The Beatles 1969 Tour

[iamthewalrus]

Ugh! Sorry it keeps taking me forever. I'm still reading it though and still loving it!

[BungalowTom]

Thanks. You still find it interesting? You're not bored? I've written more, and I wanna post it, but you know, we're not even talking short story anymore. This thing is a book, and I need to start looking into if it's possible to sell a fanfic novel for publication...

"I can make it longer if you like the style..."

[iamthewalrus]

I know it is possible to sell a fanfic novel for publication I've seen it done before there is this one company but unfortunately I forgot the name of it. If I find it or remember it I'll be sure to let you know.
I think you have to pay to get it published and not the other way around though...

[BungalowTom]

Screw that. I'm not paying to get published. That's a scam! I'll just try submitting it elsewhere...

[BungalowTom]

In the meantime, here's more of me story...

I was beside myself the next several days, with what Mal had told me. Their long time roadie and personal assistant, who should know, was now fully confident that they would tour again. As happy as I was, Paul was ecstatic when Mal and I went to see him the following week. We were sitting in his back living room at St. John’s Wood, enjoying a laugh, when Paul brought up the tour.
“Man, we’ve gotta keep Billy with us,” Paul said excitedly. “John and George are so up when he’s around, hell, we all are, we should make him a permanent member.”
“You mean, there really will be a fifth Beatle?” I asked. The press for years had indulged in idle speculation about who the real fifth Beatle was, after New York DJ Murray the K had the audacity to confer the title upon himself during their first visit to America in February 1964. Many articles had named their brilliant producer, George Martin as the fifth Beatle. Others had suggested it was Brian Epstein. Three quarters of the band had feared it might be Yoko, pushing her way in. But now, it was settled. Billy would be asked to join, and be the real “fifth Beatle.” Because Paul realized, as we all did, that the only real fifth Beatle would be somebody who actually played with them. As important as they were, record producers and managers didn’t count.
Not that they really had a manager at this point. Ever since Brian died, in August 1967, the Beatles had more or less managed themselves. With decidedly mixed results. John and Yoko had met with Allen Klein, who had managed the Rolling Stones, and gotten them a fatter recording contract than the one they had initially signed with, which is more than Brian had done for the Beatles at the height of Beatlemania. They were still getting pennies on what they earned for EMI.
Paul wanted his new in-laws to run the Beatles. He had just married Linda Eastman, and her father and brother ran a prestigious entertainment law firm in New York City.
John and Paul’s opposing viewpoints had been a great source of tension between them for the last several months, as Mal had told me. I never would have known otherwise. The press somehow missed this story, and although it’s been retold countless times by Beatles “historians,” I heard it from the guy who was closer to all four Beatles than damn near anyone else alive at the time, with the possible exception of Neil. But then again, Mal may have been even closer to the Beatles at this point, as Neil was basically running their affairs through Apple, and he was shut away in his office most days.
So why couldn’t Neil manage the band, I wondered aloud to Mal that night on the way home. Little did I know that Neil was brooding in his office while Billy Preston was helping the Beatles make magic again, pondering the very same thing.
There were some murmurings around Apple that they might ask him, Neil thought, sitting in his black leather swivel chair at his desk. But he was leaving the paperwork on the desk for now, and turned around, with the view of the brick wall of the building next door, with tenants old enough to be the Beatles’ parents running the place. What the hell would he tell them? He’d been well on the way towards being certified as an accountant before he dropped everything to drive the Beatles around from gig to gig. Now, though he wasn’t president of Apple in name, he kept a closer eye on the money than anyone else around them. Who better to run the Beatles themselves, along with their empire, than the man who was Pete Best’s best friend, and banged his mom for two years? The only question was did he want to step into Brian’s old shoes? He’d signed on to oversee their business affairs, but Neil knew that wasn’t right. He’d actually signed on as a road manager, but that was wrong, too. He just wanted to be the guy driving them around in his van from one gig to the next, and it all started because he was Pete Best’s best friend and was banging his mom for two years.
He never mentioned it to the others, but he wondered about Pete from time to time. He’d been sacked six weeks before “Love Me Do” was released. How was he getting on, Neil wondered. Pete’s sacking was the only time he seriously considered telling the Fab Four to shove off. But his loyalty to the group had eclipsed his loyalty to Pete and his mom’s lovin. And he wanted to come along for the ride. He never looked back and regretted his decision for even a nanosecond. He’d made the right choice for himself. He was sorry Pete was kicked out, but he moved on, instantly, after a day or two of brooding about it. He thought about ringing him when he had things to think about. Pete had always been a good listener. That was one area the Beatles weren’t superstars. Maybe if Pete had become as famous, he’d have become like that, too. He marveled sometimes at how John, Paul, George and even Ringo a little bit, had changed in unexpected ways since fame hit. George had found God, and was absorbing everything he could regarding Krishna. He’d been a nervous, somewhat gangly kid who loved nothing more than his guitar and making music with his mates. Now, he was not only spiritual, but was asserting himself more in the band, to the point of walking out early in the failed “Get Back” sessions. Neil suddenly realized that it was shortly after George came back that the idea of a tour began to take shape, as all four signed on. He was surprised John was going along with it. Yoko was his all-consuming passion, and he was agreeing to do what he had said he would never do again?
Neil had started to pick up the phone to call Pete about a dozen times in the last six years. But he could never follow through, and actually make the call. Something always held him back. Was he afraid that Pete might ask him for money? Neil tried to be somewhat careful with the boys’ money, though everyone else around the Beatles spent money like the drunken sailors the lads tried to roll back in Hamburg, a million years ago. And the Beatles themselves had been generous with their money. John had bought his best friend from childhood, Pete Shotten, a supermarket to run. Each of them set up their parents, or in John’s case, his Aunt Mimi, with nice homes. But none of their generosity had come near Pete, and Neil supposed it was as much his fault as anyone’s. He had been discarded on their road to fame, and been forgotten.
No, Neil knew it wasn’t the money. It was the fear of the awkwardness. What would they say to him? What would he say to them? Neil sensed that Pete was still extremely bitter, and who could blame him? They owed a lot of their early gigs to Pete and his mom, who set up a club in the basement of their home, just to give them a place to play steadily, and to get better by playing more, which helped develop their talents enough where they were ready for Hamburg and the Cavern. Which in turn got them ready for their world conquest by 1964. Of course, Neil knew he could always get in touch with Pete himself; he didn’t need to clear it with the boys. But he never did, and it all boiled down to the fact that by confronting Pete, he’d be confronting his own guilt in dumping Pete right before their first burst of fame. And that was something he never, ever wanted to confront.