Best of 2000: Best Beatlemaniac Bash

BeatleFair
Info Hotline, (619) 687-3687

The main attraction of BeatleFair, a summertime Fab Four convention thrown by San Diego fan club Come Together, is the vendor room full of rare memorabilia. Vintage trading-card sets sell for $150, Beatles dolls run $200 per moptop, and bootleg videos and CDs are displayed and sold along with autographed guitars, limited-edition photo prints, and the occasional Wings gold record or Lennon lithograph. Live bands play, including oldies acts like Rockola, Beatles tribute clones, and performances by Beatles' discovery Joey Molland (Badfinger), former Wings guitarist Laurence Juber, Gordon Waller (Peter & Gordon), and Billy Hinsche (Dino, Desi & Billy). Others who don't perform but who've met a Beatle or two turn up as "special guests," such as concert promoter Sam Leach (Lennon once called him "The pulse of the Mersey beat") and Mark Hudson (producer of Starr's "Vertigo Man"). Tickets usually run $10 to $12.