The 43rd annual Fest For Beatles Fans brought together an impressive array of super-fans and people in a position to show and tell first hand accounts involving John, Paul, George, and  Ringo.  It was a pleasure to be able to roam around the Hyatt Regency Jersey City On The Hudson with the benefit of a camera and a microphone.  

Louise Harrison is protective about revealing the few years of her brother George Harrison’s life that haven’t been exhaustively documented.  However, she made it clear that in his boyhood, he was definitely not the quiet one!  

Maybe the best evidence of the enduring legacy of The Beatles is how much love they get from people who have worked with them.  Mark Hudson wrote and produced no fewer than eight album with Ringo while Rob Shanahan has been photographer for his record covers, tour books, and t-shirt art since meeting Ringo in 2001 through Sheila E.  They spoke of the surreal aspects of making the transition from huge lovers of the group to being in its inner circle.  They were naturally beside themselves when transcendent moments occurred like Rob photographing Paul showing up at Ringo’s show at Radio City in 2009 or Mark singing harmony vocals with Paul during a session for 1998’s Vertical Man. 

The same is true of Klaus Voormann who was as close as anyone to The Beatles with a history going back to the days on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg ion the early 60s.  He played extensively with John, George, and Ringo from ’69 to ’76 as a member of the Plastic Ono Band and on sessions for albums like Imagine, Walls & Bridges, Rock n Roll, All Things Must Pass, Living In The Material World, Dark Horse, Goodnight Vienna, and Ringo’s Rotogravure which was the last album to feature contributions from all four Beatles before Lennon’s death in 1980.  Voormann generously narrated an executive summary of his spiffy new book,  Birth of an Icon:Revolver 50 while flipping through its pages.  See the bonus video below for more with Klaus. 

Lastly, enjoy another bonus vid with Charles Roberts who invited The Quarrymen to play at a street party in ’57 at which the first photograph ever snapped of that group was taken…

Ageless Paul McCartney Conquers MetLife Stadium – August 7, 2016

Paul McCartney puts on a phenomenal show by any standard. The fact that the brilliant artist is doing what he doing at age 74 only adds another level of awe. It was the setlist of doom; 38 songs in all. Let Me Roll It into I’ve Got A Feeling – Fuhgeddaboudit!

He put on a clinic. Atop the impeccable choice of songs, the pacing, banter and showmanship, production values, and of course musicianship were all of the highest caliber. Paul showed off his chops not only on bass but electric and acoustic guitar, piano, and even ukulele. The uke was used in a version of Something that served as a tribute to George Harrison and was one of the set’s highest highs. Macca recalled what a great ukulele player George was and shared a story of hanging out with him in a garden and telling him that he had learned one of his songs before showing us which one it was. He also spoke about how Jimi Hendrix taught himself how to play the title track to Sgt Pepper in the two days between the album’s release and a gig in London that was attended by Paul and Eric Clapton among other rock royalty. It might have been three days according to this account but no matter. McCartney played a little Foxy Lady at the end of Let Me Roll It to tip his hat to Jimi as he has been doing this tour before sharing the anecdote.

John Lennon also received a loving nod with Here Today that, as he explained, is a conversation with his old friend and bandmate that he never got to have. Paul played that one solo and on acoustic as he did Blackbird which is as gorgeous and certainly as poignant as ever in the Summer of ’16. He spoke about how he wrote it to try to give a little bit of hope to people in the states involved in the Civil Rights struggle of the 60s. He didn’t have to mention how relevant it still is as he did more overtly at the Fenway show a few weeks ago. Confession: I was at that one too. Yes, he recycled some of his shtick but it was still charming the second time around.

One great line that was fresh was a response to a sign that read, ‘Sign My Butt’. After reading that aloud and considering that for comic timing moment, Paul dryly answered, ‘Well, let’s have a look at it!”

New York City’s own John Pizzarelli is, like a lot of us, a lifelong Beatles fan.  You can imagine the thrill it was for the jazz guitarist/vocalist to record with Paul McCartney on the latter’s Kisses On The Bottom a few years ago.  Macca had liked the John Pizzarelli Meets The Beatles tribute from 2008 and was keen to hear what he would do with a collection of his post-Fab Four material.  Hear the details (and how he ‘roped his whole family into it’) plus a preview of what the forthcoming album Midnight McCartney sounds like in this report from Birdland Jazz Club…