It was 15 years ago but I remember it like it was yesterday, a guy at a party in Chicago told me he hated The Beatles.

I was flabbergasted, really I was. I had never heard of such a thing. I knew that people didn’t believe in Santa Claus but to HATE Santa Clause? I remember just staring at him and saying, "I can’t talk to you anymore" and walked away. I have grown older and I realize that The Beatles aren’t for everyone but they were such a huge part of my growing up that I'm confused when someone else doesn't share this passion.

One of the 'coming of age' moments in my family was the age in which you were considered old enough to work the record player. When that day came for me I would listen to the Beatles non stop- particularly the Sgt Pepper Album. I loved it! Every song was great! A Little Help From My Friends To me that was a song about Dave and Tommy, my buddies at school. Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds- I pictured a beautiful lady flying around with massive diamonds on her fingers, toes and around her neck. I learned later the the friends they were talking about were pills and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was about LSD but I didn’t care. At the age of ten the image was in my head and would stay there for ever.

My favorite Beatle changed as I grew older. At first it was George Harrison because he looked the coolest on the Sgt Pepper album. He had the kind of hair I aspired to, he wore the red band uniform which was my favorite color. Paul McCartney looked like a nerd I didn’t like at school and John Lennon had shorter hair and a nasty ass lime green uniform on- I did not care for that at all. I didn’t, at this point, know any of their names I just knew what they looked like. By my teens John Lennon was my hero, although I still thought George looked cooler. John remained my favorite Beatle until my 30’s (even though it is decidedly sick to have a favorite Beatle at this age) I began to appreciate Paul Mcartney and realized that John and George would be my favorites, Paul was a better song writer than both (it kills me to say it, but its true) Ringo never quite made the grade for me- he couldn’t sing, he didn’t write songs and most importantly at the time he didn’t look good on the Sgt Pepper Album.