Today, John Lennon would have turned 72 years old. Although he didn’t make it to the age where he could actually have Yoko “Grow Old With Me”, we are still left with his enormous legacy of music, art, poetry, peace and love. If you are a facebook person, change your photo to John’s for the day. Fans all around the world are doing it. If you live in the New York area, today is the last day of The Art Work of John Lennon Exhibit at 130 Prince Street. Please check out our facebook page today as we have many things about John on this special day.

Listen to John’s music today. It is a reminder (not that we need one) of why we love him so much. The music will bring a smile to your face and, yes, occasionally a tear to your eyes. John’s spirit lives on in all of us. Happy Birthday, John, wherever you are!

Yoko is again lighting the light for the John Lennon Memorial in Iceland today. Check it out  http://imaginepeacetower.com/

Peace and Love…

50 Years ago today in the U.K., Parlophone released The Beatles first single, Love Me Do/P.S. I Love You. It was this version that had Ringo on the drums and it made it up to Number 17 on the national charts in the UK. Cosmic seismic meters took a hit that day, but it was nothing compared to what was going to happen over the next 7 1/2 years as The Beatles turn out 13 albums and over 200 songs that will be listened to for centuries to come. Their impact can never be overstated.

A commemorative Vinyl Single with the original UK sleeve was scheduled to be released by Capitol Records today, but they have informed us that manufacturing issues has pushed back the release a couple of weeks. As soon as we get an exact expected date, we will post it. The edition is fully allocated and we can not get any more than what we have pre-ordered. We only have a very small amount of these that have not been pre-orderd already.

We apologize for our site being down at this time for maintenance, but you may call in your order for this single or anything else by calling during east coast business hours, Toll Free – 1-866-THE FEST.

Scrabble® – The Beatles Edition is now in stock and so are the new Editions of Magical Mystery Tour (DVD, BLU RAY & 10″ BOX SET). Music Skins for the iPhone 5 will be in stock in a couple of weeks -8 Beatles Styles and 4 John Styles.

The Beatles filmed Magical Mystery Tour 45 years ago, in September, 1967. It was a made for TV film, shown in the U.K. and had a short run here on college campuses in 1968, but has never had a theatrical release until today, Tuesday, October 2nd. Most theatres are showing the film tonight at 7:30PM, but there are places showing it at other times over the next week. CLICK HERE to see where it is playing in your area. The films was certainly avant garde and ahead of its time, but as Paul recently said, any film that includes I Am The Walrus must be worthy. The film also features the late great Victor Spinetti (a special guest at many FESTS over the years) and fab guest, Neil Innes  (The Rutles) makes a musical appearance as well. It is not too late to make plans with your Beatles friends and family to have the chance to see it on a large screen with other fellow Beatles fans. It should be quite an experience. If you live in the New York are, we (Mark, Carol, Michelle and Jessica) are going to the Chelsea Cinema on West 23rd St, NYC. Consider this “An Invitation To Make A Reservation” for tonight. We do recommend getting tickets ahead of time, as we did. We do not know how many tickets are pre sold. Hope to see many of you later. The reason for the Theatrical showings is to herald the DVD and (for the first time)BluRay Editions, set for release on October 9th. There is also a Deluxe Edition Box Set that has lots of extras. You can pre order these this week. We expect to start shipping this Friday so you can receive them on or close to its release date.

October 1, 2012: On the exact 43rd anniversary of the U.S. Release of Abbey Road (10/1/1969), we receive the much anticipated Beatles Edition of Scrabble®. The fulfillment has begun and we hope to have almost all of the pre orders sent out by midweek. This is one of the games (like Beatles Monopoly and Beatles Trivial Pursuit) that fans are going to want to own. We have plenty in stock, so if you haven’t ordered one yet, what are you waiting for?? For all of you who are getting them, please let us know what you think of it, once ou have had a chance to play the game.

First Pre-Sale pirces for Paul’s BRAND NEW Video release ends tomorrow, Sept 28, 2012. It is being released on DVD (#2257)and BluRay (#1121) with a 40 Page Hard Cover Book included. The DVD is ONLY $25.00 and the BLURAY is ONLY $30.00.

Here are the details

“Live Kisses” captures Paul McCartney performing the songs from his critically acclaimed “Kisses On The Bottom” album live from the legendary Capitol Studios in Hollywood. Paul is joined by a virtuoso group of musicians led by Diana Krall on the piano in these sparkling renditions of classic songs from the American songbook and the wonderful new song “My Valentine”. In between the songs there are interview clips with Paul, Diana Krall and many of those involved in the recording of the “Kisses On The Bottom” album. This is an intimate and charming performance which adds yet another facet to Paul’s already broad canvas of talents. The live concert was recorded on February 9th, the exact 48th Anniversary of The Beatles First Ed Sullivan Show appearance.

What makes this Live album so unique is that Paul is not playing any instruments. He is totally focused on the vocals, much as the original singers would have sung these songs all those years ago.

Bonus Features

All six versions of the video for “My Valentine” featuring Natalie Portman & Johnny Depp plus a “behind the scenes” featurette, all Produced by Paul.

Interview with Paul and producer Tony LiPuma on the making of the “Kisses On The Bottom” album.

Kisses On The Bottom photoshoot versions 1 and 2.

Both versions of Live Kisses come with a 40 page Hard Cover Book with photos from the sessions and rehearsals.

Track Listing

1) I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter   2) Home (When Shadows Fall)   3) It’s Only A Paper Moon   4) The Glory Of Love   5) More I Cannot Wish You   6) We Three (My Echo, My Shadow And Me)   7) Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive   8) My Valentine   9) Always   10) My Very Good Friend The Milkman   11) Bye Bye Blackbird   12) Get Yourself Another Fool   13) My One And Only Love

Produced By George Martin DVD & Blue Ray is being released today. Over the weekend we had a very special offer, picking 6 names, at random, from those of you who pre-ordered it through THE FEST. The response was huge and winners have been picked. The winners of the DVD are  Frank Walker, Irene Hinz & Claudia Upton. The Blu Ray winners are Bill Olson, Charles Tyrrell & Paul Ryan. Two of the winners are from New York, one from New Jersey, one from Illinois and two from Washington State. We truly thank all of you who pre-ordered this wonderful new film from THE FEST FOR BEATLES FANS. Your orders will be going out shortly. If you have not ordered it yet, it is only $15.00 for the DVD and $22.50 for the Blu Ray. With the bonus features, it is over 2 1/4 hours.

Saturday, September 7, 1974: I know have told this story before, but some stories are worth repeating. I was just a 26 year old manager at a Sam Goody Music store in NYC and came up with this crazy idea 10 months earlier to gather Beatles fans at a hotel to celebrate a common love for The Beatles on the 10th anniversary of their arrival in America. After months of spending every spare minute trying to get it organized, the day had finally arrived! And I was a nervous wreck. My mind was racing over capacity. What did I forget? How was it going to turn out? Could we fit everyone in the old Commodore Hotel on 42nd St, NYC? About an hour before the doors opened, Tony King, the VP of Apple in the US come up to my suite and brought me the signed instruments for the Charity Raffle, along with other items to auction. All of this is documented in the 10/24/74 cover story of Rolling Stone Magazine!! He then proceeded to give me 7 signed copies of John Lennon’s books, 6 to auction off for charity and one he personalized for me “To Mark, With Love, John Lennon, September Beatlefest, 1974, with sketches on the page. It is my most cherished item in my collection. Tony then told me that John wanted to come down to pick the winner of his guitar. I was so overwhelmed that somehow a calm come over me at that moment and I began to get ready to go downstairs. When I got to the ballroom, about 10 minutes after the opening, I looked out from the balcony and the room was completely full of Beatles fans! It is a moment I will never forget. These fans were all here because of me and my idea, and of course, The Beatles. Only a couple of people were told of John’s surprise and we had figured out his walk through the kitchen up to the balcony where we had set up a mike just for this purpose. Nobody could know or pandemonium would happen. Our MCs were Murry the K and Jim Kerr. Jim kept teasing the audience with rumors that he heard about John being in the building on that first day. We wouldn’t dare tell our MCs about what was to happen on the Sunday night! Unfortunately, John headed up to his farm in upstate NY instead of joining us, but the fans knew that this entire event would not have happened if John didn’t personally give me the go ahead. I did get to personally thank John and tell him about the convention a short while afterwards. There is no way I could have foreseen that 38 years and 117 National FESTS later, we would still be going strong, presenting a vast majority of friends and family of The Beatles and their amazing story.

Shown above is the actual Cover of Rolling Stone.

46 years ago today, August 29, 1966,  The Beatles played at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park. It turned out to be their last scheduled concert. The writing was on the wall. They had just released Revolver earlier in the month but chose not to perform any songs from it. They could still not hear themselves perform and it was cramping their creativity. They decided the studio was the place to enhance their musical ideas. It was actually George who told the others on that tour that he didn’t want to tour anymore. Fans had no idea at the time that those at the concert would be the last ones to see them in concert. If you were at that concert, we would love to hear your thoughts and memories of the evening.

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!