Beatles News
Vince Calandra had never even held a guitar before. But, even back in February of 1964, he had a pretty good sense that he shouldn’t drop this one. Calandra, a self-described “street kid from Brooklyn,” had worked his way up on “The Ed Sullivan Show” from mail boy, to cue card holder for guest stars like Buddy Holly, to stage producer. A coincidence of clothing led to his brief brush with fame that day, though.
JFK Airport will host a celebration and dedicate a historical marker 50 years to the day the Beatles arrived there to screaming fans for their first trip to the U.S. On Feb. 7, the Port Authority and radio station Q104.3 FM will mark the day the Fab Four arrived at the airport on a Pan Am flight that day in 1964, and were greeted by screaming fans.
A coffee stall once frequented by the Rolling Stones and The Beatles has been saved from losing its license. The future of Chelsea Bridge Coffee Stall, in Queenstown Road, was uncertain following complaints by people living in Chelsea Bridge Wharf over noise and litter.
Paul McCartney is scheduled to be in New York for the Super Bowl and if all goes according to schedule, he and Ringo Starr will make their way early next week to the Ed Sullivan Theater, where they made their American television debut 50 years ago.
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of one of the most historic moments in music and television, The Recording Academy, AEG Ehrlich Ventures and CBS will present "The Night That Changed America: A GRAMMY Salute To The Beatles." The primetime entertainment special will celebrate the remarkable legacy of the seven-time GRAMMY-winning group and their groundbreaking first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show."
Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band
Fifty years after helping lead the British invasion in America and transforming pop culture, the most underappreciated Beatle has arguably become the most beloved. Ringo Starr is no longer mobbed by screaming packs of fans. But, by no means is the world famous drummer hanging in the background. He’s busy laying down tracks for a new album, and about to embark on another tour of his All-Starr Band; he’s publishing books — and he’s still making the case for peace and love wherever he goes.
“We always tried to get out of those crap things, but that time we got caught,” George Harrison recalled, referring to the Beatles’ visit to the British Embassy after their first US concert, held at the old Washington Coliseum on February 11, 1964. Accustomed, after a year of Beatlemania in Britain, to the crush of official events, the Fab Four were dreading it. Then they caught a slight, if short-lived, break.
IT was 50 years ago that The Beatles filmed sequences of ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ on the West Somerset Railway ... and the anniversary is to be marked. Crowcombe Heathfield Station, where Ringo rode a bicycle along theMinehead-bound platform, is in line for enhancement.
LOS ANGELES — There's an easy way to give pop music's most performance-hardened stars a case of the butterflies: Ask them to perform in front of The Beatles. Many of today's top artists gathered Monday night to honor The Beatles' legacy, with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr in attendance and late members John Lennon and George Harrison always in mind, at The Recording Academy's taping of "The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to The Beatles."
