If you go
› What: The Pool celebrates the 55th anniversary of The Beatles’ Ed Sullivan appearance› When: 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2› Where: Songbirds South, 35 Station St.› Admission: $15› Online: songbirdguitars.com
In today’s world of social media and the availability of instant news, real or otherwise, it’s hard to imagine just how earth-shaking The Beatles’ appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” was 55 years ago.
Everything changed. Suddenly, The Beatles were everywhere, and people wanted to copy everything about them.
At the time, Michael Welch was a 13-year-old Elvis Presley fan who wanted to be like his other mentor, trumpeter Al Hirt. The morning after the show, however, “I washed my hair and dried it and looked in the mirror and decided I was not going to put the Brylcreem in and went to school looking like a Beatle. The principal made me go home. It was the same length as the Friday before, but I had to cut it.”
Welch also asked his dad if he could buy a guitar, which he has been playing since. Welch was not alone in this, of course, as a great number of today’s musicians who were old enough to have watched the show credit it with their decisions to become a musician.