MY COUSIN MARTY OPENED FOR THE BEATLES!

it's true...in 1966 my cousin marty's band, the cyrkle, opened for the beatles! marty's my mother's first cousin; you figure it out...i never know that shit

so, it's 1966 and my parents have tickets to see marty at r.f.k. stadium in d.c. -- marty!

it's wasn't even nighttime and my parents were
already back home

"what were the beatles like?!? did you see them? did you meet them?!?" i begged

they proceeded to tell me that after marty
played they left because it was too loud with all the girls screaming

no ticket stub
no program
no nothing

what the fuck! even at 7 i knew that was dead wrong...

the whole music thing never panned out for marty

but, i ask you, where do you go after you open for the beatles in your early 20's? anything's got to be a huge comedown -- and it certainly was for marty

we'd go out to dinner in the 70's with my uncle manny and his son, my cousin marty, in asbury park -- at every restaurant that had an unfortunate musician, my uncle manny would always ask if they could play red rubber ball -- the cyrkle's signature song (which was actually written by paul simon)

and every time marty cringed

i asked marty once, when i was older, if he'd ever met the beatles on that tour...he said they flew on the plane with the beatles -- the fab four were in the front of the plane, the press was in the middle and the opening acts were in the back

one night in chicago, the beatles held an audience with the cyrkle for about 10 minutes in the bowels of some massive arena -- that was it...

the sad thing is marty became a bitter, angry man who now looks down his nose at music altogether--the cyrkle never made any money
because they never wrote songs that were hits so that tour was really the end of their pop music career

he is so bitter that recently i sent him a cd of mine, something i composed and recorded, and he sent it back to me, unopened...

i think that about says it all for my cousin marty the bankruptcy attorney~