The joys of having a mom that works at a Ticket Agency.
It’s April 1964 – You’re A Teenager – You Live In L.A. – You Are Popular – You Have Tickets.
– April 18, 1964 – Bob Eubanks – KRLA – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
You remember – you were never going to get this lucky again.
You weren’t expecting it. You could take or leave The Beatles. You saw them on Ed Sullivan – everybody did. You didn’t really see the big deal. You thought the screaming was a little weird. But you liked the hair.
It just so happened your mom worked the Ticket Counter at May Company on Wilshire. She could get tickets for everything from Marineland to Cinerama – it was one of the perks working there. So when word came down that The Beatles were playing the Hollywood Bowl in August and tickets were going on sale in April she discreetly grabbed four and offered you two. The other two went to your cousins who were going to be visiting L.A. during the summer. Your only problem was figuring who you were going to take, since you hadn’t been seeing anybody for months and going to what was promising to be a riot didn’t appeal very much if you were going alone.
You didn’t have to worry about that because word got out and you became a magnet. Just your luck a girl from your Geography class spotted your mom behind the Ticket Counter and quickly put two and two together. You got everything from long, smouldering gazes to quickly scrawled notes stuffed into your locker. The shy ones quietly handed you their phone numbers – the loud ones tried tackling you in the hallway. They all wanted one thing; the extra ticket.
The big day was four months off, right in the middle of Summer – anything could happen by then. You decided the best idea was hold on to the extra ticket until the last week – play hard to get. Take advantage of this newfound celebrity and make the most of Summer.
Only it didn’t actually turn out that way. Because as the summer dragged along the contests and the giveaways went into high gear and everybody who had any kind of connection used it and suddenly all the girls who were badgering you for that extra ticket got one and you were left with the prospect of going solo.
Your cousins, who flew all the way from Cleveland to hang out at the Beach and meet famous people managed to top off the perfect holiday with championship tans and boyfriends from Encino. They needed two extra tickets.
They got yours because, well . . .you’re a nice guy.
For the next four decades you would regale friends with tales of your Hollywood Beatles concert adventures. Each year it would become more outrageous and awe inspiring to the people who weren’t there.
And to tell the truth, neither were you.
You missed the whole thing – you came “this” close.
Next life – perhaps.
And to get you into the mood, here’s an hour’s worth of Bob Eubanks at KRLA on April 18, 1964.
