The exhibit opened last March 15 and fans of the Fabulous Four, music buffs and the merely curious are happily shelling out a hundred bucks per person just to get a good look at what to them are invaluable bits and pieces or I should say, treasures of pop music history. The items commemorate events and provide a good look at what the departed John and George were like and what Paul and Ringo are like as people and pop idols.
It is a well put together show with lots of rarities to delight every Beatle fan. Most of the items belong to Danny Samonte. Some of you will remember him as Steve O’Neil, who hosted a Beatles show on local TV some years ago. Well, it turns out that he is an avid collector who can afford to roam the world in search of Beatles items and can also afford to shell out lots of dough to be able to own them. If you often hear about collectors willing to part with millions just to get their hands on pricelss works of art, then Danny does the same thing for anything owned, touched or concerning the Beatles.
One of the really important items on display is the controversial album Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow with its original cover featuring dummies with their heads and extremities cut off. Deemed too gruesome, the albums were pulled out from the market and the cover replaced with an ordinary. But Samonte was able to get his hands on some copies and there they are now hanging on the wall for all to see. Truth to tell, I do not see anything wrong with the original cover but those were the ’60s and people then had no idea at all that they will be getting albums by Madonna, Iron Maiden, Eminem and others they would have instantly banned.
It can now be rightly said that most of the major changes in pop music started with the Beatles. They also wrote beautiful music. Can you think of anything as sad and affecting as In My Life or Yesterday? They were idols to admire, swoon, weep and sigh for. And let me tell you that after all these years, they still have the same effect on people.
Incidentally, the Star for a Night souvenir album has become a huge hit. Music lovers cannot seem to get enough of Sarah and the other talented young singers who made it to the finals like Maureen Marcelo with Better Days; Jason Velasquez and You are My Song; Musica Cristobal with Emotions; Mailyn Yu and Vision of Love; Carlo San Jose with Never Ever Say Goodbye; Angeline Quinto with Habang May Buhay; Florie Mae Lucido and Ngayon; Angelie Mae Flores with Cry; Mark Bautista with Ngayon at Kailanman; and Roxanne Castro with Fallin’. The closing cut is the rendition of the Willy Cruz classic Pangarap Na Bituin by Star for a Night emcee, Regine Velasquez.