June 08, 2012

Back In The USSR - Some Very Dedicated Beatles Fans!



                                                                        

                                                                      
  
Back in the Sixties and beyond, and in the West, it was very easy to be a Beatles fan. 
Not so in the former USSR.
We could go to concerts, buy records, buy memorabilia and fan magazines, and see their movies without any fear of repercussions.
Although I was not allowed to go and see the Beatles when they toured here I did everything else any self-respecting Beatles fan would do. 
And many years later I got to see George Harrison when we happened to be on the same plane. Big thrill for me!

The fans in this movie are amazing. Nothing was too much trouble to enable them to listen to the Beatles. And they displayed a lot of lateral thinking.
They risked expulsion from university and the prospect of going to prison as well. 

Not to mention having to be on the look-out for the KGB whenever they went to the black market.
And they are still fans, as am I, and the Beatles are still popular over there.

It must have been incredible for them to see Paul McCartney when he did his concerts in Red Square and Kiev.
And what a pity John Lennon and George Harrison never lived to see how much they were appreciated in the former Soviet Union.
I hope we are never put in a situation like these fans were back then.

Joni Mitchell was right:


"Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot”
I think we were extremely lucky! 


There is more about the Beatles on this blog and can be found with the search function including these.


 
More on The Beatles in no particular order:


























































Lost Beatles US Concert Movie Blocked From Release


The Three Lennon-McCartney Hits That Went to No. 1 Without Lennon or McCartney 

The British Invasion Of The 1960's

The Who Release First Song In 8 Years: Be Lucky 

John Lennon Born 75 Years Ago Today  

John Lennon's Long-Lost Gibson J-160E Guitar Sells for Record $2.4 Million

George Harrison's Catalogue Is Now Streaming   

Ringo Starr Reflects On His 35 Year Marriage

George Harrison: Tribute GeorgeFest Is Coming



Unseen Beatles Footage Released


Celebrating The Beatles' Revolver 50 Years On

The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years

The Beatles 'Love' And Cirque du Soleil

Long Lost Live Beatles Exhumed!
 
Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles; It was 50 years ago today ... 

Celebrating George Harrison