THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 8, 1996 TAG: 9606080273
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 83 lines
Nikki Thompson, 14, punched a finger into her chin as she pondered the impact of The Beatles.
Wearing jeans and a tie-dyed T-shirt, the Chesapeake teen stood in a cavernous gallery in the Waterside Marriott Hotel, surrounded by dozens of dramatically lit, richly framed prints of drawings by her favorite Beatle, John Lennon. Video monitors flashed scenes from The Beatles' animated film, ``Yellow Submarine,'' and from an experimental film of John Lennon smiling in slow motion, made by his widow, Yoko Ono.
``I think The Beatles' music is timeless,'' Thompson said, as a song from the group's ``Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' album played over the speaker system.
``My father saw them at Shea Stadium. And I think my children will listen to them, whether I expose them to The Beatles or not. It's like a gateway between generations.''
Thompson attended the first day of ``The Artwork of John Lennon,'' a show and sale of work by the late musician, with a girlfriend, Lauren Passero, 15, who was not a Beatles admirer. But Lauren's mother had been a fan. ``This is fun. It really takes me back,'' said Susan Passero.
The Chesapeake trio wasn't the only example of cross-generational interest.
``Here she is, the next-generation John Lennon freak,'' said Kathy Salsbury, 40, of her daughter Jessi, 14. ``Yeah. She came along about a year after Lennon died.''
While waiting to purchase a Lennon necklace, Jessi, who wore a Lennon T-shirt, mouthed the words to songs by The Beatles and Lennon. She bought a necklace, she said, enraptured, ``so I can have it on all the time.''
A year ago, the Virginia Beach duo traveled to New York to visit various Lennon sites - the Dakota apartments where he was killed, the Strawberry Fields shrine in Central Park.
``I like all the peace things he did,'' Jessi said, thoughtfully.
``I think I'm more into it now,'' her mom said, ``because she is. And now, it's become something that bridges us. She wants to know all about this.''
The Lennon art show did not bring the sort of manic swarms that dogged The Beatles in their heyday. Through the evening, the gallery held a few dozen patrons of all ages, quietly making their way around the art-lined room.
Most people were buying smaller items like catalogs and T-shirts, although about 10 patrons bought fine art prints, priced from $500 to $15,000. No one had yet purchased the sole original drawing on view, a portrait of Lennon and Ono with a price tag of $25,000.
Soon after the exhibit opened, a John Lennon impersonator - Tim Beasley of Virginia Beach - popped in, said Jim Faile, an exhibit associate. Beasley has appeared as Lennon at Planet Music in Virginia Beach.
``He wasn't with us or anything. He just kind of showed up for like 45 minutes,'' Faile said.
While Beasley was roaming around in the gallery, several people approached him. ``And each time he would say, in his best John Lennon voice, `If Elvis can come back from the dead, John can, too,' '' Faile said.
Mike Hook, owner of Echoing Sounds, a Virginia Beach record shop that specializes in Beatles memorabilia, says he has seen a boost in Beatles popularity since the network airing of ``A Beatles Anthology'' in November.
Cook estimated that this region contains ``a few thousand'' Beatles fans. ``And I know of 25 to 40 people who I can say are major, major Beatles collectors.''
The ``Anthology'' got teenagers turned on to The Beatles, he said.
But how could someone born after Lennon's death in 1980 fall so hard for his music?
Nikki Thompson had a clue. ``John Lennon was unafraid to express himself. And that's influential - especially for my generation, where you have to be cool and try to fit in and impress people. He wasn't worried about that, and he was embraced by a whole world.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Beth Bergman
Impersonator Tim Beasley of Virginia made the scene Friday night at
the Waterside Marriott Hotel for "The Artwork of John Lennon."
Graphic
What: ``The Artwork of John Lennon,'' a show and sale of work by
the late musician.
Where: Waterside Marriott Hotel,
235 E. Main St., Norfolk.
When: Today, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.;
Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
How much: Admission is free. by CNB