Out of me head

John and Yoko's Toronto Concert

In honor of Mal Evan's birthday today, I am going to share the story of John and Yoko's Toronto Concert as written by Mal for Beatle Book Monthly #76.


John and Yoko's Toronto Concert
By Mal Evans

I hadn't heard anything at all about the concert until the day before, Friday, September 12 (1969).  as everyone is always reminding me, the Beatles hadn't appeared on stage for over three years and personally, I missed all the excitement of their tours tremendously.  Just how much I was due to find out in the next 48 hours.

I had decided to drive up to Oxford to see the Iveys in action.  Apple had signed them up for records and publishing and Paul is producing the recordings which they are going to make for "the Magic Christian" film in which Ringo has an important part.

Then I overheard John saying that he had been asked to appear in a Rock & Roll show in Toronto.  Pausing only to grab a handful of leads in on hand, and a couple of dozen plectrums in the other I already had one foot out of the door waiting to go when John pointed out that he hadn't got anyone to go with him yet.

So the mad scramble started to get hold of the boys that John and Yoko had chosen to make up the Plastic Ono Band.  It didn't take long to get hold of Klaus Voorman, ex-Manfred Mann bass guitarist, and Alan White, ex-Alan Price drummer, and they both agreed immediately to join.

John particularly wanted Eric Clapton to make up the five-some.  But we couldn't get hold of him.  George's personal assistant, Terry Doran, had already tried Eric Clapton at home many times and got no answer, so, thinking that he must be either with friends or in one of the London clubs, he started telephoning every place and person who might be able to help him trace Eric.  He worked right through the night until finally, at 5:30 in the morning, he gave up and went to bed.

Our plane was due to take off a 10 am and by 9:30 most of John's party had arrived at the airport and clocked in.  Then John and Yoko phoned to tell us that it was all off because they hadn't been able to reach Eric.

Right then Terry rushed up and told us that Eric had finally surfaced and said that he would be able to make the trip.  Apparently, he had been in his house all the time.  He had gone to bed at 11 o'clock the previous night and just hadn't heard the telephone.  Fortunately, just before he got up the search, Terry Doran had sent a telegram to his house, which had been opened by Eric's gardener, who woke him up to tell him about the concert.

Eric couldn't make the airport for the earlier plane so we canceled our flight and re-booked on the 3:15pm.  Good job we did too because Terry Doran found out that he had left his passport at home. 

Everyone turned up on time for the 3:15 pm flight.  Everyone being John and Yoko, Eric Clapton, Alan White, Klaus Voorman, John and Yoko's assistant, Anthony Fawcett, Terry Doran and Jill, and Dan Richter, who had been busy putting all John and Yoko's recent activities onto film.  They were due to make a permanent record of the Toronto concert.

We had all asked for first class seats but there were only three available in the first class compartment so John, Yoko, and Eric sat up front and the rest of us settled in right at the back of the plane in seven seats which had been saved for us by the stewardesses -- a couple of really nice dollies.

That's when it hit me.  none of the people who were due to make the concert that night had ever played together before.  How on earth were they going to get a show lined up before they went on stage that same night.

John had obviously thought about it too because as soon as he and Eric had eaten a quick snack they walked down the aisle to the back of the plane to have their first rehearsal.  I don't know if you have ever tried rehearsing in the back seat of a Boeing 707 but it's quite a job.  The five people who were actually going to appear on stage -- that's John, Yoko, Eric, Allan and Klaus had to work out all the songs that they were going to perform and also run through them together.

A big bundle of sheet music had been delivered to London Airport in the morning in time for the first flight, and everyone played through all the numbers, pointing out the ones which they knew pretty well. 

Despite the tremendous difficulties, they did eventually manage to settle on eight numbers which would probably be okay -- provided that they got some more time to rehearse before they actually went on stage.  I just crossed my fingers and hoped it would be possible.  John and the others who were going to do all the work didn't seem very worried.  And on top of everything, of course, John, as I said before, hadn't appeared on stage for three long years, except for a live show at Cambridge with Yoko performing which was recorded as one of the highlights on their album "Life with the Lions."

With Yoko, John had a freedom and means to expand on many different directions, The Plastic Ono Band providing the perfect outlet for their individual and combined talents and releasing a blend of sound from stage or record player to suit everyone's aural or visual palate.

The show was billed as the Toronto Rock & Revival Show,   It was being put on by two Canadian promoters who had lined up as many of the top Rock & Roll stars of the sixties that they could find including Little Richard, Gene Vincent, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Jerry Lee Lewis.  Unfortunately, Jerry had to pull out at the last minute.  I personally was very sorry about his cancellation because he had stayed at the President Hotel with me in London during a tour he had in England and we had become good friends.

We had a bit difficulty getting through Customs because Yoko hadn't been vaccinated, but, finally, the Immigration boys let us through

The show was taking place in the Varcity Stadium.  The stage was a 12-foot dais in the middle of the pitch facing half of the arena which the audience would sit. 

Immediately we arrived at the stadium I began to feel all the tremendous excitement of the old touring days.  I don't know what it is but whenever the Beatles used to near a theatre or stadium, you could feel the tension and when the 20,000 audience in Toronto sensed that John was there, there was an incredible feeling of excitement in the air.  It was absolutely marvelous.  John felt it too, I'm sure.

But he and the others had other problems to worry about, and they quickly gathered together backstage and plugged all their guitars into one small amp and started running through the numbers they were going to perform.

Just imagine, that's John Lennon, Eric Clapton and Klaus Voorman all plugged into one small amp.  Some amp!

Actually, John was not feeling very well during these rehearsals.  He had been chasing around half the night and then there was the problem of whether Eric would be able to make it or not, and the plane trip and the difference in hours and also the excitement of the whole thing.  but he was determined to put on a good show.

I was really enjoying myself.  It was the first show I had roadied for three years and I was really loving every minute of plugging the amps in and setting them up on stage, making sure that everything was right.

Everyone wanted the show to go particularly well because Allen Klein, who had flown over, had organized for the whole of John's performance to be filmed.  This was on top of it being videotaped by Dan Richter.

Finally, at midnight, the compere, Kim Fowley, who is a well-known singer, producer, and songwriter in his own right, went on stage to announce the Plastic Ono Band.

He did a really great thing.  He had all the lights in the stadium turned right down and then asked everyone to strike a match.  It was a really unbelievable sight when thousands of little flickering lights suddenly shone all over the huge arena.

Then John, Yoko, Eric, Allan, and Klaus were on stage and lined up just like the old Beatles set-up.  Bass on the left, lead guitar next, then John on the right with the drummer behind.

Each guitarist had two big speakers, one on either side of the stage, and the sound was really fantastic right from the moment they began. 

But just before they launched into the first number, John said quickly into the mike, "We're going to do number we know, as we've never played together before."  That was all.  Just a brief word to put everyone in the picture.

And that's when it really hit me.  How were they going to make out?  I knew they were all great performers in their own right, but with only the two brief rehearsals they had during the earlier part of the day in ridiculous surroundings like the back of a plane and a dressing room, what would the performance be like?

But if I had any doubts, I was wrong, wrong wrong.   It was a fantastic show right from the first number, "Blue Suede Shoes" which took me straight back six years.  After "Shoes" they roared into "Money", "Dizzy Miss Lizzie" and "Yer Blues."

All the vocals, of course, were handled by John and when "Yer Blues" faded away he stuck his face close to the mike again and said before they  began their next number "Never done this number before-- best of luck" and then they launched into "Cold Turkey."  It's a number which John has only written recently.  It's never been properly recorded yet, so that's one for the future.  He does fantastic things with it.  It's a great song.  But finally, came John's last number "Give Peace a Chance."  Before he sang it, John said, "This is what we came for really, so sing along" and the audience did.  I think every one of the 20,000 people there must have joined in.  It was a wonderful sight because they all thrust their arms above their heads and swayed in time to the music.

Then John said, "Now Yoko is going to do her thing all over you."  Yoko had been inside a bag howling away during John's numbers.  She sang two songs, "Don't Worry Kyoko" and "Oh John (Let's Hope for Peace).

"Oh John" is the longest number and it's all feedback from guitars.  Just in case you don't know how it's done, if a guitar is placed near to the speaker of an amplifier so that the sound from the speaker makes the strings of the guitar vibrate, the vibration of the guitar strings then goes along through the circuit to the amp, which then makes the strings vibrate so creating a continuous circle of sound.

At the end of "Oh John" all the boys placed their guitars against the speakers of their amps and walked to the back of the stage because they had already started the feedback process, the sound continued while John, Klaus, Allan, and Eric grouped together and lit ciggies.  then I went on and led them off-stage.  Finally, I walked on again and switched off their amps one by one.

The whole show as recorded for a special album which should be out pretty soon and you will hear all this on the LP.  After that, the boys gave a ten-minute press conference.  When it was over we all piled into four big cards and drove for two hours to a huge estate owned by a Mr. Eaton, who is one of the richest men in Canada.  His son had actually picked us up after the show so that we could stay overnight at his house.

The next day we got into golf carts and went all over the estate.  It really is a wonderful country.  Miles and miles of trees, hills, lakes and green frogs.

We got all the plane back the next day.  No trouble at all for us at Customs with the exception of Eric Clapton who had to pay duty on a guitar.

Everyone else was so tired that we just wanted to sleep, but John is incredible sometimes and this was one of them.  He stayed up for the rest of the day doing Press interviews.

I think the whole show was really remarkable, particularly as I said before because the boys had never played together because.  I loved every minute of it.  I always remember turning around during the band's performance on stage and finding Gene Vincent next to me with tears rolling down his cheeks.  He was saying, "It's marvelous.  It's fantastic, man."

It's odd the things that stand out in your mind after a show like this.  I remember Little Richard standing backstage in a big cloak which I thought must be his stage gear.  But when he went out on stage to do his thing, he threw off the cloak and we all saw that his vest underneath was covered with little mirrors.

It was great to be back with a live audience.  although at one point I thought that I must be losing my touch because when I left the dressing room behind the stadium to get something from the cards, I was stopped by the security police who had thrown a cordon right around the big stage area.  They absolutely refused to let me back until I ended up shouting and insisting that if I didn't get back to put everything up on stage, the show couldn't take place.  Finally, they let me in saying kay but I wasn't going to be let out again.

My main thought while I was watching the show that although Klaus, Allan, and Eric were marvelous and the Plastic Ono Band really did get it together, everything would have been absolutely right for me if the line up could have been Paul, George and Ringo with John!

Toronto photo shoot

A little time in Toronto

Trudy Talk

Fan club president, Trudy Medcalf chat with the Beatles in Toronto 

Another one for Paul's photo album

Paul is live in the studio

Paul is interviewed at the CHUM radio station in Toronto.   I don't think he goes to the studios for radio interviews too often, so this must have been a special occasion.   It seems like the radio people usually come to him backstage at a show and interview him there.

the Beatles say goodbye to Canada

300 boppers scream Beatles out of Malton

August 19, 1966

The Beatles were sent off by 300 screaming teenyboppers at Malton yesterday, and landed in Boston a couple of hours later to the screams of another 350.

At Malton, the crowds exceeded the 250 who saw the boys off in 1965.  One banner yesterday pleaded, “Please come back” and other had large red letters reading “SEX” on one side and “JOHN” on the other.

The Beatles took $96,000 out of Toronto.

Police had to rope off the King Edward Hotel to let the Beatles safely out to the paddy wagon, escorted by motorcycles and horses, which whisked them off to the airport.

“You guys aren’t coming back next year, are you?” a weary, perspiring policeman asked Ringo Starr as he clanged the paddy wagon door shut.  Ringo smiled and replied, “Please don’t fret.  Of course we’re coming back.”

Manager Brian Epstein told the Star in his suite at the hotel that it was not to be the Beatles last visit.   “We’ll be back, possibly next year.” Mr. Epstein said.

Wearing a striped black and gray mod suit, black suede boots, an orange paisley pattern tie and think sideburns, Epstein read newspaper reviews of the Toronto show, packed his bags and cursed the teenyboppers laying siege to his room.

“It was bloody awful,” he said, “I couldn’t get a bit of sleep with those terror pounding on my door and shoving notes under it all night.” 

His bed looked it, too.  Pillows, sheets and blankets were scattered over the backboard and bedside table.

Police had the corridor roped off on the eight floor to keep the besiegers at bay.

Wave after wave of screams deafened the dozens of policemen on duty when the Beatles appeared around the corner.

Paul McCartney mumbled, “It’s madness.  It’s madness.  ‘touch his anklebone.  Touch his earlobe.’”

The Beatles wore corduroy slacks and jackets.  John Lennon had huge orange sunglasses. 

“Coming back next year, John?” a teenybopper asked.

“Yes, are you?”

Footnote:  John Lennon bought a new sports jacket yesterday.  When an aide delivered it to his suite, Lennon complained to the Deputy Chief, John Murray, “It looks too new.”  Chief Murray rolled it into a ball and stepped on it a few times.

“Beautiful,” smiled Lennon.

Toronto fans remember

I went to see The Beatles in Maple Leaf Gardens in 1966. I enjoyed the show and went to the King Edward Hotel afterwards because I knew The Beatles were staying there.  I milled about in the lobby for awhile until a tall man with blonde hair and glasses approached me and asked me if I wanted to meet The Beatles.  I said I did, so he took me upstairs, right past the guards and into the Beatles’ suite, which was on the 7^th or 8^th floor.  I was nervous and almost fainted when I entered the living room of the suite and there were Ringo, John and George watching television with some friends.  Everyone was so friendly and normal; it was like sitting around with a group of friends at home.  Ringo was funny—he kept making funny remarks about the movie on the telly.
I had a drink and talked with the man who brought me upstairs.  His name was Mal and he was very kind to me.  He took me over to one of the windows and we looked outside at all the people down in the street below.  What a sight!
George had some relatives visiting him…an aunt and uncle, I believe.  His uncle was a jolly man who liked to tip a few drinks of whatever George wasn’t drinking.  John seemed to enjoy himself but was kind of quiet.  I guess he was a little weary from touring so much and having ot explain about that Jesus quote everyone kept nagging him about!  Poor John…When I think back now, it must have taken a lot of courage for him to face the whole of America, knowing the rage of the religious fanatics were in!
John went to bed, and after awhile I went into another room with Mal and we talked until 2 a.m.  IT was time for bed, so I left The Beatles’ suite and took a taxi home.  My parents were not happy with me getting home so late.  I was still a teenager then.  They couldn’t believe that I had been sitting around with The Beatles all evening –and my friends my friends at school couldn’t, either.  I had a special photo of them that Mal gave me to prove that I had been there!  I’ll never forget it…and the memory of what good people the Beatles really seemed to be!
--Sharon M.

August 17, 1966 was absolutely the last time The Beatles appeared as a band in Canada.  We stayed on the 7^th floor.  The Beatles were on the 8^th floor.  If you were staying in the hotel you were allowed to walk on their floor anytime.  We did not quite have the nerve to knock on the doors.  We did see an open door and a suit like they wore that night was lying on the bed when we walked past.  “Summer in the City” was playing in the room.
A bellhop told us he got all four of their autographs and sold them for $10.  He thought he had made an immense profit.
The Beatles arrived at the King Edward at 3:00a.m.  There was an enormous crowd to greet them.  It was so busy in the area that it looked more like a weekday than the middle of the night.
A small boy whose name was John Lennon was taken up to see The Beatle, John Lennon.
Ringo’s drumming during “Paperback Writer” drew a special ovation from the audience.
Bo Diddley was playing at a small bar in Toronto  while The Beatles were there.
--Lance 

I to went to see the Beatles in concert in Toronto Canada (which my older sister and I won at a store promotion in buffalo n.y.) We’re we are from. I remember spending that day getting ready wearing a granny mini dress and my first pair of fishnet stockings I even got to shave my legs with my older sisters electric shaver, just trying to look older then a mere 13 now when I think of it my sister was all behind this so I would look older so she could say to her friends she wasn’t taking her little sister. During the concert I remember the screams and after every song the beatles preformed the would bow down cool. After the concert on every corner there were crying girls and ambulances all around never seen anything like it. – Mary
 

An evening in Toronto

Fewer fans and fainter in Toronto

Fewer fans, fainters – but Beatles took $96,000

Toronto Daily Star

August 18, 1966

The Beatles fly onto Boston today with 96,000 Toronto dollars, a white-haired troll doll, and unless the staff can get rid of it, a hamster named Brian.

Those were among the souvenirs of their third and dullest Toronto appearance.

It was the dullest by any yard stick:  fewer fans paid to get into Maple Leaf Gardens, fewer milled around the King Edward Hotel, fewer police were needed to handle them and horrors – only half as many teenyboppers fainted from the sheer excitement of it all.

They filled the Gardens last night with 18,000 fans but only 15,000 showed up in the afternoon.  St. John Ambulance workers handled 167 stricken fans compared with more than 300 last year

The 33,000 who did show up created just as much bedlam as usual, drowning out their idols with shrieks and trying to pelt them with paper balls.

At a between show press conference the boys toted one sentence quips on Christianity and Viet Nam to reporters.

John Lennon, trying to clarify his “Beatles are more popular than Jesus” quote told a United Church minister he really wasn’t against Christianity.  “I’d recommend it to anybody –all the people in the world, especially old people,” said Lennon, wearing a pink linen suit.

The group said they supported “the basic idea of Christianity” and George Harrison added that “people who dislike us are not offering a Christian answer to what Lennon said.”

Rev. Gene Young said afterwards he was “amazed and really impressed” with the Beatles as individuals.

On Viet Nam, Lennon said he could see “no reason on earth why anybody should want to kill anybody else.”

Challenged to comment on the war itself, Harrison declared, “America is in there…but ‘thou shalt not kill’ means thou shalt not amend section A.  People forget about ‘thou shalt not amend Section A,” he said.

“But we can’t say things like that,” piped up Paul McCartney.

“We’re not allowed to have opinions, you might have noticed that,” said Lennon.

The literary Beatle also said anyone who “did not feel like fighting…should have the right not to go into the army.”

McCartney sat playing with a white haired troll doll during the conference, one of a mounting pile of gifts sent to Maple Leaf Gardens and the Beatles hotel during the stay.

Is the Beatle craze ending?

“If our popularity does dimish, we’ll be the last to worry,” said Harrison who wore a fishnet shirt and a brown windbreaker.  “It shows no signs of diminishing.”

Will the group ever break up?

McCartney said, “It will be a bit embarrassing at 35 to be doing the same routine.”

Lennon said, “We do not intend to go on holding hands forever.  It might last, I don’t know.”

But if anyone thought Beatlemania had ended, the fans who swarmed through the Gardens for two shows proved otherwise.  Nearly 300 police officers guarded the building in the afternoon; another 50 were added last night.

The college St. Subway station scene prompted one TTC worker to compare it to the blitz.  Extra subway staff were on hand to keep people from being pushed off the platform and barricades were erected in the station.

Waving signs proclaiming, “I’m Happy!” and “Paul, I love you always!”  the fans lined up from Carlton St. around to Yonge St.

Two Albany, N.Y. teenagers Mary –Ann Scott and Patricia Novak, marched past officers into the Gerdens restaurant, having booked reservations a month ago.   They later infiltrated a press conference held in a nearby room.

A 77-year old Port Hope woman arrived in time for the nighttime show, but tripped on the way to her seat.  After sitting out the early acts at the first aid centre, she got back in time to stand on her chai and watch the Liverpool group.

The noise got so bad at one performance that a hefty cop- one of a barrier in front of the stage – pulled a couple of bullets out of his hoister and stuck I them in his ears.

And twice yesterday there was a thunderclap of voices, as four famous faces half skipped into view earing forest-green mod jackets, charcoal grey slacks and polka dot shirts.

Paper balls, glittering tinfoil and sound tons and tons of adoring screams cascaded onto the stage as the Beatles bopped about in the pool of light.

It went on for just over a half hour—screams interrupted only by louder screams as youngsters stormed the stage or were carried out. 

One youth appeared from nowhere and climbed to a front seat, in mid-air , reaching for the platform.  When the crunch came, a dozen officers bore him away.

Last night, a youth climbing over the elaborate backdrop barrier came rolling down yards of bunting and drape behind him. 

Dozens of teenagers at both shows went into faints from heat and excitement.  One girl somehow lost her skirt when she collapsed.

As the Beatles finished their show shortly after 10pm, in a windowless room in the depths Of the Garden, staff members fed a hamster pieces of lettuce and mused over what to do with it.

Apparently named after Brian Epstein, the Beatles manager, the hamster was sitting in the Beatles dressing room when they came back from news conference.   No one knows how it got through the scores of police.   A note with a crayon drawn heart says, “This is Brian.  We love you.  Linda and Sue.”

The 65 policemen really didn’t have much trouble holding  back the 200 teenagers as the Beatles returned to the King Edward Hotel by police paddy wagon last night.

The closest the fans got to seeing their idols was the side of the wagon and the clanging of a steel gate at the end of hotel as it drove up to the back door.

One policeman was knocked to the ground as two screaming girls fell on top of him.  Other officers found themselves with sobbing teenybopper in their arms.

A fan wants the hotel made a “national shrine” because it has been the Beatle’s’ sleeping quarters three times now.

Memorable press conference in Toronto

Photo taken by Lynn Botirick

Photo taken by Lynn Botirick

"How I almost met a Beatle"

How I almost  met a Beatle

By Robert Fulford

Toronto Star

8-18-66

Three young policemen stood beneath the triangular red “exit” light in the Hot Stove lounge of Maple Gardens yesterday afternoon.  They were sweating.  The building was full of screaming teenagers – the first Beatles show had just ended and this room was full of newspapermen.   There were maybe three dozen cameramen, counting both still and movie, and they were pushing each other around, getting the best spot.

On one side of this door there was a photograph of a lot of young faces above the caption “1931 Marlborough Athletic Club, Junior SPA and OHA Champs” on the other side there was a picture of “Ottawa, NHA and Stanley Cup Champions, 1911.”

Suddenly, who burst through this door but Stan Obodiac!  Stan Obodiac is a former pro-hockey player and amateur book author.   He is now publicity man at the Gardens and is in charge of worrying about things like the Beatles.  Stan saw me and rushed over.

“Boy,” said Stan.  “are you ever popular with the Beatles.  They want to meet you.  After that column you wrote today, you’re the only one that want to see.  Usually they just want to see Lyndon Johnson and maybe Princess Margaret – and now you!”

“Right now?” I said.  I tried to look as if I wasn’t excited.  I had heard earlier in the day that John Lennon, the theologian with the Beatles, had read my piece and like it.  “Right now,” said Stan.

He ushered me through the door, between the Marlboroughs and the Ottawas.  “Let this man through” he said to one of the young cops.  I ignored the envious glance of a lady reporter from the “Canadian” and followed Stan down the corridor.  There were two more barriers to pass and each time Stan led me through.

Then we reached, right in the middle of the hockey dressing rooms, The Door, behind which THEY were waiting.  This time not even Stan could get me through.

“Only if Tony says so,” said the copy on the door.  Tony Barrow is the Beatles traveling press agent.  Stand went in alone.  I waited outside.  There seemed to be about twenty policemen within a couple of dozen square yards.

“You’re having a hot night,” I said to the one nearest me.  He was sweating – as by now was I.  “Not too bad,” he said.  “Could be worse.”   That’s something I always forget about policemen.   No matter  how bad things are, they could be worse.  For instance, somebody could be shooting at him.

Finally, Obodiac re-emerged from the Beatles presence, this time with Tony Barrow.   “I’m sorry,” Barrow said, “but, well, it’s just not a good time just now.  They’re edgy and sweaty.  They really appreciated that piece though, especially John.”

I asked if I might have a few words with John.  (I wanted to ask him, in private, whether God was dead and if so what he was going to do about it.)  But Barrow said that though it seemed likely earlier on, it was now impossible.

Dejected, I went back to the press conference.  Soon the Beatles appeared, looking cheerful enough.  The room was packed – 150 people in all, including Pierre Berton and a man from “The News of the World.”  The Beatles answered questions politely, sometimes playfully.

Rev. Gene Young, the hip United Church clergyman, was in the audience wearing his collar.  He had a microphone around his neck because he’s subbing for Larry Solway on CHUM’s “Speak Your Mind” and wanted to pick up some material for his program.    He asked Lennon, in effect, why the Beatles didn’t involve themselves in some kind of protest like Viet Nam.  Lennon put him off gently and George Harrison volunteered that war is bad.   Young then asked what was important in the world.  Lennon said, “love” and so did Harrison.  Young asked what inspired young people and Paul McCartney said, “They get inspired by people who talk honestly to them.”

Nathan Cohen told me that “the one tie I went to a Beatles press conference, the reporters behaved as if they were in the presence of Jesus.”  This was true yesterday, too.  Some replies were cheered by the reporters – many of them, of course, from teenage or college papers.

But in the midst of all the nonsense, I liked John Lennon.  Someone noted that the Beatles had received the MBE’s for helping the British economy; now that the economy was in a mess again, what special plans had they for helping out?  “Well,” Lennon said, “we could give back the medals.”

I liked him best, though, when he talked modestly and honestly, about the songs he and McCartney write.  He was asked about the appeal of his new ones.  He said, “I don’t write them for other people.  They’re only for other people when they’re done, and then you can like them or not.  You have to do them for yourself.”

Spoken like an artist; and, in fact he is an artist.  From most popular songwriters and statement like that would be pretentious nonsense—usually the process of Top 10 writing is strictly manufacturing.  But Lennon’s songs are original and lovely; he deserves everything he has. 

A great afternoon in Toronto

Arriving at midnight

Beatles Arriving at Midnight
Toronto Daily Star
August 16, 1966

The Beatles will arrive in Toronto at dead of night, but they'll be assured of a reception committee numbering at least 200.

That's how many policemen will be at Toronto International Airport at midnight to guard the teen idols against over-enthusiastic fans.

There'll be at least 200 on duty again tomorrow when the foursome puts on two shows at Maple Leaf Garden and the Gardens' management has taken some security measures on its own.

A half inch steel cable will surround the stage and a steel wire net behind will protect them from potential souvenir grabbers and worshipers who just want to touch them.

Flying here straight from a show in Philadelphia, the Beatles party will be drive to the King Edward Hotel in three Cadillacs, with two trucks for instruments and luggage  and 45 passenger bus for the supporting acts -  Ron Ettes, The Cyrkle, The Remains and Bobby Hebb.

The Mersey-siders wills stay in the Gardens between the afternoon and evening performances emerging from a private suite for a press conference at 6:30 p.m.

Their route from the airport is being kept a secret to prevent any demonstrations en route.