{"id":8317,"date":"2020-08-18T17:14:38","date_gmt":"2020-08-18T22:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thefest.com\/kdstaging2\/?p=8317"},"modified":"2020-08-18T17:15:39","modified_gmt":"2020-08-18T22:15:39","slug":"the-beatles-in-august","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/the-beatles-in-august\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beatles in August"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re halfway through our year-long in-depth trek with The Beatles, month-by-month, reliving their most outstanding events and observing life patterns in their days together. We\u2019ve seen how their Aprils taught the lads to balance loss and hope. Their Junes together offered lessons in determination. And Julys, for The Beatles, were times of seeking joy. <\/em><\/p>\n

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Now, we come to August\u2026a season that always, always signified great change<\/strong> in their paths. Sometimes the change was very good, making the rest of their year remarkable! Sometimes, the change was tragic, shading the rest of the year in somber tones. But August never swept through The Beatles\u2019 lives without making a vast difference. Let\u2019s take a look:<\/em><\/p>\n

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1960\u2026The lads\u2019 first trip to Hamburgy-berg \u2014 <\/strong>After badgering their first manager, Allan Williams, to get them a gig in Hamburg, Germany, where other Merseyside Bands (such as Derry and the Seniors) were already performing, The Beatles were finally off to the Hook of Holland and a long road ahead towards Hamburg\u2019s famed red-light district. Getting a job on \u201cthe dark end of the Reeperbahn\u201d in a seedy strip club, The Indra, the boys ginned out such magnificent rock\u2019n\u2019roll that they were quickly promoted to the better-situated Kaiserkeller. Without a doubt, the three-and-a-half months that John, Paul, George, and Pete spent in Hamburg, (yes, Ringo was there as well, but with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes) shaped them into a one-of-a-kind, blockbuster band. Playing four-to-six hours a night with only scant breaks, they developed musical acumen, stamina, and most of all, the ability to mach schau<\/em>! August 1960 was a game changer for The Beatles.<\/p>\n

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1962\u2026Pete leaves the band; Ringo joins Beatles; Cynthia and John wed \u2014 <\/strong>John had been the one obstacle in Paul and George\u2019s plan to release drummer Pete Best and to acquire \u201cthe coolest drummer in Liverpool\u201d in their opinion, Ringo Starr. In August 1962, with John\u2019s attention focused on his upcoming nuptials to long-time girlfriend, Cynthia Powell, John\u2019s bandmates finally swayed him into seeing their side of the coin. Traveling to Butlin\u2019s Holiday Camp for a brief meeting with Ringo (Rory Storm and the Hurricanes\u2019 talented drummer), Paul and John invited Starr to join The Beatles. And happily, his answer, was, \u201cYes!<\/em>\u201d By 18 August, Pete was a part of Beatles history, and Ringo was sitting at the rostrum on the Cavern Club stage. This one move changed Beatle dynamics forever as Ringo became the star of both \u201cA Hard Day\u2019s Night\u201d and \u201cHelp!\u201d and added so much whimsy, gentle humanity, and powerful backbeat to the Fab Four. The changes of August 1962 had far-reaching implications.<\/p>\n

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1965\u2026The boys play Shea Stadium and meet \u201cThe King,\u201d Elvis! \u2014 <\/strong>John Lennon had always vowed that \u201cBefore Elvis there was nothing.\u201d Indeed, his earliest rock\u2019n\u2019roll memories involved hearing \u201cJailhouse Rock\u201d on the vacillating late-night airwaves from Radio Luxembourg<\/em> and on his mother\u2019s record player. Styling his hair like \u201cMr. Presley\u201d (as Mimi called him), John dreamed of making his living with the guitar as well. In fact, he set his sights on being \u201cbigger \u2019n Elvis.\u201d So, John was thrilled when The Beatles\u2019 limo rolled up to 1174 Hillcrest Drive, Beverly Hills, for the August 1965 meeting with The King of Rock\u2019n\u2019Roll. Elvis, however, was not as elated. In fact, when The Beatles entered his \u201cden,\u201d Elvis said almost nothing to them. And ill at ease, the lads said nothing in return. Not until Elvis announced that if The Beatles didn\u2019t want to talk, he was going to bed, did the ice break. Over drinks and pizza, they discussed everything except the fact that these \u201cjokers\u201d had stolen \u201cthe king\u2019s thorny crown.\u201d For several hours, they were just musicians, sharing their mutual talents. Journalist Ivor Davis, who was present that night, shared his vivid experiences with us at the Virtual Fest for Beatles Fans<\/em><\/strong>. If you missed the Fest, you can hear Ivor take you back to August 1965 here<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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1966\u2026The Beatles deal with John\u2019s \u201cJesus\u201d comments and decide to cease touring \u2014 <\/strong>In the angry backlash of John Lennon\u2019s completely out-of-context comments about The Beatles being \u201cmore popular than Jesus\u201d printed in Datebook<\/em> magazine, The Beatles arrived in America for their 1966 North American Tour. None of the boys \u2014 well, with the possible exception of Paul \u2014 were eager to tour anymore. George, especially, hated going on the road. But faced with Beatle burnings, angry protest placards, and the public expectation that John would apologize at every single press conference along the tour gamut, the boys felt anything but happy. It was with great relief for George Harrison, then, that at the close of the boys\u2019 San Francisco concert in Candlestick Park, he could announce, \u201cThat\u2019s it! I\u2019m no longer a Beatle!\u201d The days of touring were certainly over. And the \u201cnew Beatles\u201d \u2014 a studio group \u2014 would take a completely different direction from the exuberant, bow-at-the-waist, aim-to-please stage band. August 1966 was clearly the end of an era.<\/p>\n

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1967\u2026The Beatles meet the Maharishi but lose Brian \u2014 <\/strong>Whilst The Beatles were off in Bangor, North Wales, listening to words of wisdom from the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, their beloved manager, Brian Epstein, died from an accidental drug overdose. And as soon as the boys heard the tragic news, they realised that this monumental loss signaled a permanent change in who they were and who they would become. Brian had not only been their manager \u2014 he was, in many ways, a \u201cdad\u201d to them. He was their advisor, friend, and biggest fan. Brian had stood in the wings of almost every concert, television show, and interview they\u2019d ever done. While managing a huge stable of NEMS artists, Brian had always, always (according to both Tony Barrow and Ray Coleman) put The Beatles first. From 9 November 1961 on, The Beatles had claimed Brian\u2019s heart. August 1967 touched all of The Beatles\u2019 lives in an irrevocable way. No one would ever begin to replace Brian Epstein. It just wasn\u2019t possible.<\/p>\n

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Without a doubt, over and over again, events in The Beatles\u2019 Augusts were milestones\u2026they were directional occurrences, moving the four friends down one important path after another. This month, our Fest Family defeated the isolation of CoVid-19 to \u201ccome together\u201d at the Virtual Fest for Beatles Fans<\/strong>. And it was so successful that we\u2019re planning to do it again in October for John Lennon\u2019s 80th<\/sup> birthday. Although we will ALWAYS want to gather together physically, we saw the huge success of our virtual fest as a road sign, pointing us to the future\u2026and reminding us that, no matter what happens, we will always be connected. Like John, Paul, George, and Ringo, in many of these pivotal moments, we will always find a way to SHINE ON! <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re halfway through our year-long in-depth trek with The Beatles, month-by-month, reliving their most outstanding events and observing life patterns in their days together. We\u2019ve seen how their Aprils taught the lads to balance loss and hope. Their Junes together […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":8318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[98,117],"class_list":["post-8317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-baby-boomer-beatles-blog","tag-jude-southerland-kessler","tag-the-beatles"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8317"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8320,"href":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8317\/revisions\/8320"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}