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Donovan delighted the packed audience
at the Crown Plaza Meadowlands on Saturday night with his touching
tribute to George that included a song he wrote in Rishikesh in 1968
that has not been heard since The Beatles had an audience with The
Maharishi in the spring of '68. After a standing ovation for his 30-minute
set that included George's "Give Me Love", he jammed wth
Liverpool, playing four of his most famous songs, "Sunshine
Superman", "Hurdy Gurdy Man", "Atlantis"
and "Mellow Yellow". Just when we thought it couldn't get
any better, rock virtuoso and producer extraordinaire, Mark Hudson
(Ringo's Producer and co-writer and former Hudson Brother) sang a
haunting melody as John Lennon belting out "Working Class Hero"
and the Harrison tribute from the new "Ringo Rama" CD, "Never
Without You". The Beatles tribute band, Liverpool, knocked
out a great Beatle set for the crowd, as well as a great rendition
of "Stuck inside a Cloud" from George's new Brainwashed
CD.
 Beatle
Brunch's Joe Johnson was on hand to host his upbeat Beatles
trivia quiz on Friday and Sat, this year adding a new twist: A Championship
Round pitting Beatles experts and authors against the winner of
the fans competition. Beatle experts included author Bruce Spizer,
Superfan Tom Frangione, and BeatlefanMagazine author Rick
Glover.
 Beatle
Brunch host Joe Johnson also worked the crowd gathering interviews
for the April 20th edition of the show, and interviewing Doug and
Ray about the lost "Let it Be" tapes that were recently
confiscated by the authorities overseas. Ray and Doug have
a new book called "Get Back" that covers much of
the material recorded during the infamous "Get Back" period
in January of 1969.
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The timing couldn't have been better for this fest as fans were soaking
in the release of the new Ringo CD, "Ringo Rama"
the "Holy Grail' of Beatles releases: The Ed Sullivan DVDs
featuring The Beatles four live appearances, and The Beatles Anthology
DVDs, which could be advance-ordered at Mark Lapidos' booth.
As the program promises, and as The Beatles themselves promosed some
36 years ago, "A Splendid Time is Guaranteed For All".
 Also
on hand this weekend were famed photographer Robert Freeman,
Beatles filmmaker Dennis Odell, Andy Bubiak, author
of "Beatles Gear" and dozens of other Beatles authors
and vendors who were there to share their experiences (and wares)
with Beatle fans.
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The Fest for Beatlesfans (formerly "Beatlefest") makes its
next pilmgrimage to Chicago the weekend of August 16th. Visit www.thefestforbeatlesfans.com
or call 1-866-THE FEST for tickets and more information.
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