{"id":80575,"date":"2013-07-29T08:57:16","date_gmt":"2013-07-29T12:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=80575"},"modified":"2013-08-05T11:51:03","modified_gmt":"2013-08-05T15:51:03","slug":"vintage-beatles-guitar-collection-to-invade-babbidge-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2013\/07\/vintage-beatles-guitar-collection-to-invade-babbidge-library\/","title":{"rendered":"Vintage Beatles Guitar Collection to ‘Invade’ Babbidge Library"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"John<\/a>
John Lennon look-alike Carlo Cantamessa ’83 (CLAS) plays his authentic Beatles-era guitars in tribute shows. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When The Beatles launched the British Invasion era of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll by appearing on \u201cThe Ed Sullivan Show\u201d in February 1964, thousands of young people were captivated by their sound. Carlo Cantamessa ’83 (CLAS) was one of them.<\/p>\n

He remembered the reaction of his older sister to the band\u2019s appearance on television and decided he wanted to learn to play the guitar. He started taking guitar lessons near his home in Waterbury, Conn., and eventually formed a band with friends, playing a variety of rock and pop songs, but always going back to playing songs by The Beatles.<\/p>\n

For nearly 35 years, Cantamessa has continued to play The Beatles\u2019 songs, performing on stage as John Lennon in \u201cThe Neatles,\u201d \u201cBeatle Magic: The Show,\u201d various touring incarnations of \u201cBeatlemania,\u201d and his current show, \u201cThe Cast of Beatlemania<\/a>,\u201d with other veteran musicians who have specialized as the Mop Tops in various tribute bands over the years.<\/p>\n

Along the way he has compiled a collection of vintage and replica instruments used by the band in order to authenticate the sound of The Beatles. An exhibition from his collection of 1960s instruments, \u201cVintage Beatles Guitars,\u201d opens in the Plaza Gallery of the Homer Babbidge Library on Aug. 1 and continues through Oct. 25. It is the first time the instruments will be exhibited.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got friends who are musicians who never got into the Beatle thing,\u201d Cantamessa says. \u201cI get two comments that kind of irk me, but I understand where they come from: \u2018Are you playing music or just The Beatles?\u2019 Another invariably says: \u2018If I had your talent, I\u2019d do more with it.\u2019 I say: \u2018I have this talent and this is what I chose to do with it, and I think I did OK.\u2019 I still listen to Beatles music. It sounds just as fresh as when I first heard it on the radio.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sounds authentic
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ability of Cantamessa and his band of musicians \u2013 Lenie Colacino as Paul McCartney, Jim Filgate as George Harrison, John Delgado as Ringo Starr, and musical director Mark Templeton off-stage on keyboards \u2013 to re-create the sound of The Beatles on stage is aided by having the same models of instruments as those used by the original band. The Beatles used guitars made in the late 1950s and early 1960s by American-based guitar manufacturers Rickenbacker, Gretsch, Fender, and Gibson, along with British-made Vox amplifiers. McCartney\u2019s left-handed playing made the German-made Hofner violin bass famous. Starr used an American-made Ludwig drum kit.<\/p>\n

\"Carlo<\/a>
Carlo Cantamessa portrays John Lennon in the tribute show ‘The Cast of Beatlemania.’ (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cantamessa says he and his group have worked diligently over the years to maintain the authenticity of the original Beatles recordings, not only by playing the same instruments, but by trying to get closer to the original vocal arrangements. He adds that the \u201cBeatles Anthology,\u201d a three part, double-CD volume released in the 1990s, contained many previously unreleased versions of the group\u2019s recordings that offered new insights into the music.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou hear different harmonies where Lennon takes one part, jumps to another part, and then jumps back down,\u201d Cantamessa says. \u201cThen you do it with the band and, wow, it makes a big difference. [With Paul] on \u2018I Saw Her Standing There,\u2019 I remember specifically Lenie looked over and said: \u2018I\u2019ve been singing it wrong for 20 years.\u2019 We do it. I sing my part, it sounds really good. Suddenly the hairs on your neck go up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going solo<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Cast of Beatlemania\u201d show continues to keep Cantamessa busy throughout the year, making it an enjoyable second career. He operates a family business in Wolcott, Conn., PSI-New England Storage Products, a shelving and storage products firm specializing in shelving, lockers, and library furnishings. The exhibition resulted from conversations with staff at the Babbidge Library, a client he has worked with for many years. He also has developed a solo performance, \u201cIn My Life: The John Lennon Tribute,\u201d after requests from some promoters to have a solo Lennon show.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the band thing, but [the solo], it\u2019s fun,\u201d he says. \u201cIt solved a couple of internal conflicts: Am I good enough to do it alone? Can I do it alone? Yeah. When I do my solo show, I get to do songs [the audience] might not remember, or how they became something else, like \u2018If I Fell\u2019 later became \u2018Woman.\u2019 But I would rather have the other guys up there, and hear the other parts of the song.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cantamessa has a busy summer performing with \u201cThe Cast of Beatlemania,\u201d and has several fall dates scheduled, with more sure to come. With a new Beatles musical, \u201cLet It Be,\u201d arriving in New York, \u201cBeatles LOVE\u201d thriving in Las Vegas, and other Beatles tribute shows touring around the world, there continues to be an enthusiastic audience for the music.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is something magical about the Beatles\u2019 music,\u201d Cantamessa says. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be a fan of the entire catalog. At a show we have people come up to say [they\u2019re] fans of the early music. Then a husband or wife will say: \u2018I love the Sgt. Pepper stuff,\u2019 or \u2018I love the later stuff, that\u2019s my favorite part of the show.\u2019 There is just something magical that not only we feel, but the audience feels and we get to integrate together. We have this collective, emotional bond when you\u2019re doing the show that you are touching this music that is ethereal and great and will never be captured again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listen to Cantamessa discussing the broad appeal of the Beatles’ music<\/a>, and demonstrating how they rewrote one of their songs<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cVintage Beatle Guitars\u201d by Carlo Cantamessa will be on display through Oct. 25 in the Plaza Gallery of the Homer Babbidge Library. A reception will be held on Sept. 29 from 3 to 5 p.m.<\/i> <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carlo Cantamessa ’83 (CLAS) collects authentic Beatles-era guitars. They will be on display on campus beginning Aug. 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":80050,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[55],"class_list":["post-80575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-09 00:37:26","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80575"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81451,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80575\/revisions\/81451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/80050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80575"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=80575"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=80575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}