A Slight Diversion Into Musical History

As a young kid growing up in Somerville, Massachusetts, I can remember the first time I heard a Beatles tune on my Mom's kitchen radio. "What is this?", I remember thinking to myself—it certainly wasn't my parents' music, this was way beyond Perry Como. In fact, those early strains of "She Loves You", "I Want To Hold Your Hand", and "Twist And Shout" were blissfully shocking to my young ears—this was revolutionary stuff, in the truest sense of the word.

Of course, a lot of what those four 'mop-tops' from Liverpool brought across the pond was influenced heavily by Black American music—a rhythm and blues tradition that never got to the white Middle Class until then. But the Beatles did make me listen to and appreciate the music of Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino—and a myriad of other great African-American artists.

This coming week, I will be privileged to be a guest DJ on Sirius/XM's The Beatles Channel—commenting on and playing my four favorite Beatles songs. The show is called, "My Fab Four" and can be heard in the following time slots:

Monday, July 20th at 10PM Eastern time; 
Wednesday, July 22nd at 5AM Eastern time;
Friday, July 24th at 2AM Eastern Time.

I hope you can listen. Here's a hint, my "Fab Four" tunes do not include any of the three mentioned above—so, you'll just have to tune in to find out what they are.