Should have Been a Rock Star- Beatles and a hot Oklahoma summer night

Utica Square… Tulsa, June 24th

Ash and I just came home from the Fifth Night live concert series at Utica Square in Tulsa. Every Thursday night they have live music there. Two weeks ago I saw Admiral Twin, a band I have followed d for years and tonight we saw Bradio, once called The Brady Orchestra.
Bradio has set out on a monumentous task… to recreate the music of the Beatles! A couple years ago, they played Abbey Road and Sgt. Pepper in their entirety. It was pretty spectacular. From” Here Comes The Sun” to “Her majesty”… Brady Orchestra rocked out. They created a faithful rendition of probably history’s greatest side of any single album.
The fi4st time they did this at Utica Square, Fletch and I had made the pilgrimage to hear the Beatle tunes. Later, they played at a bike race function n and we went to hear “Rubber Soul” in its entirety.

I was talking with an old high school buddy today, Larry Lutts. One of the things we reminisced about was a band we used to go listen to in a couple of Tulsa bars in the late 70’s. The band was called “US Kids” and they did something in their show at the club ‘Whiskers’ that I had never heard. They played “Magical Mystery Tour” faithfully to the album cut. When the first couple chords rang out, Larry and I looked at each other, long neck beer in our clenched hands.. and mumbled in unison… “Holy Shit!”

So what is it? What is it about a band that disbanded 40 years ago and released their last LP (“Let IT Be”_) 40 years ago this past May? What is it about their music that draws a full house to the musical tribute of local musicians? What is it about their music that brings a tear to my eye even today when I sing along with “Here Comes the Sun” or “Strawberry Fields Forever?”
Just yesterday, Ash and I were sitting in the McDonalds drive through waiting on her burger and fries when “Strawberry Fields” came on the IPOD. I said then….” I will love this song to the day I die.” And that tune is already 43 years old. It is older than the average age of American citizens. More than half of all the citizens in this country weren’t even thought of when that famous video and song played on “American Bandstand” in 1967.

At one time, it may have sounded pretentious to say that the Beatles were timeless. When the memory was fresh and new and their foibles of youth were fresh on the front pages on magazine and newspaper, people would have scoffed. In an era where Lennon’s quote “We’re more popular than Jesus” raised more than eyebrows and inspired a few LP bonfires, they did not seem so immortal. At a time when their personal soap operas were as much a part of their mystique as was the music, there would have been doubts.
Today, far removed from the crisis over LSD revelations, from Yoko and the Maharishi, their music must stand alone. It is not solely a reprehensive of an era of Peace signs and drug use, but something that proved to be more enduring than a simple pop song.
Yes, the Beatles were a phenomena that may never be repeated. They were at the right place at the right time. They are as close to a Wild Stallion from “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” as any band may ever be. Not only did they reflect a time, but they helped mold it as well.
Yes… they were the first band to use feedback as a musical tool (“I Feel Fine”) and were the first to intentionally hide backwards sounds in songs (“rain”) in an attempt to stretch the studio beyond their limited capacities. The Beatles released “Sgt. Pepper” on June 1st, 1967, and it served as a fitting soundtrack for the psychedelic Summer of Love. Pop music took a quantum leap with its release.
They also legitimized the hippie look, with their new longer hair, beard and mustaches first previewed to the world through the two promo films of “Strawberry Fields” and “Penny Lane.” The watching dancers on “American Bandstand” were slightly traumatized, but I imagine it was not too long before they too were trying to decipher the words and meanings in Sgt. Pepper and its dazzling cover art.
In ’68, the Fab Four traveled to India to broaden their minds and spirits. A change took place there, influenced by Harrison’s spiritual pursuits into eastern philosophy which impacted the one time mop tops and made a lasting impression in their music and word play. Sitars rang out in western pop songs. References to Hindu chants and philosophy littered songs not only by Harrison but also Lennon. Eastern ideas on meditation and life made their first accepted forays into modern culture since the days of Jack Kerouac and his Dharma Bums from the fringe beatnik culture of the 50’s.

In a scant seven years on the international scene, they left a mark on society in indelible ink. They influenced generations of writers, singers and musicians. They left behind in their wake others who might never see the impact of their own music reach such proportions, regardless of talent, because the time and the place had changed.

But it was not all time and place. Yes.. Those things have importance, no doubt, but whether it is the simple “She Loves You” or the transcendental “I Am the Walrus”, the music itself touched our collective hearts. It had characteristics of the classical (“Eleanor Rigby”) and of metal (“helter Skelter”). IT was an English ballad (“Martha My Dear”) and a psychedelic anthem (“Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds”). It was about eastern mysticism (“Its All Too Much”) and it was a simple love song (“I Will”).
Joihn, Paul, George and Ringo can not be categorized. They can not be stuffed into a neat box of explanation. And, maybe it is because they stopped when they were on top of the world that they are still there, their 40 year old songs still echoing across the airwaves, Wii games and IPODs into a new century.
Tonight, on a hot and humid Oklahoma evening, as sweat trickled down my face, I sang along at the top of my lungs as Bradio played the chords to “Here Comes the Sun”, because of those four guys from the poor side of Liverpool, somehow I truly believe that “Here comes the sun and it’s alright.”