tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post9048841855560773210..comments2023-11-03T06:02:02.128-07:00Comments on By Ken Levine: My so-called pastBy Ken Levinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17305293821975250420noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-6738638325063574352008-07-11T01:10:00.000-07:002008-07-11T01:10:00.000-07:00Awesome. The Beatles are by far my favorite, even ...Awesome. The Beatles are by far my favorite, even though they were well broken up by the time I was born. I love hearing stories like this, wishing I could have been there to see it originally, but glad I wasn't there for the politics of the time. <BR/><BR/>My father told me a similar story years ago, and had the same views as you about the Beach Boys - he was a So Cal boy, too. He resented the Beatles for quite some time because of this. <BR/><BR/>I can't wait to read more. Thank you for sharing!Tink1272https://www.blogger.com/profile/05427946747215069065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-73104049997854074132008-07-09T19:26:00.000-07:002008-07-09T19:26:00.000-07:00joey - great story! I went to film school in Sout...joey - great story! I went to film school in Southern Illinois (Carbondale), but I'd never heard that one. I knew some guys who lived in a house once owned by Burl Ives, but I don't think that tops Martha's story. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-42870425838659469452008-07-09T19:08:00.000-07:002008-07-09T19:08:00.000-07:00There's some interesting Beatle trivia regarding m...There's some interesting Beatle trivia regarding my home area...Southern Illinois. George Harrison's sister, Louise, lived in Benton, Illinois where her husband was employed as a coal mining engineer. In early 1963, Louise started trying to promote the Beatles records to radio stations in the area. Powerhouse Top 40 KXOK in St. Louis said 'no thanks'.<BR/><BR/>But local high schooler Marcia Rauback had a one hour weekly show on her father's station, WFRX in West Frankfort. She played a copy of "From Me to You" that Louise had brought her. It may have been the first Beatles single played on US radio, though there is evidence that a Chicago top 40 station had played the Beatles as an "Extra" about the same time.<BR/><BR/>In September, George came to Benton on a two week vacation to visit his sister. He visited WFRX and was interviewed by Marcia about "She Loves You," the bands new single had had brought with him. The first Beatle in America was being interviewed for the first time on dinky little AM daytimer.<BR/><BR/>George also sat in with a local group, The Four Vests, on a couple of gigs, including the local VFW hall. The leader of the Four Vests also took George to a music store in Mount Vernon because he wanted to buy a Rickenbacher guitar.Joey Hhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11718595858513830730noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-61696401628152316242008-07-09T11:21:00.000-07:002008-07-09T11:21:00.000-07:00Mike Mc: Thanks for the research... Now I know m...Mike Mc: Thanks for the research... Now I know more about Sept. 17, 1967 than I ever expected -- or probably needed -- to know....Tom Quigleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12959628996361620134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-79960444881544283812008-07-09T11:12:00.000-07:002008-07-09T11:12:00.000-07:00I was eight years old and in Syracuse, N.Y. on Feb...I was eight years old and in Syracuse, N.Y. on Feb. 9, 1964, and recall watching the Sullivan show, and the listing of each Beatle individually (for John: "Sorry, girls, he's married"). <BR/><BR/>Their freshness and enthusiasm was precisely what was needed at the time, and soon I bought a copy of "Meet The Beatles" and even a Vee Jay extended play 45. I can recall being upset one Friday afternoon in April when the Beatles <I>didn't</I> have the number one song on the WOLF weekly survey (they were knocked off by "A World Without Love" by Peter & Gordon, a song I learned Lennon and McCartney had written).<BR/><BR/>As I've stated in earlier posts, there were a few areas where the Beatles charted during 1963, including Chicago and San Bernardino, but most of us didn't get around to hearing them (or appreciating them) until 1964.VP81955https://www.blogger.com/profile/11792390726196611188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-80580106315498183522008-07-08T22:45:00.000-07:002008-07-08T22:45:00.000-07:00Tom Q... here's the Ed Sullivan Show you asked abo...Tom Q... here's the Ed Sullivan Show you asked about: 9/17/1967<BR/>(courtesy of TV.com)<BR/>Guest star: The Kessler Twins, Flip Wilson, Rodney Dangerfield, Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, The Skating Bredos, The Doors, Yul Brynner <BR/><BR/>Guests: --The Doors - "People are Strange" & "Light My Fire" --Yul Brynner (actor, appearing with a musician) - perform "Two Guitars" (from Brynner's album) --Flip Wilson (stand-up comedian) --Rodney Dangerfield (stand-up comedy) --Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme - "That's Love," "Come Back to Me" & medley: "Anything Goes," "Love For Sale," "I Get A Kick Out Of You," "You Do Something To Me," "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair," "Getting To Know You," "Happy Talk" & "I've Got You Under My Skin" --Eydie Gorme - "Mame" --Steve Lawrence - "Too Fast, Too Soon" --The Kessler Sisters (twins Alice & Ellen Kessler) - medley of Maurice Chevalier songs: "Thank Heaven For Little Girls" and "Louise" (A salute To Maurice Chevalier on his 79th birthday) --The Skating Bredos (from Sweeden) - man & woman speed skate in 6 ft. circleMike McCannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06369457898152250682noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-7069494364731904602008-07-08T20:34:00.000-07:002008-07-08T20:34:00.000-07:00First, great beginning! I loved what you wrote and...First, great beginning! I loved what you wrote and remember the Beatles on Sullivan like it was yesterday (I was 10).<BR/><BR/>Second, I'm intrigued by the premise of your project. I, like you, was one of the 90% who got through the sixties & early seventies with my middle classness securely intact.<BR/><BR/>Recently, I was talking about the sixties with my twenty-something niece and telling her that I was never a hippie. When she asked me why not, my answer was simple: I just didn't have it in me. I was middle class through and through. I had good parents, good friends, a good school, in short,a good life. What was there to rebel about?<BR/><BR/>But I was so envious of the hippies. I wanted to be like them; they were cool, man. Alas, sleeping around, dropping acid and hating the over 30 crowd was completely foreign to me. I was no saint, but nowhere near hippiedom.<BR/><BR/>Good luck with your project. You're a good writer and I'll bet it'll be a success.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-56353895716571115522008-07-08T19:14:00.000-07:002008-07-08T19:14:00.000-07:00That picture you have of the girl crying could hav...That picture you have of the girl crying could have been me only I was 2 inches from the TV set crying my eyes out. I was a Beatlemaniac from the get-go. I, too, was 14 and growing up in the suburb known as Woodland Hills, going to junior high at Parkman. And the Beatles coming to the U.S. was definitely a defining moment for the sixties. Look forward to your take on our growing up years, Ken.mavenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01159992386642158559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-58375898768046693582008-07-08T19:13:00.000-07:002008-07-08T19:13:00.000-07:00P. S.: I was nine, and really into comic books an...P. S.: I was nine, and <B>really</B> into comic books and masked heroes. Just under two years later I made my parents spend money on a sitter instead of going to the movies with them because I didn't want to miss the January 1966 premier of <I>Batman</I> on ABC.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-42761850132863323662008-07-08T19:07:00.000-07:002008-07-08T19:07:00.000-07:00Ed Berman said...> Ken, I was also 14, and I> reme...Ed Berman said...<BR/><BR/>> Ken, I was also 14, and I<BR/>> remember having to beg my<BR/>> younger brother to switch<BR/>> over from Disney to<BR/>> Sullivan at 8pm. And I<BR/>> think the Disney show was<BR/>> called "the 9 Lives of<BR/>> Elfego Baca"<BR/><BR/>No, because while the rest of my family was watching Sullivan and the Beatles on the 19-inch wooden-furniture black-and-white Zenith in the living room, I was on the 12-inch "portable" Admiral with the broken tuner knob and clothes-hanger antenna in the kitchen watching Patrick McGoohan in the second of three installments of "The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh" on Disney's <I>The Wonderful World of Color</I> -- I had seen the first part the week before and wasn't about to miss the rest of it.<BR/><BR/>As much as I later came to love the Beatles, I have no regrets.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-89436017255899283432008-07-08T16:05:00.000-07:002008-07-08T16:05:00.000-07:00C'mon, hugh betcha...how can you not tell us what ...C'mon, hugh betcha...how can you not tell us what McCartney's answer was?<BR/><BR/>I still have my sister's copy of Sgt. Pepper (the mono mix, which is incredible). If you open it to the fold out and tilt it just right, you can still see the ovals and crude features etched into it by a 6 year old me, who obsessively traced the Beatles' pictures for days on end.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-66076425629142869502008-07-08T15:56:00.000-07:002008-07-08T15:56:00.000-07:00I like your premise, but wasn't particularly taken...I like your premise, but wasn't particularly taken with this installment. So very much has been written about the Beatles' first appearance on Sullivan, but for those of us in a certain age bracket (I'm 5 years behind you, so I was only 9), it makes me feel inadequate when I read how monumental this was. Because I think I watched it, but it wasn't that "moment in time" for me like it was for others. So this is just one more effort that alienates me. <BR/><BR/>On the other hand, you're talented and funny enough to make a silly encounter at a grocery story poignant and memorable (OK, I'm just spitballin' on the example, but I think you know what I mean). You have written so many poignant blogs about "timely"--but not necessarily "monumental" things--that I know you can bring it home. I feel stuff that I have never experienced through your writing--and it doesn't need to be Beatles on Ed Sullivan or Moon Landing.* <BR/><BR/>So just tell our stories.<BR/><BR/>*(OK, stuff people were doing during the moon landing can be kinda fun. Not a chapter on witnessing the moon landing itself, but what people remember they were doing when they watched it. For example...Marilu Henner...losing her virginity. Others, maybe something a little more mundane.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-58648676654315676292008-07-08T14:55:00.000-07:002008-07-08T14:55:00.000-07:00louocny: Yeah, I guess my question about the Stone...louocny: Yeah, I guess my question about the Stones re Sgt. Pepper was prompted by "received wisdom" rather than objective fact. Still, it's not too far-fetched to imagine the Stones adjusting their game in response to Pepper, which they undoubtedly heard before they'd finished recording and mixing (and hey, what about "Revolver?"). At any rate, all these guys were always trying to top each other in this period, and we're all the richer for it. I agree that Pepper is erratic as a collection of songs, but I do think the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.<BR/><BR/>I was six when the Beatles were on Sullivan, and it seemed like immediately thereafter every kid was grabbing a guitar, ukulele, tennis racket, you name it, and trying to recreate that magic. My buddies and I would stand on the porch lip-synching to the radio while the neighborhood girls pretended to go ga-ga. Fun times.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-11749724456615333712008-07-08T14:36:00.000-07:002008-07-08T14:36:00.000-07:00Ken, Enjoyed the read. I was nine years old that n...Ken, Enjoyed the read. <BR/>I was nine years old that night, suburban OC was home (still had orange groves near by) and the Beatles didn't make a big impression on me. The rest of the family flipped out though.<BR/><BR/>---what really made that decade so memorable for me was the effort to put a man on the moon---<BR/><BR/>Now that was memorable. My dad latched on to me and said son; "were gonna watch history being made tonight". The weather was hot and I remember it like it was yesterday.<BR/><BR/>BTW, I now live in a simple ranch style house in Woodland Hills.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-40115754962321368462008-07-08T13:18:00.000-07:002008-07-08T13:18:00.000-07:00Your writing is great as always, Ken, and I'm sure...Your writing is great as always, Ken, and I'm sure a book would be very successful given the huge potential audience of fellow Boomers. But does the world really need yet another <B>anything</B> about your generation? <BR/><BR/>Sure, the hippie/counterculture element has been grossly overrepresented, but you all went through similar cultural & entertainment events (Beatles, moon landings, Kennedy, etc. etc.) that have already been covered in from multiple perspectives in nauseatingly comprehensive fashion. The perspective of the in-betweens (non-hippie/non-square) just isn't that much different. It's not as if every generation isn't as self-absorbed about themselves, but the sheer numbers of y'all has oversaturated the market. At this point, anything about Boomers or the 60s is the equivalent of enduring your uncle's slideshow of the family trip to Dubuqe.<BR/><BR/>Ask your kids what they think.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-37950478288863796252008-07-08T13:07:00.000-07:002008-07-08T13:07:00.000-07:00"In a way the sixties ended the day we sold that v..."In a way the sixties ended the day we sold that van- December 31, 1969."<BR/><BR/>Paraphrased from the Simpsons. I believe it was spoken by the late George Carlin, but it may have been Steve Martin.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-4747167798663266262008-07-08T12:56:00.000-07:002008-07-08T12:56:00.000-07:00I was thinking about this a couple of weeks ago as...I was thinking about this a couple of weeks ago as my wife and I left the Cirque du Soleil show "Love" in Vegas. (Love uses Beatles music, hence the connection.) <BR/><BR/>I remarked to her that the Beatles on Ed Sullivan was the day the world changed. Everything would be different from that point forward. It may be US-centric, but it started the 60s. As for the end of the 60s - either Nixon resigning or the end of the draft in '74.<BR/><BR/>Oh - the show is quite good. Go see it if you are in Vegas.Edmundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11718740483011655096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-91642058189580884162008-07-08T12:33:00.000-07:002008-07-08T12:33:00.000-07:00I remember the first night I heard the Beatles. I...I remember the first night I heard the Beatles. I want to hold your hand was it. The fast talkin' DJ was Ron (tulu baby) Britian and the play up was for the "Baby Beatles." The station was WSAI in Cincinnati. <BR/><BR/>A kid at school had visited England the summer before and had the haircut. Sudden death to Brylcream in that red and white tube... thank god!!!.<BR/><BR/>They played the song several times and even after lights out, I kept the radio on low to hear it again. Amazin' it was. I was 13. <BR/><BR/>I also remember, or think I do, that the Stones were on The Mike Douglas Show the same week the Beatles were on Sullivan. I liked the Beatles better 'cause they seemed to be having so much fun while the Stones were full of attitude... attitude that seemed pretty fake to me - or "phony" as Holden Caulfield would say...<BR/><BR/>I've recently been listening to the Jonas Brothers - I have two kids, 10 and 12 (started late I did). They have some of the same fun in them that the Beatles did. There's a bit on You Tube of them discovering a bidet in England... and their meeting of the Queen on the street and subsequent meetings is pretty fun too. I'm glad my kids have something of the same lighthearted music to be their growing up soundtrack - the kid's in the living room right now practicing a Jonas Bros lick on his guitar. <BR/><BR/>And kids these days still think the Beatles are the best... maybe they're right.<BR/><BR/>For my money the 60's ended at Kent State. And started only about '66 or '67... I was class of '68 and I remember that when everyone come home for Christmas that year, it was like a second Halloween where everyone was dressed up as a hippie and had grown their hair long... and girls without bras... bless them. Merry bobbin' Christmas.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12908376081040951079noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-26652058244677581842008-07-08T12:11:00.000-07:002008-07-08T12:11:00.000-07:00This is no memoir. This is the makings of a new TV...This is no memoir. This is the makings of a new TV series like "The Wonder Years" only a decade earlier.Alto2https://www.blogger.com/profile/04383871934188791511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-49657499342642535202008-07-08T12:03:00.000-07:002008-07-08T12:03:00.000-07:00Ken, I was also 14, and I remember having to beg m...Ken, I was also 14, and I remember having to beg my younger brother to switch over from Disney to Sullivan at 8pm. And I think the Disney show was called "the 9 Lives of Elfego Baca"<BR/> <BR/>The Beatles were real good.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-23953114331758329832008-07-08T11:51:00.000-07:002008-07-08T11:51:00.000-07:00In South Africa it was another ten years before we...In South Africa it was another ten years before we got TV, and by then the Beatles were banned for claiming to be more popular than Jesus.<BR/><BR/>But we had radio, scratchy shortwave transmissions from Lourenzo Marques Radio in Mozambique. On Sunday nights we would sit around in the boarding school dormitory and tune in to the hit parade. Sometimes there would be five Beatles songs in the top ten. I remember once there were twelve Beatles songs in the top twenty.<BR/><BR/>That was 1963 and 1964, when I was 16. The Beatles were a phenomenon like no other. Their secret was they were playing "our" music. They were so in tune with the mood of the times. They seemed to express our feelings. Young, happy, optimistic, tuneful, uncomplicated, the spirit of youth.Martin_Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06872780969179149381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-13832439348657637672008-07-08T11:34:00.000-07:002008-07-08T11:34:00.000-07:00>>Back in 1964 there were only three networks and ...>>Back in 1964 there were only three networks and we watched whatever crap was on.<<<BR/><BR/>In addtion, it you decided you wanted to stay up late watching the TV, you were just shit out of luck. At 10 or 11 or 12 PM depending on the network and the day of the week, the network programs faded away for the night and there was nothing to watch except a program called "test pattern".<BR/><BR/>Ken, if you need any help remembering anything, let me know. I remember all those times that are probably a bit fuzzy for you because you were compeltely zonked out on Beef Booglaoos.<BR/><BR/>RayAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-77080558610839029592008-07-08T10:38:00.000-07:002008-07-08T10:38:00.000-07:00Families sitting round the TV. Those were the days...Families sitting round the TV. Those were the days.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-63971390621812650652008-07-08T10:31:00.000-07:002008-07-08T10:31:00.000-07:00Good column.The last line reminds me of the book "...Good column.The last line reminds me of the book "Loose Change" by Sara Davidson, a non fiction account following 3 peolel who lived through that time. Did you ever read it?<BR/><BR/>EleanorAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-27230402605105066962008-07-08T10:15:00.000-07:002008-07-08T10:15:00.000-07:00"...Tom Quigley...your dad was NOT watching "The F...<I>"...Tom Quigley...your dad was NOT watching "The F.B.I." as that did not premiere until September 1965."</I><BR/><BR/>OK, my memory didn't retain the full TV Guide schedule for that season -- it might have been ARREST & TRIAL (my dad was real big on law and discipline, which is why I remember him watching THE F.B.I. on Sundays), but whatever it was he was watching, we still had to fight with him to see the Beatles... I still have the emotional scars....<BR/><BR/>BTW, anyone know what was on opposite Ed Sullivan during The Doors' first (and only) appearance? I missed that one too...Tom Quigleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12959628996361620134noreply@blogger.com