Beatles at the Ridge Boasts Powerful Symposium Lineup
The Beatles Symposium returns with a powerful lineup of experts on the Fab Four, according to organizers of the Beatles at the Ridge Festival. The symposium helps kick off the annual music festival in downtown Walnut Ridge September 18 and 19.
Among the highlights at this year’s Beatles Symposium will be an on-air presentation from Beatles experts Richard Buskin and Robert Rodriguez. They produce a popular podcast, “Things We Said Today,” which they will do live at the symposium.
Another recent addition is vendor Bud Loveall, who is bringing his Beatles Shop from Austin, Tex. Loveall is noted for his supply of Beatles memorabilia, t-shirts, books and other items.
Symposium headliners include Ivor Davis, who traveled with the Beatles on their North American tour in 1964, and Seth Swirsky, the filmmaker who created the movie “Beatles Stories.”
Davis was the only journalist to join the Beatles for all 34 days of their first American tour, and he was also the only newspaper writer invited to accompany the Beatles for the “Rock and Roll Summit,” when the band finally met Elvis Presley in Los Angeles in 1965.
In 2014, Davis broke his long silence and shared the “rowdy and riotous” memories of his historical summer trek in a book entitled “The Beatles and Me on Tour.” He will share those memories with the Beatles Symposium crowd in Walnut Ridge.
Swirsky, who has written songs for Elton John, Celine Dion, Smokey Robinson, Olivia Newton-John and Michael MacDonald, was primarily a music artist until 2004. He had hit songs such as Taylor Dayne’s “Tell It to My Heart” and “Prove Your Love,” which soared to #1 on the international pop charts.
Then in 2004, Swirsky was invited to perform at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, England, where the Beatles had spent their formative years, and he was inspired to tell a new side of the Beatles’ story.
In 2012, Swirsky’s film was released at Los Angeles’ famed Egyptian Theater. Immediately after, it was premiered at the Grammy Museum to a sold-out audience. In the years since, “Beatles Stories” has become an Amazon.com Best Seller with a flawless 5-star review from Rolling Stone magazine.
Swirsky will talk about his filmmaking adventure at the Beatles Symposium, and then he will show the film to the Walnut Ridge audience, free of charge.
Also featured at the symposium will be the return of Jude Southerland Kessler, author of “The John Lennon Series” and a perennially popular speaker at the symposium.
Other authors who will be at the symposium include Dr. Kit O’Toole, who will be releasing her new book of Beatles’ music critique essays, “Songs We Were Singing;” Lanea Stagg, author of “The Recipe Records Cookbook Series” and the children’s book, “Little Dog in the Sun;” Anthony Robustelli, popular Beatles Radio Show host and author of “I Want to Tell You: The Definitive Guide to the Music of The Beatles 1962-1963;” and Sara Schmidt, host/researcher for MeetTheBeatlesForReal.com and author of an upcoming book on the Beatles in St. Louis.
The Argenta Collection also will be on display all day Friday and Saturday in The Studio. The collection contains over 200 large format photos, including many rarely seen before. Originally composed and displayed for the Argenta Arts Foundation in North Little Rock, the entire collection was donated to Downtown Walnut Ridge, Inc., last year.
The Beatles Symposium will begin with displays at 12 noon on Friday, September 18, in The Studio, which is located on Main Street. The program begins at 7:30 p.m., also in The Studio. The symposium, like the rest of Beatles at the Ridge, is free of charge to attend.
