Voting Station

Sid Bernstein

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Promoter

The Resume

    (August 12, 1918-August 21, 2013)
    Born in New York City, New York
    Concert promoter
    Best known for booking the Beatles at Carnegie Hall (1964) and Shea Stadium (1965-66)
    Also organzied tours/concerts for the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Tony Bennett, Grand Funk Railroad, Lenny Kravitz and ABBA

Why he might be annoying:

    He arranged for the Beatles to play Carnegie Hall without having heard any of their music.
    He booked the Beatles to play Shea before anyone had created a sound system that could make a concert audible in a venue that size.
    He made several unsuccessful offers for the Beatles to reunite, culminating in his offering $20 million for one concert.
    When he was 93, he recorded an album covering some of his favorite songs.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was married to Geraldine Gale for 50 years.
    He served with an anti-aircraft battery in France during World War II.
    He was one of the first promoters to book black artists in mainstream venues, with James Brown saying, 'Sid was doing what the Kennedys and Martin Luther King discovered later, but Sid had already begun to do it through music.'
    Lorne Michaels parodied his Beatle reunion offers by announcing he would pay the Beatles $3000 to appear on Saturday Night Live.
    He said, 'The first dozen groups of the British Invasion were my imports. But look, it was no stroke of genius. I was just doing my homework at the time.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 9 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 146 Votes: 65.75% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 15 Votes: 46.67% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 129 Votes: 66.67% Annoying