Books Heartland

FStopProductions.com Pubishes New Beatles Archive of Images

In the summer of 1965, 17-year-old Bill Carlson wasn’t much of a Beatles fan.

“I was a geek,” he said with a laugh. “A ’60s geek who loved jazz and classical and photography, a combination that assures you of never getting a date.”

But when press credentials for the Beatles’ upcoming local concert at the Metropolitan Stadium arrived at the Merle Morris Studios where Carlson worked as a part-time photographer, he took the assignment, largely because no one else wanted it.

“For me, it was just another thing to photograph,” Carlson said.

Forty-plus years later, Carlson has revisited the images he captured on Aug. 21, 1965, and collected 140 of them in “The Beatles: A One-Night Stand in the Heartland” (Cumberland House, $29.95), a scrapbook of that day that also includes interviews with folks who interacted with the Beatles, press clippings from the daily papers and anecdotes from a handful of the tens of thousands of fans who descended on the stadium to scream along with what would become one of, if not the, greatest rock bands of all time. To see these Beatles photos: go to www.F-StopProductions. com

And, oh, how those kids screamed.

“It was total chaos,” said Larry Kane, a veteran Philadelphia journalist who traveled with the Beatles on the 62-stop concert tour in 1964 and 1965. “(At that time), women in America were not supposed to express their emotions in public. And this was a totally open outpouring that was, like, ‘I can’t take it anymore! I love you!’ Each and every one of them thought the Beatles

were singing directly to them. After each show, they’d have to clean up all the sweat, tears, handkerchiefs and tissues. It was craziness.”

Carlson captured the entire experience, from the fans awaiting the band’s arrival at the airport to the madness of the actual performance. The bulk of the book’s photos, however, document the local press conference.

“They were so freaked out about having a riot, they overcontrolled the concert,” Carlson said. “Security was really tight, and no one was

allowed on the field but the band. But the press conference was a lot more loose and fun. The Beatles came into a very hostile environment, but they stepped up to the plate and were wonderful, vibrant and funny.”

For a sense of the level of hostility, one needs only to read the press reports included in the book. The Pioneer Press called the band “strange citizens from another world” and “alleged musicians.”

The Minneapolis Tribune, meanwhile, published a lurid story about young women attempting to break into the Beatles’ hotel rooms that included the revelation that at least one was a welcome guest of Paul McCartney: “Acting on information that McCartney had a girl in his room, (police) demanded entrance … (and told McCartney) he

would be jailed unless the girl was out of the room within two minutes.” (Luckily for all, the “young blonde” emerged with proof she was 21 years old, and no one was arrested.)

Kane was warned of the mayhem before joining the tour: “My father pulled me aside and said, ‘Watch your back. They’re a menace to society.’ “

One of Carlson’s favorite shots from that day shows a police officer glaring at the band as if they were escaped convicts. But after that press conference, Carlson said, the Fab Four managed to turn a few opinions.

“They had such a relaxed attitude, the way they answered stupid questions about their hair,” Carlson said. “They did a fabulous job of diffusing some of that anger. I think that by the end of the press conference, everyone really liked them.”

And it’s those very images of the Beatles charming crusty old reporters that Kane said makes the book so special.

“I was stunned when I first saw Bill’s collection in 2002,” said Kane, who wrote the book’s foreword. “He really captured the essence of those four guys. In truth, I don’t think I’ve seen as good pictures of the Beatles anywhere. There’s plenty of photos from the showbiz angle, but he captured them as real people. For a 17-year-old to have that kind of perception is amazing.”

Still, Carlson ended up filing away his negatives for decades: “They were an afterthought.”

He went on to establish himself as a noted photographer and cinematographer with a four-decade career that includes work for CNN, PBS and National Geographic as well as a recent feature film, “Hiding Victoria.” He now lives in Spring Park and maintains a studio in Minneapolis.

“My career was not the Beatles; this was one day,” Carlson said. “That these photos are delightful to people is delightful to me. It’s been a ball.”

Ross Raihala can be reached at rraihala@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5553. Read more about the local music scene on his blog, “The Ross Who Knew Too Much,” at blogs.twincities.com/ross.

To see more of these Beatles photos: F-StopProductions. com

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Beatles’ 1965 Twin Cities stop revisited in photos: Photographer Bill Carlson and journalist Larry Kane covered the Beatles when they came here in 1965 and celebrate the event four decades later with a book and tales of the event.

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COPYRIGHT 2007 Saint Paul Pioneer Press

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