Month: July 2015

Instant Karma or Instant Nirvana

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What are you waiting for? When will you use…

 

  • The “good china and crystal”
  • That lonesome dining room
  • That special, expensive outfit you’ve been saving

 

What are you waiting for? When will you…

 

  • Buy the dream house you’ve always talked about…or at least try to
  • Go on that vacation the two of you have always planned
  • Go to THE FEST FOR BEATLES FANS

 

For 31 years, I taught aerobics and for 31 years, people sheepishly said to me, “I want to take your class…and I will, when I lose weight!” WHAT??? Wasn’t taking my class THE way to lose weight? Wasn’t that what my class was all about? What were they waiting for? I never knew.

 

For 25 years, my Office Manager at the Independence YMCA in Kansas City told me that she and her husband were going away on a magical two-week cruise. And each year, they postponed…until the day that she found him collapsed on the kitchen floor. Three days later, all hope of a cruise was gone.

 

For 14 years, my mom said that she wanted to go back to New York City one more time. And then a heart attack took away her option.

 

What are you waiting for?

 

Robert Ingersoll once famously said, “The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here.”

 

And John Lennon warned us:

 

Instant Karma’s gonna get you
Gonna knock you right on the head!
You better get yourself together…
Pretty soon you’re gonna be dead.
What in the world you thinking of
Laughing in the face of love?
What on earth you tryin’ to do?
It’s up to you, yeah you!!!

 

Wise man, John.

 

So here’s the bottom line: In 28 days, Beatles fans from all over the world will be gathering at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Chicago’s lovely suburbs.

 

We’ll gather to listen to the lads’ music being broadcast over that elegant hotel’s sound system, to sit by the open fire in the Red Bar and reminisce about our “Hard Day’s Nights,” and to sit in the lobby – all of us singing the old songs to a spur-of-the-moment band of guitars and tambourines.

 

We’ll shop in the huge Marketplace for t-shirts, bracelets, rare photos, old books, and collectibles. We’ll dance the night away to the sounds of amazing Beatles cover band Liverpool. We’ll sit in on panel with Beatles experts Bruce Spizer, Chuck Gunderson, Kit O’Toole, Al Sussman, Jim Berkenstadt, and Susan Ryan.

 

We’ll hear presentations from revered authors Robert Rodriguez, Anthony Robustelli, Lanea Stagg, and Dave Schwensen. And we’ll get our groove on in the exciting new “FABoratory” where Beatles Yoga, creative art projects, and live music is only the beginning of the fun.

 

You could be there. You could go crazy at the Saturday or Sunday night concert with Mark Rivera, Billy Kingsley of The Merseybeats, Terry Sylvester of The Hollies, and the ultimate rocker, Mark Hudson!

 

You could wear ‘60s clothes and meet the former head of Apple Records, Jack Oliver. You could chat with charming Ivor Davis, who toured with The Beatles in 1964. You could talk face-to-face with the charismatic man who brought The Beatles to America three times, Bob Eubanks. You could grab a Starbucks and watch all the Beatles movies your heart desires or introduce yourself to Ringo Starr’s photographer Rob Shanahan while you enjoy his amazing photos of Ringo, Paul, and so many others.

 

Or… it could be the weekend you clean out the garage and sleep on the sofa to re-runs of “The Big Bang Theory,” all the while promising yourself that next year, you’ll make The Fest happen.

 

The choice is yours.

 

The last thing my mother taught me was this: You may never get another chance. Follow your dreams now. Right now.

 

Instant Karma or Instant Nirvana? Choose.

 

 Jude Southerland Kessler is the author of the John Lennon Series: www.johnlennonseries.com

 

Jude is represented by 910 Public Relations — @910PubRel on Twitter and 910 Public Relations on Facebook.

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