- From Faith Current: “The Sacred Ordinary: St. Peter’s Church Hall” - May 1, 2023
- A brief (?) hiatus - April 22, 2023
- Something Happened - March 6, 2023
Well, sister, I’m 43 and feel like 15. Or 180. It changes from moment to moment. Spending time with the folks sure makes me feel young. They’re coming of age at this point, and require personal care. I was a bit worried at first because they didn’t want to move out of the house, but after some research I learned about Home Care Assistance Raleigh. They’re right nearby at Home Care Assistance 9050 W Olympic Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90211 (310) 857-4740 so I set up a meeting and they seemed nice and professional enough. They’ve been working with my parents for about a month at this point, and all seems fine. Let’s hope it keeps up.
Slate reproduces this great letter written by a 15-year-old in 1964 to US Secretary of Labor W. Willard Wirtz, insisting that her beloved Beatles be allowed back into the country, mostly for her own health and well-being. (Apparently the government tightened restrictions against foreign entertainers, fearing our home-grown talent was being shut out unfairly. Fear Gerry and the Dreamers! FEAR THEM!)
The letter’s funny, but I link because of the comments, which are truly iconic in their internetty-ness.
We are used to this kind of fandom today, after 50 years of the best minds in marketing trying to gin it up on command. But it’s always worth remembering two things about the Beatles phenomenon in 1964: how surprising it apparently was, and its scale. That kind of omnipresence was simply unimaginable; there had been crazes—Valentino, Lindbergh, Elvis—but nothing like this. It was the confluence of a bunch of one-time factors, and it was authentically arrived at. There have been dark murmurings in the years since about Capitol and/or NEMS seeding the US market or somehow priming the explosion of Beatlemania. As much as it soothes and flatters people who missed the boat, or are simply sick of hearing about it, manipulated Beatlemania is not really borne out by what happened after that.
It was a one-time thing, and silly, and amazing, and there was even some art in there, too. On the other hand, it seems to have been physically quite demanding for some 15-year-old girls.
Wow, those comments. That “Gavin Vollure” guy accounts for about half of them. Guess no one told him the Ramones took their name from one of McCartney’s pseudonyms. And of course we have the obligatory Paul-Is-Dead believer in there.
Always interesting to see how much emotion is stirred up today by the Beatles, and in particular how strongly a subset of folks resent them and ascribe super powers to them (they destroyed girl groups and American rock and roll!)