The Fest For Beatles Fans

Recap: The 2014 NYC Fest

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Last month, over 8,000 Beatles fans from 45 states and 5 continents gathered at the Grand Hyatt on 42nd street for the biggest and best New York area Fest in our 40 year history!
 
It began Friday morning on February 7th, when the Fest sent two busloads of fans from the Hyatt in Manhattan to JFK Airport in Queens to commemorate the exact moment in 1964 when The Beatles stepped off PanAm flight 101.
 

Donovan brings the house down with Liverpool

50 years to the day of the arrival of The Beatles in America, months of perseverance paid off with help from Q104.3 and the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey. With fans and media gathered at the TWA flight center at JFK, the Port Authority revealed a permanent Beatles plaque that marked the historic occasion.
 
As fans screamed and flashed homemade signs, our incredible house band Liverpool shook the airport with two live sets of Beatles hits. Ken Dashow of Q104.3 was on hand to deliver some remarks, and introduced Billy J. Kramer, Mark Rivera, The Lord Mayor of Liverpool, and John Lennon’s sister Julia Baird to the crowd.
 

Fest attendees had the opportunity to look back on 40 amazing years of the Fest

The event was a huge hit, and was covered on hundreds of newscasts later in the day.
 
Back in Manhattan, the Fest began at 5PM in 20 ballrooms and meeting rooms and it wasn’t long before everyone realized it was going to be a very special weekend full of lots of surprises. Our special musical guests – Donovan, Peter Asher, Billy J. Kramer, Chad & Jeremy, Mark Rivera, and Mark Hudson, were just the beginning.
 

Pattie Boyd poses with Carol Lapidos

Fest fans go wild at JFK Airport

Other musical guests – many previously unannounced – included Denny Laine (Wings), Neil Innes (The Rutles/Monty Python), Gene Cornish (The Rascals), and Terry Sylvester (The Hollies). Also rocking the Fest were The Smithereens, The Nutopians, and Birds of Paradox (featuring Steve Holley and John Lennon’s former band members Gary Van Scyoc & Adam Ippolito). Of course, Liverpool headlined the nightly Beatles concerts. We thank Steve Holley, who did a tremendous job pinch hitting for Chris Camilleri.
 
A wonderful surprise, Pattie Boyd joined us for most of Saturday for a great talk and a signing session. Along with Pattie, our non-musical guests contributed greatly to the festive spirit of the weekend. “Good Ol” Freda Kelly, Mark Lewisohn, Larry Kane, and 20 other guest authors and panelists helped fill the weekend with lots of great moments. Let us not forget Vince Calandra, Irene Katz & Alice Kestin, who told stories of what it was like to be at the Ed Sullivan Theatre or the Plaza Hotel during the weekend 50 years ago when The Beatles conquered America.
 

The Fest’s 40th anniversary cake/cupcake mosaic – presented by Baked by Melissa

Also spicing up the weekend were two live broadcasts. Saturday, Cousin Brucie, the legendary DJ who now hosts 60s on 6 on SiriusXM, took over the main stage for three hours to celebrate the anniversary of the arrival of The Beatles. Besides all of our musical guests joining Cousin Brucie, Ronnie Spector appeared and sang a great version of Be My Baby. Sunday Morning, Ken Dashow’s Breakfast With The Beatles aired live from The Cavern, where Billy J. Kramer & his band, Dana Fuchs, and Garrett Gardner (NBC’s The Voice) all performed live.
 

Cousin Brucie gets the crowd going

The Cavern was a highlight of the New York Fest, a brand new second ballroom of live music that featured more than a dozen up and coming bands, DJs spinning Beatles songs, live painting, and more. Among the highlights: Garrett Gardner brought the house down, Michelle Joni premiered her tribute to Yoko Ono’s Bad Dancer and sang with Michelle My Pelle, acclaimed singer-songwriter Laura Stevenson graced the stage, and Mark Lewisohn joined Bambi Kino for some very early Beatles jams. Other artists included Dani Mari, The Ferocious Few, People At Parties, DJ Natasha Blank, Josh Max, Peculiar Gentlemen, Cheap Sneakers, Odetta Hartman, Rony’s Insomnia, and Nick Demeris. The Cavern went to 2 AM on Friday & Saturday nights for those who still had energy left, and ended with a Fest after-party Sunday featuring Reserved For Rondee, who blew the crowd away with their unique style.
 
The new events at the Fest proved to be very popular. The Ashram, a mind-body-Beatles experience, featured yoga, guest lecturer (Dear) Prudence Farrow, sound healing, talks on modern spirituality inspired by George Harrison, Deco’s poetry jam, and more. The Modern Drummer Drum Symposium was packed, and featured Liberty DeVitto (Billy Joel), Danny Seraphine (Chicago), Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge), Aaron Comess (Spin Doctors), Steve Holley (Wings), Dennis Diken (Smithereens), and Shawn Pelton (SNL Sessions), world class drummers who paid tribute to Ringo Starr – the greatest drummer of them all. Also new this year were sold out New York City Beatles Walking Tours on Saturday & Sunday, and “We Can Write It Out” with Mark Hudson, where songs were created during each session.

Other highlights from the weekend were Photographers Bob Gruen, Allan Tannenbaum, and Rob Shanahan, and Artist Eric Cash showing their amazing exhibits, the incredible 40th anniversary Fest cake that was presented by Baked by Melissa on Saturday night, puppet shows and a parade led by Bob Abdou, a children’s concert by mr. RAY, two couples who got married the day of the Fest before coming to the Fest together for a “Beatlemoon,” Beatles trivia, “Yesterday and Today” winning the Battle of the Beatles Bands, Jeff Goldberg winning a trip to Las Vegas to see Beatles LOVE, and of course all of the late night jams throughout the hotel!
 

Shawn Pelton, Carmine Appice, Danny Seraphine, and Liberty Devitto pose at the Modern Dummer Symposium

We are currently gathering all of the pictures from The Fest. Many more pictures of all the guests and events will be shared in emails, on Facebook, and via www.thefest.com in the coming days and weeks!
 
We’d like to give a special thank you to Q104.3 for being a wonderful presenting sponsor. The Touch Tunes Karaoke and the Nation-wide sing-along led by Ken Dashow in the Q104 Lounge were big hits. We’d also like to thank The Grand Hyatt, who did a terrific job hosting the Fest. Most of all, thank you to all the guests and fans who came to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of The Beatles’ arrival in America and the 40th anniversary of the Fest for Beatles Fans with us. You all helped to make it the special event that it was. We look forward to Chicago and Los Angeles later this year and many more Fests to come!

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Come to JFK Airport with The Fest on Feb 7th

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Beatles fans swarm above the group after the band landed at JFK Airport on February 7th, 1964.


 
In partnership with the Port Authority and Q104.3 FM, The Fest For Beatles Fans will be hopping on buses and heading out to JFK Airport this Friday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the arrival of The Beatles in America.
 
On February 7th, 1964, The Beatles were alerted mid-flight that there was an enormous crowd waiting for them at the airport. Shortly after, they landed at JFK and were welcomed by thousands of screaming fans. The Beatles then held their first U.S. press conference at the airport before heading to the Plaza and Central Park. Two days later, they made their Earth-shattering appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.
 
On February 7th, 2014, the 50th anniversary of the arrival of The Beatles at JFK will be recognized and commemorated at the TWA Flight Center (located in JFK’s Central Terminal Area, adjacent to JetBlue’s Terminal 5).
 
With hundreds of screaming fans who are coming to the airport courtesy of Q104.3 to honor the Fab Four, the event will kick off at 11:30 AM and will include the unveiling of a Beatles historical airport marker by the Port Authority and live Beatles music by The Fest’s amazing house band Liverpool.
 
FEST FANS: Come celebrate with us!
 
The buses are all filled, but you can still meet up at the main entrance to the Grand Hyatt at 109 E 42nd Street. All who wish to come can take the train together to JFK Airport to the TWA Flight Center. It is probably faster than taking the Bus! See you there.
 
Just like our Fest Street Team did last Saturday, come with your
Beatles signs and style like it’s 1964!

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The “January Effect.” A look at the “boys” before the Capture of America.

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By Larry Kane, author Ticket to Ride, Lennon Revealed, When They Were Boys –

January 1964. Paris, France. The boys had a triumphant run in Paris, which John Lennon described to me as “one long celebration.” It was, after all, in Paris where they found out that “I Want To Hold Your Hand” was number one in America. That had, according to John, “lessened a bit our concerns” about “making it in the states,” or he added, with that sometimes crooked grin, “the colonies. Do we still call them that.”?

When I asked John in 1968 what was the best moment, the highlight moment of the Beatles career, he added, “Oh, Paris, hearing about…it being number one…remember it well, Larry…milk” Milk? Still trying to figure that one out, to this day.

January also followed the pattern of the so-called “Snowball” memo which I revealed in the “When They Were Boys” book.” It was a memo designed to create a snowball effect, prior to the Beatles landing in America. The elements? Just a little bit of film footage, the release of ‘hold your hand’ the day after Christmas, and news and p.r. masters Tony Barrow and Derek Taylor leaking just enough great tidbits to American reporters, including a slice of film to America’s leading anchorman, Walter Cronkite.

It was in January, that a confident Brian Epstein had finalized his deal to get the boys on three consecutive nights of the Ed Sullivan show, starting on February 9th.

January was also the time that Epstein and Capitol “capitalized” on all that music that John and Paul wrote. Oh yes! The songs that American broadcasters and labels had basically ignored in 1963. As John’s sister Julia Baird would say, “Imagine This.” That’s her book title, but IMAGINE THIS!

On January 3, “Please Please Me”, and flipside “From Me To You” was released. The “snowball effect” continues: On January 10 “Introducing the Beatles” is on sale. On January say hello to album “Meet The Beatles.”

And let us not slight early February. 2/3/64 and its “Twist and Shout.” On 2/7/64, “All My Loving” is unleashed, on the day the boys arrived in America, exactly 50 years before the opening of the 40th annual FEST, which I will help open with my one man show on Friday night, with all those details of heated days and stormy nights traveling with the Beatles.

By the way, for those of you obsessed with detail: The Beatles arrived at JFK Airport, which was renamed on December 23, 1963, in memory of the President. The original name was Idlewild, the name of the golf course where the airport was originally constructed. The airport was modernized to get ready for the 1965 World’s Fair, not far from Shea Stadium, where the Beatles changed music history by appearing before 60,000 fans in August 1965. During that concert, I watched from the steps of the Mets’ dugout with Ed Sullivan. We didn’t hear much, but watching the crowd itself was amazing.

For those of you coming to New York for the first time, some places to see are Strawberry Fields, Central Park West, just off 72nd Street and the Dakota. Also: The Plaza Hotel, where the Beatles stayed on their first quick trip in 1964. The Delmonico Hotel where they stayed in the Summer of 1964, and where Bob Dylan introduced them to a banned substance.

That’s it for now. I’ll be here, there and everywhere during those three days in the Fab Four Feb.

Larry Kane.

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Chicago FEST Starts Tomorrow – Friday, Aug 9th

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Here it is, early Thursday morning, and the set up is well under way. Today guests begin to arrive and everything goes into high gear. We have three days (tomorrow through Sunday) of Beatles excitement, energy, fun, premieres, live music, concerts, and all the other things that have made The Chicago FEST so popular for the past 37 years. So come one and come all, if you love The Beatles, this is the place to be. Advance tickets still available online through today. Individual day tickets will be available at the door. Go to our web page for all details. We hope you can join us.

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First Advance Ticket Deadline is this Friday, July 26th

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Only 16 days till Chicago FEST time!. Fans care coming for over 30 states and Canada for our big 37th Annual Beatles Celebration, the weekend of August 9-11, at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare. Check out all the details on our convention page. We have a super lineup of Special Guests – British Invasion artists Chad and Jeremy, Billy J. Kramer, Joey Molland (of Badfinger), Greg Kihn, Mark Hudson, Author Larry Kane and the return of Freda Kelly, who returns to have the public debut of her film . This is a film Beatles fans won’t want to miss. It is going to be shown on Saturday, August 10th at around 5PM. Hope to see you there.

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All Guests and Details for Chicago FEST Aug 9-11 are Announced!

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We are very thrilled to announce our line up of Special Guests for our 37th Annual Chicago FEST FOR BEATLES FANS 2013, the weekend of AUGUST 9-11, 2013 at the HYATT REGENCY O’HARE. British Rock Duo CHAD AND JEREMY are joining us for the first time. We welcome back BILLY J. KRAMER and JOEY MOLLAND (Badfinger)  who both have new CDs out. On the Saturday, (8/10) we will have the Public Debut of Good Ol’ Freda – the amazing story of FREDA KELLY, who was The Beatles National Fan Club Secretary and so much more from 1962-1972.  Click Here to read all the other guests, authors, and activities taking place at our upcoming FEST. TICKETS are now on sale.

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