Seven thirty, which you five k CD talk station. A Happy Tuesday to you. I love the empower You seminars. They are amazing thing. And thanks always to Dan Regunlard to fram Usa originally a fram Usa for creating the concept of empower. You've been doing this for decade, about a decade, and it's just filled with all types of
different topics, not always political. We learned about Woodrow Wilson, or you're going to learn about Woodrow Wilson tonight, but Thursday being at seven pm, you're going to hear about the Here from the foremost authority on John Lennon and the Beatles, Jude Sutherland Kessler, leading authority on John leven having spent the last thirty eight years researching and writing the first six books and an anticipated nine volume John
Lennon series. Welcome to the program, Jude. It's a pleasure to have you on this morning.
Bryan, thank you so much. I cannot wait to be in Cincinnati. The only thing that I like as much as the Beatles is the Bengals.
Oh how about that?
Well, maybe we have a guy here, actually two guys here that went to LSU and we love them still.
That's great, Well, you know, maybe you can come to Cincinnati and help us resolve the Bengals pay course stadium upgrade solution, because they're dealing with some financial realities that have seemed to me impossible to overcome. And one of the veiled threats from the owners is they're going to take their ball and run with it and go someplace else. So we're hoping the Bengals stay in town and we
get all that resolved. But pivoting over, how did you become such a massive Beatles and more of John Lennon per first and foremost?
But fan, what started all this for you?
Well, it started actually before the Beatles even came to America. In December of nineteen sixty three. I was approached in elementary school right when I got off the bus by a group of girls who said to studious me, look, these are the Beatles. We know you don't clue in, but you need to look at this forty five picture and at recess you have to tell us which one you're falling in love with. What it's two hours away? And unfortunately I chose George Harrison the first day, and
they were so disappointed they wouldn't tell me why. But they were very disappointed in me. So I went home and I did what I always do. I did research, and I called their big sisters and said, tell me about these Beatles, and I found out that John Lennon was considered the leader, the smart Beatle. And so I went back the next day and said, listen, I changed to my mind, it's John Lennon. And I think I was like nine years old and it's been John Lennon ever since.
How about that, Well, your first pick was is my favorite, while my guitar gently Weeps is my absolute all time favorite Beatles song. So George Harrison fan, I am. But I mean start on in John Lennon's early days. I mean his youth was rather troubled from what I understand.
Yeah, And that's what we're going to be talking about Thursday night. We are going to be looking at the birth of the Beatles and how this all got started, and how John's mother, in spite of many many tragedies that happened to him as a as a young boy and as a young teenager, told him that he had music in his bones and he was destined to become
a great singer. And she did it because he was being swallowed up by tragedy, and of course, just a few laters, she herself was hitting killed by drug driver and she was taken away from him, and then his best friends to Sutcliffe was taken away from him. How John Lennon persevered and gave us the soundtrack of Our Lives is the greatest success story of all time?
Really? How about that? It was interesting.
I kind of observed sort of a parallel the Beatles before and after the breakup, kind of like Pink Floyd before and after. Some of their parts is wholly different than the individual artists themselves. You know, Lennon wrote and did solo work that was just completely different, and you see where that creative element in, you know, like Sergeant Pepper's and other of the they're sort of the front runners in musical experimentation, at least with him rock music.
Roger Waters obviously the sort of John Lennon, like David Gilmore, more like Paul McCartney, more poppy, more traditional, non experimentation kind of music. Do you kind of feel that way the same way as I do in my observations?
Yeah, I think it took really all four of them to do what they did because you need Paul's happy, positive, poppy sound, and he can get serious. I mean, you take Yesterday, I mean some of his songs are very very serious. And then you take John who is mainly known for being the rock and roller, but he can write songs like good Night and Julia beautiful ballads as well. And then George Harrison. I mean, the Beatles have a
huge void without George Harrison. And they knew they needed Ringo or they would not have let their friend Pete Besco and brought Ringo in.
It takes all four of them.
Okay, well you're gonna have to explain that, because I don't know enough about the Beatles to know why they got rid of Pete best and favorite Ringo star Ringo my least favorite Beatle. I think kind of a guy, and I don't have really much respect for his drumming skills. You know, I'm a big fan of drummers, you know, like I like tools. Danny Carey and Neil Parrott from Rush was amazing, and they just maybe that sort of more modern drum style obviously developed over time in the
area of rock and roll music. But what was with them getting rid of Pete best and favorite Ringo star.
Well, Pete was a very good drummer and a heck of a nice guy. But Ringo was cool. He was John's ah, he was older, he had a silver streak in his hair, he had his own car, he had shiny suits, and he was the guy they all wanted to be the cool guy, and not only that, be a great sense of humor. And he ends up being the star of both of their films. So you need that personality to bring another element in not just the music, but a little bit of shining. Charisa as well, and Ringos applied that.
Now do you talk about I mean, in your seminar on the Magical Tale of How the Beatles became a band, do you discuss the breakup and what led to that? Because I know everyone loves to blame Yoko Ona. I'm just wondering if there's any truth and credibility to that.
Now Thursday Night, we're going to stop. After Brian Epstein becomes their manager, they're propelled towards success. We're going to be in those early early years. We're going to listen to some very primitive recordings that they did the first time that they recorded in nineteen fifty seven. Wow, and we're going to go, you know, through that rudimentary phase that led them to step off the cavern club boards
and step onto the stage of the world. But I will say the real mystery is not why they broke up, but how in the world to alpha male, brilliant, talented big dogs like John and Paul stayed together as long as they did. That's the real miracle.
What caused them to become just so amazing. I guess it wasn't overnight, since you mentioned they first recorded in the late fifties, but you know, by the early sixties they were a international phenomenon. On Ed Sullivan of course, I know their first appearance here was at Cincinnati Gardens. I don't know it was that nineteen sixty four or five. Yeah, But how did they blow up?
What was I mean?
The music obviously was very appealing, and they were good looking kind of guys, and that there was an appeal there. But you know, back then, you know, music was often just word of mouth, you shared sort of records that you ran into. You know, some local DJ would pick up on an album and they would play it and then people would start asking them to play it again and that would create a phenomenon.
How did it happen with the Beatles?
You know? John Lennon said, if we knew the answer to that, we would be managers and have other I don't think they even knew, but I will tell you this, when they play for other auditions and they don't succeed until Brian Epstein steps into the picture and when he begins to polish and hone them, put them in the suits, teach them not to throw food at the audience or to swear on stage, and to bow from the waste that he gives them, that polish that they need, and
the other ingredient. And this is so crucial to their success, is that every time I interview someone who attended a concert, whether it's in Cincinnati or in Chicago or wherever, they tell me the same thing. They looked right at me, they sang a song to me, They stared straight at me. Both men and women say the same thing. Somehow they had the ability to connect with an audience in ways that no one else could. It was almost.
Magical that charisma came through. It's beyond more than the music. There's a connection with the audience and the artists themselves.
Yeah, it really is, and a connection with each other. You watch them doing I'm Day on this the last song at Chase Stadium in nineteen sixty five. They are having the time of their lives together. Yeah, and that joy is something we all need.
That's a really interesting observation and such a true point. I mean, I've been very disappointed by artists I've seen, and I've been just totally amazed and wowed by many, And you know, I think you're right. It's what you perceive on the stage and connecting with that that really can make or break any given show. One thing you mentioned them playing in New York as well as when
they played here at Cincinnata Gardens, the rudimentary equipment. I mean, I don't know that anybody in the audience actually could hear the words they were singing or the music that they were playing. There were so many screams and shouts, which in and of itself was a wild phenomenon back then, this unrestrained exuberance that the fans, most notably the women in the audience, had right you know.
At Chase Stadium. I've talked to a lot of people who said they could hear the music, and my husband and Howard discussing this tonight and he said, do you think they really could hear the music? I said what they could hear was yeah, that's hard. That's all. You could hear a hundred wants and there is no way with fifty five thousand, six hundred attendees screaming that anyone heard anything.
Okay, well you confirm my suspicion on that one. Jud Kessler should be doing this seminar Thursday at seven pm. Log in from the comforts in convenience of your own home or show up in the Empower You Seminar Studios That will be three hundred Great Oaks Drive, Cincinnati.
Hear her live. You gonna do any Q and A at all?
Definitely, We're gonna do about an hour great great PowerPoint, great music, rare photos, and then we're gonna do Q and A after that. So I love for everyone to be there. Let us make this a whole Beatles party Thursday night.
And put a smile on your face. Moving away from politics and thinking about something. It's a lot more fun than the troubles and cares a year have to deal with the day to day here. It's been a real pleasure talking with you today. I enjoyed the seminar and and have a good time doing it. It sounds to me like I'm certain that you will