The Beatles fluttered the hearts and pleased the ears of millions during the British Invasion in the mid-1960s.
Nebraskans, though, were relegated to their radios, LP records and televisions. The Beatles never swung through the Husker state.
That makes a coming show a great chance to have a Midlands Beatles experience.
Louise Harrison, the sister of Beatle George Harrison, and the Liverpool Legends, a Beatles tribute band, will perform at 7 p.m., Feb. 21 at Morton Magnet Middle School, 4606 Terrace Drive.
Morton students and teachers also will perform with the group, as they rehash classic Beatles hits such as "Yellow Submarine," "Hey Jude" and "Eleanor Rigby."
The "Keeping Music Alive" event is also a fundraiser for Morton, part of Harrison's effort to pump up music education programs across the country.
Arts programs have been marginalized in recent years by budget cuts and a push to focus class time on what's covered on state and national tests.
Morton's music programs will get 20 percent of the money brought in from the show.
If people from all backgrounds, ages and ethnicities can coalesce around the Beatles music, Harrison said, "We certainly want to do whatever we can to give children that are growing up in today's terribly harsh world ... the opportunity to learn themselves."
Music programs in schools also have been limited by less obvious changes, such as class scheduling.
Band, for instance, might be offered just once during the day and at the same time as other important courses.
"What are you going to say to a kid, you need to take band and not history?" said Karen Spurck, vocal director at Morton, which has students in fifth through eighth grades.
The school has been fortunate of late. Arts programs share a block of class time with physical education, so the arts aren't pitted against core subjects, such as math and science.
"Every year we have to make a case for why we should keep the schedule this way," said Dan Mattran, Morton's instrumental music director, in his 27th year at the school. "The most successful programs in the metro have a scheduling scheme that promotes involvement in band and orchestra. It's that simple."
About 80 Morton seventh- and eighth-grade band students have been practicing in class for their performance with the Legends and Harrison. Another 20 seventh- and eighth-grade vocal students have been practicing after school for their time during the two-hour show.
Mattran and fellow music instructor Kim Epperson have incorporated the Beatles into their music exploration classes.
"They don't get these opportunities" often, Spurck said of the kids performing with the band.
Of course, some of the kids have never heard of The Beatles. "Bugs? Insects?" Epperson said the kids sometimes reply.
Other kids are excited about the opportunity, she said.
A friend of Mattran heard the Legends and Harrison perform in Branson, Mo., and told them to give Mattran a call if they were ever swinging through Omaha. In mid-December, Mattran got a call from Marty Scott, who plays George Harrison in the tribute band.
Mattran said the Morton auditorium, with 742 seats, will be an "intimate setting."
Harrison said the tribute band sometimes sounds too much like her brother's band.
Before a show in Branson, Harrison told the audience that the show was live.
No CDs. No Beatles records. Just her and the Liverpool Legends.
At intermission, a woman walked out.
"You lied," she said. "I listen to Beatles music every day. You are playing Beatles records."
Harrison shrugged it off and laughed, later telling the tribute band, "You'd better start putting in a few mistakes here and there so people think it's real."
Contact the writer:
402-444-1074, jonathon.braden@owh.com
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