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60 years after The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, a Boston DJ and magician keep the band’s ‘magical mystery’ alive
Cha-Chi Loprete and John Logan talk about coming together for their monthly Beatles residency at City Winery.
Sixty years ago, the big bang started with five words: “Ladies and gentlemen … The Beatles.”
So went America’s introduction to the Fab Four by way of Ed Sullivan — the historic televised performance on Feb. 9, 1964 that hurled the 20th century into Beatlemania and blasted in a rock ‘n’ roll revolution that has yet to surrender.
Indeed, decades later, the gravitational pull of the Sullivan show emits a magic that still amazes — perhaps for no one quite like Boston rock DJ Larry “Cha-Chi” Loprete and magician John Logan.
“Here we are, 60 years later. It’s still embedded in my heart and in my head,” says Loprete, one of the millions who tuned into the show that night and had his life forever changed.
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Together, Loprete and Logan form the duo behind “Come Together,” the multimedia Beatles experience that’s taken up a monthly residence at Boston’s City Winery. It’s a show they boast is like no other, with its magic tricks, live music, stories, rare videos and much more all in devotion to the lads from Liverpool.
February’s installment arrives Sunday and commemorates the 60th anniversary of that fateful Sullivan broadcast (and the birthday month of the late quiet Beatle, George Harrison).
With their unique blend, Loprete — a Beatles historian and the radio personality fueling New England’s syndicated “Breakfast with the Beatles” — and Logan, a professional magician partially known around here as the “unofficial magician” for the New England Patriots, have drawn monthly crowds to the downtown venue since September 2022.
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No two shows are the same, they say. Each month has a different theme — some interpretation or focus from deep within The Beatles catalog and fandom, from Sgt. Pepper’s to the solo years and back again.
This Sunday, Feb. 11, Debbie Gendler — one of the many girls who crammed into the audience at the “Ed Sullivan Show” that historic night — will be joining via Zoom call. Gendler’s own unique story with The Beatles is documented in her new book “I Saw Them Standing There: Adventures of an Original Fan During Beatlemania and Beyond.” Music will be provided by The 60’s Band.
Boston.com caught up with Loprete and Logan to talk about how their partnership came to be, their shared love of The Beatles, and, of course, how it all began a long, long time ago with Ed Sullivan.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Boston.com: It’s been 60 years since the Beatles made their landmark appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. And I know, Cha-Chi, you were among the – what is it? Seventy three million people who tuned in that night?
Loprete: I was.
Do you remember what you saw or what after all this time stands out to you — some of the details of that night? And did you have any idea you were seeing something historic when it was happening?
Loprete: I did and I do remember.
I remember the few weeks before at school everyone was talking about The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” on the charts. It knocked off The Singing Nun with their big hit, “Dominique.” That was a cue from [Beatles manager] Brian Epstein. He always said he’ll only bring The Beatles to America if they had a No. 1 song and it went to No. 1 in January. And next thing you know, they were on their way to America on Feb. 7. They played on the ninth.
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I was born in Boston, raised in Cambridge — two older brothers and a sister. And I was kind of sucked into the vacuum of that because they were very excited. I was almost 8 years old, but I still remember that evening, the little black and white TV in Cambridge.
And my mother loved them. My father was OK with them but he certainly wouldn’t let me have a Beatle haircut for a long time. [Logan laughs]
And it was amazing because Ed Sullivan had the wherewithal to not let us kids wait and he opened the show with three Beatles songs and closed it with two. So they sang five songs in total in that hour.
That was the moment where everything changed: Our music, what we were listening to on the radio. I was immediately attracted to Ringo on the highrise, the drum riser behind the three. We’d never seen a band like that and their beautiful suits, and the haircuts, the interesting look, and certainly the songs. It was something that I will never forget.
Can you each describe what it is about that performance that captivated America at that time? To your point Cha-Chi, it started this love affair with a band that really has never ended.
Loprete: It was something we had never seen before. We, as kids, all we had was our parents’ music and it wasn’t very exciting. When the Beatles came along, they changed everything. We were all talking in Liverpudlian accents. We were coaxing our parents to buy us Beatle boots.
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Certainly after they played The Ed Sullivan Show, school was abuzz with what had happened. Everyone was talking about it. I had a friend who was in parochial school and the nuns hated them. But in public school in Cambridge, everyone was talking about it.
Logan: I think The Beatles are one of those things in the world, very rare things, that brings people together.
I think it’s really remarkable [that] at our shows, we have people of all ages coming to the show to celebrate The Beatles even though they broke up a while ago. But the short amount of time they were together, they just made such an impact in the world — culturally, with their music, with their positive messages.
And that’s why we titled our show, “Come Together,” because we wanted people to really come together and celebrate the magic — no pun intended — of The Beatles.
Can you tell me a little bit about the genesis of the “Come Together” shows? What inspired this partnership between the two of you?
Logan: So I’ve been performing magic for the past 15 years. I was on “America’s Got Talent.” I performed for the Patriots as well. And I’ve always had a passion for The Beatles.
One day, I thought of this concept of, what if I do a trick around The Beatles, and tell a really cool underground story of The Beatles? So I did that once in my show, and people loved it and it kind of got me thinking, oh, what if I create a whole show that’s like this?
Then Cha-Chi, you know, he’s a legend in the Boston community and he knows everything about everything about The Beatles. I went to a few of his events that he did and I said, “Hi, I think there could be potential here of merging our backgrounds and talents together.”
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So our executive producer of our show, Cha-Chi’s wife, Stephanie Loprete, she said, yeah, I think there might be something here, taking both of our unique backgrounds together, and Stephanie thought of that concept.
City Winery reached out to us, asking for just a trivia night with Cha-Chi and then we did that, and we realized at that time that, wow, we could really do something bigger than just a trivia night.
So we started integrating music — like live bands — into our show. We started integrating multimedia into our show. We’ve had guests like May Pang, who was John Lennon’s girlfriend. We had Roag Best, who is the brother of Pete Best, who is the original drummer of The Beatles.
So, little by little we realized that this could be really big if we approached this correctly. It’s really taken off and we’ve been really, really lucky ever since.
Loprete: It’s been great. We’re so happy that every month we get to go there.
We have from 7-year-olds to 75-year-olds and even older. They’re all there because the music is so universal. People love them. John and I are amazed. We’re on stage and you know, we’ll throw out a trivia question and like 10-year-olds, a 15-year-old will answer the question because they know.
And that makes us feel so good that the younger generations are into the Beatles as well.
Logan: We produce the show in a way with a little bit of everything for everyone, right? You see magic. You see live music. You see some really rare film clips of The Beatles.
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We also produce it in a way where if you know every lyric to every song, you’ll have a great time, and if you don’t even know the band members’ names you still have a good time.
It sounds like no two shows are exactly the same.
Loprete: That’s right. That’s what we try to do. The day after every show, John and I are working on the next one.
It’s a constant production of, you know, what are we going to do next month and if we come up with the same subject [as] the year before, we add more stories, we change it up. So every show is different.
Cha-Chi, obviously you’ve chronicled the Fab Four for decades now, and I know you’ve spoken with Paul and George and Ringo several times. You’ve shared your passion and knowledge about them with the world, especially here in Boston and New England. What keeps your spark going with The Beatles? Are you still learning new things about the band at this point?
Loprete: That’s what’s really great about The Beatles. They just released their last 45, right, “Now and Then.” There’s always new material.
For instance, there is a great new book out right now and it’s about Mal Evans …He worked in the post office in the UK, in Liverpool. He heard about the Cavern [Club] and he was attracted to the music and he would go there. And he was such a big guy that they hired him to be the doorman.
And then he befriended the Beatles, and they were amazed because he was a gentle giant. He would pick up speakers with one hand.
Neil Aspinall was their roadie at the time — only one guy — and Neil got the flu. And so they asked Mal if he would fill in for Neil. That led to him being with The Beatles from that moment on.
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There’s a new book out right now called “Living the Beatles Legend: The Untold Story of Mal Evans.” It’s authored by our friend Ken Womack. It’s 500 pages and it’s fantastic. I get shivers. I read it really quickly. I loved it so much, and there’s so much information that I never heard about before.
Even though it’s February, I think it’s the best Beatle book of the year. And that’s the thing about the Beatles: Even today, in 2024, we’re still learning new things.
John, question for you: I think you touched on this a little while ago, but I personally think The Beatles possess more than a bit of magic themselves. And I know a magician never reveals their secrets, but what is it about the band that allows you to bring in your work as part of these shows? How do you marry those two interests of yours?
Logan: That’s a great question. What I’ve realized over the years is magic and The Beatles, they bring people together.
And I think that’s really, really important in this day and age that we live in right now. Bringing people together, having them enjoy a common experience. I think, to me, that’s the real magic: bringing people together who may not communicate otherwise.
I’m one of those magicians that doesn’t actually like fooling people or tricking people. And I designed my magic in a way where it’s more of me teaching people things: whether that’s looking at things from a different perspective, or, in this case, telling underground stories of The Beatles that you may not know about, but through the magic.
So I’ve always loved the idea of learning something new through entertainment. It’s always been a passion of mine, and I think there are very few things in life that can really bring people together. Magic and The Beatles are two things that do that. Merging my passions together, I think that that’s what the show is all about.
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“Come Together – 60th Anniversary of Ed Sullivan Appearance & George Harrison Birthday Celebration Live” will be at City Winery on Sunday, Feb. 11 at 12 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 on Sunday. For tickets and more information, visit the City Winery website.
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