By Tommy Acosta
I can honestly say, having grown up in the Bronx in the 60s, that if it had not been for the Beatles I most likely would have grown up to be a criminal or been killed in a violent gang war.
I’ll never forget that night when on the Ed Sullivan Show the Beatles made their first appearance.
I was glued to the TV. I was mesmerized. I saw the girls in the audience screaming.
They were just so friggen cool. I saw myself there on a stage someday, rocking and singing and girls going wild over me.
That was it. My life changed forever.
I was so taken, so moved, so inspired that I immediately 86’ed my zip gun and traded my black leather motorcycle jacket for a guitar and Beatles boots.
I was given purpose.
It was like every kid living in my building in the Castle Hill projects took up playing music at the same time. Bands sprang up all over The Hill.
The Souls, The Castle Kings, The Premiers, The Nightwalkers, The Un-Called Four, Mozart’s People, The Squirrels and Savosta.
From that point in my life, 16 years old, I embarked on a musical journey that I am still walking today, as a Sedona musician, singer and songwriter.
Through my journey I got to play with David Peel, who cut an album with John Lennon, played all the hot clubs in Manhattan, played in front of 50,000 people, and founded Green Light, one of Sedona’s top original bands.
And wrote songs inspired by the Beatles. Love songs, songs of peace, self-discovery and everything in between. It has and continues to be such a journey.But I never got to see the Beatles play live.
Now, I get to see and hear the next best thing.
Now, thanks to the Blazin’ M Ranch, we Beatlemaniacs have an opportunity to see one of the world’s top Beatles Tribute Bands called “Britian’s Finest” right here in Cottonwood, when Britain’s Finest makes a touring stop at the Blazin’ M.
The band will be performing the best of the best Beatles songs note-for-note and in full costume to bring to life the memory of what history will show was the greatest band that ever existed.We can, if we defuse our sense of time and sight, travel back to the past and relive the thrill of the first time we heard them play. Experience the thrill of watching them play live.
For those of us who never got to see the Beatles in concert this is our second chance, an opportunity to see our beloved Beatles resurrected, up close and personal, on the Blazin’ M Ranch stage.
The dinner show will take place Saturday, September 27, with dinner starting at 6 p.m. and the show starting at 7 p.m.
You can click HERE for ticket prices and more information on the show.
So you Baby Boomers out there, we may be old but we’re still bold, and this is an opportunity to get as close to the Beatles as one can get in a lifetime.
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
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2 Comments
Pretty awesome background story Tommy. I’m a bit younger than you and never saw the Beatles in concert except on TV because I was too young to attend concerts in the 60’s. I did grow up with their music and was a young fan. Even had one of their toy Yellow Submarines. I also grew up with the Stones, Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison and many others. Most of the people in my life back then were family members returning from being Combat Medics in Vietnam (one of their sons was also a Combat Medic in the Army who did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and was a medic in Syria for our Kurdish Allies as a civilian) or family and friends who supported them despite their adversity to Johnson, Nixon the War upon Vietnam itself.
As I grew older I was surrounded by kids aspiring to be rock stars who had garage bands or competed in our local “Battle of the Bands”. I tried my hand at singing in one but quickly realized I wasn’t singer material. Many a big name band came to our Big Rock n Roll City to advance their careers in rock from Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac and hundreds more. Like NYC and the Bronx we were known for our fondness of rock and roll. The War ended and people were mostly just trying to get on with a peaceful and harmonious life. Rock music helped make that happen. Young and old, pro war and anti war, hippies, veterans and so called “strait laced” alcoholics all grooving to music that healed us.
Too bad that has all been long forgotten and our country is being ripped apart by the very same kind of ignorance that got us into Vietnam in the first place.
Keep on making music Tommy. It’s all humane and humanity loving people have anymore. Everything else that was a norm for decades and decades is being burned, erased, removed, denied, lied about in an effort to make our Democracy an Autocracy run by Oligarch Crooks!
Such great memories… watching them on Ed Sullivan’s “shew”! B&W even! The fab 4 from England preaching peace. And then there were 3. Polarizing continues today. I worry about our country. I love our country.