Music

1964 The Tribute says ‘P.S. I Love You’

BY CRYSTAL SCHELLE

Special to The News-Post

For 38 years, Mark Benson has combed his mop-top, buttoned his slim ’60s suit, swung his Rickenbacker guitar strap over his shoulder and stepped onto the stage as John Lennon.

A founding member of 1964 The Tribute, Benson is one-fourth of the group who pays homage to The Beatles with an authentic musical experience. Rounding out the Liverpool lads are Mac Ruffing as Paul McCartney, Tom Work as George Harrison and Bobby Potter as Ringo Starr.

The group will perform at 8 p.m. Jan. 13 at the Weinberg Center for the Arts in downtown Frederick. 1964 The Tribute focuses on the music and look of The Beatles until 1966. That means music from ’64’s “Revolver” back to ’63’s “Please Please Me.” The original Beatles broke up in 1970. But 1964 The Tribute lovingly recreates the early Beatles through not only music but authentic-era musical instruments, suits and hairstyles. Lennon didn’t start wearing his granny glasses until September 1966, so they aren’t part of the costume. The group even uses banter that was true to the Fab Four.

Benson said he’s relished playing Lennon for all these years.

“I’m lucky because John was a smartaleck, and now I get paid to do that,” he said with a laugh during a telephone interview from his Akron, Ohio, home after Christmas. “So that worked out pretty darn well.”

Over the years, Benson said he’s been able to connect with his onstage persona beyond the costume and music.

“I think whenever you do anything like this, where you’re impersonating either musical style or an actor in a movie or whatever, you gotta find something in you that you can relate to in the character,” he said. “One of the things I liked about [John] was that if he was pushed, he got nasty. But generally, he was very thoughtful and he was a nice guy.”

However, don’t expect Benson to start delving into the personal lives of his character.

“I don’t care what they had for breakfast. I don’t care if they got divorced or whatever. That’s their life,” he said.

For Benson, it’s hard to separate Lennon from The Beatles. Although they all went on to have successful solo careers, Benson sees the group existing because they had all four of them. “My impression has always been that none of them would have been who they were without the other three,” he said. “It was that chemistry of those guys that gave each of the other ones the confidence and the security to go on and to be the versions of themselves that created all that music.”

And, Benson said, the camaraderie and chemistry among the guys were not manufactured.

“You could tell their senses of humor that they had this bond, and it was definitely the four of them against everything,” he said.

However, it was beyond their charm that made The Beatles such bonafide superstars. Benson said it was also their message. “It sounds cliché, but I think the thing that really drew everybody to them on a direct level or a subliminal level was love,” he said. “Just look how many song titles have the word in it? And how many songs don’t have it in the title, but they’re about it anyway.”´

It’s a theme that resonates with even their youngest fans. Benson said during a meet-and-greet after one show before the pandemic, a 6-year-old girl was standing in line with her mother and making goofy faces at the guys as she waited.

“She comes up to the table, and I said, ‘You look really happy,’ and she goes, ‘I am.’ I said, ‘Why are you so happy?’ She looks right at me and with no reservation says ‘ Because of love.’ The thing that hit me was that I was supposed to be reminded of that, because that’s a part of what we do.”

It’s that message that 1964 The Tribute has continued to push out into the world. Just like that little girl, Benson said he and the group see it every night as people leave the performances happy and uplifted.

The original Beatles were only together for seven years, compared to the nearly four decades 1964 has performed together. And throughout that time, except for the pandemic, the tribute band’s crowds have never waned.

The Beatles have been undergoing a new wave of Beatlemania, thanks to two documentaries: Ron Howard’s 2016 “The Beatles Eight Days a Week — The Touring Years” and Peter Jackson’s 2021 “The Beatles: Get Back Documentary.” Benson said he couldn’t point to a direct correlation between ticket sales and the movies because they are recovering from a pandemic that shut down music venues, but the movies don’t hurt.

The continual popularity of The Beatles, Benson said, is a testament to who the men where at their cores.

“I think it’s a multitude of things, but they’re all positive things,” he said. “Any interview you see with them, they’re never swearing or vulgar. They’ve always got some funny little quip or something like that. They’re just really entertaining people and very positive. Like I said ... the love vibe is in so many of their songs. It’s also in their character.”

Benson and the rest of 1964 The Tribute hope they too can express the love The Beatles evoked through their music. Because, borrowing a song title, “All You Need is Love.”

“If you’re a Beatles fan, [the show] will give you a glimpse of what it was like to see the beginning stages of The Beatles,” he said.

Also, he explains, after ’66, the type of music The Beatles wrote changed.

“There’s just very little rock ’n’ roll after ’66. Most of it’s, you know, ‘Strawberry Fields,’ ‘The Long and Winding Road,’ ‘Hey Jude.’ It’s just great music, really cool stuff. But it’s almost like let’s get a joint and listen to this because it’s really cool.”

Benson also likes the production 1964 The Tribute puts on because it’s a family show. The lyrics they sing aren’t explicit. The group’s banter is pretty PG. He said their audience includes toddlers to grandparents.

“We get emails from teenagers that say, this is the one show every year, I buy the tickets when I take my dad,” he said.

He’s still amazed at the younger generations who continue to discover The Beatles.

“For whatever reason, even though they didn’t grow up in that time period, [the music] seems to affect them in the same way,” he said. “They seem to have the same love and the same attraction to it like the people that grew up with it.”

Crystal Schelle is a journalist whose work has been published locally, regionally and nationally. She enjoys trivia, cats and streaming movies.

Courtesy photo

1964 the Tribute

1964 THE TRIBUTE

When: 8 p.m. Jan. 13 Where: Weinberg Center for the Arts, 20 W. Patrick St., Frederick Tickets: $17.50 to $32.50 Info: 301-600-2828 or weinbergcenter.org; 1964web.com

Encore Creativity for Older Adults welcomes singers to the spring season

Encore Creativity for Older Adults Welcomes Singers to the Spring Season

Encore Creativity for Older Adults, the nation’s largest choral organization for adults over 55, welcomes singers in Frederick to its spring semester of singing starting Jan. 12. The local group will sing an eclectic mix of songs to light up the colder months and usher in the spring, from choral arrangements of “Blue Skies” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” to celebrating friendship through singing “All the Way Home.”

Registration is open for Encore Creativity’s spring semester of 22.5 hours of rehearsal time, with 90-minute rehearsals once per week. The season will culminate in a crowd-pleasing performance that is free and open to the public.

No auditions are ever required for an Encore program, and no experience is necessary. The nonprofit’s guiding mission is to provide a welcoming and accessible artistic environment for all adults 55 and older who seek it, regardless of prior experience. Deb Int Veldt will conduct the Encore Chorale of Frederick, which meets on Thursdays from 10:30 a.m. to noon at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick, 4880 Elmer Derr Road, Frederick.

Encore provides an opportunity for older adults of all skill levels and experience levels to unite in harmony and perform in prestigious venues across the U.S. Encore singers across the country gathered on Dec. 26 for a performance at the John F. Kennedy Encore Creativity for Older Adults’ Asbury & Friends holiday concert in 2021.

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Center Concert Hall in Washington, D.C., singing holiday favorites and rejoicing in the new year with more than 400 singers in attendance.

Tuition is $190 per person for the 15week program. Tuition includes sheet music and a rehearsal CD highlighting a singer’s voice part. Encore will follow all city, state and federal COVID-19 guidelines. For those who prefer singing virtually, Encore also hosts online rehearsals that learn the same repertoire as in-person chorales. For more information and registration, visit encorecreativity.org or call 301-2615747.

For singers who want a full musical experience, a new semester of Encore’s vibrant online educational program Encore University begins mid-January. Encore University is a comprehensive online program of enrichment courses in music history, music theory, dance, art and more. Tuition for the spring semester of Encore University is allinclusive at $99 and includes recorded versions of classes to be viewed on demand. Singers can combine both the in-person program with online classes for a holistic approach to arts education.

TIVOLI DISCOVERY SERIES Taylor Ashton at New Spire Arts

The Weinberg Center for the Arts’ Tivoli Discovery Series features emerging artists from across the country in a pay-what-youwant format, which allows concert goers to experience new artists and their music at little to no cost.

Concerts are the first Thursday of each month and this season will be held at the Weinberg’s new venue, New Spire Stages, located at 15 W. Patrick St., Frederick, directly across from the Weinberg Center. Shows start at 7:30 p.m.

Taylor Ashton will perform at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 5.

A Vancouver native who now lives in Brooklyn, Taylor alternately accompanies himself on clawhammer banjo and electric guitar, crooning poignantly clever lyrical insights. His music takes influence from the emotionality of Joni Mitchell, the vulnerability of Bill Withers, the humor and heartbreak of Randy Newman, and old-time and Celtic folk music.

Learn more about the artist at taylorashton. com.

Advance tickets are available for a suggested donation of $10, or audience members can pay what they want at the door. Purchase tickets at weinbergcenter.org, by calling 301-600-2828, or in person at the Weinberg Center box office at 20 W. Patrick St.