When the idea for a new Beatles-themed podcast was born five years ago, we were in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. As people adapted and collectively moved into more online and virtual spaces, a podcast boom was practically inevitable. My business partner, Kenneth Womack, who would come to host “Everything Fab Four,” had already been writing about popular music for Salon for several years. And as the culture pivoted, so did we.
In September of 2020, Salon — along with Womack’s media company, Wonderwall — produced the first episode of “Everything Fab Four,” pitched as a new podcast featuring fun and intelligent stories about the Beatles’ enduring cultural influence. Our debut guest was Toto guitarist Steve Lukather, a longtime member of Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band (and the first in what would end up being a long line of Ringo’s All-Starrs on the show) whose energy and wealth of stories set the tone for what was to come.
Since then, we’ve hosted 60 in-depth conversations about the Beatles (find them all here, or wherever you get your podcasts) with musicians, artists, actors and icons of many generations and genres. “Everything Fab Four” has been nominated for Best Music Podcast three times in the Annual Podcast Awards. And as the world has gotten back to more in-person events over the past five years, the time has come to take our show’s framework, the community we’ve built and our recipe for success into the next space.
The inaugural Everything Fab Four Fest will be a weekend of curated music and media centered around the 60th anniversary of the Beatles’ “Rubber Soul” album, taking place November 6-8, 2025, at the historic Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel in Asbury Park, NJ.
The event will feature exclusive conversations with key guests — including a panel on psychedelic films with Salon staff culture critics — and a plethora of live music sets. Blac Rabbit, whose song “Seize the Day” has served as our podcast’s theme since day one, will be performing to open the festival. Jamie Bernstein, whose interview on “Everything Fab Four” in 2024 was one of our most well-received ever, will be a special guest. And other festival headliners — Max Weinberg, Jake Clemons and Nellie McKay — will be guests on this season (our seventh!) of the podcast. As the Fab Four’s multiverse continues to expand, so does ours.
In some ways we’ve come full circle; in others, we’ve only just begun. But that’s a song by another band. We’re here to celebrate the Beatles, and we hope you will enjoy the show.
Tickets for Everything Fab Four Fest are now available to purchase on Eventbrite. For more information, please visit the festival’s website.
Listen to
episodes of “Everything Fab Four”
