THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 26, 1995 TAG: 9511250069
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
It was Sunday evening, Feb. 9, 1964, and Tim Beasley lay on his adolescent tummy on the living room floor, his still-smooth chin propped up on his cupped hands.
Millions of others, too, around the country were settling down to watch the ``really big shew'' that television entertainment show host Ed Sullivan had put together.
Then four long-banged and booted young Englishmen strode out on stage and began strumming their guitars in tune to the now-familiar words of ``All My Loving,'' and American pop culture was changed forever.
The Beatles' American premiere lit a fire in Beasley and at the same time it gave birth to a counter-culture that exists three decades later.
Beasley will never forget his first impression of the Beatles.
``I already had long hair,'' said the Virginia Beach man who, today, impersonates John Lennon. ``When they came over (from England) you saw the excitement and fell in with it.
``I thought they were the Pied Piper,'' remembers Beasley, now 43. ``There were all these girls screaming for those guys.''
Beasley and his partner-in-song, Bill Staley, performed 20 of the old familiar songs Monday night at Planet Music to celebrate the release of the first new Beatles' song in 25 years.
``The Beatles Anthology'' went on sale at midnight, and more than 40 fans waited in line to get their copy at the Pembroke store. The collection includes ``Free As a Bird,'' a 1977 Lennon composition finished last year by Ringo Starr, George Harrison and Paul McCartney.
Staley, who impersonates McCartney, hooked up with Beasley about a year ago, and, as Staley says, ``the rest is history,'' for the two have been delighting Beatles fans in Hampton Roads ever since.
Staley, an English teacher at Great Bridge Middle School, also will never forget his first sight of the ``real'' Beatles. Like Beasley, he was watching the Ed Sullivan Show.
``I was 14 at the time, puberty was kicking in, and I was an Elvis fan until I heard them,'' recalled the 46-year-old Beach man.
Beasley often has been mistaken for Lennon, and, indeed, bears a remarkable resemblance to the Beatle who was shot to death in New York City on Dec. 8, 1980.
``It's kind of fun to emulate them,'' said Beasley. ``To suspend disbelief. . . . otherwise you get kind of bored with yourself.''
Planet Music Assistant Manager Stacey Tyler said the store was gearing up for unprecedented sales with the release. It could be the biggest selling album of the year, said Tyler.
For Beasley and Staley, the release is timely. They plan to expand their performance area to Richmond and Washington.
``The Beatles played in D.C., so why can't we?'' Beasley said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by GARY C. KNAPP
Bill Stanley, 46, a.k.a. Paul McCartney, and Tim Beasley, 43, a.k.a.
John Lennon, kick off the release of ``The Beatles Anthology'' at
Planet Music.
by CNB