THE PETE BEST BAND

It didn’t dawn on me that the phone call was legit, you see, there was a message left from the day before about booking Pete Best. I read the note, brief and concise – “Keith Putney wants to book someone…Pete Best…650-573-5959”. I folded it haphazardly into my wallet and thought, it must be a mistake; it couldn’t be THAT Pete Best, you know, the Beatle, the original drummer before Ringo. Later that day, I retrieved the maladroitly crumpled piece of paper and shoved it into an over-stuffed wallet like the monster wallet George Castanza had on Seinfeld, and I was starting to get excited. This mystery note stirred up all kinda Beatledom visions and thoughts of touching something historic - rubbin’ shoulders with the origins of the merseybeat. What if? So, I searched the web, sure enough Pete Best has a website, and it’s a cool website. And I’ll be damned if he isn’t planning an American tour. So, I look up Keith Putney, and sure enough he has a website, and I’ll be hog-tied and dried if he doesn’t represent Pete Best of the Beatles. Well, I dial up Keith Putney Productions and Keith is up front and real, yep, he’s lookin’ to book Pete Best in Michigan and a local newspaper columnist, who prefers to remain anonymous (Sue White), recommended me!!! Shit and step in it, I was thrilled and I felt as if I was ready for this adventure, that is, until reality came and bit me right on the goombah. When we began negotiating in earnest, I found the price was way outta my range, more ching than I ever had in any of my bank accounts, my wife’ purse, my potential inheritance, and more than my net worth when you include death benefits. After all, this was, for me, a show to die for. I’d do whatever it takes to get Pete Best to come to White’s. But it seemed impossible. I can only seat 78; without tables and chairs, maybe 100 or so. In retrospect, it seems unlikely that a big-time agent from California, whom I just met, and an ex-Beatle would even consider negotiating a price. But as we talked it became apparent that Keith was willing to deal because I had a genuine appreciation of Pete’s contribution to the early history of the Beatles and to the origins of the Mersey Beat phenomenon.

I told him about the 200 or so Beatle bootlegs in my possession including albums devoted solely to the Best-era, such as the Silver Beatles(Decca audition tapes), Live in Hamburg, and the initial sessions with George Martin in June 1962.I also had several books about those early days including The Beatles – True Beginnings (by Roag Best), From the Cavern to the Star Club, and The Beatle’s Anthology. I viewed Pete Best’s contribution to the Beatles as essential to their evolution and that Best’s heavy backbeat and booming bass drum sound was a critical component to their success as a live band in Hamburg, and eventually in Liverpool. It was with Best that the Beatles honed their new sound, raw and exciting, and as tight as vice-grip.And they had a look, leather-bound pants and jacket, hair grown out and combed forward, borrowed from the youthful existentialist Germans, who were drawn to the Beatles raw and unrestrained beauty. The Beatles refined their craft by playing 7-8 hours straight, one hour on with a 15 minute break, for an entire night. You rise to the occasion or fold. Within a few months, the grueling schedule paid off as the Beatles evolved into one of the most exciting acts in Hamburg, a guaranteed draw. As the word about the Beatles spread, Tony Sheridan, another displaced Brit, took notice and asked the Beatles to record with him. The results were modest but seemed to signal a undefined potential, a sign of things to come…

Lennon’s vocal on Ain’t She Sweet hinted at a future voice empowered by irreverence and irony.

And Cry For a Shadow, the first and only recorded composition credited to Lennon/Harrison, is a tribute to the Shadows, an instrumental combo popular in England at the time, in fact, they were HUGE.

The Hamburg Twist, is a fascinating EP of unreleased songs from the Best-era Beatles, and further documents Pete Best’s notable role during the incubation of the Mersybeat era of rock ‘n roll. As revealed in the book The Beatles – True Beginnings, the Beatles returned from their first 3 month residency in Hamburg, a changed band. Their first gig upon their return home to Liverpool was at Mona Best’s (Pete’s mum) Casbah Club, the most popular and influential venue for young bands in the entire city. It was this first triumphant show that planted the seeds of Mersey Beat…and Beatlemania. Pete takes up the story,
“We started-I think it was Paul who knocked it off with Red Sails in the Sunset or Long Tall Sally. We belted it out exactly as we had been doing in Hamburg, and you could physically feel the crowd gasp, it just silenced them. When we finished the first number, the place just went into rapture. It just exploded. We took the roof off the place. That was the Beatles’ sound, it was big, it was raw, it was savage. We didn’t realize we were doing anything different, but it was the start of the onslaught”.

It is from this historical perspective that I approached the Best of the Beatles Show, I was truly excited that it came my way and I couldn’t have done it without the help of Mid-Michigan Music, WHNN- Oldies 96, Howard Johnson’s Plaza in Downtown Saginaw, Kelly Milionis/Shoestring Entertainment, and Ken Oswald (sound). During the course of the evening I sat down the the Reed Brothers and the road manager/driver for the Pete Best Band. He was a hoot, a great guy. He talked in a thick Liverpudlian brogue that was sometimes intelligible, especially when he slowed down. He told us about the Casbah Club, that it is still intact, just as Mona Best left it in the sixties, with John's art work still on the ceiling and his name scrawled on the wall. Ken Brown's piano, played by John and Paul is still there as if suspended in time. He says that Paul and his wife Heather Mills have been seen there, in front of the Casbah, late at night, just talking. He imagines Paul is reminiscing about his youth, about how the Beatles began. These stories prove fascinating but when he gets speeded up, I can't for the life of me tell what he's talking about, 'cept for a few well placed Fooks and coonts. It sounded a bit like this...
"Ah yes, matey, thewankerpincheda bellydinglewiddabitsandbobsforalilblowthroughyaknowwhatimeanshaggintobeathelloodlesofwoowinkwink nudgenudgebuyFOOKMESIDEWAYScorblimeythebastarddon'tgiveabloominshitcosthey'reallblinkered likesomecrosseyedmaharishisexysadieyouknowbutwhaddaIknow I'mjustascouser...so...whaddya think?

The Pete Best Band
Direct from Liverpool.

The tour is called “Best of the Beatles” because Pete promised to play songs that he performed with the original Beatles from 1960-1962. At the time, the Beatles consisted of John Lennon (guitar, vocals), Paul McCartney (guitar, vocals), George Harrison (guitar, vocals), Stuart Sutcliffe (bass guitar, vocals), and Pete Best (drums). Forty three years later only two of the original Beatles are alive, Pete Best and Paul McCartney, yet the influence of the Beatles and the British invasion continues to be felt despite the rise of narcissism and a hyper-masculine cultural analog that promotes control, domination, fundamentalism, and an unenlightened materialism. How far have we dropped, how much have we lost? Perhaps it’s because of our fall from grace that Pete Best’s show resonated so deeply with me; or maybe its hearing those original Mersey Beat rhythms that give me a sense of history, and that our individual and collective journey is somehow tied into that fading backbeat and the big bass drum sound…or maybe it’s because I’m 52 years old and I own Beatles’ dolls, watches, phones, paper weights, key chains, and a whole shit load of Beatle records. Call me a nut, I say I’m an historian, maybe I’m a little of both…

But when The Pete Best took the stage, I was in awe!

They opened with Slow Down with lead singer Chris Cavanaugh, sounding much like a young John Lennon.

Pete took center stage to lead the audience in a clapping intro to What I’d Say. Best and the other Beatles were unabashedly fond of American R&B, Blues, and Country Western and they took these influences and created a different type of rock ‘n roll music. It was more than thrilling to pay witness this loving transformation almost a half a century later. I wondered if Alan Lomax felt that same exhilaration in the Mississippi Delta. One After 909 was followed in quick succession by Money, Mr. Postman, and P.S. I Love You. Pete took center stage a second time and began a rap that recalled an early sixties recording session with Tony Sheridan and introduces the next song, My Bonnie followed by Besame Mucho, Hello Little Girl, Till There Was You, and Some Other Guy and a jazzed-upSweet Georgia Brown

. Cavanaugh proved to be a compelling front man, great voice and a wonderful timing and an understated and quite English sense of humor, ironic and a bit naughty.

great rockin’ performances with powerful harmonies helped along by the unison singing of guitarist Phil Melia, bassist Paul Perry, and rhythm guitarist Tony Flynn. The band’s sound was tight and the performances were energetic. The two drummer approach worked well

Roag Best complimented his brother’s riffs, perfectly. And the interplay between the brother’s Best helped re-create that big bass drum sound and the rock solid backbeat. Before the night was over the band performed stellar renditions of I Saw Her Standing There, Twist & ShoutJohnny B. Goode, Cry For A Shadow, Kansas City , Long Tall Sally, and Rock and Roll Music.

Through it all Pete Best was a humble hero, content to remain in the background and let the music speak for itself. And his music seemed to seek me out and speak to directly to me as if I needed to feel those old rhythms again in order to discover my own inner witness and know deeply that we are not alone, that these humble rhythms are felt as love and healing. Ultimately, the story of Pete Best is the story of each and every one of us and it reveals our limitations as well as our boundless promise.

Peace,
Bo White
5/28/05