For the Love of The Beatles

That's what I'm talking about.

I can't think of anything better than a beautiful summer's evening and Beatles music.

If you missed the Abbey Road concert Wednesday at the Read House, the video gives you a taste of all the fun. (But, to be honest, it's just a taste.)

Abbey Road is one of the longest-performing Beatles tribute bands in the world. They have more than 30 years of experience playing the tunes of the Fab Four. On Wednesday night, they played for about 170 people outside of Mentor Public Library's Main Branch.

We host concerts at Mentor Public Library for a lot of reasons. Sometimes, it's to promote local talent. Sometimes, it's to introduce you to something new.

Now, granted, there aren't many people left on this planet who don't know The Beatles. But, believe it or not, there were some young children who came to the Abbey Road concert last night who didn't know their "Hard Day's Night" from their "I Want to Hold Your Hand."

Now they do. They got to learn about The Beatles in the funnest way possible without a time machine. I suspect they'll be some kids raiding their parents CD collections this weekend... or their grandparents' records.

Another thing we love about concerts -- the costumes.

But the two biggest reasons we host concerts is because they're fun and we love music.

So we want to thank the band and everyone who saw them perform. (And the Mentor Arts Commission who sponsored the performance.) We hope you all had as much fun as us.

By the way, that may have been the last outdoors concert of the season over at the Read House, but we have a couple of other performances coming up.

Travelin' Man Band will be playing everything from The Rolling Stones to Sam Cooke to Janis Joplin at 2 p.m. Saturday at our Mentor-on-the-Lake Branch. (The show will be right after the Labor Day Parade.)

Then, on Sept. 9, a clarinet quartet will talk about the evolution of jazz and perform songs from the 1920s through 1950s in the Garfield Room at our Main Branch.

Both shows are free. We hope to see you there.

One last thing: if you love music, you should check out Freegal. As its name implies, it's a free and legal way to download mp3s from hundreds of artists including Pink, Beyonce and Kenny Chesney.

You can download up to three mp3s per week. And they're yours to keep -- load them on your iPod, burn them on CD, play them on loop ad infinitum -- forever.

And it's free with a Mentor Public Library card.

The Beatles Are Invading Mentor Public Library

Because of weather, this cancel has been rescheduled for 6:30 to 8 p.m. August 28 -- still at the Read House. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Abbey Road performs last year at the Steel Valley Super Nationals in Salem, Ohio.

Do you love The Beatles?

Of course you do. You're human.

It doesn't matter if you're 60 or 16, there's a good chance you've cried while listening to Yesterday, danced to I Saw Her Standing There or sang the end of Hey Jude at the top of your lungs.

Even the most iconoclastic malcontent has a favorite Beatles song.

And there's a good chance you'll hear Abbey Road perform your favorite Beatles tune this Wednesday, August 28, at Mentor Public Library's Read House. (Because of weather, the concert was rescheduled from August 7 to August 28.)

Abbey Road started performing together 30 years ago. It is one of the oldest and best known Beatles tribute bands in the world!

They don't just play the music of The Fab Four. They also wear the costumes (and with a band that spanned as many eras as The Beatles, costume changes are a must.) Abbey Road even uses the same guitars, Vox amplifiers and drums that The Beatles used in their concerts.

So come to the Read House Wednesday and enjoy a free evening of Beatles music. (The Read House is next door to our Main Branch at 8215 Mentor Ave. in Mentor, Ohio.) The music starts at 6:30 p.m.!

And, yes, to be clear, this concert is absolutely free thanks to the Mentor Arts Commission who are sponsoring it.

So tell another Beatles fan. (Tell anyone. There's a good chance they'll be a Beatles fan.) And I'll see you Wednesday. I'll be the one singing every word of Hello, Goodbye.

For more information on programs and events at the Mentor Public Library, visit www.mentorpl.org.