SPRINGDALE. They had a ticket to ride and really didn't want to stop the show, but a Beatles impersonation band couldn't come together in Springdale yesterday. Members of "1964... The Tribute" were stranded Friday at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport because of flight delays resulting from Thursday's widespread power failure in the Northeast. The Arts Center of the Ozarks postponed the band's Friday night concert but hopes to reschedule for next month.
Tina Townsend, director of communications for the Arts Center, said a sellout crowd of 425 people paid $35 each for the fund-raiser for the arts center.
With a little help from their friends, they found a private jet for band members Mark Benson, Gary Grimes, James Pou and Greg George. But the band plays their rock 'n' roll music with about 1,600 pounds of equipment similar to the instruments and amplifiers The Beatles used in the mid-60s. Arts center employees couldn't find a plane to carry that weight.
"First they told us they could get The Beatles on the plane but not their equipment," Townsend said. "Then they said they couldn't get The Beatles on the plane. We tried to get a Tyson corporate jet, but they didn't have planes available. Then Johnny [company president John Tyson] was going to lend his personal plane, but the door isn't big enough for the drum set and amplifiers."
Since the band draws followers from all over the country, Townsend and others spent Friday afternoon calling area residents and about 10 day trippers from Dallas, Tulsa and Joplin, Mo. to notify them of the cancellation.
"This place is in such an uproar right now," she said "We feel terrible having to call everybody to cancel, but then again, maybe we can get them to play an encore when they come next month."
Townsend said the center will be out $1,000 for a local sound equipment operator who charges by the day, but it won't be long before the band returns. Art center employees are trying to schedule a second show for Sept. 26, and they'll refund money to ticket holders who can't return.
"We know we'll be able to sell the tickets because they sold out last year," she said. "They're phenomenal. They look and sound exactly like The Beatles."