Bringing back the Beatles » Times Record News Richard Carter/Special to TRN
Louise Harrison, George Harrison's sister (right), hand-picked the musicians in Beatles tribute group Liverpool Legends. She was in town recently to promote the band's Memorial Auditorium show Saturday and is seen here talking to The Bear 104.7 radio personality Keith Vaughn. RICHARD CARTER/ SPECIAL TO THE TIMES RECORD NEWS Contributed image Contributed photo Kevin Mantegna plays John Lennon in Beatles tribute group Liverpool Legends. In the 1960s, Louise Harrison did quite a bit to promote the Beatles, the iconic band for which her younger brother, George, played lead guitar. She's still promoting the group with her touring Beatles tribute band, Liverpool Legends. Branson-based Liverpool Legends will bring the mop tops, Gretsch guitars and Ludwig drums to Memorial Auditorium 7:30 p.m. Saturday. The group performs music from all of the Beatles periods, complete with plenty of costume changes. >From 1963 to 1965, Louise Harrison — who was living in America with her husband at the time — began contacting American radio stations to play the band's songs. She frequently toured with the group, did radio promotions and went on the radio to dispel rumors about the band. Years later, and shortly after George's death in 2001, she met Marty Scott. It turned out Scott's best friend from his teen years is a guitarist named Kevin Mantegna, whom Harrison said "is most definitely the best John (Lennon) anywhere on the planet." Part of the idea to start a live music tribute, she said, was to keep the Beatles music alive. But it also was to help pay off debts from a nonprofit environmental organization she was involved in. They originally planned to perform as a duo (Scott plays George Harrison) and call it the Passed Masters. "But when the two men started performing, they said we really need the full band to reproduce the music fully." They began looking for the other Beatles and found Bob Beahon, who plays Paul, and Greg George, who plays Ringo. George had been one of the founding members of another Beatles tribute group, 1964: The Tribute (that band is headed to the Wichita Theatre Feb. 10). Bob Dobro also appears on some songs to play keyboards. Louise said, "I am not going to put my name on it unless they are absolutely, absolutely good. That's been the criteria. Not just that they are good musicians, but I wanted them to be the kind of guys that if George was still alive, that he would like to hang out with. That was very important to me," she said. "Because my parents were so honest, and they had such great integrity, I would never ever do anything that would bring dishonor to my family name." The members of the Liverpool Legends work hard to replicate the music and to look as closely as possible to the Beatles. "There are so many people who come to our show who have gone to see the 'Love' show in Vegas, and they said this is so much better because ours is the way the Beatles were. The Beatles never flew through the air," she said with a laugh. Harrison was in town Jan. 22 to promote the show on radio and TV — something she said she enjoys. In Branson, where she lives and the band is based, she regularly goes on stage during intermission to answer questions from the audience. For people lucky enough to have seen the Beatles, Harrison said of the Liverpool Legends show, "They (fans) will enjoy it even better because this time they will actually hear it. And, it will be a whole new experience for people who have not seen them." -- http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2011/jan/28/bringing-back-the-beatles/ Via InstaFetch -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sixties-L" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sixties-l?hl=en.
