H.I.T.S.
Hello again and welcome back! It’s been a great week, beginning with our seeing the Beatlemania show at the Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus’ new auditorium, which is a really nice place. You can see it online at http://www.fe.psu.edu/Campus_Tour/Multi.htm. It was an entertaining evening, and I was surprised to see the mix of young and older people dancing and singing to the Beatles’ music. As my wife and I originally met while watching another group of Beatles impersonators, it was somewhat nostalgic.
The effect that the music has on people even today is amazing to me. How different the world was then with vinyl records being the pinnacle of high tech. I remember borrowing a tiny little cheap tape recorder back in the early ’60s from my older cousin and trying to tape a Beatles radio show. The recorder was about the size of a VHS tape and had two small reels with tape a bit wider than cassette tape. I did actually manage to tape some of the show, but the quality wasn’t very good.
I wish I’d kept it so I could have it shown along with some other little mementos to some of the students at Penn State this week. By the time you read this, I’ll have shared some recollections of growing up 30 miles from Liverpool during the Beatles’ heyday with students in a class taught by professor Walters at the Eberly campus.
It all started out with a chance remark to Debra Rhodes, another professor from the campus. Her son Ryan takes guitar lessons from me, and Debra seemed really excited when I let it slip about being an early Beatlemaniac while growing up there. She told me about a course at the campus about the influence of the Beatles on American culture. I then spoke to professor Maryanne Walters and we set it all up.
This is all a first for me, because I will have talked in depth about growing up in England and about the Beatles. They were the reason I first wanted to learn to play guitar and are an integral part of my teenage years. They probably had such an effect on me because we had only two TV channels – no Internet, no video games – in fact, nothing that came even close to high-tech. That is, unless you count transistor radios, which did come out in a smaller form about that time. Reception was poor and you had to stick the tiny speaker close to your ear to get any volume, since headphones were a thing of the future.
There was nothing like iTunes or other download services back then, so we had to wait patiently until some announcement about a new Beatles single or album came from either radio or one of the weekly music magazines with names like New Musical Express or Melody Maker. NME is online now at http://www.nme.com – although sadly, Melody Maker is now gone but not forgotten. You can read about it at http://www.thestranger.com/2000-12-28/music.html.
This week has been full of recollections of the 1960s for me, and I’m sorry if I sound a bit Austin Powersish, but it’s been amusing to meet people over the years who are Beatles fanatics and know every tiny detail and bit of info about them without even being born at that time.
Again, with the Internet, you can learn massive amounts of info on the Beatles as well as just about anything else. The ability to post pictures along with text makes it even more informative. The sheer volume available on every conceivable subject just goes to show how much we adore nostalgia. In fact, I was kidding Ryan Rhodes as we left after the Beatlemania show that in 30 years from now, he could be talking somewhere about the band Green Day (who were playing in Pittsburgh on the same night).
The 1960s may not have had the same effect on us if we had all the high-tech aids that we have now. I think that a lot of the magic was in waiting in eager anticipation for news of your favorite band or their new music. With the ability now to buy music 24 hours a day or carry around thousands of songs in a tiny little device like an iPod, the excitement of anticipation is just no longer there.
Also, since the ’60s, it’s all been done. By that, I mean we’ve seen every imaginable fad and gimmick possible, from KISS wearing makeup to young folks in Mohawks. I really think that there are more gimmicks than substance in the music today. The Beatles opened the floodgates to everything from hairstyles to what have now become known as music videos. Bands like Manchester’s Oasis have made millions from copying the Beatles’ style. Even Paul McCartney seems at last to be playing lots of the old Beatles songs when he’s in concert.
From all of the young people we saw dancing to songs like “Twist And Shout” last Saturday, it looks like yet another generation has gotten hooked on the Fab Four. After one especially energetic song, the crowd was going wild, and my wife said to me, “You’re so English. Loosen up and smile and have a good time!”
The thing is, I was having a great time, but it was so surreal. It took me back to when I was 13 and saw the real Beatles in King George’s Hall in Blackburn when they were just hitting the English music scene. This was before hordes of screaming teenage girls drowned them out on every song. It was a great time, and thanks to our good friend Jerry Onesi and his wife, Jamie, for treating us to a wonderful evening!
All of this week’s nostalgia has given me the idea to talk to Doren about doing a Beatles show, so if you’d be interested in seeing one just drop us an email.
Until next time, have a fab gear week from both of us.