The British Invasion: Live!

This post contains some classic photos of the Beatles live in concert as well as some personal photos of Knoxville's own Invaders, a first rate British Invasion tribute band.

The live Beatles' pics were scanned from various issues of the Beatles Monthly Book. The screen captures were taken from the widely circulated BBC documentary, The Mersey Sound, filmed August 28 - 30, 1963. Footage from this documentary was actually the first footage of the Beatles aired in the US on January 3, 1964--Jack Paar used it to showcase "Beatlemania" and to ridicule the effects this phenomenon had on the youth of England.

I was inspired to post some concert pics of the Beatles because the Invaders have found a home at Knoxville's new English pub, The Crown and Goose, where they are playing almost every Friday and Saturday night. My plans for the summer are sealed! The Invaders specialize in recreating some of the greatest songs from the British Invasion with a repertoire that includes songs by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Troggs, the Animals, the Kinks, the Yardbirds, Herman's Hermits, Them, The Searchers, the Dave Clark Five, Gerry and the Pacemakers, etc. Not only are these guys excellent musicians with all the amazing gear used by the Brit bands (notice their Beatles gear above), they are generous and friendly with their fans. I can't think of a more entertaining night out than heading out to the pub with friends to grab a pint and hear some raucous live rock'n'roll!

Sonny Thrower, lead guitarist, is shown above playing two fabulous guitars from his collection: the Gretch Country Gentleman and the Rickenbacker 360 six string (he has a 12 string as well). Sonny also uses an original Vox teardrop guitar, exactly like the one used by Rolling Stone Brian Jones. He also boasts two Epiphone Casinos, a J-160E, and other prized guitars in his massive collection. Brooks Knott, the rhythm guitarist, is shown above playing a Rickenbacker 325 short arm like John Lennon's "Miami" model. He even has the Vox Python strap to make the look complete. Alan Manning, shown playing his Hofner 500/1 bass (purchased in 1967), also often plays an original 1965 Bill Wyman Vox bass as well. Vocalist Kevin Summitt and drummer Tory Flenninken round out the Invaders' line up.

For more information on the Invaders, please check out their website.

Beautiful Boy

As requested, here is a very large post containing all the childhood photos of John that I could find. All of these are my own scans, except for the first picture of John's birth certificate, the cute photo of him smirking (as he continued to do all his life), and the contact sheet of his Dovedale Primary pictures, age six. He was such an adorable child. I like the photo of John with his Uncle George--I believe that may be the only picture of him that I've seen. I wish there were more pictures of John with Julia, his mother.

I love reading John's musings on his childhood--how he was always different, exceptional and feeling as if no one was recognizing the special gift he had. He perceived things others could not, dreaming surrealistic dreams in vivid Technicolor, which are the tale-tell signs of a gifted child. "No one I think is in my tree/I mean, it must be high or low."

Luckily, John shared his talent and visions with the world so we could have his music, art, and poetry to enrich our lives.