Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
What does an indie rock star do when he’s not busy touring with his critically acclaimed band? If he’s Sooyoung Park, frontman for the Chicago-based Seam, he gets a couple of pals together and spearheads an arts festival in his hometown.
Although she was the subject of the film “Backbeat” and was engaged to a member of arguably the most famous band in rock history, Astrid Kirchherr is a relative unknown in America. But Beatles fans worldwide equate her name with the German beauty who stole Stuart Sutcliffe’s heart and who took enigmatic photos of the Fab Four when they were still a scrappy quintet.
When the producers started auditions for the film “Backbeat,” they saw more than 100 actors for the role of the “forgotten Beatle” Stuart Sutcliffe, at least 50 actresses for the part of his German girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr and dozens of other actor-musicians for the other members of the Fab Five. But when it came time to cast the role of 19-year-old John Lennon, they saw only one actor – Ian Hart.