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The
Coolest Night
"I just happened to come across your website in researching the old Coach House. Unfortunately, I didn't see Jim Stingl's article in 2009 about your collecting reminiscences from people who were at The Beatles concert at the Arena--I wish I would have. "I was there when I was 13. Got my ticket the night before the concert, sat in the last row in the house, on the south wall. Couldn't have been any further away from the stage. Couldn't have been more thrilled. "We came to town from East Troy (Wisconsin) in a van full of teenagers driven by two fathers, both donning Beatle wigs. It was hilarious. "My future father-in-law (now deceased) was the night manager of the Coach House at the time, and somewhere I have a picture my sister-in-law took of them (The Beatles) in their limo coming back, I think, to the hotel from the concert. Ringo had a towel around his neck. My father-in-law also managed to scarf up a prescription written by a local doctor for John's sore throat that was left behind in their room. I have not been able to wrest this away from my sister-in-law but have seen it. Someday I'll get it away from her. "It was the coolest night, being there. Impressions
"The main thing I remember is not being able to hear a thing and seeing only specks on the stage. We were all so impatient for the opening acts to get off and The Beatles to come on. I felt really sorry for Jackie DeShannon and the Righteous Brothers. "The girl I sat next to was from Sheboygan. I'm pretty sure she was well under 16 and she told me she got on a bus and came without telling her parents. I was fairly shocked. For 1964, that was pretty gutsy. Today, there would have been an Amber Alert out on her! I sat alone as my sister and her friends had tickets on the side of the Arena about half way from the stage. "A neighbor of mine who was older was there and was pictured in The Milwaukee Journal the next day at the concert, dressed in a skirt, Beatle jacket, tie, and Lennon hat, taking a picture of the stage. She later became a controversial person in Milwaukee named Miriam Ben-Shalom (Candy Barnes, actually!). I thought it was really cool of her at the time to get in the paper. Life-Long Fan
"This
past summer, I was
fortunate enough to be standing in front of Paul's house in London.
I've seen every one of his concerts in Chicago and
Milwaukee since he left The Beatles. I am a Beatlemaniac...
"I met Peter Brown (The Beatles' kind-of manager after Brian Epstein) at a broadcast of Good Morning, Chicago when he was there talking about his book, The Love You Make, a tell-all about the group and got his autograph. That's my closest brush with fame. I also had a girlfriend get me Jane Asher's autograph in London a few years back, when she went to visit Asher's bakery. So I have those two autographs. "If you do anything to commemorate the 50th anniversary of September 4, 1964, when it rolls around, I'd love to hear about it." |