SHE LOVES ME, YEAH, YEAH, YEAH…

Me and my cold Momokawa Sake

As promised, I carried the festivities of celebrating my May birthday, all the way into June…with a little bit of help.

When a small group of friends helped me celebrate this year, gathered around the table of a small Japanese restaurant, we started singing and carrying on. I knew we might cause a scene if we continued the high-decibel merrymaking. We quieted down and went back to having our regular fun with an ordering frenzy and a sushi fest. But, something tells me we were just as loud. I don’t think it’s possible to enjoy yourself that much in a restaurant without a little noise.

A couple of weeks ago one of my sisters took me out to lunch to honor my birthday. And what a time we had. We laughed so hard I honestly thought they might ask us to leave. I didn’t know you could feel so good at one o'clock in the afternoon on a Tuesday. My sister even bought me a cup of the world’s most expensive and healthiest tea.

One of the most touching gifts this year was from my sister who lives in California. I don’t get to see her as often as I would like to and I love her very much. When she was a toddler she got into my Beatles Album collection and scribbled on the covers and broke one of the records. I was devastated! I secretly cried (because I didn’t want to hurt her feelings because she was so young). I thought I would never get over it. I LOVE THE BEATLES!

Well, last night after that same sister treated me to the most outstanding lobster dinner at the Blue Ginger (my favorite restaurant) she had them bring out a cake she had had made just for me. It was a big, funky cake with a record player (that looked like the one I had growing up) with a Beatles Album being played!!! I was  stunned. I was also touched. Then it got even better. When the waitress came back to cut and serve my creative delight… the cake was Red Velvet! I was over the moon knowing that my sister loves me that much! And, that I got my Beatles Album back.

Thinking about it now…by not getting overly upset with the desecration of my beloved record collection, all those years ago, I was putting out good karma. And, decades later my Beatles Album came back to me with love, sugar, and a sister’s smile.

Birthday - The Beatles

You say it's your birthday

It's my birthday too yeah

They say it's your birthday

We're gonna have a good time

I'm glad it's your birthday

Happy birthday to you…

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A NIGHT IN THE LIFE...

I can’t let it go. I still carry a torch for the Beatles. And, I am not alone…taking just one night for example:

Walking around the square a few weeks ago, a man by the subway station was playing early Beatle tunes on his guitar, like Little Child, and Baby, It’s You. Walking into Johnny A’s gig across the way, he was playing The Night Before, almost as good as the Beatles themselves. When I asked the young man I met on the subway, “What’s on your iPod,” he said, “The Beatles, of course.” And, when Paul McCartney took the stage at Fenway last summer, at the first note of Baby, You Can Drive My Car, I almost fainted. I have a chronic case of Beatle-mania. “The Beatles” are alive and well, and, like the rest of the world, I am still in love with them.

When my dear friend Lori invited me to her cousin’s photography show to view pictures he had taken of the late John Lennon, I couldn’t wait. I cancelled other plans, and headed to Panopticon Gallery in Boston, (one of the oldest fine art photography galleries in the United States). Imagine walking into a room of never-before-seen photographs of John Lennon. I couldn’t get enough. Roger, the photographer, had teamed up with Ken Sharp, who has a book just out, called Starting Over, The making of John Lennon’s and Yoko Ono’s Double Fantasy. What a great idea to showcase the book along with the pictures. You can also see some of these photographs in the book, and behind us on the walls here.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Roger and Ken, and it was terrific. Ken, a Los Angeles based singer/songwriter, and music author, who has met all the Beatles, except Lennon, told me, “They were each amazing in their own way.” And Roger said, “John had my back.” He was referring to John Lennon making sure no un-invited photographers got in Roger’s way. Roger had been hand picked (including by astrological compatibility) by Yoko herself, back in 1980, to photograph the couple as they secretly began work on Double Fantasy. When you look at the pictures, you can see a relaxed, yet hard working John Lennon. I also see a rather sexy Yoko always by his side.

As a life long Beatle Fan, I was mesmerized. I bought the book, and can’t wait to read it. I want to know everything Beatle. I even have pins, pocketbooks, tee-shirts, and have just been invited to play the Beatle Rock Band music game. But, right now, since it’s my favorite time of year, I am going to go listen to Ringo Star’s, Christmas CD, I Wanna Be Santa Claus. This compilation is high-spirited holiday fun. I particularly enjoy Ringo’s version of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah… or as John Lennon would say, Happy Christmas…

http://www.panopticongallery.com/