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One of the highlights of 2016 was attending Abbey Road on the River, Louisville's annual Beatles festival. This year AROTR has moved across the Ohio river to Jeffersonville, IN, where I and hundreds of other Beatles fanatics will be spending this Memorial Day weekend. I will be speaking 6 times in the area from May 25 (today) through May 30:  In addition, I'll be interviewed on WHAS, channel 11 in Louisville on Friday morning at 9am to promote the festival and my speaking engagements in the area.
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After 5 years of work, I'm pleased to announce the publication of BEATLESTUDY, a two-volume encyclopedia of analysis of Beatles Music.  Both books are available for purchase on Amazon.com by clicking here. Meanwhile, my next lecture tour initiates tomorrow and continues through mid-May:
Wednesday, 3 May 2017, 12:15-1:00 p.m. Pioneer Memorial Library, 375 W. 4th St, Colby, KS From the Shadow of JFK: The Rise of Beatlemania in America Oakley Public Library, 700 W 3rd St, Oakley, KS Thursday, 4 May 2017, 4:00-5:00 p.m. The Music of Star Wars: A Celebration of John Williams' Film Scores Saturday, 6 May 2017, 2:00-3:00 p.m. Hays Public Library, 1205 Main St, Hays, KS From the Shadow of JFK: The Rise of Beatlemania in America Sunday, 7 May 2016, 7:00-8:30 p.m. Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, 1515 SW 10th Ave, Topeka, KS The Beatles' Alter Ego, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Monday, 8 May 2017, 2:00-3:00 p.m. Mid-Continent Public Library: Raytown, 6131 Raytown Rd, Raytown, MO The Beatles & The Rolling Stones Monday, 8 May 2017, 7:00-8:00 p.m. Mid-Continent Public Library, Woodneath Library Center, 8900 NE Flintlock Rd, Kansas City, MO The Beatles in Missouri Tuesday, 9 May 2017, 2:00-3:00 p.m. Mid-Continent Public Library, Boardwalk Branch, 8656 N. Ambassador Dr, Kansas City, MO The Beatles in Missouri Tuesday, 9 May 2017, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Mid-Continent Public Library, Red Bridge Branch, 11140 Locust St, Kansas City, MO The Beatles & The Rolling Stones Wednesday, 10 May 2017, 2:00-3:00 p.m. Mid-Continent Public Library, Midwest Genealogy Center, 3440 S. Lee's Summit Rd, Independence, MO The Beatles & The Rolling Stones Wednesday, 10 May 2017, 6:00-7:00 p.m. Mid-Continent Public Library, Lee's Summit Branch, 150 NW Oldham Pkwy. Lee's Summit, MO This program will be shared with Dr. David Thurmaier, Associate Professor of Music Theory at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, and co-host of "I've Got a Beatles Podcast!" The Beatles in Missouri Tuesday, 16 May 2017, 7:00-8:00 p.m. Spencer Road Branch Library, 427 Spencer Rd, St Peters, MO This program will be shared with Sara Schmidt, author of Happiness is Seeing The Beatles: Beatlemania in St. Louis and the blog Meet The Beatles For Real. The Beatles in Missouri Wednesday, 17 May 2017, 7:00-8:00 p.m. Middendorf-Kredell Branch Library, 2750 State Hwy K, O'Fallon, MO The Beatles: Band of the Sixties The full details can be found on my website calendar. Last month's newsletter stated that I had "a grand total of zero speaking engagements" in April. But just a few weeks ago I noticed Louise Harrison (brother of George, author of "My Kid Brother's Band, The Beatles", and manager of the Beatles tribute band Liverpool Legends) canceled a speaking engagement in Richmond, IN promoting the Richmond Symphony's "Twist and Shout" Beatles-themed Gala on April 29. Since Richmond is only 90 minutes from my home in Carmel, I contacted the symphony proposing my presentation "The Beatles: Band of the Sixties" as a substitute. The program was booked for Monday, April 17:
Monday, 17 April 2017, 7:00-8:00 p.m. Indiana University East: Whitewater Hall - Vivian Auditorium, 2325 Chester Blvd, Richmond, IN The Beatles: Band of the Sixties Explore the music of The Beatles in this 60-minute multimedia presentation (part history and part musical analysis) spanning the full 1960's: beginning with the band's seminal visits to Hamburg, continuing through Beatlemania, and concluding with Abbey Road. The program will be supplemented with audio clips of music and excerpts from interviews with the band members. One of the neat things about traveling all across the country is meeting all sorts of interesting and unique people. Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting piano technician Peter Estep in Hillsborough, NC. In his workshop, he also had a vintage nickelodeon which he rescued from a severe lack of maintenance and resurrected back to working condition. This is a video of his demonstration. Meanwhile, the second tour of the new year concludes tomorrow:
Thursday, 23 March 2017, 7:00-8:00 p.m. Henrico County Public Library - Glen Allen, 10501 Staples Mill Rd, Glen Allen, VA The Beatles: Band of the Sixties Explore the music of The Beatles in this 60-minute multimedia presentation (part history and part musical analysis) spanning the full 1960's: beginning with the band's seminal visits to Hamburg, continuing through Beatlemania, and concluding with Abbey Road. The program will be supplemented with audio clips of music and excerpts from interviews with the band members. I wanted to make a BEATLES MINUTE that could address both structure and harmony in the same song as a way to preview my next two books, BEATLESTUDY, volume 1: Structural Analysis of Beatles Music and BEATLESTUDY volume 2: Harmonic Analysis of Beatles Music. And so I had to find a single song that used both components in complementary ways. While there are a number of Beatles songs that use harmony to reinforce structure, perhaps none are so striking in their handling of these parameters than 'Martha My Dear'. Meanwhile, I return to Virginia tomorrow for another round of "Band of the Sixties":
Wednesday, 22 March 2017, 7:00-8:00 p.m. Henrico County Public Library - Fairfield, 1001 N Laburnum Ave, Richmond, VA The Beatles: Band of the Sixties Explore the music of The Beatles in this 60-minute multimedia presentation (part history and part musical analysis) spanning the full 1960's: beginning with the band's seminal visits to Hamburg, continuing through Beatlemania, and concluding with Abbey Road. The program will be supplemented with audio clips of music and excerpts from interviews with the band members. Today, being the 20th day of the month, is the day I send out my free email newsletter. Inspired by popular interest, I began this newsletter in March 2014, when I sent that initial issue to 6 people. Little by little, it's grown to the point where today's newsletter was sent to 1,057 recipients. Each newsletter details my schedule for the remainder of the current month through the end of the next month - which presentation I'm giving, where, and when. Here is this the April 2017 newsletter in PDF form: 
Anybody with a valid email address may register for the newsletter on my website: http://www.aaronkrerowicz.com/newsletter-sign-up.html. Just be sure to type the “prove you are human” part. (I get a lot of spam, so any submissions that skip that step are deleted.) Newsletter subscription is the best way to stay in touch. The emails are sent from my personal Gmail account, which allows recipients to respond easily and efficiently. This permits me to maintain a monthly dialog with Beatles fans across the globe. Plus, they feature adorable puppy pictures. In honor of my pooch, Abbey (as in Road), I started including a photo of her in each newsletter beginning in 2016. Here's April's:  Meanwhile, the current tour continues tomorrow:
Tuesday, 21 March 2017, 7:00-8:00 p.m. South Regional Library, 4505 S. Alston Ave, Durham, NC The Beatles: Band of the Sixties Explore the music of The Beatles in this 60-minute multimedia presentation (part history and part musical analysis) spanning the full 1960's: beginning with the band's seminal visits to Hamburg, continuing through Beatlemania, and concluding with Abbey Road. The program will be supplemented with audio clips of music and excerpts from interviews with the band members. I'm pleased and proud to announce that I will be speaking at the University of Michigan in June 2017 as part of their conference "Summit of Creativity: A Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".
I'll be debuting a new presentation titled "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!: The Beatles' Most Under-Appreciated Song" on Sunday, June 4. Details of the conference can be found on the UMich website: http://www.music.umich.edu/performances_events/sgt-pepper-symposium/ And a PDF of the program may be downloaded here: http://www.music.umich.edu/performances_events/sgt-pepper-symposium/schedule.pdf Meanwhile, I'll present twice tomorrow - first on origami, then on the entire Sgt. Pepper album (including "Mr. Kite"): Saturday, 18 March 2017, 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Elkin Public Library 111 N Front St, Elkin, NC Origami for Beginners Learn the basics of the Japanese art of paper folding through this one-time, two-hour interactive course using a new system of origami notation invented by the instructor. A variety of styles and qualities of paper will be provided, but feel free to bring your own materials as well. For a free preview, visit the instructor's origami blog at www.AaronKrerowicz.com. Saturday, 18 March 2017, 3:00-4:30 p.m. Elkin Public Library 111 N Front St, Elkin, NC The Beatles' Alter Ego, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Since its release in 1967, the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band has often been regarded as the single greatest rock album ever made, and one of the first rock concept albums. This 90-minute multimedia presentation observes and discusses the landmark album track by track, citing musical and historical precedents, and illustrating the development of the songs through excerpts from interviews with the band members and clips of discarded takes. I made two new BEATLES MINUTE videos, the first of which analyzes "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"... ... the second of which looks at "Martha My Dear" and will be included in next week's blogs. Meanwhile, tomorrow Virginia becomes the 32nd state to host one of my presentations.
Wednesday, 15 March 2017, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Blacksburg Library, 200 Miller St, Blacksburg, VA The Beatles: Band of the Sixties Explore the music of The Beatles in this 60-minute multimedia presentation (part history and part musical analysis) spanning the full 1960's: beginning with the band's seminal visits to Hamburg, continuing through Beatlemania, and concluding with Abbey Road. The program will be supplemented with audio clips of music and excerpts from interviews with the band members. One of the most successful speaking engagements from last year's tour from Indiana to Florida and back was at the Kanawha County Library in Charleston, WV on 10 February 2016. After delivering "The Beatles: Band of the Sixties", the Beatles tribute band Rubber Soul performed. And things went so well last year that it's all happening again this year. Tomorrow I return to Charleston, having delivered 162 more presentations in 24 states, published a new book, and created a series of original Beatles drawings in the intervening 13 months. Tuesday, 14 March 2017, 6:00-7:30 p.m. Kanawha County Main Library, 123 Capitol St, Charleston, WV The Influence of Bob Dylan on The Beatles With his folksy guitar playing and philosophical lyrics, no other contemporary influenced the songwriting of John Lennon and Paul McCartney more than Bob Dylan. This 60-minute multimedia presentation will trace the compositional maturation of the Beatles, showing how they developed from teenybopper pop stars into the foremost musical artists of their era by illustrating in detail Dylan's influence.  Throughout my two years of giving Beatles lectures full time, I've been fortunate to have been featured in many great articles on websites and in print. As I kick off the next leg of my tour this week, I'd like to give a particular shout-out to Adam Forrest of BeatlesNews.com. His excellent site features a comprehensive events section for the Beatles community, and he's been kind enough to dedicate a page to my presentation schedule! Adam has also published several other articles on my books and events in the past year, including:
And, be sure to check out the new calendar page with all of my presentations here. If you'd like to receive this information plus other updates via email, please register for my newsletter. My next gig, as detailed below, is coming up tomorrow. Monday, 13 March 2017, 6:00-7:00 p.m. St Albans Library, 602 4th St, St Albans, WV They're Gonna Put Me In The Movies: The Beatles on Film In addition to achieving tremendous success with their records, The Beatles also achieved great success with their movies – and the band's history can be understood quite clearly through the progression of their films. This 60-minute multimedia program will discuss A Hard Day's Night (1964), Help! (1965), Magical Mystery Tour (1967), Yellow Submarine (1968), and Let it Be (1970) with the purpose of tracing the band's artistic evolution through observation and analysis of their films. I hope to see many of you at an event in the near future!  |
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