying to Nice with Paul to film the Fool on the Hill sequence.

According to Mal, this trip, as did many, took place on an impulse; without luggage or papers. Paul sailed through immigration with no passport, but they were refused entry to the hotel restaurant because they didn't look the part. They headed off to a nightclub. "We had dinner in my room... The only money we had between us had been spent on clothes, on the understanding that money was to be forwarded from England by the Beatles office. After the first round of drinks... we arranged with the manager for us to get credit."

The next day, Mal and Paul returned to the club. "We took advantage of our credit standing, as money had still not arrived from England. News about Paul's visit to the club the previous night had spread, and the place was jammed. Now Paul, being a generous sort of person, had built up quite a bar bill, when the real manager of the club arrived demanding that we pay immediately. On explaining who Paul was and what had happened, he answered, 'You either pay the bill, or I call the police.' It certainly looked like we were going to get thrown in jail. It was ironical, sitting in a club with a millionaire, unable to pay the bill." Eventually the hotel manager agreed to cover the money.

Paul and Mal returned to London, where Paul was to edit the film. But it was panned by the critics when televised that Christmas.

The year 1968 saw the genesis of Apple, the group's trip to Rishikesh in the Himalayas at the invitation of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - and increasing tensions.

By the time the band arrives in India, Mal is already there, having carried out a recce a few days earlier. Ringo demands a doctor as soon as he gets off the plane. From Mal's memoir from February: "'Mal, my arm's killing me, please take me to a doctor right away.' So off we go looking for one, our driver leaving us to a dead end in the middle of a field, soon to be filled with press cars as they blindly follow us; so we explain to them that it's only Ringo's inoculation giving him trouble. When we arrived at the local hospital, I tried to get immediate treatment for him, to be told curtly by the Indian doctor, 'He is not a special case and will have to wait his turn.' So off we go to pay a private doctor ten rupees for the privilege of hearing him say it will be all right."

The Beatles, accompanied by an entourage that included Mia Farrow, Donovan and the Beach Boy Mike Love, write half a dozen songs in India, most of which are to end up on the White Album they release later that year. Mal's diary comments favourably on the sense of karma that seemed to have settled upon them. "It is hard to believe that a week has already passed. I suppose the peace of mind and the serenity one achieves through meditation makes the time fly." He even enjoyed the food, unlike Ringo, who famously turned up with a case of baked beans.

But the tranquillity does not last. "Suddenly... excitement... Ringo wants to leave... Maureen can't stand the flies any longer." Mal himself spent a month in India, before returning to London to help out with the White Album sessions.

Later in the year, Mal travels to New York with George. They go to visit Bob Dylan and the Band, who are rehearsing at Big Pink, the Band's upstate retreat.

November 28: "Up at 10.30 into Woodstock... To Bob [Dylan] for Thanksgiving. Meet Levon [Helm] of the band, he is drummer plays great guitar. Around the table after turkey, cranberry sauce etc. & also Pecan pie. Bob, George, Rich, Happy, Levon... around the guitars while many children play; Sarah [Dylan] great - turkey sandwich & beer. To Richard [Manuel] & Garths [Hudson] home for farm sessions - home to bed."

At this point, Mal's 1968 diary comes to an end; it has been an action-packed year with two hit singles and a sprawling double album - but the Beatles are no longer a cohesive unit.

In the midst of a miserably cold winter, the band and Mal set off for Twickenham Studios, where they are to start work on the project that is to become Let It Be, a filmed record of the Beatles at work. Already there is discord within the group, and in front of the cameras they begin to disintegrate; from Mal we also get the first murmurings of real discontent.

January 13, 1969: "Paul is really cutting down on the Apple staff members. I was elevated to office boy [Mal had briefly been made MD of Apple] and I feel very hurt and sad inside - only big boys don't cry. Why I should feel hurt and reason for writing this is ego... I thought I was different from other people in my relationship with the Beatles and being loved by them and treated so nice, I felt like one of the family. Seems I fetch and carry. I find it difficult to live on the £38 I take home each week and would love to be like their other friends who buy fantastic homes and have all the alterations done by them, and are still going to ask for a rise. I always tell myself - look, everybody wants to take from, be satisfied, try to give and you will receive. After all this time I have about £70 to my name, but was content and happy. Loving them as I do, nothing is too much trouble, because I want to serve them. "Feel a bit better now - EGO?"

The Let It Be film is to feature the Beatles in what is to become their last public performance, on the rooftop of the Apple office building in London's Savile Row. Squabbles put to one side, the band, accompanied by Billy Preston on keyboards, are clearly enjoying themselves. Mal is unusually perky too.

January 24, 1969: "Skiffling 'Maggie May'; Beatles really playing together. Atmosphere is lovely in the studio - everyone seems so much happier than of recent times."

January 27: "Today we had the engineer to look at the roof of No. 3. 5lbs sq. in is all it will take weight wise. Needs scaffolding to make platform. Getting helicopter for shot of roof. Should get good shot of crowds in street, who knows police might try to stop us. Asked Alistair [Taylor, Apple office manager] to get toasted sandwich machine."

January 29: "Show on the roof of Apple. 4 policemen kept at bay for 40 minutes while the show goes on."

With the Beatles in free fall, Mal busies himself with jobs for other Apple artists and fetching and carrying for individual Beatles. Throughout the 1960s he and Paul had an affinity, and in March 1969, Mal was one of just two witnesses at Paul's wedding to Linda Eastman in London. The same day, George Harrison's home is raided for drugs.

March 13: "Big drama, last night about 7.30pm Pattie rang the office from home for George to say '8 or 10 policeman including Sergeant Pilcher had arrived with search warrants looking for cannabis'. George went home with Derek and lawyer, and was released on £200 bail each."

Mal, meanwhile, has financial worries.

April 24: "Had to tell George - 'I'm broke'. Really miserable and down because I'm in the red, and the bills are coming in, poor old Lil suffers as I don't want to get a rise. Not really true don't want to ask for a rise, fellows are having a pretty tough time as it is."

The Beatles record their last album, Abbey Road, in the summer of that year. Mal's diaries note that four alternative titles were mooted before the band settled on a title that celebrated the home of EMI studios. "Titles suggested: Four in the Bar; All Good Children Go to Heaven; Turn Ups; Inclinations." Mal helps with John's Instant Karma, but he is finding Paul distant.

The next year, 1970, sees the Beatles continuing with their solo projects. The band is no longer recording together.

January 27: "Seem to be losing Paul - really got the stick from him today."

February 4: "To bed at 4.30am to rise at 7.45 to help get the children dressed... Lil had a driving lesson at 8am, then driving test at 9am which she passed. Bed after a couple of hours. Feel a cold coming on again. Walk into office late afternoon to meet Ringo go to shake he says 'Give us a cuddle then' its worth a million pounds that is and feel really recharged. George & Steve bass & guitar. Nanette. Ringo Drums."

February 5: "Bed this morning late. Up at 1 to phone. Conversation with Paul, something like this: 'Malcolm Evans' 'Yeah Paul' 'I've got the EMI [Abbey Road studio] over this weekend - I would like you to pick up some gear from the house' 'Great man, that's lovely. Session at EMI?' 'Yes but I don't want any one there to make me tea, I have the family, wife and kids there.'"

February 23, 1968

The Beatles all met Maharishi on his cottage roof... off to the beach after lunch, well it's not really the beach but the bank of the Ganges... Jane is still not well although the others minor complaints have been "faith healed", and Ringo had a dead rat in drawer.

July 9, 1968

Oobledee [Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da] goes well and Eric Clapton plays a visit... Off to the pub for toasted cheese sarnies, later Paul went to the pub, with George, Neil and Pete for a pint. John and George guitars - Ringo drums for new version of "Revolution". Put up slide for kids and filmed Julie on it.

September 13, 1968

Heard today that police arrived at EMI to bust us after we had left. On further enquiries this did not appear to have happened - wouldn't matter anyway, what would they find?

March 12, 1969: Paul and Linda's wedding

Paul & Linda got married this morning at Marylebone Registry Office; due to at 9.45am but Mike's train from Birmingham was delayed... When Peter Brown and myself passed the Registry Office at about 9.15 there were only a few photographers and ardent fans standing in the rain, but when we left at 11.30am or perhaps it was 11.15am we were mobbed by a crowd of about 1,000. Heather [Linda's daughter] was carried out by a policeman and Ray of the hire car company... Back at home, they did a couple of TVs and then went to the local church to be "BLESSED". Off to the Ritz Piccadilly for a wedding lunch, where we were joined by Neil and Sue, Escargot for moi; TV interview in the Ritz and deliver Paul & Linda McCartney to home and feet up by the fire.

Inside the Beatles
Fab Four revealed with a little help from a friend
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Entertainment/Music/2005/07/24/1145508-sun.html

Лемми Килмистер о "Битлз"

Отрывок из автобиографии "Дорожная лихорадка" (WHITE LINE FEVER) лидер-певца группы "Motorhead" Лемми Килмистера (Lemmy Kilmister), вышедшей в свет в 2002-м году.

В те времена самой впечатляющей группой, без сомнения, были Битлз. Они были лучшей группой в мире. И уже никогда не будет ничего подобного Битлз, и нужно было действительно быть там, чтобы понять, о чём я говорю. Сегодня молодое поколение думает, что Битлз были всего лишь группой, но все куда сложнее. Они были величайшим явлением во всем мире. Они изменили жизнь всех людей, даже политиков. Лондонская газета Daily Mirror выделила целую страницу для того, чтобы день за днём рассказывать о том, что они делают. Только вообразите: большая национальная гребаная газета каждый день посвящает страницу музыкальной группе! Их влияние было безграничным.

Битлз совершили революцию в рок-н-ролле и превратились в законодателей мировой моды. Теперь это кажется смешным, но для того времени они носили очень длинные волосы. Я помню, как я думал: "Ничего себе! Как может парень носить такие длинные волосы?". На самом деле у них были зачесанные на лоб челки, а сами волосы едва спускались на воротник. Тогда мы все поголовно носили челки - еще до Битлз, это были "утиные хвосты" а ля Элвис.

Мне повезло видеть их выступления в ливерпульском клубе "Пещера" (Cavern) еще в самом начале их карьеры. Они были забавны, улыбались во время пения и постоянно хохмили. Они были веселыми парнями. Они вполне могли бы сделать карьеру комиков. И они играли на странных гитарах, которые никто из нас прежде не видел. У Джона был Рикенбекер (Rickenbacker), у Пола - этот бас в форме скрипки. Мы все тогда играли на Стратокастерах; я хочу сказать, что тогда Страт был для музыканта пределом желаний, а Гибсонов (Gibson) вообще ни у кого не было. А Джордж, я уверен, играл на модели Hofner Futurama, храни его Господь. Позже у него было несколько гитар Gretsch. Всё это было что-то! Эти поразительные парни с длинными волосами и забавными гитарами, и они позировали в рубашках с расстёгнутыми манжетами! А все остальные носили эти ужасные, строгие костюмы, замуровывая себя в удушающие итальянские жакеты на десяти пуговицах. Так что такая мода была настоящим откровением.

К тому же Битлз были крутыми парнями. Брайан Эпстайн (Brian Epstein) пригладил их для массового потребления, но они были далеко не слюнтяи. Они были из Ливерпуля, который, как Гамбург или Норфолк, штат Вирджиния, был крутым портовым городом, где все эти докеры и моряки могли в любой момент отделать любого, кто вздумает игриво подмигнуть им. А Ринго был родом из квартала Дингл (Dingle) - этакий гребаный Бронкс. The Rolling Stones были маменькиными сынками - они все учились в колледжах в предместьях Лондона. Жизнь впроголодь в Лондоне не испугала их, но это был их выбор, - взамен они получали столь необходимую рокерам ауру нереспектабельности. Мне нравились The Stones, но они никогда не были на одном уровне с Битлз - ни по части юмора, ни по части оригинальности, песен или шоу. Их главным козырем был танцующий Мик Джаггер. Если честно, The Stones записывали замечательные пластинки, но всегда были дерьмом на сцене, в то время как Битлз по-настоящему цепляли.

Я помню один концерт Битлз в "Пещере". Это выступление состоялось сразу же после того, как Брайан Эпстайн стал их менеджером. Все в Ливерпуле знали о том, что Эпстайн голубой, и какой-то пацан из зала крикнул: "Джон Леннон - гребаный педрила!" И Джон - который никогда не носил очки на сцене - снял с себя гитару, спустился в толпу и крикнул: "Кто это сказал?", на что этот парень ответил: "Ну я, мать твою". Джон подошел к нему и Ба-Бах!, продемонстрировал ему "ливерпульский поцелуй", врезав ему - дважды! Парень упал, весь в крови, соплях и зубах. Затем Джон вернулся на сцену.

- Кто-нибудь ещё? - спросил он. Тишина. - Ну, хорошо. А теперь "Some Other Guy".

Битлз открыли двери для всех местных групп. В Сиэтле, в начале девяностых, было точно так же - фирмы звукозаписи налетели со всех сторон и хватали всё, что подвернётся. Oriole Records организовали прослушивание прямо в танцзале, и это длилось три дня. Они установили кое-какую аппаратуру и там собралось около семидесяти групп. Каждая команда сыграла по песне, и лейбл подписал примерно половину из них.

Эпстайн работал и с другими группами помимо Битлз. Одними из немногих, так и не добившихся успеха, были The Big Three. Джонни Густафсон (Johnny Gustafson), который потом работал в Quatermass, Andromeda, и затем в Merseybeats, играл на басу. У этой группы был потрясающий гитарист, Брайан "Griff" Гриффитс (Brian Griffiths), у которого была старая потрепанная Hofner Colorama - ужасная, раздолбанная гитара с грифом, похожим на ствол дерева, но играл он просто невероятно. А барабанщик Джонни Хатчинсон (Johnny Hutchinson) был лидер-певцом, что по тем временам было просто неслыханно - поющий барабанщик! Они были превосходной ритм-энд-блюзовой группой, но были обескровлены бизнесом. Группа выпустила одну пластинку, которой они были довольны, но запись прошла незамеченной, после этого они записали две песни Митча Мюррея (Mitch Murray) - он написал множество этих приторных поп-песенок (среди прочих "How Do You Do It?" для группы Gerry and the Pacemakers). Этот сингл тоже ждал полный провал, и Эпстайн отказался от них. И очень жаль, - они были замечательной группой.

Перевод - Дмитрий Бравый, 2004 г.
http://beatles-online.narod.ru/Beatles/Lemmy-2002.htm

The night I met John Lennon
By Scott Neil
Beatle John Lennon came to Bermuda in 1980 for what subsequently turned out to be his last summer holiday. In December that year, and ag

http://www.theroyalgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051207/LIFESTYLE/112070095

Я думаю, что такие тексты надо скидывать в медиа-архив.
Пусть там заинтересованные маяковцы и читают.
А на форуме идет обычно обсуждение темы

2Primal Scream:
>Конечно же, голый усик-пусик и русский Rolling Stone не в пример интереснее.

Вполне возможно, а вот кто такой "голый усик-пусик"??

2Кот Баюн:
Благодарю, просветили. Не раз с термином сталкивалась, но так, чтоб в неглиже - впервые...

2Кот Баюн:
Кхм... ((>_<)) Вы мне это не показывали, я это не видела))))
Но тсссс! Кажется, мы портим теММу))))

Инженер Richard Langham вспоминает о работе над первым альбомом Битлз
http://prosoundnews.com/blog/34624

memories of the first show at Liverpool's Cavern club:
http://liverpoolecho.co.uk/multimedia/the-beatles/video/2011/02/10/memories-of-the-beat...

Народ, а книжка Пита Шоттона где-нибудь на русском в сети была?

2Горыныч:

>Народ, а книжка Пита Шоттона где-нибудь на русском
>в сети была?

залил сюда
http://ifolder.ru/22577544

2bk:

Спасибо огромное!

Musicians explain why George Harrison was their inspiration

"I FIRST met George at Mama Cass’s house in Los Angeles, then we met again at a get-together at the Speakeasy Club in London. He was kind enough to invite me and my pal Bill Chadwick out to his house, and to take us to visit Ringo later that day. He was as kind and as gentle a man as you could imagine.”
Peter Tork, The Monkees

"THE Hollies played Liverpool a lot in the early days. We played the lunchtime shows at The Cavern. You’d get all the pretty secretaries coming in between 1 and 2pm. In those days we’d do the night time shows too, but the afternoons were always the best. They were full of girls.

I first met George in 1959. We kept in touch throughout our lives, meeting up over the years. I miss him very much. He was a good friend. He was a gentleman, and I don’t say that lightly.”
Graham Nash, The Hollies and Crosby, Stills and Nash

"GEORGE Harrison is the reason I became a musician. He had the best hair, the best guitar, the best boots and the best muzzy.

He also wrote my three favourite Beatles songs: Something, While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Here Comes The Sun.

I have loved him since I was a kid and that love was reinforced and renewed when I saw the recent Scorcese documentary. My George worship even extends to my mobile phone. Every time I get a text message I hear George’s opening guitar salvo from Paperback Writer so I get a little bit of George at least 10 times a day.

In the last 30 years I have had the good fortune to meet a lot of my musical heroes, from Pete Wylie to Pete Townshend but I never got to meet George. I think it will probably be the only tick missing from my bucket list when I eventually put my knife and fork down.

“I was chuffed to see that brilliant quote of his on the walls at John Lennon airport: “We have all the money you could ever dream of. We have all the fame you could ever wish for. But it isn’t love. It isn’t health. It isn’t peace inside is it?” I think that says everything you need to know about George Harrison.

“RIP George, thank you for the music, the memories and the muzzy.”
Nasher, Frankie Goes to Hollywood

"WHEN I was a boy, Liverpool was the place to be if you were in a band. I’ve always loved the city, and Scousers in general. My favourite, of course, was George.

“George was the best man you could meet. As a musician, an artist, a man, you couldn’t wish for more.”
Mick Fleetwood, Fleetwood Mac, and George Harrison’s former brother-in-law.

The day The Beatles played Cardiff – memories of the Liverpool legends' Welsh date 50 years ago

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/day-beatles-played-cardiff--10584998