One of the more unusual shows came the weekend of Friday, August 25, through Sunday August 27, 1972; The Beatles Away With Words was a multi-media extravaganza. A few weeks before
this a man named Howard Ragland came into the Allen, asking about rental availability.
We were sort of skeptical of this guy in a cowboy hat with the southwestern
accent as he boasted of sellouts across the country. But when showtime rolled
around, mobs swarmed the box office. There were three shows a day, at 8, 10 and
midnight on Friday and Saturday, and at 4, 8 and 10 PM on Sunday, all nine were
sold out. The show itself consisted of a 360 degree sound system, with the
sound set at the maximum level. 26 film projectors and a wall of slide
projectors bombarded the film screen with 6,000 slides. The show opened with a
brief montage of rock and roll before the Beatles, then a quick Beatlemania
segment, before heading into the much longer later Beatle era. Dick Wooten in
the Cleveland Press didn’t care much for it, but the crowd did seem to enjoy
it. A couple days before the show, when it was time to put the show up on the
marquee, Ray was insistent that the Beatles, should be spelled Beetles, and it
stayed that way all weekend, I seem to recall Jane Scott poking fun at us in
her column. Ragland and his associate, whose name I can’t recall, were sort of
shady individuals. On Saturday night they got a few counterfeit $20 dollar
bills, which they passed at a local restaurant. By Monday morning, these guys
had left town and the phone was ringing off the hook as hotels and other
suppliers tried to collect on their bills. We took cash up front, so we did OK.
Dick Wootten review, The Cleveland Press, Saturday, August 26, 1972, p. C-2.
I saw Away With Words in Omaha, NE on aFFriday night. The main thing I remember was that I "chemically enhanced" the experience. I remember it ended on "Lucy in The Sky" and that long chord. I kept saying "wow" and it was like I was forced into the back of my seat. From what I recall, the place was packed and most everyone was giving it "thumbs up".
ReplyDeleteI am sitting here at this morning dubbing the cassette tape I made by sneaking my tape recorder in my coat. I saw it with a friend and enjoyed it. Yes, it was very loud, but I enjoyed the 'ultimate Beatles slide show. :) - D. Petty (Lexington, SC)
ReplyDeleteI saw Away with Words/A Way with Words at Houston Music Hall, at the Friday midnight show, in April 1973, not August of 1972. I vaguely heard about the August show, but it didn't take place, for some reason, and was rescheduled for April.
ReplyDeleteMost. Impressive. Multi-Media. Show. Ever.
The best sound system I've heard, and I saw the Wall of Sound, til the '80s. The "history of rock 'n' roll before the Beatles", accompanied by a soundtrack of the Beatles' favorites and influences, from Fats Domino to Little Richard, with Elvis, Carl Perkins and Jerrry Lee Lewis, and newsreel footage from 20th Century history, leading to JFK's assassination, before the fidelity improves tenfold, as the best of the Beatles catalog begins blasting out of the speaker pods located around the hall. From Please Please Me, to the medley on Side Two of Abbey Road, in double quadraphonic sound, the evolution of the Beatles played out before our very ears, as we watched the years roll by on 4 video screens. The video varied from film to slides, sometimes linked, sometimes using all 4 screens for one visual, as in "the turn" in Dallas, before the Beatles changed the world as we knew it.
On the screens, videos of Carnaby Street and "swinging sixities" London, were juxtaposed against videos of a Buddhist priest setting himself on fire in VietNam, followed by shots from live combat nighttime news segments, riots in Watts, Detroit, Trenton, and lines of deputy sheriffs holding lunging German Shepherds, or firehoses, washing people off their feet, trying to register to vote, illuminating specific times, places and people, while the songs played on, speaking to specific memories of those chaotic years known as "the Sixties". I suspect those who didn't grow up in that era will have less visceral reactions to the multimedia presentation, but for those of us who did, who participated in the events, who knew those who didn't make it, or who fell prey to events beyond their ken, who survived the period, it was tumultuous, unpredictable, and dangerous.
A list of world events between Sept 1962 and Jan 30 1970 would be hard to top in any decade since. By the end, as 1969 dribbled into the history books, we cumulatively felt as if we'd been through the meatgrinder, and come out as some new kind of sausage.
When John's vocals,
"Everybody had a good year,
Everybody let their hair down.
Everybody pulled their socks up,
Everybody put their foot down.
Oh yeah
Yeah I've got a feeling,
A feeling deep inside,
Oh yeah."
rumbled out of the speakers, it as much like a live Beatles concert as we would ever see again, watching the lads on the rooftop in London, January 1970, little more than 3 years earlier.
I've seen other comments, by those whose experiences were less enjoyable, but the show I saw was state of the art for music at the time. As a musician, it met every criterion I could think of, to best display the staggering talent the Beatles represented. I saw it with a dozen friends, we adjourned to the diner to dissect the experience, the recreational aspects of the evening not being concluded. In general, a very good time was had by all.
Away With Words aka A Way with Words
ReplyDeleteThe show consisted of a 360° sound system, the sound set at maximum level, 26 film projectors, and a wall of slide projectors bombarding the video screens with 6,000 slides, videos from the band's movies, newsreel sources and videos made by the Fab Four, over their storied career. The show opened with a brief montage of rock and roll before the Beatles, then a quick Beatlemania segment, before driving into the middle and later Beatle eras.
I saw Away with Words/A Way with Words at Houston Music Hall, at the Friday midnight show, in April 1973 (not August of 1972. I had vaguely heard about the August show, but it didn't take place, for some reason, and was rescheduled for April). A part of a group of friends, we bought a dozen tickets close together, getting seats at the front row of the balcony, at $3.00 apiece ($20 today).
Most. Impressive. Multi-Media. Show. Ever.
The best sound system I'd heard, and I saw the Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound a few years later, and I still thought the AWW was superior, til the '80s.
A "history of rock 'n' roll before the Beatles", in video and music, kicked off, From Hank Williams, rhythm and blues, and Elvis evolved a new art form. Alan Freed, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis played their parts in the birth of rock, contrasted with newsreel footage from 20th Century history of an H-bomb explosion, clips on the Cold War and bomb shelters, racism and bombings, as Brill Building Rock took over, forecasting the future of Music as Product. The cascade of military blunders, here, there, and everywhere, diplomatic oversteps and naked pandering to dictators evolved from the sudden US emergence on the world stage painted a drastic future, while a lunatic fringe openly mocked in Dr Strangelove for lusting after war with Russia, cackled in the background.
The breaking point was JFK's assassination, The video varied from film to slides, and back, sometimes linked, sometimes using all 4 screens for one visual, as in "the turn" in Dallas, moments before a popular young President was murdered, two months before the Beatles changed the world as we knew it. As music approaches the launch of Beatlemania, the fidelity improves tenfold, as the best of the Beatles catalog begins blasting out of the speaker pods located around the hall. From Please Please Me, to the medley on Side Two of Abbey Road, in double quadraphonic sound, the evolution of the Beatles played out before our very ears, as we watched the years roll by on the video screens. Those who didn't grow up in the era will have less visceral reactions, but for those of us who did, who participated in the events, who knew those who didn't make it, or who fell prey to events beyond their ken, all who survived the period, it was tumultuous, unpredictable, and dangerous.
A list of world events between Sept 1962 and Jan 30 1970 would be hard to top in any decade since. By the end, as 1969 dribbled into the history books, everyone felt as if we'd been through a meatgrinder, and come out as a new kind of sausage.
When John's sings,
"Everybody had a good year,
Everybody let their hair down.
Everybody pulled their socks up,
Everybody put their foot down.
Oh yeah
Yeah I've got a feeling,
A feeling deep inside,
Oh yeah."
the song rumbled out of the speakers, as much like a live Beatles concert as we would ever see again, watching the lads on the rooftop in London, January 1970, little more than 3 years earlier.
I've seen other comments, by those whose experiences were less enjoyable, but the show I saw was state of the art for music at the time. As a musician, it met every criterion I could think of, to best display the staggering talent the Beatles represented. I saw it with a dozen friends, we adjourned to the diner to dissect the experience, the recreational aspects of the evening not being concluded. In general, a very good time was had by all.
I remember seeing it when it first came out in early 70s, in Louisville Kentucky. Funny, I don't remember a lot about it, but I know I really liked it at the time. I felt sad when I left convention center. The only song that I do remember was 'Hear Comes The Sun'
DeleteI saw the show 51 years ago at Ovens Auditorium in Charlotte, NC. I still remember it, and when exiting with my date I looked at the massive array of projection and sound equipment and I was amazed. The show and the tech behind it left a lasting impression of what could be possible….
ReplyDelete