Many generations of Beatles fans gathered at the Landmark Theatre to celebrate the Beatles’ big anniversary.
Fans celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Beatles first “really big shoe” far and wide last weekend, perhaps peaking with the cool CBS tribute show Sunday night.
Syracuse was a pretty special place to be on Saturday night.
Central New York celebrated in a restored movie palace that opened 85 years ago. About 50 Syracuse musicians performed about 50 Beatles song.
It was a mighty bow to the evergreen music of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
It was hard to tell who was having more fun, the 1,200 fans in the seats or the musicians on the stage. Syracuse Area Music Awards Hall of Famers seemed to be everywhere.
Song after song, people sang along and savored the then and the now.
“The coolest thing of all, is how the Sammys Hall of Famers and other local monster players embraced my vision and ran with it,” said organizer Paul Davie, a musician and obvious Beatles devotee who performed with many of the combinations and opened the second half of the show solo. “Their expressions of support and gratitude along the way were overwhelming, and I feel like I’m now part of a huge band of brothers and sisters which will last the rest of my life.”
I wrote about the magic for my weekly blog about the Central New York community for Syracuse Public Media site waer.org.
If you’d like to read my story click the link below.
http://waer.org/post/syracuse-meets-beatles-music-again-and-its-celebration
And, yes, insightful and interesting comments from a quartet of fellow bloggers here on WordPress made my piece.
Did you do anything special to celebrate Beatles music last weekend?
Mark Bialczak 
Very cool event in a beautiful space! Have you heard from Angie?
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I have not heard from Angie. I fear she’s given up on the blog altogether, Ann.
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That makes me sad! You were her good friend. Blessings to you !
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this was really, really well-written mark. it sounds like an amazing night, you are so lucky to have such an active music scene in syracuse. it is obvious from your post how much you love the music too. thanks for the mention )
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Thank you for your participation, Beth, and nudging me with the link to remember how the gum wrapper chain was so in vogue when we were kids!
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I feel bad, I don’t facebook or the other choices, so you won’t get a response over there.
Your review was very professional and I enjoyed how you gave the performances and details of each one.
My best memory of the Beatles was that my daytime babysitter, Mrs. Boos’ daughter (who was our parents’ “date night” babysitter) told us that Diana cried when she saw them singing at a concert. It made a lasting impression and I will always remember the Ed Sullivan Show, their set and everything! I enjoyed the variety of Beatles’ songs and have at least 6 little Apple 45’s with their songs on them. I like the way I hear the scratches, it reminds me of how time has flown by since I was only 8 when they stood on that stage and my family watched them sing! Thanks for this ‘venue,’ Mark! Take it easy… Robin
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I envy you for having those Apple 45s Robin. Those are a treasure, Beatles memorabilia to love forever! Thanks for your kind words about my story. It was fun to write about the cool event.
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I loved the photograph and the way you described the atmosphere, Mark! I am surprised that CBS is ‘encoring’ the Sunday show tonight. I may have to ‘peek’ at it during commercials of American idol! I would have to include The Eagles and my silly favorite, Neil Diamond! Smiles, Robin
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I am DVRing Idol to watch after the Syracuse basketball game, Robin. I like your favorites very much. I saw Neil Diamond in concert at the Carrier Dome here in Syracuse. The sound went out, and he dropped his pants and danced in his red boxers. When the sound came back on he said, ‘The show must go on.’ Great performer!
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Well done my friend.
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Thank you for the kind words, SHO. I’m glad to have played a small part in this moment of Beatles-treasuring.
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Sounds like it was a lot of fun! 😀
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Very cool night, PJ.
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Beatles, Doors, Led Zep all you need
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Love your three, always, Carl, but I need me some Bruce Springsteen, too.
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Nice work, pal! Left my comment via Disqus.
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Great comment over on that side, Sandra. Thank you so much for contributing to this Beatles anniversary experience, my friend.
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