Today would have been George Harrison’s 68th birthday. It is a perfect day to dust off a couple of his records (dusting off CDs doesn’t have the same ring!) and listen to why we love him so much. His voice, those harmonies, amazing guitar licks and of course those songs are so permanently planted in our brains. The world is certainly a better place because of him. If you go his website georgeharrison.com they are streaming The Concert For George all day today as a birthday gift to his fans. This was the tribute on the first anniversary of his passing. Included in the tribute are Paul, Ringo, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, Billy Preston, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Dhani Harrison, Ravi Shankar and many other friends. Spread the word.

The Grammy Awards are tonight, but many winners were already announced. The Beatles Original Studio Recordings won a Grammy for Best Historical Album. Paul won Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance for Helter Skelter off the Live at Citi Field CD. Congratulations!!

Today marks the 47th Anniversary of the most significant date in Beatles History – February 9, 1964 – The Day The Beatles Conquered America! It was such a clear line in the sand moment! One day The Beatles were the new hot up and coming band with the top two songs. The next day it was the only thing anyone at school was talking about. The girls all had crushes on their favorite Beatle, and the guys we so jealous they immediately started to grow their hair longer and learned to play guitar. (I know. I was one of them!) Seeing and hearing them Live on The Ed Sullivan Show that Sunday Night convinced us right then and there, that they were ‘it’. What an explosion! And it kept getting better and better! When you hear the thousands of interviews with other rock stars who followed, their answer on how they got started is universal –  “I saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan and I just had to do that too!” If you have the DVD, put it on tonight at 8PM and imagine it is 1964! I guarantee you will get chills! In 1974, our first FEST celebrated the 10th anniversary of this special occasion. Now, 37 years later (& 47 years since the Ed Sullivan Show), Beatles fans of all ages and from all over the country still Come Together to celebrate our common love for THE BEATLES at THE FEST FOR BEATLES FANS. Hope you can join us at the next FEST, the weekend of March 25-27 at the NJ Crowne Plaza Meadowlands.

Friday, February 7, 1964: The Beatles arrived at the newly named JFK Airport in NYC on PanAm Flight 101 to a hero’s welcome. Thousands of screaming fans clogged every inch of the airport and terminal to get the first glimpse of them coming off the plane. (Yes, the only way to get off an airplane in 1964 was on steps taking you down to the ground! Then you had to walk outside for a while before you got the entrance door.) Here is a link to a YouTube video marking the occasion. The Beatles were blown away by the reaction. It was just the beginning…

Thanks for all the calls and facebook comments about the upcoming 37th Annual NY METRO FEST FOR BEATLES FANS 2011 taking place the weekend of March 25-27 at the NJ Crowne Plaza Meadowlands.

We have a great lineup of Special Guests and some new exhibits as well. We are very excited to share all the details beginning on Friday, Jan 28th. We will also be sending out an email newsletter at the same time. The physical brochure/catalogue will be sent out a few weeks later. So spread the word and hope to see you there!

Monday, January 6, 1964 – 7:45PM. I (Mark) remember it like it was yesterday. I was listening to 77-WABC the main Top 40 radio station in NYC, doing my homework when I first heard I Want To Hold Your Hand. It immediately grabbed me, so different, so exciting, so new. I wanted to know who I was listening to. When the song was over, Radio Legend Scott Muni announced that it was a group from England called The Beatles. I thought “what an unusual name! This was a few days before my 16th birthday and all these years later I am still hooked on them. Once a Beatles fan, always a Beatles fan.

Paul, Oprah and 3 others were honored earlier this month at the 33rd Annual Kennedy Center Honors.  The award is for exemplary lifetime achievement in the performing arts. The program aired (Tuesday) night (Dec. 28th) at 9:00PM EST on CBS. President and Mr. Obama hosted the event. Paul did some performing including a Hey Jude finale. Congratulations, Paul!!

For all of you who haven’t given a Beatles gift to your friends, it is too late for a physical gift to arrive tomorrow.But, we now have Web Gift Certificates in 5 denominations, and you can have them approved and returned to you within hours of when you order them. This is Brand New to our site, and we noticed some of you have already found them and ordered them as well.

Have a Safe and Wonderful Christmas Time.

We wish all of you a very Happy Holiday Season and
Peace and Love in the New Year!

Mark, Carol, Michelle & Jessica Lapidos

Beatles Year in Review!

I guess the biggest news in the Beatles world was the availability of The Beatles catalog on iTunes on November 16th. All of their albums make the Top 40 downloads and nearly 40 of the top 200 songs downloaded were Beatles. For a couple of weeks, Here Comes The Sun was ahead of all other Beatles songs. Then Let It Be took over the Top Beatles song.

Ringo released his first self produced album in January, 2010, called Y Not! It included Walk With You, with Paul sharing the vocals.
In a rare allignment of the stars, both Paul & Ringo toured this summer and actually had a couple of dates overlapping. The indisputable musical highlight had to be Ringo’s 70th birthday concert at Radio City Music Hall. Paul surprised Ringo for a finale AFTER the finale with, of course, Birthday. Ringo came leaping on stage on to his drum kit to join in. We have NEVER seen an audience so go wild in our lives. It was a truly magical moment. You could actually FEEL the excitement!
Click here to see Paul and Ringo -Birthday Video

Yoko celebrated her birthday in February with a concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Sean was the musical director and featured a Plastic Ono Band reunion with Eric Clapton, Jim Keltner and Klaus Voormann. Paul Simon and Bette Midler also performed.

There were many 70th birthday celebrations honoring John in October. First, Yoko, and Producer Jack Douglas put out Double Fantasy Stripped Down. It really was a surprise and fascinating release, where John’s voice was up front and personal. Yoko also released a box set of John’s 8 albums, remastered, and a hits collection on CD and DVD.

Yoko attended the NY premiere of Nowhere Boy and the audience loved it. It is ashame the movie didn’t go into wider release, but it is coming out on DVD in the next few months. Our own Martin Lewis set up the premiere screening with free tickets for many of you.

In honor of the 40th Anniversary of the release of George’s All Things Must Pass, Capitol released a limited edition Vinyl version, which became one of our bestsellers of the season. Vinyl is still alive! This is one of the greatest album in rock history and everyone should own a copy, whether it is on vinyl or CD.

Paul had a few major honors in Washington, DC this year. In June, he was given the prestigious Gershwin Award at the White House, where he performed. Our Chicago MC Terri Hemmert and friend, journalist Larry Kane were in attendance. On December 5, he was awards the Kennedy Center Honors. This began an 8 day period where it seemed Paul was EVERYWHERE! On the 9th, he performed Scrambled Eggs with Jimmy Fallon on Jimmy’s show and it became an instant facebook sensation!
Two nights later he performed in unprecedented FOUR SONGS on Saturday Night Live and appeared in a few skits as well. Then lat Monday, he played New York’s famous Apollo Theatre for the first time. It was a free concert, by invitation only, hosted by Sirius/XM in honor of their 20 millionth subscriber. It was a night to remember. There is a Band on the Run Paul McCartney Radio station on Sirius?XM going on all month and doesn’t end until Sunday.

Great news for our customers. We have just about completely caught up with all orders. Only a small handful did not ship today or earlier. Every other one is on their way to our customers. Most will not have to incur any additional shipping charges to get to you. All orders West of the Mississippi will need to be sent by UPS Blue Label, which is quite a bit more costly. We can still get them to you, but be prepared for the extra charges. But not if you order tonight or before 2 PM tomorrow! So what are you waiting for.