COLUMN: Macon Pops to bring Beatles hits to life at Museum of Arts and Sciences

Steve Moretti of the Macon Pops is excited a seven-piece unit of the orchestra will bring dozens of favorite Beatles songs to help folks enjoy their Memorial Day Weekend.

The special Pops group will perform “Macon Pops Presents: The Beatles’ Greatest Hits” Saturday at the Museum of Arts and Science’s amphitheater, 4182 Forsyth Rd. The concert begins at 6 p.m. but entry starts at 4:30 p.m. for attendees to enjoy picnicking on the grounds and there’s a pre-concert gathering of the Pops’ Young Patrons Society at 5 p.m.

All coming are encouraged to bring their own picnic items along with blankets and chairs for seating on the lawn and, of course, bring family and friends to add to the fun. There will also be food and beverage trucks on hand throughout the event.

Moretti said advanced ticket sales are unusually brisk but getting day-of tickets at the door should be no problem. Kids 5 and under are admitted free – Moretti pointed out all Pops events are family-friendly – and the cost for adults is $20, or $22 online with processing fees, and $10 for kids over 6, military and students with ID, or $12 online with fees.

Go to www.maconpops.com for information and tickets. Click “Get Tickets.”

“It’s great we finally get to do a whole Beatles show with their hits and people’s favorites,” Moretti said. “We’ve done two start-to-finish shows of their albums “Rubber Soul” and “Revolver” and of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “Abbey Road” but we’ve never done a hits list like this. We’re looking forward to local guitarists Josh Carson and Shane Bridges sitting in with us for the show. Of course, all the arrangements are by Matt Catingub who co-founded the Pops with me. Schools are getting out and we think the concert is a great way to kick off summer.”

Moretti said while the Pops’ season typically ends in March, the concert at the museum’s amphitheater is an add-on that will likely be a regular thing.

The Pops’ new season, its 10th, begins August 19 with a show called “Twenty Two for ’22,” a review of hits thus far in the new millennium.

In addition to the regular season, Macon Pops plans a gala on Sept. 17 featuring Chuck Leavell.

But for now, it’s The Beatles’ music from the past millennium at the forefront.

“The Beatles had such a major impact on musical culture,” Moretti said. “They not only wrote and played great songs but were pioneers and inventors in the recording studio. They introduced new concepts of multi-tracking, utilized ethnic and world music sounds and even incorporated orchestral elements in their works. They definitely pushed the boundaries early on and set trends that are relevant today. It will be a really fun show.”

Moretti said food trucks set for the day are Big Chic On-The-Go and the Drink Wagon Frozen Daiquiris which sells non-alcoholic and alcoholic daiquiris, frozen drinks, sodas, water and more.

While at the Museum of Arts and Sciences, or any time until Monday, enjoy Train Week and the opportunity to go inside the museum’s Seaboard Caboose and learn about trains at a lobby exhibit. The caboose is open from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and is included with regular museum admission.

Find more details at www.masmacon.org.

There’s another chance for great music this Memorial Day Weekend when Jazz in the Courtyard returns to the Douglass Theatre Sunday. It’s free, starts at 7 p.m. and the Douglass is at 355 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Online Douglass information is at www.douglasstheatre.org.

Don’t forget, Macon’s 7th annual Memorial Day Float is Saturday from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. Float and clean the Ocmulgee River at Amerson River Park. Bring tubes and floaty things and have fun while doing good for the river, its banks and the community. Go to www.facebook.com/floatdaze for more information.

Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com.