If you're a devoted Beatles' fan (and my guess is you are if you're reading this) you MUST, at least once, attend a Fest for Beatles Fans. (www.thefestforbeatlesfans.com)
Not only will you have the time of your life dancing, listening to the bands, shopping in the gigantic Marketplace full of Beatles memorabilia of every kind, sitting at the feet of legends like Pete Best, Sid Bernstein, and Patti Boyd, and taking part in the trivia, costume, and "look alike" contests, BUT you'll also have the privilege to meet many wonderful Beatles fans.
That is how I met RANDALL KRONE.
Actually, Randall and I were both Vendors selling our Beatles wares at the Fest for Beatles Fans in the Meadowlands a year ago, and over a hot dog and cold Coke, we started swapping stories about the lads, about Liverpool, and about our "growing up" years as true blue fans. We found we had a lot in common. And when I heard about some of the "bigger than life" people that Randall had encountered in Liverpool and some of the adventures he had enjoyed, I wanted to share his story with you, too!
So...pretend you are just south of New York City in a high-rise hotel jam-packed with fans. The floor is covered with people playing guitars, drumming on drums and bongos, wearing 60's apparel, and singing at the top of their lungs. Right now, they're singing, "Norwegian Wood." Hear them? Great!
Mark Lapidos, the founder of the Fest for Beatles Fans, walks by quickly, on his way to introduce Ronnie Spector to a waiting audience of about 800 people, and with him is Martin Lewis, one of the world's foremost authorities on Brian Epstein. They wave to you and hurry on. You have an appointment, too, so you move on as well.
You thread your way precariously through the bands and fans to the bar where Beatles music ("I Want to Tell You") is blaring and where every single person inside has on a Beatles T-shirt of one kind or another! You look around.
Over in the corner, you see a man with a full beard and a glint in his eye hail you over to the table. It's your new friend, Randall Krone. You wedge through the mob of revelers to join Randall at a far table, and you settle in, ready to listen to the story of his life as a Beatles fan. Just as "In My Life" begins to ooze out over the sound system, Randall orders you a Black and Tan, and he begins telling you his tale. Listen! I can hear him now...
Collector? Historian? Connoisseur? Fan? Whatever you may call yourself, we all think we know The Beatles. And we do, in some form. We may know the dates of Ed Sullivan or Shea Stadium or the release of Sgt. Peppers, and I did know all these things. I had the records, the memorabilia, the books, autographs and thousands of other items that landed me in the various categories I listed above.
But it wasn't until a few years ago that I realized a deeper appreciation and zest for knowledge than I had yet experienced. I'm talking about my first trip to Liverpool. I, like all of you, had grown up hearing of The Cavern Club, NEMS, Quarry Bank and St. Peter's Church. But it wasn't until I visited those locales that the picture became complete. I was able to connect the dots and develop a passion for a very special era in Beatles history.
Knowing nothing of London or Liverpool, a little research led me to a Beatles tour guide named Jackie Spencer. She offered half-day tours of Beatles locales. I couldn't have been more fortunate for my first visit. My love affair with a city and her people was about to begin.
The train journey from London to Liverpool's Lime Street Station was a joy in itself. But making the trip, I saw the same English countryside that Brian Epstein had seen countless times after an unsuccessful trip to London seeing to get the boys a recording contract.
Jackie and our driver met me at the station and we were off. Our first stop? Fittingly it was where The Beatles' story truly began and that's at the former Oxford Street Maternity Hospital where John Lennon was born. I truly sensed I was experiencing something special as we went from John's first home on Newcastle to George's birthplace on Arnold Grove. Seeing the kids playing outside made me appreciate how George and his friends must have spent hours playing on the same streets I was now walking.
Seeing Mendips (from the outside only) and then seeing Strawberry Field and truly appreciating just how close it was for John to escape and take refuge in these lush lawns where his imagination could run wild. Beaconsfield Road, a small yet quite busy road where the legendary Strawberry Field gates stood. This may not have been John's point of entry when he played at Strawberry Field but thanks to the photos and the record's picture sleeve, this was the image that had come to represent this magical place. And now, it was no longer a photo in a book or words on a page, it was a real place and I was there.
The golf course was nearby and it was easy to imagine a young Paul McCartney on his bike trekking across the fairways to visit John and discuss the new Elvis song for which he had just learned the chords. Also close was Quarry Bank High School. Standing at the entrance made me envision John along with friends like Pete Shotton and Nigel Whalley driving the administration crazy with their latest antics.
Driving through the Dingle and seeing both Madryn Street and Admiral Grove definitely made you understand how it was a bit of a step down in class from what John and Paul had grown up with. Nevertheless, Ringo has often talked of it being a close-knit community when he grew up and, even in 2001, you could feel that. Having a drink at The Empress, and imaging Elsie Graves' days behind the bar, the locals managed to make even a visiting tourist feel welcome over a pint of John Smith's Bitter.
A very short stroll down Admiral Grove led us to the house Ringo grew up in. Expecting nothing more than a photo from the outside, I was extremely surprised when the current resident, a lovely lady named Margaret, opened the door and invited us in. She told us of knowing Elsie and Ringo and showed us around the house which was like a step back in time. Although it has been slightly expanded and modernized since Ringo and his folks lived there, it's the first time I ever truly understood the meaning of a "Two-up-and-two down". The picture continued to clear.
This was the place, the neighborhood and the city that made The Beatles what they were to become. Understanding the proximity of the Liverpool Institute to the Liverpool College of Art and just how easy it truly was for John, Paul and George to meet up at lunch for a band practice. Or seeing how Ye Cracke was only a block away and imagine all the strategy meetings that had occurred in the War Room of that legendary pub with John, Stuart, Bill Harry and the like.
Other sites took shape and became real. The Aintree Institute, the Clubmoor Conservative Hall, and, of course, the Penny Lane roundabout. I stood in front of the barber shop and the bank - the same ones Paul McCartney saw on the bus each day and wrote about years later. I also walked to the Woolworths where Cynthia Lennon had worked. I get it now.
We drove to Speke to see George's house on Upton Green and Paul's house on Ardwick. More important than the houses was understanding the geographical distance of Speke from the City Centre area of Liverpool. Though not that far by car now, it must have seemed like forever when a young Harrison and McCartney hoped on the school bus every morning. Thank goodness they used that time to become friends and talk music.
Touring the Casbah Club was another trip back in time. There's no Beatles-related concert venue in Liverpool that has changed as little as the basement at Hayman's Green. This truly is walking in the footsteps of Stuart Sutcliffe, Pete Best and the other Beatles as you tour this tiny venue where so much history occurred and which still looks essentially as it did then.
Rory Best, Pete's brother, gave us the tour and then patiently endured an hour's worth of questions about the club, its history, his brother and The Beatles. I would venture to say Rory has given the tour a thousand times but knowing it was the first time we'd been there he was just as animated, just as approachable and just as patient as if it were his first time.
Drinks at The Grapes and a quick trip down to The Cavern, where one of the bartenders took the time to show us the carpark behind the newly built large stage. Nothing that interesting about a parking lot except that they've determined that the carpark is approximately the spot where the club's original stage would have stood. Again, someone taking time for a tourist interested in history - amazing.
I've got it now . . . or at least I thought I got it. There is still so much to "get" however. I've been back twice since my initial visit and will be going back again in March of this year. The people of Liverpool have got to be the warmest people in the world.
Liverpool and The Beatles history is now more to me than black and white pictures in a book. The "dirty and dank" town described for so many years, no longer exists. Instead, today, it's a thriving colorful city that embraces its place in musical history. Once experienced it does, truly, stay "in your ears and in your eyes".
I still have the records, the memorabilia and the autographs. Now, however, they mean so much more because I understand what made The Beatles the people and musicians they later became. What a wonderful history it is indeed . . . thank you Liverpool!
