Let It Be The Beatles (Sort Of)

Author: Daniel Wolf Roda

"I finally understand why my parents dance the way they do," commented Justina Ngo '04, after attending "Beatles Night" in Pearsons Lounge Saturday. Picture this: Three hours of non-stop, booty-twisting, timeless Beatles favorites, performed by musicians whose age differences range up to three decades.
Midd-kids went bonkers as 35 Beatles super-hits were cranked out by a band of young musicians … and those that were simply young at heart.
"The goal was a multi-generational rock experience," said Pete Newell '03, project bassist, co-creator of "Beatles Night" and beloved member of cutting-edge garage-rock band, "The Royal We." Newell masterminded this experience with father and lead vocalist Dave "Noll" Newell, enlisting some of dad's bandmates who have played together since the early seventies.
The ensemble included Stevie Kenety on keys, Pete Taft on drums and Peter King on lead guitar. Several of the aforementioned old-timers hail from Bradley, Newell Sr.'s Dickinson College "frat-rock" band, established in 1969 (the band, not the college). The only exception is King, who just recently befriended Newell Sr., and currently plays with the aptly titled Vermont group, Midlife Crisis. Newell Jr. procured former "The Reel" bandmate Andrew Dombrowsi '02 for backup guitar, with tenor sax appearances from Ari Joseph '05, several hypnotizing vocal performances by Sara Stranovsky '04 (my favorite was "Oh Darlin'") and a guest appearance by drummer Matt Coons '04 when Taft stepped to the microphone to deliver the "Ringo" songs. How authentic!
They performed too many smash hits to list here without giving you readers a headache, and even dug into such lesser-known tunes as "I've Just Seen a Face" and "Act Naturally." With only two short rehearsals and a plethora of Beatles hits to perform, the task was not easy. "To try to reproduce the quality and complexity of a recorded Beatles song was extremely difficult to do given the wicked short amount of time we had," said Newell, reflecting on the project, "but overall I feel that 'Beatles Night' was a success!"
It certainly was for us young at heart; in fact, one might say that "Beatles Night" was about bridging the generation gap. It created a venue where music lovers of two very distant eras and ears could find common ground, and where a father and son (and many other sons of fathers) could share a dream: a dream of playing rad songs to people who are having a rad time.