Beatle Impersonator Mark “Farquar” Vaccacio — Playing George and Playing for Time

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 18, 2011

BEATLE IMPERSONATOR MARK “FARQUAR” VACCACIO —

PLAYING GEORGE AND PLAYING FOR TIME

See the Feb. 17 New York Times feature article about Mark here: (“Onstage, Only His Guitar Gently Weeps”).

He may be suffering from terminal cancer, but singer/guitarist and Beatle impersonator Mark “Farquar” Vaccacio has a few things left on his bucket list.

Vaccacio, who played John Lennon for years in the Broadway cast of “Beatlemania,” is too busy performing and recording to feel sorry for himself.

For the last 11 years he has played George Harrison in the Beatles tribute band “Strawberry Fields,” which performs every Saturday at noon at B.B. King’s Blues Club and Grill in Times Square. Now, after an eight-month hiatus for surgery to treat his colon cancer, Vaccacio is once again appearing as George.

Vaccacio, known as “Farquar” to his friends and fans, is also putting the finishing touches on an ambitious solo album of original rock and pop songs, some five years in the making. Streaming audio of three of the tunes from the forthcoming album, entitled, “Farquar! and The Purple Gang” can be heard here: http://www.acidplanet.com/Artist.asp?AID=1030137&T=2129.

He has also become a relentless advocate of colonoscopies for early detection of cancer while it is still treatable, and has begun making speeches and personal appearances on the subject.

Audiences at B.B. King’s see nothing of the considerable effort and medical apparatus necessary to sustain him.  They just see George — first in his mod black suit, later in full Sgt. Pepper’s regalia.  As he told the Times, “When I put my teeth in and my wig on, and the costume, I’m not a cancer patient anymore. It’s like Superman.  You become Superman.  The whole mystique of the Beatles, the beautiful music, starts surging through you.”  See video clips of “Strawberry Fields” here: http://www.strawberryfieldsthetribute.com/.

To schedule an interview with Mark Vaccacio, contact Allen Morrison at 516-509-8453 or at amorrison2@yahoo.com.

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