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.
Congratulations to the Fest and long live.
The Beatles are forever.
I was there, hosting the panel discussions(Mal Evans, May Pang, Richard DeLillo, etc) as well as the look alike/sound alike competitions, etc..seems like a million years ago..Congratulations to Mark!!
Gosh, makes me wonder where the hell I was in 1974. Oh yeah, still graduating grade school if I remember right 🙂 Too late as usual. I missed Beatlemania and caught it on the rebound in the 70s. Even though John didn’t appear, just the thought of the possibility that he might have shown up for real would have been a moment I would have treasured the rest of my life! Congratulations Mark & Carol and everyone for all these great fests and indeed giving us a splendid time for all 🙂
Peace and love…
Wow, it seems like yesterday (well almost). I remember meeting Mark at a comic book convention about 10 months to a year before the first Beatle Fest. He came up to me very surprised because I was selling collectable records including Beatle records. He asked me what I thought about a Beatle convention and that he was thinking about having one there in New York. I told him that I thought it was a great idea and told him to sign me up. Well, he took my name phone number and sure enough I was the first to sign up I had table number one just as you walk in the door! I remember them taking that picture for Rolling Stone magazine (their table was two tables away from me) and I remember them asking Jimi (Jimi LaLumia) a bunch of questions at my table. Jimi told them one of the reason for this Beatle resurgence was the “we are the Children that refuse to grow up”. That turned out to be the main body of the Rolling Stone story! They never did give you credit Jimi! Thanks Mark for some great momeries!
Hey! Thanks for everything you have done over the years. I was at the original Beatlefest in 1974 (I remember seeing you there) and the one in 1975 (where I chatted with an extremely friendly and personable Mal Evans in the hallway!). I hope to make it back east for your next convention in April!!!
Chris
I have that original copy of the 10/24/74 in my collection. I had it for sale at the last Beatlefest for $25.00
What a wonderful story! This first Fest was on my 20th birthday. I did not hear of the Chicago Fest until 1988. I’ve only missed three Fest’s since. We appreciate all of your hard work and we will be attending as long as you want us!
Beatlefully yours,
Laura Bade Limbach
Indianapolis, IN
I was there at Beatlefest in NYC and a splendid time was had by all. I was a 16 year old fan and have made a lifetime of being a Beatle fan and yes I have this Rolling Stone issue from then as well.
Amazing…….lastly through a hogshead of real fire
I was there in 1974 with a table. Did anybody here buy my pen and ink (White Album) portraits? I also sold a John and Yoko pen and ink large portrait.
I’d be very happy to correspond with anyone who has memories of Mal Evans at the 1975 Fest!
peterhicks@mac.com
or here
or on Facebook!