Beatlefan Contributing Editor & Noted Author to Address GRAMMY® Museum Mississippi Beatles Symposium

CLEVELAND, Miss. - March 3, 2016 - PRLog -- Dr. Kit O’Toole, author of Songs We Were Singing: Guided Tours Through The Beatles' Lesser-Known Tracks will give a multimedia presentation entitled “Ten Beatles Sounds That Shook the World” April 2 at the first Beatles Symposium in the new GRAMMY Museum Mississippi.

O’Toole’s book examines songs that are album tracks or B-sides but are just as significant to The Beatles’ sound as their hits.  This magical tour covers their failed 1962 Decca audition, their raw Hamburg performances at The Star Club, BBC radio appearances, and every album from Please Please Me to Abbey Road. Not overlooking the solo years, O’Toole also examines certain albums and tracks, reassessing their value. Featuring a foreword by Beatles scholar Kenneth Womack, Songs We Were Singing challenges readers to reconsider the songs they thought they knew.

“Everyone knows ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Let It Be,’ which are of course wonderful songs,” said O’Toole.  “But tracks such as ‘I’ll Get You’ and ‘The Inner Light’ have been unjustly underrated.  They demonstrate how The Beatles grew creatively, and how they impacted music then and continue to do so. I also hope my book inspires discussion and fun debate among fans.”

On Saturday, April 2, O’Toole will present “10 Beatles Sounds That Shook the World” at  GRAMMY Museum Mississippi. A guide through how The Beatles invented or expanded upon sounds still heard in today’s music, the presentation isolates individual vocals, guitar licks, or violin strings to illustrate the band’s innovations and profound influence. “I love taking the audience through sounds they may never have noticed before,” she said. O’Toole has previously given the presentation, to much acclaim, at events such as the Fest for Beatles Fans and Beatles at the Ridge. “I’ve been told by some audience members that my presentation changed the way they listen to The Beatles’ music, which is the ultimate compliment,” she said.

In addition to Songs We Were Singing, O’Toole is the author of Michael Jackson FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the King of Pop. The book examines Jackson’s music from the Jackson 5 through his solo career, and includes chapters on how Jackson developed his singing style, how he learned to moonwalk, and the many duets he recorded with such artists as Paul McCartney.  She is also a longtime contributing editor for Beatlefan magazine, reviewer and “Deep Beatles” columnist for Something Else Reviews, the “DeepSoul” columnist for Blinded by Sound, and a frequent contributor to Cinema Sentries. O’Toole co-hosts the popular radio show “Kit ’n’ Kaboodle” with Jude Southerland Kessler; the team has appeared on The John Lennon Hour and will present a discussion of Revolver at the April 2016 New York Fest for Beatles Fans. In addition, she wrote chapters for the academic collections Interdisciplinary Essays on Environment and Culture and New Critical Perspectives on The Beatles: Things We Said Today (Pop Music, Culture and Identity). She holds a doctorate in Instructional Technology.

O’Toole will be available at a coffee in her honor after her GRAMMY Museum Mississippi presentation and throughout the two-day "Beatles 2016: From Cavern to Candlestick" Symposium to meet and chat with Beatles fans, to answer questions, and to sign her books.

Tickets for the entire weekend's events (including presentations by six Beatles experts and authors, three Beatles artists, a Beatles tribute band, and more) are only $35 a person. Delta State University will also be sponsoring activities and events centered on The Beatles for this event. For more information on those activities, call 662-441-0100 or go to the GRAMMY Museum MS Beatles Symposium 2016 website (http://www.grammymuseumms.org/events/detail/beatles-sympo...).

For tickets to the "From Cavern to Candlestick" Beatles Symposium, go to GRAMMY Museum Mississippi's Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/grammymuseummississippi) or GRAMMY Museum Mississippi's website (http://www.grammymuseumms.org/).

For more information on Kit O’Toole, visit www.kitotoole.com.