By Cathy (Eaton) Anderson, granddaughter*
*Relation to Andy and/or Flora Lehr
The summer before my senior year, the Fab Four – the Beatles were touring the United States. My best friend during high school, Celia Gilmore, was an avid fan. She had all their records. Her room was wallpapered with Beatle posters and she had fan magazines and books and could quote all manner of factoids. Unfortunately, the Fab Four were not coming anywhere near Kansas. Celia spent months lamenting this sad situation.
Then miracle of miracles! The owner of the Kansas City Chiefs [it was actually the owner of the Kansas City Athletics, Major League Baseball team] felt the Midwest had been snubbed and bribed the group to come to Kansas City. Now know, that not only was the thought of going to the Big Bad City was abhorrent to Jim [Cathy’s father] the thought of a pot smoking, LSD sucking, immoral, notorious rock concert made him break out into a cold sweat. As soon as Cel found out about the concert, she charged over to our house effervescing with excitement. How in God’s green earth were we going to get there? She would just die if she didn’t get to go. It was all she ever wanted in her life.
It was very unusual for Jim to be home at that time of day. It was more unusual for him to pay much attention to our girl babbling. However, that day he was listening and apparently was caught up in Cel’s enthusiasm and blurted out, “If you can get tickets, I’ll take you to the concert.” Then as an afterthought he said, “You’ll have to get four tickets.” He smiled to himself knowing that all the concerts sold out immediately and at twenty-five dollars a pop, Cel would have trouble coming up with the money. The next day we had our tickets and began planning what we would wear to the concert. Jim watched the news on the television and watched the hordes of hysterical girls screaming and fainting teenage girls. Once again, he wished his foot size was smaller as it was quite uncomfortable with his foot in his mouth!
As slowly as time passed for us, I am sure it flew for Jim. He was not looking forward to this. It was decided that our friend and neighbor, Larry Covert, would accompany us to help protect Cel and me. Larry was an outgoing, fun-loving free spirit. The perfect companion.
Finally, the day arrived. Cel and I were dressed in navy blue blazers and white skirts. Cel had binoculars, which she did not share, and we were in the car waiting for Jim and Larry. Finally, we were off and away. As we cruised down the highway Larry looked over and said, “ugh, Jim, Kansas City is the other way.” So, Jim whipped the car across the median, while expressing his displeasure. We were off to a great start.
The miles slowly crept by as Cel unloaded all of her vast knowledge of Beatle trivia on us.
At long last we arrived at Kansas City. The weather was warm and sultry, our windows rolled down (well not Celia’s, she didn’t want her hair messed up for the concert. She secretly just knew some way she would meet the Beatles and John would fall in love with her). The stadium was in an undesirable section of town. As we drove through the area to get to the stadium, Larry was carrying on with a running commentary on the state of his neighbor when all of a sudden, we came upon a Fat Jack’s Bar-B-Que. Outside Fat Jack’s was an enormous African American sitting fanning himself with a newspaper. Larry yelled out, “There’s Fat Jack’s, there’s Fat Jack.” Many heads turned to see from where the insult had flown. As Larry was beginning to realize his faux pas. Jim gunned the engine saying, “You’d better be able to run or fight guy, I can’t do either!”
Larry having recovered grinned and replied, “Just keep driving Jim, just keep driving.” After that the rest of the evening was somewhat anticlimactic. Well not really.
In order to prevent problems at the concert the stage was in the outfield with barbed-wire barrier and of course the seats were in the stands – a long ways away. So far away in fact that without binoculars we couldn’t make out who was who – band members, janitor or grounds keeper. Celia allowed each of us one quick peek with the binoculars. She hogged them the rest of the time. The screaming was loud enough that you could hardly hear the music. Coupled with the poor acoustic the quality of the performance was not too great. The best part musically was the opening act – Dusty Springfield.
All too soon the magic night was coming to an end. Little did we know that this was a historical occasion. Celia was also responsible for “making” me go to a Tom Jones concert, also a hysterical and historical occasion.
When we were safely in the car Jim calculated when we would get home and how much sleep we could get before school and work the next day. Cel and I knew we wouldn’t be sleeping. As we left Kansas City behind in the dark of night Jim said almost to himself, “That wasn’t so bad was it.” Ruth Catherine (Eaton) Anderson 02/2000
Additional Beatles information
A.J. Eaton comment photo
Roger Eaton comment photos
By A.J. Eaton, great grandson*
*Relation to Andy and/or Flora Lehr
So glad that Aunt Cathy wrote this down! I had no idea what KC had to do to get the Beatles to come. Whenever we would go downtown, my dad (RG) would always point to the Muehlebach Hotel and say with reverence “That is where the Beatles stayed when they came to Kansas City” I remember hearing about how nobody could hear the music over the screaming. Many, many years since that night in KC, my parents took me and my sister to see Sir Paul McCartney on 25 July 2010. Our seats were in the nosebleeds, but we didn’t need binoculars since there was a jumbotron. Hey Jude and Let it Be were the biggest hits. With modern amplifiers we could hear the music, but there was still plenty of screaming—especially from my sister Muriel! Even after all that time, he could still put on a show!!
By Roger Eaton, grandson*
*Relation to Andy and/or Flora Lehr
The Beatles band were a pop culture phenomenon. This four-man rock and roll band, from Liverpool England, became world-wide celebrities. The fans (spectators) attending their concerts were louder than their amplifiers. The band members commented that they couldn’t even hear their own music during live performances.
Their music was unique along with their appearance. At the time, crew-cut haircuts were the style for men. That is a really short haircut. The Beatles set style standards with their longer hair. My uncle, Charlie Smith, was a barber. At one haircut, I asked him for a Beatles haircut. I was serious, but he just chuckled and said, “Hold still.”
The Beatles were wildly popular. I do mean wild in the crazy fan sense. The condition was call Beatlemania. Teen-aged girls would faint in the presence of the Beatles. They introduced a generational change to music trends. The popularity was unpresented. For his birthday, I gave my dad a Beatles ’65 album. He had no interest in the Beatles, but (at age 6) I was advised to give presents that you would like to receive. I listened to it for hours and hours. It was amazing to have this popular band playing in my house. I felt that I knew them and that they knew me.
In July of 1964, The Beatles released a movie; A Hard Day’s Night. My sister, Maggie, and I were five years old. They released an album with the same title simultaneously with the movie. Movies were only available to experience in a theater. The theater in El Dorado, Kansas had one screen. That was normal. Only larger towns, like Wichita, Kansas offer multiple screens in a theater.
My sister, Cathy, surprised Maggie and I one evening by taking us to see the Beatles’ movie. There was no story. It was just a camera following the band as they prepared for a performance. We didn’t understand it, but we loved it. Of course we added the album to the family musical library.
On September 17, 1964, our sixth birthday, Cathy attended the Beatles concert in Kansas City. That is a story in Cathy’s memories.
As our kids were developing musical tastes, Marcia and I introduced them to the Beatles. They appreciated the Beatles music, too. We all attended a Paul McCartney, former Beatle, concert in Kansas City at the Sprint Center on July 24, 2010. A. J. had just completed his junior year in high school and Muriel had just completed eighth grade. We sang along with Sir Paul.
On October 4, 2014, Marcia, Muriel and I attend the Ringo Starr, former Beatle, concert at the Starlight Theater in Kansas City. Muriel had just started her freshman year at Kansas State University. Starlight Theater is an outdoor amphitheater. This date was a reschedule due to weather. It was a cool 52 degrees F on that October evening. With the Beatles long separated, Ringo assembled his own band. He rotated performers with each tour and called the band Ringo Starr & All Starr Band. Occasionally Joe Walsh would perform with the band. He was with another successful band, the Eagles, and brother-in-law to Ringo. Since Joe was from Liberty Missouri, he joined Ringo in a Kansas City concert. We had hoped that he would perform at the October 4th concert, but he did not.
Kansas City Star
Fans of The Beatles were overjoyed to see and hear Ringo Starr reunite with bandmate Paul McCartney for a rare performance at the 2014 Grammy Awards in January. Now fans in Kansas City have more reason to be joyful because Starr, the legendary Beatles drummer, is hitting the road this summer on a U.S. tour that will bring him to Starlight Theatre on Oct. 4.
Ringo Starr and the 2014 All Starr Band Tour is the newest addition to the Capitol Federal Concert Series. Joining Starr on the tour are guitarist Steve Lukather, singer Richard Page, keyboardist Gregg Rolie, multi-instrumentalist Todd Rundgren and drummer Gregg Bissonette — all of whom have scored hits in their own careers, many of which will be incorporated into the tour’s set list of songs.
Guests will be serenaded under the stars with Starr’s classics like “Yellow Submarine” and “Photograph,” mixed in with Rolie’s “Black Magic Woman,” Lukather’s “Africa,” Rundgren’s “I Saw the Light,” Page’s “Broken Wings” and more.
“I love playing with this band,” Starr said in promoting the upcoming tour, “and I can’t wait to get back out and play with them again.” He added that he draws inspiration from classic blues, soul, country, honky-tonk and rock ‘n’ roll.
Since beginning his career as drummer with The Beatles in the 1960s, Starr has enjoyed a successful and dynamic solo career as an artist, singer, songwriter, drummer, musical collaborator and actor.