Community Host Spotlight: Candy

Growing Up With the Beatles

Candy has a Ph.D. in Sociology, a M.A. in Human Development, and an eclectic background that includes college teaching, child and family advocacy, hosting a talk radio show, and market research for pharmaceutical and healthcare companies. And she’s a serious Beatle fan. 

“Growing up with the Beatles, watching and hearing them evolve in real-time, plus all the changes that occurred during the 60s was an experience uniquely shared by Boomers. I was very young, but I remember having the sense that something extraordinary was happening, like I was witnessing history.”

Candy knew for decades she wanted to write a book about the Beatles phenomenon from a sociological perspective. As the 50th anniversary of the Beatles coming to America was approaching, she knew it was time.

“I wanted to write about how the Beatles impacted my generation because it was a formative part of my own life - and so many people I met over the years said the same thing. But this experience had not been documented. So I wanted to take my interviewing and research skills and apply them to what I believe is an important part of postwar American history.”

Her book Beatleness: How the Beatles and Their Fans Remade the World came out in 2014, and a paperback version in 2016.

While promoting the book, she met many people who grew up with the Beatles and said their lives would have been completely different had the Beatles not been part of it.

“The word that Boomers most often used in describing their engagement with the Beatles over that six-year period is ‘joy.’ The Beatles presented us with not only great music, but within the music were ideas that helped us navigate the social world and ideas about consciousness, reality, society. They gave us a lot to think about and talk about with our friends and siblings.” 

After discovering GetSetUp, Candy thought it would be fun to host a session and connect with people who came of age during the Beatle years. 

“Even if you don’t identify as a fan today, the Beatles were a constant presence, a focal point on the cultural landscape for six years, and so they still resonate. 

In these sessions, we talk about our experiences growing up during those tumultuous years  - the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, the women's movement, youth empowerment -  and how the Beatles and their music intersected with all that. 

The Beatles have been a constant in Boomers’ lives and so our ongoing fascination with them makes sense. You put on ‘Hey Jude,’ and though you hear it from your current perspective, it sounds just as good as it did 53 years ago. People talk about how the Beatles added joy to their childhood or hardwired their brains for joy. Listening to Beatles music and talking about them with others who grew up with them rekindles that joy.”

Join Candy for her session Growing up With the Beatles and share your memories and reflections on the Beatles' years. A splendid time is guaranteed for all!

Book a session
Classroom
This is some text inside of a div block.

Heading

This is some text inside of a div block.
 at 
This is some text inside of a div block.
Starts in 10 hours
Taught by 
This is some text inside of a div block.
This is some text inside of a div block.
Classroom
This is some text inside of a div block.

Heading

This is some text inside of a div block.
 at 
This is some text inside of a div block.
Starts in 10 hours
Taught by 
This is some text inside of a div block.
This is some text inside of a div block.
Classroom
This is some text inside of a div block.

Heading

This is some text inside of a div block.
 at 
This is some text inside of a div block.
Starts in 10 hours
Taught by 
This is some text inside of a div block.
This is some text inside of a div block.