The Beatles 1966 Concert in Seattle at The Coliseum

I recently watched the Ron Howard documentary, The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years (2016). If you're into that sort of thing also consider the new two part documentary, Rolling Stone: Stories from the Edge. A fascinating documentary about an important American magazine on American culture.

Okay, back to The Beatles....

In the beginning it is stated that this may be the first time the remaining Beatles have ever actually heard what they sounded like in concert from those years. I can definitively say I fully understand what that means. The sound in the concerts in the film are excellent and a far cry from what my slightly older sister and I heard when we saw them ourselves in Seattle at The Coliseum (now called, Key Arena), August 25, 1966.

They had been to Seattle in 1964 which was famously documented and covered by the media.
When I saw them I was in sixth grade. My sister was in ninth.

As I understand it, my older brother had tickets but heard no one could really hear the music over the screaming girls at other venues, so he didn't want to go. And so my sister got the tickets and I got asked. I was beside myself in not only going to such a grown up thing (and I was surprised when I arrived I was more grown up than most of the audience), but also to actually get to see the Beatles!.

Seattle Times 1966

I remember the place being packed with screaming girls. We were on the left of stage mid way up above and I seem to remember the banister right before us. So lower mid level or lower upper level. But we could see them well enough though I wouldn't have wanted to have been any further away either.

According to this we must have been in section 42

I had my ticket stub until a couple of decades ago when I realized that I had the wrong end of the stub and it had no indication on it whatsoever so I tossed it.

Not my ticket stub but example

What |I remember most is The Beatles coming on stage and the girls screaming. My sister leaned over and complained that if the girls would stop screaming we could actually hear them play. We were both upset that we came to hear a concert and we weren't getting to.


I looked around me and I didn't see a girl not screaming. My sister was sitting there like me, steaming over not hearing the band well. If I listened closely, I could just make out what song they were playing, but not consistently throughout the song.

I remember noticing the size of their amps. Simply not sufficient for this sized venue. See, my sister and our older brother had a band themselves, Cindy and the Barons, in Tacoma, WA. I was used to band practice every Thursday night from 7:30PM to 10PM (curfew times).

Cindy and the Barons

It was obvious to me even at eleven that they didn't have big enough amps or PA system. I couldn't then and do not now understand as this wasn't their first concert, how they (someone) couldn't have figured out they needed more equipment. I suppose they probably saw it as a cost analysis decision. The fans don't care about the music, it was an Experience. And in a way, they were right.

As for Ron Howard's documentary, it is an excellent documentary and the Rolling Stone documentary is an excellent companion to it.

Live It Outloud! Season Finale Rock Concert 2013

On Saturday August 10, 2013, young musicians in the Live it Outloud! program, had their final concert of the season at the Pantages Theater in Tacoma, Washington. It was really a lot of fun. 

"Live your dream", their flyers say. And they're not kidding. They also say, "A summer rock-music school for aspiring musicians 12-18".

The bands were to play their rock show from 1PM to 4:30PM, but due to Union stage techs having "technical difficulties" it really didn't get started until more like 2PM. Which personally I thought was unacceptable as well as unprofessional. But hey, that's just my humble opinion and in the end, what are you going to do? Now I've heard stories before about Union techs who have pre-show "technical difficulties" setting up just in order to set the stage for the show running late and therefore mandatory overtime kicking in. But I'm quite sure that wasn't the case this time, at all.

The Pantages itself is a really nice theater, quite comfortable and in the end I really didn't mind the wait all that much. Not once they got to playing, that is. Okay, it seems to me if you're a paid professional and especially a Union member, the epitome of a professional workman (as I didn't see female techs that day), then you get the job done, on time. Show up early enough to be sure everything is ready so the crowd doesn't wait. Whatever. Having the crowd waiting at a performance because the tech staff is having "issues", should just never be a concern. But maybe that's just a lifelong pet peeve of mine....

Pantages balcony seat left of stage

So anyway, the kids got done playing just a little after 5:30PM. It was a long day sitting and listening, but I really didn't notice it that much as I was having a great time.

Pantages ceiling main auditorium above my seat

Live it Outloud! is run by Joe Wilson for (or through?) Ted Brown Music in Tacoma, Washington. Even with the technical difficulties and occasional sound issues during the show, I was still pretty happy to be there.

Andy and Joe

See, I had shown up last year at the last hour and only got to see the last three bands. I realized pretty quickly that next time (this year) I'd show up early, and so I was there a couple of hours ahead of time. Okay, I was a little bit earlier than I really needed to be.

It's an amazing amount of talent these kids have. Joe Wilson and the mentored performances put on by the kids through an eight week period, really did a wonderful job. Just as Joe has been doing over these past few years that the program has been going.

The kids sign up for the program and are then matched up together with other kids to make a band. They then practice together, get mentored, receive studio time and play a gig (which I believe was at Jazz Bones), leading up to the finale. The winners in the end receive even more sound studio time. I'm sure there is more in this experience for them than I'm listing here, but you get the gist. It's a great program.

From the Live it Outloud! Facebook page:

8 Week Rock-Music Program. Tuition is 250.00 per student for the entire 8 week program. There are a limited number of need based scholarships available from Ted Brown Music OutReach. Contact Joe Wilson at 469-964-1415 to learn what is available and how to apply.

Mission

Teach kids how to write, play and perform rock-music and have an outrageously good time doing it.

Description

Live It OutLoud -Tacoma Ted Brown Music Outreach is an eight-week Summer Music Program for aspiring (12 to 18 year old), non-professional musicians produced by Ted Brown Music Outreach and sponsored by Ted Brown Music. Each student is placed in a band with a professional music mentor to create, develop, and perform on a professional level. You're going to Live it OutLoud, no more singing in the shower. The program is educational, inspirational, nerve wracking and most of all fun! The Adrenalin will flow…the power intense! Space is limited so Sign Up Now!

Also, from Agora Entertainment in Texas, Producer/Partner Daniel Nanasi kindly flew in to shoot video of the show for the DVD as well as a professional photographer with AP whose name I didn't catch.

Agora Entertainment

Oh, the names of the bands were: Odd Ones Out, Resisting Ordinary, Chains of Ace, Strangers with Candy, Forsaken Nightmare, Five Days Away, Behind Blue Eyes, Missions 253, The Renegade, Living Convictions, Feedback and Stolen Society.

Here are photos and videos of the bands performing from the August 10, 2013 show. The visuals are a little fuzzy from the smoke machine, I think. If I can I will update this with band names and all but as it is now....photos of the bands in concert (videos after).

first band

2nd band

third band

fourth band

fourth band

fifth band

sixth band

Andy and Joe

seventh band

Seventh band

eighth band

tenth band

eleventh band

End and choosing of winners - a Tie!

Following are various videos I shot throughout the afternoon with my Droid RAZR cell phone camera. As I hadn't planned on shooting anything I didn't have my camera and tripod. But I thought I'd give it a shot and see what happened, which then lead to writing this blog. The first video is the longest as it is the opening, and the last is the next longest as it is the announcement of the "winners" and the closing. I couldn't shoot all the bands so I selected what I could that I found interesting.

A couple of the bands weren't quite as polished as I'm sure they wish they could have been, which is to be expected. After all some individuals are always going to be more skilled than others, quicker to acclimate to a new environment, skill set and inter-operability with other band members.

Let's face it, learning to play in a band is definitely a new skill that requires functioning through a novel and potentially challenging environment (on stage, in front of an audience, etc.), as well as working together with others in a creative and artistic way. Yet they all still did an amazing job. And when you consider how good the really good bands were, it's even more amazing still because you suddenly realize in taking in their performances that they are still kids and not a professional touring band.

So below you can see some videos from the show and get an idea of what it was like. Be aware it might take a bit to buffer prior to viewing. I haven't done much of this video processing for online streaming but it seems to work pretty well.

And remember. Before eight weeks ago, most of these kids never played together or even knew one another although there were some siblings in the program.

After the show some of us including Joe Wilson, his wife, their daughter, actress Brandi Nicole Wilson, Producer Daniel Nanasi, myself, and a few friends headed over to the Harmon Hub restaurant, where we had some excellent food and company.

In the end, this was an excellent show and I had a great time. The three finalist bands felt (and sounded) to me like they could start touring immediately. At the end a local band, The Propellers, played while the judges cards were scored and the winners decided.

As indicated, it was a tie between two of the three finalists. The two winners were the bands, "Resisting Ordinary" and "Behind Blue Eyes" (with Amanda "Cat" Dewell). But as Joe said on stage, there really was no need for a winner as just to get on stage and put on a show like they did, made them all winners. That may sound trite, but try getting on stage like that and put on a rock show.

I'm definitely going next year if I can at all make it. If you can make it, I highly recommend it. Or if you have a child who might be interested, or you, if you're the right age (12-18 but younger exceptions might be made and it never hurts to ask), and want to get involved, check out the Live it Outloud! web site or call Joe (see phone number above).

If you think it might be for you, give a call! Or if you have instruments to donate as they have supplied a lot of instruments to the kids, please call. It's hard work, it's practice, and maybe some scary moments in getting used to being on stage. But I'm pretty sure it's worth it.

If you dream such dreams of performing, that is.

Then if you do go for it, you just might find out what it's like to be a Rock Star.