August 2014 Newsletter
The West End Museum is about to take off in ways you have never seen before! We’re excited to share some unprecedented events that are sure to excite old and young, family and friends, music lovers and everyone in between!!
We are starting things off with a Beatles celebration! Starting on September 12, the Museum will be holding a three-day weekend event in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Beatles Boston invasion and their one and only show at the Boston Garden. Our weekend event will be hosted by the great radio DJ Cha-Chi Loprete (of Breakfast with The Beatles fame on 100.7 WZLX), and is chock full of incredible events for young and old alike! Tickets will be in high demand so get yours early! Read more in the article below!
Sponsors for the Beatles celebration are: WZLX; TD Garden; Suffolk University; The Beatles Cartoon Art Show; Eat Design; Studio Two; The Langham Hotel; The Boxer Hotel; British Consulate-General – Boston; Dunkin’ Donuts; Big Daddy’s – Brighton; Gallery East; Ellis Strategies.
In addition to all musical and historical fun, Italian Heritage Month is just around the corner. The Boston Garden’s impressive resume proves its worth once again with our brand new exhibit,Tony DeMarco at the Boston Garden, debuting September 16th. The exhibit will focus on photographs of Mr. DeMarco’s many boxing matches at what was then known as the Boston Garden.
If you enjoy our upcoming roster of events, we hope you will consider becoming a West End Museum member. If you’re already a member, please help us spread the word about supporting our ongoing mission to highlight the history and culture of the neighborhood for visitors and residents of our City alike. Corporate and individual members are always welcome (special rates for students and seniors) as are donations. Membership and donations are tax deductible, and members receive discounts on paid Museum programs.
Thank you and best wishes!
Sincerely,
The Membership Team
50 Years Since the British Invasion! The West End Museum Celebrates The Beatles 1964 Boston Garden Visit
By Sue Minichiello
September 2014 marks 50 years since The Beatles descended upon Boston during the group’s first US tour. The Fab Four performed their only concert at the Boston Garden as part of the tour, which sparked the British Invasion and Beatlemania, setting fire to a musical love affair that endures to this day. On September 12, 13 and 14, The West End Museum will host The Beatles Invade Boston: 50th Anniversary Celebration, a full weekend of events commemorating the momentous occasion.
The Beatles stayed at Boston’s Hotel Madison, adjacent to North Station and connected to the Garden. Prior to the sold-out concert on September 12, 1964, the group held a press conference at The Madison, which was infamously “crashed” by three college-age friends. Steve Small, Rich Hershenson and Charlie Kimball successfully finagled their way in, snapped photos, asked questions and even shook hands with John, Paul, George and Ringo.
Highlights of The West End Museum’s weekend with The Beatles will include:
- reliving The Madison press conference with Small, Hershenson and Kimball; emceed by Cha-Chi Loprete, host of WZLX’s Breakfast with the Beatles
- meet-and-greets with Ron Campbell, a director and an animator on ABC’s Saturday morning cartoon series The Beatles (1965-1969) [see one of Campbell’s episode’s here] and an animator on The Beatles film, Yellow Submarine; Campbell’s artwork will be on sale and he will create Beatles works onsite
- exhibits featuring Campbell’s artwork, photos of The Madison press conference and Garden concert from Eat Design/Erik Taros collection, and Beatles memorabilia
- screenings of previously unseen footage of the concert at the Garden; plus Yellow Submarine; A Hard Day’s Night and The Beatles Boston, a documentary short by Eric Green recounting the band’s history with the City
- a Beatles ukulele sing-along with Roger Greenawalt, music producer and 80s Boston rock musician (The Dark)
- a talk by…
Book Launch & Talk: A People's History of the New Boston by Jim Vrabel
By Sue Minichiello
On September 10 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., the West End Museum will host the official book launch for A People’s History of the New Boston by Jim Vrabel. The book provides a grassroots perspective on the tumultuous 1960s and 1970s, when residents of the City engaged in an era of activism and protest unprecedented in Boston since the American Revolution. Vrabel will read excerpts and lead a discussion. West End residents and others mentioned in the book will be invited to speak. Light refreshments will be served. The event is free and open to the public. Pre-registration is required and you can register by clicking here.
Vrabel is a longtime Boston community activist and historian, and author of When in Boston: A Time Line & Almanac and Homage to Henry: A Dramatization of John Berryman’s “The Dream Songs.”
“This is a story that ached to be told, and Jim is the perfect person to finally give it voice. We are proud to have him at the Museum to unveil and discuss this important book,” said Curator and Museum Board President Duane Lucia.
Although Boston today is a vibrant and thriving city, it was anything but that in the years following World War II. By 1950 it had lost a quarter of its tax base over the previous 25 years, and during the 1950s, it would lose residents faster than any other major city in the country.
Credit for the city’s turnaround since that time is often given to…