Three days of Beatles music, love and entertainment filled the halls and ballrooms of the Hyatt Regency O’Hare for our 36th Annual Chicago FEST. With so many new first time Special Guests and new events, fans had to figure out where they wanted to be the most! Everybody loved FREDA KELLY (fan club secretary 1962-1972), as she told so many stories the fans were really interested in hearing. Beatles Recording Engineer KEN SCOTT has an amazing A/V show with some rare versions of some of the songs he had worked on. He signed extra copies of his new book Abbey Road to Ziggy Stardust (see below). TOM SCOTT added so much to the Concerts and Musician’s Forum with his powerful sax solos. SPENCER DAVIS called 4 days before the FEST to let us know he couldn’t join us due to illness. He was really looking forward to his first Chicago FEST and was very disappointed. He hopes to join us in 2013! We were fortunate enough to get Wings’ lead guitarist LAURENCE JUBER to pinch hit for Spencer and he treated us to his solo acoustic Concerts each afternoon, to rousing ovations. The nightly jams with LIVERPOOL, MARK HUDSON, Tom Scott and Laurence Juber were among some of the best we have ever seen or heard. Our MC for 35 years, TERRI HEMMERT, was called away on Saturday to be at the bedside of her mother, in Ohio. Sadly, Betty passed away on Sunday. We all send Terri our Beatles love in this difficult time. Martin Lewis, Wally Podrazik and Tom Frangione filled in the gap on the various stages in Terri’s absence.

The new events and exhibits proved to be quite popular as well. Our first ever Chicago Beatles Parade on Saturday afternoon, saw 200-300 paraders walking around all the hotel rooms where the events were taking place, carrying balloons, signs and of course singing!!. It was headed by our Puppeteer and Grand Master Bob Abdou. The final five minutes of the Parade was walking through the Grand Ballroom singing Give Peace a Chance, while we held up the Auction so everyone in the audience could sing along!

Another first time Special Guest, ROB SHANAHAN, Ringo’s personal photographer, had a photo exhibit including many brand new images from this summer’s tour. Rob also had an A/V presentation and joined on the Drums for the Musician’s Forum. Beatles Yoga with Annette was quite a popular place to be over the weekend, as fans of all ages participated in the sessions, relaxing and invigorating fans throughout the weekend! Portrait Artist Georgina Flood made her U.S. premiere of her stunning portraits of The Beatles over the weekend. She is from Dublin, Ireland and it was Georgina’s first trip to America, ever! She was amazed and overwhelmed by the response to her work.

Sunday’s Battle of the Beatles Bands saw all 18 registered groups perform and The Shades were the Winners! The Foresman Five (consisting of 3 members under seven) were a close second. Liv and Harry won Saturday’s Sound-Alike Contest. Deco hosted a fabulous Art Contest with a most creative group of entries. Pictured here is Alex Bolton, a first place winner whose work consisted of 100% duct tape. Stay tuned for a complete wrap up of the Art Contest! Congrats to all winners.

With Wizard World/ComicCon going on the same time next door at the convention center, the hotel was full of revelry as Batman (pictured here with Author Brue Spizer), Superman and Spiderman were all spotted walking around the FEST. The real Hulk was there as well (Lou Ferrigno). The co-star of the 1994 film Backbeat, SHERYL LEE joined us on Saturday evening for a surprise visit and hung around to sign some autographs. Sheryl played Astrid Kirchherr in the movie.

Click on the link below to see The Shades’ winning performance on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9-zdejbR3g&feature=youtu.be

Nice meeting so many Beatles fans this year in Chicago! A splendid time was had by all! All You Need Is Love,
Mark, Jessica, Michelle and Carol Lapidos

For further recaps, photos and videos from THE FEST go to our facebook and event pages. More youtube videos of THE FEST coming soon! Thank you all for coming and participating and making the Fest so special this year!!!

41 years ago today (8/1/71), I (Mark) attended the afternoon Concert For Bangla Desh Concert at Madison Square Garden in NYC. To this day it is still up there as one of the greatest concerts EVER! It became the blueprint for all future benefit concerts. And to think it was George Harrison who put it all together for his friend Ravi Shankar. The complete line up was not known, even to George, but both Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton did show up and the music blew us all away. Leaving the Garden at the end of the show, we were all mesmerized and amazed at what we had witnessed, to the point that the deluge awaiting us outside didn’t seem to bother anyone. I predicted it would win a Grammy for Album of the Year. Well, because of all the quarreling between Capitol and Columbia Records, it did not get released until December 20, 1971, making it eligible for 1972 not 1971. It did indeed win that Grammy, but had it been released more timely, it would not have won as Carole King’s Tapestry was clearly the album of the year. Timing is everything! So the brilliantly packaged three record set arrived at the Sam Goody Store I managed, in Paramus, NJ at 3PM that day to a store full of fans waiting for them. We couldn’t get them off the truck fast enough! We sold 256 copies that afternoon and evening and was the biggest one day total of an album sold in the 5 years I worked there!

Friday, July 20th: The Hyatt Regency O’Hare is in a sold out situation for rooms. We still have a small number of rooms remaining in our Fest For Beatles Fans room block, but after today, the hotel will release them and the prices will go up substantially for them if there are any left. If you are planning to join us for our 36th Annual MidWest Beatles Celebration and want to stay at the Hyatt, you must call TODAY @1-847-696-1234. Ask for Reservations and tell them you are coming to The FEST to get the special rate of $137.00 per night.

For those of you who haven’t ordered FEST Tickets yet, the first advance deadline (for the tickets at the lowest prices offered) that date is next Friday, July 27th. Fans are already registered from 33 States and Canada. All tickets will be mailed out by next Friday.

The Special Guests are all geared up and psyched to come to Chicago.  Pictured here is SPENCER DAVIS, of the Spencer Davis Group, who is making his first Chicago FEST appearance. So is Legendary Horn Player TOM SCOTT, Beatles Engineer KEN SCOTT, Beatles fan club Secretary FREDA KELLY, and Ringo’s personal Photographer ROB SHANAHAN.

July 7th: Ringo is celebrating his 72nd birthday tonight live in concert in Nashville, with his All Starr Band. If you have a chance, be sure to see him on tour. It is always a fun evening, plus you get to see a legend! We wish Ringo Peace and Love and hope it’s a great one. Thanks for all the great music, love and fun you have given us.

Saturday, July 6, 1957: Woolton Church Fete, Liverpool, England. Little did anyone know, but this afternoon’s performance by a group called The Quarrymen headed by a 16 year old John Lennon would be the catalyst that would shake the world forever. After the performance, a mutual friend Ivan Vaughan introduced John to a 15 year old Paul McCartney and the magic began. To think of all the music and love The Beatles gave to the world all started 55 years ago today.

We were very saddened to wake up this morning to learn that Victor Spinetti, co-star in all The Beatles movies, passed away yesterday (6/18) at the age of 82. Victor was known and loved by all Beatles fans, as the Hyper Director in A Hard Day’s Night, the Scientist in Help, and the fast talking Sergeant in Magical Mystery Tour. He wasn’t just an actor in their movies, he became a dear friend of  The Beatles and very much a part of their inner circle. Victor was a Special Guest at many FESTS over the years. His energy level and the way he told those Beatles stories was unmatched. He was a born actor and it showed. When we invited him to our first Last Vegas FEST in 2007, he was so excited, he said yes immediately. He also joined us a month later in Chicago and he insisted on traveling from the west coast to Chicago by train so he could enjoy the countryside. The gift of being able to get to know him on a personal level will live with us always, as we are sure all who did get to meet him feel the same way. With all the karma and showmanship that was Victor Spinetti, it figures he would take his final bow on Paul’s 70th birthday. He will be greatly missed.

June 18, 2012

An Open Letter to Paul McCartney…

Dear Paul,

What can we say! You have been a vital, integral, important, influential, exhilirating, memorable, and happy part of our lives for almost 50 years. Ever since The Beatles came into our homes on February 9, 1964, there has been a grip that refuses to let go for the baby boomer generation. For the next generations, the first time hearing a Beatles song is an incredible moment as well. It is a feeling we all get every time we hear a Beatles song!

Thank you for continuing to create music after the Beatles, bringing us Wings and all of your Solo songs. Your music and life have bee an inspiration to millions of fans around the world.

Your concerts have ALWAYS been phenomenal, but the most enduring part of your legacy is you are getting BETTER! Your stadium shows last summer when we saw you in Yankee Stadium and Wrigley Field were the best, ever! It is so obvious how much you love to perform in front of a live audience. You somehow make everyone in attendance feel you are singing only to them in their own homes. Your singular gift is successfully conveyed to your fans. We look forward to many more years of great concerts!

We are thrilled to see that you are happily married to Nancy and we wish you all the best in the world!!!

In 1979, John sent a message to the fans at our FEST. He said, “Tell the fans The Music Was The Thing”. Well, Sir Paul, you have certainly never forgotten that focus, and the world is a better place because of that.

May you have a fantastic 70th Birthday. You are proof that 70 is the new 50. Keep on rockin’ and Happy Birthday To You!!

Love,

Mark, Carol, Michelle & Jessica Lapidos
The Fest For Beatles Fans

June 6, 2012 is the 50th anniversary of the Beatles first visit to Abbey Road Studios. The group, consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best, arrived at what was then called EMI Studios on June 6, 1962, for a commercial test (an evaluation of a signed artist). Two days earlier, the band had signed a recording contract with “The Parlophone Company Limited of Hayes in the County of Middlesex.” The group was paid Musicians Union rates for the June 6 session, indicating that the Beatles were in fact EMI recording artists by the time they arrived at Abbey Road.
Engineers attending the session in Studio Two remember the poor shape of the group’s equipment, particularly Paul’s bass amp, which was deemed unusable due to its rattling and rumbling. Engineers Norman Smith and Ken Townsend improvised and created a bass rig by soldering an input jack to a preamp and combining it with an amp and a large Tannoy speaker taken from Echo Chamber No. 1. A string was tied around John’s amplifier to prevent it from rattling. After resolving these problems, the Abbey Road staff was ready to record the group.

Four songs were recorded that day, three Lennon/McCartney originals – Love Me Do, P.S. I Love You, and Ask Me Why and Besame Mucho, which they had heard on a Coasters record.

This information was written for us by Fest For Beatles Fans guest author Bruce Spizer, who sends out a weekly email with Beatles information and trivia questions. His website is www.beatle.net . You can join his email list by clicking the following link: Click Here to Join

June 5, 2012: Last night, a star studded lineup performed for the Queen on her 60th Anniversary Jubilee. Sir Paul, Sir Elton, Stevie Wonder, & others rocked London in a concert that will air tonight at 9:00PM EDT on ABC. We know that Paul performed All My Loving & Let It Be as they showed bits of them on Good Morning America this morning. Set your DVR for this one.

Paul has now made it official. He will be the closing performer in next month’s opening ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, on July 27th. That should be some spectacle. It may be Paul’s first performance as a very young 70 year old, which he so graciously turns on June 18th. It doesn’t look like Paul will be touring this Summer, but we can hope he will play some gigs this Fall.

Ringo begins his 3rd consecutive year of All Starr Band Tours in Niagara, Canada on June 14th. He moved up his show two hours so as not to conflict with a high wire walk over Niagara Falls the same evening! We will be seeing him at his first U.S. date on June 16th at the beautiful Bethel Woods, site of the 1969 Woodstock Festival. Can’t wait. His tour ends at the Greek Theatre in LA on July 21st. That leaves us to wonder if he is considering joining his former bandmate on the 27th. Just a thought or a hope!!! Imagine that!!!

Depending in which country you live, (but let’s not be picky) the most famous album of all time was unleashed on the world by The Beatles. Of course, it was Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The album had everything, beginning with the music – 13 stellar tracks flowing from one to another with no breaks (except to turn the ‘record’ over). The iconic cover photo announcing their arrival, the lyrics on the back cover (a first), cutouts, and a final chord for the ages. It affected Jimi Hendrix so much that he learned the title track and performed it that weekend in a London club where Paul was in the audience. Johnny Rivers wrote Summer Rain, which include the line “Everybody kept on playing Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”. She’s Leaving Home made parents cry (and fans, too). And what was that strange sounding song that opened side two – Within You Without You? George was bold enough to write and record it and The Beatles were bold enough to include it on the disc. It only single handedly opened up the entire Western World to a ‘new’ Eastern World sound and culture that is still being felt today. And what about A Day In The Life. It was John and Paul at the height of creativity. By 1965, John & Paul were pretty much writing their own songs with each helping the other to make them better. But not this one. This was a 50/50 effort, John’s melody and lyrics from the day’s headlines, Paul’s middle and the orchestral crescendos in the middle and end of the song. It was the two greatest songwriters of all time collaborating again and it was breathtaking. I am listening to the album right now. Go ahead, have a listen. Oh, the memories!