Pattie Boyd - Appearing at all 3 Fests
Pattie was the original muse and three of rock's greatest songs were written about her - Something, Layla and Wonderful Tonight. Her journey is told with warmth and honesty.
George and Pattie first met on the set of A Hard Day’s Night and were married two years later. Pattie has written her memoirs, Wonderful Tonight – George Harrison, Eric Clapton and Me.
This is her very first FEST appearance and we are thrilled and delighted she is joining us. Pattie is also setting up a special Photo and Fashion Exhibit, where all her signings will be taking place over the three days.
Laurence Juber
Former Wings Member
Laurence joined Wings for their final two years and his amazing guitar playing can be heard on "Back to the Egg".
Laurence has had an esteemed solo career winning Guitar Player Magazine’s Player of the Year honors twice. Two of his solo albums LJ Plays the Beatles and One Wing are fan favorites. Laurence will also perform solo acoustic concerts on both Saturday and Sunday. If you have never seen him play guitar, don't miss it. You are in for a real treat!
Denny Seiwell
Former Wings Member
Denny’s association with Paul predates Wings, as he was a session Drummer on Ram. After forming Wings, Paul contacted Denny and he stayed for 2 years.
Denny is currently one of the busiest session musicians in LA and could be seen as the Bandleader in the 2006 film, Bobby. Denny will be treating us to some live drumming to some of the original hits he played on. This is Denny's first NY METRO FEST appearance.
Ken Mansfield
Apple Executive
Author of the White Book
Former U.S. Manager of Apple Records has recently put out his memoirs, called The White Book: The Beatles, The Bands, The Biz- An Insider’s Look at an Era.
Ken’s association with The Beatles goes back to the mid 1960’s and forged close personal and business relationships with them. Ken is also making is first FEST appearances as he shares his wealth of stories with the fans. By the way, this photo of Ken was just taken by Nancy Lee Andrews, another one of our guests this year.
Mark Hudson
Ringo's Producer 1997-2007
Ringo’s former producer and co-writer returns to share his great Beatles stories and kick out the jams with LIVERPOOL and our other musical guests.
Congratulations to Mark on the wonderful work he did with Ringo on his new Liverpool 8 Album.
Meet The Stars Of
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE!
We are thrilled that we will be joined by several of the stars of the movie musical Across The Universe- the Fab film that featured 34 Beatles songs! FOUR of the six lead actors are currently planning to join us for THE FEST!
You will meet:
EVAN RACHEL WOOD who played "Lucy",
DANA FUCHS who played "Sadie",
MARTIN LUTHER who played "JoJo"
T.V. CARPIO who played "Prudence".
Other cast and crew members are also hoping to join us - including the film's director JULIE TAYMOR. All our guests from the movie will take part in a special Q &A discussion and autograph session on Saturday only and later that evening. It is highly possible that some of them will stick around for some surprise Sunday sessions as well.
The cast members will also give their first-ever public live performances of some of the Beatles songs from the movie soundtrack, backed by LIVERPOOL!
(All guests confirmed subject only to unforeseen schedule changes).
The DVD for the film was released February 5th. Copies will be available for sale at the show and they will be happy to sign your copies.
Nancy Andrews
Photographer
An accomplished photographer and Ringo’s girlfriend (between Maureen and Barbara), A Dose of Rock ‘n’ Roll is a beautiful new coffee table book with not only Ringo, but photos of George, John, Nilsson, Donovan, Keith Moon, Leon Russell and many others.
The book comes in a slip case and this limited edition of 2,500 copies are all signed by Nancy. She will be happy to personalize it for you over the weekend. This is Nancy’s first NY METRO FEST appearance.
Allan Tannenbaum
Photographer
Photographer and Author of John & Yoko: A New York Love Story. Allan will be talking about his experiences as one of the few who had access to John & Yoko in late 1980.
He will also be setting up an amazing Photo Exhibit at The FEST.
Tony Palmer
is an acclaimed British filmmaker and writer who knew and worked extensively with The Beatles - having been friends with John Lennon since 1963. He shot the footage for The Beatles' Lady Madonna promotional film and provided the liner notes for their Yellow Submarine album. John personally instigated (and suggested the titles for) two of his many film projects.
His 1968 film All My Loving starred The Beatles, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, The Who and Pink Floyd. It was recently released on DVD for the first time. In 1977, he filmed the acclaimed British TV series All You Need Is Love - a 17-hour history of popular music that included the first-ever full-length film portrait of the Beatles - made with very active participation from John and Paul. The series was never screened nationally in the US and has never been available on home video. It will be released on DVD in May but he will have the first copies for sale anywhere in the world specially available at The Fest. This will be Tony’s first NY METRO FEST appearance.
Liverpool: Incredible Live Concerts
The World’s Finest Beatles Sound-Alike Band, is an integral part of our ‘FEST family’ and has been our exclusive house band for nearly every FEST. Their dedication to the spirit of The Beatles music is unmatched, playing a vast majority of Beatles and solo songs, plus playing with dozens of great musical guests over the years.
They are working on a couple of special surprise sets for an anniversary!! Of course, they will be playing at the Friday Night Dance as well as Concerts on Saturday and Sunday evenings.
Clockwise from Top Left, DREW HILL, GLEN BURTNIK, CHRIS CAMILLERI and JOHN MERJAVE we be backing SPECIAL GUESTS Denny Laine, Laurence Juber, Denny Seiwell, Mark Hudson and the Stars of Across The Universe.
Bruce Spizer
After 6 amazing and authoritative books over the past 9 years, BRUCE SPIZER has turned out his final book in the Beatles U.S. Recordings series. It is called The Beatles Swan Song. However, 2007 saw Bruce expand into a Publisher with the release of Perry Cox’s Beatles Price Guide for American Records.
He will be doing two very entertaining Slide Shows this year. On Saturday, ALLAN STECKLER will be joining Ken Mansfield and Bruce on a fascinating talk on Apple Records in America.
Grammy Award Record Producer ALLAN STECKLER was employed by Allen Klein’s Abkco Industries. During that time he worked with the Rolling Stones, The Kinks, Donovan and others.
He managed Apple Records where he oversaw releases by The Beatles, George, John, Ringo and artists such as Badfinger, Mary Hopkin & Billy Preston. Allan attended the very first convention in 1974 as a liaison for Apple and we are delighted he can join us on Saturday.
Garry Berman
We're Going to See The Beatles
A long-time attendee of the NY Metro FEST, GARRY BERMAN has put together a book about the Beatlemania era as seen through the eyes of dozens and dozens of fans, called We’re Going To See The Beatles.
The book will be world premiered at The FEST and Garry will have two talks over the weekend: Saturday - Beatlemania and the British Invasion (All of the 1964 stuff, arrival at JFK, Ed Sullivan, etc.) and Sunday - The Beatles in the mid-1960s (Shea Stadium, Candlestick Park, Abbey Road, other mid-60s “we were there” themes).
Beatlism
Author of Beatlism, will talk about the 24 teachings, a contemporary reminder of ancient wisdom and primers of a bold new future.
John Stevens
Author of The Songs of John Lennon: Beatles Years, is working on a follow up for his Solo work, to be completed by next year.
He will have forums on both Saturday and Sunday.
Author of The Beatles in India informs us that his exhibit this year has been expanded to include 11 new images. He will also concentrate his talks on a much asked about topic. “Why Did The Beatles Go To India?” and share some meditation methods as well. In 1968 Paul went to the same Ashram as The Beatles in India, and the rest is history.
As the Editor of the online Rooftop Sessions, Susan has put out hundreds of articles and short stories on Beatles Fan Fiction. Over the weekend Susan heads the Fan Fiction Readings. If you have any you would like to share, this is the perfect place to do it. Don't be shy.
Martin Lewis
Master of Ceremonies
Humorist-writer-producer and leading Beatles scholar. His Fab-related work started 40 years ago (as a teenager!) when he compiled the discography for their authorizedl biography by Hunter Davies. He started his career as a protege of Beatles publicist Derek Taylor in the early 1970s.
His multiple Beatles-related credits include producing and marketing the DVD editions of “A Hard Day's Night" and “The Beatles On Ed Sullivan”. He was consultant for "The Beatles Anthology", "Live At The BBC", Paul McCartney's "Music & Animation", George Martin's "In My Life", Michael Lindsay-Hogg's "Two Of Us" and Julie Taymor's "Across The Universe".
He instigated the Rutles reunion and produced their "Archaeology" album. He has worked as producer-writer-host and/or marketing strategist on various film/TV/DVD/record/radio/stage projects with Paul, Ringo, Yoko, George Martin and Julian Lennon.
He instigated and produced the 40th anniversary celebrations of the Beatles first visit to the US (The Fab 40!) and this year's first-ever "Across The Universe Day!"
He has been Master of Ceremonies at all our NY and Western USA (L.A./Vegas) conventions since 1992 and a Special Guest at our Chicago Fests since 1995. This will be his 43rd convention with us. See: www.MartinLewis.com
DJ Personality
Q104.3, New York’s Classic Rock station is Number One rated in the country. KEN DASHOW is one of the reasons why they are tops. His music knowledge is amazing and he returns to be our Co-MC. You can hear him 4PM-8PM Monday-Thursday, and has his now famous Breakfast with The Beatles every Sunday Morning from 8-10AM.
Joe Johnson
Beatle Brunch Radio Show
• Trivia Contests
• DJ Personality
Beatle Brunch Host JOE JOHNSON is now on 120 stations nationwide (including WBZO, Long Island) on Sunday mornings).
Joe heads up the Annual Live Trivia Game Shows, Name That Tune and Panel Discussions.
There will be separate contests for the younger experts as well. www.brunchradio.com