TV Times

TV Times

Rock The Casbah!
By Dr. Thushara Senanayake
The Casbah Club, a coffee bar in the basement of a decaying victorian time villa in Liverpool is to be opened for the public again. This Casbah Club is the house owned by none other than Pete Best, the long lost drummer of the Beatles (for all you don't know who Pete Best is, he is the original drummer with the Beatles before Ringo Star stepped into complete the Fab four line-up).

The Casbah Club is the actual birthplace of the Beatles and it is where both Paul McCartney and John Lennon practised as the Quarrymen before drafting Pete Best to travel to Hamburg as the Beatles. Pete, son of then venue owner Mona, joined the young guys and made his way to Germany.

The Casbah Club story unfolds like this. Mona Best, mother of Pete, in 1957, bet the proceeds from all her jewellery on a 33-1 long shot called Never Say Die, ridden to the winning post by a then unknown Lester Piggott. With the money she won, she bought the 15-room house in Liverpool which was in the site of the West Derby Conservative Club.

After a few weeks, two young local musicians, who are also "painting freaks" came to decorate the house. They were known as John Lennon and Paul McCartney. John painted some pot bellied figures on the ceiling but Mona didn't like them. So he painted some Aztec designs over it.

Paul painted a rainbow on the ceiling of the room where the band used to rehearse. Then two weeks later, the Casbah Club was opened in the basement and the Quarrymen (where John and Paul had been members) became the resident band.

The Casbah soon became the hottest spot in the town, with kids coming from far away places to enjoy the warm family atmosphere and reception. There was no alcohol, just coffee with the music from the cream of messeybeat like Rory Storm and the hurricanes, Derry and the seniors, Gerry and The Pacemakers and of course, the Quarrymen who with a few changes, became the Beatles.

At that time, the Beatles was not rated at all. Just for the excitement of the journey, Pete joined the band. Stuart Sutcliff, the bass player was regarded as a hopeless player, but according to Pete, Stuart did his job very well and gave it 200 percent.

In Hamburg, Pete's relationship with John strengthened and at one time they involved in an infamous brawl with a German sailor. The duo escaped with their lives, but with no money. After returning to Liverpool, they stormed the Cavern Club and suddenly, to the bewliderment of Pete, he was sacked from the band and Ringo Starr was drafted in (It is said that Pete was singled out as the star of the Beatles by the press and this led to his dismissal). During the same time, Mona shut the club (i.e., in June 1962).

Then very recently, Pete's mother Mona, saw a TV programme about 21's in Old Compton Street and she suggested that the Casbah Club should be re-opened. All family members jumped at the idea and the next day saw them cleaning and arranging the place.

This newly renovated club still features the rainbow ceiling of Paul, paintings of John (Aztec designs etc) and the very table where John sat and persuaded Stuart Sutcliff to forget his painting and spend his John Moores grant money on a bass guitar (Stuart was a celebrated, talented painter at the time. If he had not joined the Beatles, he wouldn't have faced an untimely death and would have ended up being a famous painter.

But he wouldn't have over acquired such a cult status like this if he had stayed behind in Liverpool without joining the band). Critics say that this Casbah Club would rival the re-built (and opened in the late 80s) Cavern Club is a top Beatles attraction. The Casbah Club remains unchanged and original stage equipment and furniture are still there.

In a new book by Pete's brother Roag, "The Beatles: The true beginnings" unfolds the story of the Casbah Club and features beautiful shots of Best's surviving memorobilia from that time; his pink flat-cap from Hamburg, his old leathers, pink-check jacket and the medals that Mona lent Lennon for the "Sgt .Pepper" sleeve.

Although Pete is still wondering why he was sacked from the group, the new book adds an emotional twist to the tale revealing that Roag was fathered by Beatle roadie Neil Aspinall.

"Whatever it was, it wasn't because of my drumming," Pete told recently. "George Martin (then producer of the Beatles) confirmed that to my mother.

So what was it? I was always too proud to phone up and ask them, and they were always too busy to come round and tell me." So Paul McCartney, it is now high time to reveal why Pete Best was sacked, before that is buried forever in history.

Back to TV Times