it was 60 years ago today (well, almost...)

A FB meme recently proclaimed that it was 60 years ago that Meet the Beatles was released in the USA: January 20, 1964. 

Two weeks later, February 9th, they were on the Ed Sullivan Show - and my world changed forever for the better! Not only did the Beatles open my heart as if it were Pentecost, but they gave me an aesthetic that would ripen right along with them from the sassy young rock'n'rollers from tough Liverpool to the mystical musical mentors  who kept going deeper into culture, politics, spirituality, and creativity. Two weeks after the first Sullivan show, they returned - and when I heard John Lennon scream during "Twist and Shout" the skies opened, the Spirit fell upon me, and my life finally had meaning.

And I'm not speaking just metaphorically - although that was true, too. In the fullness of time, as the Scriptures often say, my soul was lifted by the Beatles beyond the drudgery of teen age angst in a way that impelled me to learn to play the guitar, find common ground with four other guys my age, create our own music, and publicly share the sounds that fed our hearts. Those who have not been awakened like this will think I'm exaggerating. But those who speak in tongues know what I'm talking about. Those who have experimented with psychedelics know, too along with Beat poets, jazz players, and gospel choirs. The music can literally raise you from the ordinary so that every pour feels fully alive.

We lived in Sudbury, MA when all of this broke. I had a small red Japanese transistor radio that I took to bed with me every night first to listen to WINS in NYC - 1010WINS with Murray the K @ 7 pm - and after his count down to switch over to WBZ in Boston for a comparable Beatles extravaganza. (check it out @ https://www.murraythek.com) Right after Christmas '63, I was at my friend, Frank Sisson's home, when his father brought home that first American Beatles album. Earlier, I'd bought a cheap Beatles' rip off album for $1.98 that I didn't know was a knock off. I played it relentlessly until my naive self discovered the scam.

Sitting in Frank's living room with the REAL deal, however, kept the fire burning. This was 6-7 grade. We begged and pleaded with Grandma Deanne and Poppa Fred to take us to the Oxford Drive In Theatre when "A Hard Day's Night" premiered. And before I got my first guitar in 8th grade, my brother Phil and I made fake wooden guitars in the shape of Lennon's Rickenbacker and Harrison's Country Gentleman which we took down to the basement with our record player and mimed our way through Meet the Beatles and The Beatles Second Album with a Dionysian passion: cranked up high, this was ecstatic and life-affirming embodied prayer for two adolescent guys who were almost pathologically shy. We could be cocky and cute, we could shake our booties innocently, and begin to sense what sensuality was all about.

And what was true 60 years ago today continues to be true for me now: I STILL go wild with the Beatles. Dave and I, in The Two of Us, play a LOT of Beatles' tunes from "I've Got a Feeling" and "You Can't Do That" to "It Won't Be Long" and a lot of the acoustic songs from 1965. And my grandson, Lou, at 10 years old is getting down to "She Loves You" and "I've Just Seen a Face." Right now "Day Tripper" and "While My Guitar Gentle Weeps" are our favorites. 

Not everyone grasps our passion. That goes with the territory. But for those whose eyes have been opened, the Beatles create common ground with beauty and style. As I was out in San Francisco working on my Doctor of Ministry degree, my brother and sister-in-law joined me in North Beach for a weekend festival. It was cold and foggy as we sat on the ground in Washington Square Park in North Beach. There were street people still sleeping off last night's buzz along with yuppies and young families. Then the "Sun Kings" - a Beatles' cover band - took the stage, played the opening chord to "A Hard Day's Night" and that crowd of 600 strangers became community instantaneously. Little ones from Dot.Com families were dancing with wizened denizens of North Beach, old hippies were chatting up cops, and every imagined sexuality was singing along together in a unified chorus of pure joy for two hours. It was holy ground - and continues to be holy ground as we keep the magic alive.

Today I give thanks to the One who is holy for opening my heart and soul to the Beatles - and for that first mind-blowing album.