Beatlemore Skidmania salutes Sgt. Pepper

The seventh annual Beatlemore Skidmania this year will provide a musical salute to Sgt. Pepper as the 40th anniversary of that legendary recording provides the focus for a concert titled ?The Summer of Love: 1967 and Beyond.?

Students and faculty performing at the event will present their own versions of songs from Sgt. Pepper?s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour (also celebrating its 40th anniversary) at the event, which gets under way at 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15, in Filene Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public.

The concert continues a tradition established by students in Professor Gordon Thompson's (MU 344) Beatles Seminar in the fall of 2001. According to Thompson, students in that course asked early in the semester if he would help them stage a concert. Most of the performers in the bands, a cappella groups, jazz trios, and folk groups that presented that first program were students from the seminar. Thompson also convinced some faculty to perform that first year, and a new Skidmore tradition was born.

This year's program, under the direction of Senior Artist-in-Residence Joel Brown, again features a mix of faculty and student performers, who are using as their reference point Sgt. Pepper?s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour, both released in 1967. Songs from the recordings will be featured throughout the program, which will include performances by a such student groups as a jazz band, several a cappella groups, rock musicians, and a brass ensemble.

Also returning to the stage this year are the Rust Brothers, a faculty group consisting of Brown, Thompson, John Anzalone, and Dave Maswick. he Rust Brothers, who have usually closed the show, will open with the title cut from Sgt. Pepper. The band will close the event with ?All You Need is Love,? from Magical Mystery Tour.

A guitarist who is internationally known for his original compositions as well as his performance of classical guitar works, Brown is very enthusiastic about the Dec. 15 concert. He says, ?I just love playing Beatles music. Every time I hear it, it seems as fresh and exciting as it did 40 years ago.?

Beatlemore Skidmania typically draws a large audience. All seats are first-come, first-served.