The OFFICIAL Liverpool The Band Blogspace!

2011 Fest For Beatles Fans...a preview

2011-01-30T14:44:00.000-08:00

Yes, it has been a while since we've posted something up on this blog site. Between Facebook and Twitter, these blogs seem a bit antiquated. But, I'll post up some bits and bytes as they come along.

So, what's new with Liverpool for 2011?

First off, we're planning for the annual NY/NJ Metro Fest that's slated for March 25th through March 27th. The musical guest list this year is outstanding! We'll be performing with Gary Wright ("Dream Weaver" and "Love Is Alive"), Laurence Juber (Wings guitarist from 1978-79), Mark Rivera (Ringo's Musical Director and Billy Joel's saxophonist), and Mark Hudson (Ringo's producer and reality TV icon). But, if that's not enough, we'll be backing up Badfinger's guitarist, the one-and-only, Joey Molland!! Now THAT'S a pretty stellar lineup of guests! Needless to say, we've got our work cut out for us, but it will be well worth it!

And, of course, we will have a full plate of Beatles' in store for the weekend's festivities! We're currently hammering away at the set list with the intent of pleasing all Beatles' fans, both newbie and hardcore, alike!

Secondly, our very own Glen Burtnik will be out on the road with The Orchestra, touring in Germany on the weekend of the Fest. He will be sorely missed. But, in his stead will be the talented Mr. Mark Rinzel. Mark is the lead vocalist of NYC-based indy band The Jupiter Deluxe, as well as the bassist in the Beatlles' tribute Bubble Do Beatles. I've had the pleasure of working with Mark on many occasions and, let me tell you, he's one talented performer! He is both a skilled musician and an amazing vocalist and we are honored to have him join us at this year's NY/NJ Fest!!

Well, that's it for now I guess. Feel free to comment and share your thoughts with us. We look forward to hearing from you and we, most definitely, look forward to seeing you all at this year's Fests!!

- John

My personal Fest experience...

2009-03-31T22:44:00.000-07:00

I've had a little time to reflect on the past weekend's events and I come away with a one-word description: inspired.

After all the preparation, rehearsal and time spent revisiting the music, the few hours we have on stage can literally be a blur. But this time it was different. We knew that we'd be backing up the legendary Ronnie Spector, so that was exciting. Then there was Earl Slick, master guitarist and a legend in his own rite. He's recorded and toured with the best of 'em. Then there was Greg Hawkes, keyboardist of The Cars: a pioneer of the synthesizer who, pretty much, redefined the sound of pop music for an entire generation. Then there was the amazingly witty songsmith Neil Innes, whose works with The Bonzo Dog Band, Monty Python and the "less-than-legendary" Rutles can make you laugh out loud. Finally, there was the always entertaining Mark Hudson with his equallly talented brother Brett Hudson. Those guys will take the stage and you'll be captured from the first chord.

So that was what we did, but there was so much more going on...SO MUCH more. People in the main lobby, on the second floor and even in the stairwell hallways, all singing Beatles' music. When you hear ten guitars, two basses and a slew of other instruments accompanying dozens of voices all singing some of the best music ever written, THAT'S a memorable experience!

I also got a chance to listen to Bruce Spizer's talk on the Let It Be Rooftop Sessions. Some very cool information from one of the most knowledgeable Beatle historians this side of the pond!

With all this going on, how can one NOT be inspired?

Amidst some pretty brutal financial times, we all got together for one purpose: the love of the Beatles. For one weekend in March, we all shared some special moments, ones that we can recall long after we've gone back to the day-to-day.

Now for some special thank yous:

To Mark & Carol Lapidos for making The Fest happen!
To my wife, Karen, for videotaping, photographing and keeping me sane! I LOVE YOU!!!
To my fellow Liverpool bandmates for the opportunity to play the best music EVER!
To Mikey Pico for keeping my guitars in tune and setting my stuff up. ¡Muchas gracias amigo!
To Debby Bischoff for helping out with my baby daughter Michelle...it was her first Fest BTW!!
To Robert D'Elia for making sure things are running smoothly!
To Ardie Ilardi and the whole sound & light crew for going above and beyond!
To Warren Melnick who never ceases to amaze!
To Sharon, Lauren, Cheryl, Jim and Jeff for always bringing a smile to my face!
To Robin and her friends for selling our merch in the lobby!!

And, lastly, to everyone who was there...THANK YOU ALL!!!

Peace, Love and Music Always,
John Merjave

NY/NJ Fest 2009...THANK YOU!!

2009-03-30T12:51:00.000-07:00

Another Fest has come and gone and we're still numb (comfortably, perhaps??) from the weekend's festivities. Just wanted to post up and let you all know that we'll be adding pictures, video links and an extensive thank you list...yes, we had a LOT of help this year from some great people!

Stay tuned for all the updates as they become available. Until then, feel free to comment away...

Peace,
The Lads!

Thank You Fair Lawn, NJ!!!

2009-01-25T21:10:00.000-08:00

We just wanted to say thank you to everyone who came down and seen us perform at the Fair Lawn Community Center Theater on January 24th. We played two sold out shows and the audiences ROCKED!!!

Special thanks to Michael Roney and Howard Rudolph for organizing everything and making these shows possible. Thanks to the entire Fair Lawn CC staff for all your assistance and provisions. A special shout-out to Bill Otten, our sound man du jour, for keeping things together! Finally, thanks to Mike Pico, our guitar tech, for keeping things in tune and moving along!

After the show (L to R): Michael Roney, Glen Burtnik, Howard Rudolph, Drew Hill, John Merjave, Chris Camilleri, Carol Lapidos and Mark Lapidos.

We hope to be there again very soon. Until then, we hope to see you all at The Fest in late March.

LIVERPOOL SHOW!! January 24th, 2009

2008-12-20T01:24:00.000-08:00

We're proud to announce that we will be playing TWO BIG SHOWS at the Fair Lawn Community Center Theater in Fair Lawn, NJ on Saturday, January 24th, 2009. We will be playing a matinee show at 4 PM and an evening show at 8PM. Tickets are available at Eventbrite or at the Fair Lawn CC Box office by calling 201-794-5346.

Share your Chicago 08 Fest images and videos

2008-08-15T13:42:00.001-07:00

Hi all,

If you would like to share photos or videos of the Chicago 08 Fest, please send them to the following email address: photosATliverpoolthebandDOTcom - just trying to avoid spam :-)

We'll be compiling all the images and we'll post them up very soon.

Thanks!!

Chicago...THANK YOU!!!!

2008-08-14T18:56:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

We're just getting back to our "regular lives" after the buzz that was caused by the Chicago Fest for Beatles Fans. What a great weekend!!!!

It sounds almost cliché to say this but this was one of the BEST Fests we've had the pleasure of playing in a VERY LONG TIME.

We dedicated a lot of Saturday and Sunday to the 40th Anniversary of the White Album's release. We played many songs we have not played in a long time, including Sexy Sadie, I'm So Tired and Julia. We also got the chance to play Revolution 9 which was quite an undertaking. That was a first time that we played that at a Fest, EVER!

Glen did most of the audio "loop" work to try to recreate the Beatles' (more specifically John Lennon's) studio trickery. The video montage was created by John and Glen, and it depicted many of the highlights (and lowlights) of what was the news in 1968.

We honestly did not know how Revolution 9 would be received. Eight plus minutes of experimental music is a hard listen, even for the most devout Beatle Fan. But you guys really showed your appreciation both after the song, with your applause, and after the show. Thank you SO much for giving us the chance to perform one of the oddest pieces of music the Beatles, or anyone else for that matter, ever released!

Playing three nights of Beatles' songs is one of the best gigs anyone could ask for and we're blessed to have that opportunity. If that wasn't enough, we got to play with Billy J. Kramer, Mark & Brett Hudson and, one of our favorite people in the world, Neil (Ron Nasty) Innes.

If you have pictures, video or just memories you'd like to share, feel free to post below. We would love to hear from you all!!!

We've been getting requests to post up our set lists so, here goes:

Friday Night

From Me To You
Please Please Me
Boys
Hold Me Tight
Do You Want To Know A Secret?
Slow Down
Honey Don’t
All My Loving
Roll Over Beethoven
You Can’t Do That

Twist And Shout
She's A Woman
I Feel Fine
Dizzy Miss Lizzy
Ticket To Ride
Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby
Can't Buy Me Love
Baby's In Black
Act Naturally
A Hard Day's Night
Help!
I'm Down

Get Back
Day Tripper
I Want To Tell You
Drive My Car
Nowhere Man
In My Life
Sun King (intro) - Mustard/Pam/Window
I Want To Hold Your Hand

Saturday

Hey Bulldog
Tomorrow Never Knows
Old Brown Shoe
Paperback Writer
Help!
The Night Before
You’re Gonna Lose That Girl
Another Girl
Ticket To Ride
Glass Onion
Ob La Di, Ob La Da
I’m So Tired
Blackbird
Piggies
Julia
Lovely Rita
Reprise / Day In A Life
Slumbers-Weight-The End-Majesty

Billy J. Kramer
Do You Want To Know A Secret
I Call Your Name
I’m In Love
Bad To Me

Neil Innes
Hold My Hand
I Must Be In Love
MEDLEY
Doubleback Alley/Another Day/Cheese and Onions
Joe Public
Get Up And Go

Mark Hudson
Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey
Long Tall Sally/I'm Down/Oh!, Darling
Working Class Hero
Kansas City (with Brett Hudson)
So You Are A Star (with Brett Hudson)

Sunday

Back In The USSR
Dear Prudence
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Sexy Sadie
Helter Skelter
Long, Long, Long
Happiness Is A Warm Gun
Hard Day’s Night
I Should Have Known Better
Eight Days A Week
Tell Me Why
What Goes On?
Taxman
Strawberry Fields Forever
Across The Universe
The Word
Got To Get You Into My Life
REVOLUTION 9
Revolution

Billy J. Kramer
Do You Want To Know A Secret
I Call Your Name
I’m In Love
Bad To Me

Neil Innes
Hold My Hand
I Must Be In Love
MEDLEY
Doubleback Alley/Another Day/Cheese and Onions
Ouch!

Mark Hudson
Long Tall Sally/I'm Down/Oh!, Darling
Working Class Hero (with Brett Hudson)
Kansas City (with Brett Hudson)
So You Are A Star (with Brett Hudson)

We may not have any up coming gigs for a while (at least none that we're aware of yet), but that doesn't mean we aren't around. Feel free to blog away, email us or sign our guestbook.

All the best,
The Lads

Off to Chicago...

2008-08-04T13:35:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

We've been quite busy working out all the details for the shows so there wasn't too much time to blog. There might be a few surprises in the set, but we'll have to "wait and see" for now. Anyhow, were looking forward to seeing all our friends this weekend at the Chicago Fest for Beatles Fans, and we hope to make some new ones as well!

We can't wait to back up the legendary Neil Innes (aka "Ron Nasty") once again for some Rutle magic. It's going to be a blast!!

So, that's all for the moment...see ya there!

Peace,
The Lads

Geneva Sommerfest 2008 Revisited...

2008-07-08T15:41:00.000-07:00

We want to make sure we properly thank all the folks who organized the 2008 Geneva Sommerfest and who made our stay both enjoyable and memorable.

Thanks to the staff of the Geneva Chamber of Commerce:

Jean Gaines - President
Mary Miller - Office Manager
Sandy Portincaso - PR & Events Coordinator
Ellen Townsley - Member Services & Volunteer Coordinator
Jeanne Sawtell - Member Services & Events Coordinator
Judy Carroll - Director of Festival & Event Sponsorship

Special thanks to our sponsors:

First Choice Bank and JC Licht / Benjamin Moore Paint

We hope to see you all again next year!!!!

Las Vegas 2008...a brief retrospective

2008-07-08T11:38:00.000-07:00

The 2008 Vegas Fest is over a week already and we're still buzzing!

First off, a HUGE thank you to ex-Wings drummer Steve Holly, for filling in for Chris during the shows. It was an honor to share the stage with one of the most professional drummers out there. And, to top it off, he is one of the nicest people on the planet!

The shows were great...Donovan was mesmerizing, Spencer Davis ROCKED, Billy J. Kramer was on top of his game and Mark Hudson brought the house down! Then we had some special guests: Neil Innes showed up on Sunday Night to join us for a few Rutles' tunes, Mark Hudson's brother Brett came up and played on Monday night and Paul Revere and the Raiders' bassist, "Fang" Volk jammed with us on Tuesday.

All in all it was a memorable three days in Vegas and we look forward to doing it again next year!!

Jersey Summer Beatles Bash!

2008-07-08T11:28:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder...

Glen Burtnik and Friends will be performing the Beatles' White Album in its entirety, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of its release. Joining Glen will be Drew Hill and John Merjave from Liverpool, Marshall Crenshaw, Marc Muller and Bob Burger, just to name a few!

Click Here for more information and to purchase tickets.

Friday, July 25th at 8PM

The State Theater
New Brunswick, NJ

Vegas, Baby, VEGAS!!

2008-06-28T00:05:00.000-07:00

We are putting the finishing touches on the show and getting ready for the 2nd annual Las Vegas Fest for Beatles' Fans! It will be held at the Mirage from Sunday, June 29, through Tuesday, July 1. We're psyched to be backing up Donovan once again and we're also looking forward to jamming with Spencer Davis. This will be our first time playing with Spencer. Then there's Billy J. Kramer and Mark Hudson...amazing talents and great showmen. Oh, yeah, then there's OUR show!! ;-)

If you're in the vicinity, stop in, sing a song with us, and enjoy what is looking to be an amazing three days of Beatle bliss!!!

See ya there...

THANK YOU GENEVA, ILLINOIS!!!

2008-06-18T17:28:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

We just got back from our show at the Midsommar Festival-Swedish Days in Geneva, Illinois. What a great night of music and fun and what an amazing audience!!!

I think we all agree, Geneva is one of the nicest places to visit in the US! There are many family-owned shops along Third Street, with just about anything you can think of for sale. The town's architecture is truly spectacular. But the one thing that REALLY makes Geneva stand above the rest is the people who live there. Special thanks to Judy Carrol and the entire staff of the Geneva Chamber of Commerce for making our stay a memorable one.

The Midsommar Festival is still going on through June 22nd so, if you happen to be in the area, it is an amazing event in an amazing town. Check out their homepage at http://www.genevachamber.com/swedishdays.html .

It was also great to see many of our friends from Chicago come down to see the show. Thank you Victoria, Joan, Jamie, Bill & Meredith, Aron & Lisa, and our very special friend, WXRT's Terri Hemmert for making our night that much more special.

Pictures and more info to come...

Thanks for all the NYC Fest Pictures!!

2008-05-05T00:27:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note...

Thanks to all who contributed to the 2008 NYC Fest Photo gallery!

We received many more pix than were posted here, so we'll call this a "best of":

Friends Pix NYC 2008

We're always looking for pix from both past and present, or even some video clips. So feel free to send 'em over and we'll post them up! Rest assured, you will be given proper credit.

An "almost" Liverpool Show This Summer!

2008-05-01T17:17:00.000-07:00

Greeetings,

Just wanted to let you all know that our very own Glen Burtnik is putting on another great Beatles' show at the end of July! Joining Glen will be Drew Hill on Keys and Guitar, John Merjave on Guitar and Steve Holley on Drums, with a bunch of special guests to be named at a later date.

The mission: performing the Beatles' "White Album" in its entirety on the 40th anniversary of its release. Yes, that means Revolution 9 as well!

Note: Glen is well aware that the album was actually released on November 25, 1968 (November 22nd in the UK), but he just couldn't wait!! :-)

The show will be on Friday, July 25th at The State Theater in New Brunswick, NJ. Tickets will go on sale Friday, May 2nd at 10AM. Click the link below for more info:

http://www.statetheatrenj.org/ticketing/calendarevents/show.asp?id=20015345

Wanted: Pictures from the NYC Fest!!

2008-04-06T14:52:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Just a quick note: If you have any pictures from the 2008 NYC Fest that you'd like to share, please email them to photos@liverpooltheband.com

We've got some up on our front page and we'd like everyone who was there to contribute. You will get full copyright credit on the photo.

Thanks for pitching in!

A cute comic strip...

2008-04-04T00:51:00.000-07:00

I just saw this Mother Goose and Grimm comic strip in Thursday's NY Daily News and thought it might bring a smile to fellow Beatles' fans!!

Enjoy...

Coming Down to Earth

2008-03-31T22:31:00.001-07:00

Monday night (err, Tuesday Morning) and still thinking about the weekend.

Ok, to let some proverbial cats out of the bag:

1. Friday night we did a special Shea Stadium set in honor of the final year of the New York Mets' home field that will be torn down at the end of the 2008 baseball season. So much for history, eh? Let's see...The Beatles, Grand Funk, The Who, The Police, not to mention a pair of World Championships. I guess nothing will stand in the way of "progress".

2. In Saturday Night's set, we played a special tribute to one of the newest inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, The Dave Clark Five by performing one of their biggest hits, Because.

3. We aren't going to disclose our full sets because we don't want to spoil things for both the Vegas and Chicago Festers. But we will let you know what tunes we played with the guests:

Saturday Night

Cast of Across The Universe

Timothy Mitchum
Let It Be (solo - vocals and piano)
The Word (with harmonica solos)

T.V. Carpio
I Want To Hold Your Hand
I Saw Her Standing There

Dana Fuchs
Helter Skelter
Oh!, Darling

Former Wings' Members Denny Seiwell and Laurence Juber
Too Many People
Smile Away
Live And Let Die
Coming Up
Rockestra
Band On The Run (w/Dana Fuchs)

Mark Hudson
Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey
Birthday (to Jessica Lapidos)
Birthday Jam (to Hope Juber) w/DS & LJ
Medley: Long Tall Sally/I'm Down/Oh!, Darling w/DS & LJ
Slow Down w/DS & LJ
Got To Get You Into My Life w/DS, LJ, Dana Fuchs and Timothy Mitchum

Finale
Hey Jude/Give Peace A Chance - sung by Dana Fuchs and Mark Hudson

Sunday Night

Former Wings' Members Denny Seiwell and Laurence Juber
Smile Away
Live And Let Die
Rockestra
Band On The Run

Mark Hudson (with DS and LJ)
Medley: Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey
Medley: Long Tall Sally/I'm Down/Oh!, Darling

Encore - with Denny and LJ (on Lead Vocals)
Johnny B. Goode

Whew...

Now, on to the REAL important stuff:

This weekend was one of the best Fests we've had in the NY/NJ area in a very long time. We hung out with some old friends and made a bunch of new ones. Each night was special in its own way and it meant a lot to share it with you all. Thank you all for letting us be a part of your weekend!

Special Thanks to: The Lapidos Family, "Doctor Robert" D'Elia, Ardie Ilardi and the entire Sound and Light crew, Warren Melnick, Mike Pico, Madooo, Jim Demes, Jeff, Leigh, Cheryl, Martin Lewis, Russ Leese, and the entire BeatGearCavern.com "crew".

Please feel free to post your comments below and tell us about your personal NY/NJ '08 Fest experience!!

A quick thank you...

2008-03-31T00:04:00.001-07:00

Just got back from the Fest in Secaucus, NJ...

We would, once again, like to thank all of you who made this show a special one! We broke a lot of new ground this time around and you guys were totally supportive!!!

There were some memorable moments, just a bit too tired to elaborate.

Here's a taste of what the Fest was all about (special thanks to Coley!!):

For now, to all attendees, both at the show and web-side, THANK YOU!!!!!

More to come...

Blog problems???

2008-03-27T00:44:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note...

The Blog problems some of you have been emailing us about have been addressed. If you want to post, click on the "comment" link below any entry, and comment away. We’ve disabled the "word verification" option which seemed to be a major pain in the backside. Also, you needn’t have a Goolge or Blogger account to post...anyone can now post. Just click on the "name/url" button to "sign" your comment...otherwise, click Anonymous.

Hope this helps and we’ll see you at the Fest!!!

Just five days!!!

2008-03-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

It's getting really close to our NY/NJ show: five days and counting!

In the past, we've concentrated on making our Saturday and Sunday Night's shows theme-based, while Friday night was reserved as a "Dance Party". This year will be no different, but we're adding a little "twist" to Friday Night's show, no pun intended...well, maybe intended a little ;-)!

2008 will be an historic year in New York City and, to commemorate this, we will be dedicating our 2nd set on Friday night to one of these special occurrences. Some of you may be able to deduct what we're talking about, but, to keep things interesting, it won't be "officially" revealed until Friday Night's performance.

Right now it's full-steam ahead! We're really looking forward to performing our shows and supporting this great guest lineup. But, most importantly, we look forward to seeing you all!!

A brief update....

2008-03-12T01:29:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

We put together the set lists for all three shows today. As we mentioned, we will be concentrating a bunch on the "White Album", celebrating the 40th Anniversary of its release. Sheeeeshh, time sure flies!!

We are also going to be playing most of the songs from another album as well. It's one that we've overlooked in the past, but it's an "amazing album" (so says John M). Hint: the US version of the album has only 7 Beatles' songs actually performed by the Beatles.

We're also planning a special non-Beatle tribute to one of this year's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductees. I'm sure you all know who we're talking about! :-) If not, I guess you'll have to wait for Saturday Night's show!

However, due to the time constraints, the amount of new material we've taken on, and our guests' sets, we had to drop some of the solo material, but not all. We were all really looking forward to playing some post-Beatles material for y'all. We will try to do them at the Vegas and Chicago shows. Sorry about that...

Carry on then...we'll see you in a few weeks!!!

Peace always,
The Lads

Our first entry

2008-03-09T20:20:00.000-07:00

Greetings all!

This is our first blog posting. At the moment, we're preparing for the New York/New Jersey Fest for Beatles' Fans which will be taking place in Secaucus, New Jersey. Rehearsals have been going quite well. We're going to be playing a bunch of different tunes this time around, many of which we have never played before.

Along with the new Beatles' songs, we're going to be backing up Denny Seiwell and Laurence Juber of Wings. Sadly, Denny Laine won't be joining us this time around. He'll surely be missed, but we will see him again in the near future. Despite his absence, get ready for some really cool Macca songs!

Then there's our favorite multi-colored, mega-talented pal Mark Hudson. We're not letting the cat out of the bag, but let's just say that he will be doing a few different songs for this show!

Finally, we're bringing in some "new blood" for this show. We'll be accompanying members of the cast of the acclaimed film Across The Universe. They will be singing their renditions of the songs heard in the soundtrack.

On a more serious note, we are saddened at the news of the passing of Norman "Hurricane" Smith. We had the pleasure of meeting with him as well as backing him up last year to perform his hit, Oh Babe, What Would You Say. He was a true gentleman and it was our honor to get to know him, albeit briefly. Our condolences go out to his entire family.

Well, that's "what's up" with us at the moment. Comment away, let us know what you're thinking and we'll try to respond as fast as we can! In order to post, you have to be a Blogger.com or Google member, which includes GMail. It's free and easy to join, and you can participate in the "blogosphere"!! :-)

Peace,
The Lads!