Remembering George

I don't know about all of you other Beatles fans, but for me it is hard to believe that George Harrison has been gone for 8 years now. It just seems like yesterday he was still with us. The one thing that touched me the most after his death was the sympathy cards many family and friends of mine sent me. I know that being a Beatles fan is something that many people on "the outside" don't exactly understand, but when they sent me those cards expressing their sympathies to me, I felt like some of them actually get it. I decided to have a post of some of my favorite George photos.

I met the Walrus (part 2)

Here John is signing Jerry's copy of "Two Virgins"


Here you can see Jerry sitting on the floor with a video camera.



I just love this photo of John!

I located some more photos taken of when 14 year old Jerry met and interviewed John Lennon in 1969. I am including all of the photos from this set.

Interesting

I have always thought that living next to a Beatle would be really amazing and cool. Like if you need to borrow some eggs, you just pop on over to Ringo's house and has Maureen for an egg. You have a BBQ in your backyard and invite George and Pattie over for hot dogs (pre-vegetarian days). I guess I never really thought about how annoying the fans could have been, but still....you live next to one of the Beatles!

A few photos

Are these true fan photo? I don't know. Am I going to post them anyhow. You better believe it.

Not getting George's autograph

Caption: "George (right in 1977) with Elton John's percussionist Ray Cooper when George attended one of Elton's gigs in Paris"

You may have noticed that whenever I see a photo, I like to imagine what is happening in the photograph. This is a great example of that. You see a woman here getting an autograph. However, she is NOT getting the autograph of George Harrison as you would expect. Instead she is getting the autograph of Elton John's percussionist. Hmmm. Here is my guess on this one. She got George to sign for her before the photo was snapped. Then realizing who the person with George was, and not wanting to be rude, she asked Ray Cooper to also sign. Surely she did not leave that opportunity with just Ray Coopers autograph, you think?

Regardless I really like this photo of George. He looks relaxed and happy. I think the mid-1970's were a good time for Mr. Harrison.

Magical Mystery Tour party

I want to thank Susan for emailing me such a lovely letter and the photos of her autographs. The Beatles fan club meetings are so interesting, and it is so kind of you to share your memories of meeting John and George at the time of Magical Mystery tour with me and the readers of this blog.

Here is the email Susan sent....

I was most surprised to be shown a photograph of myself on your website showing John Lennon signing my EP of the Magical Mystery Tour. Thought you might be interested to know that as an Area Secretary of the Beatles Fan Club we were invited to a private screening of the film, which had just been released. The date was Sunday, 17 December 1967 and it was shown at the Film & Art Theatre, Hanover Grand in London.

I took my EP with me in the hope of getting it autographed. John Lennon and George Harrison were the only two of the Beatles there that day and I am the one with the long hair and glasses in the photograph of John Lennon signing the record. The photograph then appeared in the February 1968 copy of the Beatles Monthly magazine.

As an inveterate hoarder I am still in possession of all the correspondence and memorabilia from that time. I still have the invitation, the EP and magazine, which I have photographed together and which I will try to email to you. I was the Area Secretary for Herefordshire to start with and my name then was Susan Ward. The Fan Club had secretaries for each of the British counties and towards the end of the time the Beatles were together I was also responsible for several other counties.

You are obviously a very keen Beatles fan and you have a very impressive library of photographs. I was a teenager when the Beatles first became famous and have remained a fan ever since.

Now we know who took that photo!

Thanks to Sean over at the Kenwood blog for sending me this awesome photo! The post right below this one shows John and Yoko sitting at a table holding hand. I stated that I wasn't sure if a fan took it, but I could imagine someone above the couple calling out their name and snapping a photo when they looked up.

Well....as you can see in this photograph. It does sort of look like a fan who took the photo (see the part that is circled?). So cool!!

John and Yoko 1971

I am not sure if this is a fan photo, but it could be. It was taken on the same day as many fan photos, October 9, 1971. It shows John and Yoko sitting in the hotel lobby holding hands. It looks like the person who took the photo was above them and called out to them and snapped the photo, but really who knows? I am showing two of the photos. The complete one, which is small, and the larger one which has a crease down the middle.

Just some photos that have no reason to post

Ringo

Some recent ebay Ringo finds...

Indy '64

Here is another cool ebay find. This photo was taken by a Louisville, Kentucky police officer working the Beatles concert in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1964. You can always tell the Indy concert because of the large windows and lights at the foot of the stage.

Australia 1964

Sometimes I just LOVE ebay. Currently up for auction is this set of Beatles concert photos from when they performed in Australia in 1964 ( I will research the exact date that go with these photos later). According to the description of the auction, they were taken by a man who was at the concert. He now has moved into a nursing home and is selling his Beatles photographs. These are some GREAT fan concert photos. They seriously are amazing!

Two accounts of meeting the Fabs in Seattle in 1964 during a press conference

I have two accounts by two groups of fans on meeting the Beatles at the 1964 press conference in Seattle, Washington. The first was published Saturday August 22, 1964 in the Seattle Post Intelligencer and was written by Jack Jarvis. The second was in the Tacoma, Washington newspaper The News Tribune and was written by the fans Jacqueline Towne and Michael Hand.

Beatles show Puckish Humor at Interview, Take Selves Lightly

by Jack Jarivs

There wasn't much news but there was a lot of fun as the Beatles held a "press conference" in the Coliseum before their show last night. And some people who were prepared scoff- yes, sneer - came away with some different ideas about the mop-tops who have taken the teen-age world by storm.

For one things the Beatles - Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and John Lennon - don't take themselves seriously at all.

For Another, they're quick with answers to questions and each has a puckish sense of humor. About fan mail, for instance, Ringo was asked why he gets more fan mail from Seattle girls than the other do. "Because more of them write to me," he said, dead-pan. So it isn't great humor. But it's clean. It was a relief to hear them after listening to some of the "sick" comics that have enjoyed fame of a sort.

Well, maybe there was a bit of news. All four of them dropped fishing lines out of the windows of their rooms in the Edgewater Inn but no one caught anything. They said they've made no long-range plans, but Paul said that he and John may turn to song writing when the Beatles fad has died out. "With you?" said John, pretending to be horrified. "Never!"

With the Post-Intelligencer crew covering the press conference were three reporters-for-a-night, who had written to the P.I. months ago suggesting that THEIR view might explain the Beatles to adults. They are Cheryl Ann Steward, 14, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth E. Stewart, 3048 NW 56th ST; Sharman Weston, 14, daughter of Mr. And Mrs. Robert Weston 3235 NW 56th St,. and Sharon Wallinger, 14, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fred L. Wallinger, 942 NW 62nd St. Cheryl and Sharman are co-presidents of a Seattle Beatles Fan Club formed in January. Sharon is vice president.

Cheryl got in a couple of questions, one about the "good qualities" of Great Britain and the United States. George parried it neatly with "It depends on each individual" But mainly the girls just sort of glowed, happy to be with in 10 feet of their heroes. Afterward Cheryl said, "They were wonderful! Just as I pictured them!" Sharon said: "I love them! Ringo held my hand!" And Sharman said: "Wonderful! I can't believe it!" Sharman and Sharon also took pictures of the Beatles. (Sara's note: Where are they today?? I want to see them!)

Souvenirs? Cigarette butts! Each girl got one. Cheryl and Sharman got cigarettes Ringo had smoked and Sharon got on Paul had smoked. They they went off to see the show, leaving the adult newsmen sorting out their notes and wondering just what had been said and who said it.

What about those shaggy haircuts? "We've gotten used to the long hair," Paul said. But John admitted that their fame probably would diminish if they got crew-cuts. How long will they ride the crest of the entertainment wave? No one knows, least of all the Beatles. But as a group they haven't made any long-range plans.

Ringo made his daily denial that he's married and Paul lashed out at magazines "that have printed some pretty terrible stories about us." John read some excepts form his book, but hammed it up towards the end and read the last few sentences through clenched teeth, then laughed along with everyone else in the room. All in all, it was fun. No news, but fun.

Tacoma Girls Meet Beatles: Wonderful!

by Jacqueline Towne and Michael Hand (special news Tribune correspondents)

It was wonderful! We were the two luckiest girls in Tacoma to be able to go with two TNT reporters to the Beatles' performance. We followed a long-legged Seattle photographer around to the other side of the coliseum. He went to a side entrance and a policeman let him in. We went through right after him showing our press cards - which we thought would be no good - and were accepted.

After we went through long corridors until we came upon a door blocked with many policemen. They said there were too many reporters, but after a few minutes of persuasion they let us pass.

We waited in a hallway for awhile and then went into the press room. It was small and at the front was a table with four chairs. We sat in the third row. The Beatles were late and the longer we waited the calmer we got.

We thought they would never get there. Then we heard they had just left from the Edgewater Motel. When they arrived we almost had a cow! We were surprised that John had light reddish brown hair. They had such tough accents!Paul looked like he needed a shave - and he did! Their offstage boots looked cracked and used.

We found out that Ringo never changes his rings. Two come form his mother and grandfather and from girls. Such rumors as John's wife expecting another child, Paul's marriage or engagement of Jane Asher, and any other Beatle engagement were stated false. By the way, the reason Ringo hates Donald Duck is because he goes "Quack-quack!"

Our reporters motioned for us to come over to them. We got up from our seats and went around the back of the room. One of us dropped the flash attachment to our camera. It made a racket and then a cameraman got all flustered he thought we had knocked over his camera. Then he yelled "Everyone out of the back of the room!" We got around fast. While standing by the reporters, the same one knocked over a light and it almost landed on the Beatles. We caught it just in time.

The Beatles started to get up and we rushed up to them. One of us was lucky enough to talk to Paul and ask him a question: "How do you pick the one to sing the lead?" "To tell the truth, I'm not sure," He said. "You're not sure?" "I'm really not, Luv. I really don't." Then he winked and left. He didn't get very far before the other one stopped. She asked if he would sign the pictures her sister had drawn of them. "Sure, Luv," he said and took the pictures into their dressing room.

We waited for about an hour or so for our autographs. In the meantime we talked to girls and policemen. One girl held Ringo's hand. Someone called to him to leave. He said, "Sorry Luv, I've go tot go." She wouldn't let go. "Luv, I've got to go!" She still wouldn't let go. "LUV, LET ME GO!!" Some of the girls went back to the conference room and got their cigarette butts. We went back and found Ringo's cigarette package. It had some cigarette butts in ti, too.

We gave the package to a policeman to give to the Beatles for an autograph. We guess they threw it away. It never came back. We gave to one of their road managers a "bouncing boo-hoo" a little ball of fuzz with two eyes to give to John for his son. The manager was quite thrilled about it and thanked us twice!

When we returned to our seats everyone for rows in front and in back turned and listened to our stories. One girl said tell us more - meaning we weren't at the conference. When one of us showed our friends her book that was autographed someone grabbed it and started passing it around, but we got it back, finally.

We were so excited we couldn't stay in our seats. The ushers kept pushing us back, but we always came back. It was a tough show, we love you Beatles Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

More from the Los Angeles 1966 press conference

Obviously I got these photos from ebay. I think they are some nice photos that were taken during the press conference in L.A. in 1966 (the 2nd to last Beatles press conference). What gets me is that the person selling these photos claims that it is the 1965 press conference. Why don't people selling things get their facts straight?

Paul and cars

Paul (and Linda if you can see her under that watermark) get into a car in 1980


Paul riding in a car in 2006