As I mentioned last month, I crossed the tape at the 40-year old race line last month. Tonight, there’s another 40th anniversary.

Forty years ago tonight, The Beatles invasion of the States officially began with a five song performance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. Obviously, I don’t remember that event, but I sure have enjoyed the benefits.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed the Fab Four’s music. I can just remember, in the late 60s, listening to The Beatles on the radio (WDXB, AM 1490 in Chattanooga — long before they changed their format…) on Mom & Dad’s console system. I’ve listened to them, separate and together, ever since.

I can remember trying to get their discs on CD from Japan in the mid-80s, long, long before they were available here in the States. I can remember buying all their albums on Japanese virgin vinyl pressings (yes, vinyl…. I had a linear tracking turntable, too, to cut down on wear on the discs, and recorded them on high grade cassettes using dbx processing — I was a little bit of an audio geek at the time).

I can remember being utterly shocked the night John Lennon was assasinated. How could someone do that? Scott Hooper came by that night to make sure I was ok. That’s how big an impact the Fab Four had on me at the time, and that was well known to folks I hung around with.

So tonight, The Beatles have been honored with The President’s Award at The Grammys. That’s cool. I don’t think there’s been any other musicians that have had such a lasting impact on people, music and society anytime in the last century.