The Greatest Beatles Fan – A CaseStack Employee
Sean Lambert is a Warehouse Account Manager in Chicago who has been a CaseStack employee for about a year and half, and is one of the biggest and greatest Beatles fans of all time. Although it sounds cliché, Lambert truly epitomizes one of the true, great Beatles fans. The CaseStack employee grew up listening to the Beatles and has been attending the famous 3-day Beatle Fest convention for the past 15 years. This year, for the third time, the Illinois native won the annual Beatles trivia competition. Lambert dominated the competition and was glorified for his extensive knowledge and love of the Beatles. The Illinois State graduate loves all types of music from 70s soul to the Beatles, and has been to over 300 concerts.
Justin Yoshida (JY): I heard you won a Beatles trivia competition. Congratulations! You must be a Beatles expert. Where did the competition take place?
Sean Lambert (SL): Thanks, the competition took place at the Beatles Fest, which has been going on for about 30 years. My parents, who got me into the Beatles, have been going for about 25 years. It’s a big convention that takes place in Chicago, Las Vegas, New York and a few other major cities. The convention takes place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The whole hotel is dedicated to the Beatles. People are just sitting around with instruments out, playing all Beatles songs – the hotel is decked out with Beatles lovers. Each year they have a big trivia competition and ask a bunch of Beatles related questions.
JY: Wow. I have never heard of it. You must have been in heaven. Did you study?
SL: I’ve been reading a lot of books about the Beatles for years – getting my knowledge together. I have gotten a little rusty, but I’m doing better on reading more and more. For the first few rounds, I was sitting in the audience next to my girlfriend and my buddies, whispering the answers to the questions to them – I got every answer right. When I first joined the competition, no one answered the questions but me. There basically was no competition – I dominated.
JY: So, you must know any and everything about the Beatles. What did you get for winning?
SL: A Beatles CD, a video and this carrying bag, nothing really great. The prizes were lame I know, but I did it for the glory. I had to get through six or seven rounds, and each round I had to answer five questions correct to stay in the competition. I nailed it each question. One of the questions was ‘What year did Paul McCartney get married?’ The answer is 1969. The winning question was: ‘What feat on the American Billboard record chart did the Beatles accomplish in April of 1964?’ The answer is t hey held the top five spots and had 12 songs total in the top 100.
JY: Very impressive. What’s your favorite Beatles song? Your favorite album? Do you have a favorite member?
SL: Well, I don’t have a favorite song. They’re all pretty great. But I do have a song I don’t like – Revolution Number 9. It’s a really weird song, and pretty boring, but every other song I like. My favorite album is Revolver. John is by far my favorite. I lean more towards John because of his personality – he’s the coolest by far.
JY: What’s the most valuable Beatles item you have?
SL: When the video Yellow Submarine was re-released, toys were made to go along with it, and a special Paul McCartney figure was made that is very unique. That’s about the most valuable thing I have. My parents, well my dad has a lot of stuff – he’s been collecting things for years, he has original records, and a bunch of other original stuff. So, when my dad is ready to hand it all down, I’ll have more valuable things.
JY: So, I take it a Beatles CD is always in your CD player.
SL: Well, I don’t really listen to CDs. I’m very tech savvy, and I put all CDs onto my iPod. So, yes, every album, every solo album, every unreleased song, every single, anything affiliated with the Beatles is on my iPod. But I’m very eclectic and listen to all types of music. A few weeks ago, I went to a Stevie Wonder concert, which was awesome because he played all his classics. The concert was free. All I paid was $5 for a beer. Last month, I went to see Al Green, which was pretty cool too. I only paid $8 there. I really love 1970s soul.
JY: Good deal – drinks and live music. What more could you ask for?
SL: Exactly. I love concerts. I’ve been to over 300. I don’t think I mentioned this yet, but I am also a musician and I love to play and sing Beatles songs as well as write my own songs. I even played at Beatles Fest.
JY: Very talented. I bet the Beatles would love to hear you, and are proud to have you as one of their biggest fans.
BEATLES FACTS BY SEAN:
- Made 3 albums in one year.
- Cranked out 14 albums over 8 years.
- Recorded a little over 225 songs.
- The Beatles lost the rights to all their songs because of a bad record label decision. In 1986, Michael Jackson and Paul were friends, and Paul was going to buy back all the Beatles’ songs in a closed auction. He told Michael how much he was going to pay, and Michael ended up paying a $1 more for the songs. Michael then sold them to a bunch of different companies who use them in commercials, TV shows and a variety of other things.
- The Beatles had 27 number ones.
