The Beatles are Coming! The Beatles are Coming!

The following is from my Reprise 60s Journal, entry dated July 30, 2009:

The Beatles are playing Sunday at a small winery near Binghamton, New York. That is, if the ad that appeared this morning in the local newspaper is to be believed. Getting the world's greatest band to show up will be quite an accomplishment, since two of the members are dead and a third is filling stadiums with exhilarated fans on his current U.S. tour. Perhaps instead of a live performance, the Beatles will be represented via their recordings. But there is another possibility. A couple of weeks ago, I went to the winery on a Sunday to catch a group named the Beatles Band. My guess is that the Beatles Band is going to be there this week and the Beatles are not.

I also drove out to the winery that day for another reason. The owners hire entertainment for Sunday afternoon performances on the outdoor deck. I had previously phoned to inquire about opportunities for our band, Reprise 60s. When I told the woman on the phone that we play sixties music exclusively, she said that she did not usually hire oldies bands, but that she would “listen with an open mind” if I dropped off a demo CD. In fact, the Beatles Band plays sixties music exclusively, since, as their name implies, they cover only Beatles songs. The real Beatles released their first hit in 1963 and broke up forever in 1969 - the ultimate sixties band. So, I was encouraged when I handed over our CD, including covers of two Beatles songs and three others that are typical examples of the same era, and my optimism was not diminished as I listened to the Beatles Band. They were competent, but certainly not overwhelmingly superior to our band, Reprise 60s. Not, at least, in my completely unbiased opinion.

I sent a follow-up e-mail about a week later. Within an hour I received a reply: “We enjoyed your CD,” the woman from the winery wrote. “We feel you’re music is not the right match for our business.” Hmm, I wondered - you mean the music of the Beatles?

Geeze, talk about rejection. It’s like asking Stephen King’s Carrie to the prom and getting turned down.

Oh, by the way, it took three days and two loaves of bread with peanut butter to kill the aftertaste from whatever it was the proprietors were serving out of wine bottles.