Thursday, January 30, 2014

The Beatles: Six Days that Changed the World. February 1964



 
February 4, 2014
Published by Rizzoli



To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ first visit to the United States.



"One morning my boss said, 'Look, we've got a bunch of British musicians coming into town. They're called the Beatles.'" Bill Eppridge was at John F. Kennedy airport on February 7, 1964 for the arrival of The Beatles. He continued to photograph The Beatles that day, and over the next several days. He was invited to come up to their room at the Plaza Hotel and "stick with them." "These were four very fine young gentlemen, and great fun to be around," Eppridge recalled. After he introduced himself to Ringo, who consulted with John, the group asked what he wanted them to do while being photographed for Life. "I'm not going to ask you to do a thing," was Eppridge's reply. "I just want to be here." --Bill Eppridge (Read more from the New York Times Lens Blog here.)



The Beatles arrive, February 7, 1964, New York
 


Astonishing, richly spontaneous, and almost entirely unpublished images of the Beatles’ historic first trip to the United States, as chronicled by an award-winning photographer given unique access to their tour. Published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the Beatles’ first visit to the United States, this rare and mostly unseen collection of photographs marks the beginning of the British Invasion. In February 1964, photographer Bill Eppridge was on assignment for Life magazine to cover the band’s arrival at JFK airport. He was then invited to continue shooting in their room at the Plaza Hotel and during the days that followed, notably at the Ed Sullivan Show rehearsal and historic performance; in Central Park; on a train ride to Washington, D.C., for the concert at the Washington Coliseum; at the British embassy; and at their renowned performance at Carnegie Hall. The book is an intimate fly-on-the-wall account of a visit that introduced the Beatles to America and changed the course of music, internationalizing the industry and opening the door for other artists to achieve global success.
 

Bill Eppridge completed the book with his wife and editor Adrienne Aurichio just before his untimely death in October, 2013. Bill Eppridge's photographs of the Beatles 1964 trip will be featured in the exhibition "Bill Eppridge: 1964", April 25 - June 22 at Monroe Gallery of Photography. The exhibit includes other landmark stories Eppridge covered that year: The 1964 Newport Folk Festival, "Mississippi Burning": the funeral of James Chaney, and Needle Park.



Monroe Gallery of Photography will exhibit Bill Eppridge's photographs in booth #421 during the AIPAD Photography Show in New York April 10 - 13.


Copies of  "The Beatles: Six Day That Changed the World" signed by Adrienne Aurichio are available from the gallery.




Related: NY TIMES Lens: The Beatles Visit, Revisited

              LA Times: The intimate unseen Beatles photographs of Bill Eppridge

              CBS Lost Beatles photographs found

              Exhibit captures U.S. debut of The Beatles


   CNN Landmark show, golden glow: 50 years since The Beatles on 'Ed Sullivan

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