FAKE BEATLES
published in the Chestnut Hill Local, August 7, 2008
Anyone who knows me knows that I love the Beatles. And not in any rational way, but to a degree that approaches religious fervor. Our house is plastered with Beatle posters on every possible surface. Visitors will open a closet door and jump back as a giant Ringo head appears. “Again with the Beatles? What’s up with that?”
What’s up is that I am a guitar-playing flower child, weaned on Beatlemania. Who am I gonna like - Britney Spears? I followed and mirrored the musical and cultural evolution of the Fab Four throughout the turbulent decade of the 1960’s. Amidst all the frightening, polarizing changes happening in society, they told us unequivocally that all we needed was love, and I believed them. Now, you may say that I was a dreamer, but I was not the only one.
Fast forward to the new millennium: two of the Beatles are dead, two are showing definite signs of aging (Can Paul McCartney not afford plastic surgery? C’mon Paul, do it for the children!) yet we still require their presence in our lives. Enter the “tribute” bands.
The idea is not new; Elvis impersonators have been around for decades, becoming as much a part of the culture as Elvis himself. The Beatles tribute bands have taken the art form a step further, incorporating narration, historical video footage and elaborate sets and costumes, to produce a show that really does take you through the whole Beatlemania experience. Some of the bands are definitely better than others, both as musicians and as impersonators. I’ve heard some “Liverpool” accents that sounded like a drunken Cary Grant, and I’ve seen wigs that looked like they were borrowed from the Bride of Frankenstein.
It’s not uncommon to pay forty dollars or more per ticket to hear these tribute bands. I saw the real Beatles at JFK Stadium in ‘65 for five dollars, although it was impossible to hear them with all the screaming. Nevertheless, I enjoy watching the impostors and hearing grown people in the audience yelling “I love you, Paul!”
Okay, it is a little weird, and yes, that was me shouting to the fake Paul, but it’s just so damn much fun. I went to see the “Beatlemania Now” tribute band in Norristown this fourth of July, and when I looked around at the audience, I saw folks like myself, deep in reverie, mouthing the words to every song. Plus, I got to take a teenager who loves the Beatles and never got to experience them first hand.
After the show, we stood in a long line, waiting to buy merchandise bearing the logos and likenesses of the faux Beatles, which they autographed with their real names. All very strange. I wonder - if the impersonators become famous in their own right, will someone then impersonate the impersonators? And can anyone find it fulfilling pretending to be someone else for a living? I don’t know, but at least the pay is good and, as all musicians know, it beats digging ditches.
I used to think that the people who swooned over Elvis impersonators were nutty as fruitcakes, but I have come to realize that everyone, including me, needs a healthy dose of make-believe every now and then. It’s what makes us human. We are lovers of fiction and fantasy, and what could be more enjoyable than reliving great moments from our lives and our history.
In fact, I’ve always thought that Heaven might be kind of like that - nothing is real, and nothing to get hung about. Strawberry Fields forever.
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