As she gazed at the crowd of some 800 folks sitting on the grass at the Johnson Park amphitheater on Monday, July 10, longtime Liverpool lady Sue Tillotson thought fondly of her late father, former village Mayor Floyd Tillotson.
While two dozen of CNY’s top musicians paid tribute to the Fab Four with a lively BeatleCuse performance coordinated by entertainer Paul Davie — who also lives in Liverpool — Sue recalled how much negativity her dad encountered when the park amphitheater was proposed during his administration.
“This is his vision,” Sue said as she gestured to the overflowing crowd of concert-goers. “This is what he saw could happen here at this park. I’m just glad he stood up to all those naysayers years ago to make it happen.”
This year the village has followed in Floyd’s footsteps to install a roof over the stage, an improvement which allowed BeatleCuse to proceed despite a persistent drizzle.
Floyd Tillotson served as mayor from 1977 to 1981. The cornerstone for the park’s brick edifices was laid 1982, and construction of the stage and the pavilion concluded in 1984. The Liverpool Is The Place Committee began booking concerts there in 1985.
Shirley Jefferson, an instrumental member of the Village Citizen Committee which coordinated Johnson Park renovation efforts, said Mayor Tillotson focused on the committee’s theme, “‘Observing the Past, Celebrating in the Present, Planning for the Future.”
“He told us,” Shirley said, “that he had a project that would fit the last section — ‘planning for the future’” — the Johnson Park amphitheater.
Mayor Tillotson died July 11, 2012, at age 87.
BeatleCuse 2018
By the way, Liverpudlian Paul Davie (a.k.a. Fab Five Paul) announced plans for the fifth annual BeatleCuse extravaganza set to be staged at an as-yet-unidentified outdoor venue, from noon to 10 p.m. on Saturday, July 7, 2018. Paul plans to reveal further details, including guest headliners, at a Sept. 23 press conference at the Sheraton Syracuse University Hotel.
DeNeve on the Dobro
Free concerts continue under the new roof at Johnson Park at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 19, with bluegrass tunes by Diamond Someday, led by Liverpool songwriter Shirley Stevens and featuring longtime Liverpool Dobro picker Dick DeNeve.
Dick has been a fixture on the upstate bluegrass scene for more than three decades, playing with Andy Pawlenko and the Smokey Hollow Boys and loving every minute of it. Dick not only plays the resonator guitar, he builds them. Over the years, Dick has crafted more than 400 of these beautiful instruments that he proudly calls his children.
On Monday, July 24, Syracuse Area Music Hall of Famer Dave Novak fronts his band, the Party Nuts at Johnson Park, and Cortland County tunesmith Colleen Kattau sings in both English and Spanish on Wednesday, July 26, with her band, Dos XX.
Don’t be afraid, kids
Warning posted in the children’s restroom at Liverpool Public Library:
“Toilet flushes LOUDLY.”
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