(This column first ran in Hoptown Chronicle’s Sunday Brew newsletter. To get local columns delivered to your email every weekend, subscribe here.)
Increasingly there are fewer occasions when I can honestly say, “I’m not old enough to remember that.”
But in the case of The Beatles’ debut in America and their rapid rise to stardom, it is true that I am too young to recall that remarkable chapter in “real” time. I was just shy of 2 years old when, on Feb. 9, 1964, the Fab Four performed on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
Known as “the night that changed music forever,” the television performance is a cultural touchstone even to those of us who can’t recall it because we were too young or weren’t born when it occurred.
And while Beatles music wasn’t on the 8-track tapes that my friends and I listened to in high school, there isn’t a single one of their songs that I wouldn’t immediately recognize and appreciate today.
That’s why The WannaBeatles concert Saturday night at the Alhambra was a hit for people younger and older than my closest peers.
The tribute band had performed in Hopkinsville several years ago — before the Alhambra was renovated. And they noticed the improvements, telling the audience that the historic Hopkinsville theater is now among their top three venues.
It’s always good to hear an outsider’s favorable opinion of a Hopkinsville landmark.
The concert marked the last show for the 2023-24 Live at the Alhambra series.
Margaret Prim, executive director of the Pennyroyal Art Council, used the occasion to announce the lineup for the 2024-25 series. The six shows are:
- Sept. 28 — To the Limit, an Eagles tribute band.
- Dec. 19 — Sons of Serendip, a classical crossover quartet performing a Christmas concert.
- Jan. 20 — The Fisk Jubilee Singers, performing on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
- Feb. 14 — Shadows of the 60s, a salute to the best of the Motown musicians.
- March 1 — Nashville Legacy, featuring pianist Jason Coleman and guitarist Meagan Taylor. They play music made famous by Coleman’s grandfather, Floyd Cramer, and Taylor’s uncle, Chet Atkins.
- May 10 — So Good! The Neal Diamond Experience starring Robert Neary.
Season tickets are $300 per person. Current season ticket-holders have until July 15 to renew and keep their same reserved seats.
Anyone interested in season tickets should call the arts council at 270-887-4295, ext. 103.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
