Full Text of HR0562 98th General Assembly
HR0562 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, September 2013 will mark the 50th anniversary of | 3 | | former Beatle
George
Harrison's
visit to Benton and Southern | 4 | | Illinois; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, The visit occurred just 5 months before the | 6 | | Beatles' first
performance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and the | 7 | | rise of Beatlemania; at the time
of his visit,
the Beatles were | 8 | | not known in the United States; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, George Harrison's visit to Southern Illinois | 10 | | occurred as a result of
his sister
living in Benton with her | 11 | | husband, an engineer with the Freeman Coal Company in
West | 12 | | Frankfort; the visit served as an opportunity for George | 13 | | Harrison to get away from the fame
and fanfare that the Beatles | 14 | | were already experiencing in England; their song,
"She Loves | 15 | | You", was the #1 song in England during the week he arrived in
| 16 | | America; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, What makes George Harrison's trip so significant | 18 | | for Beatle
historians is that
there were several firsts that | 19 | | occurred just prior to and during his visit to
Southern | 20 | | Illinois; and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, During the early summer of 1963, George Harrison's |
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| 1 | | sister Louise was trying to
promote the
Beatles in this country | 2 | | by having local radio stations play the English group's
songs; | 3 | | the first radio station in the United States to do so was WFRX | 4 | | in West
Frankfort, and the first song the DJ, Marcia Schafer | 5 | | Raubach, played was
"From Me To You"; when he visited the area, | 6 | | one of the first things he wanted
to
do was to thank Marcia and | 7 | | visit the station, where she interviewed him; this
was the | 8 | | first time any Beatle was interviewed in the United States; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, George Harrison also played music with a local | 10 | | group, the Four
Vests, during his
visit at 2 locations, the | 11 | | Eldorado VFW and the Bocce Ball Club in Benton;
and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, Another interesting event that happened during | 13 | | George Harrison's visit was
his
purchase of a new guitar at a | 14 | | Southern Illinois music store; Gabe McCarty took
him
to the | 15 | | Fenton Music Store in Mt. Vernon, where he bought a | 16 | | Rickenbacher 425 and
later used it to play with the Beatles; | 17 | | and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, The home where Louise Harrison lived during her | 19 | | famous brother's
visit in 1963 was scheduled to be demolished | 20 | | during the mid-1990s to make way
for a parking lot for the | 21 | | local Illinois Department of Mines and Minerals
office; | 22 | | however, a group of interested individuals, including Louise, | 23 | | later
persuaded the State to spare it; later, the home, located |
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| 1 | | at 113 McCann Street,
became a bed and breakfast owned by Jim | 2 | | and Daryl Chady and Cornelius and
Dorothy Schultz; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, George Harrison passed away on November 29, 2001, | 4 | | after a long bout
with cancer; a memorial service was held at | 5 | | the home; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, THe Illinois State Historical Society will | 7 | | dedicate a memorial plaque at Capitol Park in downtown Benton | 8 | | at 2:00 P.M. on Saturday, September 21, 2013, honoring the 50th | 9 | | anniversary of George Harrison's historic visit; therefore, be | 10 | | it
| 11 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 12 | | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 13 | | we recognize the 50th anniversary of former Beatle George | 14 | | Harrison's visit to Southern Illinois; and be it further
| 15 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 16 | | presented to
Louise Harrison, Gabe McCarty, Marcia Schafer | 17 | | Raubach, and the City of Benton as an expression of our respect | 18 | | and esteem.
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