The Beatles In Cleveland
‘YEAH,
YEAH, YEAH!’
New
book says yesterday not so far away for fans of Beatles during Cleveland
concerts
By Ron Vidika, Morning Journal Writer
Baby boomer and Beatles aficionados alike will delight in reading and day-tripping through the new book, “The Beatles In Cleveland: Memories, Facts & Photos About The Notorious 1964 & 1966 Concerts” (North Shore Publishing) by Dave Schwensen.
The legendary Beatles played Cleveland twice, in 1964 and 1966. The first concert, on Sept. 15, 1964, was temporarily shut down by Cleveland police because of shrieking fans storming the stage at the Cleveland Public Hall. In fact, after that concert, Ralph Locher, Cleveland mayor at the time, banned not only the Beatles, but also the Rolling Stones from Cleveland. The Stones lost out on a whopping $5,000 when their concert was cancelled here. But the persistent adulation of the youth for the Fab Four resulted in a second Cleveland concert.
That concert, on Aug. 14, 1966, held in the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium, had more shrieking fans per square inch and also included fans rushing the infield to the strains of “Day Tripper.” But this time, John, Paul, George and Ringo played their entire set without a hitch.
The idea for the book first surfaced in 1998 during a lull in reviewing musical acts for his newspaper column, Schwensen said.
“I was reviewing acts three nights in a row. On the fourth night, there was nothing to do and I had all this adrenaline,” Schwensen said. “I had to write something. So I wrote a one-page review of the 1966 Beatles concert I saw when I was 13. I thought I’d better put down all my memories of it so I won’t forget. And I (later) placed it on my website. The next morning I started getting emails from Beatles fans that were at the concert. I just kept adding stuff and researched it.”
One thing led to another. In the course of his research, Schwensen interviewed retired Plain Dealer pop music columnist Jane Scott, who interviewed the Fab Four when they were in Cleveland. Scott directed Schwensen to Jerry G. Bishop, who was a DJ at Cleveland’s WKYC-AM and traveled with the group during their tours in 1965 and ’66, and then to Norman Wain, ‘Big’ Jack Armstrong and Johnny Canton, who were at the old WIXY 1260-AM radio station in Cleveland, which was the station that brought the Beatles to Cleveland in 1966.
“The book turned into a history of Cleveland Top 40 radio and the history of the Beatles’ concerts here,” said Schwensen, adding that the final page of the book was completed during the fall of 2006.
The 1966 Cleveland concert, Schwensen said, was the first time the Beatles discussed the possibility that their touring days were over. “It’s the first documentation we have that this was the last time they were going on tour,” Schwensen said.
Writing the foreword to the book was Bill Harry, founder of ‘Mersey Beat,’ the Liverpool-based newspaper that became famous in its own right, chronicling the bands of the so-called British Invasion of the early 1960’s. Harry used to book “the lads” for college dances, back when John Lennon’s best friend at the time, Stu Sutcliffe, played bass guitar.
“I can’t remember them having a specific name. I just referred to them as ‘the college band,” Harry wrote in his foreword.
Schwensen said his book is being gobbled up by boomers and “third generation Beatles fans” around the world.
“We’ve had orders from New Zealand, Norway and a store in London that ordered 50 copies,” Schwensen said.
There’s a chance that Schwensen’s book may wind up in the hands of at least one of the two surviving Beatles, Sir Paul McCartney.
“I sent a copy to his brother, Michael, along with one of my other books, ‘How To Be A Working Comic,’ because he has done (professional) comedy,” Schwensen said.
“They were such a phenomena,” said Schwensen of the Beatles. “Everything changed: attitudes, music. Only a year after their final tour, the world was a much different place.”