Mr. Lennon! Mr. Lennon!
On October 28, 2000, Foam Rubber played their annual Halloween show at
Sluggers in Orland Park. This time, they appeared as the Beatles. 
The show began late. The crowd was pumped. Everyone in the
audience was wearing costumes. There were some guys dressed as the Blue
Man Group, some girls dressed as Charlie's Angels, a Sumo wrestler, Father Guido
Sarducci, sexy cheerleaders, you name it.
The Beatles-themed show started with a video presentation to "In My Life." Images of the Beatles flashed across the screen while the song played. Black and white film of girls screaming, people dancing, the Beatles getting off the airplane in New York City, then color images of the Fab Four donning Sgt. Pepper outfits, and ultimately, you saw newspaper headlines of John Lennon's death and crowds gathering with candles for a vigil in Central Park.
Boo hoo!
The crowd was restless. They wanted Foam Rubber.
But no Foam Rubber came out on stage.
Another video presentation showed Jeff (as John Lennon), Andy (as Paul
McCartney), Paul (as Fringo) Rich Hoffman (as George Harrison) and Dan Kotheimer
as Billy Preston
(the black keyboardist who sat in with the Beatles during
their "Let it Be" sessions.) Everyone (except "Billy") was dressed in
black Beatles suits, ties and Beatles wigs and they were sitting at a long
table. They were re-enacting the famous press conference at the Pan Am
terminal. The crowd could not hear the videotape very well. On the tape,
Soter called out questions and the band would try to make witty remarks in
terrible English accents. "Billy Preston" just sat there, looking
"bad." Every once in a while, he'd chime in. Here's a sample:
-------------------------------------------------
Soter:
"Both the Beatles and the snow arrived in New York City here today. Which
do you think will last longer?"
"Billy" : What the hell kind of question is that!?"
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The video finally ended.
Gary Doug Murphy came out as Ed Sullivan. Was the suit a bit too small for him? Perhaps.
Impersonating Ed, he said, "All week long, our studio has been flooded with young women ... who have been screaming for these four young gentlemen from Liverpool. Tonight, you will be twice entertained by them, once now, and again in the second half of our show. Ladies and gentlemen, THE BEATLES!"
The band came out, dressed in black suits, except for Soter, who was dressed in a long flowery dress, a long black wig and large sunglasses. He was supposed to be Yoko Ono. "Billy Preston" was wearing this outrageously large afro wig. He also had on "black-face" makeup. But he didn't look black. It was more like he had a tan.
The first song was "A Hard Day's Night," then "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Feel Fine." Then, the band left the stage. Unfortunately, it was time for another video presentation.
When "the Beatles" returned, they were dressed in Sergeant Pepper
outfits. 
They played "Sgt. Pepper Reprise," "I Am The
Walrus," and "Revolution." These songs were a stretch for the Foam Rubber
musicians, but they pulled it off. Alas, it was time for another costume
change. Damn!
"Yoko" cleared an area on the stage and dragged out a large air
mattress. "John" came out in his "hippie" costume with an acoustic
guitar. The two of them laid down in bed and started singing "Give Peace a Chance." 
The
crowd swayed and held their arms in the air, singing along. Sweet tears
flowed down their cheeks as they embraced each other. (Yeah, right!)
The rest of the band came out in hippie costumes for a few White Album tracks like "Back In The USSR," and "Glass Onion," then "Hey Bulldog." Then, guess what? It was time for another costume change! The crowd was amazed by the extravagance of this "low budget" production.
While the band was changing, the Maharishi Yogi (played
by Gary Doug) shared words of wisdom with the crowd. 
The band returned for the final songs from the Let It Be and Abby Road albums. Andy, playing "Paul," was not wearing shoes. The band played "One After 909," "I've Got a Feeling," and a medley which included "Mean Mr. Mustard," "Polethene Pam," "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window," and "The End." And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.
Soter, still dressed as Yoko, introduced the band, who were now at center-stage. Just like the Beatles, the band simultaneously bowed from the waist. But, what was Father Guido Sarducci doing onstage?
He was shouting "Mr. Lennon! Mr. Lennon!"
Almost in slow motion, Jeff (as John) turned and said, "Yes?"
Then Fr. Guido Sarducci pulled out a gun.
POP! POP! POP! The gun smoked. Yoko, screamed insanely! John
went down clutching his chest. Blood spurted from his punctured
torso. A copy of Catcher in the Rye fell from beneath the
assassin's robes as he was carried away. 
All was
chaos. Give peace a chance? Not a chance.
But then, Jeff stood up. He was not really dead! But he was very bloody.
Happy Halloween!
See more Beatles
show photos here.
But the show was only half over.
The band then separated themselves from the crowd with chicken wire, shed their Beatles costumes and became Foam Rubber again!
They played Foam Rubber originals like "Prom Date," "Hoosier Daddy," and "Cooter 69."
During the second part of the show, the band judged the costume
contest. It was hard to decide which costume was the best. There was
a belly dancer, a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and two sexy broads with '60s-style
florescent plastic mini-skirts. When they pulled up their skirts and bent
over for the judges, there was writing on their underwear! One girl's ass
read "Happy," and the other girl's read "Halloween." Very creative!
They won major points with the judges!
But, perhaps in a competitive spirit, the Cowgirl-cheerleader showed the judges what was under her costume: a nice white G-string! Yum yum!
Ladies and gentlemen! We have a winner! 
The moral
of the story is, don't ever miss a Foam Rubber show, and always try to sit up
front - where the action is!