By Sharon Oliver
Contributing Writer
BOSTON – One morning when Kathei Logue was a mere 14 years old, she rose from her bed at her home in the South Shore town of Avon and quickly got dressed. She rode a bus headed toward the old Hotel Madison in Boston where hundreds of girls were already gathered. She sneaked past security with a phony press pass and spent the day with British pop royalty, the Beatles. Such a daring feat had rarely been accomplished by older teens or even young adults.
First Beatles concert in Boston
The date was September 12, 1964, and a British invasion had hit America’s shores. Beatlemania was firmly here, and young Logue was on a daring mission for the Fab Four’s first (out of a total of two ever) Boston concert. With a bag full of drawings of the Beatles, confetti, a Kodak brownie camera and a Datebook Press Pass (that she got via a coupon from the back of a teenybopper magazine) in tow, Logue carved a path through the crowd to the front door of the Madison.
She blurted out that she was there on assignment from New York for the Beatles Press Conference but was informed by a police officer that the conference was not scheduled to begin until later in the afternoon. He suggested she come back and ask for Sergeant Scott, and he would take care of her.
Suspecting Logue was someone important, six teenagers followed her as she trekked her way back through the crowd. Logue told her newly formed entourage, “I’m going to visit George’s sister in Kenmore Square. Would you like to meet her? Follow me.” They had no idea she had never met the sister.
Since no one objected, off they went to the Somerset Hotel (now Boston University dorms) in search of Louise Harrison Caldwell. They never located George’s sister even after going door to door, but they did stumble upon the Los Angeles Angels who took them over to Fenway Park for a Red Sox game. Logue managed to lose her entourage, apart from a young man also armed with a camera.
Crashing the press conference
Returning to the Madison Hotel, where a now larger crowd had gathered, the bold 14-year-old pressed her way through again, saying, “Excuse me. Excuse me. Press.” She introduced the young man accompanying her as a cousin and photographer from Avon. Without any questions, Logue was ushered through to the press conference room where she waited beside Herald Traveler reporter Paul Benzaquin.
Shortly after Logue sat in her front row seat, Beatles press agent Derek Taylor and the Beatles entered the room. Also present were a few children of Boston VIPs who screamed with excitement at the sight of the guys from Liverpool. Logue asked John Lennon about the release of his book of schoolboy poetry John Lennon in His Own Write, to which he replied, “It will be coming out soon.”
Towards the end of the conference, Logue caught Derek Taylor’s attention and persuaded him to take her and her friend back to the Beatles’ hotel room for autographs. Next, was the Beatles’ first appearance at the Boston Garden. After not being allowed through the underground passage from the hotel to the Garden, Logue entered in with a ticket. She admitted to being unable to tell what they played because the screaming was so intense. Logue capped the day with tossing her confetti and going back home.
Booking agent at The Rat
When she grew older and was of working age, Kathei Logue still maintained that drive for the music culture. A prominent figure in the Boston rock music scene, she worked at the granddaddy of venues, The Rat (Rathskeller) in Kenmore Square as a booking agent starting in the late 1970s and into the 1980s.
Logue booked everyone from The Cars to REM to Tiny Tim and countless local bands at The Rat during her tenure. She also managed several punk/new wave bands. But it all started the day she bluffed her way into meeting the Beatles.
RELATED CONTENT:
Boston’s legendary rock club ‘The Rat’ is still remembered fondly
DJ and magician team up to bring Fab Four magic to Beatles fans
Radio legend Barry Scott keeps finding your favorite “lost” songs
