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Ultimate Fans

Upcoming tribute concert sparks vivid
memories of the Beatles in Detroit.

Suzanne Chessler | Contributing Writer

T

he long and winding road of Beatles
fandom is about to pass through
Congregation Shaarey Zedek in
Southfield, where the Toppermost tribute
band will mark the 50th anniversary of the
quartet’s last Detroit appearance.
The concert — set for Saturday evening,
Dec. 3, complete with dinner and dancing
— already has stirred long-held memories
of those who heard the Brits at Olympia
Stadium in 1964 and 1966.
Karen Tintori Katz, a
member of the Shaarey
Zedek Empty Nesters
planning the event with
the Sisterhood and Men’s
Club, can personally con-
nect the hit “She Loves
You (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah)”
to Paul McCartney, George
Karen Tintori
Harrison, John Lennon
Katz
and Ringo Starr.
In her teens, Katz was co-president of the
Michigan chapter of the Beatles Fan Club
with Tara Sarkisian Applebaum and met
backstage with the band for a half hour —
an encounter she maneuvered and realized
was a turning point in her life as 1960s
Beatlemania took hold.
“I decided that if I could meet the Beatles,
I could do anything,” explains Katz, a pub-
lished fiction and nonfiction author who
lives in West Bloomfield and continues to
love the Beatles’ music.
Katz’s quest for that meeting began after
she wrote an editorial for the Detroit News in
response to a local “Stamp Out the Beatles”
campaign. She worried an unanswered cam-
paign would keep the quartet away from
Michigan, and she longed to see the English

Beatles Tribute Band Toppermost will perform at Shaarey Zedek.

Left: Karen Tintori Katz was co-president of the Michigan chapter of the Beatles Fan
Club in the 1960s; in this 1965 photo, she looks at letters and petitions supporting the
Beatles that she circulated in 1964. Right: The petition garnered 31,000 signatures.

stars in person.
In response to that editorial, Katz got
1,071 letters and circulated a pro-Beatles
petition that numbered more than 31,000
signatures. She tried to forward the petitions
to the musicians but failed by going through
local disc jockeys, Beatles management and
even a connection she made with Harrison’s
mother (that continued with exchanged let-

ters).
But this teen devotee would not give up.
After getting tickets to that last Detroit
concert — she saw an earlier one in Detroit
and another in Toronto — Katz brought the
petitions with her, moved through back-
stage crowds and talked to Tony Barrow,
band press manager, who introduced her to
McCartney.

“Paul was my favorite, and he asked if
I would like to show the signatures to the
others in the dressing room,” she recalls.
“I thought it wouldn’t be cool to try to get
autographs as I talked to George and John.
Ringo was resting on a sofa and asked, ‘Can
the others tell me about it later, luv?’ They
all held the petitions and gave them back to
me. I have them to this day.”
Katz, attracted to the musical range
and depth of lyrics she has introduced
to her approving grandchildren, believes
that one of the best, and unexpected,
results of these experiences was develop-
ing a lifelong friendship with Applebaum.
“Karen and I would make up stories
putting us into the Beatles’ lives,” recalls
Applebaum, a Commerce Township resi-
dent who has worked in administration for
Tamarack Camps. “I was a good student,
but I skipped school once to meet Karen so
we could buy tickets for the Beatles concert.”
Applebaum’s favor-
ite song is “Imagine,”
and she has the word
on necklaces that also
have the birthdates of
her four grandchil-
dren. Although not a
member of Shaarey
Zedek, she is one of
Tara
many anniversary
Applebaum
ticket holders — and
album buyers — who
attended at least one of two Olympia per-
formances by the Beatles.

PART OF THEIR LIVES
For retired teacher Karen Katz Diem
of Bloomfield Hills, the Beatles were so

continued on page 12

10 November 24 • 2016

