Dark Horsing around at the Fest

Mark and Carol Lapidos at a Los Angeles Beatlefest in 1976 with a "Dark horse" donated by George Harrison. photo:  Mark Lapidos.

So friends, I will be offline for several days.   I will open the comments section and I apologize right now for any craziness that may occur.   If I am not responding to emails or messages, it isn't because I am blowing you off, it is because I am in Chicago for the Fest for Beatles fans and I have decided not to lug my old and huge laptop with me.  

One last reminder:   I will be speaking on a panel along with other ladies who write and research the Beatles.   I will be talking about this blog!   I would love to meet anyone who is a viewer and get a photo to post on the blog.   Doesn't that sound like fun?   Please come up and talk to me before or after the talk.  And please come hear me!   I am getting scared that I will be all ready to talk and my mom will be the only person to hear me (thank goodness for my mom!).   So if you are there please see me at 7:45pm on Saturday (look in the Beatlfest booklet when you get there for the exact location).

What did / do the Beatles themselves think of us crazy fans having conventions?  Here is what Mark Lapidos (founder of Beatlefest) said about talk to John Lennon about having it prior to the first one in 1974,

I wasn’t going to do the convention without the Beatles’ permission. I didn’t think that would be right. On April 28th, 1974, I met with John Lennon in his New York City hotel room, told him my whole idea of a Beatles Fans Convention, with Special Guests, Live Concerts, Films, Art Museum and Art Contest, Flea Market, Discussions, Look-Alike and Sound-Alike Contests, Auctions, and a Charity Raffle. John’s exact response was “I’m all for it. I’m a Beatles Fan, too!” It is a moment I will never ever forget. He said he had a guitar in his attic that he would sign and donate for the Charity Raffle, which he did. John chose Phoenix House, (a drug rehab center in NYC) as the charity. All the Beatles contributed signed items to that raffle and to our amazement, we made the cover of Rolling Stone, October 24, 1974!