Charlie O and The Beatles:

He Was Never In It To Win

by John Rickenbach

My favorite part of Jude’s new book Should Have Known Better is buried somewhere deep in the middle, documenting The Beatles’ reluctant visit to Kansas City toward the end of their ’64 North American tour. That chapter is a fascinating read on its own, but only a brief glimpse into The Beatles unlikely but ongoing encounters with baseball over the years. They weren’t fans of baseball or almost any other sport (“except swimming,” John once let on), and yet from 1964-66 they found themselves in one American baseball stadium or another. But the Kansas City story is unique because of the colorful personality of Charles O. Finley, the baseball owner who would not be told “no”. Jude’s humorous write-up of his negotiation with equally hard-headed John Lennon is classic. What follows here is a little more backstory on “Charlie O,” his hapless baseball team, and why The Beatles were so important to him at that moment…

He was never in it to win. Not really. For him, it was more about making a statement.

Charlie Finley was the kind of guy who wore a loud hound’s tooth jacket with a white narrow-brimmed fedora in a room full of buttoned-down businessmen and considered it high-style. And under those caterpillar eyebrows, he would habitually glance out of the corner of his eye, always wary of who might be coming at him from behind, ready to play an angle before others could play him. Perversely, this may explain why as a baseball team owner he was okay being last in the American League—that way no one could sneak up on him.

“Charlie O” sold baseball the way he sold insurance in his younger days in Indiana—with eye-catching gimmicks, flyers in the mail, and lots of self-promotion. Anything to lure people to the seats. The ”O” stood for Oscar, and he would have won at least a couple of those if they gave them out for clever promotional stunts. First, it was green and gold uniforms in 1963, in a black-and-white league bound by tradition. A decade later it would be paying players to wear mustaches. (Until his 1970's A’s, only two players had ever worn mustaches in modern baseball history.) Every now and then, however, his gimmicks would become “innovations,” and sometimes in hindsight, even revolutionary. The designated hitter was his idea to make the game more interesting to fans, and in 1973, the American League adopted it for good. Night games at the World Series to juice prime-time TV? That was Charlie O’s idea too.

But in 1964, there would be no World Series, day or night, for his Kansas City Athletics. The A’s were terrible, almost historically bad. They finished that season 57-105, deep in the cellar of the 10-team American League, 42 games back and with little hope ahead. But that was nothing new for a franchise without a winning record since 1947. They couldn’t draw fans at their last home in Philadelphia, and after a promising season or two in Kansas City following the team’s moved there in 1955, it was the same old story again. The running joke was that in those years the A’s had become a glorified “farm team” for the powerful Yankees, trading every hopeful great prospect to them for cash and watching them become stars in New York, while the A’s languished in the basement. In Kansas City, there wasn’t a team worth watching, and so the fans stopped coming.

When the team’s owner died in 1960, Charlie O bought the A’s, and he vowed to make some changes. But he wasn’t a baseball man, he was really an insurance salesman with a flair for promotion. So first it was those green and gold uniforms. Then he got really creative: goats and sheep grazing on the grassy slope behind the right-field fence, the mechanical rabbit that popped up behind home plate with a supply of new baseballs for the umpire, and the new team mascot, a mule named Charlie O.

But sheep can’t pitch, and mechanical rabbits don’t hit, so not much changed on the field. The 1964 Kansas City A’s were still a joke. In spite of the on-field menagerie, even curious fans soon lost interest.

That season, attendance slipped to less than 8,000 per game, second to last in the American League. As the boys faded from contention by June, they’d be lucky to draw 5,000. (Only the equally inept Washington Senators drew fewer that year, which recalls the old baseball joke about Washington: “First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League.”)

So for Charlie O, news of the 1964 globetrotting Beatles represented a rare opportunity, a beacon of hope, a shot of lightning out of the blue—if he could land them. What would it take to get them to come to Kansas City? And how soon could they arrive?

It wasn’t about winning. Or making money. It was about connecting with the fans.

And of course, as he usually did, he got his way, and The Beatles came and played, on Thursday, September 17. For a steep price of course, but the fact is for that one night, he put 20,000 happy fans in the normally lonely seats of Municipal Stadium. His hope was that maybe some of those parents who dropped off their thrilled kids to see the Fabs might show up at one of his games next week. Or next year.

Sadly, they didn’t. When the A’s returned home on the 22nd to face the Minnesota Twins, now with little over a week left in the lost season, barely 3,000 hardcore (or bored) fans turned the stiles. The next night, it was more like 2,000. In just a few days, Municipal Stadium had become a ghost town once again, most of its 35,000 seats cricket-empty.

So where was the team that night when The Beatles came to town? Back East, as it happens, on a three-city road trip, far from the temporary glow and din coming from all those kids and screams and music in Municipal Stadium, now finally resurrected from the dead without the A’s. While The Beatles were playing a one-off cover of “Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey” before an appreciative crowd back home, that Thursday was an off-night for the team, spent in a cheap New York hotel, still licking its wounds from back-to-back shellackings in Boston over the previous two days. And over the coming weekend, they’d be swept out of town for good, three straight by the eventual league champion Yankees. If anyone bothered to check (or care), the A’s had been outscored 40-4 in the five games since Tuesday. The season couldn’t end soon enough.

To add the final insult, just as the team was flying home that Sunday from New York, The Beatles were arriving in the Big Apple, and played that night to a packed house at the Paramount Theatre. The poor A’s must have felt like they were being followed, mocked, unloved, unnoticed. They were not The Beatles. Not that year.

But for that one summer night, Charlie O didn’t mind, because his fans were happy. As for The Beatles, they had no idea who the A’s even were. Not baseball fans. Or were they? From the press conference in Kansas City:

Q: "Do you like baseball?"

John: "Not particularly."

Ringo: "You throw the ball, and then another ten minutes you have a cigarette and throw another ball."

Q: "Is it true Charlie Finley asked you to wear kelly green and gold baseball outfits?"

All, laughing: "No!"

George: "Not true. We wouldn't wear 'em, anyway. Not even for 300,000 (dollars)."

But, there is photographic evidence:

The A’s languished through three more similarly dismal seasons in Kansas City before Charlie O pulled up stakes and headed west, to Oakland. Happily, in the coming years his teams steadily improved, and in the early 1970's, they won the World Series three straight years! Along the way, his post-modern mustachioed players created a swagger and new look in super-conservative Major League Baseball. But winning and mustaches weren’t enough for Charlie O. When the courts upheld the concept of free agency in baseball in 1975, the flood gates were now opened for players to move and seek greener pastures elsewhere when their contracts expired. But Charlie wanted no part of that coming bidding war, and watched his best players leave in short order, so that by the end of the decade, the team became a skeleton crew of minor league talent, returning to the listless shadow it once displayed in Kansas City. Attendance of course plummeted. No amount of promotion could fix the problem this time, and he sold the team before the 1981 season.

     Charlie O returned to his hometown of LaPorte, Indiana, spending his final years living on the family farm, always loved in his community, where he died in 1996. Back in Kansas City, Municipal Stadium is long gone, demolished in 1976. And the A’s? Still in Oakland, and still wearing Charlie O’s green and gold.

Oh, and by the way, Charlie’s first wife’s maiden name was…McCartney. That would have been Shirley McCartney, who didn’t play bass. Or baseball.

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/20/sports/charles-o-finley-baseball-team-owner-who-challenged-traditions-diesat-77.html

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/photo-of-the-day-lennon-and-mccartney-possibly-playing-baseball/

https://www.kansascity.com/living/star-magazine/article2127287.html

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/KCA/1964.shtml

https://calltothepen.com/2016/10/19/paul-mccartney-casual-fan-baseball/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKjz0D1a2MA

See more photos below:

Liverpool Son Turns Trials Into Triumph

Dave Bedford, author of Liddypool, The Fab One Hundred and Four, and the soon-to-be-released volume, Finding the Fourth Beatle sits down with Jude Southerland Kessler to discuss the tragedy in his life that created a small miracle. Meet Dave in person at Beatles at the Ridge, Sept. 14-15, 2018 in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas...and see his film, "Looking for Lennon." 

Dave, you and I are friends, so I know the "at-moments-tragic" but ultimately "miraculous" story of how you left the work-a-day world and became an inspired and inspiring author. Please tell our friends out there in Beatle-land about your journey. How did you come to write Liddypool: Birthplace of The Beatles?

I grew up in The Dingle, by the bottom of Madryn Street where Ringo was born, and I attended St. Silas School from 1969, where Ringo had gone to school. I lived in The Dingle until I was 24, and our first house after getting married was two streets up from Admiral Grove where Ringo lived from the age of 5.

In 1989, we moved out to Mossley Hill, and now live just off Penny Lane. We have 3 daughters who were all born at Oxford Street Maternity Hospital where John was born, and all attended Dovedale Primary School where John and George were schooled. With all of this around me, it was obvious that my career would be in................insurance!

Yep, from school, I joined Norwich Union (now Aviva) in underwriting and worked up to a Business Development Manager, which was a great, and well-paid job. However, back in 1998, I started to feel pain in my shoulder which gradually spread to my arms, hands and then legs. I was wrongly diagnosed and treated for Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), and eventually signed off work back in 2000 as I couldn’t cope with the pain and several other symptoms not associated with RA.

After 12 more months of throwing different tablets down my throat, without any affect, I was sent for a second opinion to a different consultant, who confirmed that I didn’t have RA, but fibromyalgia (FM)! I had never heard of it before, and had to do some research to find out what the heck it was. In brief terms, for me, it means chronic pain in every joint, ligament, tendon and muscle in my body 24/7, and it is rheumatic, meaning it is aggravated by damp/ wet weather, so living in a damp/ wet English city is not a good idea!

Fibromyalgia brings with it sleep disturbance, forgetfulness, mood swings, lethargy, and so much more, so I now have the pleasure of up to 18 tablets a day! At the age of 35, with three small children, my doctor told me I would probably never work again, which was devastating. My employer has been incredible, and placed me on a pension scheme and really took care of me. My wife has been unbelievable, and everything they say about “behind every man is a great woman” is completely true. I couldn’t have done it, and continue to get by, without her love and support. My daughters have been fantastic too.

So, there I was, with a few useless school qualifications and no chance of a career, and no job to do. My doctors told me it was a battle of the mind, and to find something to keep me occupied and interested. So, when Yoko Ono turned up at Dovedale School with a huge donation to support our work, I wanted to write about it. Through a friend, Stan Williams – who had attended Dovedale with Lennon and Harrison – I was introduced to the London Beatles Fan Club (which is now the British Beatles Fan Club, which I help to run) and I started to write about The Beatles in Liverpool. I found my interest.

I went out and bought a copy of Bill Harry’s “John Lennon Encyclopedia” and realised there was so much Beatles history all around me, and I decided, with Bill’s inspiration, to write my own little book about The Beatles and Liverpool. Shouldn’t take long, I thought! Well, it became my obsession, and it took me the next 9 years to research and write Liddypool.

The blessing of disability, as I call it! I couldn’t have done it if I was fit and healthy and in work. Sometimes, God’s blessings are disguised – and this one was HEAVILY disguised!!

If you had to write a thesis statement or tell someone in one or two sentences about the theme of your book, Liddypool: Birthplace of The Beatles, what would you say? (And don't say, "Liverpool is the birthplace of The Beatles," or I'll smash you up.)

To understand The Beatles, you have to understand Liverpool. You can only understand Liverpool if it is your life, your hometown, your childhood and your adult years. You can’t just visit Liverpool and think, “I get it now.” I understand Liverpool, and now I understand The Beatles, I can explain it to fans.

How is your book different from P. Willis-Pitts' Liverpool, The Fifth Beatle or Bill Harry's Liverpool: Bigger Than The Beatles? What special insights do you offer to readers?

Special insights?  My 47 years on this planet, my 9 years researching the book, and a passion for the truth about the greatest band there was, or will be.!!

To know about Ringo, you have to understand The Dingle, because it is nothing like Woolton, or Allerton. I was there until I was 24: I know the Dingle. I have spent the last 20 years around Penny Lane and Allerton, and it took me years to realise the importance of the area to the childhood of John, Paul and George. I can tell the reader what the song of “Penny Lane” is really about: it isn’t just a whimsical nostalgia trip; there is so much more to it, and only spending so much time living here does it all make sense.

Liddypool is the book that I wanted to read, but couldn’t find. My years of research lead me to interview the people who were there at the time, like The Quarrymen, Pete Best, Allan Williams, Bill Harry, Julia Baird, Alistair Taylor and so many more. But I also wanted to chart the story from the beginning and find out how they became The Beatles, so for the first time, I have charted all the musicians and name changes until they became John, Paul, George and Ringo: and I found 27 musicians in the story. As well as the interviews and history, I have a full Guide Book included, detailing every location in and around Liverpool, with photographs and information, including all the schools, homes and venues. 

Your gorgeous book holds a blend of new photographs and nostalgic ones...glimpses of The Beatles way back when. How difficult was it to get permission to use the "old photos"? How long did it take to collect, compile, permit, format, and write this book? Any interesting stories about that process?

It was 9 years, start to finish, and trying to find the photos was a task in itself, scouring agencies and local archives, with the help of those contributors to the book who kindly let me use their images.

One of the interesting stories centers on the way in which I ended up with all the research. One of the symptoms of fibromyalgia is forgetfulness – have I already mentioned that? Well, as I read a book, I would get to about 20 pages in and forget what I had read. So, I started making notes on the books I was reading: page number, information and relevance. This was just to help me. I ended up with pages of the stuff, and this is what I knocked into shape to become “Liddypool”. I still have that mass of paper!

I didn’t even approach a publisher! A writer, Marshall Terrill, came over from America to write about The Beatles and Liverpool, and I accompanied him for the day, showing him all the places. He was amazed by the information I was telling him and was eager to read my book. (It didn’t exist, except in my dreams!) So, I sent him a chapter; he rang his publisher, who offered me the deal.

Talk about blessed! We spent about 18 months editing and changing and shaping the book, with Marshall as editor. It was a painful process, but well worth doing it right!  

You grew up in Liverpool and reside there now. Why is being a Scouser so crucial to understanding the heart of Liddypool?

It goes to my earlier point that you have to know the history of the city, and how the 800 years of our history was vital in shaping the lads who took on the world. We have a sense of family, togetherness, and multi-cultural integration that makes Liverpool unlike any other British city.

You need to know how the different nationalities that have influenced us, their music and culture, what it is to be a port nation and what it was like growing up during the War: all of these things affected The Beatles.

Liverpool is like a country in itself: we don’t feel part of England, the UK, or whatever. If you attack one, you attack us all. We have our own values and ethics, and very few people outside of Liverpool, in the UK, understand us, so how can the rest of the world? Look what happened when John was under attack for his “more popular than Jesus” comments. Paul, George and Ringo closed ranks around John. How many people actually broke through their friendship to get inside the Fab Four? Very few. Why? Because they didn’t understand that bond between Scousers that is unbreakable.

You need to know that every area in Liverpool is different: north and south Liverpool are different; each suburb is unique, and the area from which you come from determines who you are. In Liddypool, I break down every area, and give readers insight and information on each one – their relationship to each other and to The Beatles themselves.

Pete Best wrote the Foreword for Liddypool. How did you meet Pete and what can you tell readers about him that they might not know?

Before I wrote Liddypool, I (like many Beatles fans) “knew” that Pete Best was some drummer who wasn’t “good enough” so he got fired, and then Ringo joined The Beatles. Pete, I once believed, was moody, unreliable, not a great drummer…and he was lucky to have been a little part of the story, but not that important.

This was one of the many myths that I had to dispel on my way to finding the truth. Pete was a great drummer and is still a great drummer, and he’s widely respected in Liverpool. He was reliable and hard-working, and essential to the Beatles’ story.

The “moody” tag was a reference to a smouldering film-star, but Pete is in actuality fantastic and a fun personality who is good company. I have gotten to know him, and he is a great guy.

I met Pete in 2007 and was honoured to have him write the Foreword to Liddypool, because the biggest surprise that I uncovered in my research was The Casbah Club. It is a gem, and the greatest and most important Beatles’ place on this planet – a place I knew virtually nothing about it! Through research, I came to realise how important Mona Best, Pete’ s mother, was to the story of The Beatles. I was determined to tell the true story of The Casbah and Mona Best. Pete’s brothers, Rory and Roag, were also very helpful in my research.

I had the opportunity to interview Pete and spent a couple of hours with him, and have since met with him on a number of occasions. He is the perfect gentleman. I sent him my completed manuscript, and asked if he would consider writing the Foreword. Amazingly, he agreed. You can’t believe the honour that was and is, and I will always be grateful to Pete.

How did you become a Beatles fan? (Yes, THAT question...sorry!)

For me it was always, and always will be, about the music.

I started playing guitar at the age of 10, and the first music book I got, and still have, was The Beatles Complete. The songs are genius, and they’re as good now as they were when they were written. Plus, when you grow up with all of that history around you, it would be impossible to avoid them! The Beatles are an integral part of my life, and now I have my new life as an author as well.

I can’t escape!!

Bill Harry is such a large part of the story of Liddypool. Tell us about Bill. What's John Lennon's dear friend like in "real life"?

Bill was my inspiration when I started on Liddypool, and the interview with him was the most revealing of all of the interviews I did, because I could suddenly understand what made John and Stuart do what they did, think what they did, and were inspired to achieve what they did. It was the biggest insight into the centre of The Beatles’ story.

Who is the most fascinating person that you've met in your research for Liddypool ?

That is such a hard question, because I have met so many fascinating people and find it hard to choose, but I’ve gone for Julia Baird, John’s half-sister. She is a fascinating lady whose own research for her book “Imagine This.....” uncovered stories about John’s childhood that made me completely re-think what I had been told.

When you realise that most of the information about John’s upbringing was from Aunt Mimi, and that she edited much of what was written about John, you start to doubt everything. Julia’s research, like my own, didn’t stop at “accepted history,” but, through her family, she was able to completely re-shape what we thought we knew. It was a revelation to her, and I have been privileged to follow her journey of discovery. She has shared so much about John that opened my eyes to really getting to know the real John Lennon. Julia is a delightful lady, and another person I am honoured to now call a friend. 

Liddypool, I notice, is dedicated to your wife and children...and also to your sister, Judy.  John's mother, Julia, was called "Judy" by her family...was your sister the inspiration to you that Julia was to John? Would you tell us about your Judy and how she impacted your life?

My Judy was my younger sister, who tragically died from cancer at the age of 40. We were always close, and through my own illness, she was always my inspiration and encouragement. Fortunately, before she died I was able to tell her that I had obtained a publishing deal, and I promised to dedicate the book to her.

Judy kept me going when times were tough and encouraged me all along the way to follow my dream. I am just sorry that she never got to see the finished book, but she is always there with me in spirit.

Her daughter, Hannah, was only young when her mum died, but we promised to watch over her as she grows up, and she is becoming more and more like her mum every day, which is mostly a good thing: Judy couldn’t half nag me! I miss her every day, but I am glad that I had the opportunity to immortalise her name in my book.

Have you got the writing “bug,” or will this be your only book? What is next?

Well, with my love for photography, I have filmed, produced, edited, narrated (and all that other stuff) a Liddypool DVD, which is a documentary taking viewers around Liverpool and telling the story through film and photos, which was great fun!

In 2013, my second book was published. Called “The Fab One Hundred and Four: The Evolution of The Beatles”, it grew out of Liddypool. I had a chapter called “The Fab 27” that charted the musicians from the first line up of the Quarrymen through to Ringo joining: 27 musicians. There was so much interest in this one chapter that it became a book in its “own write”, but the 27 had grown to 104 people! Still only covering up to the end of 1962, it has every musician that played with the group from the beginning, but also any other groups they played in, or other artists The Beatles backed on stage, plus I went before The Quarrymen and found those important people who taught The Beatles to play, or influenced them. And I even found the one guy nobody else had been able to find! The school friend of John who suggested that he should start a skiffle group: George Lee. Lots of previously untold stories and exclusive and unpublished photographs that you won’t find elsewhere.

And then a friend of mine said: ‘You’ve got 12 drummers in that book! Nobody has ever written the story of the drummers.’ And so my friend, Garry Popper, and I set off to write that book that is published in the summer 2018. Called “Finding the Fourth Beatle”, it tells the story of the 23 drummers who put the beat into The Beatles. Yes, 23! With an in-depth analysis of the key drummers, Pete Best, Ringo Starr and Jimmie Nicol. We dispel many myths, correct some famous stories, including solving the mystery that many have claimed to have solved: how and why The Beatles got rid of Pete Best. The headline is: forget what we’ve told since 1962, because Pete Best was never sacked! And I have the proof! But there is also an in-depth analysis of Ringo Starr’s drumming, and why he was the right man for the job, and why he is such a unique drummer and inspiration to many drummers.

Over the last 3 years, I have been working on the documentary feature film, “Looking for Lennon”, which has been such a privilege. To tell John’s story through the people who knew him best: family, friends, schoolmates, bandmates and college friends. This is the story of John before he was famous, and the tragedies of his young life and how that shaped him. I was historian, both off-screen and on-screen, as well as Associate Producer. What an honour. The film has been sold to North America, Brazil, UK, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, China and Japan. Soon I will be starting the book to accompany the film. 

A few other projects in the pipeline too, including one on Liverpool and the American Civil War, which is fascinating, and one on the Country music scene in Liverpool in the 1960s. And a few others.

So, there will be more.............................

 

Dave, thank you for sharing your story, your talent, your heritage, and your intelligence & wit with the world. Your book is not just "a coffee table book." It's a rare and accurate history, an entrancing glimpse into another world. Thank you for giving us that legacy in words and pictures. We treasure it.

The Ballad of John and...Oh, No!!!!

After four long years of interviews, research, writing, and intense editing, it was over. The manuscript for Volume 4 in The John Lennon Series, Should Have Known Better, was complete. My husband; best friend, Lanea Stagg; and I had logged in about 21 hours of sleep per week during the last two weeks of the work. It was grueling, but we knew that in order to have the promised Book Release Party at the Fest for Beatles Fans in Chicago (Aug. 10-12), we had to work now and sleep later. Our printer, Edwards Brothers/Malloy, demanded a manuscript completion date of 29 May for a delivery date of 5 August (just in time for the books to be shipped to Chicago).

Well, at 6 a.m. on 29 May, we dotted the last "i" and crossed the last "t" and sent the manuscript off in a worn and exhausted haze. I collapsed into bed as Rande went off to work, worse for wear. But we had made it! Victory!

Then came the response, two hours later...

"We regret to inform you that Edwards Brothers/Malloy is closing it's doors permanently. As of today, we will no longer be offering book printing services..." And after a few soft-soaping summary sentences, the deed was done. The John Lennon Series had no printer.

Realizing how extremely upset I would be about this predicament, my hero husband, Rande, sprang into action right away. He Googled "Best Printers in the United States" and began calling them...there were 20 listed...from #1 right on down the line.

Now, I can hear your questions out there: "Jude, why didn't you just use Create Space or another similar venue? Why did you need a special printer? What was the problem?"

Well, first of all, as most of you know, The John Lennon Series books are very large. Create Space and other online companies who print on-demand only create books up to about 800 pages. The John Lennon Series books (well over 900 pages) must be both glued and stitched to hold together well; most printers don't offer that.

Furthermore, The John Lennon Series cover is a nice, thick linen (LOL!) fabric with a protective sealant that keeps it looking nice for years. The on-demand books are shiny, slick covers. And the paper is an off-white vellum, a high-grade paper...something the on-demand printers don't offer. I wanted all of the books in the series to look exactly the same, to have the same quality, and to last for a very long time. So, I needed an exceptional printer.

After over two hours of calling and explaining and haggling and working at it, Rande found the perfect printer for our series...Sheridan Printers out of Michigan and Ohio. They agreed to do exactly what we needed, and furthermore, they agreed to have the books ready for The Chicago Fest for Beatles Fans. By the time I opened my eyes that morning, my hero of 44 years had solved yet another huge crisis in our lives...he had located exactly what we needed, and at a price that was better than the price Edwards Brothers had quoted us!

So the good news is this: after a HUGE glitch, we are back on target to deliver your books in person Aug. 10-12 at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare at the Fest for Beatles Fans. And if you can't be there for the Book Release party, your book will be mailed to you the following week. It will happen - thanks to Rande Kessler, who made it so. And a certain amount of thanks go to John as well...because the end of the story is this: the printer that Rande finally connected with on the list of "1-20 Best Printers in the U.S." was (yes, you guessed it) #9. It's true. Life really is stranger than fiction.

Listen to John

Artwork by Jay Kelly

Thirty-seven years on. That's where we are. At a point in the future that John never walked, but surely sees...doing our best on this day of days to commemorate who he was and is and will be.

At midnight, my sister had me open a package...a black shirt tied in a green ribbon (interestingly enough: black, the symbol of death and green, the symbol of new life). It was a T-shirt which said very simply:

Listen to John.

And so, 37 years after his passing, in the quiet of after-midnight, I am listening. And this is what I hear:

1. There's nothing you can do that can't be done.

2. I'm going into an unknown future, but I'm still here, and still where there's life, there's hope.

3. Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.

4. You're never dead until the last person who remembers you is gone.

5. We all shine on, like the moon and the stars and the sun. We all shine on, every one!

6. Any time at all, all you gotta do is call, and I'll be there.

Over in over, in myriad ways - in his songs, poetry, and interview quotes - John boldly affirmed that death wasn't dark and final. In fact, he stated, "I'm not afraid of death. To me, it's like getting out of one car and getting into another." 

John never wanted to be a saint, and he wouldn't have wanted his death to transform him into one. He'd seen that happen to others, and he despised it, mocking such hollow sentimentality with, "Everybody loves you when you're six foot in the ground."

And yet, in the hundreds and hundreds of days that have slipped by since 8 December 1980, we still remember. We sing the songs he gave us to sing. We watch his films and fall back into joy. We chuckle when he Cheshire grins...or sneers and says, "Time wounds all heels." We thumb through his books and laugh.  Or we read his life's story and once again believe that there is a way to hurdle tragedy, to transform life's anguish into beauty. These he taught us.

We still listen to John. Thirty-seven years on.

"Two years, ten years, and the passengers ask the conductor:

What place is this? Where are we now?"

We're traveling forward, but you're still with us. We can feel your presence, John. You're here.

Shine on.

                       

Beatles Fans…It’s for YOU!

               

In the arts district of Louisville, KY – in a two-story, turn-of-the-century home, nestled beneath sheltering elms – the only brick and mortar Beatles store in America (except the gift shop at Las Vegas’s Cirque du Soleil “Love” show) waits for you. It’s your dream shop. There are licensed Beatles standees, T-shirts, key chains, tennis shoes, flip flops, magnets, bumper stickers, and light switch covers. There are Beatles tables and chairs…Beatles DVDs, CDs, ties, jewelry, books (and did I mention T-shirts?). There are Beatles umbrellas, watches, pins, baby clothes, business card holders, socks, cards, and oh yes, T-shirts. In room after room of a most interesting old home, The Beatles reign supreme.

                Your Beatles destination is called, “Octopus’s Garden.” And for an English teacher like me, it was utterly delightful to find someone who understood the use of apostrophe denoting ownership, employing it correctly. I was happy when I saw their sign, let alone stepped inside.

                Of course, owners Judy and Dan Singleton (who have saved for years to own this wonderful store in lovely Louisville) have music playing. Beatles music. And Dan, who is the real Beatles fan, can talk nuances of Beatles music and history with the best of us. In fact, Dan has taught classes on The Beatles and welcomes fans who just want to stop by, share “a cuppa,” and talk about the lads.

                Judy, who likes the Beatles and just experienced her first Fest for Beatles Fans in Chicago, is the PR lady. She’s quick to welcome visitors, ask if she can help, and then leave them alone to enjoy, if they choose. And because she’s so amenable, if you don’t see the one item that your little heart desires, ask Judy about ordering it for you. The Singletons want you to be happy.

                However, besides offering moderately priced – and licensed – Beatles gear (tie tacks, bracelets, notepads, etc.), Octopus’s Garden is making a name for itself as the place for “Beatles Happenings.” Beatles music scholar, Aaron Krerowicz, has spoken here. Beatles cookbook author, Lanea Stagg (co-founder of The Recipe Records Series) shared the secrets of Liverpool’s famous Scouse with fans in July. And in September, Stagg returned to Octopus’s Garden with me to debate “Beatles vs. Stones: Who WAS (and is) The Greatest Rock Band of All Time.” Just recently, the Beatles tribute band, The Rigbys, performed in the Singleton’s groovy store.

                If you can’t get to Louisville, however, don’t despair. Octopus’s Garden has a newly updated website where you can view many of their items and write to Dan and Judy requesting others. Check it out here: http://www.octopusgardenky.com/ And join them on Facebook as well at: https://www.facebook.com/BeatlesCollectibles/ They post great Beatles facts and photos and keep their customers updated on coming speakers, bands, and events.

                Having a brick and mortar store, a classic American “Mom and Pop shop,” isn’t easy to do in today’s online market. But Dan and Judy want to be more than purveyors of Beatles goods. They want you to know that “There’s a Place” for you to come and hear the songs, talk about the lads, enjoy a great speaker or two, and make memories. As Paul and John lovingly wrote for Cilla, “It’s for you!”

John Lennon Series: What is an Historical Narrative???

The John Lennon Series is an Historical Narrative

What is an Historical Narrative???

"It's a plane! It's a bird? NO...it's Superman!!!" Not since that iconic chant about Jerry Siegel's comic strip character has there been so much confusion about the nature of a literary creation! "What in the world," potential readers ask me, "is an historical narrative? Is it fan fiction? Historical fiction? A biography?" No, it's none of those things.

The historical narrative (as I wrote in the book, New Critical Perspectives on The Beatles: Things We Said Today) is a unique method of reporting the past -
a genre compiling the accounts of multiple observers, bystanders and witnesses to present a complete and true story from their various "facts," opinions, stories and details. Combining many voices into a single thread, the historical narrative offers readers a complete, fleshed-out account of a given moment in time. 

After intensive research and interviews with a plethora of primary and secondary resources, the author of an historical narrative (me, in this instance) tells the true story of a legendary person or persons. (In this case, it is the life of John Lennon and The Beatles)  The researcher/writer (me) is, therefore, committed to the dissolution of popular myths about that historical figure (John and the lads) with the goal of giving posterity a prejudice-free account of a great man or woman or an historical event. 

For the last 32 years, I have been researching the life of John Lennon with over 500 Lennon and Beatles books in my home. I have also traveled seven times to Liverpool and London to interview John's family (Julia Baird, Charlie Lennon), friends (Rod Murray, Helen Anderson, Johnny Guitar, Bill Harry), early Beatles (Pete Best, Chas Newby), business associates (Allan Williams, Bob Wooler, Rex Makin, Freda Kelly, Geoff Emerick, Richard Langham, Larry Kane, Ivor Davis, Fred Seaman, Dennis Ferrante), and so many others. I have studied audio tapes, CDs, DVDs, periodicals, newspaper articles, letters, journals, and every possible means available for obtaining information about John. And, I have spent countless hours studying his mannerisms, vocabulary, idiosyncrasies, and opinions. I have immersed myself in all things Lennon since 1986.

My quest is to examine every old assumption about John and - in light of facts old and new - to unfold his biography as it really occurred...telling it in narrative format so that the reader feels as if he or she is present when John buys his first "real" guitar from Hessey's or performs at the Royal Command Performance or meets Bob Dylan for the first time. Bill Harry called The John Lennon Series "factional." Steve Marinucci (Beatles Examiner) has pronounced the work "an expanded biography." The result of tireless research, the three existing volumes in The John Lennon Series will make the reader feel as if he or she is a fly on the wall as John's life unfolds. Furthermore, at the end of each chapter, the reader and I discuss together discrepancies in the historical record over the last 50 years. 

So, it is a story. A true story. A researched and documented story. A story with thousands of footnotes from hundreds of sources that presents the life of John Lennon in intricate detail! That is my historical narrative. That is The John Lennon Series.