Sunday, July 02, 2006
We love you Beatles, OH YES WE DO!
It was LOVE at first sight from the moment I laid eyes on THE BEATLES. In 1963 at age 10, I was "introduced" to the FAB FOUR by Rachel, an older neighborhood friend of 13 (she was SO grown up!) . Instantly crazy for THE BEATLES at first hearing "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" on local Top 40 radio station, KCBQ, as many fans can attest, my life would never be the same.
By the time THE FAB FOURSOME arrived on U.S. soil on February 7 1964, and appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on that Sunday of Sundays, February 9, this little fifth grader was already a dedicated, devoted BEATLEMANIAC.
My access to all things BEATLES was limited due to being so young and lack of funds (no allowance) but I was right in there with the rest of them collecting what I could (with my meager babysitting earnings) oogling over the very SOUND of them on the radio (YEAH, YEAH YEAH!), the VISION of them on the movie screen (AYYYYY!) and the LOOK of them in the magazines (OOOOOO AHHHH SQUEAL!).
Lucky ME, through a Valentine's Day radio station contest, won their first Capitol Records album MEET THE BEATLES along with a magazine completely devoted to THE BEATLES, and an authentic BEATLE wig. Life could not get any better.
After seeing A HARD DAY'S NIGHT over and over (AND OVER) my friends and I would spend our school recess time and after school hours re-enacting the whole movie, talking BEATLES non-stop. (WHO'S THAT LITTLE OL' MAN?)
When it was announced that THE FAB FOUR would be coming to my hometown on their 1965 tour my BEST friend at the time (what was her name?) and I were beside ourselves in glee. 
We scrimped, saved, begged for and raised money to buy the HOLY GRAIL of tickets which seemed almost impossible to this 11 year old at the time. Gosh golly, $5.50 was a fortune to be had! The two of us planned and sold tickets, door to door, to a performance of our own ( we even rehearsed!): lip synching with badminton and tennis rackets for guitars (a regular neighborhood pass time) and a Beatle wig on one of our heads in our venue of choice, a friend's garage. Shirley I jest, NOT!We managed to raise the funds needed and were beside ourselves in anticipation of seeing the FIRST LOVES of our short little lives! JOHN PAUL GEORGE & RINGO! It never occurred to us that anyone would not support this FAB adventure that we had dreamed of FOREVER! (I mean it had been nearly TWO WHOLE YEARS! A LIFE TIME never mind a lunch time!)
My dream of dreams came crashing down when my mother made it clear that I would not be going to see THE BEATLES when they came to Balboa Stadium. WHAT? How could this be? But, but, but....to describe the disappointment as a feeling of devastation did not capture the let down I felt especially knowing that my BEST friend (uh what was her NAME?) would be going WITHOUT me. I sobbed and sobbed, nothing could console me as I swore to never forgive my mother. NEVER! EVER!
The evening of the concert, August 28, 1965, I sobbed and sobbed some more while watching all the news coverage of THE BEATLES arrival and press conference in San Diego. Inconsolable, heartbroken, and crushed, woe was me.The opportunity to see THE BEATLES while they were still together passed me by, as the following year those touring days were sadly over. (A drag, a WELL KNOWN drag...)
Life went on with the ordinary and mundane but my love for the BEATLES never waned. Still I breathed, ate, drank, slept, and schemed but mostly dreamed all things BEATLES along with my new best friend, Annette. (We are still close and dear friends today.) For Annette PAUL was ALL. The Cute One with the Bambi eyes. As for me, GEORGE was my choice. The Quiet One (my arse), The Handsome One as far as I was concerned.
Somewhere along the line we joined THE BEATLES FAN CLUB, and spent all of our babysitting earnings ordering all that was offered. Photos, booklets, photos, posters, PHOTOS! (Did I mention PHOTOS?). Never mind the FREE stuff the fan club would send. We were on CLOUD NINE. Life was good.
By 1971, Annette and I were convinced we were the only TRUE Beatles fans still around. We knew NO ONE else who were as DEVOTED to the FAB FOUR as the two of us made plans to invade England that summer. Surely no one else had EVER travelled so far with the hopes of, dare I say it, MEETING THE BEATLES!
Soon we discovered the many BEATLES Fan Club Chapters that existed all around the country. Before we knew it we were penpals with every BEATLE FAN in America, or so it would seem. There were also Area Secretaries, official BEATLES Fan Club representatives. It didn't take me long to write to the Southern California Area Secretary, Pattie O'Neil.
It was Spring 1971 when in one of Pattie's letters she sent me a photograph of GEORGE HARRISON, standing on the driveway of his home in Esher. To say I was beside myself is an understatement. OH MY GOSH! Until then I never FATHOMED such a thing could exist. A REAL actual photograph, an IN-PERSON photograph taken by a FAN at HIS house! Oh MY SWEET LORD!This one photograph changed EVERYTHING. Ok, well not everything but suddenly I realized that the possiblity of being NEAR, CLOSE within the same BREATHING space of THE BEATLES was actually truly possible! Many fans had indeed been in the presense of THEM. Annette and I began hearing and reading more of these FAB stories, and seeing more photographs, REAL IN-PERSON photographs taken by fans. It was like being there ourselves!
Though Annette and I went on to have our own little true stories of being near our dear BEATLES, it is these stories told in letters, reported in Beatles newsletters that I hold closest to my heart. The photographs made THEM more real, we could feel closer to our beloved FAB FOUR. These stories were all we ever dreamed of.
So here, within this little space on the WIDE WIDE WIDE WIDE WEB, will be true stories and photographs that I have collected through the years. Stories for those who were there, and for those that missed out the first time around.
It's guaranteed to raise a smile!
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