Musicians to Present an Acoustical Tribute to Beatles in AIDS Benefit Show

Carla Olson is probably typical of an entire generation of musicians when she says her first significant exposure to the kind of music she’d ultimately perform was watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan’s TV variety hour.

Tonight’s a rare opportunity for fans of local music to see a number of well-known acts--Olson in a duet with founding Byrd Gene Clark, plus Divine Weeks, Laughing Sam’s Dice, Milo Binder, Carmaig DeForest, Peter Case, Show of Hands and many others. Each will perform one or two Beatles songs, all acoustic, at a Club Lingerie show benefiting AIDS Project L.A.

In charge of the show is Marc Platt, 29, who otherwise divides his attention between his band, Stringtown, and a day job in the office services department of a Los Angeles law firm. “I’ve always thought that APLA was a very good organization that needs to be supported by the arts community,” Platt said. “It was kind of like I dared myself to put a show like this together and make it fly.”

Platt’s first APLA benefit took place two years ago, with acts including Sid Griffin, fIREHOSE, Steve Wynn, the Textones and Phranc paying acoustic tribute to Bob Dylan. The event netted about $3,000, Platt said.

Don’t expect wall-to-wall versions of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” or “Yesterday,” either. “People are really having a lot of fun with this,” Platt said. “And they’re making interesting choices. One act wants to do ‘That Means a Lot,’ which Lennon and McCartney wrote, but never recorded.”

Phast and Bulbous--named after a Captain Beefheart composition and including the evening’s host, Phast Phreddie Patterson--are doing “I Am the Walrus.” Carla Olson, who recently taped a live album at the Roxy with former Bluesbreaker and Rolling Stone Mick Taylor playing lead guitar, says she’s having no problem coming up with ideas for potential material.

“I still have my Beatles scrapbook,” said Olson, who grew up in Texas. “George Harrison was my favorite: He had the longest hair, the tightest pants and the highest heels. The Beatles were my first record-buying experience. Their version of ‘My Bonnie’ was the song I did my first ice-skating routine to.

“My girlfriend and I went to the J.R. Reed Music Co., which was the only store in Austin that sold albums, and ordered each Beatles LP. . . . They’d only order one box of each one to cover the whole town, so you had to put your money down in advance, to make sure you got one. We saw ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ eight times in a row.”

Later, “I was in an all-’60s band, that played four 45-minute sets a night, and would play 16 or 17 Beatles songs a night,” Olson said. “Singing school for me was picking up the harmony parts from Beatles and Everly Brothers records.”

The benefit begins at 8 tonight at Club Lingerie, 6507 Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood. Admission is a minimum donation of $10. Tickets will be sold at the time of the show only. For information, call (213) 466-8557