BEATLES AND KEY WEST

There was a time…..Yes, the Beatles came to Key West…..By accident…..Not planned.

The year 1964. The Beatles were flying to Jacksonville to do a show. Hurricane Dora was on its way to Jacksonville, also. The Beatles plane was diverted to Key West.

The exact day, I am not certain. Today’s Key West Citizen suggests 9/9. I searched the internet a bit. I came up with 9/10 and 9/11 also. Some articles suggest the Beatles were here a couple of days. Others, merely overnight. One of the articles has them arriving around 3 in the morning.

I suspect the Beatles were in Key West more than 24 hours. They broke loose!

They were staying at was then the Key Wester Motel. Gone now, replaced by a Hyatt facility. The Beatles at some point found the Key Wester bar. They took their instruments and played and sang for hours. Word spread they were in town. Other musicians showed up after their work day ended and played with them.

The articles are consistent that the Beatles did a bit of drinking. They became inebriated. One of them is described as having made love to the toilet bowl. Something most of us have experienced on one occasion or another.

Whatever, the Beatles enjoyed Key West. The locals enjoyed the Beatles.

It was fortunate their plane bypassed Jacksonville. Dora hit Jacksonville hard. Five dead and over $2 million in damage.

I have not mentioned JJ in ages. A friend. Formerly a bartender at the Chart Room. JJ now bartends at the Galleon. JJ’s wife’s picture is in the Key West Citizen today. Ann Jonas. She is Citizen of the Day. The brief article mentions that she and JJ will be celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary this week. Congratulations! I only met Ann once. JJ obviously many times. He always spoke of Ann as if he were deeply in love. Obviously he was and is.

Turtles in the news again. Sharks, also. Our friends and foes in the sea.

There was a recent newspaper article concerning the two. A world wide study was completed. Apparently man has been killing off too many sharks. Sharks kill turtles. With fewer sharks, the turtle population has over grown.

Turtles eat seagrass. Sharks do not. Little fish live and eat in and off the seagrass. In some areas such as Bermuda, the seagrass is down to nothing. The turtles responsible. Scientists are trying to figure out a way to diminish the turtle population.

It does not appear there is a similar problem in Key West. Our seagrass is in full bloom. Our ocean conservation people are interested in protecting both sharks and turtles. We even have a Turtle Hospital in Marathon.

Since the study was world wide, does it have any validity as regards Key West and the rest of the Keys? I don’t know. Perhaps. I am sure some of our ocean people will be playing close attention to the situation over the next several years. In the meantime, there is no plan to kill a portion of the turtle population. I hope there never is.

Scotland votes soon re independence. The people will vote. They want to disconnect from the United Kingdom/England.

The southern states wanted to and did the same thing in the U.S. back in 1860-1. State legislatures voted to secede. Lincoln stood up to them. The Civil War occurred. You know the rest.

Re Scotland, the people are voting as opposed to their elected representatives. Does it make a difference? Will the Queen and Parliament stand by and permit the secession? It seems like everyone is waiting for the vote to take place before taking a public position on the issue.

My back problem has returned, though not as bad.

Because of my back, I have been late with certain of my writings. I did not do my KONK Life column which publishes tomorrow till Sunday. The article is titled Income Inequality.

My blog talk radio show is this evening. I did not get to preparation till yesterday. Spent all day working on tonight’s show. A significant portion will concern income inequality. The reason is there are so many interesting sidelights to the issue. Some pieces of information most of us might not have known.

Join me this evening. I guarantee you will enjoy the show. Nine my time. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou.  www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Enjoy your day!