{"id":2997,"date":"2014-04-11T13:52:19","date_gmt":"2014-04-11T18:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?p=2997"},"modified":"2014-04-14T11:22:22","modified_gmt":"2014-04-14T16:22:22","slug":"the-curtain-rising-brian-epsteins-induction-into-the-rock-roll-hall-of-fame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/the-curtain-rising-brian-epsteins-induction-into-the-rock-roll-hall-of-fame\/","title":{"rendered":"The Curtain Rising: Brian Epstein\u2019s Induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ignore the above – this amazing piece is…
\n 
\nby Vivek J. Tiwary, author of ‘The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story’<\/strong>
\n 
\nApril 11, 2014
\n 
\n\u201cBest of all and far beyond anything money can buy, I love to lean on my elbows at the back of the stalls and watch the curtain rise on my artistes.\u201d \u2013 Brian Epstein, 1964.
\n 
\nYesterday afternoon, hours before he would induct Beatles\u2019 manager Brian Epstein into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, my friend Peter Asher warned me that his induction speech would be short by necessity. I suspect Peter thought I\u2019d be disappointed that Brian might not get his full due. And yet last night, Peter gave the most lovely, heartfelt, personal, poignant, and informative speech about Brian Epstein that the mainstream public has heard in years, perhaps since Paul McCartney told the BBC \u201cIf anyone was \u2018The Fifth Beatle\u2019 it was Brian\u201d (and that was in 1999).
\n 
\nSpeaking of Paul McCartney, let\u2019s get this out of the way: There has been sentiment amongst Beatles\u2019 fans ranging from confusion to complaint about McCartney\u2019s not inducting Brian himself. Well, when Brian died his mother respectfully asked the Beatles not to join the funeral proceedings for fear that the event would become a media circus, focused on the Beatles when the moment should belong to Brian and the people who loved him. The same could be said of last night\u2019s induction ceremony. With no disrespect to the fab Sir Paul, his presence wasn\u2019t missed. Peter took the ball and knocked it from Shea Stadium to Candlestick Park.
\n 
\nAcknowledging Brian\u2019s brilliant vision in being the first to believe in the Beatles, Peter then focused on Brian\u2019s passion, faith, and unwavering persistence in
\nconvincing an entirely disbelieving music industry\u2014and the world in its wake \u2014 that the Beatles were destined to become not just international pop stars but
\ninspiring cultural icons and true artists. Peter spoke specifically of Brian\u2019s intelligence as a manager, recognizing that early exposure was sometimes far
\nmore important than the extra dollar, his savvy packaging and presentation of the Beatles, his wrangling control over the media to insure that each Beatles\u2019
\nappearance was not just an appearance but an event. He read a note from Brian\u2019s family who couldn\u2019t be there in person, expressing delight at the induction and only regret that Brian\u2019s brother Clive, his mother Queenie and his father Harry were not alive to witness it\u2013 and how proud they would have been. Peter even related a personal experience, observing a fleeting moment when Brian took a step back to enjoy some satisfaction in the success of his artists. Brian rarely gave himself those moments.
\n 
\nAnd Peter often reiterated Brian\u2019s absolute commitment to realizing the Beatles\u2019 wildest dreams\u2014the fact that he considered this commitment his greatest responsibility in life, never wanting to let the band down\u2014and the fact that in the final equation, he never failed them. It\u2019s what made Brian Epstein an excellent manager, mentor, and friend. It\u2019s why he deserves the title Paul gave him in 1999 of \u201cThe Fifth Beatle\u201d. And why he deserves the 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction last night.
\n 
\nAll that being said, Peter\u2019s daytime warning was still well heeded in experiencing the nighttime event. Brian\u2019s induction was indeed brief and came at the very beginning of the ceremony. If you showed up a little late, you might have missed it. If you decided to get a drink before the big rock show, you might have missed
\nit. If your eyes were a bit dry that day and you blinked a little too long, you might have missed it. And that\u2019s exactly how Brian would have wanted it. He would
\nhave wanted to have been acknowledged and briefly celebrated, but not doted upon. And then he would have wanted to get the hell out of the way, to keep the focus on the artists who create the music.
\n 
\nThat\u2019s another quality of a great artist manager\u2026 and also illuminates why managers are usually the unsung heroes in their artists\u2019 career histories. Indeed, it\u2019s a credit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that they are now inducting artist managers. And it\u2019s another music industry boundary that Brian Epstein has shattered, paving the way for others to follow in his wake.
\n 
\n(Last night\u2019s second manager inductee, following fast on Brian\u2019s heels, was his dear friend and ally Rolling Stones manger Andrew Loog Oldham).
\n 
\nAnd then the evening moved on, and was indeed all about the artists. For the next 5 hours, we were treated to a series of glorious music highlights. For me, these included Peter Gabriel\u2019s gentlemanly acceptance and timeless performance, Tom Morello\u2019s outrageously awesome KISS induction speech (and Paul Stanley\u2019s back-atcha); Stevie Nicks having the time of her life giving a powerful vocal tribute to Linda Ronstadt; Yusuf Islam\u2019s performance reminding me what a truly amazing artist Cat Stevens is (now that I\u2019m a father, \u201cFather and Son\u201d blindsided me with unexpected joy and sadness); Bruuuuuce and the E Street Band schooling me on what it really means to be a band of brothers; Daryl Hall and John Oates clearly preferring to rock than talk (and throwing mad props to my second home Philly); Dave Grohl starting by gracefully thanking the many excellent Nirvana drummers that preceded him; and my teenage crushes Joan Jett and Kim Gordon tearing the house down by channeling Kurt Cobain for performances with Nirvana.
\n 
\nAll eyes in the house were firmly glued to that stage… Except mine, which would frequently wander towards the back of the concert hall\u2026 Where swear I saw him for one fleeting moment\u2014leaning on his elbows, a small smile creeping across his face, watching the curtain rise on the many artists inspired by the Beatles legacy he created and protected.
\n 
\nBut then I blinked, and he was gone.
\n 
\nIt\u2019s just as well\u2014Brian Epstein would have preferred me to face the music.
\n 
\nCongratulations to The Fifth Beatle Brian Epstein, on his well-deserved 2014 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
\n 
\nYou can visit Vivek J. Tiwary’s site – The Fifth Beatle – here<\/em> >> www.thefifthbeatle.com<\/a>
\n 
\nCLICK HERE<\/a> to read Peter Asher’s induction speech.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ignore the above – this amazing piece is…   by Vivek J. Tiwary, author of ‘The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story’   April 11, 2014   \u201cBest of all and far beyond anything money can buy, I love to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[76,78,117,79],"class_list":["post-2997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-brian-epstein","tag-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame","tag-the-beatles","tag-vivek-j-tiwary"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2997"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3007,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2997\/revisions\/3007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}