All She's Still Saying Is Give Peace a Chance

This month we've seen a new British Invasion of media about the Beatles almost the same as that which also exploded when John, Paul. George, and Ringo first set foot in American in February of 1964. We had the Grammy tribute concert celebrating the Beatles' historic first performance 50 years ago on the Ed Sullivan Show. Then, of course, there was the re-creation of the band's 35-minute, 12-song, first American concert right here in DC.

Well, in the event you are in the DC area and you aren't yet Beatled out, you can head to the Hirshhorn Museum to check out art work by one of the most important non-Beatle players in the Beatles' story - Yoko Ono.

In 1969, one year before the Beatles broke up (at the time, and even today, there are fans who blame Ono for the dissolution of the Fab Four), John Lennon married Yoko and the pair remained united in their art and music until Lennon was tragically gunned down in 1980 outside the couple's apartment in New York City.

Yoko Ono, far right, speaks at the Hirshhorn

Ono's work is included in the exhibition Damage Control: Art and Destruction Since 1950. The exhibit features creations from artists influenced by the fear and uncertainty caused by the threat of imminent annihilation posed during the immediate decades following World War II and the anxiety that still resides in our contemporary world today.

Ono appeared at the museum to discuss her work, and naturally, she spoke much of her relationship with John and how they influenced each other.

"I didn't wish for it, but I met John and my whole life changed," Ono said. During much of their time, both in music and art, the couple delivered a blistering critique of the social conditions of the 60s and 70s.

"People would ask - 'what is she doing here' and I would say trying to make it a peaceful world," Ono told the crowd of art and Beatles lovers.

"With John's assassination, I know the pain that people go through," she said. "But we can survive all this together. I know we can if we use our brains. We all have brains. They think they can control us but we can change the hate to love and the war to peace. We just need a clear, logical head to know what is going on."

"We think 'I shouldn't do this' - but if all of us stand up it will be very difficult to beat us. They (the oppressors) will be very lonely. They won't even have servants," she added.

"Not too many people choose to be activists. Well, John and I were activists. Today people ask me - 'Yoko, are we going to have doomsday (which is a recurring motif in the Damage Control exhibit)?' I say, well it is up to us. If we are all so dumb, we will," Ono said.

Now 81 years old and having spent more than 30 years without John, Ono acknowledges that she has changed. For one thing, she focuses much more on her Japanese past and her ancestors. "I thought I was escaping that and being a rebel. But today, I know family history is important."

"There are so many beautiful things now. Whenever I get depressed, I take a look at the sky. It is so beautiful," she concluded.

Friday Flashback: Beatles Spotted in DuPont Circle Mansion

This story 1st appeared in The Price Do DC on July 23, 2013

Listen,
Do you want to know a secret?,
Do you promise not to tell?, whoa oh, oh.
     - Lennon and McCartney

Now that Deep Throat has been uncovered, Washington's best kept secret is The O Mansion. 

    - Savannah Magazine

The Beatles in DC?

What could be more British than the Beatles? Maybe the birth of a royal British baby? But what if you could combine the two into a single celebration party. Well, blimey blokes ... you'd have one bangin' big British birth day/band bash, wouldn't ya.

That was the situation earlier this week when The Mansion on O Street hosted the wax likenesses of John, Paul, George and Ringo walking down Abbey Road, now a display in DC at Madame Tussauds Museum near Ford's Theater.

The precise date was chosen because it marked the 50th anniversary of the release in Britain of The Beatles' 1st album Please Please Me. But in a fortuitous turn of events, the party took on additional British significance when Kate and William (or Kate and William as they are known all over the world) proudly announced the delivery of an heir to the British throne earlier in the day.

The unique mansion is a fascinating DC attraction, albeit one that isn't quite as recognizable as the White House or the Lincoln Memorial. Defying a single descriptor, it is at the same time a hotel, museum, musicians' hangout, art and crafts display gallery, book repository (with more than 30,000 books), and party hall. It's kitschy, kooky, elegant, eclectic, mysterious, marvelous, and just a damned fun place to spend time.

Prior to the official presentation of the Beatles figures, guests, with early Beatles tunes as a soundtrack, explored the mansion/museum's 100 rooms with its 32 secret doors. My wife just kept saying "amazing, I love this place. Look at this" over and over.

O staffers had placed Beatles artifacts and memorabilia, including signed guitars, rare photos and a letter John Lennon wrote to a laundry, throughout the museum's 4 open floors.  Many of the guests took part in a special Treasure Hunt for All Things Beatles. Items to be found ranged from a picture of Yoko Ono with the founder of the mansion, H. H. Leonards Spero, to Sean Lennon's guitar.

In this bathroom,  John Lennon always shines on

The mansion was an especially appropriate place for the Tussauds Beatles night since one of its themed suites is named The Lennon Suite and features all things John. The suite includes a bathroom where the floor features an lighted image of Lennon. Then there is also the fact that H. H. (as she likes to be called) is on the Board of Directors of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Later, as many guests lined up to get a picture taken with their favorite Beatle, a singing-guitar playing group of musicians from Austin, Texas kept others swaying and singing along to Beatles songs.

On our walk back to the Dupont Circle Judy and I agreed that our 1st visit to the Mansion would definitely not be our last. You too can visit for the day or a stay. If you would like to spend a night or 2, prices range from $350 a night for a small bedroom to $25,000 a night for 20 bedrooms, 32 bathrooms, 10 whirlpool tubs, 6 steam showers, 2 rain showers and sauna, 11 kitchens, 2 elevators, 11 special event rooms, 18 fireplaces, 3 laundry facilities, 2 business centers, a game room, the Amnesia Room, an exercise room, and a private chef. But no matter what option you choose, as the Beatles themselves once sang, you will enjoy your magical mystery tour of the Mansion.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
Of course, I had to get my picture taken with the likenesses of the 2 living Beatles and post it on Facebook, contending that I was at an exclusive DC party for the royal birth. And just in case you are wondering as I was, it takes 6 months and costs about $300,000 each to create a Madame Tussauds figure. By comparison, in 1963, the total session time cost for producing Please Please Me was £400, the equivalent of £10,000 today.

Paul, Ringo, and Dave

Beatles Get Back with a Historic Night in DC

Crowd outside DC venue for The Beatles' 1st American concert

The Beatles on stage in their first American concert in DC in 1964

On a cold, snowy February 11, 1964 night, the Beatles and 8,092 screaming, shrieking, mostly female fans joined to make rock music history. For on that night, with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" at the top of the American music charts, the British group played their first American concert, a presentation which took place just 2 days after the Beatles had been introduced to this country on an Ed Sullivan Show seen by a then-record audience of 73 million viewers.

Tonight, that historic event was recreated as the touring cast of Beatlemania Now, wearing replicas of the suits John, Paul, George, and Ringo wore on that night, performed the exact 12-song, 35-minute set that the Beatles played 50 years ago. And, in a nod to history, the Beatles tribute band's performance in the same Washington Coliseum as the original concert, began at 8:31, the identical start time of the 1964 show.

The reenactment was a fundraiser for the DC Preservation League, which has led a fight to keep the dilapidated Coliseum, also known as the Uline Arena, from being torn down. This would be the last performance ever in the venue, which has been used as a parking lot for the past few years. It will undergo a multi-million dollar renovation and reopen as a complex for offices and shops, but will still include the historic facade.

In another nod to history, the sold-out show, attended by 2,500 Beatles fans willing to brave the cold of the now open-air building, opened with a 5-song acoustic set by Tommy Roe, who also was one of 3 groups to open for the Beatles on the original 1964 date.

"It was great to perform on the same stage as the Beatles then and it's great to be back in DC tonight," Roe said as he encouraged the crowd to sing along with his hits.

Following Roe's well-received oldies performance, the crowd, about 100 of whom indicated that they had been at the original Beatles' show, was shown a short video documenting the history of the arena, which in its day featured everything from ice shows to basketball games to early concerts by Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones.

The crowd surged with anticipation as the Beatlemania group took the stage and plugged their guitars into the same type of Vox amps originally used by Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison. And just like Ringo Starr had been seated 50 years ago, the tribute band's drummer was placed on a riser. However, the replica group played on a regular stage, not the stage-in-the-round that the Beatles had used. That configuration forced the Fab Four to keep turing their amps and Ringo's drum riser so they weren't always playing to only the same 25 percent of the arena's fans.

The excitement continued to rise as the band hit the first notes of the Beatles' cover of Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven." The complete set list featured:

• "Roll Over Beethoven"
• "From Me to You"
• "I Saw Her Standing There"
• "This Boy"
• "All My Loving"
• "I Wanna Be Your Man"
• "Please Please Me"
• "Till There Was You"
• "She Loves You"
• "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
• "Twist and Shout" and
• "Long Tall Sally"

Initially the crowd, obviously many decades removed from the age they were when the Beatles first invaded America's shores, were content to clap, smile, and sing along with the songs. But by "She Loves You," everyone was on their feet, dancing and swaying to the magic of history being replayed. 

The 31-minute concert proved you could indeed be filled with teen spirit once again. Yesterday was today and the Beatles' infectious music was just as thrilling as it had been 5 decades ago. For while you now might be too old to scream and shriek, when it comes to Beatles' music, you are never too old to twist and shout.

Beatles Spotted in DuPont Circle Mansion

Listen,
Do you want to know a secret?,
Do you promise not to tell?, whoa oh, oh.
     - Lennon and McCartney

Now that Deep Throat has been uncovered, Washington's best kept secret is The O Mansion. 

    - Savannah Magazine

The Beatles in DC?

What could be more British than the Beatles? Maybe the birth of a royal British baby? But what if you could combine the two into a single celebration party. Well, blimey blokes ... you'd have one bangin' big British birth day/band bash, wouldn't ya.

That was the situation earlier this week when The Mansion on O Street hosted the wax likenesses of John, Paul, George and Ringo walking down Abbey Road, now a display in DC at Madame Tussauds Museum near Ford's Theater.

The precise date was chosen because it marked the 50th anniversary of the release in Britain of The Beatles' 1st album Please Please Me. But in a fortuitous turn of events, the party took on additional British significance when Kate and William (or Kate and William as they are known all over the world) proudly announced the delivery of an heir to the British throne earlier in the day.

The unique mansion is a fascinating DC attraction, albeit one that isn't quite as recognizable as the White House or the Lincoln Memorial. Defying a single descriptor, it is at the same time a hotel, museum, musicians' hangout, art and crafts display gallery, book repository (with more than 30,000 books), and party hall. It's kitschy, kooky, elegant, eclectic, mysterious, marvelous, and just a damned fun place to spend time.

Prior to the official presentation of the Beatles figures, guests, with early Beatles tunes as a soundtrack, explored the mansion/museum's 100 rooms with its 32 secret doors. My wife just kept saying "amazing, I love this place. Look at this" over and over.

O staffers had placed Beatles artifacts and memorabilia, including signed guitars, rare photos and a letter John Lennon wrote to a laundry, throughout the museum's 4 open floors.  Many of the guests took part in a special Treasure Hunt for All Things Beatles. Items to be found ranged from a picture of Yoko Ono with the founder of the mansion, H. H. Leonards Spero, to Sean Lennon's guitar.

In this bathroom,  John Lennon always shines on

The mansion was an especially appropriate place for the Tussauds Beatles night since one of its themed suites is named The Lennon Suite and features all things John. The suite includes a bathroom where the floor features an lighted image of Lennon. Then there is also the fact that H. H. (as she likes to be called) is on the Board of Directors of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Later, as many guests lined up to get a picture taken with their favorite Beatle, a singing-guitar playing group of musicians from Austin, Texas kept others swaying and singing along to Beatles songs.

On our walk back to the Dupont Circle Judy and I agreed that our 1st visit to the Mansion would definitely not be our last. You too can visit for the day or a stay. If you would like to spend a night or 2, prices range from $350 a night for a small bedroom to $25,000 a night for 20 bedrooms, 32 bathrooms, 10 whirlpool tubs, 6 steam showers, 2 rain showers and sauna, 11 kitchens, 2 elevators, 11 special event rooms, 18 fireplaces, 3 laundry facilities, 2 business centers, a game room, the Amnesia Room, an exercise room, and a private chef. But no matter what option you choose, as the Beatles themselves once sang, you will enjoy your magical mystery tour of the Mansion.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
Of course, I had to get my picture taken with the likenesses of the 2 living Beatles and post it on Facebook, contending that I was at an exclusive DC party for the royal birth. And just in case you are wondering as I was, it takes 6 months and costs about $300,000 each to create a Madame Tussauds figure. By comparison, in 1963, the total session time cost for producing Please Please Me was £400, the equivalent of £10,000 today.

Paul, Ringo, and Dave

Paul McCartney Gets Back and Rocks DC

The Beatles 1st played DC in 1964 just after appearing on Ed Sullivan ...

... and last night Paul McCartney, now 71, returned to DC to rekindle those old  memories.

It wasn't a Beatles concert. The deaths of John Lennon and George Harrison have ensured that such a show can never happen again. However, last night at Nationals Park, Paul McCartney, backed by his crack 4-member band, delivered a 39-song live masterpiece that evoked all the life-changing music he created with Lennon, Harrison, and Ringo Starr.

After a 30-minute video highlighting his 5 decades as one of the era's greatest songwriters and performers, McCartney opened the show with the 1965 Beatles' hit "Eight Days a Week." Almost 3 hours later, after he closed with a 2nd encore of the related trio from Abbey Road, - "Golden Slumbers," "Carry That Weight," and "The End," - the sold-out crowd definitely believed they had been taken on a magical musical mystery tour of the Beatles years.

McCartney's new Out There tour features 5 Beatles' tracks that he has never before performed live. In addition to "Eight Days a Week," the songs are “Your Mother Should Know," “All Together Now," “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!," and “Lovely Rita."

Using the vocal and instrumental talents of Paul Wickens on keyboard, Rusty Anderson on guitar, Brian Ray on guitar and bass, and Abe Laboriel Jr. on drums, McCartney offered 27 spot-on Beatles renditions. Everyone had their favorites. For some it was the anthemic "Let It Be" and "Hey Jude." For others it was the acoustic beauty of "Blackbird" (which Paul introduced as his tribute to the Civil Rights protesters of the 60's) or "Yesterday," (which is the most recorded song of the rock era).  For me, it would be "All My Loving," "Paperback Writer," "And I Love Her," "Lady Madonna," "Eleanor Rigby," "Back in the USSR," and "Day Tripper."

The most unique moment came from the choice of the only cover of  the night - an all-instrumental jam version of Jimi Hendrix's "Foxey Lady," with McCartney playing lead guitar. McCartney explained the unusual choice. He said Hendrix gave him the greatest tribute of his career in 1967. In June of that year, on a Friday, the Beatles released their classic Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band album. Hendrix was so taken by the title tune that he learned it and performed it live at a concert on Sunday attended by a who's who of British rock royalty including the Beatles.

Throughout the night, McCartney demonstrated his prowess on several instruments including his signature Hoffner bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, and concert grand piano. For several lively numbers, he led the band on a colorful, psychedelically painted upright piano. He even played ukulele on "Something," his tribute to George Harrison. McCartney dedicated 3 others songs: "Here Today," (a song he says he wrote in the form of a conversation he wished he had with John Lennon), My Valentine (for his wife, Nancy) and "Maybe I'm Amazed (for his deceased wife, Linda).

Of course, while the night's focus was on the Beatles and their music, the Out There set list also includes several hits from McCartney's 2nd band Wings, as well as an incredible version of "Live and Let Die," which has to set a record for the most pyrotechnics (not 1, but 2 sustained outbursts of fireworks) in a James Bond soundtrack tune.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
You can check out the complete set list by clicking here. However, as amazing as last night's song list is, I think it's even more impressive that McCartney could have included so many more Beatles/ McCartney tunes that he has performed at least 50 times on previous tours. How would you like to hear a concert of these songs?

• Jet
• I Saw Her Standing There
• My Love
• Got to Get You Into My Life
• Drive My Car
• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Cub Band
• Here, There, and Everywhere
• Michelle
• Magical Mystery Tour
• I've Got a Feeling
• Let 'Em In
• Good Day Sunshine
• Penny Lane
• The Things We Said Today
• A Day in the Life
• Getting Better
• She's Leaving Home
• I'll Follow the Sun
• I Will
• Fixing a Hole
• For No One