Here I am again.

It’s a Sunday afternoon, a February 9th, and I can’t wait for 8:00 pm.

Fifty years ago today, on that Sunday afternoon – February 9, 1964 – the ten-year-old me couldn’t wait for 8:00 pm because that was when The Ed Sullivan Show was going to be on TV.

Ed Sullivan’s special guests that evening were The Beatles.

Thanks to Jeanette, the teenage girl who lived next door and took care of me after school until my parents got home from work, I knew all about The Beatles. I knew their names (Ringo was my favorite), where they were from (I’d never heard of Liverpool before) and, thanks to Jeanette’s record collection, I knew and loved every one of their songs. I also knew that their performance on The Ed Sullivan Show that evening would be their first time playing live and in person here in America.

Well, as I said, here I am again.

Thanks to my generous and thoughtful New Jersey sister-in-law, I received a Christmas present a few years back of a DVD set called: “The Four Complete Historic Ed Sullivan Shows Featuring The Beatles.”

So, in honor of the 50th anniversary of that very historic day, my wife and I are going to sit down together at 8:00 pm and watch that very same Ed Sullivan Show – the whole show, commercials and all – from February 9, 1964.

I’m very, very excited.