On February 9th, 1964, I was about two months away from entering this world, so I didn’t get to witness what played out that evening on CBS. However, in the years since, I’ve lost count of all the times I’ve watched the footage of four lads from Liverpool playing the Ed Sullivan Show on that Sunday night fifty years ago. But the Beatles changed my life forever. It was through them that I not only discovered the power of music, but fell completely in love with it. From the age of 9, I sat for hours and hours listening to their records and wondering how anyone could write songs so addictively simple, yet so deep. I’d mow extra yards just to buy their records – every record I could get my hands on. Then I bought Paul’s, George’s, John’s and Ringo’s solo stuff. I amassed it all. And I listen today with wonder at how fresh it still sounds.

This Sunday night at The Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, NC, nearly 40 talented area musicians will gather to pay respect to this historic occasion. And of course, I’ll be there. I may even bring my kids. I think that 50 years from now, they might have fond memories of it.