Mic check

As close as you can get to the Beatles

What a big contrast to seeing the Beatles at a Stadium----wow.

The Birth of the Beatles -- A Book Review

When Sam Leach passed away at the end of last year, I realized that while I was familiar with Sam, I really didn't know very much about him.  And so I found a copy of Sam Leach's 1999 book "the Birth of the Beatles" and read it over the past few weeks and found out all about this fascinating man.

Paul, Sam and Pete in 1961

Sam Leach was the best promoter in Liverpool in the early 1960s.  His clubs might have strived for a short period of time and then failed, but the man knew how to get the kids into the clubs to see the bands. When Sam Leach promoted a concert, you could guarantee a large profit for the night. Sam would do a variety of "Big Beat" shows in Liverpool at places like the Iron Door or the Tower Ball Room where all of the top Merseybeat groups would play sets overnight for a huge dance party.  The Beatles, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Gerry and the Pacemakers, etc. etc were all there and hundreds of young adults from the Liverpool area would spend the night rocking and rolling.

By being such a strong promoter, Sam developed a friendship with the Beatles. He could joke around with them and would give them a hard time and they would give it right back to him (usually Lennon naturally).  One thing I didn't know was that sometimes he would have groups combine when not all of the band was able to make it.  So in March of 1961 at the Iron Door John, Paul and George performed with Rory Storm to make "Rory Storm and the Wild Ones" during lunchtime sessions. Now, that would have been a performance to see!

The young people sure loved to dance!  Do you see Ringo in this photo?

Sam was always a Beatles fan.  He talked about something that must have been true because I have read it time and time again in books about the early days. He said that when the Beatles performed, the dancing suddenly stopped, and everyone just stood there in a trance because the Beatles were so good.   And Sam believed in the boys right from the start.  He knew they were going to be big and told them so.

As time goes on, Sam keeps losing clubs and opening up new ones.  Either Sam wasn't always good at running a business, or he was a guy who just had terrible luck.  He watched as the Beatles got more and more popular in Liverpool.

And then Brian Epstein came along and Sam says the Beatles changed. They were no longer rough around the edges and were missing something. Sam does not paint a pretty picture of Brian in this book.  He makes Brian look to be a petty, snobbish and shrewd manager that controlled the Beatles and did whatever he could to push Sam out of the picture. Maybe Brian was afraid that Sam was going to take over as manager?   And why Brian does not come out looking like the good guy in this book, Sam was quick to say that without Brian, the Beatles would not have become as popular as they did.  That Brian single-handedly took them from Liverpool to the rest of the world.

Brian, Mike McCartney, Pete Best and some girls pose for Sam at his engagement party in 1962

Sam had some great stories. The entire story of his first night having an all night concert is great, but there is a part where they keep losing Ringo (who was with the Hurricanes at the time) and they keep finding him asleep behind an amp.  The story of Aldershot and the 18 people who came to see the Beatles perform is a classic. What bad luck!  The ad didn't get in the newspaper to let people know about the show because the newspaper was waiting for Sam's check to clear. Then to make things worse, the weather got really bad and it was dangerous to get out.  So 18 lucky people got to hear a Beatles concert. Crazy when you think about it.  Also interesting was that Sam said at his engagement party, he watched Brian chase after his fiance's sister all night, making him believe that Brian was bi-sexual.  

What I really liked learning about was something that has always been a mystery to me.  For many years, I have had in my collection a magazine from 1964 called "The Beatles on Broadway" that featured great photos of the Beatles in America in February 1964.  In big letters on the cover is "Sam Leach."  I knew Sam didn't travel to America with the Fab 4, so how did he get involved with this magazine?    As I said, Sam was a Beatles believer from the beginning, and when he heard that they were traveling to America, he knew they were going to make it big.   And so before they left, he got a deal with UPI to the first rights to the wire photos that came across from that tour.  He bought them pretty cheap.  So he had all the rights to these great photos, and he put them together for one of the classic Beatles magazines ever.

Overall, "Birth of the Beatles" is a good book.  I found it to be a little slow in some spots, and I was tempted to skip over sections because it wasn't holding my interest, but then things would pick up again.  Also, I wasn't totally sure how true some of the stories he told were. Was it really Sam Leach's idea to have 10 minutes of silence in memory of John after his death?   But over all, it was a great look at the Liverpool club scene in the early 1960s and the important role the Beatles played in that scene.

The link below is the affiliate link to Amazon, where you can purchase this book.  I get a small percentage of anything purchased through this link.  Money made from the Amazon Afflication is used to pay the annual fee to keep this site online.  Thank you for your support.  Sara

https://amzn.to/4a2ymtP

With the original Davey Jones

December 8, 1961 at the Cavern Club

Farewell Sam

2016 has been a very hard year in terms of deaths of celebrities.    I personally believe this to be true because the people who are considered "baby boomers" are hitting the age bracket where people begin to pass away.   Also those folks were part of the media revolution age of music, television and movies and the Internet.   There are more famous people than their once were and we are much more aware of them than we used to be.

That being said, it doesn't make it any easier for us in the Beatles community when we lose another Beatle person.   Sadly, the Beatles first promoter, Sam Leach, passed away yesterday in England.   Sam promoted the Beatles in the early Liverpool days after their return from Hamburg the first time and before Brian Epstein came along.  

Sam was a vital figure in the Liverpool music scene as well as a friend of the Beatles.    And while he could have been one of those guys that became lost in Beatles history, he made a point of not allowing us to forget him.   Sam was often seen in the Beatles convention seen, talking to fans adn posing for photos.    

He remained good friend with Paul McCartney his entire life.   He was with Paul backstage at his concert just last year.  

I found an interesting interview with Sam that you might be interested in:

http://www.classicbands.com/SamLeachInterview.html
Goodbye Sam---thanks for the memories!

The Sacking of Pete Best: A book Review

When it comes to breaking up with someone, there usually is more than just one reason why the break-up occurred.  This is just as true for letting someone go from a band as it is for ending a romantic relationship.   Spencer Leigh's book Best of the Beatles:  The Sacking of Pete Best digs into the baffling subject of Pete Best's departure from the Beatles.  The version of the book that I read was on the Kindle and was the revised edition, which was published in 2015.

If you have heard Pete Best speak in recent years, you will have surely heard him say something along the lines of how he still does not understand the reason why he was let go. That he thought everything was going well between himself and the Beatles and when he was called into Brian Epstein's office, he had no clue that he was going to be fired.  He was completely blindsided about the whole thing and, to this day, has no idea whatsoever why they left him go.

Spencer Leigh, while staying neutral throughout the book, outlines all of the possible reasons why Pete might have been let go.  The reasons he lists are as follows:

1.  Pete Best was a lousy drummer
2.  Pete Best was not a versatile drummer
3.  George Martin did not like Pete Best's drumming
4.  Ringo Starr was a better drummer than Pete Best
5.  The other Beatles were jealous of Pete's good looks
6.  Pete didn't fit in with the Beatles
7.  Pete refused to have a Beatle haircut
8.  Mona Best's Interference
9.  Pete Best rejected Brian Epstein's advances
10.  Pete Best was unreliable
11.  It was just hard luck
12.  Instant Karma
13.  Who Knows?

Some of them were easy to refute (such as the one about Pete not being reliable), but others were pretty valid. Leigh leaves it up to the reader to decide, and I have come to the conclusion that there was not just one thing that caused the Beatles to drop Pete as their drummer. It had to have been a mix of things on this list.

What I liked the most about this book was the chart that was included that showed which person (John, Paul, George, Ringo, Brian, George M.) had given which of the above reasons for why Pete was fired.  However, I had the book on Kindle, and the chart was spread over several pages and was difficult to read.  I may need to get the hard copy version of the book in the near future so that I can really look at this chart.  For this reason, I do not recommend the Kindle version of the book.

I was able to read the book in one day, and I found it to be a very easy read.  It isn't full of new information about the Beatles or Pete Best, but it is a book that makes you think a little bit more about this topic.

You can find the book on Amazon.

The link below is the affiliate link to Amazon, where you can purchase this book.  I get a small percentage of anything purchased through this link.  Money made from the Amazon Afflication is used to pay the annual fee to keep this site online.  Thank you for your support.  Sara

https://amzn.to/3TqNdZx

Strange but True: Neil Aspinall and Mona Best

One of the stranger things that has came out over the years would be the relationship between Neil Aspinall and Mona Best.     Their relationship and child was hush-hush in Liverpool at the time with few people knowing the truth, although there were rumors going wild.      It wasn't until after Mona's death in 1988 that the story started to slowly get out and then 10 years later a book was published  that told about it.    And while today most fans know that Neil and Mona were an item, it is still an interesting footnote to Beatles history.


Neil Aspinall had been friends with Paul and George since they were in school together.   He and Paul were in the same class, but he was also friends with George and they both smoked their first cigarette together (ironically and sadly they both died as a result of smoking).     Neil went to school for accounting, but like most young guys during that time, enjoyed hearing music and would go hear his friends play at the Casbah Coffee Club, which was owned by Mona Best and her family.


To make extra money and since her home on Hayman's Green was very large, Mona would house boarders.    After getting to know Mona and her family, Neil became a boarder in their home.   In 1960 Neil was 19 years old and Mona was 36.

Mona Best was married to Johnny Best, who was a boxing promoter in Liverpool.   (Interestingly Rory  Best is the only  biological child of Mona and Johnny).     When the couple first met in India, Mona was studying to be a doctor.  Instead, she moved to Liverpool after her marriage to Best in 1944 and was a housewife.   It has been said that Johnny did not approve of Mona's carefree and what we now would think of as "feminist" ways.    She was independent and took it upon herself to purchase the large home on Hayman's Green by pawning jewelry and betting on a winning racehorse behind her husband's back.    She also opened the Casbah for teenagers in the cellar of their home without her husband's blessing.

By the time Neil came to live in the home, Johnny and Mona were somewhat separated.   Johnny was  traveling for his boxing job and was not home very often.   He refused to give Mona a divorce even though the couple had drifted apart.

No one knows for sure how or when the romantic relationship began between the two, or how much others knew about it.    Neil and Pete Best became close friends and along with the close friendship he had with Paul and George, he quit his accounting job and became the road manager for the Beatles, driving them to gigs.  

By the spring of 1962, it was obvious that Mona Best, who was 38, was excepting a baby.   This caused a lot of gossiping because everyone knew that Johnny had not been around in a very long time.  However, no one questioned Mona about the baby.   Victor  Roag Best was born on July 21, 1962.    Wanting to make sure that her child was legitimate, Mona decided to list Johnny Best as the child's father and give him the same surname as everyone else in the family  

However, another big change was about to happen in the Best family when on August 16, 1962, Pete Best was fired from the Beatles.    Neil was with Pete at the time of the sacking and the two had some pints in the Grapes afterwards to drown their sorrows.     Brian Epstein assumed that Neil would pledge his allegiance to the Best family (and who would have blamed him?) and lined up a new man to take Neil's place as the Beatles' road manager.    However, Neil remained friends with Pete and involved with Mona and still worked for the Beatles.

Many things I have read said that Neil moved out of Mona's home and they broke up directly after Pete was out of the Beatles, however I am not sure if that is totally correct.     Neil may have moved out of the home, however he still was there often.    He would store the Beatles' equipment in the home and at times John, Paul, George and Ringo would be sitting in the van outside of the house while Neil ran inside to grab some equipment.

Once Neil came to London, his relationship with Mona did not end.    There are several stories about Mona coming and visiting Neil at his flat in 1963.    But the relationship between them was over for good once Neil met Suzy in 1964.   They were married in 1968 and remained married for 40 years until Neil's death.

Strangely, even though Mona was very vocal about how upset she was about the Beatles' sacking her son and she blamed it all on the jealousy of the others because of Pete's good looks, she STILL remained on friendly terms with the Fab 4.    And while none of the Beatles spoke to Pete Best after he was sacked, they still spoke to his mother.    Mona loaned John Lennon her father's war medals, which he wore on the cover of the Sgt. Pepper album.    John was so thankful that he returned the medals along with the music award that is also seen on the cover and the same year they also sent her an "All you Need is Love" doll.     Maybe the fact that Mona was the mother of Neil's son had something to do with this?

For many year Roag denied the rumors that Neil Aspinall was his father.    But in recent years, Roag  has been very proud to say that he is the son of Mona Best and Neil Aspinall.

The ins and outs of the Beatles' circle is enough that a soap opera could have been written about it!

Haymans Green

I don't recall seeing photographs of Pete Best while the Beatles were in the middle of their success before.   These photos were taken at Pete's home in Liverpool (former Casbah Club) in 1965.  

Yesterday: Memories of a Beatles Fan -- a Book Review

John and Marg at the Casbah in 1962--this photo is the cover of the book

Today's Wednesday review is what I am going to call the surprise Beatle book of the summer:   Memories of a Beatles Fan by Margaret Hunt.    

How many times have you wished that you could go back in time and see what it really was like when the Beatles were at the Cavern Club in the early 1960s?    Well--through the book Memories of a Beatles Fan you get the opportunity to live through Margaret's story and read in detail what it was like to be a fan in the 2nd row of the Cavern!

Margaret first saw the Beatles at the Aintree when there were five of them. She and her best friend Carol thought they were a German band because the sign said they were from Hamburg. They were blown away by the look of the guys in leather and the sound, which was better than the other groups. 

She never thought she would see the Beatles again, but surprisingly, they came to the Cavern Club, and well--as they say, the rest is history!  Marg and Carol became fans--some of the first.  And it wasn't long before Margaret went to the Mersey Beat magazine headquarters and bought some Beatles photographs.  Margaret is the very first Beatles photo collector!!   She kept a scrapbook of all of the photographs and news clippings she could find.  And every photo she bought, she had autographed.    Bill Harry asked her who her favorite Beatle was and at the time, she didn't even know his name, but learned that her favorite was John Lennon.   She and John began a special friendship, which is very touching and sweet to read about.  Marg gives you a look into a side of John Lennon that we all know about but at times forget because we get wrapped up in the rock star with the attitude Lennon and this book really reminded me WHY John Lennon has always been my favorite Beatle---for the very reasons Margaret loved him in 1961.  

the Beatles on fan night before they left for Hamburg in 1962----Marg was there!

There are some things that stood out in this amazing book.  The first is that this is the story of one of the very first Beatle fans and that she was extremely loyal to the group.  She had the exact same feelings about the Beatles that all of us have today--over 50 years later.   She would stand out in the pouring rain in a long queue outside of the Cavern to see the Beatles.  Some of her stories of waiting to see the Beatles paralleled those of the Apple Scruff girls 7 years later in London.  It is interesting to read about when Pete Best was fired from the group and how Marg and the other girls reacted.  I had never heard about it in detail before.  And Marg never truly accepted Ringo, even though she didn't dislike him or anything.   But Margaret did dislike Brian Epstein.  I think this is the first book I have ever read that didn't paint Brian in a positive light.  However, she didn't write it in a nasty or mean way, and it is understandable why she does not share the nice view of Brian that we typically read.

Read about John's reaction to the photos Margaret took of John at the Casbah

While this IS the story of Margaret's experiences as a Cavern girl, it is also the story of two best friends.  I loved reading about Margaret and Carol's dynamic and teenage best friends.  How they would argue over Margaret being late all of the time, or how they gossiped about the Beatles.  I loved how they were opposites in so many ways but truly were best friends.  How wonderful it was for them to share the Beatles experience together.

I wish the book had photographs. Margaret talks about how her friend and she shared what they personally took, but none are in the book.  I had to dig through my files and find the photos she was talking about.   And I am sure I have never seen some of the photos she speaks of.   There were a few mistakes in the book, but nothing huge or takes away from the story or the accuracy of what was being told.

I really see Yesterday: Memories of the a Beatles Fan as a companion piece to Mark Lewishon's amazing Tune In book.    Mark talks of this same time period in his book and has done all of the research.  He has the details and the dates down.   Margaret's book does not list any of the dates but has the emotions and the feelings of what it was like to be around the Beatles during that time.  Pair these two books together, and I think you really get the full story of the Cavern period of the Beatles career.  

This book is really a great book and I am so thankful that one of the original Cavern girls took the time to write down her memories and stories for us to enjoy.   I can't recommend this book enough!  It is only available on Kindle and is $6.99.      


The link below is the affiliate link to Amazon, where you can purchase this book.  I get a small percentage of anything purchased through this link.  Money made from the Amazon Afflication is used to pay the annual fee to keep this site online.  Thank you for your support.  Sara

https://amzn.to/3v6QCTK

Best of the Beatles?

Very strange photo----why is Elton John holding a "Best of the Beatles" album?    Did he even know what this was?   Huh?

Fans from Liverpool 1961

This is a really neat photo!   The search is on to identify the fans in this photo of the Beatles taken Liverpool in 1961.   I loved reading about the early Beatle fans in Mark Lewisohn's book "Tune In" and  I wonder if any of these girls are mentioned in the book.   Anyhow...if you know who these amazing fans are, please let us know!

Search for Beatles fans in Liverpool snap taken over 50 years ago 

By Nicola Bartlett

 
The search is on for six early fans of the Beatles captured in a photograph more than 50 years ago.

The six girls were pictured with the fab four at St John’s Hall in Tuebrook, Liverpool in 1961, the first date when the group returned from playing The Star Club in Hamburg.

The negative of this image was given to Stephen Bailey who has managed The Beatles Shop in Mathew Street for 28 years.

The shop is busy collecting memorabilia for the 23rd Annual Liverpool Beatles Auction which will be held at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts in August.

The annual event always turns out interesting pieces from the early days in Liverpool and Merseysiders are busy rummaging through their attics in anticipation.

This photo was one such find which was discovered when a man dropped off some negatives to The Beatles Shop in Mathew Street which he said had been taken half a century ago by his father who was a photographer.

Stephen got the pictures processed and found they were in perfect condition. One in particular stood out.

Stephen said: “It is a lovely photograph and so evocative of the relationship The Beatles has with their early fans. Pete Best was replaced by Ringo Starr the following year.”

Stephen now wants to invite the women to be VIP Guests of Honour at this year’s auction which is being held at the Paul McCartney Auditorium at LIPA.

Stephen said: “Beatles fans from those early Liverpool days are rummaging through their bottom drawers looking for memorabilia of the Fab Four. We started to receive lots for this year’s sale in November of last year.

“To date we have over 200 lots to be auctioned but there is always room for those special items from those early Beatles days in Liverpool.”

Previous auctions have seen rare items sell for thousands of pounds.

Last year retired civil servant Mrs Joyce McWiliams, 67, from Spital, received £3,100 for a black knitted tie given to her by John Lennon at the Cavern Club and £14,750 for five postcard sized photographs signed by the Beatles.

If you are one of the women pictured or you can help identify them please get in touch either at news@liverpool.com or call in to the Beatles Shop on Mathew Street or call Stephen on 0151 236 8066. 

Cavern John

The question that has to be asked is if the picture that is randomly to the side of John photoshopped and why is it there?

When I met a Beatle....sort of

I am still holding out to meet Paul or Ringo someday. I don't know how it will happen, but I still have hope. In the meantime, I enjoy meeting various other "Beatle people." I get teased a lot for it, but it is alright because it makes me happy. This past October I met someone who was a Beatle once in his life....Pete Best! And while he is not Ringo, I was still pretty excited to met him because he is an important chapter in the Beatles story. He was playing a concert during the George Harrison Beatles Festival in Benton, IL (which is about 2 hours south of where I live). I attended the festival and then I seriously snuck into the sound check that Pete was doing. It is amazing when you look confident and act like you belong how people doing question you. After the sound check, I got Pete to autograph one of his books for me as well as pose for a photo. The concert was really good. I was happy that the Pete Best Band played a LOT of songs from Beatles Anthology 1 disc. Pete did not sing at all. One of my biggest surprises was that Roag Best (Neil Aspinall's son) was also playing drums with the band. Too cool!