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The Beatles have a lot more San Diego history than you think
Magical Mystery Campout: Beatles Tribute Fair at DeAnza Springs Resort April 4 and 5
Artwork by Jeff Pittarelli
The Magical Mystery Campout: Beatles Tribute Fair is happening at DeAnza Springs Resort over the weekend of April 4 and 5. Hosted by Alma of Queen Bee's, the event offers overnight camping, hiking, swimming, pool tournaments, pickleball, water volleyball and aerobics, tennis, darts, karaoke, fashion shows, yoga, and vendor booths.
More than 20 performers are scheduled to appear, and the site also includes an acoustic stage where open mic troubadours are invited to perform. Headliners Britain's Finest features an all-star cast of tribute players based in Hollywood.
Oasis tribute band Oasiz is fronted by Scott Samuels (Solitary Diamonds), playing all the hits from the Beatlesque band who became the kings of ‘90s Britpop like “Morning Glory,” “Live Forever,” and “Champagne Supernova.”
Tijuana, Mexico’s Revolution Band traces the history of The Beatles from The Ed Sullivan Show through to Abbey Road, with three costume changes, including full Sgt. Pepper regalia.
That Beatles Cover Band includes seven seasoned San Diego musicians with decades of experience, both together and in countless other projects. The group promises "No gimmicks, no wigs, no costumes - just solid Beatles covers!"
Also appearing is 63eatles, whose members have all lived in England, covering early Beatles music, including material up until the point where the original foursome stopped touring.
Marion and Damian Bowles The Damian & Marion Beatles Duo will be performing an acoustic set on Saturday. "I have been a Beatles fan since childhood," Damian Bowles tells the Reader. "I had the haircut, the boots, and English suits by first grade - thanks mom! When Marion and I first got together, we went to Gemco and bought a record collection of Beatles packs. Been crankin' the Beatles songbooks since then, but this opportunity made it possible to hone in on the songs that best adapt to our acoustic sound." The duo will be backed by The BurnOuts. "They are the remainders of the band Circus Junkies," says Bowles. "They are of the Sublime era, and get real loud!"
The bill includes Fred Benedetti, True Stories, Clapton Hook Band, Ashley & Friends, Come Together, and Acoustic Universe. Tickets will available at the gate, and via the event website.
Courtesy beatlesbible.comFor the Beatles' one and only local appearance, at Balboa Stadium on August 28, 1965, radio station KCBQ declared that Saturday "Beatle Day" and gave out pins saying so to attendees. Four local teenagers won a contest to present ceremonial keys to the city to the band at an afternoon press conference.
Area DJ "Happy Hare" (aka Harry Martin) recalled for Kicks Magazine that "Joan Baez was going to visit John Lennon [backstage], and she was caught up in the human riptide, because she was on the outside of the fence with all the kids. I literally lifted her up and pushed her over the fence. She eventually got backstage, but she came close to being crushed to death."
Local headlines the next day read "Beatles Quip at a Fast Clip" and "Ecstasy and Emotion: Beatles and Beatlemania Erupt." The band played around 40 minutes, with some of the show surreptitiously recorded by KGTV chief photographer Lee Louis, who smuggled in a 16mm film camera (a portion of his footage is posted on YouTube). Around 28,000 tickets were printed, priced at $3.50 and $5.50, though only about 18,000 were sold. The Beatles were reportedly paid $50,000, while promoters said their cut was around $6000.
According to the Beatles Bible website, "On their way back to Los Angeles after the concert, The Beatles’ tour bus broke down needed extra California Highway Patrol escorts to help them on their journey to downtown Los Angeles. They were forced to stop at a San Diego mortuary livery company, Abbott & Hast, and transferred to limousines for the remainder of the journey."
The night before the San Diego gig, August 27th, the Beatles met Elvis Presley for the first time, spending around an hour in his Bel Air mansion.
Even though the Beatles as a foursome only performed once in San Diego, the band and its members have several local-centric connections.
John McCaw, who bought the guitar from a friend in 1969 for $175, never knew what he had.
One of the biggest Beatles stories in years happened in San Diego when John Lennon’s long lost guitar was found in Sorrento Valley in 2014. The 1962 Gibson J160e guitar, once thought lost, was discovered in San Diego at Marc Intravaia’s Sorrento Valley Sanctuary Art and Music Studio. The following year, it went up for one of the most publicized auctions in Beatles history, selling for 2.41 million dollars.
Original Beatles drummer Pete Best has even performed and recorded with several area musicians while in town, and of course there's Paul McCartney’s famous 2003 private birthday party gig in Rancho Santa Fe.
The late George Harrison maintained a part-time residence at a North County meditation retreat. Harrison was also staying with Ravi Shankar while working with the sitar master in Encinitas, and was spotted several times around northern San Diego during that period.
Local real estate broker Jeff Paiste has squired several famous musicians around San Diego in their search for decent digs to lease or rent, including Harrison. Paiste told the Reader about driving Harrison around San Diego, in search of another Blue Jay Way for the former Beatle to rest between Golden Slumbers.
“He was actually staying on a yacht, moored in the harbor, I think it was Eric Clapton’s [ship]. He used to come here once in awhile to meditate at Swami’s in Encinitas [aka the Self Realization Fellowship Center, a Hare Krishna concern near Swami’s Beach] and he was thinking about actually buying a house here. He said Swami’s is his favorite place to meditate outside his [UK] home and in India.”
Paiste met with Harrison at the center on K Street in 2001, before driving the former mop-top around site-seeing for houses. “He walked me through this incredible tropical garden, with koi ponds and a view of the ocean where you can look down and actually see dolphins swimming. There were a bunch of people in robes, with the ponytail on their heads, sitting on benches with their eyes closed. They looked dead but they were only meditating.”
“Inside the place, I saw another guy sitting really really still, and I said to George ‘Man, that must take practice, to sit so motionless.’ He told me ‘That’s a wax dummy, he’s not alive.’”
Harrison thought so highly of the Encinitas center that he sometimes lived on the grounds while visiting North County sitar mentor Ravi Shankar and he also donated a portion of proceeds from the 2002 re-release of his song “My Sweet Lord” to the organization. “He wanted a house within a few miles of Swami’s, but there was nothing available. We looked a few places in La Jolla but he didn’t like anything.”
Asked if he found Harrison to be the “regular guy," Paiste says “Well, not really. He didn’t say much, except to bitch about this or that, about traffic, about the houses, about the side of the road.”
The side of the road?
“Yeah, he couldn’t believe all the trash people throw out of their cars. We were on the highway and saw a couch on the curb, then a chair and then some busted up furniture. George looked really disgusted and said ‘You should drive the homeless around and pick this stuff up, furnish an apartment for them.’”
The last time both Billy Preston and John Entwistle performed in San Diego was at the 8-16-95 Ringo Starr show at Humphrey's By the Bay, which is available on Youtube (audio only).
Here's something you might be interested in.
The Beatles have a lot more San Diego history than you think
Magical Mystery Campout: Beatles Tribute Fair at DeAnza Springs Resort April 4 and 5
The Beatles have a lot more San Diego history than you think
Magical Mystery Campout: Beatles Tribute Fair at DeAnza Springs Resort April 4 and 5
Artwork by Jeff Pittarelli
The Magical Mystery Campout: Beatles Tribute Fair is happening at DeAnza Springs Resort over the weekend of April 4 and 5. Hosted by Alma of Queen Bee's, the event offers overnight camping, hiking, swimming, pool tournaments, pickleball, water volleyball and aerobics, tennis, darts, karaoke, fashion shows, yoga, and vendor booths.
More than 20 performers are scheduled to appear, and the site also includes an acoustic stage where open mic troubadours are invited to perform. Headliners Britain's Finest features an all-star cast of tribute players based in Hollywood.
Oasis tribute band Oasiz is fronted by Scott Samuels (Solitary Diamonds), playing all the hits from the Beatlesque band who became the kings of ‘90s Britpop like “Morning Glory,” “Live Forever,” and “Champagne Supernova.”
Tijuana, Mexico’s Revolution Band traces the history of The Beatles from The Ed Sullivan Show through to Abbey Road, with three costume changes, including full Sgt. Pepper regalia.
That Beatles Cover Band includes seven seasoned San Diego musicians with decades of experience, both together and in countless other projects. The group promises "No gimmicks, no wigs, no costumes - just solid Beatles covers!"
Also appearing is 63eatles, whose members have all lived in England, covering early Beatles music, including material up until the point where the original foursome stopped touring.
Marion and Damian Bowles The Damian & Marion Beatles Duo will be performing an acoustic set on Saturday. "I have been a Beatles fan since childhood," Damian Bowles tells the Reader. "I had the haircut, the boots, and English suits by first grade - thanks mom! When Marion and I first got together, we went to Gemco and bought a record collection of Beatles packs. Been crankin' the Beatles songbooks since then, but this opportunity made it possible to hone in on the songs that best adapt to our acoustic sound." The duo will be backed by The BurnOuts. "They are the remainders of the band Circus Junkies," says Bowles. "They are of the Sublime era, and get real loud!"
The bill includes Fred Benedetti, True Stories, Clapton Hook Band, Ashley & Friends, Come Together, and Acoustic Universe. Tickets will available at the gate, and via the event website.
Courtesy beatlesbible.comFor the Beatles' one and only local appearance, at Balboa Stadium on August 28, 1965, radio station KCBQ declared that Saturday "Beatle Day" and gave out pins saying so to attendees. Four local teenagers won a contest to present ceremonial keys to the city to the band at an afternoon press conference.
Area DJ "Happy Hare" (aka Harry Martin) recalled for Kicks Magazine that "Joan Baez was going to visit John Lennon [backstage], and she was caught up in the human riptide, because she was on the outside of the fence with all the kids. I literally lifted her up and pushed her over the fence. She eventually got backstage, but she came close to being crushed to death."
Local headlines the next day read "Beatles Quip at a Fast Clip" and "Ecstasy and Emotion: Beatles and Beatlemania Erupt." The band played around 40 minutes, with some of the show surreptitiously recorded by KGTV chief photographer Lee Louis, who smuggled in a 16mm film camera (a portion of his footage is posted on YouTube). Around 28,000 tickets were printed, priced at $3.50 and $5.50, though only about 18,000 were sold. The Beatles were reportedly paid $50,000, while promoters said their cut was around $6000.
According to the Beatles Bible website, "On their way back to Los Angeles after the concert, The Beatles’ tour bus broke down needed extra California Highway Patrol escorts to help them on their journey to downtown Los Angeles. They were forced to stop at a San Diego mortuary livery company, Abbott & Hast, and transferred to limousines for the remainder of the journey."
The night before the San Diego gig, August 27th, the Beatles met Elvis Presley for the first time, spending around an hour in his Bel Air mansion.
Even though the Beatles as a foursome only performed once in San Diego, the band and its members have several local-centric connections.
John McCaw, who bought the guitar from a friend in 1969 for $175, never knew what he had.
One of the biggest Beatles stories in years happened in San Diego when John Lennon’s long lost guitar was found in Sorrento Valley in 2014. The 1962 Gibson J160e guitar, once thought lost, was discovered in San Diego at Marc Intravaia’s Sorrento Valley Sanctuary Art and Music Studio. The following year, it went up for one of the most publicized auctions in Beatles history, selling for 2.41 million dollars.
Original Beatles drummer Pete Best has even performed and recorded with several area musicians while in town, and of course there's Paul McCartney’s famous 2003 private birthday party gig in Rancho Santa Fe.
The late George Harrison maintained a part-time residence at a North County meditation retreat. Harrison was also staying with Ravi Shankar while working with the sitar master in Encinitas, and was spotted several times around northern San Diego during that period.
Local real estate broker Jeff Paiste has squired several famous musicians around San Diego in their search for decent digs to lease or rent, including Harrison. Paiste told the Reader about driving Harrison around San Diego, in search of another Blue Jay Way for the former Beatle to rest between Golden Slumbers.
“He was actually staying on a yacht, moored in the harbor, I think it was Eric Clapton’s [ship]. He used to come here once in awhile to meditate at Swami’s in Encinitas [aka the Self Realization Fellowship Center, a Hare Krishna concern near Swami’s Beach] and he was thinking about actually buying a house here. He said Swami’s is his favorite place to meditate outside his [UK] home and in India.”
Paiste met with Harrison at the center on K Street in 2001, before driving the former mop-top around site-seeing for houses. “He walked me through this incredible tropical garden, with koi ponds and a view of the ocean where you can look down and actually see dolphins swimming. There were a bunch of people in robes, with the ponytail on their heads, sitting on benches with their eyes closed. They looked dead but they were only meditating.”
“Inside the place, I saw another guy sitting really really still, and I said to George ‘Man, that must take practice, to sit so motionless.’ He told me ‘That’s a wax dummy, he’s not alive.’”
Harrison thought so highly of the Encinitas center that he sometimes lived on the grounds while visiting North County sitar mentor Ravi Shankar and he also donated a portion of proceeds from the 2002 re-release of his song “My Sweet Lord” to the organization. “He wanted a house within a few miles of Swami’s, but there was nothing available. We looked a few places in La Jolla but he didn’t like anything.”
Asked if he found Harrison to be the “regular guy," Paiste says “Well, not really. He didn’t say much, except to bitch about this or that, about traffic, about the houses, about the side of the road.”
The side of the road?
“Yeah, he couldn’t believe all the trash people throw out of their cars. We were on the highway and saw a couch on the curb, then a chair and then some busted up furniture. George looked really disgusted and said ‘You should drive the homeless around and pick this stuff up, furnish an apartment for them.’”
The last time both Billy Preston and John Entwistle performed in San Diego was at the 8-16-95 Ringo Starr show at Humphrey's By the Bay, which is available on Youtube (audio only).
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