{"id":7345,"date":"2018-04-09T18:04:44","date_gmt":"2018-04-09T23:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?p=7345"},"modified":"2018-04-09T18:04:44","modified_gmt":"2018-04-09T23:04:44","slug":"from-us-to-you-cheers-bruce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/from-us-to-you-cheers-bruce\/","title":{"rendered":"From Us To You… Cheers, Bruce!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jude Southerland Kessler<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In case you missed the really big celebration in Beatlefan<\/em> magazine (\u201cBeatles, Roaches Launch a 20-Year Journey\u201d), on Sirius radio, and on podcasts such as the \u201cShe Said She Said\u201d show on BlogTalk Radio<\/a>, the Fest for Beatles Fans\u2019 own Bruce Spizer <\/strong>is being lauded and applauded across the nation. It\u2019s his anniversary!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Over the last 20 years, Bruce has built a reputation as the most respected Beatles music expert in the world, or as the Fest family fondly refers to him, \u201cThe Beatleseffin\u2019pedia.\u201d Despite the fact that he is a very busy New Orleans tax attorney, Spizer has written nine books establishing his well-deserved creds as the \u201cgo to guy\u201d on the Beatles recordings, records, and record promotions. He has covered almost every aspect of Beatles music history in these distinguished volumes:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Beatles Records on Vee-Jay<\/em> (1998)<\/p>\n

The Beatles\u2019 Story on Capitol Records, Part 1<\/em> (2000)<\/p>\n

The Beatles\u2019 Story on Capitol Records, Part 2<\/em> (2000)<\/p>\n

The Beatles on Apple Records<\/em> (2003)<\/p>\n

The Beatles are Coming!<\/em> (2003)<\/p>\n

The Beatles Solo on Apple Records<\/em> (2005)<\/p>\n

The Beatles Swan Song<\/em> (2007)<\/p>\n

Beatles for Sale on Parlophone Records<\/em> (2011)<\/p>\n

The Beatles and Sgt. Pepper: A Fan\u2019s Perspective <\/em>(2017)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Never intentionally setting out to write a book, Bruce\u2019s personal investigation into authentic 1960s Beatles pressings (when his record collection was destroyed and needed to be replaced) revealed a wealth of intricate information. The more Bruce learned in his quest, the more convinced he became that there was a need for an accurate, detailed book covering The Beatles on the Vee-Jay label \u2013 and on the intricate legal battle surrounding the company\u2019s dealing with the Fab Four. Therefore, in 1998, he published that very book. And in doing so, Spizer started a tradition that will not slow or stop. His books are requested\u2026in fact, popularly demanded\u2026by knowledgeable Beatles fans who want to learn more.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Almost the second his Vee-Jay book hit the stands, Fest goers were \u201cwink-wink-nudge-nudging\u201d Bruce with, \u201cSo, when\u2019s the Capitol book coming out?\u201d And once Spizer had given them \u201cthe Capitol book,\u201d his readers (and they are many\u2026his books have grossed $2 million since their inception) were clamouring for \u201cthe Apple book.\u201d For Spizer, there was no resting on one\u2019s laurels. He had to keep writing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In 2007, Spizer released a volume that he was certain would tie up all loose ends, covering (he thought) every remaining shred of information about Beatles recordings \u2013 everything that he had not previously discussed. One of those topics was The Beatles\u2019 catalogue on Swan records. So cleverly, Spizer entitled this \u201cfinal, final, infinity final\u201d work, The Beatles Swan Song<\/em>. Except, of course, that it wasn\u2019t. Spizer may have wanted<\/em> this definitive volume to be the swan song of his author-itative career, but he wasn\u2019t permitted to relax yet: fans wanted the complete Parlophone story as well. They were insistent that The Beatleseffin\u2019pedia tackle it from A to Zed. So, Spizer did just that, releasing in 2011, Beatles for Sale on Parlophone Records<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, it is\u2026it\u2019s clear that Beatles fans and music aficionados can\u2019t get enough of the painstaking detail which Bruce Spizer provides. He hunts down myths about Beatles music and summarily dispels them. He speaks with primary sources, such as Walter Cronkite (who wrote the Foreword for The Beatles Are Coming!<\/em>), and he sets right past errors. Bruce has said on many occasions that, \u201cA worthy book about The Beatles can\u2019t be a mere collection of quotes and facts from other previous works patched together\u2026a good book must provide new research and cover new territory.\u201d And that,<\/em> Bruce has done.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But there\u2019s more to Bruce\u2019s story\u2026the personal side\u2026because for those of us who call The Fest for Beatles Fans our home, Bruce is family. Well-known for his Saturday noon Main Stage kick-off presentations and his Friday night panels with Al Sussman, Tom Frangione, Chuck Gunderson, and many others, Bruce has always been integral to The Fest\u2026a tradition we all anticipate and enjoy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was at the 2004 New Jersey Fest that a novice author named Jude Southerland Kessler listened intently to Bruce\u2019s speech and then went up to ask him about The Quarrymen\u2019s 1957 competition at the Liverpool Empire against (amongst other skiffle bands) The Sunnyside Skiffle group. \u201cMr. Spizer,\u201d I wondered, \u201cI know that the lead singer for The Sunnyside Skiffle group \u2013 who defeated The Quarrymen that day \u2013 was energetic Nicky Cuff. But who were the other members of the group?\u201d At that moment, Bruce Spizer did two things that impressed me tremendously: First, he admitted he didn\u2019t know. (Many experts would have \u201cbulled their way\u201d through with a flimsy answer.) And secondly, he suggested that I get in touch with Radio Merseyside and ask them for assistance with my mission.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So, I did. I e-mailed Radio Merseyside and explained that I was writing John Lennon\u2019s biography in narrative form and needed to know a bit about each member of the vivacious, charismatic skiffle band that had bested the ingenue Quarrymen in June 1957. I explained that, if possible, I needed to speak with someone from the band: to discover exactly why the earliest version of The Beatles had fallen short that fateful day. Well, Radio Merseyside did what Bruce knew they would do. They ran a contest to \u201cHelp the American Author\u201d \u2013 and happily, that contest ended in a direct overseas call to me from Nicky Cuff himself!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As I chatted with Cuff \u2013 the leader of the band who\u2019d taught John Lennon that rock\u2019n\u2019roll involved much more than just singing<\/em> a song \u2013 I finally understood the old adage, \u201cThe bigger they are, the nicer they are.\u201d Cuff was quite gracious. And though there was nothing \u201cin it\u201d for him, well-established author, Bruce Spizer, had also been extremely generous. He\u2019d taken time to help an unknown. He helped me uncover information I truly needed, despite the fact that he didn\u2019t know me or my work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bruce\u2019s brilliant notion of ringing up Radio Merseyside came naturally, of course, because that is exactly<\/em> the kind of in-depth scholarship he regularly practices. It\u2019s Spizer\u2019s \u201cextra mile\u201d \u2013 the path he consistently takes to uncover little-known facts. \u00a0Indeed, his thorough, comprehensive, \u201cno stone unturned\u201d research has always met with great respect from his fellow authors and with admiration from the fans and readers as well. For the last twenty years, we\u2019ve all said, \u201cGood on yer, son!\u201d Moreover, we\u2019ve continued to ask for \u201cMore, more, more!\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So today, Bruce, we salute you on this 20th anniversary and look forward to the books to come. You simply can\u2019t stop now! As John would say, \u201cY\u2019er on a rock\u2019n\u2019roll!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Jude Southerland Kessler is the author of the John Lennon Series:\u00a0www.johnlennonseries.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Jude is represented by 910 Public Relations —\u00a0@910PubRel<\/a>\u00a0on Twitter and\u00a0910 Public Relations<\/a>\u00a0on Facebook.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jude Southerland Kessler   In case you missed the really big celebration in Beatlefan magazine (\u201cBeatles, Roaches Launch a 20-Year Journey\u201d), on Sirius radio, and on podcasts such as the \u201cShe Said She Said\u201d show on BlogTalk Radio, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":7347,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[44,98,117,30],"class_list":["post-7345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-bruce-spizer","tag-jude-southerland-kessler","tag-the-beatles","tag-the-fest-for-beatles-fans"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7345","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=7345"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7348,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7345\/revisions\/7348"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}