Beatles Milwaukee Flyer 1964
Today is the 45th anniversary of the Beatles coming to Milwaukee for a concert. It was the height of Beatlemania in 1964 and for Milwaukee this was a major event. Actually I would not have remembered this event if it were not for a column in today’s newspaper referring to an online article by a freelance writer in the area about this historic event. You can find the article “A Day in the Center of Beatlemania,” posted at http://www.fab4milwaukee.com/ . In the article the writer, Ted Schaar, quotes me as a member of the Milwaukee 14, a group that burned 1A Selective service files in 1968, calling Nick Topping, the Beatles concert promoter, “the first supporter” of the Milwaukee 14.
I did say that, but the story behind the quote taken out of context is a good one. Nick Topping was an active member of the civil rights and peace movement in Milwaukee. He had a small international store near the site where we burned the draft records in a public triangle in front of the Selective Service offices at the time. He heard the fire engines and police cars rushing to the scene of the fire where we stood singing and praying while waiting for arrest. When Nick realized what we had done, he was applauding and cheering us on. Thus he was our “first supporter.”
Now at that time none of us knew Nick. I only got to know Nick after we got out of prison for our action and Nick’s son was one of the first students in the alternative school that three of us, including another member of the Milwaukee 14 Don Cotton, had started.
However, it was years later, after I returned to the Milwaukee area and visited Nick now at a store on the near South side, that I heard the Beatles and Milwaukee 14 stories. Nick’s son, who had attended the high school, suffered a tragic death at a young age, but Nick persisted in his efforts to deliver peace and justice for all.
Now Nick is deceased and the Beatles coming to Milwaukee and the Milwaukee 14 are just fading memories. But the spirit of Beatles and Milwaukee 14 lives on just as the spirit of Nick graces our daily lives. Nick was one of my mentors and in his elderly years told me a lot of good stories. But Nick’s stories about being the promoter of the Beatles concert and the “first supporter” of the Milwaukee 14 are a special memory.
There is an old saying around Milwaukee that “we are all related.” Nick connected a lot of us.
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