Dreaming of Christmas with a Beatle...
Banned on the Run @ The Cavern, Liverpool - 8 December 2000.

December 8th is a poignant day for every Beatles fan and last year was especially sad as we remembered the twentieth anniversary of John Lennon's death. To commemorate John's life, the house he grew up in was finally given an English Heritage 'blue plaque'. It was unveiled by John's cousin Stanley Parkes, and his sister Julia, and is a fitting tribute to one of Liverpool's favourite sons.

My friend Eleanor and I spent the day celebrating John's life too! We attended a flower laying ceremony at the Beatles Statue in Cavern Walks with Jean Catherell and members of Liverpool Beatlescene, we visited Strawberry Fields where we left some flowers on the famous gates and Mendips to see the newly unveiled plaque. We spent a couple of hours with our friends Stephen, Jamie and Katherine in the Beatles Shop, and Anne-Marie in the Mathew Street Gallery, before heading to the Cavern. Banned on the Run had decided to hold a Christmas Party at the Cavern and invited members of The Word Is Love e-group, friends and fans of the band and anyone else they could think of to join them in the celebration! With live music provided by The Flying Postmen, Panama Ltd and Banned on the Run themselves we were definitely in for a great night of partying.

Although the turn out was less than expected the bands put on a great show and the music was really rocking. It's just a shame the same couldn't be said for the audience. I don't know what half of those attending had been expecting but I'm sure if they had made as much effort to enjoy themselves as the bands did, they would have had a fantastic time!! Myself and my friends boogied away to the early Beatles sound of the Flying Postmen, the excellent R&B of Panama Ltd and of course the brilliant Macca songs of Banned on the Run!! The music between the bands was also excellent and even Simon from BOTR took his turn to spin some fab discs! Of course - no-one could forget the significance of the day and Bill Heckle got up on stage to ask BOTR to play number in tribute to John. Well there was really only one song they could play, and as we heard the first chord of 'Here Today', Eleanor and I headed quickly for the ladies… you just can't have a good cry in front of an audience of a hundred or so!

Once we had regained our composure we returned to the front of the stage where Marcus and Bob were about to perform one of the best renditions of a Beatles song I have ever seen!! 'Rocky Racoon' is a great acoustic song anyway, but with Marcus providing animation with stuffed animals and props of all sorts it was a version I will never forget! We were all doubled over with laughing - it was great!!!! Panama Ltd and Andrei from FPL came back onstage for a jam and were joined by Neil Brennan, Cavern DJ turned actor, who had just attended the Liverpool Premiere of 'In His Life - The John Lennon Story', in which he played John's best friend Pete Shotton. Neil was hilarious!! He did his best to annoy Marcus by fiddling with his guitar as he played it, and then the pair of them took to the drums, resembling some bizarre four-armed creature, and making a sound Keith Moon would have been proud of! When Marcus stepped down from the kit Neil was left to demonstrate his solo drumming skills. I think it's fair to say that Marcus was clearly the more talented musician!! Stick to the acting Neil!!

The entertainment came to a close and we spent the next hour or so talking to Bill Heckle and Andrei and Emil from The Flying Postmen, before heading to our hotel. We paused by the River Mersey for a few quiet minutes to think about our friends at the Imagine mosaic in Central Park and all over the world - joining them in remembering the man whose influence we still feel, but whose presence we miss a little more each day. Rest in Peace, John.

Nina Douglas
TWIL Issue Three January 2001