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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, September 2013 will mark the 50th anniversary of | ||||||
3 | former Beatle
George
Harrison's
visit to Benton and Southern | ||||||
4 | Illinois; and
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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
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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
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16 | America; and
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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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