Today in Beatles History: August 17

** The following events in Beatles history all took place on August 17. **

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Beatles * [J] John * [P] Paul * [G] George * [R] Ringo * [O] Other
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1960
The Beatles perform at the Indra Club, Grosse Freiheit, Hamburg,
West Germany. The Beatles begin their first Hamburg engagement,
the first of 48 nights at the seedy Indra Club, which was
frequented by prostitutes and their clients, most in various states
of inebriation. The owner, Bruno Koschmider, urges The Beatles to
"Mach Shau", or really put on a show, and John Lennon complies by
screaming, shouting, and leaping about the stage. The others
followed his example, sometimes playing lying on the floor. Lennon
once appears wearing only his underwear and, on another occasion,
wearing a toilet seat around his neck. It works--The Beatles begin
to draw in larger crowds, and their musical abilities are sharpened
by their arduous schedule: four and one-half hours on weeknights
and six hours on weekends. To keep up their energy and to
compensate for insufficient sleep, all of The Beatles, except for
Pete Best, start using stimulant drugs. The audiences, who know
little English, applaud as John Lennon shouts out "Sieg Heil" and
calls them "****ing Nazis". The Beatles lodge in a single room
behind the screen of a nearby moviehouse.

1961
The Beatles perform at St. John's Hall, Tuebrook, Liverpool. For
this performance The Beatles add bass guitar player Johnny
Gustafson (bassist with The Big Three, who were also on the bill),
leaving Paul McCartney without a guitar and free to cavort around
the stage and even venture into the audience, singing into a
microphone like a solo singer.

1961
The first Beatles fan letters are printed in "Mersey Beat".

1962
The Beatles perform at the Majestic Ballroom, Birkenhead, and at
the Tower Ballroom, New Brighton, Wallasey. With Ringo Starr not
due to arrive until the following day, The Beatles again call upon
The Big Three's drummer Johnny Hutchinson to sit in as drummer for
one more night, which he does. His own group, The Big Three, also
have a booking that night, and they are forced to find a
replacement drummer themselves.

1963
The Beatles perform two shows at the Odeon Cinema in Llandudno,
Caernarvonshire. This is the last night of a six-night stand.

1965
The Beatles, on a tour of North America, perform two shows at Maple
Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Canada. The attendance for each show is
18,000.

1966
The Beatles, veering into Canada during their final tour of
America, perform two shows at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Canada.

[J] 1966
At a Beatles press conference in Toronto, John Lennon expresses
admiration for US draft resistance, suggesting that those young
Americans wanting to avoid the draft move to Canada. The US press
and establishment are rather annoyed, still fuming over the
"Beatles bigger than Jesus" thing.



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