Mark Lapidos remembers exactly where he was on February 9, 1964. As a 16-year-old high school student, he was sitting in his Bergen County living room watching an English rock band from Liverpool bring a pop culture revolution across the Atlantic. The way Lapidos recalled it, the Beatles, performing that night on The Ed Sullivan Show, changed his world forever.
"It was unbelievable," he said. "It was already a huge fan after I heard their early records. I clearly remember [having heard] 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' for the first time.
I sat up in my bed and got very excited and waited for the DJ to announce who it was. It was an amazing time." Lapidos would go on to build a life from this seminal memory.
For the 33rd consecutive year, Lapidos will host the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area "Fest for Beatles Fans." The event, which will take place on March 16 to 18 at the Crowne Plaza Meadowlands Hotel and Exhibition Center in Secaucus, provides a way for Beatles fans near and far to get together and revel in their collective memories of a group of musicians whom many believe formed the greatest rock band of all time. After the Beatles broke up in 1970, the group's worldwide fans were still hungry for more music and memories.
After Lapidos came up with the idea of an organized fan gathering to celebrate all things Beatle, he went straight to the source to gain approval. "I went to John Lennon with the idea back in April 1974," he remembered. "I sat down with him in New York City and told him the whole idea.
John said 'I'm all for it. I'm a Beatles fan too.' Meeting him was one of the greatest days in my life.
He was wonderful. That's how we got started." Lennon went so far as to sign a guitar to be raffled off for charity at the first fan fest, which was held at a hotel in New York City.
Lapidos also received items for charity purposes from Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. The inaugural fan fest would have had a Beatle visitation if the event wasn't a victim of its own success. "John wanted to come down to pick the winner of his guitar," he said.
"But he heard how crowded it was and got a little cold feet. He spent the day on Long Island instead." The fan fest soon grew past its Manhattan roots.
Lapidos' Beatles festival has been in Secaucus at the same hotel since March 1980. "I went to Secaucus because they had space," Lapidos explained. "It was the only hotel room around that had the room available that I needed.
There is plenty of free parking, and it's not hard to drive to. You can also get there easily by bus from New York. Now you can get there by train.
Plus, I'm a Jersey person originally." Lapidos remembered fan reaction regarding his festival after Lennon's murder in December of 1980. "The first fan fest after John's death in February of 1981 became a more important show," he said.
"We weren't even sure we could do it. But I think the fans needed it more than ever. We had almost no press about it, and it was a complete sell-out.
" Approximately five to six thousand people make the move to the Meadowlands to attend the Fest for Beatles Fans over the three-day celebration each year. Lapidos sees a certain amount of diversity among the attendees. "There are a lot of hard-core fans, and people who are just curious," he said.
"It's a little bit of everything. While the Beatles in many ways define the baby-boomer generation, you also get a lot of young fans. My daughters are both in college, and their friends are Beatles fans.
They really enjoy the music." Smithereens, Quarrymen, acts with Beatle links to perform Lapidos noted that "every inch" of the hotel will be filled will Beatles fans who come from all over America and abroad to buy Beatles memorabilia. Those attending will also hear Beatles music performed and listen to personalities who worked with the famous group.
The musical acts include the Quarrymen, the English band from Liverpool formed by John Lennon and several school friends. In some ways, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Beatles. It was after a Quarrymen performance in July 1957 that Lennon met fellow Liverpudlian Paul McCartney.
The Quarrymen would soon evolve into the Beatles. The New Jersey-based band The Smithereens will also play their newly released album Meet the Smithereens in its entirety. The album is a note-by-note tribute to the 1964 Meet The Beatles album.
Norman "Hurricane" Smith will also speak to the Beatle fan crowd. Smith was the first recoding engineer for the Beatles, working with the band and their producer George Martin from their earliest sessions through the album Rubber Soul. He will also discuss his new book, John Lennon Called Me Normal.
The locally based Beatles cover band Liverpool will also perform for the 28th straight year. The band, known as one of the best Beatles sound-alike bands, will back Terry Sylvester when he performs. Sylvester, a Liverpool native, played with the Beatles many times, and later became a member of the well-known band The Hollies.
Mark Hudson, Ringo Starr's producer, will also perform with Liverpool. Other creative people present during the heyday of the Beatles will also be in attendance. Bob Gruen, the well-known American photographer, is well-known for taking the iconic photo of Lennon wearing a "New York City' T-shirt, as well as another famous photo of Lennon in front of the Statue of Liberty.
He will present a slide show of his work from Lennon's New York years. The documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles will also speak about his work with the Beatles. A 1964 film he made with late brother David was later incorporated into the DVD The Beatles: The First U.
S. Visit, which documents the excitement of the band's first two weeks in America. Maysles is also well-known for his 1970 documentary film Gimme Shelter, which depicts the controversial 1969 American tour of the Beatles' main rival for rock supremacy, the Rolling Stones.
The author and television reporter Larry Kane will offer additional commentary about the Beatles. During his career, he befriended and extensively interviewed the band. He will be discussing his book Lennon Revealed, which just came out in paperback.
While Lapidos works hard to make his fan fest happen every year, he knows that it is ultimately the Beatles' music that provides the soundtrack for its success. "The music is still very relevant today," he said. "Why do people still listen to Bach, Beethoven and Mozart 300 years later?
It's because the music is timeless. The Beatles will always be popular. In my opinion, it's the greatest music ever written and recorded.
The band was the most important cultural phenomenon of the century. They had a profound effect on the world." To this day, Lapidos remains the same superfan that he was back in 1964.
"When 'Hey Jude' came out, I was in college," he said. "Even if I was late for class, I'd sit and listen to the song in my car until it was over. When I listen to it now, I still don't want to turn it off until it's over.
" For more information about this event, please go the website www.thefestforbeatlesfans.com or call (866) THE-FEST.
Mark J. Bonamo can be reached at mbonamo@hudsonreporter.com.
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