At first glance, he appears to be a lot like you. He coaches his son's baseball team. He plays bridge competitively. He's renovating his kitchen and he's redoing his family room as well! He works as a software developer and has been happily married for 12 years. Regular guy happy family man. But hidden under that "normal" exterior beats the heart of an avid Beatles' history student.
Ken is a member of The Beatles Club of New England, and his hobby is collecting Beatle books. So far, he has approximately 90 of them! And Ken hasn't just "read" these volumes; he has studied them, learned from them! He knows his Beatle history so well that he can hold his own in a debate about where Paul was really invited to join The Quarrymen, and he can tell you the two theories about exactly where George Harrison was when the German Polizei asked George to "vacate the country."
When Ken purchased Shoulda Been There (via Dave Haber's http://www.whatgoeson.com website), I was thrilled. Little did I know that I was getting not only a reader, but a careful, expert editor as well. Ken was very kind to e-mail me with typos and omitted words that he discovered in my text. He worked diligently to make the second edition of Shoulda even better! (Thank you Ken!)
As we e-mailed back and forth for several months and shared Beatle stories and information, Ken told me about his trip to Liverpool in July 2007. It was a singular tour celebrating the reunion concert the famed Quarrymen - a "pilgrimage" that took him to Mendips, Forthlin Road, The Clubmoor in Norris Green, Stu's home near Sefton Park, and of course, to Church Street in Woolton to St. Peter's where Eleanor Rigby sleeps and John met Paul.
But wait, let's let Ken tell you all about
his amazing adventure. Here is his own story and his own fantastic
photos!! Enjoy.
July 6, 2007 marked the 50th anniversary of the date that John Lennon first met Paul McCartney. They were introduced to one another on July 6, 1957 at a church fair (the Annual Garden Fete as it was called) in the village of Woolton, in Liverpool.
The weekend's events took place at the site of the 1957 fete, St. Peters Church. The Church Rector, Reverend Kip Crooks led a Beatles-themed service in the church at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. The church was beautifully decorated with colorful posters on all the pillars. An instrumental version of Sgt. Pepper's LHCB was heard as we got seated. About 375 attended the service. Rev. Crooks asked how many grew up loving the Beatles, and whether they agreed that the first meeting between John and Paul was one of the most significant musical events of the 20th century. Everyone readily agreed. He then went around to see what faraway places some of the attendees had come from. There were people from several U.S. states, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Brazil, and the United Arab Emirates, to name a few.
After a hymn, Andrew Lancel read an extract from the Jim O'Donnell book, The Day John Met Paul. Liam Bailey then sang "In My Life," followed by "Eleanor Rigby."
The Bishop of Liverpool, Rev. James Jones, was invited to give a Beatles-related sermon. The Bishop put the date in perspective when he noted what an enormous impact it had on the entire western world. His sermon focused on the Beatles message of peace and love at a time when many people feared a possible nuclear war.
We were treated to a dance performance by a parish dance group
known as Growing Old Disgracefully. They performed to instrumental
versions of "Here, There, and Everywhere," and "Something."
David Ashton, one of John Lennon's childhood friends, who was
a choir boy with John, showed everyone the spot where John sat
in the area behind the altar. The 75 minute service concluded
when a bag of about 200 balloons was let loose from the ceiling
while Liam Bailey sang "All You Need is Love."
Just as it had in 1957, the evening's events took place in the church hall across the road. The hall is a room of about 800 sq. feet, with very high ceilings, and a couple of small utility rooms to one side. A stage was set up at one end as in 1957. There were 15 circular tables, each one covered with a black tablecloth and furnished with fine wine glasses and a tall orchid centerpiece.
"Whispering" Bob Harris, a local radio personality, read a note sent in by Paul McCartney thanking the group for celebrating the special day. He also read notes sent in by Pete Shotton (John's best mate), Jan Vaughan (widow of Ivan Vaughan who introduced John to Paul), Martin Lewis, and Queen Elizabeth.
Bob Harris introduced the original Quarrymen. Their lineup is Rod Davis (guitar), Len Garry (guitar, vocals), Colin Hanton (drums), and John "Duff" Lowe (keyboard). The Quarrymen reunited in 1997 and included Eric Griffiths at that time. Eric passed away in 2005. They have been performing off and on since then. Their sound has improved substantially. Len Garry has a fine singing voice and Rod Davis has a very professional stage presence. Undoubtedly they are quite different than the unpolished sound on that famous day in 1957. Before each song, Rod Davis told a story about how the Quarrymen came to play that particular number. The Quarrymen performed many of the covers that influenced them in the early days, including: Twenty Flight Rock, Midnight Special, Blue Suede Shoes, Puttin' On The Style, Don't Be Cruel, Memphis Tennessee, Maggie Mae, Baby Let's Play House, Come And Go With Me, In Spite of All The Danger, and others.
Present on Friday evening was Mark Lewisohn, author of several books and generally regarded as the world's leading authority on the Beatles. Lewisohn is working on a 3-volume history of the Beatles for which he is reportedly being paid £1.2 million. He gave me a brief progress report on the project. He has finished with the interviewing and data collection for volume one. He estimates that the process of weaving it all together will take him almost 3 more years. Volumes 2 and 3 might be expected in 2015 and 2020, respectively. I hope he, and the rest of us, live long enough to enjoy these books. Also on hand was biographer and local radio personality Spencer Leigh. Performing on Friday night were "Please y'Self", a skiffle band, and Liam Bailey performing Beatles classics. A nice buffet was served by a local caterer.
Saturday night was more of the same, with performances by The Quarrymen, The Jukebox Eddies, and Ged Scott performing Beatles classics.
Sunday afternoon featured an outdoor music festival held on the Bishop Martin School Field behind St. Peters Church. This is the same field where Paul McCartney saw John Lennon for the first time, performing on a stage with The Quarrymen on 6-July-1957. The school building now occupies part of the original field. This day gave me several opportunities to meet and converse with people who were present, and involved in some way, at the 1957 fete.
David Ashton was a friend of John Lennon at a pre-school age before John entered the Dovedale Primary School. He would see John from time to time at church choir, at scouts meetings, or just around the Woolton community. David was present at the 1957 fete and showed me the precise location of the stage. A nice article about David's childhood experiences in Woolton, and with John Lennon, can be found at http://www.iol.ie/~beatlesireland/Lennon/woolton/woolton1.htm
Geoffrey Rhind was the boy who took the famous photograph of the Quarrymen playing on the outdoor stage on the church field at the 1957 fete. Geoff showed me a couple of rather interesting artifacts from that day. He had with him a small red diary he found just about two years ago, in which he made an entry each day during 1957. He showed me the entry for the day of the Woolton Garden Fete, Saturday July 6, 1957, in which he wrote "garden fete" and "skiffle bands". He wonders today about why he did not mention by name any of the band members. Some of them, including Rod Davis, were his friends. Geoff was also carrying around a working camera, in mint condition, of the exact same model Kodak 'Brownie' camera he used to take the famous photograph.
Earlier on the day of the 1957 fete, a parade took place around Woolton. The parade consisted of a truck which carried the performing Quarrymen, along with The 1957 Rose Queen and her attendants. I met the driver of that truck, Douglas Chadwick, at the Sunday Music Festival. Doug's family owned a small transportation company and were members of St. Peters Church. They were asked each year to provide the transportation needed for the rose queen and parade. Doug does not remember speaking to the Quarrymen that day, other than to advise them to "keep still on the back of the truck and to be sure not to fall off!"
Doug told me a funny story about that day, which he says has never appeared in any of the biographies. After the procession ended near the field behind the church, somebody was saying that John Lennon had a girl with him in the 'Cuckoo Club'. The Cuckoo Club was a small floral garden on the church grounds located near a cuckoo clock, and surrounded by some shrubs which created a private sitting area. Doug and some of his friends snuck up behind the shrubs and spied John sitting with the girl. They all started saying "cuckoo". This caused Lennon to get quite upset and he stormed off angrily.
Doug still has the original wood sign with "QUARRYMEN" painted in red. It was hung from the back of the truck to identify the band during the parade. Doug is in the process of shipping this valuable piece of Beatles memorabilia to his son in Illinois.
Rosemary Davis, sister of Quarryman Rod Davis, was in the Brownies and present at the 1957 fete. She remembers being excited about her brother and The Quarrymen getting the chance to perform at the annual fete. What excited her most was simply that there would be skiffle music that year, rather than the usual prim and proper sort of entertainment that the church would usually put on. Today, Rosemary plays in a bluegrass band herself.
Merle Rowe was a Rose Queen attendant on the day of the 1957 fete. She rode around on the back of one of the trucks in the parade. She remembers hearing The Quarrymen playing on the other truck. Rosemary and Merle explained to me that they were both two or three years too young to be considered as rose queen that year. You had to be age 12 to be considered.
I met a fellow named Gene Grimes who was a best mate of Pete Best. Gene remembers the Casbah Club in September 1959. He was responsible for getting the John Doubleday statue installed at the Cavern Walks in 1984. Gene still harbors angry feelings about the way his friend Pete was let go by the Beatles in 1962.
There were two notable disappointments. Pete Shotton was not around for the weekend, either to play or to share his memories. Julia Dykins Baird, John Lennon's half sister, was supposed to be present on Friday evening, and again on Sunday for a book signing. Sadly, she never appeared.
I took well over 300 photos during my visit to Liverpool. You can see a few of my better ones below, and more at http://liverpoolbeatlescene.com/index.html Scroll down to where it says The Quarrymen celebrate 50th, and click there.
Ken Bloom
Acton, Massachusetts
