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L.A., N.Y. events mark Beatles’ 50th on ‘Ed Sullivan Show’

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As the countdown continues toward Sunday’s 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” on Feb. 9, 1964, more activities are on tap to mark the occasion.

Capitol Records will project a photo of the Fab Four in front of an American flag-- not coincidentally the same shot used on the cover of the newly released box set “The Beatles—The U.S. Albums”—onto the Capitol Tower in Hollywood beginning Friday and continuing through Sunday. The projection also will include The Beatles 50 logo created for the occasion.

Additionally, a “Beatles Hollywood 50th” event will take place Sunday beginning at 1 p.m. at the Walk of Fame stars of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr near the Capitol tower. Chris Carter, host of the long-running radio show “Breakfast with the Beatles,” will preside over the event featuring an Ed Sullivan impersonator, opera singer Shayne Dalva singing “Yesterday” and actor-musician Tim Piper, who has been performing a one-man John Lennon theatrical production for years.

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RELATED: Readers remember Beatlemania, 50 years later

“Beatles Hollywood 50” supports the raft of activities going on in New York this week, among which will be a symposium that Beatle fans worldwide can check in on via a webcast.

The symposium, titled “50 Years: The Beatles,” will feature Harrison’s ex-wife Pattie Boyd; Rolling Stones manager-producer Andrew Loog Oldham, who was a publicist for the Beatles before he went to work for the Rolling Stones; musician-satirist Neil Innes, whose many credits include his key role writing songs for the Beatles parody group the Rutles; theater director Julie Taymor; and Foreigner singer Mick Jones, who performed with the Beatles in Paris in 1964 just before they came to the U.S. for the first time.

Other participants include guitarist-producer Nile Rodgers, John Oates of Hall & Oates, Felix Cavaliere of the Rascals and the Hold Steady’s lead guitarist and co-songwriter Tad Kubler. The symposium will begin at 3:30 p.m. PST on the stage of the former Ed Sullivan Theatre, now the site of “Late Night with David Letterman.”

The panel will be moderated by CBS News senior business correspondent Anthony Mason and will be streamed live at CBSNewYork.com/50yearslater. It’s the first in what is expected to be an ongoing series of CBS News Live Experiences.

PHOTOS: The Beatles: A look back at their U.S. debut

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It will be followed by an in-theater screening of CBS’ special “The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles” airing nationally Sunday at 8 p.m. The program was planned as a two-hour show, but has been expanded an additional 30 minutes to accommodate more musical performances, additional archival material and newly recorded interviews.

That show includes performances by McCartney and Starr, individually and together, plus Stevie Wonder, the reunited Eurythmics, Alicia Keys and John Legend, Katy Perry, Imagine Dragons, Johny Mayer and Keith Urban, Maroon 5, Joe Walsh, Jeff Lynne, George Harrison’s son Dhani Harrison, Brad Paisley, Pharrell Williams and troupe members from the Cirque du Soleil’s Las Vegas Beatles show “Love.”

ALSO:

Unseen Beatles photos from first U.S. concert on display Feb. 9

Beatles special comes together with a little help from their friends

‘Ringo: Peace & Love’ show at Grammy Museum unveiled by the Starr

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Follow Randy Lewis on Twitter: @RandyLewis2

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