THE SHAKERS IN THE USA: PART 1 - WINGS OVER AMERICA
May 2013, 7.45am, Manchester airport, American Airlines check in…The Shakers arrive to find some familiar faces ahead of them in the line. Just who are those dudes in shorts with guitars? It’s The Rockits! Our Cavern compadres, also on their way to Abbey Road On The River festival in Louisville, Kentucky. A bit of ‘brekky’ (lager and toast, anyone?) with the lads and we’re soon on our way to the gate for the first leg of the journey to Chicago. We board a relatively small pla
THE SHAKERS IN THE USA: PART 2 - 'ABBEY ROAD ON THE RIVER'
Good morning America! After just a few hours sleep we were wide-awake and ready to face our first full day in Louisville, Kentucky. A hotel breakfast buffet and coffee started our day before a wander around the festival site and its environs. Last minute preparations were being carried out all over the lawn ready for its official opening later in the day. A quick walk down to the banks of the Ohio River to see the mighty riverboat paddle steamers and then it was back to the h
THE MERSEY SOUND
Liverpool, 1961. A world in black and white. Grey skies hover over the soot-blackened Liver Building as the majestic Liver Birds look out across the murky Mersey, with its ferries criss-crossing their way over the water from the Pier Head. Somewhere in the distance there is the faint rumbling of beat music emanating from a smelly, dank cellar in the heart of the city. Mathew St, a small, cobbled street of fruit and vegetable warehouses connecting the busy thoroughfares of Nor
