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THE FOLLOWING EVENTS TOOK PLACE ON AUGUST 17
1960--The Beatles perform at the Indra Club, Grosse Freiheit, Hamburg, West Germany. The Beatles begin their first Hamburg engagement (the first of 48 nights at the seedy Indra Club). The club was frequented by prostitutes and their clients, most of them in various states of inebriation. The owner, Bruno Koschmider, urges the Beatles to ”Mach Shau,” or really put on a show, and John Lennon complies by screaming, shouting, and leaping about the stage. The others followed his example, sometimes playing while lying on the floor. Lennon once appeared wearing only his underwear and, on another occasion, wearing a toilet seat around his neck. It worked. The Beatles begin to draw in larger crowds, and their musical abilities are sharpened by their arduous schedule: four and one-half hours on week nights and six hours on weekends. To keep up their energy and to compensate for insufficient sleep, all of the Beatles, except for Pete Best, start using stimulant drugs. The audiences, who know little English, applaud as John Lennon shouts out “Sieg Heil” and calls them “fucking Nazis.” During their time at the Indra, the Beatles lodge in a single room behind the screen of a nearby movie house.
1961--The Beatles perform at St. John’s Hall, Tuebrook, Liverpool. For this performance The Beatles add bass guitar player, Johnny Gustafson (bassist with The Big Three, who were also on the bill), leaving Paul McCartney without a guitar and free to cavort around the stage. He even ventures into the audience, singing into a microphone like a solo singer.
1961--The first Beatles fan letters are printed in Mersey Beat.
1962--The Beatles perform at the Majestic Ballroom, Birkenhead, and at the Tower Ballroom, New Brighton, Wallasey. With Ringo Starr not due to arrive until the following day, The Beatles again call upon The Big Three’s drummer, Johnny Hutchinson, to sit in with them one more night. The Big Three also have a booking that night, and they are forced to find a replacement drummer themselves!
1963--The Beatles perform two shows at the Odeon Cinema in Llandudno, Caernarvonshire. This is the last night of a six-night stand.
1964--The Beatles appear on the cover photograph of US weekly magazine Saturday Evening Post. The photo was taken on June 3, 1964.
1965--The Beatles, on a tour of North America, perform two shows at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Canada. The attendance for each show is 18,000.
1966--The Beatles, veering into Canada during their final tour of America, perform two shows at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
1966--At a Beatles press conference in Toronto, John Lennon expresses admiration for US draft resistance, suggesting that those young Americans wanting to avoid the draft move to Canada. The US press and establishment are rather annoyed, still fuming over the ”Beatles bigger than Jesus” uproar.
1967--Brian writes a letter to Derek Taylor, then in California, about his next planned (but never materialised) trip to New York.
1968--Publisher McGraw-Hill moves up the publication date of Hunter Davies’ authorized Beatles biography to prevent its sales being affected by the spoiler tome “The Beatles: The Real Story” by Julian Fast. Fast later admits that he’s never had contact with any of the Beatles.
1968--George Harrison leaves England, starting a five-day trip to Greece.
1969--The Woodstock festival carries on into its third day.
1977--The day after the day Elvis died, President Jimmy Carter comments: “Elvis Presley’s death deprives our country of a part of itself. He was unique and irreplaceable. More than twenty years ago, he burst upon the scene with an impact that was unprecedented and will probably never be equaled. His music and his personality, fusing the styles of white country and black rhythm and blues, permanently changed the face of American popular culture. His following was immense and he was a symbol to people the world over, of the vitality, rebelliousness and good humor of his country.” Florists Transworld Delivery says it delivered more flowers to Graceland than for any other event in the history of the company.
1979--On PBS, John Lennon and Bob Dylan star in the documentary “Eat the Document.” While sitting in the back of his limo, Dylan tells Lennon he’s going to throw up. Now, that’s entertainment.
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