The 39th Annual NY METRO FEST was another amazing weekend Beatles Party! All the special guests went over very well. Having Billy J. Kramer premier his new CD live with his band on Saturday afternoon was super. His new tribute single – To Liverpool With Love was very moving. The Nutopians performed a Sunday afternoon concert and they received standing ovations after almost every song. We will be offering signed CD copies of both artists on our site in the coming weeks. Peter Noone proved to be the entertainer we always thought he was, and MORE! And he still sounds great! Hearing him sing I’m Into Something Good, I’m Henry the VIII, I Am, Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter and There’s a Kind of Hush had the female fans swooning as if it were still the 1960s! And Tom Scott. What can we say about one of the true legendary horn players around. His sax playing added so much to the Musician’s Forum and the nightly jams (with Mark Hudson & Liverpool). It seems the music just flows out of him directly into the horn – like magic. Ken Scott described what it was like to be in Abbey Road Studios working along side Sir George Martin, putting Beatles tracks together – in 1967-1968. More magical moments. Liverpool was in great form with fabulous live Beatles Concerts each evening. They keep getting better! We also had Pat Dinizio of The Smithereens do a Sunday afternoon Concert of his interpretations of Beatles classics (with our own Tom Frangione as his second guitarist). For the young Beatles Fans, mr. Ray entertained with a little help from 4 young fans as his back up singers. To see you fans exposed to the greatest music is always SPECIAL. It was Ireland’s Georgina Flood’s first area FEST (Ken Dashow’s favorite Beatles artist) and fans couldn’t get over her unique talent in creating such likenesses of The Fab Four. Congratulations to Rock Show, the winners of this year’s Battle of the Beatles Bands. The lead singer of the winners of the previous contests is a current contestant on The Voice– He is Garrett Gardner and we wish him all the best.
With all that going on in one Beatles filled weekend, the biggest buzz was our announcement of our return to New York City for our big 40th anniversary FEST, where it all started – The Grand Hyatt on 42nd St. It was the Commodore Hotel when we began in 1974. The dates we have are the EXACT 50th Anniversary of The Beatles Arrival in America – Friday -Sunday, FEBRUARY 7-9, 2014. We have already started planning to make the the biggest and best one ever! Reservations can now be made at the Grand Hyatt by calling 212-883-1234. Be sure to tell them you are coming to the FEST to get the great rate (for NYC) of only $219.00 per night. Or go to the Hyatt Site where you can reserve your rooms on line. Even though the hotel is very large, our room block is anticipated to fill up. We hope you can join us for this historic FEST.
Where can I find the video for last Sunday’s Battle of the bands. Specifically looking for #12 “Jessie and The Guys with Diamonds” I taped it on my cell but it didn’t come out. Thank you so much for your help.