Odd, definitely odd...

I've actually never seen The Beatles cartoon show, though of course I've heard about it, so I decided to look it up and share it! I don't know that much about it, other than that it didn't sit very well with the real Beatles, who were irked that it didn't play true to their personalities and voices. It seems like a typical Brian Epstein move, which is brilliant, but at the same time, makes The Beatles at least from the outset, a little less than legendary. It reminds us that this is where they started and look where they ended up!

This day in 1965

On August 28, 1965 The Beatles played at the Balboa Stadium in San Diego, California for their second visit to the United States. As one of their numerous stops on this hectic tour, it does not seem to stand out from any other concert that they played at. Also, as a side note, today is the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" Speech that he gave a the Lincoln memorial in Washington D.C. during the famous and extremely successful March on Washington.

Song of the Day: "In My Life" Rubber Soul 1965

John Lennon referred to this song as the first meaningful song that the Beatles ever produced. It went beyond wanting to hold girls hands. As a reflective poem, the song is beautiful and certainly one of my favorites. I give credit to this song as the reason I got into college, as I wrote my college essay on this song, but that may be going a little far. I also wrote the beginning lyrics to this song on the wall at Abbey Road Studios in London this past July. So it's pretty clear why this song means a lot to me as it does for millions of people around the world.

This Day in 1964

On August 26, 1964, The Beatles performed at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver, Colorado, their second visit to the United States. The boys had visited the U.S. in February, traveling between New York and Washington D.C. Thankfully, this tour was carefully recorded and documented in an intimate film by the Maysles brothers, "The Beatles First U.S. Visit." I highly recommend it for anyone interested in the real A Hard Day's Night. The lads above attend the Denver press conference.

Leaving for college today!

Today, I'm moving into the dorms on Pepperdine University to begin my freshman year! I'm so excited, especially because I'm rooming with one of my best friends! Only one of The Beatles went to college (excluding Stuart Sutcliffe as the original Beatle who also went to college). Despite problems with school, John made it to art college in the years leading up to their Hamburg days, renting a flat in Liverpool with Stu, which is where, of course, he met the original bassist. John was generally happy at the Liverpool Institute of Art, though he snubbed the "artsy" kind of students who, John put it, wore turtleneck sweaters and listened to jazz. I actually passed by his college when my family and I visited Liverpool this past summer! So from now on, just know my posts will be coming from my dorm!

48th Anniversary of The Beatles' legendary concert SHEA STADIUM

48 years ago today, The Beatles performed to their largest audience ever at the baseball diamond Shea Stadium in New York City. All the tickets sold out immediately, raising a whopping $304,000, a world record breaker in 1965. Only eleven songs were played to the crowd of 55,600 fans, most of them screaming teenage girls. But it didn't matter. Even with over 5 kilowatts worth of amplification and the stadium's PA system, concert-goers were treated to a viewing of The Beatles as opposed to what most concerts are like, you know, listening to music. It was 28 minutes in all.

The concert at Shea Stadium represents several aspects of The Beatles' career, which is why it is celebrated near half a century later. On a surface level, it is considered the peak of the boys' touring era. No other band in history up until that point had played to that many people, especially not a foursome from England breaking into the US, an unthinkable feat in the 1960s. Thanks to recordings of the concert and modern technology to make it possible to hear the songs being played, we realize that despite the fact that the Beatles knew no one was listening to them, they gave what they promised; a rock-solid performance that would make their German fans in Hamburg proud (Hamburg is cited as the place that formed The Beatles into an almost perfect performing guitar group). The Beatles, it seems, despite the mounds of commercialism surrounding them, did not sell out, even at the pinnacle of their success. To John, Paul, George, and Ringo, they were four guys from Liverpool playing songs they wrote at home or together on trains and planes. The only difference was, they were playing to 55,600 people.

On a deeper level, Shea Stadium is a perfect representation of The Beatles' "flash on earth," if you will. At 28 minutes long, The Beatles were in and out, literally running into the diamond from the dugout and back out again. For those thousands of fans, they were there for a few seconds and then disappeared, most of them never able to see the boys again (touring ended for the Beatles in 1966). To those of us who were born almost exactly thirty years after Shea Stadium, we feel the same way as those 14-year-old girls, only we see them through the music they left behind. At times, The Beatles feel unreachable, like they were around for 28 minutes (or ten years) and then were gone before we even had time to be born. Taken by itself, Shea Stadium is the representation of what The Beatles gave to the world; perfect performance, creativity, legends, and music. The Beatles were in and out of the dugout and the music scene. What they left behind is rare and completely unique, a true flash indeed.

Unfortunately, Shea Stadium has been destroyed. A new arena has been opened in the last five years that exists on the site, but nevertheless doesn't have the same aura surrounding it. Paul performed at the new arena in 2009, as part of his tour "Good Evening New York City," the first time being back at the site and playing there since that fateful day in 1965. As Ed Sullivan said, "Ladies and gentlemen...THE BEATLES!"                            
                               AUGUST 15, 1965, New York City, USA