The Beatles-Here, There and Everywhere

The Other Universe of Klaus Beyer plus Grapefruit, Nostalgia, Beat the Meatles, and many surprises! The Beatles are back, but they've never been gone. Tonight's anthology of moptop-influenced works explores the obsession we have with those loveable Liverpudlians-they're within us even without us. Topping the bill is The Other Universe of Klaus Beyer (Frank Behnke, Georg Maas, Germany, 1994, 30 mins, From Frank Behnke) featuring the Berlin-based Fab Four fanatic Klaus Beyer, a candlemaker by day, at night lead singer in a Beatles cover band. But Beyer's real F.F. fixation is the quest to complete musicvids for every Beatles LP. Translating them into German, he meticulously collages the lyrics, combining them with naive animations. Cecilia Dougherty is not so naive. Her pop epic, Grapefruit (1989, 40 mins, From VDB) tells the love-laden story of John and Yoko, using an all-female cast including the inimitable Susie Bright as John. Phil Patiris's Nostalgia (1996, 4 mins, From the artist) is all aflutter about the Beatles reunion and that avian-lib tune, "Free as a Bird." Keith Alcorn's Beat the Meatles (1996, 1.5 mins, From DNA Productions) is quite simply the climax of any Beatles show. These works plus many other oddities about the Lads from Liverpool will be screened, along with strange cover songs selected by ento-musicologist Peter Conheim.-Steve Seid

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