Never Say Die - The story of Mona Best and the Casbah Club

"Come with me to the Casbah..."

Thanks to host Andrew Martin Adamson  for inviting myself and fellow Beatles blogger Steve Bradley to guest last week on an episode of his US podcast, Beatles60.

The Beatles60 Facebook group and podcast sticks to a strict timeline by looking back at Beatles' events and news, exactly sixty years ago.

We were invited to discuss the important role Mona Best and the Casbah Club played in the early Beatles' story. 

We talked about how the boys built up a steady following at the club and with Mona promoting their gigs around Liverpool, how they were able to replicate the great sound and following on Merseyside that they had already established in Hamburg.

Subjects covered:

• A brief history of the Best family
• How did Mona Best buy 8 Hayman's Green? The 1954 Epsom Derby
• George Harrison's 'moonlighting phase': Lowlands and the Les Stewart Quartet
• The birth of the Casbah Club
• The re-birth of the Quarry Men
• The Beatles return from Hamburg, December 1960 
• Why it was left to Mona and Pete to organise the Beatles' booking
• Early 1961 - Mona Best starts Casbah Promotions
• Why didn't Mona become the Beatles' manager
• The reasons behind the closure of the Casbah club 
• The re-birth of the Casbah in the late 1980s
• The Liverpool Beatles Museum, the Casbah club and Pete and Roag Best's activities today

By the end of the hour long discussion I hope we'd done enough to convince you, the listener, that Mona Best was a trailblazer, being the first female rock promoter, not only in Liverpool or the UK, but the world.

All this in the new episode available here:

https://beatles60.group/live/august-archive  *

Thanks for having us on the show Andy (and Wrence)!

Note:

* You need to sign-up (for free - just an email and set a password ) to hear episodes.

All photographs remain the copyright of their respective owners.

As an aside, I've personally never done a podcast before, and thought whatever we said would be edited into more coherent easily digestible soundbites. At the last minute I found out it was going out live!  Anyway, I talk (and talk...and talk 😄) - and sometimes give Steve the chance too (sorry Steve!) - and thankfully, on listening back it came across pretty well. We hope you enjoy listening to the podcast as much as we've enjoyed melting it.

Pete, Rory and Roag Best:  I hope we gave your Mum the credit she deserves.

Links:

Steve's blog:

https://arrivewithouttravelling.com/

My stuff: