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| Photo Credit: EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS/GETTY IMAGES |
The Beginning — How I Became a Beatles Fan
On February 9, 1964, the Beatles arrived, zooming right into our living room from the big-screen black and white TV. I can still picture the den where we watched the big-screen black and white TV, the hardwood floors and the white shag rug, the “basket” chair and rocking chair where the “grown-ups,” my Mom and Dad sat, the paneled walls and built-in wooden cabinets from the early 1900s. I was not quite seven years old when my younger brother, sister, and I sat cross-legged on the shag rug wearing our pajamas. We lived in a flat in an old building on Second Avenue in San Francisco. Mom paced back and forth from the kitchen to the den and back again puffing on a cigarette. She said she was too excited to sit down. I remember how beautiful my mom was then, with long flowing hair, just over 30 years old. I could hear her flip flops as she paced back and forth.
We were about to watch the Ed Sullivan Show as we did every Sunday night after the Wonderful World of Disney. I liked the Ed Sullivan Show because there were people who balanced dishes on sticks, and someone who did magic tricks, and lots of fun songs to sing along with too.
“Music as you know it will never be the same!” Mom
proclaimed waving her cigarette around.
And at the beginning of the show, Ed Sullivan announced that
the Beatles would be playing some songs. Four young guys with what looked like
“bowl” haircuts waving their heads and singing, “All My Loving.”
“Ahhh, it’s them! The Beatles!” Mom shouted. She began to
sing and clap, and she screamed a little too.
I was instantly mesmerized by them. Their music was so happy
and catchy. I started to clap along with Mom while Dad and my brother and
sister stared at us as if we’d gone crazy.
At the end of it all, Mom and I held each other and
sang/yelled, “She loves you yeah, yeah, yeah!” over and over again until our voices were hoarse.
We were hooked. Mom took me to the record store to buy the
Beatles album and the singles which were already out, like “I Want To Hold Your
Hand.” We screamed and sang along whenever we heard a Beatles song on the
radio. We sang along to the records. By the time I was seven, I knew several
Beatles songs by heart and I carried an AM transistor radio with me everywhere
and drove my friends and siblings crazy.
It was the night I finally had something in common with my
Mother, who was brilliant — something that just the two of us shared. The
Beatles songs were special. I became a lifelong Beatles fan, and I still am to
this day. When I was ten, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club band came out, and
when I saw the album cover, I told mom that the Beatles were growing and
changing just as I was.
My kids and my grandkids all know who the Beatles are and
they know the Beatles songs. The Beatles have transcended four generations in
my family already, and who knows how many more generations. Their pictures are
sometimes intermixed with my family pictures, and every time I hear a Beatles
song, I think of my mom and of all the good times we shared. She’s been gone
for 24 years now. She passed after John and before George. But her memory
remains alive through the stories I write about her and through the music we
shared. The Beatles music. My kids buy me Beatles pictures and such for
Christmas, birthdays, mother’s day, etc. I guess I’m easy to shop for. My son’s
girlfriend painted originals of each of the Beatles for my 50th birthday.
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| This is kind of my room (aka living room) where I live with my boyfriend Savoy in Eugene, Oregon now. There are more Beatles pictures on the other side. I don’t feel at home until some of my Beatles pictures are up. And trust me, I have many more in storage. He actually took down some of his pictures so I could put up mine. Now that’s a cool guy! (Photo Credit: Mary Lane Cryns) |
Ironically, as I write this, my older daughter messaged me
and said it was Beatles week in a music class she’s taking online, and that she
had to pick two songs and write about them. Of course, I told her this was a
historic day and why, and how I remembered that special night. I gave her more
information than she probably needed. But she asked.
50th Anniversary Ukulele Jam at Bronco Billy’s Pizza Parlor in Fremont, CA on February 8, 2014.
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Photo Credit: John L. Chen. Diane and I had lots of help from our friends to lead the amazing 50th Anniversary of the Beatles’ Arrival on that iconic Ed Sullivan Show. (left to right: June, George, Steve, me, Dave and Diane). On Saturday, February 8, 2014, Diane and I led a 50th
Anniversary of the Beatles’ Arrival in the United States ukulele jam at Bronco
Billy’s Pizza Parlor. We started leading jams there around 2012, and it still
lives on today as a “virtual zoom” ukulele jam because of the pandemic. But in
spite of any changes, including my move to Oregon in 2016, Bronco Billy’s
Fremont Ukulele Jam will always survive. |
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The five Beatles songs played on the February 9, 1964 Ed Sullivan Show:
All My Loving
’Til There Was You
She Loves You
I Saw Her Standing There
I Want to Hold your Hand.
(Photo Credit: Me) Steve Lussie playing both ukulele and
U-Bass (Ukulele Bass) at the jam. Also pictured, George Klingelhofer and Janet
Lenore
Steve Lussie rocked out on the U-bass (which makes a huge
difference for our ukulele jam). He even got me a special Beatles Day “Peace”
card and everyone signed it. I was so touched when I read the card. My friends
from San Francisco Vickie and Becky came and of course all the usual suspects.
John, June Margaret, her sister Nancy and Leonard who moved beyond Sacramento,
so many familiar faces mixed with new ones. and Janet Lenore arrived and rocked
out with us until the end.
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| Diane and me (Selfie by Diane Smith) |
Both Diane and I were totally amazed and delighted…
acoustics were excellent in our room and I looked back and saw even more
people. James joined us with awesome percussion, my friend with the wonderful
idea of playing the Abbey Road medley on ukulele a few months earlier, was
amazing.
Janet Lenore joined us and George played some songs from his singles and Steve wowed us with some more Beatles songs… and we ended with the most awesome rendition of Twist and Shout La Bamba finale ever!! By now we were down to the last 20 or 30 diehards who didn’t want it to end… and yeah, we danced all right. LUV YOU ALL… YEAH YEAH YEAH!!!!
We ended with a rousing rendition of La Bamba and Twist and
Shout! Check it out: (Video taken by John L. Chen):
It was a wonderful, moving day that morphed into the evening
and beyond, at least five hours. I could not ask for a better way to celebrate
the Beatles’ 50th anniversary.
And what a night it was.
Sunday, February 9, 2014, at the Mud Puddle with Michael McNevin
(Photo Credits: me) The Mud Puddle located in Niles, California (district of Fremont).
The next day, on Sunday, February 9, the actual anniversary
day of the Beatles’ arrival, some of us invaded Michael McNevin’s “Mud Puddle”
in Niles for more music and fun — especially to sing and play Beatles songs on
the definitive anniversary. Yep, the ukulele players did invade…but in the best
way imaginable! and Michael himself got out a ukulele…I dragged along my
neighbor Mitch who had never been to the Mud Puddle or to a jam even…he ended
up with a guitar even though he hadn’t played in years. My friend Margaret
showed up right on time on that rainy Niles afternoon where, as Michael McNevin
likes to say, “we can get muddy!”
Photo Credit: Michael McNevin. A group of us at the Mud
Puddle in Niles, Oregon which is run by Michael McNevin.
Then Steve arrived with his ukulele as well. I had reminded
him that the Mud Puddle jam was starting at 2pm, and he replied with, “Which
mud puddle? There are many of them today.” (It was a rainy day).
Margaret came into the circle and played along.
(Photo Credit: Me) It was funny because the regulars at the
Mud Puddle wasn’t sure what to make of all us ukulele players. And I even
brought song packets to share, something they never see.
Michael McNevin, who is a prolific songwriter, came up with
his own lyrics to Imagine thanks to Janet Lenore who showed up with her ukulele
and Jeff and his U-bass. (To the tune of “Imagine”):
Imagine ukuleles.
It’s easy if you try.
No 5th n 6th strings.
Above them only banjos.
Imagine all the people, with little tiny things.
Yuhooo, you may say I’m a strummer. But I’m not the only
one.
Hope someday you’ll join them.
And plaaayy “Here comes the sun”.
Uke jam AND Beatles 50th-anniversary jam. … I am drinking
the Kool-Aid.
By Michael McNevin
I loved his lyrics, and I was thrilled that we had a place
to play and sing on the special anniversary day. I’d been feeling so emotional
for several days about remembering the special day.
Another magical musical day occurred, and I hung out with
Mitch, Steve, and Margaret for a while after the Mud Puddle jam — but in the
end, I had to get home because the special anniversary show of the Beatles’
arrival was happening, and I needed to be there…just like I was 50 years ago
watching the big screen black and white. It mattered.
February 9, 2014 (evening) The Beatles’ 50th Anniversary Show on TV
(Photo Credit: Me) Baby J (now he’s nine years old and known
as Jeremiah). He was always such a Beatles fan. First song he learned was “She
Loves You.”
My grandson, Baby Jeremiah, whom I referred to as “Baby J”
back then –was not quite three years old. He waited with me for the “Beatles”
show to begin, another hour baby boy, another hour…the newest generation of
Beatles fans…yes, the Beatles transcend generations.
As I told my daughter Melissa tonight, the Beatles and their
music has transcended four generations in our family.
I wasn’t sure what to expect but I knew that I had to watch
this show because it was exactly 50 years after that original Ed Sullivan Show
that I remembered. In fact, it was also a Sunday. When I watched it on the big
screen black and white TV in our flat on 2nd Ave. in San Francisco with my Mom
and family. I even got a little emotional when the show opened with an actual clip
of Ed Sullivan announcing the Beatles. I wasn’t sure how I’d like the
performances by the various artists, but for the most part, I loved them. We
heard interpretations of the songs and saw Paul and Ringo out there (and
family) grooving to the music which was super cool. I loved the performances of
Hey Bulldog (David Grohl from foo Fighters and gang), Imagine Dragons’
rendition of Revolution was remarkable…
I LOVED seeing Joe Lind and Joe Walsh along with
Dhani Harrison PLAY Something and Here Comes the Sun… oh and While My Guitar
Gently Weeps, EPIC!!!! “Yesterday” by Katy Perry “worked” but not as well as I
would’ve liked…and oh yeah, Stevie Wonder did an awesome “Stevie wonder”
rendition of We Can Work It Out that I loved too. Of course, when Ringo came
out and did Matchbox, Boys and Yellow Submarine, I was thinking, oh my gosh, he
sounds exactly the same as he did in the original recordings back in the day.
Paul was in full form. I always look forward to is seeing
them. The clips of the original show along with snippets of conversation with
Dave Letterman and Paul and Ringo, and their autobiographies. One thing I did
not realize was how excited John Lennon was to play on the same stage Buddy
Holly had played on, HA! overall it was fabulous!!! coming to you from a
lifelong BEATLES FAN!
I even played along with some of the songs on the ukulele.
It was truly an amazing “Beatles 50th Anniversary Weekend!” Almost 100 people showed up at our huge ukulele jam to play and sing or even just sing Beatles songs — How wonderful to sing Hey Jude with everyone on Saturday night at Bronco Billy’s and then again on Sunday afternoon at the Mud Puddle in Niles! And one more time.
The special tribute show exactly 50 years later on CBS was
FABULOUS! I enjoyed all of it…and loved seeing all the musicians and artists
play and sing their interpretations of the Beatles songs and everyone paid
tribute to four boys from Liverpool who showed up in so many of our lives that
special night on February 9, 1964.
The true tribute at the end with Paul and Ringo (Paul on his
signature bass and Ringo on drums) singing and playing Hey Jude was beyond
emotional and poignant…I closed my eyes and tried to imagine John and George
being there and I know they felt the same way. Their spirits were definitely alive
and well — and every time they showed a clip from that first show in black and
white, I’d get all choked up because I still remember.
Baby J watched the entire show with me. He was mesmerized.
He didn’t want to get up and run around. He wanted his ukulele for “Hey Jude”
and we sang along with Paul and Ringo. Now we have four generations of Beatles fans in our family.
