THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 9, 1996 TAG: 9606090046
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CRAIG SHAPIRO, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 46 lines
Some came for the party. Some came for the playlist.
Whatever the reason, nearly 2,000 people - grandparents carrying lawn chairs, moms and dads pushing strollers, and neo-flower children in John Lennon T-shirts - filled the 24th Street Park Saturday evening.
The occasion was ``BeatleMania Live!,'' part of the Virginia Beach Center for the Arts' Boardwalk International Arts Festival. Before the festival winds down next Sunday, a full lineup of national, regional and local talent will have played the Oceanfront.
Odds are that Glen and Jean Whitehurst will be there for most of it.
The Virginia Beach couple has been biking down from their home in Shadowlawn for three years now. Saturday, they were settled into their lawn chairs an hour before the free concert began.
``Just watch,'' said Jean Whitehurst, 63, ``by the time it starts, this place will be filled.''
Her husband took a look around the park.
``I've lived here my whole life, and I think this is one the best things the city ever did,'' said Glen Whitehurst, 65. ``We come out here (and) if we like it, we stay. If we don't, we go home.''
There was no way Joan Hamer was leaving early. The Norfolk woman drove in with her son, Andrew Reid, to stake a spot in front of the stage.
Hamer, 43, still has her Paul and Ringo dolls and ``I Love George'' button.
``They take you back to a freer time, when you didn't have to worry about bills,'' she said. ``All you had to worry about was what you were going to wear to school the next day and what boy would like you.
``I sat on the floor and watched them on `The Ed Sullivan Show,' and I've been in love ever since.''
Hamer never got to see a Beatles concert, but she has followed 1964 As the Beatles, another Fab Four tribute band, regularly the past 10 years - it's how her son became a fan.
As lookalikes go, ``BeatleMania Live!'' is a hard act to top. Dressed in dark suits, white shirts, and skinny black ties, and using vintage guitars and drums, they launched into faithful versions of ``I Wanna Hold Your Hand,'' ``She Loves You,'' ``All My Loving'' and ``It Won't Be Long.''
Jefferson Starship, with Paul Kantner, Marty Balin and Jack Casady, perform at 24th Street tonight at 8.
The festival also includes a series of free films being screened at the 17th Street Stage. A handful of people turned out for Saturday's showing of the Bob Dylan documentary, ``Hard to Hold: Dylan.'' by CNB