“I Didn’t Book The Beatles!”

One of the reasons I love working on The Forgotten Beatles podcast series is finding out about stories like this.

On the evening of March 18, 1965, while the Beatles were in Obertauern, Austria, filming their second movie, “Help,” they decided to stop by the Marietta Hotel to watch a gig by German group Jacky and His Strangers, who they knew from their Hamburg days.

Singer Jacky Spelter invited John and Paul on stage to join them. John played Jacky’s guitar while Paul played drums. According to the keyboard player in Jacky’s band, they didn’t play any Beatles songs, but did rock and roll oldies.

However, when they cranked up the amps and got a little loud, the hotel manager stopped it, complaining that he had

“booked Spelter’s group, not The Beatles!”

And of course, there are photos!

The rest of Jacky Spelter’s story is covered in the latest episode of THE FORGOTTEN BEATLES podcast, which also features the tragic story of Rory Storm.

Alan

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Some BIG news for the boys in The Savage Young Beatles.

The band will record the soundtrack to an upcoming six-part BBC drama series about the Beatles in Hamburg called Hamburg Days. It’ll be based on the memoir by Klaus Voorman, who is a consultant to the series.

The recording will take place in February over four days in Liverpool’s historic Casbah coffee club.

You can find out more about the TV show HERE.

And you can also catch the band at the Empire in Rochdale on the evening of Saturday 21st February.

Overall, an excellent oral history and snapshot of an event that changed the cultural landscape, The Beatles’ arrival in America and their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. From more than 50 years distant, it’s difficult to grasp just how profound an experience it was for many of the people who witnessed the seminal TV event, and how it changed so many lives; but this collection of essays and interviews is a good attempt at capturing that moment and its impact.

The collection doesn’t have a central narrative or theme beyond the “I saw The Beatles and it changed my life” undercurrent of each entry, and that can make reading a little repetitive after a while. There aren’t too many variations on that theme that you can produce and keep it engaging. This may be a book better served by dipping into occasionally and enjoying a few of the essays at a sitting, rather than as a straight cover-to-cover read through.

Title / Issue : Tuff Ghosts #29

Publisher: Harvey Comics

Date : July 1967

Writer / Artist: unknown

While the Fab Four don’t actually appear in any of the stories in this issue featuring Spooky and his spectral pals, it’s pretty obvious who they are playing on the cover. I love the literal interpretation of ‘mop-tops.’

If you would like to listen to full versions of the songs mentioned in either the main Before They Were Beatles podcast, or the new Forgotten Beatles series you can now find them on my new YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@AlanPorterWriter

Or you can check out the Before They Were Beatles playlist on Spotify at

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See you next time.

Alan J. Porter

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