I know I have told this story in the past, but it’s been 5 years, so I thought I should dust it off and add a little more to it.

It was 55 years ago today, January 6, 1964 that I first heard I Want To Hold Your Hand. It was a moment that forever changed my life and I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the first day back from the two week Christmas/New Year’s vacation where I had no access to radio. I was listening to WABC on the Scott Muni Show (shown above with John). I was doing my homework and the song came on the radio. I got so excited. I never heard ANYTHING that sounded like that before. I wanted to know who it was. I was hooked before the song was over. Scottso came on and said that it was by a group from England called The Beatles. My first thought was ‘What a strange name!’ The very next day, Tuesday, was new survey day and I came home from school and it was #1. It was still #1 when they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show almost five weeks later.

Just this past week, a friend showed me a signed copy of Introducing The Beatles, after cleaning out a family member’s storage unit. Not being a hard core Beatles fan, he had no idea if the signatures were real or not. Of course, they weren’t. The strange thing is, I too, signed the cover of that album that my brother bought for my birthday two week later. I do not know why I signed it (BTW, I had the names wrong originally – it was difficult to tell them apart in those VERY early days!). I never signed another album by anybody, ever again – it was a one time thing which I cannot explain! Did any of you reading this have a similar experience?

Peace and Love,
Mark