Like many of us, singer/songwriter, Seth Swirsky has always loved the Beatles. As a youngster, living in Long Island, New York, he and his little brother happily bounced on their beds to the sounds of the Fab Four. As an adult, with kids of his own, Swirsky decided five years ago to embark on a journey to interview people who have met the Beatles during their heyday and beyond. After conducting over 100 interviews, 55 of them made the final cut of Swirsky’s 75 minute documentary, “Beatles Stories” that had it’s world premier at the European Independent Film Festival in Paris on April 3, 2011.

Many of the recollections are compelling. Graham Nash talks about his invitation to the TV broadcast of the Beatle’s new song, “All You Need is Love” and being a part of a magical, star studded experience. Peter Noone, of “Herman’s Hermit’s” fame tells about being a15 year of up-and-coming pop star, and having John Lennon covertly slip him alcohol at a London night club. Ray Mazarek of “The Doors” remembers the day he realized that like himself, Lennon was also a “stoner.”

George Harrison’s first girlfriend, from before he was in the band, talks about how sweet George was as a 14 year old. Henry Winkler recounts a random meeting with Paul McCartney on a New York street where the Beatle was as happy to meet “The Fonz” as Winkler was to meet him.

Former head of Apple Records, Jack Oliver, remembers waking Paul McCartney to ask if he was okay after rumors that McCartney was dead flooded the media. McCartney told Oliver to F-off, proving that, yes, he was still very much alive.

Artist/bass player, Klaus Voormann, talks about how everyone was speechless when they first saw his artwork for the Beatles album, “Revolver.” It was only when John Lennon said it was brilliant that the praise began to pour, with Beatles manager, Brian Epstein even shedding a few tears.

On the technical side, Beatles engineer, Norman “Hurricane” Smith discusses various recording techniques used by the band. Smith worked with the Beatles from the day they auditioned for their record deal, (June 6, 1962) through their ”Rubber Soul” album. He engineered every Beatles song from, “Love me Do” to “Michelle,” just under 100 songs in all. His contribution to this fine film is alone worth the price of admission.

Other interviews include Sir Ben Kingsley, Smokey Robinson, Brian Wilson, Jon Voight, former First Daughter Luci Baines Johnson, Donovan, Art Garfunkel, Rick Nielsen from Cheap Trick, Chris Carter, host of Breakfast with the Beatles, Susanna Hoffs from The Bangles and Joey Molland from Badfinger.

Swirsky’s subjects recount sincere, fond recollections of “being in the presence” of the greatest rock band ever. With this documentary Swirsky gives the viewer the chance to be a fly on the wall from those magical days gone by. This is a must-see film for anyone who loves the Beatles, or for anyone who wished they could have been there in the swinging 60’s, living the life that so few got to experience.

“Beatles Stories” next screens at the 2011 Gold Coast International Film Festival in New York.”

An e-mail exchange with John Lennon’s ex-lover May Pang set Seth Swirsky on a crash course in documentary filmmaking.

The singer-songwriter with both a bevy of chart toppers and a respected solo career to his credit, met Pang about six years ago following an email introduction. Swirsky asked Pang if they could take an impromptu tour of Lennon’s infamous “lost weekend” hot spots circa the early 1970s.

Camera in hand, Swirsky captured some of Pang’s memories on film as merely a video scrapbook, nothing more. He figured he might make a short film from the experience – “A Day with May in LA” sounded about right.

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But when he started quizzing other rock luminaries on their favorite Beatles anecdotes, like Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues and Denny Laine from Wings, he realized he had the makings of a documentary.

“I’m an artistic person,” Swirsky tells Big Hollywood. “I never know exactly what I’m doing at any moment. I allow that process to occur.”

“Beatles Stories,” the culmination of six years of guerilla interviews, recently had its world premiere April 3 at the European Independent Film Festival in Paris. The film, dubbed an “epic and timeless masterwork” by director Cameron Crowe, lets the famous and not so famous share their connections with the Fab Four.

Swirsky didn’t want to hear people talk about a Beatles song playing during their high school prom. He wanted more personal stories, tales that illuminated the band’s influence as well as the speakers’ hearts.

The film will play at 6 p.m. April 29 and at 3 p.m. May 2 at The Newport Beach Film Festival.

Swirsky’s only other film work came with a short dubbed ”The Last Giant,” which focused on 1930s era New York Giants standout Harry “The Horse” Danning. So when he got access to Hayward, he surrounded him with lamps – any source of light – he found in the hotel where the singer was staying and started shooting.

“I didn’t know anything about lighting,” he says. “It was complete indie filmmaking.”

Some great Beatles tales started to emerge, and when Swirsky used a tenuous connection to interview Brian Wilson the project finally took off. He ended up with so much material he had to leave a chat with Rascals singer Felix Cavaliere on the cutting room floor.

“There were many people I could have filmed, but I’d rather film someone without no fame but a great story,“ he says. One such story involves Mim Flynn, who worked the Chanel counter at a Saks store in New Orleans where she met the “cute” Beatle, Paul McCartney, when she was only 15.

Swirsky says some interviews took a while before he got the kind of colorful responses he sought. He interviewed Jack Oliver, who was president of Apple Records during the late 1960s, and wasn’t making good progress. Then, Swirsky asked Oliver about the day the rumor broke that McCartney had died.

Oliver said the phones to his office lit up with American girls bemoaning the Cute Beatle’s demise. So Oliver called up McCartney to make sure he was still among the living.

“[Expletive] off, I’m not dead. Why are you waking me up for,” McCartney barked into the phone, an anecdote which caused roars of laughter during the film’s Paris premiere.

Swirsky is now a bona fide filmmaker, but he isn’t ready to get his own director’s chair quite yet. It would take a “special inspiration” for him to start a new film project. He’d rather be making music.

“I have to write songs,” he says simply.

His upcoming record, “As Far As Yesterday Goes,“ is the second he recorded with fellow singer/songwriter Mike Ruekberg under the name The Red Button.

The band started unofficially during the sessions for Swirsky’s first solo album, “Instant Pleasure” in 2004. Ruekberg was one of many musicians on hand who contributed to the disk. Later, Swirsky rang him up with an offer.

“I was wondering if we should do an album of songs we’re not supposed to do, Beatle-like in a way,” he told Ruekberg. Swirsky added he had a few incomplete songs they could finish together.

“I was thinking he loved the Beatles very much, and so did I,” he says. But neither wanted to create a Rutles-like project. They were dead serious about making music that reflected the Beatles’ spirit.

The result was “She’s About to Cross My Mind,” 11 infectious songs marrying Swirsky’s melodies with Ruekberg’s gentle cynicism.

If “Mind” hearkens back to the early Beatles days, “As Far As Yesterday Goes” takes listeners to the late 1960s and early 1970s. Swirsky promises you’ll hear a bit of Paul Simon here, some Cat Stevens there, but that Beatles jangle is still front and center.

Swirsky is currently adding some string arrangements to the album as a final tweak, and he expects the disk to drop in the beginning of June. His next solo album won’t come out until 2012, but he wouldn’t mind pressing the Red Button a few more times.

“I’d love to keep this going,” he says.

At press time, there is only a single, brief review for the documentary Beatles Stories to be found on the film’s official website. But it’s a powerful one. Says Cameron Crowe: “This film is fantastic, so from the heart and so wildly revealing. An epic and timeless masterwork.”

The movie is set to make its North American premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival on Friday, April 29th, followed by a second screening Monday, May 2nd. Writer-director Seth Swirsky, who has penned compositions over the years for Celine Dion, Air Supply, Al Green, and others, spent five years interviewing 110 celebrities and others about their direct experiences with one or more of the Fab Four.

From this footage, Swirsky then cut it down to a final tally of 55 interviews, for a total running time of 75 minutes. On the famous side, there are people like Henry Winkler, Jon Voigt, Ben Kingsley, Art Garfunkel, and Brian Wilson. Alongside the celebs are others such as recording engineers, ex-girlfriends, and so on. Here’s a little taste:

Swirsky has written several books about baseball, and in his personal life is married to record company executive Jody Gerson. As he points out in the trailer above, the idea for the film took root when he played the famous Cavern nightclub in Liverpool and began hearing all these great untold stories about former headliners the Beatles.

The movie had its world premiere on April 3rd in Paris at the European Independent Film Festival.