#mark lapidos

[weberlifedesign]

Beatles Expert Bruce Spizer Talks Beatlemania Passion

Renowned Beatles expert Bruce Spizer will be part of exciting celebrations to denote the 60th Anniversary of the Beatles’ first appearance in the United States.  Image courtesy of Bruce Spizer via Facebook The Beatles made history with their arrival on American soil. Well-deserved recognition should go to Beatles expert Spizer for his passion for the band’s history and for keeping Fab Four…

[beatlesradioshows]

Beatlesongs, Rob Leonard, Jan 26, 2024. Download

Guests:

Ken Womack

Mark Lapidos

Bruce Spizer

[thisweekinfandomhistory]

Come together, right now! This week, Emily and V head back to the extremely seventies 1970s to look at a fandom currently having a resurgence on Tumblr: The Beatles. V has actually been to "The Fest," as groovy kids call it, and wrote a paper on Beatlemania that got published a zillion years ago to boot, so she chimes in about what this fandom is like from ground level while Emily marvels at the guts of The Fest's founder, Mark Lapidos, and how very accessible people were in 1974. Then we end with a tangent on the importance of internet safety? It's a thing. Be safe on the internet, kids, and remember that she loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah!

Sources

Fanlore

V's article republished at AO3

The Fest: History

Beatlemania: The "Screamers" And Other Tales of Fandom by Dorian Lynskey

Diagnosing Beatlemania by John McMillian

Beatlemania: A Sexually Defiant Subculture? by Barbara Ehrenreich, et al.

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[mydaroga]

Chicago Fest for Beatles Fans 2023

I've always loved connecting with people who share my passions. For me, cons aren't about meeting celebrities or room parties, though those are both fine. For me, it's about meeting people whose eyes don't glaze over after thirty seconds of your special interest. So when I began my deep dive into Beatlemania, I wanted to find people who really wanted to chat. (Some of you have witnessed these efforts here, to varying degrees of success.) So I googled "Beatles conventions" and, on a whim, bought a ticket to the Fest for Beatles Fans in Chicago, partly because I had someone to stay with (over an hour away, but still) and didn't need to shell out for a room.

If my goal was to engineer a feeling like, say, my best one on one convos here, or the Meta the Beatles discord, or old school livejournal, or the K/S cons, it was only marginally successful. Still, I think it was a positive experience and I am considering attempting to afford the next one in February at the utterly stunning remodeled TWA hotel.

The Fest, which used to be called BeatleFest until Apple Corps intervened in 1997, has been ongoing since 1974 when founder Mark Lapidos asked John Lennon if he was cool with the idea of a Beatles convention. You can see various guests over the years here, so clearly it's a known quantity in Beatledom. Many people there this weekend have been attending since the beginning, and it's an annual (or bi-annual) tradition.

It differs from other fan cons I've been to in that the focus is largely on music itself. This is natural, but what I mean is, there is constantly at least one musical act playing Beatles music in some form. On the main stage and breakout rooms you also have guests: Pattie Boyd, Gregg Bissonette (Ringo's current drummer), Billy J Kramer, Terry Sylvester (the Hollies), Joey Molland (Badfinger), Jay Bergen (John's lawyer), Allan Kozinn (The McCartney Legacy), Bruce Spizer (various books about the recordings), Kenneth Womack (upcoming Mal Evans book!), Susan Ryan (long time Fest fixture and historian), Skylar Moody (Beatles TikTok), Jude Kessler (The John Lennon series), Sara Schmidt (Meet the Beatles for Real), Steve Matteo (Act Naturally: the Beatles on Film). There are dealers with vintage and current merch and memorabilia, a "museum" room with historic merch, old clippings, an "ashram" where you can attend various meditation and yoga sessions, a karaoke room, costume and talent contests, even a Beatles Rock Band setup I failed to attend despite my yearning to one day play it.

Some of the panels were pretty sparsely attended, and there was a strong feeling that a lot of people go to listen to the bands and stay up all night. But what that meant for those of us who were there to talk and make connections was, I got to talk and make a ton of connections. I met Sara Schmidt and her mother and they took me under their wing and introduced me to anyone who was anyone. I had a lovely chat with Ken Womack. Wally Podrazik insisted on taking a photo of my Nerk Twins shirt and demanded I email him. I spoke to Allan Kozinn about how a John boy comes to write the most comprehensive Paul biography ever. I met a lady named Tina who is going to hook me up with info about early slash and RPF fic (because I've heard several of you youngin's declare it's a relatively new phenomenon and I know it isn't!). I danced to a great cover band while looking like Twiggy. I had a lot of comments about my Stamp Out the Beatles shirt. I spoke to Steve Matteo about his book about the Beatles on film, and shared my own film work in which he took an avid interest.

All in all, it never got as in depth as you can with good fandom friends in a quiet setting. I've also heard that attendance and quality have gone down in recent years, and changes have been implemented due to stupid copyright shit (like, no being able to show any of the licensed films or cartoons? Which is a huge bummer.). But I do feel that I made connections and furthermore, felt embraced and included and warmly welcomed. No one questioned the fact I got here via "Get Back," no one challenged me on being new, no one made any attempt to gatekeep or Beatle bro at me. Only ONE person even asked who my favorite Beatle was. They all seemed genuinely delighted to have a new weirdo to share their passion with.

I haven't decided if I'm attending again, but I do already have plans in the works to suggest a few panels more in line with the type of con activity I like to see. Because even if it's not exactly the interactions I've been seeking, there's no substitute for face to face discussion and squee. And now, my photos!

Jay Bergen, Gregg Bissonette, Terry Sylvester, Joey Molland, Billy J Kramer, Pattie Boyd, and moderator Terri Hemmert.

So many shirts! My little outfits, missing my prized Stamp Out the Beatles sweatshirt:

Weirdass vintage Beatles merch:

And finally, what I spent too much money on because everyone I talked to had written a book, GDI. Plus, 1974 era buttons because I like old stuff and they were $10:

[beatles-a-rama]

Mark Lapidos on Beatles Fest 2025: A Celebration of All Things Beatles o...

[ceofjohnlennon]

"John was in such a playful mood. He was sarcastic and witty and enjoyed seeing all the Beatle goodies. This was the same week Capitol Records released "Happy Christmas (War is Over)." At first he said he was miffed Capitol got it out so late, but was relieved it was finally on the radio. Morrell continued to show Lennon various items in his collection including photos he had taken of the Beatles at Shea Stadium. (...) John then asked me what I was looking for and I told him the Beatles' Butcher album cover. John picked up the phone, called his apartment and spoke to someone and told him where to find it and to bring it over to the studio. The guy brought it over and John showed us. He handed it to me to look at. I held it in my hands for a moment and gazed at it. The very record I read about a month ago was in my hands. John was a Beatles fan and encouraged me to look for more rarities. It was time to pack up the show and tell. I didn't want to ask for a photograph or an autograph. Things went so well, I just had a feeling we'd meet again and we did. As I packed up and got ready to leave, John took a pen to the Butcher cover. He drew a big bubble above his head and wrote: "To Dave, From John Lennon, Dec. 7, '71" then he smiled and handed me his own personal copy of the Beatles Butcher cover."

ㅡ Dave Morrell about meeting John Lennon and Yoko Ono and keeping in touch with them.

"Ten years later, I was manager at the flagship Sam Goody music store at Radio City Music Hall. While there, at the end of 1973, I got the idea that somebody should do something to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Beatles’ arrival in America. And the word "Beatlefest" just popped into my head (it's now called "The Fest for Beatles Fans"). I had a vision of people gathering in a hotel to watch Beatles films, listening to their music, trading memorabilia, and a bunch of other things. I sat with the idea for about a month or so, then I decided give it a try. I took money from my own savings to book the Commodore Hotel for September 7th and 8th of that year, and I wrote to all of the Beatles — I wasn't going to do the show without their support. Of course, everybody thought I was nuts. How was I going to get their support while they're suing each other? But that didn't stop me. I hadn't heard from anybody until I learned that John Lennon and Harry Nilsson were going to be appearing in Central Park for a March of Dimes walk-a-thon. They weren't playing, just speaking to raise awareness for the charity. To make a long story short, I found out where John was staying, found out his room number, went to the hotel and up to his room, and knocked on the door. Harry Nilsson, who later became a dear friend, opened the door. I said, "Hi, I'm Mark Lapidos, and I'd like to speak to John about Beatlefest." He waved me in, and I said hello to John, sat down, and told him my idea about the Fest. He said "I'm all for it. I'm a Beatles fan too." And he got very excited about it. I mentioned that I wanted to do a charity raffle. He offered to donate a signed guitar. Two days later I'm sitting with his people talking it out with Apple in London. Within a couple of days, I got signed drumsticks from Ringo, and it took off from there. (...) A few days before the Fest, Tony King from Apple was in the States, and asked if I had received anything autographed from Paul or George. I said I hadn't heard from them. He went over to John, and John called Paul and George and reminded them that they hadn't yet sent anything to Beatlefest. Apparently my messages hadn't reached them, so John arranged to get a few signed things from them right away, and we soon had items from all four Beatles for the show."

ㅡ Mark Lapidos about his "Beatlefest", from the book "We're Going To See The Beatles" by Garry Berman.

[beatlesradioshows]

Beatles, Things We Said Today #218 - Mark Lapidos of the Fest For Beatles Fans    Download  

This week, Al, Ken, Allan and Steve welcome Mark Lapidos, founder and director of the Fest for Beatles Fans, who talks about the upcoming NY Metro show coming up March 3 to 5 at the Hyatt Regency Jersey City. Be sure to tell us your thoughts on our show. You can send them to our email address thingswesaidtodayradioshow@gmail.com, join our “Things We Said Today Beatles Fans” Facebook page, tweet us at @thingswesadfab or catch us each on Facebook and give us your thoughts. And we thank you for listening. Don’t forget, you can stream the show from our very own YouTube page. And we invite you to please write a review of our show on our iTunes page. And be sure to check our Podbean page and on iTunes regularly for our latest shows, which usually appear each week.