Good Day Sunshine State: An Interview with Bob Keating

The cover of the book Good Day Sunshine State: How the Beatles Rocked Florida. 

Keating has a history of writing books centered around rock icons and their numerous ties to Florida. This interview focused on his latest work, Good Day Sunshine State: How the Beatles Rocked Florida. This recent book recounts the Beatles’ visit throughout Florida and their lasting influence.

I know that good day sunshine state is your latest release, but I notice your other books center around rock and roll icons, what got you into writing about these musicians and where does your love of rock come from?

Keating: That’s the music I grew up with. My older sister had all these vinyl records and when she went to college, I took over those records.

What do you most enjoy about writing?

Keating: I am a journalist and so the journey and finding out all this new information makes writing enjoyable.

What is your favorite line or part in the book?

Keating: There is a part in the book about Louis “Buddy” Dresner who is a sergeant on the Miami Beach police force. He is just this every man’s man and he was woken up one day and was asked to be the bodyguard to the Beatles. He had no clue who they we’re or what would come but he did it anyway.

In this book we learn a lot more about the inner workings of their lives, I didn’t know that John Lennon was having issues within his marriage and was more withdrawn into himself with women as compared to Paul McCartney. After writing this book, what are your thoughts or thesis on the Beatles?

Keating: I learned so much about their impact. How they publicly opposed the Vietnam war and insisted on having African-American opening acts for their tour amid segregation. Learning of their interactions with Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) and how neither of them knew how big they were going to get respectively.

What’s your next project?

Keating: I’m working on a project that focuses on the Chitlin circuit. It was this collection of bars that African-Americans could perform at, in places like Overtown before they built the I-95 through it.

Keating’s book Good Day Sunshine State: How the Beatles Rocked Florida is available now for purchase and at the Miami book fair.