1964: The Tribute on Valentine's Day

[Jim Coash]

Greetings:  Tomorrow is Valentine's Day.  My wife and I were trying to decide what we would like to do to celebrate when my Dad told us he had heard on the radio that the number one Beatles tribute group was coming to Kalamazoo.  He wondered if it was the same group my wife and I had seen more than a dozen times and raved about.  It certainly was.  Although we have seen several Beatles shows none has ever compared to 1964.  They play nothing from Sergeant Peppers or newer.  That covers our favorites perfectly.  We were surprised that Dad, who will be 88 this May expressed interest in going to the show.  This is the man who told me on February 9th, 1964 while watching the famous Ed Sullivan show that "Those mop haired misfits would never make it.  They  can't carry a tune in a paper sack.  A month from now, no one will even remember their name!"  The rest was history, of course.  Over the next few years my Dad would often say while listening to his sons and daughters play live music at home or on camping trips "Who wrote that beautiful song?"  The Beatles we all screamed. Five of us will attend the show, My wife and her girlfriend who saw The Beatles at Comiskey Park in Chicago the summer of 1966, my Dad, our grand son who is 11 years old and myself.  It will be a very cold evening outside in Michigan but we will be there none the less.  Over the last 20 years we have seen this show more than a dozen times.  If you get the chance to see them, don't miss it.  Jim