LifeLong Learning

Who doesn’t love the Beatles?

Ruth Shaffer

On February 9, 1964 Ed Sullivan introduced an exciting, new British group whose music immediately swept the nation. If you were a teenager in the mid-sixties on that Sunday evening you sat riveted to the TV set listening to I Want to Hold Your Hand and She Loves You, yeah, yeah, yeah, sung by four, very cute “mop tops” who immediately rocked the music world. And who would ever have imagined that the impact of this group would remain with us for decades to come? Can you believe that Beatlemania took the world by storm 54 years ago?

Were you lucky enough to go to one of their concerts? Was your favorite song Hey Jude, Nowhere Man, Here Comes the Sun, Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields Forever, Here, There and Everywhere or Norwegian Wood? No matter your age, the Beatles are part of the cultural fabric of our lives.

At 9:30 a.m. Monday, January 21, Vincent Bruno, a Beatles scholar and sixties rock historian, will walk us through the Beatles musical journey beginning with their early days as a cover band in Liverpool and Hamburg, to the excitement of Beatlemania, through their creative, ground-breaking studio albums, on to the formation of Apple Corps and, lastly, to their remarkable final recordings at Abbey Road Studios. We will listen to some of the music and come to understand the history of those glory days. Coming full circle, Bruno will explore highlights of each musician’s post-Beatles work.

As a Beatles scholar, historian and storyteller, Bruno will present an entertaining, interactive and informative session. This will not only be a fun lecture, it will enhance our knowledge of this fabulous group. For the past twenty years Bruno has lectured extensively on the Beatles and the sixties at universities, colleges, libraries and community centers.

Note: This lecture will begin early so there’s more time to enjoy the Beatles!

New to PebbleCreek? Like to discuss books? Then read on…

Emily Grotta

PC Reads, a monthly book club without a set membership, meets from 5:00-6:30 p.m. the first Thursday of every month at the LLL Center.

PC Reads is designed to meet several needs. People who travel frequently find it convenient to drop in when they’re in PebbleCreek. Others have never belonged to a book group and found PC Reads an opportune way to try one. And people who have just moved to PebbleCreek find it’s a great way to make new friends and enjoy interesting discussions.

While there is no fee, registration is required as the group is limited to 24 people to facilitate discussion.

The August book is Last Bus to Wisdom: A Novel by Ivan Doig. It is the story of 11-year-old Donal Cameron’s trip, via Greyhound bus, from Montana to Wisconsin and back again in 1951. Donal lives with his grandmother and when she needs surgery, she sends him to stay with her sister. The bus ride and its cast of characters are a great adventure that could only have happened when life was simpler in the fifties. There may still be a spot or two left—check out https://lifelonglearningatpc.org/special/pc-reads.

On September 6 the club will discuss Still Life with Breadcrumbs, a novel by Anna Quindlen. It’s a deeply moving and often very funny story about a 60-year-old woman who leaves Manhattan for rural upstate New York when her career takes a dive. Starting over, she discovers life is a story with many levels and more exciting than she ever imagined. Registration for the September meeting opens on August 2.

To learn more about PC Reads and the books they’ve read, go to the LLL website, www.lifelonglearningatpc.org, and look for PC Reads under the Special Events tab.