McCartney Times

Dear Beatles Friends, Ever since we announced the cancellation of our 44th Annual Chicago FEST FOR BEATLES FANS, we have been working every day to put together this Virtual FEST. It has been a long 6 weeks of investigating different platforms and working on getting the best sound and ease of navigating the different zoom rooms for this event. When we held our first Virtual FEST in March, we only had two weeks to figure it out and zoom was not that well known a thing yet, or even what it was! We learned a lot about how to hold a much more elaborate Virtual FEST. We already arranged one of our strongest Guest line-ups ever for Chicago, but we decided to invite some of our favorite guests from FESTS past and we were thrilled to hear they all said yes!! So what we have now is our biggest and best lineup in our 46 years of FESTS. The big difference, of course, is we all cannot be together under one roof and experience it in person. The next best thing is to be all together in this giant hotel called the internet. PLUS, we are going to be presenting a real LIVE CONCERT by LIVERPOOL, who have been our house band since 1979!! It will take place at THE CUTTING ROOM  in NYC, Saturday night at 8:00PM CDT and they are so psyched to be finally playing together in person for all of you. One ticket price for the entire 3 days is only $44.00. You can click here to purchase them through Eventbrite. Be sure to check out the FEST 2020 T-Shirt at the bottom of this newsletter. Jessica (Tilly) designed it, using Mark’s original records. Right here in the virtual plane. Instead of being ONLY in Chicago this summer – this one’s for all of us! New York Metro Beatlepeople – our Los Angeles family who we miss so much – Vegas Friends – Florida Folks… Beatles fam from every city we’ve ever been to, every city we always wanted to make it to but haven’t yet — every city across the world, can join us right here in Chica…. GO where? Go HOME! 😉 We get to be ALL Together Now!! With love from the Lapidos family and dear staff in Blue Shirts, we wanted to make this feel as much like being in the hotel together as possible! With our longtime Beatle home Hyatt Regency O’Hare as inspiration, we imagine the glass elevators lighting lighting up our spirits, and welcome you to an experience to light up Beatles-style Across The Universe! Now all we need is YOU to bring all your ::magic::, as you do! Get ready for multiple BALLZOOMS all going at once to make you feel like you’re at the Fest — except unlike in real life where you can ONLY be one place at a time, you now actually CAN be in multiple places at once! Imagine being in the Main Ballzoom on your computer, while shopping the Marketplace on your phone, tuning into the Faboratory on your Tablet…. All from your Beatley home music studio… or your Bed-In for Peace, 2020-style! Or maybe you set up a socially distant outdoor multi-projector screening for the weekend with your FestieBesties… the mischief is yours to make! Wander around the hotel and get lost in a Sea of Zoom Holes…. Where you see all your Beatlefriends in the….   The Main Stage Zoom Webinar: Our M.C. since the beginning, Radio Hall of Famer and beloved Chicagoan, Terri Hemmert of WXRT, will host our very special guests (scroll down to see who’s joining us)! Stars from near and far are zooming in to share stories of their time with The Beatles, and playing the music they made together along the way. Plus a LIVE Concert by LIVERPOOL Saturday Night.   The Paperback Writer Zoom Room: Will you read my book? It took me years to write, will you take a look? Join for Beatles Book Readings, Author & Expert Panel Discussions, Presentations, Beatles Trivia, the Soundalike Contest, and other such Beatles Activities with Fest Folk will be going on!   Happy Ever After in the Marketplace Zoom Room: Imagine if the Art Museum melded with the Marketplace, and some your favorite Vendors and Memorabilia dealers were hanging out in there, you could get appraisals or play in the Auction, and you could talk to Jim about T-Shirts from the Fest Store!? Come to do art, stay to buy art… Ob La Di Bla Da!   Faboratory Zoom Room: Live from the ::Magical:: Mystery Tour rainbow BUS and beyond! Join for Experimental Beatles Sounds, Dance Parties, 60s Getting Ready Hour, Fashion Show, Ukulele Strum, Yoga, Mediation, Zumba the first ever Fest Sound-NotAlike Contest… and much more interactive fun!   Under the Stairs: It’s not a Fest if we’re not in the lobby jamming or under the stairs in Chicago, all day and all night, amirite!? Join in and easily sign up to play a song – or jam along with others! Unmute at your own risk!   Apple Jam Stage: We’re bringing Beatles music from some of our favorite Beatles bands and musicians from all over the country and world (especially Chicago 😉 – and this will will be happening on FACEBOOK all weekend long! That’s right – this part is FREE for ALL! We didn’t want to leave anyone out of this Fest experience!!

Source: Virtual FEST FOR BEATLES FANS 2020 ❤