Book Review: Meet The Beatles Bar Band In Hamburg In 1960

Dan Greenberger is a television writer and producer who has made part of the "origin story" of The Beatles the basis of his debut novel "The Boys Next Door" (Appian Way Press). It's historical fiction, with the first-person narrative told through the letters and diary entries of a young American foreign exchange student named Alan Levy.

Greenberger admits to being a diehard Beatles fan and demonstrates his knowledge of their history by creating a character who pretty seamlessly interacts with the band and their milieu in 1960 Hamburg, Germany. John, Paul, George, Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe were in this famously seedy and rowdy part of the German city to play marathon sets of rock 'n' roll music in bars, primarily the Kaiserkeller. (The only recordings known to have survived from this era in Hamburg are from The Star Club in 1962.)

The story takes place over the course of less than three months. Alan Levy finds himself renting a cheap room right next door to the room where all five Beatles are staying. For the first third of the book, the boys next door are peripheral characters in Levy's life, a noisy and vulgar gang that ruins Alan's sleep.

Source: Mark Simmet/iowapublicradio.org

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